Christmas Eve Day

We head over to my parents house around noon every year for Christmas eve to have lunch and to exchange gifts. This year felt very strange to me because A#1 was working and only came long enough to eat really fast and open his gifts and then head back to work. He even said when he got home that it didn't even feel like Christmas ti him. It's very sad when you realize you are growing up and things change more than you thought they would. And to me it's hard to see him realize that.

This little girl realized it was Christmas though and she was so excited about it all.

And so did these kiddos.

Polly Pocket was very popular this year for both of my girls.

Cam-rod, another one that's growing up way too fast :(

A#2 was so excited with her new Bop-it game. She's setting a new record every day.

Somewhere in one of these pictures you can see the top of Miss Lily's head. She is doing so great and getting so big so fast. She is an answered prayer and something we are all very thankful for this year.Just the beginning of our family Christmas together.

Snow storm of 2009

This is what it looks like at our house this morning. 19 inches of snow fell in the blizard and now we are just waiting for the good times to begin.

Looking out our front door.

Beautiful!

When I opened the back door it was all the way up the door.

No grilling today.

No swimming today.

Not sure if we can get to the garage.

Half way up the fence.

It's beautiful outside!! Hope you are all safe and warm!

My very first swap!!

I participated in my very first Swap and look at what I received in the mail. My swap partner was Summer all the way in Oregon. How cool is it to know that I now have a new friend on the other side of the USA. You can visit her at www.summerduffield.blogspot.com

We opened the box and were so excited to see what was inside.

How cool are these? She made them and they are just perfect for our tree!!

Oh my this girl has some mad skillz! These are made from Popsicle sticks and scrabble tiles. LOVE THEM!!! We put these on our "fun" tree.

Love it!!! A#3 thinks this one is just for her since it's her middle name.

My fave of them all. I would love to have a tree full of this one!!

Thank you soooo much Summer. I hope you enjoyed yours as much as we did ours. I pray you will have a very MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

FINALLY!!!!

Something I have been wanting to do all year and have finally got a round to posting the first recipe!! Please visit and sign up to follow. If you try a recipe, please let me know what you think!!
http://www.busyblainesrecipes.blogspot.com

Happy Birthday W.B.

Happy Birthday W.B.!!!! I hope that your prayers will be answered today of all days. I love you!!!
Jason & W.B. in Tx Aug 09

Thankful

From our family to yours have a safe and Happy Thanksgiving!!

Thankful- day 3

1. I am thankful that I belong to such an amazing church family.

2. I am thankful that even though our kids may bicker and fight, they love each other very much and have compassion for one another.

3. I am thankful that we have so much family to spend the holidays with.

4. I am thankful that I have been able to reconnect with so many friends from years ago.

5. I am thankful that I am alive to tell you all what I am thankful for!!!

Thankful... Day 2

1. Today I am thankful for all of my parents but I want to say a special thanks to this guy. This is Poppy with A#1. Poppy is the greatest Poppy ever and the kindness and love he shows our kids just always amazes me! You can always tell just how much it means to our kids as well by the way they respond to him. Poppy will take time out of his day to call and check on the kids when they are sick, even if my mom has already told him how they are. Poppy will take a day off of work to make a special trip to L U for a chance to watch A#1 fly or even just to go up and visit him. He will go watch as many soccer and basketball games as he can for the girls just because he wants to see them. He will make a noise maker with an empty milk jug and rocks for A#2 to take to the high school football game and encourage her to be as loud as she can with it and laugh about the memory of it for years to come. He is the best Poppy!! and we are all so thankful for him.

2. I am thankful that as our kids are growing, they are finding things that they love about life. A#2 has really been doing well with her riding and she LOVES it!!!!

3. I am thankful that our girls are watching their brother live his dream at college and are so encouraged by him that they are even talking about when they go to Liberty one day. I know it's years away but what a witness their brother is for them. A#3 says she is going to go there and play soccer. Wouldn't that be awesome?!!!!

4. I am thankful for Godly women that are such an example to me.

5. And last but not least.... I am thankful that when I come downstairs in the morning, hubby has the coffee ready!! Thanks W.B.!! Little things mean a whole lot!

A week full of thanks!!

Since it is Thanksgiving week, and I have sooooo much to be thankful for, I am going to do a post everyday and list at least 5 things that I am thankful for on this day. So let's start here.....
1. I am so very thankful for veterans like this young man that have served our country for the freedoms that we all tend to take advantage of. You have seen pictures of him on here before so you might be familiar with him, my cousin CJ. He is truly a hero. This picture is from our Veterans Day dinner that we have every year at our church. Have I ever told you that 2 times while serving in Iraq he was pronounced dead? Once they had already radioed his Sgt. and confirmed that he was gone. He believes he is still here because of his Lord and all the prayers that have gone up in his name and so do I. Love you CJ!!!
2. I am thankful for a warm, dry house for my family.
3. I am thankful that our son is home for the whole week!!
4. I am thankful for our son having a job both here and at school.
5. I am thankful for a Pastor that preaches the truth!!!

Seriously?

Ya'll, I have a problem. First of all this cabinet is a project I am getting ready to start for A#2's room but that is not my problem. See all of those containers beside it? We got all of our Christmas stuff out of the attic Sunday afternoon. There were 23 of them!!!! I have a serious problem when it comes to Christmas for my house. Granted I do not pack the containers full so that things will not get squished or broken. And I have also saved some things for my kids so when they have their first place they will have decorations. Let's just say that hubby WAS NOT HAPPY :(

I have everything labeled (shocking, right Julie?) so that when we get things down I can find everything room by room.

Good grief!!! Maybe I should have a yard sale after Christmas? Yeah right!

Ooooh, I can't wait to get started!!!!!! How about you, are you decorating yet?

News & Events - News Article - Liberty University

News & Events - News Article - Liberty University

Check this out. This is where A#1 goes to school (Liberty University) and this is from his dept., The School of Aeronautics. What an awesome place God has placed our son!!!

How can we ever say thank you

Please say a big thank you to a veteran today and let them know just how grateful we all are. Remember, we are the land of the free BECAUSE of the brave!!
One of my very favorite veteran's, C.J. I love this guy and am sooo thankful for his service.

Thank you Daddy, Poppy, Poppaw, Mr Foster, Mathew, Brian, Jason, Christopher, Alvin, Phillip and Sweet Baby and all the others including our police officers and fire fighter's for serving us all. God bless you!!

OH YES HE DID AND I GOT TO SEE IT!!

A couple of us headed up to L U to see A#1 the Monday after family weekend, hoping for a chance to see him fly. Well, we got to see him fly with his instructor and then..... WE GOT TO SEE A SOLO FLIGHT!!!! OMGoodness it was fantastic!!!

That's him after his flight. One of his aunt's seen this picture and said it fits him well. I agree!

This is when he came in and dropped off his instructor. We were out on the strip when he came in and I noticed the prop was still running as his instructor was getting out. I asked if he was still going to fly and he said yes, solo. WHAT?!!!!

And there he goes! The coolest part for me other than seeing it was that we were with his instructor and he had a radio so we got to hear him do all of his call signs. Just hearing his voice and hearing all that he has learned put me at peace but made me a nervous wreck too.

Some proud grandparents.

Aaron and his Poppy.

The proudest mom EVER!!!

It's a good day for a parent that gets to witness their child's dream come true!! God is so good!

M. I. A.- Part 1

Missing in action from blogging? Yep that's me. I'm going to try to get caught up but it will take a few posts before that happens. These pictures are from this past weekend and believe it or not, there are even some pictures missing. After A#3's final soccer game we headed over to my mom's house for our 2Nd annual "punkin carvin". Mom fixed her famous crock pot hot dogs and chili and then we all headed out to the garage. This picture is of me and A#3 and we are carving out the bottom of her pumpkin so we can scoop all of the guts out.
Mom and A#2 working away.

Hubby was down on the floor helping out with the scooping.

And as you can see Foster-man was a pro at it. A#3, not so much.

She would not touch it and he could not keep his hands out of it.

A#2 with her finished project. She did a great job!!

A#3 with hers.

Mom and A#3 started on another one.

And then there was the artistic side of our family. My sister and her hubby were still working on theirs.

These are some of them all finished up. The one in front is my BIL's. It is a Frankenstein that he free handed. Nice job!

But hands down the winner for this year was hubby himself. This is his sitting on top of one of mom's landscape lights. It is not carved, it was chiseled so that is flesh that you see the light coming thru. Good job Honey!!!!! You win! He even has your eyebrows ;)

Early Saturday morning we headed to LU for Family Weekend to see A#1. We were just staying for the day instead of the whole weekend like we did last year. while we went into the Aviation Dept we were on a mission to find A#1's shirt tale from his first solo flight back in August. We found it!!!

Yes it's posed picture but I like it! way to go A-man!!! You ROCK!

We hung out in the flight ready room for a while and A#1 gave us a few lessons.

Outside on one of the courtyards there were some sculptures from students in the art department. This one was about praying the scriptures. You can't see it but it is covered in scripture verses.

Another sculpture with a few kiddos hanging around it.

After we went to the football game, LU beat Presbyterian 55-19, we headed over to Thomas Road Baptist for a HUGE kids carnival for Halloween. A#3 did not want to put her costume on because she was so hot already but A#2 decked out and she looked adorable!!

Inside the carnival were games and bouncy houses and lots of goodies. They had a great time and it was just nice to be with A#1.

There was a very tall slide that the girls were so anxious to go down. Can you tell that they are looking up to see how far they have to climb?

A#2 came down head first, of course.

So proud of this son of ours!

And so are his sisters. I love this picture!!!

Well, I'll be back, lots more to catch up on.