Christmas Morning

It's Christmas morning and we woke up to a white Christmas!  I don't remember ever having snow on Christmas.  McKenzie came running to our room this morning saying, "It snowed! It snowed!".  We got up and went to Matt's room to get him up.  He didn't respond when I called his name, but when I leaned down and whispered, "Let's go see what Santa brought you.", his eyes popped open and he jumped out of bed and said, "Let's go!".

This is McKenzie's loot.

 Matt's stuff.

While the kids were enjoying opening their gifts, Max was enjoying the cookie crumbs that Santa left behind!

Right after this picture Matt said, "Santa got the wrong one!".  We won't tell Santa.

Looks like Santa got this one right!

All beware when you come to our house now.  This gun shoots nerf bullets 25 feet!  Max is nervous.

We hope everyone is having a very Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all.......

....and to all a good night!

Date Night

David surprised me with a fun date night Tuesday. We went to a Jim Brickman and Friends concert at the Orpheum in Memphis. We had such a great time! David is always coming up with thoughtful things for us to do. He arranged for my sister Marty to keep the kids for us. We ate an early dinner at Logan's, then on to the concert. I can't believe we are 40 and have never been to the Orpheum! It is the most beautiful, ornate place. David and I couldn't help but notice how great the acoustics were in the theater.Here are some pictures...

Jim played many songs on the piano and then sang songs with Anne Cochran and Richie McDonald (formally of one of our favorite country groups Lonestar). There was also a guy who played the electric violin, too. We were so excited that Richie sang his Lonestar hit I'm Amazed. He also sang Walking in Memphis. One of my favorite Christmas songs is The Gift and Jim played while Ann and Richie sang it. After the concert we walked down to the Peabody to look at all the beautiful decorations in the lobby.

Birthiversary!

Saturday was my "birthiversary".  I celebrated my thirty-eleventh birthday and mine and Betty's 17th anniversary.  We decided to take the whole family to Memphis for the day to celebrate.  We went to one of our favorite restaurants for lunch - The Arcade.

We've never gotten to sit at Elvis' table because someone is always sitting there.  Someone was there again today when we got there, but I did get to take this picture of Matt after they left.  I haven't gotten up the courage to order the fried peanut butter and banana sandwich yet, though.

Next we headed to Target.  I'll let you guess whether this part was celebrating my birthday or our anniversary.

After Target, we went to one of our new favorite Memphis stops - Gigi's Cupcakes.

I got the wedding cake cupcake in honor of our anniversary!

Next up was the movie, Tangled.  It was pretty good for an animated kids movie - a lot better than I was anticipating.  The kids loved it and we even got to see Santa!

Our final stop was the Side Porch Steakhouse.  Betty and I have been back there for our anniversary several times and it is wonderful every time.

 The food was great as usual and they had the place decorated for Christmas.  They even had a Christmas tree inside with a train under it.  Guess where Matt went?

Matt hooked the train cars together and even crawled under the bench and behind the tree and fixed the track!

Our Christmas Card 2010

I am joining Faith's Christmas Card Carousel. It is where you link up to her party and share your Christmas card. I have really enjoyed looking at everyone's cards and getting some ideas for next year. One of my favorite things about Christmas is the cards. It is fun to give and receive them. I love going to the mailbox this time of year!
Creating our Christmas card is really a fun hobby to me. I usually start in September (I know I am weird ha)  thinking about what I want to do. We took beach pictures of McKenzie and Matt on our vacation back in June so I knew as soon as David took that picture that it was going to be our Christmas card.
I really enjoy making our card, so I always enlist the help of my scrapbooking friend, Bev to get me the supplies I need. She has a scrapbooking business in her home. She ordered the paper and twine for me. Bev also has a printer to put the wording on the card. Mine is a trifold card, so she even had a tool to make folding the card easier. Here are a few pics of the making of our card...

I wanted green and this color is green bean. Also, I chose a twine for a natural look to go with our beach theme.

Next, I found these cute address labels.  I have used Doodlebugs Paper for all my stationary/label needs for years.  Kacey has the cutest stuff!

Here is the finished product...

I hang our cards we receive on ribbon in our den so we can enjoy them during the season. I got this idea from Delta Magazine last year. You  just take a cute, wide ribbon and attach it to doors or column and attach the cards to it. I use paper clips but would love to find some cute tiny clothespins to clip the cards.

Go check out the other Christmas cards at Faith's blog. It's fun!

Matt's Christmas Party

Matt's Christmas party at preschool was Thursday. The theme of the party was The Polar Express. It was so much fun and the kids really seemed to enjoy themselves. Mrs. Michelle and Mrs. Ann went above and beyond to make this a fun morning for the kids. When we arrived Matt was greeted by Mrs. Claus (aka Mrs. Michelle) and given a ticket. Mrs. Michelle's husband was nice enough to play Santa. Mrs Ann created a train out of cardboard then nailed it to the little benches so that they could pretend to be riding the Polar Express. Next Mrs Michelle read the book to them.

Santa joined the train ride and gave the kids a bell.

Poor little Matt was still not feeling well as you can see in this picture. He is still recovering from bronchitis.

They enjoyed hot chocolate and cookies, too.

Before Santa left Mrs. Claus gave Santa a kiss. The kids loved this!

 The kids drew names for presents and this is Ian thanking Matt for his gift.  

Matt was excited to get his gift!

After watching a little of the Polar Express movie, we all enjoyed a yummy lunch of sausage balls, homemade pizza rolls, pigs in the blanket, fruit and cookies.

The Halls Are Decked

I am joining the Nester for the Christmas Home Tour.
Welcome to our home!
I changed my outdoor decor this year. I used pine garland around the door and found great ribbon at The Flower Company here in town. I like to mix different colors, textures and patterns of ribbon.

I have mentioned before that I love TJMaxx. Well, I found this adorable countdown to Christmas for only $12! I saw a similiar one in PB Kids for $69 so I was very proud of myself! Matt enjoys moving the candy cane each day.

Pictures taken in our den...

Our nativity...

I added a little Christmas to a table in our bedroom...

McKenzie's room

Matt's room

Found this cute little silver tree at Walmart for the kids' bathroom. You can't have too many trees!

Kitchen counter...

I hung our intial plaque by the back door and decided to hang a wreath on the iron gate.

Check out the other homes on the tour! Merry Christmas!