Play Days

We've been sticking close to home these days....which means lots of activities outside.  Especially since it's warming up again!

Her many faces...

She couldn't hold it for long!

This is some game they play on the trampoline....if only I could get them to sit this still INDOORS!

And it's all fun and games until someone gets hurt.  Or her boo boo starts to bleed (a TINY bit) again.  Straight to nap she went!

Butt then Daddy comes out and plays!!!

Show off! ;-)

Flexible much?

It Was Christmasy!

WOW, we are blessed and had a wonderful LONG weekend of playing, eating, and resting!

Of course we took lots of family pictures!

Merry Christmas!! What if THIS was our Christmas card?!

We were told to do a silly photo and Olivia and I were the only ones to make a face...what's up with that!?!

While we were at my Sugar's I found some more old pictures...but this time of Lacey and I!

Look how cute we were....all dressed up with our hair curled!!! :-)

Too sweet!

Speaking of LACEY she blogged about our annual Zylo Golf Walk.  We use these ZYLO toys to play frisbee golf  - they act as drivers since they go so far - and these Jelly Flyers as putters!

It's super fun and it's the 3rd year we've done it!  It's turning into quite the Christmas Eve tradition!

Anyway, she posted a lot of fun pictures...we even lost one of the zylos on the roof of a restaurant.  Let's just say the men WERE NOT going to let that ruin their fun!


So Christmas Day it was snowing here in Birmingham.  It guess it was a big deal because that hasn't happened in forever.  But snow just doesn't excite me like other people.  We just stayed inside where it was WARM!  And played with all our new goodies!

And the Christmas tree came down ASAP Sunday morning!  So the house is back to normal now and it's nice!

The kids are out of school until January 5th!  So I hoping to squeeze in a few fun things before they go back!  Especially if it gets warm again (and I think it's supposed to - crazy after this snow!)


I shot some pictures of my brother and his fiance over the break too!  I think they turned out GORGEOUS, but I'll let the bride decide if she wants to air any of them over the internets!

BUT, while we were out there, Lacey snapped some shots of Robert and I....since we have like NO pictures together!  I thought they turned out pretty cute!!!

I'll leave you with a few!!


This is NOT Robert's smile...he was being silly.....MEN!

He was also adamant about getting a picture of him spinning the basket ball on his finger!  ?!!?!

Love you BABE!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

LOVE,

OLE MISS MOM and family!

*And since I don't have a pic of all 6 of us...here are a few individuals!!

Have a SAFE and VERY MERRY Christmas weekend!!

Perspective on Peace

The other day, we had a Christmas pancake breakfast with my Grandparents and all the great grand kid cousins! It was so cute and fun, not to mention YUMMY!

When I was back in one of the bedrooms watching the kids play, I noticed a few old pictures. I assumed they were my great grandparents.  I snapped a few pictures off of the old photos.  I think it's fun to look back at photos to see if anyone in the family resembles them now!

But just to make sure, I asked Mimi to come and tell me who everyone was. 


My grandfather (Poppop) as a baby! 

Poppop as a young boy!  I feel like I see some of my cousins in the picture. 

Mimi and Poppop on their honeymoon!

Poppop (not sure how old) and my Dad.  I'm guessing this is soon after he officially became a doctor!

Then we came to this last one.  I asked her if this was her father (on the right).  I didn't recognize him right off the bat.  (Obviously that's my dad on the left)

And what she said next surprised me and blessed me.

She immediately said that she didn't like her father for most of her life.  She said that he punished her for something that she didn't do as a child and she held onto that for most of her life.  She said it's amazing how that one little thing affected their relationship for so long.

The she said that when her father was in his 80's, she felt the Lord telling her to go and forgive him.  She went to him and said that she forgave him and that she loved him.  He responded saying that he loved her even more for doing what she just did.

But Mimi said she really regretted holding onto that for so long.  She said she missed out on a lot of good years with him for one little thing in their past.

She also said that when she did that, she had such PEACE!  (And I bet she slept better that night too).

I've had experience with reconciling before. Reconciling is not RESOLVING the conflict.  It's telling the person "it's done".  Bringing the balance to zero.  Just as Christ did for us.  Forgiveness is more for the person who is chosing to forgive, rather than for the person they are forgiving.

Peace is not the absence of something (like conflict).  It is the PRESENCE of SOMEONE - JESUS!

Mimi felt the presence of Jesus, responded, and had immediate PEACE!!!!

Isaiah 32:17 "The fruit of that righteousness will be peace; its effect will be quietness and confidence forever."

I hope during this busy holiday season, that you experience some sort of peace.  The kind of peace that passes all understanding!

"May there be peace within your walls and security within your citadels."

Psalm 122:7

"Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests."

Luke 2:14

We Clean Up Nice

We had our annual The Club dinner a couple of nights ago!  We've been doing this tradition for 20 something years!  It's SO fun!  Always nice to get dressed up and go out to dinner!!!

And,  OF COURSE, I had my camera!  :-)

We are missing 9 people in this pic!  But, as you can see, we still have a good size crowd!

My cousins!   Check them out HERE and HERE! 

Elaine and Graham!

The beautiful Tant girls!  Seriously, could you not hog all the pretty genes on this side of the family! ;-)

Abby and Trey!  Who i s 4 months pregnant by the way!  And lookin' GREAT!

My grandparents, Mimi and Poppop, and their children!!

My clan minus Walton and Margaret! 

Silly shots are a must. 

Wooo Hooo!  Let the night begin!

We enjoyed a nice steak dinner and salad! Then the Orange Rolls are THE.BEST! YUM!  Unfortunately, since the dinner fell on a weekday night so that more could attend, the band wasn't playing.  So we didnt' get to dance like we usually do! 

Hopefully we can keep up this tradition - even if it means the cousins figure out how to do it themselves!  We love our The Club tradition!!

Thank you Mimi and Poppop for keeping this up!  I have so many find memories of this night of the past 20 years!!!

Hodge Podge

I thought I'd ramble a little bit today.  We'll see where this goes!

We're out for Christmas break!  And we're trying to find things to do!  And it's kinda hard when you have at least one child that is slightly under the weather.  Olivia battled a mild flu (we found out when she was practically well) and I think Rhodes is riding one out too.  But it's super mild...mainly just a fever and whiney.  Poor baby!

So that cuts out places like the gym and friends houses.  :-(

I am COMPLETELY done with Christmas shopping (minus a quick trip to pick up something), but we won't count that. 

It feels SO good. 

Except for the fact that the kids FOUND the presents...but promised they wouldn't look.  And there's been no mention of them since.  Thank goodness for one of Landon's gifts - it's in a gigantic box and pretty much blocks any view of all the toys. 

Just 4 more days to make sure they stay hidden....or that the kids don't get into them again.  :-)

I think the pic above is so funny!  He's been decked out in camo since he's been out of school...and he blended in so well with the ground!  Landon went hunting last weekend.  Not his first hunt, but definitely the first time to watch a deer be dressed!!  The two things he'll tell you about that experience are 1) He saw it's butt, and 2)  The cut the antlers off and you could see the skull.

Really...that's all that stands out?!  MmmmmK. 

Excuse the nose...it won't stay clean right now.  I wipe and wipe....just that time of year + a cold. 

He's still climbing everywhere!  No more spills though...but I think that's more on my part.  Tip:  Don't leave anything out.  :-)

This week, my sister and I are going to do an engagement shoot with Walton and Margaret!  Lacey and I thought it would be fun, but the Walton and Margaret were SUPER excited!  Turns out they weren't going to pay for pics and put that $$ towards a band. 

So I CANNOT wait to bless/gift them with that!  SO FUN!  Hopefully they'll let me share pictures!

Excuse the makeupless face and day old hair!  But I just liked seeing my Ole Miss Mom decal! :-)

Our Christmas celebrations begin Thursday night with a Christmas Eve Service (even though it's the 23rd...we're going to 1 of the 12 services and that night worked the best) and then all day Christmas Eve, we house jump and eat, play, rest, eat, play, eat, open presents, eat, play...SLEEP!

Then Saturday, we'll stay in and play all day!  And hopefully, Saturday afternoon, TAKE OUR TREE DOWN.  It's a fire hazard.  Seriously.  It is CRIS-PY!  And wilting and all the water in the world can't save it.  It's been up a month so it's lasted a good while!

I haven't heard back about my lens yet.  I keep checking if it's shipped everyday....but not yet.  I did talk to them and they are going to check EVERYTHING else, clean it and all for FREE!!!  So far...service has been great!

One last random thing...I didn't do Christmas cards this year. :-(  And not because everyone knows what's going on and what we look like from Facebook or the Blog.  I love sending Christmas cards and receiving them!

BUT...let's face it...they're expensive!  And last year, when I bought $100 worth of stamps, they were stolen and I had to buy $100 of stamps again.  We've got a hefty list!

We decided to have more wiggle room in our giving budget and take a year off from cards this year.


Hopefully next year!!! 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!