hAppY nEw YEAr!!!

December at the beach!

Josh has this week off and our friend Stephen is in town. We wanted to take the kids to do some fun stuff. So we decided to take the kids to fly kites at the beach yesterday. It was a beautiful day! I couldn't help but feel Gods presence, their. The sky was clear and the brightest blue. The sand was soft and cool. I needed to be reminded of the awesome power of our God. His beautiful creation is always so uplifting to me.

We did fly kites a little but we had a lot more fun jumping in the sand dunes.

Here is Josh taking a leap.Like father like son!
Stephen looks like he is gliding through the air sideways.

I even made a WeAk attempt. It was a little scary. LOL

If you look closely, you can see the water in the back ground.

Ahhhhhh!

JUMP for my LoVe! Jump in!

Stephen's friend Brianne came with us. She played with the kids, too. We enjoyed getting to know her better.

What a sweet brother and sister.

Hogan couldn't get enough and jumped over and over.

Gates had the most fun just rolling in it.

The kids just love their uncle Stephen. Here they are all jumping together. Beck ate lots of sand on this jump.

Once again, Elisabeth the poser.

We did fly kites a little. Once we got them in the air, we decided to change locations. This is Elisabeth riding in the back of the truck, sucking down an apple juice and holding on to one of the kites that is extremely high in the air.

It was so fun to see the kids frolic around in the sand holding on to the kite string.

Elisabeth and Hogan found bunches of nails and screws. They thought they washed up from the hurricane. I think they might have been left over from a fire. Who knows. But you better watch your feet and tires next time you're at the beach.

Check out this little happy face looking at the kites.

Stephen and Josh decided that they needed the kites to go super high so they tied three strings together to make a really high one. They are such BIG kids.

The BIG kids getting the kites ready.

We had so much fun yesterday. I forget how much fun the beach can be. It is a lot more relaxing when I don't have to worry about the kids in the water.

More Christmas BLISS

We have been having so much fun not having school and being with family. The kids got to help papa build a fire and roast marshmellows. Here's Gates and Elisabeth watching the fire.

Santa brought the boys Aggie football helmets and uniforms. Much to Santa's dismay, one the boxes had an Aggie helmet but a Texas Tech uniform in it. He did not know it until Christmas eve when he was setting out all the goods. He thought he was going to throw up. Lucky for Santa Beck didn't seem to notice that his was different. However, his mom and dad we very bummed. Santa will be having a long talk with the manager at Academy.

Here are all the boys takinga knee.

My sweet children all ready for bed Christmas Eve.



Elisabeth has had so much fun playing with the girls. She has four girl cousins on Josh's side that are all close to her age. They have so much fun together and are so happy. Here's the happy girl laying by the fire.

The cool weather was a welcomed gift. The kids enjoyed riding their bikes in the cold. Their mommy enjoyed getting to dress them in hats, gloves, scarfs and coats. It is a rare sight in this house hold.

Here's Beck playing with his bike and all bundled up.

Hogan all bundled up!

Gates all bundled up. Can't you see why we call him Fedex sometimes.

Man I love this kid.

Merr-Wii Christmas

We have been having so much fun!

We got Guitar Hero World Tour for our Wii for Christmas from Josh's parents.

Boy is it fun! All the kids love it, too.

We also got Wii Fit from his parents. I am out of shape.

Katy, Abby and I stayed up until 12:30 (oh yes in the am) playing.

I plan to whip this bod in to shape ASAP.

It is totally fun and you get a work out to boot.

I highly recommend.

So here are a few pictures of the family jamming out.

Hogan playing the drums.

James really tore it up on the drums even with Shelby's help. Josh on guitar and Elisabeth vocals. She loves to sing IT!

I'm not quite sure if I like that she knows all the words to REM.

FIRE................................................

Josh kickin it at the guitar.


My little singer.

He thought he was so BIG!

Hope everyone is enjoying their Christmas toys as much as we are!

The kids Christmas Program

Whew...it is all over.

The program was really cute...

...but this mama is glad it is over.

I get myself way over committed and then turn into a three headed monster.

This crazy mama agreed to make all 20 costumes for the kindergarten program.

Mary, Joseph, three wiseman, three shepards, two cows, two camels, two sheep, two doves, two roosters, a donkey and two angels.

Can you say CRAZY.

Have mercy....

what was I thinking?

Here is just a quick glimpse at some of it.

(picture discriptions are under the pictures)

Here is one of the camels. Lets just say camels...well they are hard.
This is the sheep. In part of the song she says "I am the sheep with curly horns..." The costume has really cute curled horns but you can't see them in the picture.

Hogan was a rooster. He was so nervous. :) Poor thing.

Never complete without the angels.

...or the shepards.

Holy Cows!


Elisabeth was also in the program. The first graders sang several songs.

Elisabeth got to play the hand bells. Very Cute!

...and certainly not least, she sang a solo.

OH my...this mama cried like a baby.

She sang "I'm Coming Back to the Heart of Worship"

As Josh would say...

...I was touched. LOL

I did video...and if I get my act together and get it down loaded, I will post it.

Christmas Cookies

Friday night we made Christmas cookies.

It is so funny how no matter how much icing and sprinkles they put on them, that they are still all beautiful. The mess was huge but the kids had a blast.

Don't you want one of the cookies he decorated....

You might find the secret ingredient. :)

Elisabeth's cookies were all perfect. She picked only the white sprinkles out so that the tops of the stockings were only white.


If you don't want one of Hogan's cookies....maybe you'll want one of Gates'. He licked his knife after every cookie.

Beck just went ahead and licked the cookie itself. Then put more icing.

At the end of the night.....the floor looked like this.

....SpRinKLeS everywhere.

Just a few of the finished product.

Gates wanted his snowman to have glasses and well I couldn't resist.

One cute snowman for one cute kid.