Meek Family Memories

Looking Back on 2011

2012-01-02T12:13:00.001-06:00

As always, I can not believe that another year has come and gone. 2011 was a year of many firsts and many blessings. Our family has gone through a lot of fun changes with having two kids growing and learning so much all the time.

Christian is still working at Dell as an Inside Account Executive. He has continuously topped himself at work this year. There has been so many times that he has reached an all time high of the most or the biggest deal... He has also set personal goals for himself outside of work and has been dedicated to reaching them... As always, he has been such a hands on daddy and husband. He is willing to help out around the house and cook if I'm busy and could use some help... Mason and Morgan both adore him to pieces. He does get a little overwhelmed when it comes to matching bows and girly clothes, but he's gotten the hang of being a daddy to a little girl really well... He's given us a lot to be proud of again this year.

I am still doing home health Physical Therapy, and I absolutely love it. It's so flexible and works out great for having such a busy life. Every day I feel blessed because I have so many patients that touch my heart... I have really enjoyed being a mommy of two this year. I have so much fun with them and love helping them figure out this crazy world that we live in... It's been the first year since Christian and I have been married that I've had a "real" job with making good money. It's been such a blessing to us because it's allowed us to reach so many financial goals that we've set for ourselves. We have so many more set for 2012 that we are confident that we'll reach them as well!

Mason is almost 4 years old and the most fun ever! He blows us away every day with how much he knows and how wonderful he is. He has such a sweet, compassionate, and loving personality. He definitely is all boy and loves to get rough and dirty too though. He's just the perfect mixture! He loves to mimic his daddy with handy work, but he also loves to help me cook and clean... He has this incredible sense of smell! I'm sure that sounds strange, but I guess it's just something you have to hear and see for yourself... He is wearing size 5 clothes and is still taller than other kids his age... He loves to talk about God and Jesus. He is always singing his "Jesus songs" and telling us about things that makes God happy and if something is bad, he talks about how those are sins. He has a very strong faith already and it's so wonderful to see.... He loves to count and spell. He knows his alphabet, he can spellhis full name, he loves to read books and when he hears a letter, he relates it to someone's name. For instance, if he sees a W, he stops and says "Wade's name starts with a W!" He is into Transformers, Super heros, cars, sports, running, playing with his sister, playing dress up, working with tools, and doing imaginative voices while he plays.... He loves to hear how smart and handsome he is. If you say something about him or any boys being cute, he will let you know that boys are 'handsome', not cute or pretty... He has gotten more sensitive lately and if he gets scolded even a little, he will go to his room, close the door and pout. He also has wanted the door to be shut to go to the bathroom alone lately. He tells us that he will just holler for us when he needs to be wiped. He's growing up so fast! He definitely has two very proud parents.

Morgan is 13 months old and is just as precious as can be. Her walking is getting so fast and it's turning into a waddle run!... She is trying to talk more and more. Her newest word is 'uh uh', like she's trying to say uh oh... If she hears music or even if we are singing, she'll start bobbing her head around... She loves to hear stories and listen to the books... She likes to play with toys of any kind-boy or girl... She is feeding herself so well and using her sippy cup like a big girl... He hair is getting longer and her thighs are losing their rolls. She's growing up before our eyes and even though it's an absolute blast, I wish it would slow down!

Here are some pictures to recap the crazy, yet fun lives of The Meek Family in 2011...

January marked the excitement of Mason getting out of pull ups and into wearing big boy underwear!

Christian went hunting for the first time and loved it! VIEW

VIEW

Family gathering for my sister's birthday. VIEW

Mason and Morgan's first OU basketball game. VIEW

Morgan's first bath in her tub. VIEW

Sweet Little Morgan at 2 months old.

Cold days spent with friends.

Morgan's first day at daycare at 3 months old.

Monster Truck Rally. VIEW

Sledding with Daddy. VIEW

Insane snow drifts that got us some days off work.

Valentines' Day with my little love bugs. VIEW

Mason's 3rd Birthday! VIEW

Superman Birthday Party. VIEW

St. Patty's Day. VIEW

Our 6 Year Wedding Anniversary weekend at The Hard Rock. VIEW

Mason started his first sports team. VIEW

VIEW

Moving up to the Busy 3's at school.

Cancun trip for our friends, John and Jamie's, wedding. VIEW-Part 1

VIEW-Part 2

Kansas City for the reception. VIEW

Easter Sunday. VIEW

Mason's first t-ball practice. VIEW

My little stud at the t-ball games.

Morgan's 6 month appt. VIEW

Morgan's dedication at church on Mother's Day. VIEW

Church summer softball league. VIEW

Family Dallas trip to watch the Yankees vs Rangers. VIEW

Zoo Day. VIEW

Super hero friends.

Morgan starting to use a high chair.

Meek cousins.

Father's Day. VIEW

Camping at Lake Murray. VIEW

Morgan's first teeth. VIEW

Summer Fun.

Fourth of July. VIEW

Christian's 34th birthday weekend. VIEW

Gaylord Texan for Christian's birthday.

Night out with friends.

Fun with cousins.

My baptism. VIEW

My 1 Year Anniversary at my job.

The sweet flowers that my hubby got me for my work anniversary.

Our big boy starting the Fantastic Fours. VIEW

Sis starting in the Toddler room.

Mason's first race car ride.

Beautiful sissy.

My 10 year high school reunion weekend. VIEW

High school friends.

Class of 2001.

Mason's had his first crush, Scarlett.

Fishing with the fam. VIEW

I ran my first race. Brookhaven 5K. VIEW

Maroon 5 and Train Concert. VIEW

Morgan started crawling.

Smore's with the boys. VIEW

Tulsa Aquarium with Dee-da.

R/C plane show.

The kids' first plane ride. VIEW-part 1

Family trip to Ohio. VIEW- part 2

OU/TU football game.

Redhawks game when a player gave Mason a ball. VIEW

Christian's first 5K. VIEW

Mason's first field trip with school. To The Orr Family Farm. VIEW

My 29th birthday. VIEW

Halloween. VIEW

VIEW

Rascal Flatts concert.

Orr Family Farm with friends. VIEW

Women of Faith Conference. VIEW

Morgan's 1st Birthday. VIEW

VIEW

Morgan using a big girl car seat.

Thanksgiving. VIEW

Mason and I both shot our first gun.

Christmas time. VIEW

M & M's school Christmas play. VIEW

Visit to Santa. VIEW

Small group Christmas party. VIEW

Tulsa fun. VIEW

Horse drawn carriage ride. VIEW

Christmas Party. VIEW

Christmas giving. VIEW

VIEW

Christmas morning. VIEW

Mason skating for the first time during Christmas break.

And, kind of sis, too.

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2011 was a year of extreme weather in our parts and all around the world... It was a year of adjusting to two mobile children... It was a year of adjusting to two working parents... It was a year of some tough trials but they always seem to work themselves out.

God has blessed us in so many ways in the previous years, and I look forward to what He has in store for us in 2012!

Ringing in the New Year!

2012-01-02T09:21:00.000-06:00

To celebrate leaving 2011 behind and the beginning of 2012, we joined some of our friends in a road trip down to Lake Murray for the night.

Our friend, Sam's parents have a house boat down there and they were crazy enough to let us all take it over for a little while. The boat's name is Crown Murray and it was the coolest thing!

We had to cross a little vi dock to get to it.

First glimpse was the front of it...

Then as we came around the corner, we saw that the boat just kept going! It was huge!

The bedrooms were little nooks and lofts here and there.

There was a back patio/deck area out the master bedroom.

The outside stairs led to a huge open patio area.

There was a slide coming off the top floor... that you can tell which gender contemplated on going down it and I'm sure you can guess which gender nixed the idea!

Inside was a cute, little quaint living room, dining table and kitchen.

Everyone took their turn being Captain, even though we never left the dock.

Birthday boy, Sam, approved!!

The weather was beautiful that day, with just a little breeze. We arrived in the afternoon with plenty of time to enjoy the upper deck.

The boys played games, like the funny, boyish men that they are.

They were all cute in their matching 'Crown Murray' hats.

Us girls had fun chit chatting and enjoying the view.

Sam's parents did it up right for us! They left dinner, snacks, drinks and breakfast for the next morning for us to cook up. It was all delicious!!

We had some champagne to celebrate the big occasion.

There was some dancing...

And, LOTS of silliness going on.

After 15 tries :), here are the girls all dolled up to head to the casino for a little while.

My NYE date.

We made it back to the boat in time for the New Year count down... We celebrated the turn of 2012 twice - once on New York time and once our time. That just meant double the kisses!

It was a great idea to escape to the lake! We had lots of fun, had a ton of laughs, and have too many goofy moments that we'll all keep to ourselves... There were a few hiccups, but all in all, we really did have a great time ringing in the New Year on The Crown Murray!!

Thanks SO much for everything, Bob and Suby!! You all were too gracious, but we did enjoy all the luxuries you provided us!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

CHEERS TO 2012 BEING A YEAR OF MANY, MANY BLESSINGS FOR ALL OF US!!!!

'Twas the Day Before Christmas...

2011-12-25T23:10:00.002-06:00

Christmas Eve morning, I finished up some baking while the rest of the family had movie time. Then we gathered presents and the goodies I made to deliver to some friends and also made some extras to give to some random families.

Before we left the house, we went through our toys (for the third time in the past 2 months) and decided we would find someone that could use them instead of just taking them to the Goodwill like we normally do.

We packed up Mason's grill, a bike and helmet, his firetruck riding toy and a few other toys.

While we were driving, Mason started talking about the last time we gave toys away to kids that didn't have many. It was so sweet that he remembered the few times that we had done that. And then he asked why we were giving his toys away again. We told him that he was about to get more toys from Santa and we wanted to be nice and give away some toys to kids that may not get very many for Christmas.

Then Christian and I started being silly hollering "Yay, it's going to be so nice of us! Yaaay!!" Then Sis started clapping and giggling. Then Mason joined in too! It was such a cute little moment.

There are some apartments that our small group used to do the landscaping for as a community project and delivered Thanksgiving dinner to one year. So, we decided to see if anyone was home to give our goodies to.

Mason was so excited. It was sweet.

We knocked on the first door and within 2 seconds Mason said, in a disappointed tone, "Nobody's home." So I had to tell him that we had to give them a chance to open the door. But noone answered, so we moved on to the next door.

Again, noone answered. Mason was pretty bummed so I knew that we had to find some people that were home.

After 4 unanswered doors, we finally found a lady that was home! She opened the door and we handed her a goody bag and Mason told her "Merry Christmas!" The sweet lady said, "Awww, thank you baby! That is so nice of you!" Mason whipped his head toward me and smiled SO big!

Once we got back to the car, he said to Christian, "Daddy, she called me baby!" He thought it was so funny that she called him baby. Then after he thought a while, he said, "She called me a baby. We don't call people names, right?" Christian and I immediately started smiling. We then explained to him that she wasn't calling him that as a bad or silly name, but as a sweet thing. It was funny to watch his mind think on her calling him that.

After we left there, we found another home to deliver goodies too. Then we drove around to another part of town to look for a home that looked like they had kids to ask if they would like our toys. We found a house with kid toys outside and asked the family if they would like any of the toys we had. There was a 5 year old boy and a 3 year old girl. We asked the boy if he would like a bike and he shook his head REALLY big. It was too cute. It was so fun for all of us to actually give things to a family instead of just drop them off at Goodwill.
After we finished delivering, we saw a car on the side of the road, so we stopped and asked the young man if he needed help. He told us that he had ran out of gas and that he was just going to push his car to the gas station across the street and that he didn't need any help. But Christian wasn't about to let that poor kid push it all by himself. So, he pulled over and went to help push. Then another guy told Christian that the kid had been sitting there for a while and said he would help too.... All it takes is one person to offer to help first and then others will follow!

Of course Mason was asking questions of why Daddy was doing that. So, it just added to the sweet lesson that we were teaching the kids for the day!

That evening, we got all cleaned up and went to the Christmas Eve service at our church. My beautiful mom and sister joined us too.

There was beautiful worship music beforehand and then a short and sweet sermon because Clark, our pastor, realized since childcare was not open, we all had antsy kids.

All the kids went on stage to listen to the Christmas Story. My kids went up for a moment but then Mase wanted to go back and sit down since we had chocolate milk and cookies at the seat for him.

After church, we got the kids in their oh-so-cute matching jammies and got going on the Christmas Eve traditions!

First we got the cookies and milk set out for Santa, and some carrots for the reindeer.

Then we sprinkled some reindeer food (oatmeal) out into the yard.

Mason had a blast throwing it into the grass!

Then the kids piled into Daddy's lap to hear 'T was the Night Before Christmas story.

Morgan would look back and forth between the book and Daddy's face.

They both sat very still and listened.

At the end, Morgan grabbed the book and the kids started being silly and giggling away.

Next, it was time to set a trap to see if Santa really did come! So, we got some flour out and sprinkled it in front of the fireplace to see if we could get any footprints to show proof Santa came.

We did this when I was younger, and I remember my sister, brother and I searching the house up and down for boots that matched the footprints the next morning when Mom and Dad weren't looking. We never found those boots! :)

And, last but not least, we watched the video that Santa sent Mason!

Santa used Mason's name, had pictures of Mason, talked about things Mason did this year and everything! Mason was over the top excited!

Click HERE to watch the video Mason got to see.

Then we put the kids to bed and got started on setting up the big production. Christian put together the final toys and I wrapped and tied bows onto everything. Then we headed to bed with much anticipation for the morning.

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~
'T was the night before Christmas, when all through the house,

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,

In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there.

The children were nestled all snug in their bed,

While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads.

Christmas Blessings 2011

2011-12-25T22:38:00.001-06:00

The next morning, Christian and I woke up so excited! We couldn't wait any longer, so at 7:30 we went and woke the kids up.

As soon as Mason was up, he said "Santa didn't come." And we told him to go look and see if he had!

And, he sure did! There were way more presents everywhere than when the kids went to sleep the night before!

Immediately, Mason spotted his Dune Racer!

And, Morgan went straight to her chair!

It was cute that they both knew exactly what was theirs of the two unwrapped gifts.

Then we had to check out the house!

Yep, he ate his cookies and drank his milk!

And, Easiton had some letters that Santa left for the kids!

These letters were LEGIT!!

Mason looked at the address labels and found the one that had his name on it.

Then Morgan knew the other one was for her.

We read all about how proud Santa was of the kids for being so good this past year and the encouraging words for them to continue to be good for the coming year to stay on the good list.

Then we went to see if there were any footprints... And there were!!

There were footprints coming out of the fireplace and some going back in!

BIG ONES!!!

We got proof!! YES!!

Then the kids took off to play with their toys. I think their smiles say it all!

Little Miss is a dare devil! She kept standing and climbing all over her chair.

Then she went to check out Bubba's new ride.

I just love love love these two little munchkins to pieces!!

Then it was time to start opening presents.

Mason wanted to help all of us open our gifts, too.

We were all really happy with our gifts! We must have all been good this year!!

Mason always wants to spell out things on our laptop, so he was so excited that he got his own!

Right when the wrapping paper came off this box, Morgan knew it was her's. I'm not sure if it was all the pink things or what, but she could tell what was for her.

She started playing with her new kitchen right away.

It was so fun to watch the kids play with all their gifts as they opened them. And you better believe that every single gift had to be opened and played with before moving on to the next gift.

Mason was so sweet giving us all kisses and hugs and saying thank you to us.

After Mason opened his gifts up from Morgan, he gave her hugs and said "That was so nice, Sissy", in a soft and sweet voice.

Throughout the gift opening, Morgan kept climbing into her chair and taking a little break in it.

She was so cute with her little feet resting on her ottoman.

Then Morgan went down for her morning nap and Mason headed outside to test out his new car!

He was so cute racing around in his new robe all along the streets. Everyone that drove by would wave and smile really big!

He even took me for a ride!

Luckily I'm a little momma cause it was a tight squeeze in there!

And it went really fast even with me in it! Mason kept saying, "Are you scared, Mommy?!" And of course, I said I was and he thought it was hilarious! But then he was ready to have it all to himself and parked and said "Okay, get out."... Um. Excuse me you little stinker?!

At one point he stopped and said he had to go get something. He went inside and got some tools to put in the front bin and put on his construction helmet, goggles and work gloves.

I absolutely love this age!

Then Daddy got Mason's new remote control monster truck out and raced it with Mason in his Dune Racer. Boys will be boys at every age!

It looked like so much fun that I even tried it out! And I had a blast with it too!

After a couple hours of playing with all the new toys, we packed up and headed to my mom and dad's.

Here are my little sweetie pies last year on our way to my parent's for Christmas. So much change in just one year!

Once we got out to my parent's, the boys and I headed out to the field to shoot some clay pigeons.

One would toss the disks up and the other would shoot them.

It took Christian a few tries, but after that he was nailing them all!

They were all impressing me!

After a while, Mason came out and watched and even got to help toss the disks and help Daddy shoot the gun a couple times.

Once we got back inside, we had a special visitor! It was Santa delivering a few last presents!

Who wants a present?? I do, I do!!

The kids all got moving and noise making cubs.

The guys all got marshmellow guns.

And us girls got some cooking stuff. Nice work Santa!!

Then the whirlwind began as we all started opening up gifts.

Mom got us some way cute ear warmers!

The guys had fun playing Dad's new hunting game.

Then my dad handed out the most unexpected gifts of all time... Family inside joke.

Sis joined in, too!

They are in a very safe spot and will be until next year! :)

It was a really great Christmas this year. It was super fun with M & M being all over the place. I adore both of their ages and it could not have gone any better. We were able to spend time with both sides of families and had a great time with them all.

Christmas is always such a special time to spend with our loved ones. It's a season of great joy and it's a time of God showing His great love for us as we celebrate the birth of His son. What a special day in Bethlehem that must have been. Jesus' birth brought great joy to the world then and has continued to do so every moment since.

Happy Birthday, Jesus!!
We love you so much and are so thankful for all the blessings we have because of YOU!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS,

FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS!!!

"He will be a joy and delight to you,

and many will rejoice because of His birth."

Luke 1:14

Visit with Santa

2011-12-25T22:37:00.003-06:00

This year Mason was a big help in writing his and Morgan's letters to Santa.

He got his crayons out and was very particular about what colors he wanted to use. He named off several toys that he was just dying to get for Christmas. It was so funny to hear him name them off with such excitement. Then he helped us decide what to write in Morgan's letter and what she should ask for, too.

We "mailed them" to the North Pole and then it was time to wait for Christmas!

One day, we took a trip to North Pole City to visit Santa. It is such a beautiful place to go, but especially this time of year! The decorations were absolutely gorgeous!!

Mason had fun running all around checking it out.

Mason, Klayton and Emma enjoyed the caboose ride.

Such adorable cousins!

Then it was time to all gather up and wait for Santa to arrive.

Mason kept asking "Where is Santa, Mommy!" "He's not coming!"

Santa was running a little late and the kids were all getting a little antsy, so they distracted the kids by having them sing Christmas songs.

He finally popped throught the red curtains!

The kids were all so excited to see him!

Look at Mason's big smile!

He was thrilled to see Santa!

Then Santa sat down and read the Christmas story to the kids.

He had a book with pictures to go along with his story.

The kids all watched and listened so well as Santa spoke. I think they were afraid to act up in fear they wouldn't get any presents!

After the story, we attempted to wait in line to get a picture with Santa, but it was a couple hours long wait. So, we checked the rest of the place out instead.

There was a room with a ton of displays of little towns. Mason and Morgan both loved looking at them.

Morgan was so funny checking it all out.

She kept shoving her face against the glass to look closer.

There were decorations from the celing to the floor.

A Santa and his reindeer flew across one of the roofs.

There was a beautiful nativity scene on display that Mason pointed out exactly who was who in it.

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Since the line was so long to see Santa at North Pole City, we headed to where we visited Santa last year-Bass Pro Shop.

There was a Winter Wonderland area that had fun games and entertainment while we waited.

There was a lot of fun things to do. The boys had a great time driving remote control trucks, shooting rifles and sling shots and racing cars on the race track.

After we played a while, we got in the long line to see the big man.

Once it was our turn in line, Mason slapped his hand over his mouth and got SO excited once he saw Santa!

Sis wasn't sure what she was excited about, but got all giddy just because Bubba was.

Right when we walked up to see Santa, Mason started telling him all about the Optimus Prime and other toys that he wanted for Christmas.

Mason was just rambling away while Morgan just stared at Santa's face.

My sweet, little Santa babies.

We got to see two really good Santas this year!

The letters were written and in the mail, the kids got to see Santa and tell him what they wanted, and all that was left was to wait for Christmas Day!

Christmas Spirit

2011-12-25T22:37:00.001-06:00

We've been busy this holiday season, which has kept our Christmas spirit up and going strong!

We have loved the excitement of getting a gift in the mail every day from our friend's and family's holiday cards! It's so fun to see how each family has grown and changed.

One thing that was very dear to our hearts was adopting a family with our church small group.

There was a single mom of 4 kids - two boys ages 12 and 11, and two girls ages 9 and 21 months. Each of our families chose one of the five to buy gifts for. We chose the 21 month old girl.

When we went shopping for the little girl, we just couldn't stop buying things for her! We originally figured we would spend about $30-$40, but ended up spending $75 on her. The entire time we were shopping for her, I kept getting a little sad and I teared up so many times thinking of the mom raising the kids on her own, what a blessing our small group was being to her and her kids, and just how grateful I was for being in the position to be able to help out.

When asked if the mom would prefer the gifts to wrapped or unwrapped, she said that she enjoys wrapping gifts but couldn't afford to buy any wrapping paper. So, we all even supplied the wrapping paper, scissors and tape.

One evening, some of us met at the family's apartment to play Santa.

We all had our arms full of bags and gifts for the family.

We brought our kids so they could experience giving without the expectation of getting things in return.

The kids were so sweet carrying the bags in.

Here you can see Mason carrying a big bag in in the background.

It was a small price to pay to help another mother out. While we were bringing the gifts in, she kept saying "Wow! Thank you so much!" "This is incredible!" "What a blessing you all are to us!" And then she had the four kids come down to say thank you. She was very sweet and gave us hugs as we left.

Mason was just such a sweetie. He left telling us that he wanted to go give more toys to kids that didn't have any. It was such a sweet thing to do as a family and with our sweet, thoughtful friends.

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Another thing that has kept us in the Christmas spirit, is packing up and driving around to look at Christmas lights!

We all love to see the lights, so several evenings we got all comfy and cozy in our jammies, got our chocolate milk for the kids and hot chocolate for us, and ventured out around town and nearby cities!

Morgan goes to bed at 7 and it was usually around 6-6:30 that we would head out. But she did great and had a blast along with us!... For about an hour or two anyway. Then she would nap the rest of the time.

Here is Sis driving around looking at lights exactly 1 year ago. Isn't she just precious then and now?!

They both loved watching the lights!

Our first stop was the Downs Family House in East Norman. Click HERE to see videos of the music going with different songs.

They said there's 64 stakes per tree, and they calculated they had to swing the sledgehammer about 1,300 times per tree!

On their website, they state that there are 2 main reasons why they do the huge lights display every year.

"First, about 2,000 years ago our Lord gave us the greatest gift imaginable..... the gift of eternal life. This is a simple way of saying 'Thank You' to the Lord. No amount of work on this display could ever compare to his sacrifice. What's a few lights compared to the gift of salvation?

Second, Christmas memories are timeless, and we want to create special memories for our community. We don't really know why, but the combination of lights and music create a lasting memory for everybody who has seen the display."

And they have a place where you can leave items to be delivered to the local Regional Food Bank... How awesome is that??

Another stop was through all the beautiful neighborhoods around town.

Another night, our fifth family member, Rufus, joined us.

We took off to the city to see the lights around Chesapeake. It is my favorite every year!

For several years, they only had white lights on one row of trees. But now that they own even more property around the area, they put lights on a TON of trees for blocks all around, and they change from white to colored. It's absolutely gorgeous!!

I let Mase sit up front with me as we strolled through the area.

Then we got out and walked through some of them.

It wasn't too cold of a night, so we took some time and got a few pics. It was just too beautiful to not!

We had our drinks in hand, and enjoyed driving through Nichols Hills and other neighborhoods. Another one of our favorite places to go every year is the Markwell Lights in Yukon. It's an entire neighborhood that has lights and music coordinated together. Click HERE to check it out. We always let Mason drive in the front seat with Daddy or sit up front with me, and he loves it!

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The weekend before Christmas, our church put on a Christmas Spectacular concert.

The kids all enjoyed their cookies and running around together before and afterwards.

Morgan was a little sweetie and kept wanting to share her cookie and feed the boys.

Morgan was loving the music! She would clap and wave her hands around, and sway side to side. I think we've got a little dancer on our hands!

By the way, doesn't she look so precious in her dress?! Thanks again, Tracy!!

I had to put two family pictures since one kid is looking in one pic and the other kid is looking in the other. :)

Outside the church, they were having horse drawn carriage rides.

So after church, a couple of my friends, Brandie and Candace, and I piled our kids into the carriage and took a stroll.

All of us mommies with our cameras taking pictures of the cutesy boys across from us.

Such handsome little fellas!

It's been a great season of constant holiday fun! We love this time of year!

Traveling for the holidays

2011-12-18T20:11:00.005-06:00

The weekend before Christmas, we always pack up and head to Tulsa for the holiday festivities with Christian's side of the family.

The cousins all love each other to pieces and have so much fun being silly together. And Sis enjoyed watching all they did.

She was walking all over the place, following the bigger kids around.

This is the first time Morgan and Chapman have been together where they have been walking. Chapman started walking several weeks before Morgan, so he had already progressed to VERY fast walking and climbing!

Morgan was right there beside him trying to keep up though.

When we all woke up the next morning, we stayed in our pjs and headed off to the donut store as the tradition was continued!

The boys were super excited to be back together and playing again.

They critiqued all the donuts and finally chose the ones they wanted.

This is absolutely the best donut store ever! They make the coolest donuts! They had a ton of Christmas ones-presents, candles, snowmen, santas, mittens, and stockings.

These were the ones that the kids chose. Great choices, huh?!

Sis was unsure about the messy icing on her hands at first.

But after she tasted it, all of those thoughts subsided and she loved every bit of the mess and taste!

Next was time to decorate some cookies!

Major and I made the colorful icings...

And there were lots of shapes of the sugar cookies to chose from.

There were a lot of cookies, so we started off right away.

Mason was the designated sprinkler.

It was a big mess, but a lot of fun!

Next, Mason and Daddy went downstairs to put the train together. Every year they have a great time doing that little project together.

They were hard at work.

Once they got the tracks together and around the tree, Mason started hooping and hollering all excited.

Morgan woke up from her nap and came to join the fun.

She liked the little reindeer on the sleigh.

Final touches...

Then there it went! Mason slapped his hand over his mouth with excitement!

Then it was time to get all prettied up for the Christmas party!

My kids were so adorable, as always!

Grandmother Thomas had the gumdrop tree for the kids again. They were very particular on which ornament they chose.

Sis loved her little teddy bear that Grandmother set aside for her.

We ate until our bellies were stuffed and chatted up a storm with everyone.

Mason was a huge help during Dirty Santa.

Mason thought it was hilarious when anyone would steal the other's gift!

Our little crew was whooped by the end of the weekend, but we had such a great time!

Celebrating with the Kids

2011-12-18T20:11:00.003-06:00

Last week we had Christmas parties at the kid's school. We started off in Morgan's room first.

The eight little ones were all so funny in their seats.

I love their dangling feet!!

Morgan was so excited to see Daddy and me!

The kids were hilarious during meal time.

They kept snatching each other's plates and dumping them out and reaching over and taking food off each other's plates.

Morgan stole poor Eli's cookie!

They would even grab the other's cups and start drinking them... The teachers and us parents did the best we could at keeping them in their own little areas. And now I see how germs are spread so quickly around other kids!

Sis just loves her Daddy!

After lunch, it was play time. She was walking all over the place!

There she goes running to Daddy!

Our sweet little punkin!

Then we headed to Mason's party. He saw us in the hall and took off running toward us. He jumped into my arms!

And I, of course, ate it up and hung on tight!

Their party started off with music time. There were a lot of different instruments. It sounded so... ~~noisy,~~ ~~out of tune,~~ ~~screatchy~~... I mean, it sounded beautiful!! :)

Regardless, they were all excited to be playing! And we all had parent earmuffs on, so we thought our kid's music was just perfect as can be!

Then it was time for prayer and lunch time.

Our sweet boy was so thrilled to have us there.

Then he asked if we could bring sissy into his room to join the party. So, we went and borrowed her for a little while.

She had fun being in the room with her Bubba.

Mason was cute telling his friends that she was his sissy and telling them all that she is walking now.

After the party, we were taking Morgan back to class but I thought I'd get a picture of the two together in the hallway... Well, this is how that turned out. They were both so hyper and all over the place. But I still love the pic I got!

Mason showed us the project that they had been working on in his class.

How wonderful is this that our children are exposed to this daily. St. Joseph's is such a sweet blessing to us and our kids!

He was so proud to show us how they all dressed up to act out the parts of Jesus' birth.

Mason explained all the pictures to us of what they were acting out.

Read the captions of the pictures that are on the pictures.

Mary and Elizabeth love their babies.

Look at my sweet Joseph!

Shepherds come to adore Christ.

He was so proud to show us and tell us all about the story of Jesus' birth. Every time he sees a nativity scene, he points out the three kings, the shepherds, the angels, Joseph, Mary, baby Jesus, and the sheep. It is so sweet to hear him tell us all about it.

It was a perfect way to end their parties. It was such a sweet time for us with our kids.

1 Year Old Little Miss

2011-12-18T20:11:00.001-06:00

Morgan is 13 months old and a walking, climbing, giggly little thing!

She's been loving her big girl car seat!

She likes being able to see what's going on in the car and out the windows better.

At her 1 year appointment, she weighed 23 pounds and 11 ounces and was 30 inches tall. She's getting so big!

She is climbing onto and up everything!

She started walking about a week after her birthday and she's getting better and better every day!. Here is a video of her walking at school one day.

She's totally off the bottle and baby food. Yay for that!! She's eating table food and likes most things we give her... Even broccoli!

She loves feeding herself with her spoon.

And she does a pretty good job at it! But if there is a food she doesn't like or when she is finished eating, she takes it and rubs it in her hair!

She has started to love listening to stories.

She likes to turn the pages in the books.... I remember so vividly when Mason started liking to turn pages in books. So this is all so crazy to me to go through this already with Morgan!

Now that she has 8 teeth, we got her a big girl tooth brush.

She is so cute when we brush her teeth. She just sits there and looks at us like we are nuts. But it doesn't seem to bother her... I remember Mason hated it!

She has started playing with bigger toys and knowing how to work them. She loves the ball popper and she knows to put the balls in it, push the red knob and grab the balls as they pop up to put back in.

SO big girl!!

Her and her bro are just the sweetest things together! He still loves to climb into her crib with her and they have so much fun together.

Here are some of her 1 Year Pics we had done in the studio. She wasn't walking yet, but she had started standing on her own already.

This is her little ornery look/smile that she gets when she starts to fuss a little but is still kinda happy.

This is one of my favorites! It's so sweet.

Love her up on her tippy toes!

We were all there so we decided to all hop in a few pics with her.

I love this picture with M&M looking off.

And, Miss Priss in her birthday outfit.

I brought her an enormous cupcake for pics and she LOVED it!

She was double scooping and everything.

She was in heaven!

When we took it away, she kept reaching for it. It was too funny.

Morgan is really growing into her own little person right before our eyes. She has such a sweet, gentle attitude. But she does love to wrestle with Bubba, Daddy and Rufus. And she knows that Momma is good for some cuddle time. She is dainty, sensitive and lovable, and just everything I'd ever imagined in a daughter!

4th Annual Christmas Partay!

2011-12-12T15:55:00.005-06:00

For 3 years we had an annual Christmas party. But then I went back to school, and we didn't have the party since I had finals that week. Then the next year we had a newborn (Morgan), so we decided not to have it that year either. But this year, we brought it back!

We ended up deciding only 3 days before to have it because we had 6 people ask us if we were having it. So, we decided what the heck and sent out an evite! We weren't expecting many people to be able to attend since it was such a last minute thing. But to our pleasant surprise, we had a pretty good turn out!

I cooked and baked my little heart out to make a good array of food for our guests.

I must say, I was quite impressed with myself and the cake balls and pretzels that I made! I'm pretty proud of them. :-)

We also had some champagne punch and other coctails available.

We love our friends! We had such a great time with them!

After a while of mingling, it was time to start the traditional Dirty Santa gift exchange! So, we all found a place close enough to scope out the gifts.

Scott was #1 and started us off.

The first few of us chose gifts from under the tree.

But once I opened my chosen gift, the stealing began!

It was unexpected and pretty awesome!! It definitely was fought over and the first gift to be frozen! ;-)

The 'dirty' in Dirty Santa was shining through everyone's ruthless gift snatching!... which, of course, makes it so much fun!

I had at least 4 gifts stolen from me, but ended up with a great gift that goes perfectly with my house! :)

And, last but not least... Sam opened the last gift. Which was actually one of our's. It was Anchorman on Blu-ray and a random bottle of panther cologne that we found, that I labeled "Sex Panther", per quoted from the movie.... We were laughing all day about our gift and were so excited about it!

They've done studies you know. 60% of the time, it works every time!... HA HA!

Our house ended up smelling like Sex Panther from it getting sprayed! And just so you know, Sam, we found it and there will be pay backs!

It was a really great night! We have so much fun with our friends, so we didn't expect anything less!

Christian and I love hosting parties and catering to people. We are so glad that you all were able to come on such short notice! We're already looking forward to the 5th annual next year!

Singing to the Heavens

2011-12-12T15:55:00.003-06:00

This past Saturday, our kid's daycare put on their annual Christmas Program. I was even more excited this year since Mason was so big and had been practicing his songs all month long!

My handsome boys.

My lovable teddy bear.

(the teachers painted the kid's noses to make them look like teddy bears.)

M & M's fan section!

Mason was so cute waiting in line back stage.

First up was Morgan's class. The Pre-K class was behind them singing "Christmas Time" by the Chipmunks, while the Toddlers sat in the front and just looked cute.

Morgan was a little antsy, so she was up and down. I think she just wasn't sure what was going on.

Either way, she was just precious as can be up there!

Then she went to sit with Daddy and Nana until it was Mason's turn, and then Daddy and I were up in the front videoing and taking pics.

When Mason first stepped on stage, he just stared out into the crowd. We weren't sure if he saw us if he would just want to get off stage and come be with us. So we were a little nervous to let him see us.

But once he saw us, he got SO excited!

He started waving and smiling so big! He was saying "There's my family!"... It melted my heart!!

Hayden (to the right of Mason) hollered out "Ho Ho Ho! Merry Christmas!" I don't think it was part of the play, but it was really cute!

The first song was Santa Claus is Coming to Town.

Mason nailed the actions that went with the words! There weren't too many kids that actually did them, but Mase was on top of it!

You better watch out,

You better not cry.

Better not pout

I'm telling you why,

Santa Claus is coming to town.

He's making a list,

And checking it twice,

Gonna find out who's naughty or nice.

Santa Claus is coming to town.

He sees you when you're sleeping.

He knows when you're awake.

He knows if you've been bad or good,

So be good for goodness sake!

O! You better watch out!

You better not cry.

Better not pout

I'm telling you why.

Santa Claus is coming,

Santa Claus is coming to towwwwn....

To towwwwn....

To towwwn!!

All week long, Mason would make sure that he reminded us that he was suppose to say "Santa Claus is coming" and "to town" 3 times at the end. He was so cute how he would swing his arms up and raise them each time he would sing it.

In between songs, Mason and Hayden were so funny! They turned to each other and would talk. You could hear them giggling and talking about the songs. It was too cute!

Then Mason hollered out "There's my family!" a couple times again. It was so sweet!

Next song was Go, Tell it on the Mountain.

Go tell it on the mountain,

Over the hills and everywhere.

Go tell it on the mountain,

Our Jesus Christ is born.

When I was a seeker

I sought both night and day,

I asked the Lord to help me,

And he showed me the way.

Go tell it on the mountain,

Over the hills and everywhere,

Go tell it on the mountain,

Our Jesus Christ is born.

He made me a watchman

Upon a city wall,

And if I am a Christian,

I am the least of all.

Go tell it on the mountain,

Over the hills and everywhere,

Go tell it on the mountain,

Our Jesus Christ is born.

During the "everywhere" part each time, he would drag his hands out really slowly. It was hilarious! Again, he was one of the few kids that actually did all the hand motions. I had the biggest grin the entire time!

After the two songs, we ran backstage with him and gave him lots of proud hugs and kisses!

He ate it up, too! He was so proud of himself. It was so sweet.

His class went back on stage for the finale of Feliz Navidad.

Again, he started waving at all of us once he got onto the stage.

Feliz Navidad

Prospero año y felicidad.

Feliz Navidad

Prospero año y felicidad.

I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas

From the bottom of my heart.

Afterwards, he gave us this BIG grin. You can just tell that he had a blast up there!

We were so, extremely proud of how well Mason did on stage! I was glowing with how excited I was! And Morgan was a perfect, little sweetie as always! I look forward to next year when she'll be able to sing the songs, too!

It is such a sweet blessing to us to get to see and hear our babies praise Jesus. We are so thankful that St. Joe's teaches the importance of faith. It's wonderful.

Party with my Groupies

2011-12-12T15:55:00.001-06:00

This past Wednesday, our small group all got together for some good ol' Christmas fun!

We lucked out and one of our fellow groupies, Kelly, let us all pile in his limo for the evening!

We headed out to eat some bbq at Rudy's, then to look at some Christmas lights.

On the way to the lights, we started up a game of Dirty Santa... There were many interesting gifts, including a homemade hand-me-down sweat shirt (pictured below), home decor, games (Farkle got fought for!), not so good smelling body spray, an extra large tub of hot cocoa mix, lottery tickets, a bag full of used candles, and so much more greatness.

It was all too funny to see the gifts that were opened and of course the stealing of the gifts was a blast!

It was a fun, little night to spend out just having a good, easy time with people that are all dear to our hearts!

We missed the ones that couldn't make it, and had a great time with the ones that were there!!

"Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!"

-Ecclesiastes 4:9-10

Dancing the Night Away!

2011-12-12T15:54:00.001-06:00

Last weekend our sweet niece, Emma, had her first Christmas dance recital.

There were 2 rows packed just to see our sweet Emma.

Nana and Poppy got to cuddle up with their sweet girls.

There were several dances before Emma's class and Mason kept asking where Emma was?! and kept yelling "I don't see her!"

When she got on stage, Mason yelled "There's Emma! I see her!"

She's the blonde girl third from the right in the picture.

She did SO good at performing the entire time! She was one of the few girls up there that did the motions the entire song.

Morgan was cuddled up with Poppy during the recital.

Mason watched every dance (there were 25!). He was extremely interested... Not sure if it was the music, the dancing or all the girls that interested him. Maybe all three! When one of the songs from his Christmas play that he was going to be in came on, he would say "That's my song!", and then sing along with it.

Morgan really enjoyed the dancing too! She watched the whole time and would even bob her head and shake her hands with the music some.

After the finale, Mason gave Emma a bouquet of little roses.

Such sweet cousins.

She did so good and we were all so proud of her!

She was the Star of the Show!!