my christmas top eleven

1. having all my wrapping done before christmas eve (a first for me!)
2. rusty hanging up christmas lights on the house (after ella begged us!) for the first time, only to find that they didn't work....AND the lights had a recall on them so r had to take them down and return them to the store. there will definitely have to be some more begging next year to get him to do that again!
3. having our friends marty, robyn, abby and andrew come visit us for a few days
   
4. watching ella sing in her school program
   
5. hearing evan ask for "mickey mouse merry christmas" every single morning over and over and over again (it's the mickey mouse twice upon a christmas movie that my kids have literally seen a 100 times at least the past couple weeks)
6. celebrating christmas with my extended family at my sister's house. there were 21 adults and 19 kids!! full house!
   
7. almost starting a fire at our church's christmas eve service! during the end of the service, we all held candles and ella's started melting on her hands. she threw her candle down and started freaking out over the hot wax! (while daddy was trying not to be distracted on the stage as he was playing guitar and singing for the service!)
   
8. my twin niece and nephew crying and fighting over the (one) vaccuum we got them for christmas!! mental note: never buy them a joint gift...even if it comes in 2 parts (a dust buster and vaccuum that i thought they could share!) see video below!! it was hilarious!!
   
9. evan talking to grandpa on the phone on christmas morning...and he was showing grandpa his new scooter that he got. evan got on the scooter and rode over to the phone and said "watch me grandpa". it was so sweet....and grandpa had a good laugh.
   
10. ella telling me that she thinks santa bought her new ballerina dress and princess DVD at toys 'r us because they have all the toys!
    
11. driving around for 45 minutes on christmas night trying to find somewhere to eat dinner! we tried TGI Friday's but there was a 45 minute wait! and the only other place open was a chinese restaurant having a seafood buffet...and it smelled kinda gross inside! so we ended up at one of the many waffle houses we drove by that actually had an open table available. it was a fun dining experience...and a cultural one!

i'm so thankful for the many memories we made this christmas....here are some pictures and make sure you don't miss the video of the twins at the bottom!!

a merry christmas

after all the hustle and bustle, i feel like i have been able to take a deep breathe today and actually relax. it has been a joyful day today...filled with lots of smiles, laughter and thankfulness. i can only pray that through all the unwrapping of gifts, the toys galore, the family get togethers, lots of food and sweets, christmas trees, christmas lights and santa claus...that my children will be able to really get what this day is all about. i can only pray that they will see Jesus through it all. that they will be able to experience his amazing love, hope, peace and mercy. and may you all experience Him throughout the coming year of 2007! merry christmas!

another birthday for my hubby

today is my husband's 33rd birthday. yes, he always got gipped (sp?) on his birthday. i usually try to separate his birthday and christmas...although today i had to pull a present that was under the tree to give to him. i honestly meant to wrap it in birthday paper...and just forgot (sorry honey :)!)

i told him in his card that i wouldn't want to grow old with anyone else. i'm so thankful for having such a loving husband who is wonderful to me...and to our family. i can't imagine life without him...so here's to another 33 years...and more! happy birthday rusty!!

(if you know rusty personally...maybe you could leave a comment for him and send your happy birthday wishes...and have a little pity on him since his birthday often gets overlooked!! poor thing) :)

songs of an angel

ella had her preschool christmas program yesterday morning. i was one proud mama! she has been SOO excited for this day to come...to get to sing on stage and have mommy and daddy watch! she has been practicing her songs every day for us. she has the sweetest little voice...so high and soft.

but for this song (in the video below)...it wasn't too angelic-like! this was her favorite song to sing (or shout!). notice her mouth on the last word she sang, "born"...so funny!

there was another song that was slower and softer and was absolutely precious. she even did sign language to the words. i started crying! it was just so sweet to see my baby girl look all grown up singing her songs that she was so excited to sing for us. this is one of the true joys of parenting.

what is up?

what is going on with blogger? i haven't been able to comment on some of my favorite blogs the past few days. is anyone else having this problem? i think its those who have switched to beta blogger. its so frustrating. i have yet to switch over...i'm not really sure what the benefits are to using it. anyway, sorry to my friends who i haven't left comments on your recent posts. i've tried!

3 of my favorite christmas albums...just in case you were dying to know

JOHN DENVER & THE MUPPETS "A Christmas Together"
wow. i love this album...yes, i admit it. it brings back lots of childhood memories. my sister and i had the album and we had every song memorized. i especially enjoy miss piggy singing "ba dum dum dump" after singing "5 golden rings" in the 12 days of christmas. and i love hearing the sweet voice of john denver singing "when the river meets the sea". the muppet show was one of our favorite shows...so i guess it was inevitable that i would love this christmas album. i don't have the cd...i think i need it (hint hint to my dear loved ones).





HARRY CONNICK JR. "When My Heart Finds Christmas"
when i got married, this cd came into my collection (oh, wait, i had no cd collection back then...i wasn't that cool). and every christmas when rusty and i would start decorating the tree, this cd would be played. i love harry connick's music...his jazzy flair that he adds to all his songs is just coolness. my favorite tracks are "(It Must've Been Ol') Santa Claus" and "I Pray On Christmas". i'm sure there are other harry christmas cd's that are good...but this is the only one we have.





ED CASH, ALLEN LEVI & BEBO NORMAN "Joy"
this is another one that we listen to every year. i love the combination of all three of these talented musicians. my hubby grew up in the same town as allen and bebo and knew them both. we have great admiration for their music. my favorite tracks are the first and last..."O Come Emmanuel" and "Go Tell it on the Mountain" (complete with a full gospel choir).




other favorite christmas cd's:
Nativity Songs (this is an annual concert done by various musicians in atlanta...the concert is held at Intown Community Church)

Your King Has Come - Indelible Grace Music

if you have any other good recommendations, pass them on!
** sorry if you use bloglines and it told you i had several new posts...i had to revise this a couple times so the cd images would fit. sometimes blogger drives me crazy.

scary monster face

there's nothing more fun than your children making you laugh. and it's even more fun to get them to do their funny tricks over and over again to make you laugh more. a while back, evan came up to me and said "scary monster" and he made this funny face where his eyes get big, he makes his head shake, and does something funny with his mouth. it is so funny. since that day...we make him do it for us all the time. and we also like to make him do it for other people. we're all about entertaining others, you know!? it may not be as funny in these photos...or the video (this was NOT his best performance...he was being shy for the camera)...but maybe someday you will be blessed to see it in person! you will surely laugh out loud. it gets me every time. love that boy.

try, try again and again and again

i am so thankful for my digital camera. i always like to include a good photo of our family in our christmas cards every year. actually, i usually just take a picture of the kids. but this year i attempted to do all four of us since i had the luxury of snapping away over 100 shots to get the right one! and i am also so thankful for the continuous shooting mode where it lets you snap as many photos in a row that you want...and you can even set it on self-timer. very cool feature.

it was a challenge to get a great shot. we had numerous photo sessions with me setting up the camera, pushing the button, running over to the family, getting into position, and rusty and i attempting to get the kids to look into the camera and smile. it is rather exhausting! there were moments of yelling and moments of laughing. and it's amazing that out of 100 photos taken, that we had only about 3 to choose from that were decent! and i probably will even do a little photoshop work on the one i choose! we would look through the ones taken and say: oh...ella had her eyes closed, or evan has his tongue out, or ew, i don't like my smile in that one, or my hair looks dorky there, or rusty has sleepy eyes in that one, or ella's hand is in the way, or its out of focus, or evan is running out of the photo! CRAZY.

so here is a glimpse of how our photo shoot went. sorry, you won't get to see the final photo that was chosen right now!

um, as you can see...not a good one!


funny face on evan...


and yet another bad one.


me running over to grab evan...quickly!


typical toddler...after the first 10 photos...it was impossible to keep him still!

sniff sniff

i should probably buy stock in Kleenex brand tissues. i have a box in just about every room of my house. and the reason is because i am constantly needing them...therefore, i have them handy and keep them close. my allergies are not great and i feel like i am constantly sniffing. and it seems my whole family has needed them the past month with all the colds we have had.

anyway, i don't know if any of you are nerds like me...but have you noticed the new cool kleenex box designs? i LOVE them. it actually made me so excited to see them in the stores and even though they are more expensive, i still bought some! i would much rather pull a tissue from a cool looking kleenex box than those ugly grandma looking ones! i know, i know, it sounds rather silly. but for a product that is used that much in my house...i want it to be pretty and not an eye sore! go check it out for yourself. thanks kleenex!