family days come to an end

As quick as it came, it has gone. Family days are over for the year. What a whirl wind of events we had this year with everyone coming to Arkansas! We are so blessed with our family and children and are so thankful for what the Lord has given us. Here are some pictures from Alissa and Dave's visit to NWA.

Ok, this isn't from their trip, this is Christmas Eve. Probably my favorite picture from the 500+ we took.

Carter and his 'fo hawk'.

We took the kids to Fun City after church and we had a blast! Courtney was in the tunnels for hours!

Kaylee climbed all the way to the top but wasn't so sure on going in the tunnel.

Not even a mile from Fun City...

Back at home Paul rigged Courtney's new 4-wheeler to carry a passenger. 

The final day Courtney and Kaylee really seemed to connect...finally!

All the 'grown ups' were playing guitar hero so Courtney grabbed her guitar she got from Uncle D and Aunt Alisa and rocked the house too. Seriously, she was getting into it, holding the guitar above her head and stuff...where do they learn this?!?!

pictures galore!

My o' my. What have I done to myself? Christmas time is so hectic now that we have kids! Apparently I have not uploaded my pictures in a while and now I have over 400 pictures to choose from. (and that is only from 1 of 2 cameras!) Maybe I have a problem, maybe I'm a picture-taking-aholic? Ohhh no! 

Anyway, we had a wonderful Christmas and got to see most of our families. Paul's family came out first and we had a great time with them as usual. It was so cold while they were here though so there wasn't much to do other than hang out at the hotel and at the house. Big D kinda gets restless in that situation, but we worked it out. Here are some pictures from that trip.

After the Pursley's left, we headed to my parent's house in Greers Ferry for some more Christmas adventures. Courtney had a blast decorating Christmas cookies (well, she liked to eat the frosting at least). She also got to play with her cousins which she LOVES. Courtney and Carter buddied up and were so stinkin' cute together. We would find Courtney sitting on Carter's lap watching Nemo. I think those pictures are on the other camera though. Either way, all of us girls (me and my 3 sisters) were there with our kids and husbands for Christmas morning. I guess it's been 8 years since that last happened - wow! Courtney got the hang of opening presents pretty quick, but not so much on the waiting her turn part. She now wants to open any  present she sees. 

Courtney and Bopa coloring

The whole fam Christmas morning. 

Courtney and Kaylee got matching horsies...

Her first "look" (zoolander)

Carter on a mission to the moon.

Dad remembered!!! See's candy is 'his' gift each year.

Courtney and the tongue.

Weird-o Beaver fans!

Courtney's prize possession from Christmas...

Other than that, Dad turned 50!!! Holy cow, I can't believe my father is 50. Alissa and I got to take Dad golfing on his birthday since it was 60 degrees outside. (global warming is awesome for golfing!) Alissa was the high scorer which means she won in her opinion. :-) I actually did pretty good, only shooting 6 more than Dad. (no official scores to be released on the internet, too risky)

So now it's the new year and I am excited! New things to do, new adventures to have, new experiences to experience. :-) We hope you all had an awesome Christmas season, and we thank God for all we have!

Christmas Party

Last Sunday we went to our annual Christmas party with our connection group from church. Someone came up with the idea to have a 'tacky Christmas attire' theme. Due to security reasons I can not disclose where my sweater came from, but I fit right in! Thanks Angela, Matt, Erin and Zach, we had a blast. 

Shiloh Christmas Program

Yesterday was Shiloh's annual Christmas program. They always put on such an awesome program. This year Ethan was actually in the first row, so we were able to get some super cute pictures and video tape him too. They did an awesome job with their songs and motions. How stinkin' handsome is this first picture!?

Finally Christmas

It finally feels like Christmas in our house. Yes, Paul started to put lights up weeks ago. People even thought we were weird for putting them up so soon; now we are weird because the are just now on. Well, most of them anyway. Maybe tomorrow he'll finish the rest and I can post a pic of how awesome our house looks with lights.  When we got home from Sams Club today, B-squared had put the tree up and gotten all the decorations down from the attic. I was EXCITED! Here are a few pictures of our tree with the ham in front of it.

These are from this evening out playing with Daddy's RC car. Courtney loves to drive it, but just goes full throttle (oh, about 55 mph). It is quite comical to watch.

thankful for friends

How blessed we are to have such great friends. Since we've moved to Arkansas we have had 2 Thanksgivings all alone and one where Paul's family was in town. I was not looking forward to another Thanksgiving with just the 5 of us. Thanksgiving is just more to that to me. Growing up there was always so many people, so much food, football, games and talking. When it's just the 5 of us, it's not much different than a regular day except there is a really big mess to clean up! So, when Shanna invited us over for Thanksgiving I was so excited! I didn't want to be a big ol' dork though so I played it cool. :-P Anyway, we are so Thankful for them, and thank God that he put them in our lives. Here are some pics from our day...

Brady, sooo stinkin' cute!

Courtney pushing Brady around. (in the good way)

The 'I'm innocent' smile.

Paul brought his RC cars, a jump and a jealous time for James.

Even Shanna joined in the rc fun. (i think she secretly wants one)

Thanksgiving isn't Thanksgiving without football.

...cookies...

...and a T I R E D baby.

Angela: This is purely for you. I saw this and thought, "now, that is all Angela" :-)