Happy New Year!

Soon...a brand new year...

A new Day

A new Story

A new Page

A new Year

From our family to yours- may this New Year be bright, healthy, joyous, full of love and happy memories. May God keep you and bless you. If you find hard or sad times upon you, 

may you find the strength, grace and peace to move forward.

Make the best of each and every day.

Love to all of you.

xoxo- Pat, Laura, Mac, Lilly & Lil' Griff

12 Years Ago...

Twelve years ago today I gave birth to a magical little baby boy.

He instantly stole my heart. Our life's changed forever...we could not have imagined how much we would love this baby and all the happiness, love, joy and contentment he would bring...

Through the years you have grown so tall and lean, your shoulders are starting to widen a bit, you have big thick, long, gorgeous eyelashes with bright brown eyes that are full of wonder. Your heart is bigger than the sky, your imagination knows no bounds. Your a collector.  A nature boy. A friend. A brother and a kind soul, even fragile at times. You find wonder all around you, don't ever loose this quality...it is a gift that not everyone possesses. You are ever so bright and smart. You have a laugh that makes me bust out in laughter as well.  I try every day to deserve you my sweet son.  

Happy 12th Birthday Mac,

you surprise us every day.

I love your heart my boy

I love your wonder-

you are a blessing and time is flying by very quickly!

We hope you enjoyed your Birthday as much as we did and thanks for spending the whole day with us!

We  started the day off bright and early with a little prank...

this is the outside of his bedroom door.

When he opened it up...all the balloons came down on him!

He had to push his way out through the plastic! It was pretty funny!

Then he left with Dad, Lilly and Kaymen to go skiing.

Griff and I stayed home to bake a cake a do a bit of decorating.

Once they were back, Tristen came over and we had a small party.

Then it was off to the mall for some shopping and a movie. We saw The Hobbit and then went to dinner at The Ram. I hope you enjoyed the day as much as we did!

We LOVE you Mac Attack!!!

Christmas Day!

Christmas morning was great fun. The kids were up early and couldn't wait to get downstairs and see what Santa had brought them! We let Mac and Lilly open up a few gifts before we got Griff up...it was early and Griff was still snoozing away.

Santa was very kind to all of us...

 The marshmallow guns were a big hit!

 Lilly looked like she belonged to the Mafia in her ritzy hat and aiming her gun. I have been cleaning up marshmallows for days now!

 Griff enjoyed belting out a few tunes with Lilly on her Karaoke machine...in fact, we all sang a few tunes!

We had a blessed and happy Christmas. We had friends stop in throughout the day to spread cheer and exchange gifts. We enjoyed a delicious feast and enjoyed our time together.

From our home to yours- we hope you all had a very Merry Christmas.

PS: I got a lot of comments about or Christmas Card photo this year. Most of you thought it was great and a few of you didn't...well, all I can say is that you need a sense of humor!! My kids had a great time with it...we were all giggling non-stop throughout the whole deal and this is much better than telling them to be still, sit up straight, look at the camera, smile and say cheese while one kid is wriggling like crazy, the other crying and the other has thier eyes closed the whole time and everyone is complaining about having to take a picture! We experinced non of that this time around and no one was harmed in the process. Mac was slightly embarrassed, but he's a pre-teen and just about everything embarrasses him now-a-days! 

So again- GET A SENSE OF HUMOR and hope you had a Merry Christmas.

Christmas Eve & a Bye-Bye from Wendy

We had a great Christmas Eve at Grandma and Papa's! We were a bit tired...we had just gotten back from LaPine and I crammed in some baking and wrapping and last minute shopping into the day as well! Yikes!! Anyhow, it was a full house and never a dull moment!

The kids and some adults, put on a skit about Baby Jesus that Grandma put together after we stuffed our bellies full. We took lots of pictures, sang some favorite Christmas songs and then let the mayhem of unwrapping gifts began!!

Griff spent as much time on the piano as allowed...

 It didn't take long for Brewer to join him.

 They are so darling!

 Ha! I am sure our King, Tim, will love this photo!

 Lilly was a Shepard and did an outstanding job with her lines!

 Mary and Joseph

All the kids are growing up fast!

Brittany is in her 2nd year at OSU and Sydney is a freshman at Hinds Community College in Mississippi!

We sure are proud of them!

 Love my gals lots and lots!!!

 They all did a great job of tearing into the presents!

 Look at all our bow hunters!!!

 It was fun, fun, fun all night. It was getting plenty late by the time we left for home. Thank you Grandma and Papa for always making Christmas Eve special for all of us.

When we got home, Wendy was in the tree and she had a good-bye note for the kids...

She told them how much she loved being their scout elf and that she would miss them until she returns next year. She reminded them to always do their best to behave and that her and Santa will be watching them...

Lilly read the note a few times and just fell apart...it was heart-breaking!! She didn't want Wendy to go back to The North Pole with Santa! She was going to miss her way too much. I felt awful. I really had no idea that Lilly was going to be so upset about the whole thing. It was an awful feeling...putting my baby girl to bed on Christmas Eve as she was bawling about our lil' elf! 

Pat and I tried to distract her and cheer her up with putting cookies and milk out for Santa and food outside for all the Reindeer....

...but she still cried herself to sleep. I sure hope she remembers next year that Wendy leaves each year to be with Santa and her Elf Family. Ugh...

LaPine

After having a great visit with our loved one's in Veneta, we headed for LaPine. We were there for a short 2 days, but it was nice and relaxing. There was a lot of SNOW! The kids enjoyed it for sure.

There were some huge icicles on the house...

 Mac decided to take a bite out of one...

 They climbed into Mac's chuck wagon that my Dad hauled up a few years back. I teared up a bit...he is all around us and always in our hearts.

The snow just kept falling...big, fluffy flakes. It was beautiful. We enjoyed a few snowball fights and made a big snowman.

On our last evening there, we made a quick trip to SunRiver to look at all the lights.

I snapped this shot on our way back to the cabin...

They were all tuckered out. It was a busy few days, but a lot of fun.

OH- also, Griff slept in a big boy bed all by himself- both nights!!!! Huge accomplishment for my lil' guy!

Yay!

An Early Christmas in Veneta

We went to Veneta to Grandma Fran & Grandpa Jim's house for an early Christmas gathering.

It was a great time. We played some really fun games, enjoyed an amazing meal, visited and opened a few gifts. 

 Lilly couldn't wait to give Grandpa Jim his chocolate chip banana bread she made for him!

It was yummy and Grandpa was excited to eat it!

It was so great to see everyone and visit. Thanks everyone! We love you and hope to see you again real soon!