Christmas 2009

I hope all of our family had a blessed Christmas. Mallory and Brayden had a blast. It is so much fun now that they are understanding more about what Christmas means.

I tried to get a picture, but Brayden wouldn't cooperate

Brayden unwrapping the gift Mallory got him.........Disney Cars. That is one of his favorites at the moment. I still have no idea how he became so interested in the characters, he may have seen the movie twice, but not really sat down to watch it.

Aunt Vickie, Uncle Kevin, Jordan and Hallie gave her some doll clothes for her Bitty Baby doll.

Mallory's present from Brayden. She loves these nightgowns.

Gator Golf from Vickie and Kevin

Thomas train set from Grandma Edna and PawPaw

A sleeping bag from Aunt Kristen, Uncle Justin, Uncle Edward and Uncle Christopher (my siblings)

Sleeping bag too!

a tent......now we can go camping!

Brayden + Thomas trains = hours of fun

This face is priceless.....Santa gave him a huge collection of Thomas stuff......including the roundhouse. (Santa shops on Ebay)

All he wants to do now is play his trains. We have had issues getting him to stop and go to bed. He is in heaven now! Before Christmas we only had a figure 8 set from Walmart. This is a lot more than his little set he had. Lots and lots of fun!

Santa gave Mallory a dollhouse (1980's). It has all the furniture too.

The tracks took up the whole living room......we had to downsize a little to put it in Brayden's room.

She loves it! If it was up to her, she would be camping now! (She did sleep in it on top of her bed that night)

Scarf from her stocking

My sister and brother-n-law gave Billy a nice U of Arkansas jacket. Billy loves it. We are all Arkansas fans here.

Trying a little golf

Our turkey dinner.

Aunt Kristen will be proud to know Santa even thought about their teeth when he was stuffing their stockings.

Merry Christmas!!!

Around the house...

Mallory before church this past Sunday. She is wearing my dress when I was a little girl. It is a little big (6x), but she wanted to wear it. My mom finished her stocking this year......so I had to get a picture with her stocking in it for my mom. Thank you Mom!

Yummy homemade Caramel Corn. Yep, I made it and it was really easy. I love the website www.allrecipes.com. They have wonderful recipes. I rarely ever use cookbooks anymore. I like how they have reviews and pictures of real people who have made it. This recipe is called "My Amish Friends Caramel Corn".

Hot Cocoa after a cold day outside playing in the snow

Checking out the snow

Grandma Edna and Pawpaw gave Brayden some tractors. He is in love now! He has a nativity scene in his bedroom. I found him one day giving Mary a ride on the tractor! LOL

Santa Cookies

Mallory wanted to make sure they were really sweet! I wish I had the patience to let my kids help me decorate. I am too uptight when it comes to messes. I am still working on it.

While Billy was away for a week, I tried to make our week a little special. We put up the tent in the living room the whole time he was gone so they could play in it and watch Christmas movies wrapped in their blankets. The day Billy came home, was also the day the tent came down. One reason, we don't have a place for it. :)

Crossing my fingers

Ok, so I am "blogging" about this giveaway MckMama is having on her blog www.mycharmingkids.net for a chance to win this wonderful photography software I have been dreaming to own! So, if I post this on my blog I get another entry.

Wish me luck.

I am crossing my fingers!

Brigade Christmas Party

Mallory's 4th Birthday Dec. 7, 2009

We had a little "special" celebration the day before Mallory's birthday seeing that Billy was going to be leaving on her day. What was ironic, is he was going to the same location he was training at four years ago when my water broke! I was so lucky I had my great friend, Sonia, with me at the hospital until Billy finally got there. I still can't believe that was four years ago and four duty stations ago! She is officially a world traveller!

We went to a fun kids place called "Happy Kids". The kids had a blast! They had this inflatable frog/alligator (i think it was suppose to be a frog, but looked like more like an alligator....see the pictures to know what I am talking about). This amphibian you climbed in his mouth and the mouth closed up....so you slide down the back side of him. They had SOOO much fun!

Then after a few hours of play, we went home for cake and gifts. I think Mallory had a great special day.

Grandma's gift.....a puzzle she put together all by herself. She is really good at puzzles.

Her gift from us.....a Story Reader (*Ebay). It is kind of like the books on tape things I use to have when I was a kid. She loves to read books, so I thought this would be perfect for her.

Her Bitty Baby doll (*Ebay)

A puzzle from Aunt Vickie and Uncle Kevin

Her Birthday Girl crown from Aunt Vickie and Uncle Kevin

Her pink princess cake I made her **

One of my Happy Kids!

*All of our presents from us were bought gently used on Ebay. I love getting more for your money and the best part about it.......no packaging that takes forever to get the toy out of! :) It is nice to think I am Recycling. People always recycle plastic, paper, aluminum......but we also have to think about recycling other items as well. I also think I am helping another person out by buying it from them. The economy is bad enough, just helping someone make a little extra for their family. I really get upset when I see people just throw away things they don't want anymore that are perfectly good for someone else to use. Just wait to see what they get for Christmas! (Also from Ebay! :)

** Mallory's cake was made from the Large Pamper Chef Batter Bowl and I got the princess cake topper from Ebay (it came with Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, and Belle from Beauty and the Beast). Mallory wanted the "pink" princess. This was great to get, it was so much easier than sticking a Barbie doll in the cake.