12.17.2011

Another tradition...a new one of sorts...

Okay, our family loves traditions. We have lots of old ones that I have written about here, here, and here and ... okay, I am gonna stop there...cause there are so many of my blogs (19) that are about traditions! Since we didn't have enough, we started another last year! Ha. However, the wonderful thing about this one is how easy it is for Larry and I! As I have written about in the past, we always have a Christmas Eve Morning gift...which always involved hunting for your gift around the house. This tradition, involved poems/hints that lead you around the house. Well, writing poetry is not my strong suit. In the past, I have received some chuckles...with good reason...for my lack of rhyming skills. Or, worse, it would rhyme but made no sense! So, last year I had an idea to get me out of this role of writing poetry! Here is what they received:

Mr. and Mrs. Claus’s poems have been laughed at
Their rhyming abilities, they say, are weak and flat.

They’ve looked at us as if we were crazy
When we tied them together and no one could be lazy!

So we have decided to turn the big kids loose
And just see what kind of story they can produce!

The words on the enclosed list must all be used
To make a story or poem you will choose.

Enclosed are a notepad and a pencil too
Work as a team, we look forward to your debut!

The clock is ticking; you have only a 1/2 hour to work
As yes, your results, if done well, will produce a perk!

In order to receive your prize
You must delight our ears and eyes!

Bud, Honey, Owen, Emma, Will and Clay
Look forward to your most CREATIVE display!


Larry and I came up with a list of random and I mean random words...
Today I was getting the list of words ready and pulled out the last years (which by the way, the story will be a "continued" story) and it just made me laugh. This 4 did a great job! It made me laugh this morning, so I thought I would share it with you...and maybe it could be a tradition that would fit into your family!

Chapter One:

The icy wife was hanging plastic Christmas bells while the kids were mixing a green concoction in the blender. A fuzzy blanket of snow glittered at midnight as the sleepless President texted Santa on his iphone while listening to his ipod. The cold salami wrapped eggrolls burned Santa's nose, while hearing the news of the blizzard approaching the North Pole which would affect the elves toy making in the workshop. The blizzard was so cold that not even crazy buzzards giddy with hormones wearing red socks on their toes could survive. Made aware of the eminent threat of the snow-melting green concoction, Santa danced a silly jig while slipping his legs through the holes of his pants and strapping on his jingle gun, then hopped into his sleigh filled with presents and acted as a taxi to deliver lipstick and earrings to the boring wife who's jaw never stopped moving. Merry Christmas to all and to all a goodnight!.

As you can see, when these 4 get together, random, silly and amazing things happen! By the way, it did make Bud, Honey and the kids laugh and thus they were rewarded! We are anxious to see how they do this year!

12.09.2011

Our Special Little Tradition

I just came home from a wonderful little trip to Mansfield. Last year, Ashley, Emma and I started a little Christmas Tradition. We went to North Park Mall for a day of shopping at fun little stores but much more importantly we took Emma to see Santa!!! We started this last year and decided right there and then, that would be our little tradition! We got to North Park Mall, grabbed our ticket (it gives you what time Santa will see you!) and then did a little shopping and looking around until it was Emma's turn! First stop was the Disney store. She is VERY in to Mickey Mouse Clubhouse..as in she loves that show, so of course she loves all those characters. When we walked in the store, she looked around and exclaimed "COOL"!!! :) We just looked around a fun stores that we sure don't have around here....Paper Source, Gymboree, Janie and Jack, Anthropologie, Lego Store, H&M...before and after our appointment to see Santa! I had wondered how she would do. Ashley thought she would do great. Ashley was so right! She waltzed in to his little house, crawled up in his lap, handing him her letter and acted like she could have stayed all day! She was quite taken with the guy with the white beard! I have to say that Santa was so precious with her as well. He was so tender and sweet to her!!! I think if we had left her there she would have been just fine with that! She talked about him all afternoon! Him and his beard! So, that of course made the day super special. Then we went to eat at la madeleine...always a favorite!!!
 First sighting of Santa
 Waiting to see the big guy!

 Reading her wish list- a Kitchen and a balloon
 Checking out the big guys beard, she was quite taken with it!
Love this picture!!!
We had such a fun day!!! Emma was so sweet and good the entire day...especially since we missed her nap! She did take a mini-nap on the way back home. We finished the day at another favorite place to eat, Chuey's. Yum.  It was so fun to get to spend some time with my girls! Tonight, we have a sleepover and Christmas Shopping night with our boys...so I will blog more later but for now, I will close with a few of MANY fun pictures of a VERY fun day with Emma and Ashley!

11.21.2011

Because it looked fun...

I love this girl. Annalee is always so clever with her blog. I have been suffering from Blog BLAH. I have so many things I need to "write" about but life has just been so busy. When I read Annalee's blog this morning, I thought "I love these things, because I learn such fun and interesting things about people"!!! I thought I knew a lot about Annalee, but I learned so much today that I didn't know! So...just because it looked fun...I will copy! Love you leeper!!! (Ha, you didn't mention that name!!)


it's THREE days until thanksgiving.
i hereby declare a THREEs survey is in order.
(friends attempting to blog everyday in november, here's your easy post!)



THREE NAMES I GO BY:
1) mary kay
2) honey
3) mk



THREE BEVERAGES I DRINK FREQUENTLY:
1) coffee--every morning!
2) tea with sweetner
3) water



THREE THINGS I WOULD LIKE TO LEARN:
1) to quilt
2) to knit
3) to write a book



THREE SONGS THAT GET STUCK IN MY HEAD:
1) "hot dog, hot dog, hot diggidity dog"...thanks Emma!
2) "it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas" 
3)this version of "rolling in the deep". Love this group.  www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBaskRZDbNA 



THREE MOVIES I  COULD WATCH AGAIN AND AGAIN:
1) Sound of Music
2) Anne of Green Gables with Ashley
3) Curious George with Emma, Owen, Clay & Will :)

THREE TV SHOWS OF MY CHILDHOOD:
1) bonanza
2) password
3) i dream of jeanie


THREE CAREERS I WOULD ENJOY DOING:
1) interior decorator
2)owner of a stationary shop like Paper Source! 
3) art camp teacher-just like annalee!



THREE CAREERS I WOULD NOT ENJOY DOING
(but i'm thankful someone else does them):
1) police officer
2) fireman
3) C.P.S.



THREE THINGS I AM WEARING RIGHT NOW:
1) jeans
2) sweatshirt
3) hillcrest youth trip t-shirt

THREE THINGS I CAN HEAR RIGHT NOW:
1) coffee pot turning off :(
2) squirrel playing in the leaves in the backyard
3) tea maker making tea



THREE THINGS TO-DO TODAY:
1) celebrate meg's birthday tonight
2) help larry with work at churches
3)keep boys tonight while Zach & Meg go shopping 


THREE end.-

10.21.2011

Our little houseguest

It was a pretty exciting call. We got the call from David and Ashley to see if we would like to keep Emma Grace for a few days. We had to think long and hard before we gave them an answer...NOT!!! We were so excited and had a blast. We went over and celebrated with our birthday girl, Ashley. Then the next morning, we played a bit before heading out right after lunch with our little girl in the backseat! She slept most of the way home, which sure made the trip go faster for her.


Emma does the cutest little thing when she is sleepy. She loves this blanket. It is a very soft knit. She usually gets the corner and rubs it very gently back and forth across her nose. Love it! She also likes to cover her head when she is getting sleepy.

























Then the fun began!!! She was so excited to be at Bud and Honey's house! Ashley had been a little concerned about how she would do. She has been suffering with some separation anxiety recently but she did amazing! We played outside after we got home. Let me just say, this girl loves the dirt. She crawled right into the sandbox and proceeded to cover herself with sand.


Then it was time to break from all that playing for a little dinner....


before playing a little more before taking a bath, reading a stack of books and heading to bed. She goes to bed so easily. She went right to sleep and we weren't far behind her! Saturday morning started off about 7:30 with a very sweet chatter coming from her bed. She wakes up so happy. First she watched a little Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, while eating her breakfast picnic style.



We were expecting rain midday so we made the most of being outside ALL morning. We picked up leaves, feathers, dirt, played on the see-saw and did lots of walking around the yard...those chunky little legs got a workout!





We have these two little statues in the backyard, named Zach and Ashley. Emma was so intrigued by them, she wanted to touch their noses and hold their hands, she even gave the little girl a flower, but of course she wanted her to smell it! So sweet!







 Really, how cute is she!

 This little girl to draw, as does Honey!
Then after a full morning of playing, we had us a little lunch before making our house guest do the dishes of course! Ha, she was pretty excited to get to play in the bubbles!





Then after lunch, we read more books before putting her down for a nap. She once again goes down so easy and took a great nap. When she woke up she had company...her 3 cousins and uncle had come to see her. She was so excited and played hard with them for a few hours before we all went to get a little pizza for supper. She loves those boy!

Her sweet chauffeur, Owen

Sunday morning, a very happy girl woke up, we ate breakfast and got ready for church. 

 A little Pat-a-cake on the way to church....
 Get those things rolled up and throw them in the pan!
It was so fun to have this precious little girl with us at church, she was so good and even got to go to Bible Class for the first time! Course, Honey went to class with her! :)
We came home for lunch and a little of play time before it was time for a nap! We had one tired little girl! After her nap we had a very excited Mommy show up, I think maybe she missed her girl just a little bit. Ashley stayed for several days which is always so fun for us! We appreciate so much David letting us keep them a few days longer! We basically stayed around here and played but made a few fun outings...like a trip to the Pumpkin Patch, but those pictures are on Ashley's camera! :)

Here are a few more of MANY pictures we took while we had sweet Emma:

 Love this picture, Bud and Emma coloring...oh so sweet.


It was a wonderful first "sleepover" with Emma...we look forward to many many more!!!
We love you Emma-girl! Come back soon! Bud and Honey

Celebrating with the Birthday Girl...


Larry and I drove over to spend the day with Ashley...her 29th birthday. We had such fun.
Emma made Ashley's day. On Ashley's birthday Emma and I took Ashley shopping. We hung out while Ashley tried on clothes and looked for a few new items. But the highlight of the day, was Emma took Ashley on a carousel ride! It was Emma's first time and she loved it! She smiled and waved the whole time! It was so cute but I am afraid my pictures aren't the greatest! It is hard to get good pictures when things are moving!!! After David got off work, we went to The Cheesecake Factory for supper AND dessert! Then the next day, we packed up Emma and brought her home with us! Yahoo...I will hopefully get that blog written soon! :)