Merry Christmas

Christmas Card 2010

With Love Chartreuse Christmas Card

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GNO(s)

Thank goodness Chad is such a great help with the kids. It allows me the opportunity to get out of the house every once in a while. I've had a few girls' nights out lately. It was so nice to get away for a few hours. Have lots of conversation about ALL topics , eat wonderful food, and laugh until my stomach aches.

Tracy, me, Abby, and Kelly at The Melting Pot

Mindy, me, Tracy at Sapphire for drinks.

Me and my bestie, Tracy.

Late Fall Snow! What is winter going to look like?!?!

Several school systems have been closed all week due to snow and freezing temperatures. Today shut down most of East Tennessee because of ice all over! What a crazy way to end the fall of 2010. I'm a little curious about what the winter season has in store for us...

Prayers Needed

I'm asking you to keep a family in your prayers. One of their sweet twin daughters passed away in her sleep last week. I have been just heartbroken for their entire family since reading about their loss. What is even more heartbreaking is that this the second daughter they have buried. I can't imagine the pain they are experiencing or the grief they will face for years to come. I ask you to please pray for them during this time and pray for comfort in the future.  Alicia and I were at UT at the same time. She was in the pledge class behind me. You can read her blog:  The Harrisons.  

O Christmas Tree

Since we downsized, I don't have the space to put up all of my Christmas trees. So I suggested to Chad that we leave the artificial trees in their boxes and go with a live tree. This meant I was not able to set my trees up the week before Thanksgiving. I don't mind the sacrifice. We had plans to go to a tree farm and cut one down, but I wanted a fraser fir tree. So we decided to support the local boys scout and bought a beautiful tree from them this past weekend.  It's about 6 1/2-7 feet tall. We had to do little trimming to make it just right. And the smell...it's heaven. Marlee and Cooper picked out multi-colored, twinkling lights for the tree. It looks beautiful.

No, I didn't put my special Christopher Radko ornaments on the tree. If we continue the tradition of a live tree in the years to come, then I will have to get a special artificial tree just for those ornaments. Seeing that I have enough to fill a small tree. ;)

A Cold Fall (Winter's) Day

Winter is still a few weeks away, but you wouldn't know it by the temperatures outside. A cold front has swooped in and left chill in the air. My kids love nothing more than to craft. So we spent a morning crafting away this past week. Paint, glitter, glue, pom-poms, and markers. What's better?

 Cooper is all about scissors these days. He's too hardheaded to let me show him how to hold a pair correctly, but he'll figure it out soon enough. We made wreaths last year, but the kids wanted to do it again. Marlee did an awesome job cutting out squares to glue down. Cooper tried but gave up and opted to rip the paper instead. No wreath is complete without glitter glue for an added sparkle. I've decided I should just buy stock in Hobby Lobby or Michael's. I can't wait for the days when the kids are independent enough for bigger art projects.

Free Stuff is the Best Stuff

Marlee and Cooper have a new love for pecans. Chad's dad has a couple of pecan trees in his yard. Every time we visit, Marlee asks to eat some pecans. Over Thanksgiving he bagged up a whole Kroger bag full of pecans for us. I shared some with my parents, and brought some home for us to snack on. The kids are loving them. Marlee has learned how to crack one open. Thanks again, Jackie.

Well I Finally Did It

If you remember I have complained about my gallbladder for some time now. I finally went to the doctor a few weeks ago about it. My family doctor referred me to a general surgeon. I had that appointment today. He said he is a conservative doctor and won't just schedule a surgery without due cause. Since it has been a few years since I've had anyone look at my gallbladder, he wants me to get some tests done. I go next Tuesday to have an ultrasound of my abdomen and blood work done.

I've also been having some other gastrointestinal issues, so the surgeon wants me to see a GI doctor to diagnose what's really going on. I hope they find some gallstones so I can have my gallbladder removed. Otherwise he said they would have to run some more tests to figure out the source of my pain. So keep me in mind next week with my appointments. Pray that I get these issues resolved and taken care of soon. I sure do miss my salads, steaks, and eggs.

Moving On Up

The springs on Cooper's toddler bed were about to bust through the mattress. Someone liked jumping on his bed...I'm not naming any names. So I bugged Chad to transition him to a big boy bed. He still moves around a lot, so we opted for a futon spring mattress. His bed sits lower to the ground in case he rolls out. He has done so well and was so excited. We got some really cute transportation bedding from Target. Nice and warm flannel sheets just in time for the cold, winter nights. The best part is now instead of Marlee crawling into our bed each night, she now just walks across the hallway to Cooper's bed and sleeps with him. They love it. They have slept together every night except for a couple times when she stayed asleep in her bed and while we were home for Thanksgiving.

It is pretty funny to listen to them giggling on the monitor each morning. They will usually play upstairs for about 20-30 minutes before they make their way downstairs. They have to fall asleep in their own beds otherwise they would NEVER go to sleep. If Marlee wakes during the middle of the night, then she can crawl in bed with him. They don't cuddle up, but she just likes knowing another person is in bed with her.

The other big news is that Cooper is pull-up free!!! He has been potty-trained during the day since July but just this past weekend HE decided that he didn't want to wear pull-ups to bed anymore. I explained what that would mean for him. He completely understands and uses the bathroom (most nights) before getting in bed. I've slept pretty lightly all week waiting for him to wake during the middle of the night but he's done great. I know there will be a few accidents here and there, but I'm excited for the big boy adventures Cooper's experiencing.

It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas

The kids are SOOOOO very excited about Christmas. And so am I. Nana gave the kids some new Christmas pajamas. They curled up in Cooper's bed and listened to a Christmas story. Then they showed a little love to one another. We've set up trees in each of the kids' bedrooms. We let them have full control of decorating them.

Bass Pro Shop and Cooter's Place

Yup, We're country for sure. We headed up to the mountains few weeks ago for no real special reason. We stopped by the Bass Pro Shop and looked around. Both kids really enjoyed the uniqueness of the store. Santa was there, but neither kid wanted to get too close. So we settled for browsing the sections and munching on moon pies.

Cooper has a new love for Dukes of Hazard. In Gatlinburg they have a store/museum of Bo, Luke, and the whole gang. Cooper was in Heaven. We could hardly get in the door without him stopping. They had a life-size General Lee, but we opted to just explore the store. The kids came away with cute t-shirts.

Gingerbread House 2010

Last year we made a gingerbread train. We switched back to the traditional house this year. The kids were terribly excited. I iced it together and let them do the rest. Chad sat back and snapped pictures of the fun evening. I hope to add this to our holiday traditions for years to come.

Bad Blogging Award

The bad blogging award would go to me. I have just been plan ol' busy lately. I got behind on uploading pictures, which put me behind on blogging. I'm in the process of back-dating some posts. So scroll through and look for a few new ones and check back later in the week for updated posts. I'll try and do better from here on out.

First Official Play date

Marlee has a BFF at preschool. The girls have wanted to set up a play date for sometime now. We finally got it worked out for Miss K to come over and play for a few hours. They had a great time. Lots of giggling, lots of wardrobe changes, and lots of silliness. I had to remove Cooper from all the fun. He adopted the role of pestering little brother perfectly. He wanted to do everything they did but having only two of everything, he was the odd man out.

I look forward to many more play dates and friends over in the future.

My Cowgirl Ballerina

I think the pictures say it all. And I threw in a picture of Cooper just for the heck of it.

Holiday Card Time

Aside from visiting with family, my most favorite thing about the Holidays is decorating our home. Finishing in a close second is creating holiday cards to send to all of our favorite people. We have done picture cards since Marlee was born. I have always enjoyed searching for the perfect card online, ordering them, and selecting the perfect pen to sign and address the envelopes.

I highly anticipate receiving cards in the mail. I'm sort of a card-a-holic. I have collected cards for many years. I have a box at my parents' house full of cards from my childhood. So sending and receiving holiday cards is right up my alley. I'll share one of those "things you don't know about me" thingys...I keep all of my cards each year. I pack them away with the rest of the Christmas decor and spend time looking through them all the next year. I love to see how families grow and expand each year.

There's no better way to document those yearly changes than in holiday picture cards. This year I am excited to use Shutterfly for the first time. I had decided to use them this year even before I heard about their great promotional offer to blogger.com. So if you love to blog, love to take pictures, and love to send holiday cards, then you must try this:

 Bloggers get 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly… sign up: http://bit.ly/sfly2010 

Their selection of cards is wonderful and each design has a uniqueness about it. They have three main styles to chose from, folded cards, stationary cards, and flat photo cards. I have picked some favorites from each group but don't worry, I won't spoil my pick for favorite that you'll open in the mail. :)

Folded Cards I like can be found here:

 Flat Photo Cards I like can be found here:

Stationary Cards I like can be found here:

 

I'm ready to embark on the perfect holiday card pose this weekend. Wish us luck. It's not an easy thing with two little ones. Oh, and since we have moved, let me know if you need our new mailing address...'cause you know I'll be looking for your card.