Christmas Card Pics 2012

I dread group pictures with these kids!

DREAD!

I do not like taking them to the 

photo studios

because 

SOMEONE doesn't cooperate.

ALWAYS!

I took forever getting last year's 

Easter/Birthday pictures done 

out of sheer fear 

and procrastination.

First I have to find outfits for them,

either matching or coordinating,

then I have to make an appt,

the appt has to be when I think I can get there,

when I might have help (daddy)

when they might have napped but not too early

its just a mess.

And I dread it.

This year things were NUTS 

and the days in December

were quickly ticking away...

I told my little sis

that I might not get 

Christmas cards out this year

and she was insistant that I would!

Or that "I better"

(those were her words).

So I quickly gathered outfits...

and did my best to find a few minutes during our day

where I could dress them all,

do their hair

and take a couple of pictures.

Thanks to my new toy...

this was the BEST

photo session we have EVER had!

It wasn't a dream,

it wasn't perfect...

I didn't get 500 pictures to choose from

that were all great...

but the whole experience,

was 

totally manageable...

BY MYSELF!

Here are the four I narrowed it down to:

It was REALLY hard to choose from these.  

But ultimately, 

we went with this one.

Merry (Belated ) Christmas

From our Family,

To Yours!!

Happy (quite belated) Birthday Daddy

I got a new toy

for Christmas,

but I was lucky enough to 

get it early

so I could play with it and enjoy it for

Christmas.

I also happened to get it 

right around daddy's birthday.

Which fell the weekend after 

Thanksgiving this year.

So my sweet husband had a 

Christmas tree up in the living room

when we celebrated his birthday!

I do my best to make ALL

the birthday cakes in this house.

I am willing to try just about anything:

ice cream cakes,

fondant covered cakes,

shaped cakes,

cheesecakes...

Daddy opted for a

Cookies & Cream Cheesecake

So I made a go at it.

And then

decided to tinker with my new toy...

Can you guess what my new toy is?

Nope, its not a spring form pan!  ;)

 

Group shot before daddy blew out his candles...

Then a shot of all of his helpers!

Whipped cream on the cake

and in the baby.

Whipped cream faces!

Happy Birthday Daddy!!

The next day,

we headed to daddy's last football game.

Daddy coached football while we 

were in NC.

He has a little bit of a following,

and he wanted to make sure he kept

himself busy while we were gone. 

And since R is the coaches' son,

he tagged along and

got to participate in the last couple of games.

 Here are a few random

pictures from the game.

I had to play with my new toy!

What a mess...

Mid-game pep talk from the younger brother...

LOVE LOVE this picture!

Christmas Tree Hunting - Texas Style

Yes - I know Christmas was a month ago...

And for the record, the events in this post 

occured

 2 months ago!

But I am quickly getting caught up...

For those that don't know - 

my crew has a 

tradition of cutting down our own Christmas Tree.

We ventured to a tree farm west of Austin last year.

It got the job done,

we came home with a tree,

but I was less than impressed with their selection.

So this year,

we ventured a bit south of San Antonio

to Devine, Texas 

to hunt and cut our tree.

Let the hunt begin!

Ms. Priss was checking for chipmunks.

They had seen Alvin & The Chipmunks

a couple of times recently...

and that is how the chipmunks met Dave...

in his Christmas tree.

 Ms. Priss liked this one, 

but it was a little small for mom.

Mommy wanted a FAT one!

I couldn't get a tall one 

(cause it wouldn't fit)

but I could get a FAT one,

so we were on the hunt for the 

fattest one on the farm!

Wt think we found it!

The pre-cut picture.

And our littlest angel on top!

Then the cutting began,

how many members of our family

does it take to cut down a

Christmas tree?

One,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five,

(mommy needed help)

Six!

Daddy had to finish it up for us.

Then we make the boys 

do the heavy lifting...

well, 

dragging.

Yep, broken arm and all.

(This is actually the smaller half cast,

so he had a lot more mobility and it was a LOT

lighter and thinner)

This is the tree farms attempt at 

getting everyone in the spirit.

This is the closest they get

to real snowmen down here!

A lot different from how we spent Halloween!

We strapped it to the roof

and headed home!

I *begged* and plotted with daddy,

trying to convince him to get a 

REAL NC tree while we were 

in the NC mountains.

But he thought the drive was too long

and that it wouldn't make it.

I told him that they ship NC trees all over the country.

But I still lost that battle,

so we were left with a Texas tree.

But it worked!

Book Review: Everyday Matters Bible for Women

I am SO far behind on my reviews.

UGH!

But what's new, right?

Right before we headed to NC,

I received this beautiful Bible in the mail.

I forgot I had signed up to review it,

so this package really surprised me!

There are TONS of Bibles out there...

TONS of them!

And you have your choice of women's Bibles too.

I can honestly say that I have not 

researched nor compared this

one to the other women's Bibles on the market.

So I cannot offer an opinion 

about it compared to others.

I can however,

tell you my opinion of this one!

First,

it is asthetically pleasing to me.

I am really drawn to the cover the printer chose.

The title also attracts me!

Everyday Matters Bible for Women:

Practical Encouragement to 

Make Every Day Matter

What makes this Bible unique?

They ime was taken to come up

with 24 spiritual practices that they incorporate into the pages

 to encourage us on our faithful journey.

Then they inserted examples of these

spiritual practices through out the Bible

along with scriptural reference.

I think this was beautifully put together.

We have used this Bible as our reference Bible

for my oldest's religion study.

I enjoy having it close at hand while we are studying.

If you were looking for a new Bible,

I don't think you would be disappointed with this one.

It can be found on Amazon

and there is also a Kindle version!


Disclosure:  I received a free copy of this book/Ebook/Product to review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC Regulations. I am part of The CWA Review Crew.

NC Trip: The Long Haul Back to Texas (Part 3)

After a long sleepless Halloween night...

we got up on November 1st 

and 

loaded up in Asheville

and 

hit the road again.

That drive down I-40, 

literally THROUGH 

the mountains,

is...

I have no words.

I love it

(have I mentioned that before?)

We had to make a quick pit stop

and for those

that have not travelled this stretch 

of highway...

there aren't too many places to stop!

But when a kid has to potty

you gotta stop!

So we found the 

first place we could to stop at.

The restrooms were outside

and NOT heated.

And we had just left snow...

so it was a chilling experience!

They did have some snacks,

so we got some.

We grabbed stuff to add to 

the food I had packed for our lunch.

A couple of chicken tenders,

fried jalapenos,

beef jerky

and 

two small containers 

of boiled peanuts.

One for me

and

one for R,

since one one else liked them.

(lots of healthy stuff!)

Loaded back up

and 

I am not sure how it happened,

but I got all of about 2

boiled peanuts!

I don't remember letting them

"try" my peanuts...

but somehow they decided they 

liked them...

This time I really enjoyed

the drive through Tennessee.

When my mom & I drove through

the year before,

it was 

overcast

and

drizzly

and

just yucky...

so I didn't get to enjoy the scenery.

It was much different this time.

We decided we like the looks of Knoxville

a LOT!

We kept on moving

and started planning 

our next stop...

and I like to find 

"something"

to do,

not just stop

on the side of the road 

or at a rest stop

(if I can help it).

So thanks to TripAdvisor.com,

we decided to stop in Nasheville.

GREAT IDEA!

There were a couple of places

that were recommended,

but we opted for

Centennial Park

It looked like it had

lots of neat stuff

to look at

and 

LOTS 

of room to run!!

For starters,

Nashville has its own

Parthenon!

Why?

I am not really sure,

but if you are really interested,

 you can read about it

here.

It was closed while they were getting ready for a 

fundraiser,

so we didn't get to go inside,

but we did climb the steps

and walk around it.

Then we walked

(well ran)

over to the park on the grounds.

Ms. Priss didn't do this by herself...

daddy was just out of the frame of the picture.

Notice Mr. T at the bottom right...

He was waiting for his big brother to come

and help him out.  

I am pretty sure the hand on the right of this

picture belongs to me.  

So for once, I wasn't taking pictures!

Then we saw this...

Mr. T went nuts!

Choo-choo

choo-choo

choo-choo!!

And the boys wanted to climb on it,

but of course there were

"No Climbing" 

signs posted all over it.

And they had a real jet on display too.

It was a wonderful way to spend a couple of hours.

We hopped BACK in the car...

we kept going.

And started discussing our next stop.

We love BBQ

and have always heard 

about Memphis style BBQ.

Again, I consulted 

TripAdvisors.com

I wanted to make sure we went somewhere

"semi" on the way...

and not completely across

town from the highway we were on.

We decided on

Central BBQ

It was good,

but we were not really impressed.

However,

Mr. T did literally

suck all the flavor off the ribs.

He cleaned them off good!

After dinner,

daddy was feeling good,

the kids were full and tired...

so we decided just to drive

and see how far we could get.

I attempted to keep on top of how he was

feeling since we didn't have a hotel lined up.

I can't remember what time we finally stopped,

I think it was close to midnight (if not after).

We made it into Texarkana.

But we stayed on the Arkansas side,

so we didn't QUITE make it 

through Tennessee & Arkansas

in the same day.

We checked in and unloaded AGAIN

The funny part was.

When we got in the car that morning,

we left bitterly cold,

almost snow weather.

When we stopped for the night,

we were DEFINITELY back in Texas.

It was HOT!

R & daddy unloaded,

I attempted to get the littles into the hotel with

minimum wakage...

it didn't work.

They were bright eyed and bushy tailed!

We had a time getting them to go back to sleep!

Since they are still rather short,

we can fit 3 to a bed 

we rotate them 90°

and they sleep across the bed.

Mr. T did sleep in the playpen,

but when he climbed into 

bed with the other 3

I couldn't resist snapping a quick pic.

Loaded BACK up again the next morning,

after breakfast.

Mr. T and daddy had a stand-off...

Guess who won that one.  

Then again,

back into the car.

We booked on through Texas

and wound up stuck in 5pm traffic in Austin.

UGH!!

Poor R was so ready to get out of the car.

He was begging for us to stop.

Just so he could get out.

But daddy and I were SOOOOO

ready to get home,

we kept asking him why he wanted to stop.

He was plain tired of being in the car.

Tired of sitting

tired of riding

just tired!

We all were...

we convinced him that we only had an hour left,

so we really just needed to keep going.

If we stopped,

we would have to get back in the car

to get home,

so we decided we would just power through.

When we FINALLY arrived home.  

The FIRST thing Ms. Priss did...

No joke!!