4th Annual Favorite Things Party!

Right before Christmas I hosted my 4th Annual Favorite Things Party. 

I had so much fun with these ladies. 

The Lord has let my path cross with all these sweet friends, and I am forever grateful.

blurry photo cred:  Kris, HA! :)

The only other pics were of food!  :)

I made Pioneer Woman's Crazy Brownies.

So so rich!  Woo wee!!

I was so stinkin excited to use my thrift-store finds for the hot chocolate.

I found the hot chocolate spoon idea on Pinterest.

I ordered the wooden spoons off Amazon.

I made homemade whipped cream, froze it, then used a cookie cutter to cut out little hearts.

And guess what, I left them in the freezer and forgot to pull them out! 
Of course.

A friend from church makes the cutest cookies!  I ordered some for the party.

I mean!!!

I had the best time and I'm already looking forward to the 5th!!

Merry Christmas!!

From our family to yours!

Matthew 1:23

²³ “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”

Christmas Day

 Like every year, the boys were so excited to head to bed Christmas Eve. 

 They left Santa a couple of brownies, milk and a sweet note. :) 

The next morning, Jacob woke up bright and early, and before Levi.

It was torture waiting for him to get up. :)

After almost an hour of waiting, Levi woke up :)

We had a quick breakfast and sang Happy Birthday to Jesus :)

Finally it was time to open presents

Jacob bought Levi this little monkey at his school's holiday shop.

He has slept with it every night since.  :)

 

Later we went over to Beth's house for Christmas lunch

My dad retired last summer from driving a dump truck for over 40yrs.

So when I saw this chocolate dump truck, I had to get it. :)

Another special Christmas with family.

Happy Birthday, Jesus.

Christmas Eve

We went to the Christmas Eve Service at Church.

All the kids got to go on stage and sing a few carols.

The boys loved it!

After we got home but before we changed into pjs, I pulled out the selfie stick :) 

Then two out of three watched Home Alone :)

Alright boys, time for bed ;)

Santa outdid himself!

And my handyman hubs made the boys a Lego table. 

To all a goodnight!

Santa Visit 2015 - aka... 1000th post!!!

I started this blog in 2008 because of a nudge from my sister.

A little over 7yrs later, and I made it to my 1000th post. 

it would've happened sooner had I stayed consistent!  ha!

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We have had the best luck meeting Santa the last few years.  We usually go one day after Jacob gets home from school, and we're able to walk right up to him. 

This year was no different, we had the place to ourselves.   

Levi asked for Nerf Guns.

Jacob asked for Shopkins.

Oh my heart will be so sad when they are too old for this. 

Christmas is so special with little ones. 

TownSquare

For the most part, our December has been unseasonably warm - I love it!

We went to the park one day... in December!

 My nephew, Luke, had his first piano recital.

He did so good!!  He played Frosty the Snowman :)

It was at their church which is right off the town square, so we walked over to it afterwards - with no coats!!  Crazy!  My timehop told me we were knee deep in snow 2yrs ago at this time.

I hate cold weather, so this was a pleasant surprise!!

Night Out

Beth and John have tickets to some of the Razorback basketball games.

They were kind enough to ask me to go so Beth and I could have a night out. :)

We have done this a few other times, and we always have a good time with lots of laughs!

We stopped at a new Whattaburger that just opened before the game for a quick bite.

I was out way past my bedtime, but good times were definitely had! :)
And we won!

Christmas Card Pics

Ever since Jacob's first Christmas in 2007, I've taken pics for our Christmas card in front of the tree with them in Christmas pajamas.

I can't stop now! :) 

One of these days this will come to an end.

And I'll be so sad.