Christmas Day!!

We have about 300 (no kidding) pictures from Christmas! I don't feel good today and don't feel like typing much so I'll just do a post of pictures. In short, Christmas morning we woke up did presents at home with the kids, went next door to my in-laws and had breakfast and did presents with them, then drove to Alma to Granny's to have lunch and do presents with the cousins, then we drove home so I could go to work from 6-10, then I came home and crashed!! Last night Mom, Dad, Tanner, and Steph came out to the house and we did snacks and presents with them! We're exhausted, and now I'm sick again so I'll just do a post of pictures!

Christmas decor

My little nativity

Another angle of the table

The kids' stockings on Christmas morning

Grace went straight to her stocking!

Opening presents at home...please excuse the pj's and messy hair!

Colt opening his electric piano.

Corey's new backpack. Yes, he did get cooler gift...like the "gangsta" hat on his head, but this was one of the better pictures of him.

Granny, Darrell, Uncle Greg, Tanner, Mom, and Granny Ima after Christmas lunch at Granny's.

Josh, Hillary, Megan, Grace, and Corey waiting for lunch!

Cousin love....Grace, Uncle T, and Megan.

Mom and cousin Julie

Mom and Dad

Megan and Grace

Me and Gene

Corey, Grace, and Colt

Grace and Cousin JT

Ok, that's Christmas Day in a nutshell! Except we forgot to take the camera to my in-laws so I'll have to get those from my m-i-l. I've also got some from last night but they aren't uploaded to the computer yet so I'll post them hopefully in the morning. Hope everyone had a wonderful day!!

A Christmas Eve for the books...

First of all....I can not believe it is already Christmas Eve! I mean, in an hour and a half it will be Christmas!

My Christmas Eve did not get off to a very good start though. Yesterday I got up around 8 with Grace and then Mom picked her up a little after 9 to head to Alma to see Granny and the Gerens. Right after they left the boys and I got ready and headed out to finish up my shopping. Colt and I had appointments at 10:30 to get a haircut (Colt) and eyebrows waxed (me) and then I had to go to Rogers and the mall and to Target. I also had a tire that was losing air so I had to get that fixed. I knew I wouldn't have time to get everything done and get the boys back home in time for me to go to work. Teresa let me use a few hours of comp time so I didn't have to go in until 5.

I got all my errands done and dropped the boys off just in time to get one present wrapped and then I headed in to work. It wasn't really that busy, but about an hour after I got there the midnight shift supervisor called to let us know that two people from her shift had called in and that someone was going to have to stay until 2 am to help cover it. Guess who was on call yesterday.......me!! Oh, I was so excited about it! Not!!! Actually, I needed the overtime and I was able to go in late so it wasn't that bad.

Anways, Tanner sent me a text just before midnight asking if I needed anything and I was kind of hungry so he brought me some McDonald's. He ended up staying up there till 2 with me hanging out. It picked up quite a bit and we actually had several calls which is surprising since it's winter. My relief from dayshift got there, and Tanner and I left.

Here's where it gets good! I was driving down Crossover in Fayetteville when my steering wheel got tight and then the battery light in my car came on. I was able to get off the road and into a driveway out of the way. Fabulous. I called Tanner and luckily he hadn't made it home yet so he drove over there to try and help me. We pop the hood and check things out. Let me just say right here that it was raining. Even better. Tanner tries to start it again and tells me the battery is dead. So.....luckily he had some tools in his truck and was able to get the battery out, after a fight with it! Let me also add that we didn't have a flashlight so we were using the light from Tanner's phone. Oh yeah, it gets better. So, after finally getting the battery out we head to Wal-Mart to replace it. We ended up running into the other K9 officer when we got there because he works midnight shift and was getting his last present. I thought he might be some help in confirming we had the right battery. Wrong. He didn't have a clue! Tanner felt pretty confident that we had the right one though, so after spending and unexpected $83 on a new battery and a FLASHLIGHT we headed back to the car.

By this time it's 3 am, and it's started raining harder. Yes! Tanner had an easier time getting it in than he did getting it out since we 1)had more light and 2) knew a little more about how to manuever it. However, the flashlight shed a "whole new light" on the situation, when we realized that the battery wasn't really the whole problem. The main problem was the rat's nest we found. Now, when I say rat's nest, I'm referring to the alternator belt that is COMPLETELY shredded and COMPLETELY off of where it's supposed to be. Yea, this was super news. I felt so bad for Tanner because he thought he was doing so great in helping me when we really hadn't fixed anything. He started beating himself up about not checking everything before we went straight to the battery. I'm not sure we would have realized it though because of the little light we had.

One bit of good news is that when we tried starting it after replacing the battery it started right up like a charm...which it had not done after it died on me. So, that tells me that my battery was due to be changed anyways because it was just shy of being 4 years old. Tanner was able to move my car a little more off the roadway and then he drove me home. It was now 3:45 and I was soaking wet. After I made it home a little after 4 I woke Gene up and told him what was going on because I knew he would be up in a little over an hour to get ready for work and would freak out when he saw my car wasn't there. He wasn't upset about my car, only that I didn't call him. I didn't call him, because he was sleeping and had to work today and Tanner was still out and I knew he could help me. So, I took a hot shower and laid down. I was so deliriously tired that I couldn't fall asleep until almost 5. I woke up as Gene was leaving around 6 with a bad coughing fit (I've also had a sore throat/cold this week). I dozed somewhat off and on until 8:30 when I heard Grace wake up. Corey went and got her for me, but then their mom came and picked them up so they took Grace next door to my in-laws so I could try to get some rest. I didn't really get any anyways. I finally got up around 11, and finished wrapping my presents before I got ready for work.

Gene bought a new belt and he and his dad went and fixed my car after he got off work today. It's running just fine now! Tonight wasn't too bad at work, and I got to leave about 30 minutes early. When I got home Gene had just put Grace to bed so I changed clothes. The only reason I'm still up is because I'm waiting on the washer to finish so I can switch out loads and get the laundry done before tomorrow. I plan to be asleep within the next 30 minutes!

My Christmas is certainly looking up, and I hope everyone has a very merry Christmas!!!!!!

A Ninja's Birthday, A Christmas Party, An Anniversary, and A Sick Family

It has been a busy weekend around here. I had a pretty busy week at work too getting stuff ready for the PD Christmas Party. Yesterday (15th) was Corey's birthday but since Gene and I work on Mondays we decided to celebrate it Friday night. So, he picked Olive Garden to have dinner and then we all went and saw Four Christmases. We dropped Grace off to Mom and Tanner at Target after we ate and she ended up staying the night with them. The movie was HILARIOUS!! It was so good, and will definitely be one that we buy when it comes out! After the movie we came home to birthday cake and ice cream!

And here's the birthday ninja! He's such a goober. We got him some new pj's as one of his birthday presents and they were folded up and tied together with the shoelace or whatever it was that's tied around his head and then he was posing and acting like a ninja. Like I said...goober. He would probably kill me if he knew I put this on here.

We completely forgot to get some more candles so we only had 8 left, 7 of which were pink! He didn't really care though!

After he blew out his 8 instead of 14 candles, we all sat down to watch Get Smart, another one of his birthday presents. I think we were all asleep within the first 30 minutes though!

Saturday morning I had to be up at the Sprindale Country Club to get things set up for our Christmas party. We ended up working up there until about 11, then Teresa and I went and got our nails done! I then went to Kohl's to check on a precious dress I wanted to buy for Grace for the party. Mom and I found it last week but it wasn't on sale, and I didn't want to pay full price for it when she would probably only wear it a couple of times. Well, I ended up getting it Saturday on sale 55% off! I was sooo excited! I then headed home to get everyone ready.

Colt wasn't able to go because he had to march with the school band in the Winslow Christmas Parade, so he actually left with his Mimi and Papa shortly after I got home. We all got showered and dressed and ready to go. Grace and I left early because I had to be back to the Country Club earlier for final touches.

Here's my precious girl in her new little dress! This picture really doesn't do justice to just how adorable she looked, but she did! She did ok during the party. Gene was getting a little stressed I think because she just wanted to be up walking around and seeing everyone the whole time, and I was having to work so I couldn't take care of her much. Of course every time I walked off she wanted to follow me! Overall I think she did ok though.

This is a picture of Teresa, Jana, ad myself all dolled up! I was excited about how good my outfit turned out. I had quite a time figuring out what to wear. I had bought a black sleeveless dress first but I hate my arms and I couldn't find anything that looked good over it, so I took it back and got this red one from JcPenneys! Teresa is the one I'm always talking about, and Jana is also a member of the committee and she works downstairs as a secretary to one of our captains. I just love her to death!! We have had a lot of fun working together on the committee.

Here's another picture of the ladies. Not a very good one of me, but that's ok I still like it! We also had a professional photographer there and Gene and I had our picture taken together. I don't have a copy of it yet, but hopefully I'll be able to eventually put it on here. We never had anyone take a picture of us with our camera. I really wanted some more pictures but I was too busy and didn't have time to get anymore taken. The ballroom looked so beautiful and Christmasy and we got lots of compliments on our hard work! The party was a big success, and we are all glad it's now over!!!!!

I must say though that the food was not that great and one of the meats was chicken cordon bleu. Yuck! I did get some just to try and the chicken was still pink. Needless to say we didn't eat it, but Sunday morning around 6 Gene went upstairs to check on the kids and could smell something stinky. He stepped into Grace's room and stepped in vomit. She had not only pooped in her diaper but also thrown up all over herself and her bed. Bless her heart, she never even made a sound through the night because I never heard her, but she had been so sick. He brought her downstairs and I had to run her a bath and put on fresh clothes. Gene stripped her bed while I gave her a bath and then he took her so I could wash her sheets. He only had her about 5 minutes and she got sick again. We had to strip her clothes off her again, and decided to just leave her in a diaper and wrap her in a blanket and keep a towel close by. I think every blanket and towel in our house was washed Sunday. I felt so helpless, and she just kept looking at me like she didn't understand what was going on. She couldn't keep anything down. Gene went to the store and got her some children's pepto and some Pedialyte and she couldn't keep any of it down.

Grace hasn't really ever been sick before. We've been very blessed with that, but she was sure sick all day and didn't want to do anything but sit in her Mama's lap.

Sunday was also mine and Gene's 2nd wedding anniversary! However, since we had a sick child it was spent taking care of her! We're planning on celebrating it Friday night so I'll make sure to get some pictures to post of us! It's hard to believe we've already been married 2 years. Time flies!

This is how she looked most of the day. Notice no clothes, under a blanket with a towel on top and her sippy of grape flavored Pedialyte!

My child is OBSESSED, and I mean OBSESSED with The Santa Clause movies! She loves all of them, but number 3 is her favorite!

She's so funny, because as soon as she gets up she goes and grabs the remote and starts saying "watch Santa, watch Santa!!" It's so stinkin' cute, so of course we start it for her! She first saw it about 3 weeks ago and we've watched it at least twice everyday since then! We've all seen it so many times that we have it memorized, and even Grace has some of it memorized!

Grace was fine Monday morning when she woke up, her Mama however, not so much. By the time I got back downstairs with her and got her diaper changed I was sick to my stomach. I was down ALL day yesterday in bed, running back and forth to the bathroom. I'm never sick either, but whew I've felt like crap the last 2 days. I stopped getting sick around 7 last night, but still felt miserable the rest of the night. Grace was better yesterday, but was whiny and still feeling a little puny.

I went to bed after putting Grace down, and then was woken up by Gene just before 4 this morning because both boys were sick and had been since about midnight. Oh. My. Word. I ended up moving to the couch so Corey could lay down in our bed and run to our bathroom instead of having to fight over the toilet upstairs! It was so bad, Gene was running back and forth checking on them. Then he fell asleep upstairs with Colt and I stayed downstairs to listen for Corey. Grace ended up going next door to Gene's parent's house away from the sickness and the boys kept taking turns getting sick. We've been back and forth upstairs taking them wet rags, Pepto, and Sprite. It's not been a great week so far in the Johnson house.

I feel better today, but still not a hundred percent so I'm staying home again from work to help take care of my family and to avoid passing the virus to everyone at work. I don't think they're interested in getting this!

So, I'm off now to try and catch my laundry up and check on my kids. I hope everyone elses' week is going better than ours!!

It's been a good week

I have had a really great week this week! It started off good because Sunday (which is actually my Monday at work) I was scheduled for a vacation day at work because I was signed up to sell tickets for the playhouse (which I still need to post pictures of) at the Springdale Wal-Mart. Well, when I woke up that morning it was snowing and about 29 degrees outside (windchill 19 degrees!!) so needless to say I was NOT looking forward to sitting OUTSIDE for 2 1/2 hours. I started working to re-arrange Grace's room and lost track of time. I checked my phone and had a missed call from Teresa that said they'd cancelled selling tickets due to inclement weather! Yay! Super good news for me because I was off all day and was able to finish my housework. Ok, now that I've just told you all this I'm thinking I already said all of this in the last post but oh well! Now you've heard it twice! Ha!

Anways, then Monday was a pretty good day at work. Pretty uneventful really, which is sometimes good! Tuesday was good as well. Wednesday we had another Christmas committee meeting and it went surprisingly smooth! It lasted about 2 hours, and they usually only last 1 but we got a lot of stuff accomplished and everyone got along great! Anways, so it was good. I ended up staying an hour late because Teresa is in the process of teaching me and Crystal how to use the Racal, which is our recorder. All of our radio channels and phone lines are recorded and there are several occasions when traffic has to be taped off either for court cases or for supervisors to review stuff. Well, Wednesday night we had to tape off a pursuit which was pretty easy compared to what we had to tape off Thursday night! The Benton County Prosecutor's office was requesting some phone calls and radio traffic be taped off for a hearing so Teresa and I worked on it. It took us 3 hours to find everything we needed and to get it sent! I didn't leave work until midnight and I was exhausted by the time I got home. I was ready to close my eyes! We got it done though and now I don't think I'll have any problems taping stuff off from now on!

Now, two weeks ago, there is no way I would have stayed at work so late because of Grace's sleeping habits and the fact that she would have 1) still been awake when I got home or 2) been asleep on Gene and I would have had to try and lay her down or end up putting her in bed with me. However, since last Saturday night when she first started sleeping in her "big girl bed" she has slept wonderfully!!!! Her bed time is 10 pm and I told Gene that she has to be settled down and laying down by 10 every night unless there were extenuating circumstances. Obviously Monday nights that doesn't work because she's at Mom and Dad's and we usually aren't home till close to 11 and then I give her a bath, then put her to bed, but every other night it's 10 oclock. Gene has torn a muscle or something in his back so he's been in a lot of pain and pretty miserable this week so Tuesday night when I got home I could see that Grace's closet light was on when I pulled in the driveway so I knew he was working on putting her to bed. I was very quiet when I came in and went straight to the bedroom to start getting ready for bed. I got my face washed and pj's on and snuck upstairs to check on them because it was quiet but Gene was still up there. Well....when I peeked my head in he was asleep laying in her bed but she was laying there awake! Oh my word. I must say this didn't really surprise me, but it was kinda funny. So I kicked his hiney out of her bed and turned the light off and she laid down. It actually took her a while to go to sleep for whatever reason and I had a POUNDING headached when I got home so I was ready for her to pass out. Finally she did and I went to bed.

On Wednesday night Gene was still awake when I got home a little after 11, but he had successfully put Grace to bed! I was so excited because I didn't have to stress about getting her down! I changed into my pj's and laid down to read. Last night was the same thing, he was actually still somewhat awake when I got home around 12:20 and Grace had gone to bed fine he said. So, we went to bed. Tonight, just before 10 she started getting really sleepy and looking for her paci. She's so funny too because she now says "big gerl bed!!" It's the cutest thing, so I asked her if she was ready to go night night and she just said "big gerl bed!" So we brushed her teeth and she gave Daddy night night hugs and kisses and up the stairs she went. She crawled right up in her bed and laid down with Frosty (her new night time companion) and Nemo. I went and got a book out of her closet and I read A Merry Little Christmas to her. She just laid there playing with her hair and after the book I turned her closet light off, bent down to give her night night kisses and she played with my hair for about 5 seconds then grabbed her own and fell asleep. Can you believe that?! I mean really. Last week she was sleeping with me because we could NOT get her to lay down in her crib and she wouldn't go to sleep without being rocked and now she'll just lay down like a big girl and go to sleep. It has honestly relieved so much stress from my life! I don't stress out now when it gets close to bed time and worrying about being able to lay her down without waking her up.

I was texting Mom earlier and telling her about our night night success and I told her that just in a week's time since she started sleeping in the "big gerl bed" she has even acted older and not so babyish. It's weird how smart they are, and they just know things. It really is like she knows she's not really a baby anymore. It's exciting and fun to watch, but it also makes me so sad because she's growing up so fast. I don't want to sound cocky by any means, but I'm so proud of my husband and myself and how good of parents we are. Of course I already knew Gene was because I had watched him father the boys for the 2 years we were together before Grace, but it's amazing to watch how you change as a couple after you have kids together. I love it, it's a whole new side of our marriage and I love that he's my baby's daddy!!

Today was a lot of fun too because all the girls from the committee met at Sam's this morning to do some shopping for the Christmas party. We hit Sam's, Party City, and Deals, then we ate lunch at TGI Friday's. It was sooo good, and we had so much fun together! We laughed and laughed at each other and it was neat to have some "girl time" and become better accquainted with girls that I work with all the time but never really knew until working on this committee with them. Gene had his third chiropractic appointment of the week today so his dad kept Grace for the morning while he was gone to that. They beat me home by a little bit, and then the boys got home from school about an hour after I did. I got some cleaning done and laundry is about caught up!!

I was really struggling with what to do for dinner though. I just wasn't really in the mood to cook and nothing really sounded good. I finally decided on cracker crumb pork steaks so I set them out of the freezer to thaw. I was going to have to run in to the grocery store to get some other things to make, and we ended up all going together! It was some good family time, and Gene had a major attack of the sweet tooth. We got not only stuff for dinner, but also stuff for brownie fudge sundaes! We got home and I got started on dinner. It was sooo yummy and I enjoyed cooking it!! Once I got started I got in the mood for it! Grace ate her WHOLE plate of food and wanted seconds! She was so messy and had mashed potatoes ALL over her. I had to strip all of her clothes off of her and then pull the cover of her high chair off to clean everything up. She made a big mess. I then made the brownies for the sundaes and cleaned our bedroom. Gene made us sundaes and I cleaned up the kitchen. Grace got a bath, and the boys went next door to stay with their Mimi and Papa because they're taking them to Silver Dollar City tomorrow, so Grace played for just a little bit after her bath then it was time for bed.

I'm worn out and my husband is snoring on the couch! I'm about to call it a night!! I hope everyone had a great week!!!

Not a baby anymore...

My little girl isn't a baby anymore. :( Yesterday was a little bit sad for me, because we broke Grace's crib down and stored it under the stairs. I must say though that the last 2 nights Grace has slept in her big girl bed by herself!!! I think I mentioned in a previous post that Mom and Dad gave us a mattress to go on the twin bed we had in her room. Well, Friday while we were out shopping I bought the bedding I had picked out at Target. I bought all the bedding (minus the bedskirt which we will have to go back for) and Mom bought her the curtains! When we got home I got everything washed up while we were doing Christmas decorations, and put it all on the bed afterwards. I was so pleased with the way it turned out!!

This is a view from the hallway. I don't have any before pictures of her room, but obviously before the bedding and mattress weren't on the bed and it was just the frame and box springs. Also, instead of those curtains there were some white sheer ones and a valance that matched her crib bedding. The big bed usually stayed piled up with stuff and it drove me crazy because it was always cluttered!! I've also got several things to hang on the walls, but I want to eventually get her a new chest of drawers and move the bed so it's not up against the wall, so I don't want to hang anything just yet and make unnecessary holes in the walls. The white thing hanging off the side is the bed rail we bought to keep her from falling out of it at night. It snaps up when she goes to bed, then you can fold it down during the day. Very handy.

This is a view from the far corner by the window, and when her crib was in there her dresser was over under the mirror and all those stuffed animals were pushed over in the corner in between the dresser and wall. I'm really not happy with the way the mirror looks because it just looks out of place, but again I don't want to put anything else on the walls yet, and I moved the dresser over to the other wall to even the room out a little bit more.

Here's the view from the mirror wall. As you can tell the dresser is really small, and not in the best shape but it along with the bed was given to us so I can't really complain! It serves the purpose for now. The crib used to sit where the dresser is, so once it was gone that side looked really bare and odd so that's why we moved it! Anyways, the brown on the wall is the cork board that Gene put up so that the kids can put up pictures or posters in their rooms and not poke a bunch of holes in the walls. All the stuff that's on there will eventually hang on the walls, and I want to just put snapshots up on the corkboard. It's all just been sitting up in the top of her closet though, so I wanted to put some of it out. The yellow canvas on the bottom left corner is the one that Leah made Grace and I LOVE it! The middle one is Grace's birth stats that Mom bought me, and the other one is 2 attached frames with pictures of Grace in them.

So, I'm very excited about the transformation and the fact that it's finally a little bit more organized and girly! Grace likes it too, and always wants to go up to her room! I think she was really starting to dis-like the crib because it was like a cage! Saturday night was the first go at the big girl bed. She did pretty good all things considered. We had taken her up there that evening when we got home from the parade to get some pjs and she crawled up in it and didn't want to get out. She just kept saying "night, night" and pulling the covers up! So, after dinner and her bath she started winding down and I asked her if she was ready to go night, night in her big girl bed and she just looked at me and said "yea!" So, she gave her daddy night night hugs and kisses and took off upstairs. She crawled up in her bed, but kinda started fussing once she realized I was serious! She did fuss off and on for about 20 minutes and Gene came up for a little bit and sat with her while I read her a book, but then he snuck out after she laid down and got still. I stayed up by the head of her bed letting her play with my hair until she drifted off to sleep. I was able to stand up and get out of her room without waking her up, and she looked so sweet cuddled up in her bed.

I was in bed by 11 that night, and it felt great! Grace did wake up a little after 1 am and crawled out of bed and started fussing. I didn't go get her, and after just about 7 minutes or so she crawled back up into bed and fell back to sleep! Success!! I woke up right at 9 yesterday morning and she was still snoring. I went upstairs to check on her, and she was snuggled up on her pillow with Nemo under her covers!! So cute! She ended up sleeping until about 10:30.

Last night was a little bit better, and she didn't fuss hardly at all. The only down side now is that I still have to stay in there until she falls asleep, but hopefully after just a couple more nights she'll start going to sleep on her own. She's already done so much better than I really anticipated, considering I have rocked her to sleep pretty much every night of her almost 2 years! I'm very proud and relieved, so I thought I would share that with you guys!

I'm headed to get stuff ready for work now! Happy Monday!

O Christmas Tree!!

**Warning - this post has several pictures and there are more to come in another post!! They're not exactly in order either, but it's ok! I'll just start off by saying that I LOVE LOVE LOVE this time of year. I must also say that my house looks so beautiful! I'm so proud of it, and it's so much more Christmasy than last year.

Last Christmas was the first one we spent in our new house, and the only decorations I put up were an old hand-me-down tree that Steph and I had used in our apartment. So, I started telling Gene last year that I wanted to get a new one for this year. He and I were in Lowe's last Friday and I fell in love! I found a 9 ft tree that was not pre-lit, and it was exactly what I was looking for!! I really didn't want one that was pre-lit, and this one was just perfect. I kept talking about it and talking about it. Well, last week I ran to Wal-Mart on my lunch break to get some scrapbooking stuff and sashayed (sp?) through the Christmas decorations and found a 7.5 ft tree that was only $78 so I called Gene and told him about it. He just kept telling me I didn't want a 7.5 ft one. Finally after making me ask over and over why, he told me I could go get the 9 ft one from Lowe's!!!! I was soooooo excited! So....on Friday Mom, Corey, Grace, and I went shopping and I got some new pretties to put out, and then we ventured to Lowe's! We had made room in Mom's car to haul the tree so I went up to pay for it. There was a sign up that said Christmas decorations were 25% off, but the employee I spoke to said he didn't think the trees were. Well....they were!!! So, I saved about 40$!! I was so pumped!

Grace stayed the night with Mom and Dad Friday night so the boys and I could get all the decorations up. Gene was gone to the deer woods, so we had everyone out of the way. It took us about 4 hours to get everything out. Gene also bought me new lighted garland to put on the mantle and I bought new stockings last year after Christmas so the fireplace is completely different from last year. I also had new stuff to put on the piano.

We slept in Saturday morning till about 11, then I got up and Corey and I went grocery shopping. I picked up some bows to add to the garland and tree and fake snow to put on the piano, and completed the deco when we got home! After we finished that and ate lunch we had to get around and get ready for the Christmas parade in Springdale. The Christmas committee had a float in it advertising the playhouse. Grace was going to be dressed up as a baby doll and Corey was our head elf on Santa's Workshop! We went to Mom and Dad's to get Grace dressed and ready then headed in to the rodeo grounds to meet up with everyone.

I took this picture of Grace and Corey at Mom and Dad's right before we left. Grace had on a little Christmas dress with tights and long pants on underneath and two long sleeve shirts. I also put her hair in pigtails and put some blush on her cheeks. She looked so cute!

After we got to the rodeo grounds and got out of the car, we realized just how bitterly cold it was going to be. Gene met us up there to get the camera from us, and decided it was way too cold for Grace to ride on the float. I forgot her gloves and with her pigtails her hood wouldn't stay on to keep her ears covered. So, he took her and they went and parked to watch the parade. After waiting for about 30 minutes, we finally started moving. We had other kids on the float and Teresa and I walked along side passing out candy. It was cold, but it went really well and we had a lot of fun. I was upset that it was so cold thought because I knew Grace would have loved to sit up there waving at everyone! Oh well, maybe next year!

This is a picture of the piano. It didn't really turn out that good, but you get the gist of what it looks like in the dark with the lights on!

Here's our mantle!! I'm so proud of it and the way it turned out! The boys and I had quite a time figuring out how to get the garland up there but we finally got it! The red and gold bows are the ones I bought yesterday and added to it. The stocking holders spell out Santa but it's kind of hard to see in the picture. They were actually Mom's, but she bought new ones and gave them to me since I needed five! I just love our stockings too, but I wish there was enough room on them to monogram our names on them. We'll have to take the middle ones down when we burn a fire, but that's no big deal.

Grace's eyes got super wide when we got home last night and she saw all the new decorations! She kept going over and rubbing her butt on the tree! I have no idea why...she's kinda crazy!!

And here's the whole tree!!! It looks like it's leaning a little but it doesn't really look like that standing looking at it, so I don't know! This picture doesn't do it justice either, but I'm very very proud of it!

Here's Grace doing the butt thing again! She's done pretty good with not touching it. She's been in trouble a few times, but hasn't messed with it since!

Ok, that's all I've got for now, but I do have some other pictures of Grace's newly renovated room!! I'll post more on that later!

Team Edward!

Ok, I don't know if any of you have read any books from the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer, but if you haven't then you need to! They are so good and so addictive! I've read all 4 of them, and now waiting on the 5th one to come out.

Colt is on the last book right now and has read all of them, and Corey hasn't read any of them but he went and saw the movie Friday night! He said it was really good, but obviously doesn't have anything to compare it to since he hasn't read the books. The people I've talked to who have read the books and seen the movie say it's not as good as the book, but I'm still anxious to see it!

If you have read it then you are familiar with the fact that Edward wrote Bella a lullaby on the piano. Colt found the piano sheet music to it, and is learning it....as we speak! It is sooo pretty, and I told him he needs to hurry up and learn it so I can hear it all! Ha! I guess I could sit down and learn it too!

Anways, just had to post about that. If you haven't read them then do!!