Merry Merry!

We had a great day with my parents celebrating Christmas Eve!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Merry Christmas

We woke up early Christmas morning and opened gifts.  It's always exciting to see what Santa delivered.  After we celebrated as a family of 4 we went to Clifton to visit my Aunt and Uncle.  Hayden rode his motorcycle and Layla just jumped around, as you can see.

We started the day with pancakes.  Gary is our pancake artist and he has taught the kids how to make fun shapes with pancake batter.  He made a birthday cake for Jesus, Santa's sleigh, Daisy's face and of course Hayden had to make the ever so popular turd emoji, picutred on LK's gown.

The dogs got bones from my parents and Santa brought them candy canes too.

I got warm furry blankets for my living room and I couldn't be happier!  Silly Daisy is licking her nose begging for more treats.  We had a very Merry Christmas!

decorating for Christmas

It is so fun decorating a new house at Christmas time.

We have a front room that attaches to the kitchen.  It could be a formal dining room or even an office if it had doors.  We wanted a music area and knew that this room would be the perfect spot for the Christmas tree.  Someday we will remove the light fixture and then it will look less dining-ish in that area.

I'm loving our little Santa on the door.  When the wind blows his beard blows and he sways.  I just love his little face.

This time of year is just so wonderfully sweet.  I'm thankful each and every day for the blessings in my life.  Merry Christmas decorating y'all!

Merry Christmas ~ Silent Sunday

We got baths today!!!

Lily and Daisy went to the groomer this afternoon and they got fresh baths, a haircut for Daisy and new collars.  They are feeling all fiesty and clean and ready for Christmas.  

We recently found out that Hayden is allergic to dogs. He isn't so much allergic to Daisy, her breed is hypoallergenic, but Lily sheds enough in a day to create a small mouse.  We know she is the allergen in our family, but we love her anyway.  She's our big black bear and we will clean like mad people to help ease his ezcema! 

Merry Merry from our Christmas puppies!

Oh Christmas tree

Sooooo....

Honestly I wasn't excited about putting up the Christmas tree in this rental home.  I had a day or two of being a sour puss having to decorate in a house I don't love.  

You know what happened?  

We decorated and now I'm in love.  

I love this little house all festive and bright for Christmas.  I love driving up to the house and seeing the big tree lit through the huge front windows.  I know we all have good days and bad days and good thoughts and bad thoughts.  I don't like being negative and I make it my mission to try to always see the bright side.  This time the bright side smacked me in the face and I deserved it!

I wasn't excited about getting a real tree this year because Hayden's eczema is out of control and I didn't want to add more allergy to his life.  We ended up getting a pre-lit fake tree and it's kinda fun.  I think it is a great idea and we can use it in our playroom in the years to come and get a real tree for the main living area again. 

Anyway, I'm excited about this year now and I know God will have us in our new home next year.  That will give me time to get a new tree skirt. ;-)  Goodness we need a larger one!

Netsie and DeDe were here

We enjoyed a visit from my parents this week.  They drove 12 hours on Christmas Day to visit with us for several days.

They came with gifts for the children.  They got guns!  Layla was appreciative, but doesn't understand the whole gun thing.  I was the same way as a little girl.  Hayden was thrilled and ready to go shoot!

The weather was perfect the entire time they were here.  It was crazy December weather!  We spent a lot of time outside on the porch and even had several bonfires.

Cheers!!

DeDe learned all he wanted to know about the Wii U.  They played tons of games of bowling, golf and tennis.  I think DeDe wants his own Wii now!

As always we took them to our favorite Mexican food spot.  It was very enjoyable and we stuffed ourselves full of good food and Texas Margaritas.  

Baylor played in a bowl game and my mom wore an LSU shirt.  She's lucky she got to stay in the house.  My dad is a huge Tech fan and LSU played Tech that same day.  So ..... mark this down as the year she brought the wrong shirt.  It was funny!

My parents always get lovin' from our dogs.  Lily was gazing at DeDe!  It was so cute and of course Daisy followed him around the whole time he was here.  They threatened to steal her from us.  No way Jose!

My parents gave us a popcorn popper for our basement.  What a wonderful gift.  We are so thankful!  We have made popcorn every day since we got it.  We have finally mastered the arrt of popping yummy corn.  When I say we, I mean Gary.  I need to pay attention in case I want popcorn for lunch one day when he's at work.  HAHA!

Layla is so focused in this picture.  I just had to post it!

Thank you for the fun visit Netsie and DeDe!!

Christmas is here!

Santa was good to us this year!

Lily really loves her new toys.  She climbed onto the couch to show us her new chew toy and refused to let go of it.  Her jaws were clamped tight with excitement!

We had a fun Christmas toast and enjoyed a huge brunch.

We played with our toys and went to the movie theatre to see Daddy's Home.  Then we waited for my parents to arrive.  They drove to GA for a visit from TX.

Merry Merry Christmas 2015!!