Zaxby's Heart of Dallas Bowl 2015

Back before we were a little family of six, and we were just a family of two, Jason and the guys of my side of our family went to Dallas a few times for football games.  Though Jason was a Detroit Lions fan, he'd go along with the guys to cheer on the Cowboys.  As our family grew and people moved out of state, the all guy trips stopped for about a decade. I'm sure that the Cowboys not playing so well had nothing to do with it. ha ha!  On Christmas Day, the fun football trips were revived when Jason, Grandpa James, Dad, and Evan all went down to see the Zaxby's Heart of Dallas Bowl.  They watched Washington take on Southern Mississippi.  Zaxby's used this game to honor 1st Responders.  Dad's picture was on the Wall of Heros.  All of the guys were treated to chicken wings.  They all had a great time.  Here's Evan getting ready to walk into his first college football game.  He was very excited.

I was very proud that they guys had someone take a picture of all 4 of them. =)  They are standing in front of the Zaxby's chicken. 

Here's Evan.

They got seats on the 50 yard line and had a blast!

It started raining during the game and when they started the trip home, we got word that there was a tornado on the ground in the DFW area.  The metroplex area is huge, in fact, it's roughly the size of New Hampshire.  I didn't know exactly where they were or where the storms were hitting, so I was pretty worried.   Fortunately, my guys were in front of the storm.  Unfortunately, the storms had some devastating effects and many lives were lost.  Please keep those families in your prayers.

Christmas {2015}

 Our little family had a great Christmas.  It was a little before 5:30 in the morning when Karsyn came into our room and said, "Santa ate all of his cookies, drank all of his eggnog, and unplugged our inflatable."  Jason and I couldn't help but giggle a little.  She did it in her little animated way and it was so cute.  Before we knew it, all of the kids were up and at it with wrapping paper flying.

As you can see, we plugged our inflatable back in.  That was something a couple of little ladies HAD to have. ha ha ha!

After we opened presents and ate breakfast, we went over the river and through the woods to Grandma Beverly and Papa Floyd's house.  We took a few pics before we opened presents there.  Here's our little family.

Uncle Brian and Aunt Stephanie.

Papa Floyd, Grandma Beverly and all of their grand grands.

 I liked their pose a wee bit better than ours, so we tried it out too. =)

Then, it was present time.  There were more than a few!

After we opened presents, Uncle Robert came over.  Then, we had brunch.  Shortly after we ate, we had to head home.  Jason and Evan packed their bags and left for Dallas with Papa Gene and Grandpa James.  The girls and I grabbed Nana and headed out to see Grandma Paula and Grandpa Chuck.  Later that evening, Jason sent me this picture.  The guys were all check into their hotel.  A very fun day ahead was awaiting them.

Even though our boys skipped town on Christmas, we still had a great one.  I hope that you all did too!

'Twas the Day Before Christmas {2015}

Our Christmas Break kicked off to a really good start.  I had so many fun things on the agenda and was feeling quite festive.  I didn't plan for a  tummy bug and the ickiest of ear infections to put dampers on a lot of our activities.  We had to scratch Evan's Goju party, our church's Christmas service (it was on Tuesday to allow for travel), and our big Cousin Christmas Cookie Party.  I was feeling quite bummed, but then things turned around last night when our little family went to look at Christmas lights.  I somehow found the Christmas spirit that I lost and was ready for Christmas Eve.  It helped that everyone seemed to be feeling better.  Even though Jason had to work, we had a very nice day.  The kiddos and I started our Christmas Eve off by meeting Grandpa James, Uncle Billy, Aunt Kary, Natalie, Emily, and Stephen at the cemetery.  It was so important to keep Grandma Shirley as a part of her favorite holiday.  We thought we could honor her by doing a balloon release.

 As the balloons took off up into the air, two really amazing things happened.  First, when the kids let go of their balloons, they all started to giggle.  I was feeling emotional, but hearing their giggles brought such a sense of joy.  Second, the balloons started reflecting sunlight as they ascended into the sky.  We all loved watching them sparkle and I can only imagine Grandma smiling down on us.

After we could no longer see the balloons, we walked over to our cousin's grave.  On the way over, 5 deer came running out of the nearby woods.  I tried to convince the kids that they were reindeer, but I don't think they believed me.  The twinkling lights from the balloons, the giggles, and the deer made Grandma feel very near.  After we left, we all headed to the donut shop for breakfast.

After we ate, we went home to do some last minute prep before we had Christmas Eve guests.  Since we weren't able to have our Cookie Party earlier in the week, we did a last minute Cousin Christmas Cookie Party.  Since I wasn't sure if we'd have to cancel it again, we scaled back to just having Uncle Billy, Kary, Natalie, Emily, Stephen, Nana and Papa.  I am so thankful for break and bake cookies.  It sure made things easy!

Payton was the hostess with the mostess at this party.  She decked the halls and herself in such a festive outfit.  I love it!!!!

She wrapped a box with silver glitter paper with our gingerbread village on top for a beautiful center piece.  She also helped me get all of the cookies to a cooling spot.

 After we ate some of Nana's famous Frito Chili pies, it was time to decorate.

These little lads did a great job!

Nattie and Addi.

I loved watching these cousins make such creative cookies.

Nana made some beautiful cookies too!

 Cousins at work.

Payton worked really hard to make her cookies pretty.

 Uncle Billy even got in on the decorating.

Papa didn't decorate a cookie, but he sure made things fun.

Payton and Emily stayed at the table and decorated cookies for the longest time.  Here's a look at the finished product.

The party wrapped up in just enough time for the kiddos and I to go to a Christmas Eve Candle light service at the church where I work.  As we were pulling into the parking lot, Aunt Kary called me and told me to save a seat for Uncle Billy, Natalie, and Emily.  I LOVED that they got to be there with us, so did Addi. =)

The service was beautiful!  Uncle Billy took this picture for me.

 Because clearly we didn't spend enough time together, we all decided to book it across town to another church's Christmas Eve Candle Light Service. We made it just in the nick of time. I loved that Uncle Billy and all of the kiddos were down for church hopping. =)  After both services, we pulled onto our street and noticed Jason was home.  We all cheered!  We got baths and dinner going, and then took a few Christmas Eve photos.

 We let the kiddos open one gift each.  They were so excited!

 After the kiddos opened their gifts, we put cookies and eggnog out for Santa.  The kids decided to go to bed early, when Karsyn ran into the room and said that we forgot to put out reindeer food.  We sprinkled some in the yard and admired the full moon.  Now, it's time to snuggle on the couch with my Mr. and watch White Christmas as we await a visit from jolly ol' St. Nick.

The Holly Jolly Weekend What

We kicked this weekend off with an award.  Addi won a Top Dog Character Award at school on Friday for "constantly doing the right thing in and out of class."  We're so proud of her!  She's the one in the green dress.

Here's a closer look.

After Karsyn and I left the school, we went by Nana's house to pick up a sewing machine that Grandma Paula had waiting for me.  She left this super sweet note. ha ha ha!!!  

We did a little shopping with Nana, before Aunt Ashley and Jessi got to town.  Then, we all had lunch together and went to the cemetery to decorate Grandma Shirley's headstone for Christmas. When Karsyn and I left, we went to do a little grocery shopping. We picked Evan up from school on our next stop, then we booked it back to Addi and Payton's school for their class parties.  After the parties we went to speech therapy, basketball practice, and back to Nana's house.  The kiddos played.  Nana and Aunt Ashley baked for our family Christmas party.  Papa and I talked politics.  =)

Saturday morning, the kiddos and I went to our family's Christmas party. The kiddos couldn't wait to be there, because our Texas family was in town. I didn't take many pictures at all.  Uncle Eugene and Uncle Billy got to be elves during present time. They were cracking everyone up.  Dad would hand them presents and they would run and jump, while making crazy elf like faces to get the presents to where they belonged.  Here they are bringing a present for Jason and me.  (It's a fire pit. yay!!!)

Santa and his elves.

 After the party, the kiddos and I went to the cemetery with Grandpa James to visit Grandma. 

 Then, the kiddos and I went home to rest for a while.  When Jason got off of work, we all headed to do my most favorite Christmas Time activity.  We went on our Christmas Light Walk Tour.  Here's Uncle Billy, Stephen, Kary, Emily, and Natalie.  They always take the best family pictures. (The quality of these pictures aren't the best, but I still have to share them!)

Here's our little family. 

And one more.

Our family of 25 walked through with just about everyone else in Northeastern Oklahoma.  It was packed!  But, it's so pretty and we had so much fun.  Nana and I kept saying to each other, "I just love doing this!"  Here's a couple of pictures of what we saw.

Kyle, Kellie, and Sam.

 Uncle Eugene and Becky (and a little bit of Katelyn too) on the light up bridge.

 Every year, we have the tradition of taking our picture by the American Flag.  We asked a few strangers to take our pic, but they all kindly refused.  So here's all of our group sans Aunt Becky.

And here's part of our group, with Aunt Becky too. ha ha ha!

 Natalie and Addi on the light up bridge. 

We broke in Nat's new selfie stick.  Evan didn't get the memo. ha!

 After the lights, we all went out for pizza.  Sunday morning, our little family went to church.  We met up for lunch and ice cream.  Karsyn and Katelyn love Braums!

After lunch, we went to Nana and Papa's house for a bit until our Texas family had to go home.

They got on the road and we went home.  We miss them already!  Our little family spent the rest of the afternoon tidying up at our house.  In the evening, we put on our p.j.'s, watched Christmas movies and made gingerbread houses. The kiddos really did a good job! Here's our village.

We had a great weekend before Christmas!