Early Christmas gifts

Our family is so blessed by the love and generosity of so many. Having a pastor as a husband many times means that more is expected of your family.  You are supposed to be models of parenting, your children are to be models of behavior, and you sacrifice family time for the demands of the church.  Though sometimes these expectations seem more than we can handle, God is so faithful to strengthen us through the love of our church family!  

We have always been blessed by loving congregations who show their appreciation and support in many ways!  One of the ways that Alleghany Baptist blesses us is a yearly "pounding."  Members of the church bring in different items to stock our pantry, fridge and other necessary items (aka toilet paper)!  It is always so much more than we deserve!  I don't  have a picture, but really I could list at least 40 different grocery items they brought.  They even try to bring us our favorite brands and preferences.

Also many from our church buy gifts for our girls.  This year Uncle Bob and Aunt Debbie came over to bless the girls with some toys and dresses.  I didn't get a picture of the dresses because a couple had to be returned due to size, but I will try to add a picture soon since replacement dresses were found already.  

Here is Sarah with her new Lego set.  The girls have never had a mini set and she was so thrilled!  They enjoyed putting it together almost right away.

Hannah loves her new game they bought.  She is just the right age to appreciate the humor of this game and learn a few things too!  Uncle Bob and Daddy even played with all the girls that night!

This was the first Mary or Lydia heard of a Lalaloopsie doll.  They were so excited and have been checking it all out on the internet!

We just love the hair on this one!  Lydia has had a good time styling it.

The next day the girls were in for another surprise.  Most of the time we open all our presents on Christmas day.  If we open any on Christmas eve, it is usually pajamas for them to sleep in.  This year we decided to give them their "big" present early.  We were supposed to go out of town the day after Christmas and we wanted them to have time to enjoy it.

 Here they are getting ready to open the gift.  :)

They have now realized that they have a new Wii!  Much squealing and jumping around ensued. 

Time to give it a go after Mom spent an hour setting it up. LOL 

I asked the girls if it was a let down to open the best present first.  They all assured me that it was not a let down.  Instead they were excited about playing with it as well as opening the other gifts.  :)
It has been fun that we have all enjoyed together.

With All My Heart~

13th and 12th Birthday continued . . .

Do you want to start at the beginning of the party?  Go here.

So after the game, we all moved to the table to decorate the cupcakes.  Hannah and Sarah planned to decorate their cakes sooner but since we had stayed out so late with our trip to watch the Nutcracker, the girls ended up decorating with the other guests.

Sarah's design

Hannah's design - not what she wanted to do, but I like it! :)

My sweet birthday girls!

Part 3 coming here. . .

We Have a Teenager! :) Hannah is 13

On Saturday, December 8th we celebrated both of our December baby girls birthdays!  Hannah turned 13 on that day and Sarah turned 12 five days later.  

Many times I write a blog about memories of their birthdays.  This year I decided to be a bit different and just blog about the day.  

The birthday celebration actually started the day before with the girls making their own cakes.  This year we decided to give them their first "friend" birthday party.  Normally we celebrate just with family but we figured the 13th is pretty special and we would let them have a friend party.  The girls made cupcakes for their friends and a single round cake for themselves.

We decided we would start the party with a game.  Since the girls are older I thought they might like a game of Win, Lose, or Draw.  I had to look it up on YouTube to convince them that it was fun. LOL  It was nice because even the littlest friends could play!

Sarah, Cheyenne, and Mary talking before the game.

Kimber, Ariana, and Aunt Lorilyn are ready to play! :)

Our neighbor, Jade!

Sarah's team not including Daddy who is taking the pictures.

Hannah's team, 

River has the best seat! 

I love this shot!

Daddy playing too!

Memaw too! :)

Mommy had some fun too!

This was an hour of fun.  We all hated to stop, but we wanted to have time for cake and gifts, so the lightning round decided the winner!  Congratulations to Sarah's team!

See the next post for more party fun . . .  :)

Our Florida Trip 2012

We love our Florida church family and always look forward to our trips back.  They are usually every other year, so it has been a long time since we have seen some of them.  This one was bitter sweet since we traveled down to be with our Mama Rita and Papa Jim during Rita's last earthly days.  She was suffering the final effects of Alzheimer's disease so we don't believe she even knew we were there, but it was important for us.

Alpheus was at the hospice house with them most of the time.  The girls and I spent the time we weren't there visiting others.  We enjoyed services at both Joppa Baptist (our former church) and Fanning Springs church where it was a delight to hear the word and to see our loved ones!

We stayed in a camper at Grandpa Dennis and Grandma Becky's home.  I meant to get a picture of it and forgot.  It was really nice!  We also spent a lot of time at our dear friends, the Phillips' home.  The kids had a great time playing, talking, eating and enjoying each other! We also spent time with my other besties, Brenda and Marcia.   I have to admit that I thoroughly enjoyed myself everywhere we went!  This was also a bit bitter sweet because I haven't been able to find other like-minded homeschooling families since we have moved back to VA. (Except, of course, my best home school buddy, my sister!)  Still praying about that! :)

Lydia playing with Grandma Becky and Grandpa Dennis' granddaughter, Savannah.    They had a ball each morning they were together!

One evening the girls decided to really enjoy the Florida sand.  What a mess they were!  Thank goodness for Grandma Becky's tide with bleach.  She loved every second of watching them. :)

At ABC pizza, the best pizza and subs in Florida, with our dear Wendy and Dan Downs.  Wendy hates to have her picture taken, so this proves how much she loves us!  She was Lydia's former Sunday School teacher.  We love you Dan and Wendy.  Come see us soon, PLEASE!

Our dear friend, Faith, and her sweet horse, Diamond.

Mary had the first ride.  She was thrilled. Faith also rode with her, so she could go a bit faster around the coral.

Here is Sarah enjoying her turn.

Hannah was last and Diamond kept heading to the mounting block.  But they still enjoyed making her turn left or right, walk and stop.  She is a sweet horse.

Lydia was enjoying the pool!

Mary took a break from the chilly water, to warm up on the trampoline.

Sweet smiles!

Another sweet smile!

Everyone was having a blast.

Dinner time, yet?

Waiting patiently.

They looked so grown up, just chatting  and catching up on their lives since last summer!

My flash didn't work, but I love this girl and her sweet smile so I had to include her! :)

We saw so many more friends at church but I just was too busy visiting to take pictures!  Our final day was spent celebrating the home going of Mama Rita and saying good bye for now to our special family in Florida.  We were so blessed.

With All My Heart~