Welcome to Spa Lauren

Spa Lauren is open for business. We now get free manicures and pedicures from Lauren. She will give them on a daily basis.

Did Santa realize what a wonderful gift this would be? She even gives herself a fresh pedicure each day!!!

We must leave the house.

On Sunday night, I made the comment to JM that I had a full day of plans for Monday including driving back to B'ham for Corynne's 6 month follow-up on her ears and going to a few stores their like Apple to get a few needed items. Then I hoped to be HOME Tuesday morning after my OB check-up for the REST of the week. I should have NEVER said it because it was domed from the start!!! For good reason though.

I got 3 calls from our realitor that 3 families wanted to see our house on Tuesday ranging from 11am-3pm. That's a good enough reason to get me out of the house since I want to sell this house soon! The kids helped me get everything cleaned up and "show ready" early Tuesday morning before my OB visit. So we actually left the house at 8:40 this morning, and we could not go back until 3pm.

My OB visit went great. I am right on track size wise, the baby's heartbeat was good, and I had lost 2 pounds. What???? I guess my dad's diet works!! (See entry earlier in December) Actually, I think it was the little stomach virus I have been battling for weeks. Anyway, I am sure I will make it up next month.

We went to Target and the Children's Place. We ate lunch. What to do? What to do? Oh, the girls got Claire's gift cards from Uncle Michael. We will go there. Surprise!!

Corynne had been talking about getting her ears pierced. This time she decided to go through with it. She was very nervous, but I kept telling her it is only a pinch and it really doesn't hurt.

Tada...

Then, Lauren decided that she needed her ears pierced. Oh, no. This could lead to some real drama.

Tada...beautiful.

Lyndsey enjoyed shopping with Tyler supervision while the girls' got their ears pierced.

Thank you for our Christmas gifts, Uncle Michael and Aunt Jacqline!!!

Christmas # 6 --I think

After lunch, we loaded the Suburban again and headed to northern AL. We drove up to JM's dad's house. He has been asking us about our Christmas plans for a while, and we were VERY slow to commit since we knew we would have just got back from our big trip to TX. We were very glad that we decided to go since we found out once we got there that EVERYONE was coming this year. That meant 24 people and 9 dogs (?) during the day and 2o people sleeping all over the house at night. It sounds chaotic, but it is so much FUN!

Lyndsey reconnected with our dog BAMA who lives at Granddad and Noni's house. Corynne loved the new puppies at their house. They are sisters--so I do not know if this was Tinker or Bell!

Christmas #6

Yes, I think we will call this Christmas #6 (#5 was our family Christmas at home).

There were 10 cousins included in the above count. They are all so close in age that they have so much fun together. The boys are ages 10-12 the girls are ages 3, 4, 6, 9, 10, 10.

The girls began choreographing their annual program almost immediately. We all received tickets and programs for the program to be held after the big meal on Saturday and before presents. It was very cute as always!

Then it was present time.

The little girls slipped away for a short time. JM found them back at the table "mixing drinks".

Then, it was time for games. Apples to Apples and $100, 000 pyramid

Before we left on Sunday morning, we celebrated Caroline's birthday. Noni threw together a fast little party for her special day today. Caroline's favorite gift... GUM!!!

A little more sugar for the road!

Our Family Christmas 2009

Christmas morning was filled with all the wonders and magic of the day for the kids. The cookies and milk are gone.

Their eyes sparkled as they walked into the living room to discover that Santa had left them just what they had asked for.

Lyndsey - a dora bouncing ball, a diego backpack, a dora kitchen

Lauren - an AG doll, ipod, and a home spa

Corynne - a rolling sewing bag with her own sewing machine and a digital camera

Tyler- a new ipod touch, Wii Nerf game, $ to buy the new tennis racquet that he wants

Dad- a new pair of boots.

Mom - a collection of Willow Tree kids to represent each of my babies and a Demy (recipe organizer)

Merry Christmas to All!!!

Christmas Eve

It really does not feel like Christmas Eve. We got back in town yesterday afternoon, and we all retired to our corners to just relax. Today I am working through the bags, starting laundry, and trying to get the kitchen cleaned up from breakfast and lunch so that we can have our annual cookie bake! JM helped out by running all the errands for us this morning...like go get some milk! Turn in our home remodel loan paper work...ugh. Take Lauren to get a new pair of tennis shoes. Doesn't everyone do these things on Christmas Eve? Well, you do when you have been out of town for days!

By mid afternoon the cookie bake had begun.

While frosting our cookies what to our wondering eyes should appear, Santa via the Portable North Pole to give us updates on holiday deliveries!!

Lyndsey...on the nice list!

Lauren...doing good!

Corynne...on the nice list!

Uh-Oh....

Tyler....is on the naughty list :( He had better be good the rest of today if he wants to have a good Christmas in the morning!

We finished up cookies, got ready for bed, read the Christmas story , set out a snack for Santa and watched a Christmas movie.

Good night!

Our 4 Christmases in Texas

This was an unusual year. We actually celebrate Christmas with everyone this year. Well, we are not sure if we get credit for a few of them since they were not technically on Christmas Day but we tried.

Christmas #1

On Sunday morning, we went to church with my mom and dad. They have started going to a church in their small community that meets at the old Carbon school. The Carbon school closed back in 1987 (?). I attended K-6th grade there, and my mom taught their for 13 year (I think ?). It was weird to see how everything had changed. After church, we went to my parents house for lunch and presents. The kids had fun opening their gifts from Grammy and Papa. JM did a little computer work for my mom. We hope we did not mess up her computer routine too much!!!! :0)

We all enjoyed a relaxing afternoon. Well, I think we all did. I really do not know because I fell asleep at some point!! I know the kids did get to ride the 4-wheeler for a while! As Lauren told us, 1 day is just not enough time at Grammy's house to get everything done.

Grammy took all the kids to the movie in Eastland on Sunday night. They saw "The Princess and The Frog" while JM and I went on a date. It is nice that my parents never complain when we just want to have a little time to ourselves. They will always step up and take care of the kids for us! We had a very simple date night in our hometown. We went to Wal-Mart. We ate at DQ--until we realized that the Survivor Finale was on and decided to take it to go. Then we went to the hotel to finish our burgers and Survivor....alone. The kids all spent the night with Grammy and Papa.

On Monday morning, we went back out to my parents house to get the kids, do some laundry, pack up gifts, and visit. We got some really good pics before we left.

Christmas #2

Monday afternoon we went to JM's mother's house. The kids enjoyed crafting and playing. We went out to eat for pizza that night. Then we came back to her house to open gifts.

Christmas #3

On Tuesday morning, JM took the kids over to his mothers' house to play for an hour or so while we packed up the hotel. It was hard to get everything back into the bags for the airplane, but we did it by buying an extra backpack!!!

We met them for lunch, and then we went over to Memom and Great Gran's house to see them before we left town.

Christmas #4

After we left the great-grandparents, we drove on to Dallas (or Keller) to visit Aunt Bethann, Macon and Hannahgrace. The kids had fun playing together all afternoon. We ended up at Chuck E. Cheese for dinner and fun to finish up the evening.

We spent the night in a hotel close to the airport. We got to sleep late and then go directly to the airport to catch our 11 am flight. We will be back to Montgomery by this afternoon.

Going to the chapel...it is wedding time!

JM drove the kids down to Eastland today for the wedding. He checked into the new Eastland hotel and got the kids dressed for the event while I was already at the wedding getting the food going for the evening. I have been crafting and cooking down the appetizer list that my mom left me in charge of since Wednesday morning. This worked out really good. I got to stay at home (in my pjs) and cook while she ran errands and picked up everything for the wedding. We all know that I would prefer to stay at home!!! Here is a pic of the flower girl basket I decorated and the toasting glasses.

This is the only pic I have of the many appetizers I prepared.

Anyway, didn't JM do a great job!

Ok. give me a little credit here! I laid all the clothes out for them, and I fixed their hair once they arrived at the wedding. Do you see that georgous tree and topiary behind them? Mr. James' theory...you can not have too many ornaments on your tree. I like that tree!!! JM better grab hold of the purse strings before next Christmas!!!!!

Actually, the wedding was at The Connelle in Eastland. The Connelle is an old hotel built back in the 20s that is slowly being remodeled (into office space). The top floor is an open ballroom decorated with a beautiful upside down Christmas tree designed by a local shop owner, James. Jacqline (the bride) picked the colors white, cream and gold to match the tree. It was absolutely elegant!!!!!!

Michael and Jacqline had a small wedding with no attendants. I think my brother wanted to keep it small for many reasons, but here are a few that I think played a HUGE role.

1. He does not like to be the center of attention. He is a HARD worker bee but does not like the spot light. Hmmm...sounds like his sister. My parents can take the credit for that...where else would we have learned that from.

2. He has been in MANY, MANY weddings over the last 10 years. All of which, set him back financially. He did not want to ask his friends to spend any $. Very reasonable in today's economy.

Well, the "not having attendants or flower girls" part did not ride well with our 6 year old! I was telling my mom about Lauren's fascination with being a flower girl at Jacqline's shower last month. I think the obsession has come from hearing her friends at school talk about being flower girls in weddings over the last 1 year. Anyway, Jacqline agreed to let Lauren walk down the aisle with her "bucket of flowers" as Lauren referred to it. Corynne ended up being a flower girl also. They did a great job. Thank you Jacqline for fulfilling a little girls' dream!!!!!

Mr. & Mrs. Michael Keith. Wow! I cannot believe my little brother is married!! He did pick a beautiful, sweet wife! We love her!!

The "I dos" were short and sweet. Now, on to the food and dancing!!! It was a FUN night!

Lyndsey loved the dance floor. She loved the how the disc ball made lights on the floor to jump over. At one point, she raised her dress above to expose her panties to make it easier to jump! What a character!!

My uncle Gayle loves to dance. He and Lauren enjoyed dancing together throughout the night!

This is my Dad who has lost a TON of weight over the last year on his special diet that includes 2-3 bowls of cereal each morning, a reasonable lunch and dinner, and a HUGE bowl (probably 3-4 scoops) of ice cream with chocolate syrup at night. WHAT?????? I want to be on that diet!

Jacqline retired her shoes towards the end of the evening. Lyndsey saw them on the table and decided to take her shoes off and put them beside them. It was a cute moment. Lyndsey made it the entire night. She even helped keep us going during clean-up by singing the Barney clean-up song at 11pm!!!

She even has a beautiful smile while she is climbing the walls at 11:30pm!!!!