Candlelight Advent Tea

Our church has a Candlelight Advent Tea every year. For the past three years I have signed up to decorate a table with my friend Carrie. Last year we were iced out and the tea was cancelled, which really was a good thing because my dessert flopped. Which really should have taught me a lesson about trying a new dessert for the advent tea, but it didn't. Thankfully my Chocolate Hazelnut Cheesecake, which I have never made before, turned out beautifully :) Our table was beautiful as well, thanks to Carrie's beautiful Christmas china! This is really a fun evening of fellowship with other women, singing Christmas carols, yummy desserts, and a short message from our pastor. Our pastor opened his message with the fact that you would never see guys doing this...pretty funny to think about! During the caroling I learned that "The 12 Days of Christmas" has motions to it...never knew that...it was pretty funny watching over 100 women do the motions! Who would have thought you would ever see that many PCA women dancing in a church?!

Who needs Dancing with the Stars?!

This is the funniest thing I've seen in a long time! Hope you get a kick out of it too!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=9625796538

Thanksgiving in Memphis

No we didn't spot Elvis. But we did see the ducks at The Peabody, my nephew play a great basketball game, lots of yummy food, a tea party, a lot of football (all our teams won by the way!), and about 10 snowflakes.

We had a GREAT time! It was quite a loud weekend with 4 kids under the age of 4 at my parents house...I think at least one of them was crying the whole time :) But it was so fun to all be together. We ate a lot of delicious food (our favorite past-time together!), played some fun games, played with the kids, and tried very hard to get a picture of all 15 of us...it's really pretty good considering!

I hope and pray you all had wonderful Thanksgivings as well!

Thankful

I am thankful:

*that all three of my children cried at some point during our Target trip today, because at least I do have three beautiful children.

*that my home is a mess right now, because at least I do have a wonderful home to hold all of my family and my mess.

*that I can't sleep at night, because that does give me time to pray and to be thankful for my warm bed.

*that my kids didn't eat a good lunch today, because that is such a rare occasion and at least we have plenty of food to feed their tummies when they are hungry.

*that my laundry isn't done, because at least we do have plenty of clothes to keep us warm and dry.

*that my dog had a badly broken toe nail last night that required a visit to the vet, because at least she is still with us after running away last Christmas and having a horrible leg injury when she returned.

*that my car is filthy inside with spilled juice, crushed Cheerios, and stuck stickers because at least I have a reliable car to go where I need to go.

*that we haven't raked the yard because the girls are having so much fun playing in all the leaves!

*for my extended family who I will be spending the next several days with because we all love each other and get along really well and that is really rare!

*that I felt like I had time to write this entry even though I really don't have time because it means that you are reading it and I am thankful for you!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Book Fair

Every fall M's school has a book fair at Barnes & Noble. A percentage of all that is bought in the school's name goes to the school. It's a really fun night, the kids and teachers go in their jammies and the teachers read their favorite books. It's a great night of socializing for the parents and getting started on Christmas shopping. I got several books for the kids Christmas and for M's birthday coming up. Note in the pictures that M is in her blue princess jammies. She had so much fun and actually sat there for over an hour listening to the teachers read!

Oprah & Me

I'm sorry that I forgot to mention in my 8 un-interesting facts that I held Oprah's hand when she got her ear's pierced on t.v.! We watched the video again the other night with some friends and we were all cracking up! What a funny moment in my life!

The Three Princesses and the Little Boy

We had a friend over today and before I knew it three princesses were in the house: Belle, Cinderella and Snow White! You've never seen such happy little girls! And the littlest princess thought she was big stuff hanging with the big girls!

And then there was our little C playing happily with his trucks...who says this gender stuff isn't inborn?!

I'm It

I got "tagged" by my sweet friend Rebecca F. Have a little look-see:

1. I used to play the violin really well (got a scholarship for it!) and hope to get back to it when my kids are older. But I HATE playing solos, duets, trios, quartets...I need like 50 people with me :)
2. I have this habit of rubbing my feet together when I am relaxing...it kind of looks like a cricket, or at least that's what Kris says. It drives him crazy...I never even realize I am doing it.
3. I have a new secret addiction to Webkinz...this is a kids thing, my 4-year old daughter's thing to be exact. It's a little stuffed animal and you adopt it and then play games with it on-line...I do not have time for this!
4. I'm losing my southern accent by living in the mid-west and that makes me really sad.
5. I can't sleep at night...it takes forever to fall asleep and then when I do, I can't stay asleep...I wish I could spend the next three nights in a hotel room with a really comfy bed, the air on high, and those really dark shades on the windows!
6. I really love to do laundry...but I abhore all other household chores!
7. I LOVE going out for breakfast and getting yummy pancakes and good coffee.
8. I can't wait to be with my family next week for Thanksgiving!

Tagging:
1. Allison
2. Ramona
3. Jenny O.
4. Jenny D.
5. Julie B.
6. Sara G.
7 & 8. Random people that I don't know because I really don't know very many people that blog :)

The rules:
1. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
2. People who are tagged need to write a post on their own blog (about their eight things) and post these rules.
3. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
4. Don't forget to leave them a comment telling them they are tagged, and to read your blog.

Career in Photography?!

So I just had a phone call from our Bethany office. We just sent in a letter and some pictures to the girls birthmother. They (Bethany) loved these pictures and want to use one as the invitation for their spring fashion show! How cool is that?! I was honored and said of course they could! Here's to my future career in photography :)

Phonics

As I was getting M out of the bath tonight she was trying to spell the word "pizza." I'm not sure why she chose this word but this is how she spelled it...P...E...E..T...Z...A. Pretty good for a 4 year old, huh?! I guess it's almost time we stopped spelling things that we don't want her to hear :)

Just a Swingin'

I know it seems all about C right now, but it really isn't...my camera died at the park after I took these few pictures and so I missed out on getting shots of the girls and the friends we were with! C LOVES to swing...he had a great time. We all had a great time...it is a gorgeous fall day...wish you were here :)

Announcement Photo Shoot

So C and I had a little photo shoot this morning in hopes of getting a good photo to use for his adoption announcement. I think I got some really good ones...check these out. Although, you do not get to see the ones in competition for the announcement photo...you'll have to wait for that one :) Enjoy!

Little Man Walking

We realized this afternoon that we needed to get out the little walking toy for C after we watched him take the babydoll stroller away from E :) We got it out and let him go for it in the kitchen and he LOVED it! He was cracking up and laughing so hard that he kept falling down. It was hilarious! Here's to our little man walking!

1st post in 11 months!

So I tried this a year ago and it didn't really work...or I didn't make it work! I'm giving it another try so that you may enjoy seeing more pictures and hearing more stories. First up...Halloween!

The kids had so much fun...this year M actually said "trick or treat" as opposed to last year where she didn't say a word! They had fun handing out candy to the trick-or-treaters that came to our house too...M was very generous in her hand-outs.

I had a parent -teacher conference this morning for M. Her teacher had nothing but great remarks, saying that M is a joy who loves to learn and will probably be an early reader. That was fun to hear! She really does enjoy school and that is such a blessing! The bad news today was that her teacher is leaving after December! I almost cried I was so sad! Her husband had a job transfer and it was back to their hometown. She will be a hard teacher to replace...M had her last year and this year. Just the other day in the car E said, "I love Mrs. Maulden, I want to go to school!" I told the teacher that I didn't want to be the one to give M the bad news!