Christmas Eve 2010

Fun, fun, day!! We started the day waking up at my parents house and Papa doing a devotion about Jesus birth and remember the real meaning of Christmas. We then opened gifts from each other. The funny gifts this year that we laughed a ton about were Papa's bedroom shoes that looked like he had two left feet. We all laughed till we cried and he walked around looking like an elf. Kay-Kay got a shaker weight and we all tried to "work it" but none of the girls could get it to work. Kay-Kay said in 30 days everyone is going to be searching for one because her arms are going to look so good. Mallory said that the doctor said "no more KayKay shakin that thang". (No more monkeys jumping on the bed).
Then we went home and opened our gifts to each other and the girls and we gave the girls a trip to Disney World. They were really excited, but TG is already nervous about the trip. Whatever... probably just trying to get a charge out of us. We are going to have a blast!!! We also had fun giving Lily her Christmas gifts. She was spoiled this Christmas!!!
After a nap, we went to the Rice Family Christmas party and had a BIG time. The Chinese gift exchange was extra fun this year. Lots of pretend arguing over a shaker weight, a donut pillow, and Gamecock tervis tumblers. Guess who was in the middle of all of it??? You guessed it... Lulu, Jane, Hope, and me. They said next year I am disqualified and we need a security guard. It was so funny!!! We also reminisced about our girls weekend when we took Lulu and KayKay to Childress winery for their birthdays and the BIG time we had and all the laughs from too much wine tasting.
Finally, when we got home Mallory was a busy bee getting cookies ready for Santa, putting reindeer food outside, writing a note to Santa about Snowy's (elf on the shelf) hat breaking, and putting place cards on the couch labeling where their gifts were to go so Santa doesn't get it wrong. She got frustrated at TG because she wasn't helping, so I told TG she better help or Mallory might catch on. This is the first year that TG realized that Santa wasn't real. Means she is growing up.:( Mallory just came out of her room after going to bed to tell me she forgot to give Santa milk to go with his cookies. I am so glad we still get to play for her. I will really be sad when they both don't believe anymore. We will still play along though. We always say, "You don't believe, you don't receive".
Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!!!! Happy Birthday Jesus!

It's OFFICIAL...We have a dog we can call our own.

For the past 5 years we have been pet sitting since we lost Wylie. John kept telling me and the girls, that the right time would come. Well, he was RIGHT!! Put best in Mallory's words, "This is the best Christmas EVER!!"

It all happened unexpected. Lily's human mother, died of cancer. She was a single mom with three girls and three dogs. The girls moved to go live with their uncle in WV who already had three children of his own. So, needless to say, he couldn't take the dogs too. Well, my sweet friend Kelly Partlow ran into a friend at Target that was telling her this story about a dog she was looking for a home for. Well, long story short, Kelly called me and I got John to agree to "pet sitting" her for a week to see if she was a good fit for our family. That way if she didn't work out, the girls wouldn't be upset. Well after having her for 45 minutes, I knew she was just perfect!! She was really timid and scared at first, but everyday she seems to come out of her shell a little more. Today she was so excited when I got home, that she was running all over the house and sliding everywhere on the hardwood floors. Her game tonight was hiding her bone in as many places possible and then running to get it before anyone else found it. (so cute!) Let's just hope she doesn't turn into a crazy dog and start chewing the couch cushions, as John would say.

This morning, John and I decided it was time to tell the girls that she was ours to keep. We would tell them at the dinner table. It was just perfect! Taylor Grace was saying the blessing thanking God for everything and praying that Lily would continue to have fun with us and that we would continue having fun with her too for as long as we were keeping her. John said, " AS long as we are keeping her... Well, Lily's mom died and she needs a new family and we are going to be her new family!" It was so sweet. Taylor Grace got tears in her eyes. Mallory screamed and clapped and asked to call Maddie right away and tell her. That is when Mallory said, "This is the best Christmas ever!"

I know that it is a sad story with how she came about joining our family, but I know that her mom is looking down from Heaven smiling because she is in a good home with people who love her VERY much!

This is a picture of Lily the day we got her.

Here is a picture of her now!

Trick-or-Treating

We continued with out tradition of going Trick-or-Treating with the Dibrells. We pile all the kids in the back of Phil's truck and take them to Heathwood. The dads walk them around while Julia and I follow them in the truck. It's good catching up time for Julia and me. This year Mallory was dressed just like her Bitty Baby in matching pajamas and a bunny robe. Taylor Grace took the easy way out by wearing her Tiger's Cheerleading uniform. (It was my idea of saving money, and she didn't mind.) Sadie was a fried egg. Evan was Jessie from Toy Story, and Josie was a gothic witch.

Camping with the Berrys and Sloops

We had so much fun camping with the Berrys and the Sloops. We went to King's Mountain. We got there Friday, early afternoon, because school was out. It was a great time to go. It was the Friday before Halloween and people had gone all out with decorating their sites with Halloween decorations. We didn't of course, but you would have thought there were some decorations somewhere in ALL that STUFF we brought with us. I can't believe how much stuff there was. When the dad's go and take the kids, they only take a 1/4 of what we took. If you need it, we had it. If you didn't need it, we had it too. From wheelbarrows to a sandwich maker you could use over the fire, to games, etc... BUT one thing we didn't have was technology!!! That is what made it so awesome. WE were our own entertainment and entertainment is what we did. (probably for the whole campground) We had ghost stories, gremlin masks, Shellie's deep questions, kids putting other kids to sleep, hiking, etc. We had so much fun that we didn't get up and leave. We stayed until supper time Saturday night and the Berry's and Sloops stayed another night even though we only planned one on one night. It was definitely a time to remember.

New Color in the Kitchen

I was ready for change in the kitchen. I wanted to "kick it up a notch"! Well that I did. I wasn't sure I liked it at first, but after putting up the pictures and window treatments, I love it!

Camping in Kings Mountain

We wanted to take the kids camping and asked the Berrys and the Sloops to go along with us. We had a ball!!! We had a furlough day on Friday, so we headed up around 2:00. Ashley and John S. had to come up a little later, so John and all the moms had to set up camp! (I think they knew what they were doing when they decided to come later:))

It was cold Friday night!!!! I had to put Taylor Grace between John and me to keep her warm because her sleeping bag kept coming unzipped. I didn't get much sleep that way because I couldn't move. That part was miserable. We planned to only stay one night, so the next day John and I packed all of our stuff gradually. We ended up staying until after supper and the Sloops and the Berry's stayed another night. I liked doing it that way because we had all the fun, but were able to sleep in a nice warm bed.

We had a great time cooking over the fire, watching John collect all the wood, Shellie sharing her opinion, the kids going on hikes, the kids playing in the tents, etc... I love the smokey smell of a camp fire!! I asked the girls what their favorite part was and Mallory said putting Drew (3) to sleep. Taylor Grace said playing with Sydney. Ashley loved it so much, he wanted to go again next weekend. (Not going to go again that soon!!)

Painting the Kitchen GREEN!

We wanted to change the color of the kitchen, so I decided on Fusion green. We paid a guy to come and paint it. When I came home that afternoon I was so scared I had made a mistake. I took a picture of it and showed some teachers the next day. Everyone's reaction was, "WOW it looks great!" I didn't know if they were for real or couldn't say what they really thought. I was wanting to change it, but John assured me to wait until we got the curtains and all the pictures up. Well he was right! It made a huge difference. I love it! The green makes the cabinets and the curtains POP! I am glad we were brave enough to do it.