Oh Christmas Tree.....

oh Christmas tree,
how lovely are thy branches.

Tatum enjoys crafts. Really enjoys crafts.

So when the girls and I were home sick (her with the cough and fever and Jacey with RSV and an ear infection) I made the time to let her do crafts.

She decorated these foam Christmas trees that I have had for a while and got them ready to give as gifts.

She had such a fun time doing this and made a list of everyone she wanted to give them to for Christmas.  Let's just ignore the fact that they all haven't been given out like Mommy was instructed, ok?  I'm getting there!

A Honor Roll

Kellen went from the A-B Honor Roll (1st six weeks) to the A Honor Roll (2nd six weeks) and Matt and I wanted to do something special with him to celebrate.

He decided (with a little encouragement from Mommy and Daddy) that he wanted to go to Grand Station.  This worked out nicely for Mommy and Daddy, since Mommy had apparently been hoarding quite a few gift cards for Grand Station.  And he enjoys playing games - especially lazer tag with his Daddy, so things worked out really well!

We went to Grand Station and started off playing putt-putt.  But not just any putt-putt...glow in the dark putt putt!

Kellen was actually pretty good at it...Tatum, eh...not so much.  She ended up getting frustrated and just picking her ball up and dropping it in the hole.  I think all three of the 'actual' players ended up getting at least one hole in one, and Matt ended up beating me by one stroke, I believe.  But them again, he was keeping score, so......

So much fun!

We then played some games together.

Then Daddy and Kellen played lazer tag while Tatum and I played some games.  (And if you're wondering, she isn't actually playing this motorcycle game, but she certainly thought she was and felt like BIG STUFF doing the demo).

When the boys were through with lazer tag, we played some more games

Then we had snacks, left and drove through Central Park to look at Christmas lights, then called it a night.

It was a good celebration.

Memorizing scripture in 2011

I follow Beth Moore's blog, and she's doing a challenge to memorize 24 scripture verses in 2011...2 a month.

You know me, I like to set goals, so I'm accepting the challenge and am signing up (albeit a few days late).

For additional information, check out her blog post with instructions.

After I post my scripture on her blog, I'll *try* to post it here and link back to the relevant blog post on her site.

My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. - Phillipians 4:19

Who's with me?

Sweet Jacey

Soft skin, tiny fingers, and a hand that grips so tight.

These are the things you hold so dear, in the middle of the night.

Rockbox

So I discussed the Rockbox in an earlier post about our anniversary weekend getaway, but I wanted to display some of our photos from that show.

Let me once again reiterate how incredibly fun that night was!

Still as goofy as ever!

 Roy Orbison...

Bette Midler...

ZZ Top...Santa style

The English Brothers (who were the guest performers for the night).  They sang Cowboy Christmas songs and we loved them so much that Matt ended up getting an early Christmas present...they were selling their CD's!

I'm so glad that we were able to go to this show!  Thank you, Matt's friend, for getting us the passes!!

Christmas Wreath

Now that Christmas is over and we're in the process of taking down decorations, I thought I would finally take the time to share the Christmas wreath that I made this year.

A co-worker of mine donated a large box of Christmas decorations to me and I had many wonderful ideas for things to do with them.  Their still great ideas, but for most of them, that's as far as they got.

I did; however, end up making some Christmas wreaths using materials currently existing in my Christmas decorations.

Take one wreath, one strand of ribbon (originally used in my wedding and now used in Christmas decorations), some gold nonbreakable Christmas ornaments, plus one adorable snowman ornament and viola'.........

You have your very own Christmas wreath!

10 Year Anniversary Weekend

Matt and I made use of some free hotel nights in the Hill Country on our anniversary weekend and went away to celebrate our 10 years together. Maw Maw and Paw Paw graciously watched all three kiddos while we were gone.

Did you catch that? All three kiddos. Yes, I went off and left Jacey for an entire weekend. Wow.

Anyway, we had a relaxing weekend and just enjoyed being together without having to wipe someone's nose or bootie, which is rare for us.

Here is a recap of our weekend, primarily in photos.  Most of them center around food...but the food was really good!  Unfortunately, I just realized that I didn't take any pictures of the picnics and sandwiches that sustained us for the majority of the weekend, but oh well!

Friday night we walked around Fredericksburg and window-shopped. We went to eat at Auslander and had the first meal of a weekend that included some really good German cuisine.

We went to the downtown area and admired all of the festive Christmas lights as well.

Saturday morning we made our way to breakfast at Save Inn in Kerrville.  We ate there on Sunday morning as well. Great breakfast, and you know it's good if it's packed with locals and cops (eating, not patrolling)...means good and quick service!

We went to the Pacific Museum on Saturday for a while, then walked around the town.

One stop we had to make was to the Rather Sweet Bakery. Here's a picture of the delectable goody Matt and I shared and a picture of the storefront.

Later on Saturday night, we ate at Der Lindenbaum and here is a picture of my fabulous meal and the storefront.

And a picture of our dessert....yummy goodness with icing so rich neither Matt nor I could eat it all. And that fact alone should tell you something!

We were blessed with passes to the Christmas show at Rockbox. I highly recommend it and if we're able to get passes again, it's worth it to plan a trip to the Hill Country around this show. Really. Good, clean, family friendly fun!

On Sunday after breakfast, we leisurely made our way to Fredericksburg, stopping to see a few sights on the way.

We have a few shots of this particular cross, which is the first of what appears to be a large prayer garden project. It was H-U-G-E, as if you can't tell from the tiny two people standing near the base of it.  I have some hilarious pictures of Matt running toward me to get this picture, as we had to have the camera on a timer and taking two - yes two - pictures to actually get the entire thing in frame.

This was just a cool (large) piece of art made from scraps (hence the license plate 'Scrappy') and it thought it was so neat that we pulled over on the side of the road to take pictures of it!

We then went to the Pacific Combat Zone guided tour, which I highly recommend.

I just love this phrase....very appropriate for wartime, don't you think?

Then we went around the town square again to get some pictures to commemorate the weekend.......

All in all, it was a wonderful anniversary celebration!