Looking Back

There is just something sentimental about wrapping up a whole year of your life. You look back on the trials and wonder if you have grown from them or have they left irreversible damage that you will continue to carry with you. Or will you leave them behind and look forward to the New Year with excitement and wonder? You hold tight to the precious memories of the past year and wish that you could do them all over again. You look at how much your baby has grown right before your eyes and know that you will never pass this way again. It's hard to imagine that you blinked and the whole year was gone. That is just life! You take the good and bad and at the end of the day it is oh so worth it! Here is to the New Year and all of the special things to come! We hope your New Year will be filled with peace.

Mike's Farm

We did it! We finally made it down to Mike's Farm to see the Christmas lights! We have been trying to go for the last five years and could never get our schedules right. I am so glad that we were able to go this year. It was amazing and of course we had to stay for dinner too!

The pictures were horrible because of the lighting but you get the idea!

We love Mike's Farm because they are so patriotic and not afraid to share their religious beliefs either. The best part was at the end of the hay ride when a snow machine made it snow all over us! It was magical and we loved it! I hope that is not the only snow that we see this winter though! Ha!

Christmas Day

Camden woke up very early!! It was Christmas morning and he was more than excited! First we went to see if Santa read his letter and ate his special snack! Santa left his cup turned over...he must have been in a hurry! He also let us know what the reindeer thought about raisins!

Then we went to look under the tree! Camden got something that rocked his world! He loves his I Pad!

We opened gifts with Mom and Dad and I got this sweet little spatula and a bundt pan.

This was my absolute favorite....a canvas print of our little family!

Next we were off to my sister's house. Barry always makes his traditional Christmas morning breakfast (pancakes, eggs, sausage and bacon) and it is so good!

This year I made a Honey Bun cake to go with it!

We had to get this years picture of these three in front of the tree!

We opened some more gifts and then Mom wanted to get a picture of all of us. This was the part where I had a small heart attack. She had backed up to a book shelf that had a candle on it. After my sister gasped loudly I turned around and Mom's hair was on fire. She declares that it was just her hair spray that burned, but she did NOT see what we were seeing! We ran to her and tried to do some very quick damage control. Fortunately, it was not as bad as it could have been! Then we all posed for the picture in which we looked shell shocked! Ha! It was crazy and probably the only crisis that I have ever participated in that I didn't completely freak out! Then we were off to Uncle Sid's to eat more food! Every year the menu is always the same. Our traditional Christmas lunch consisting of Chicken Dumplings and Pinto Beans. It is amazing! Of course, the lunch is fabulous and we eat while watching A Christmas Story!

Later in the evening we went to Bev and Jeff's for dinner! It was also amazing! At this point I thought I might just blow up if I ever ate another thing. I heard it was going to be a cold winter so I am packing on the winter weight that is for sure! At least, that is what I am telling myself! Ha! We had such a wonderful day that was full of family and food! So thankful!

Christmas Celebrations: Day 4

On this day we all had food coma which I can't imagine why??!!
It was Christmas Eve and we were worn out, so we tried to take it easy! For some unknown reason, Camden decided to start fixing his hair with a bottle of hair spray! I finally had to hide all of the hair spray in the house. He was out of control! He said it was like the 80's style. I told him that he didn't know how people wore their hair in the 80's and he said that he watched movies!

That evening we watched The Polar Express!

I even did my Hot Chocolate dance (minus the back flip) while serving everyone! We had some of this goodness to go with it!

I will surely miss this Christmas movie tradition when he gets too big and doesn't want to watch anymore!

Then it was time to get ready for Santa! Camden wrote a nice little letter to him and left him a Christmas cake and milk.

We decided to track Santa before we went to sleep just to make sure, you know!

Then it was lights out to try and get some shut eye which was next to impossible!

Christmas Celebrations: Day 3

On this day we celebrated with my Mom and we ate a lot of food!
This is a puzzle that my Mom put together and she framed it. So pretty!

Now for the food...we had ham and chicken, lots of snacks, potato salad, deviled eggs, etc and a boat load of desserts!

The best quote of the entire Holiday was: "Who made that corn? It really wasn't any good!" We got a big laugh out of that!

These little mice made yet another appearance...

Camden didn't get many presents at this gathering and he let his disappointment be known. Poor thing, we are trying to teach him about giving and not getting but he is only nine.

The grandparents with almost all of their grandchildren. Only missing three.

Christmas Celebrations: Day 2

The next morning we were off to church for the Christmas Cantata. It was wonderful as always and we got soaked getting there. I have never seen so much rain and neither has my new black suede shoes!

After church we quickly changed clothes and ran over to Tim's mom's for some more food and more presents.

After we stuffed ourselves silly we opened gifts! Even Bentley!

Camden was so excited to get socks! He told everyone that asked what he wanted to get him socks and that is what he got! Well, because you know, he just doesn't have any socks! I can't help that he is so hard on socks! He wears holes in them and tears holes in them by pulling them up to his knees! Just look at that face!

Camden also got a Leatherman from Aunt Sandy and Uncle Chris. Uncle Chris showed him the special features and how to handle it properly.

Grandma got a dog bed and pooper scooper for her baby!

Rocky didn't know what was going on but he sure did love the attention and his gifts!

 

Christmas Celebrations: Day 1

We spent five days with family and had the best time. It was like being at summer camp with so many activities and eating! Of course, there were presents too, which made it even better! The first gathering was at my aunt's. It was so great to see everyone that we haven't seen in quiet a while. I took this coconut cake and had it sitting on top of some steaming hot lima beans for the trip. When we got there the icing had just slid right off the cake! Oh well, it was still so good!

We ate a ton of food and then had to take some pictures! Cousins...

Second cousins..

Sisters...

Here is the gang and this wasn't everyone. We were missing a few that were not able to travel.

It was so great to visit and just pick up right where we left off! We will have to get together more often!