Happy New Year 2013!

Happy New Year to you!!

Let's go to the movies!

 

William has a video camera called Bloggie.  He is forever recording footage on it.  We've got lots of  home movies about Matchbox airplanes and a few narrated stories about Adeline.  We've got tons of up close shots of the carpet at Sheridan Pond and some bumpy footage of wagon rides and trips in the car. 

The videos are all shot by William and really show life through the eyes of a 5 year old. 

While in OKC over Christmas, William got the idea to set up a movie theater and asked Dada to show a few of his home movies on the big screen.  He worked really hard to make everyone tickets that read "William's Movie Theater 7:30 p.m. show."  He made 8 tickets and color coded them for adults and children.

He set up a ticket booth complete with refreshments - popcorn and candy.  The popcorn was 10 cents and the candy was 24 cents.  His sign said the theater opened at 6:55 p.m. and the show started at 7:30 p.m.

 There was also bottled water.  He practiced his intermission entertainment which was him flying his helicopter for the audience. He said he was pretending it was similar to the blimp that flies around the arena during half time at basketball games. He even planned for us to play a game like they do at the ORU basketball games. He got a beach ball and told us we had to pass it around until he said stop.  Whoever was on the side of the room with the ball when he said stop, lost.  The winners got to select a free piece of candy.  I LOVED his imagination and thought his games were pretty cute!

Oh my goodness, he was SO PROUD and took his movie theater very seriously.  He had a calculator to add up our refreshment purchases and he used a hole punch to check our tickets for admission.  Before the home videos started, he stood up and asked us to turn off our cell phones and reminded us to not talk during the movie. 

Dada rolled the footage and we all kicked back for a night at William's theater.  It was really fun to play along with him.  William had a ball and it was cute to watch him laugh at his videos and tell us all about them.  He laughed himself silly!

Christmas Day 2012

I wrote an entire blog post about Christmas day and blogger erased it.  So here we go again as best as I can remember!

Christmas day is one of my favorite days of the year.  I absolutely love the magic of Santa Claus and the wonder in my children's eyes every Christmas morning.  We BELIEVE! 

I love how William believes with his whole heart.  I love that he always tells Santa what to bring his sisters before he lists off his own wishes.  I love how William loves all things Christmas just like me - the decorations, the tree, the traditions, his elf, etc.  There is just something so wonderful about childhood and I think that Christmas day radiates the innocence and magic of being young.  These years are so bittersweet.  You see, William is growing up and the magic of Santa is fleeting.  WE BELIEVE in our house and we always will.  I hold onto these years with all my heart and the last 5 Christmas mornings are stamped in my memory book.  I can recall snapshots in my mind from all them and I can see my children's faces light up like it was yesterday. 

WE BELIEVE AND WE ALWAYS WILL!

Christmas night, William set out chocolate cake and carrots for the reindeer.  Before going to bed, he just HAD to check the Santa Doppler several times to track Santa's every move.  He was so eager to know when Santa would come over the skies of Oklahoma.  Once we all the wiggles and giggles of excitement out, William told me, "Mom, I really hope that Santa brings me some new airplanes and Adeline a few dolls.  But you know what, I am ok if he can't bring me everything on my list.  There are lots of kids who need presents so I will be thankful for what Santa brings me."  That little conversation is one for my memory book too.  I could feel the innocent thrill and anxiety that filled William from his head to his feet.  It's what Christmas night is all about.  Wonder.  Magic.  Thankfulness.

 Adeline was fast asleep and really had no idea what was going on other than that she got to open tons of boxes and find great surprises inside! 

Late in the night, Santa brought William a shiny new scooter, soccer goals, playmobil toys, laser tag, airplanes, a 5 foot cardboard space shuttle tent and a remote control helicopter.

Adeline received pink doll furniture, a stroller, several babies, bottles and feeding supplies. 


Anna got a cute white hat, a Little People car and a feeding dish.

Christmas morning, William raced into our room like a stick of dynamite.  He was SO excited and wanted desperately to charge downstairs and see his loot.  We told him we had to wait for Adeline to wake up and oh boy, he thought it took FOOOORRRREVVVVER for her rise and shine!  But it was still bright and early when my kids assembled on the stairs for the annual "Christmas morning stair picture."
 

 

WE BELIEVE AND WE ALWAYS WILL!

I think the stair picture is hilarious.  Anna is about to slip through William's arms, William is giving a fake smile and Adeline looks like her tornado self!  My 3 babies!

Dada took some video of what Santa brought the kids and when he gave the signal, William went racing down the stairs to his pile.  His eyes were as big as saucers and he just kept smiling ear to ear saying, "WOW!  AWESOME!  LOOK A SCOOTER!  LOOK AT THOSE AIRPLANES!  LOOK AT THAT AWESOME HELICOPTER! "  There was a lot to soak in, but William loved it all.

Adeline walked right over to her doll furniture and never missed a beat.  She exclaimed, "WooooooW!" in her soft "ah ha" kind of voice when she is completely bewildered by something.  It was truly a surprise for her and although I don't know she really understood what was happening, she certainly LOVED her new gifts.  She went right to the stroller and took off with her baby, made a circle around the living room and headed to the baby bed to put her babies to sleep.  Then she fed them and repeated the process about a million times.  It was very cute to watch!

 
 

 
WE BELIEVE AND WE ALWAYS WILL!

Anna got in on the action by modeling her new night cap.

 


 



 


William read his letter from Santa Claus and thought it was funny that he made a mess with the chocolate cake.  On the other hand, Adeline was pleased as punch that Santa left her a bite!


Christmas morning was as fun as always.  I just love to watch my kids and see the joy in their eyes.  This year was especially sweet because we had Anna with us.  Looking back at photos from last year, Adeline was such a baby herself and yet, we had no idea that God was about to give us another precious gift to love. 

WE BELIEVE AND WE ALWAYS WILL!

Christmas Eve 2012

Christmas Eve 2012 is always the highlight of my year. 

Since I was tiny, we have celebrated Christmas Eve with my Mac and Meme as well as with my cousins on the Brown side of the family.  I can't even being to describe how much fun we have together.  The laughter, the anticipation of the "girls gift" and "guys gift," the loud screams of delight, the equalizer, the togetherness over dinner, the conversations, the kids, the holiday decorations, the new babies, and just being in the moment with each of them.....family is our most priceless treasure.  We have more hilarious memories from Christmas Eve than I can even list and so many of these moments are recorded in pictures over the years. We have laughed and laughed about Christmas' past.  My heart is so very thankful for such a tight family.  We truly love one another and stand together through the good times and bad. 

Since I was iddy biddy, the tradition has always been the same.  We go to early church and then we gather together for a delicious Christmas dinner - Chicken Spaghetti, salad, rolls, and green beans.  Then all the grand kids and great grand kids stand next to Mac as we all sing "Happy Birthday Jesus."  We have a nativity scene on a Banana sheet cake and there are TONS of pies to choose from too.  I am not sure how we got hooked on Chicken Spaghetti and Banana cake, but that is the funny thing about traditions.  They just evolve.  I cannot imagine my Christmas Eve any other way!

As we have grown up, married and had babies of our own, Christmas Eve has become bigger, louder and a lot more crazy!  There are now 8 great grandchildren under 9 years old.  Mac and Meme are in their 90s and us grand kids are all grown up!  But one thing will never change.


How we adore Christmas Eve.


Once we've all finished dinner, we head for the living room where all the presents are in piles according to family members.  Before the 9 great grand kids, Christmas Eve was rather calm, easy going and orderly.  We'd all go around the room and each one a gift and proudly show it to everyone.  This was helpful because the night lasted longer and Mac and Meme could really revel in the joy and excitement that the gifts gave us.  It was also a time for Mac to distribute the "girl gift" and "boy gift."  These are always the matching gifts.  Over the years, we've seen fur coats, leather jackets, malt machines, scarves, "coats on the nail," sweaters, tote bags, towel wraps, etc.  We get such a kick out of this part of the night.....especially the year that the boys got fur jackets.  Yep.




This year, the boys all got cowboys hats.  I absolutely love this picture.  I realize what a gift it is to have my 93 year old grandparents.  This photo of Mac with the guys embodies all the pride he has for his "kids."  My Mac is beyond awesome.  He's one of kind and simply fantastic. 

The great grand kids all received matching monogrammed sweaters and hats.


As I was saying, years past were very calm and orderly.  Well now that we have 8 great grand kids and 3 of them are toddlers, you can imagine how wild our Christmas Eve has gotten!  We all sat down and an orderly opening of gifts went out the window. 

All the little people started tearing into their presents.  There were squeals of delight, kids hollering "WOW! THANK YOU SO MUCH!" parents frantically asking "who gave you that? where's the card?," paper flying around, high pitched laughter and pure joy echoed the room.

And then we all just looked at each other and said, "What just happened?"  It was over so fast!

We had an absolute ball together.  Though we celebrated together with happiness and rejoiced in our Savior's birth, there was still an emptiness in our hearts.  Aunt Ranell isn't here and it hurts.  It really, really hurts.

She is forever our angel - head chef of our Christmas Eve feast, a perfect hostess with a house full of decorations and an intense love for all things Christmas, tradition and family.  We miss her so much but find comfort in the glory of our Lord during the holiday season.  I know she is with me everyday.  I have felt her presence specific times during the last 2 years.  I am sure she was sitting there laughing along side us as we opened gifts and sang to Jesus. 

I am so thankful for my family. 

A visit with Jack and Clara

Cousins Jack and Clara came to OKC on their way to Texas. William loves Jack to pieces and this visit was the highlight of his weekend.

We met up at The Renaissance Hotel in downtown OKC so the kids would have a place to swim and we could show their family OKC's downtown.

The kids love riding in the hotel limo! It took us to Toby Keith's for dinner and brought us back to the hotel afterwards.

Then the kids changed their clothes and we hit the pool. I brought along a new swim device for Adeline. She is desperate to swim like the big kids but she is certainly not ready for that! So I borrowed Bebe's froggie floaties. Dan and I had to wrestle her to the ground in order to get Adeline to wear the floaties, but I knew that once she understood the concept, she would love it.

I mean, she LOVED it.

"Adeline swimming! Adeline swimming!" She beamed from ear to ear and kept repeating that chant the entire time we were in the pool. She laughed, splashed and kicked her feet like crazy. I am thrilled she loves the floatie because it makes it more relaxing for me to take the kids swimming.

William and Jack had so much fun with their dads and challenged each other to chicken fights and canon balls!

The next morning we all went to the Omniplex. We stayed 4 hours! Adeline took a nap in the car while Dan and William saw the IMAX movie with the cousins. Then we all met up to run around the museum. The kids had such a great time and it was lots of fun to catch up with Brent and Susan.

William misses Jack terribly. I know he is gonna be thrilled to see him this summer at camp.