Our Christmas Tree

We put our Christmas tree up last night!!!  Craig and the girls brought everything up and put the tree together.  Then we all decorated it.  I love it.  Of course I'm so ready to take everything back down the day after Christmas, but until then I will certainly enjoy looking at it!!

Abby adding ornaments!

Kyndal adding ornaments!

She was upset because she couldn't get her ornament to stay on the tree!

Love it:)

And all of our stockings!

Our sister in law, Lindy, gave us this our very first Christmas of being married and I love putting it up every year.  I should probably paint 3 more little snow girls on it:):)  I'm not good at painting though!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We indeed have lots to be thankful for, everyday.  We have had a really good Thanksgiving Day today.  We had a relaxing morning and then we went to some good friends house for Thanksgiving dinner and had a really good time.

Happy Thanksgiving ya'll:)

Christmas Tree Lighting

Saturday night we went to Boston to see the Christmas tree lighting ceremony at the Market Place Mall (or whatever it's called).  It was soooooooooooooo crowded.  I don't think I've ever been around so many people.  Chevy was with us so I had her and Kyndal and Craig had Abby and Anna Claire.  We didn't take our hands off of them.  The lighting started at 7:30, so we got there at 5:30 and were going to eat first, however that must have been all the other millions of people's plan because the wait everywhere was 90 minutes.  Inside the mall, well that was a joke, you couldn't even walk around and they were all eating outside (in the 20 degree weather).  We went and watched some dancers for a while and then went back to Cheers where we put our name on the waiting list.  We had about another 20 minutes to wait and then we finally got a seat.  We finished eating at 7:45, so we missed the lighting, but we did go see the tree from pretty far away since there were a million people in front of us!  We had a really great night and the girls seemed to have lots of fun!

Before we left

The girls watching the dancers

Still waiting for a table

Finally got a table, now waiting for our food.  They must have worked up an appetite, because they all ate more than usual, well except for Kyndal!

This cute girl did really good considering they went to bed late Friday night, woke up early Saturday morning and she had NO nap that day!

Our view of the tree!

As we pulled out of the parking garage, it started snowing.  As we got closer to home you could tell it had been snowing and had covered the roads and such.  It wasn't a lot of snow, but the first couple of snows are pretty messy since the roads haven't been treated.  We saw 2 cars off the side of the road on the interstate and we were driving 20 mph about 3 miles before our exit.  When we finally got off the interstate, the roads were a BIG mess.  Cars were sliding everywhere.  Thankfully we made it home safe and sound:)

Cuteness & Well visits

Anna Claire and I eat our lunch in the car while the girls are in their co-op class, and this particular day she was just so cute.

She said something to me the other day that was so cute and funny and I can't remember it for anything.  Drives me crazy.  That's why I put stuff on here, because I know I won't remember it if I don't.

While the girls were in gymnastics the other day, AC was flipping in my lap and she asked if she could flip me.  I laughed and said I was too big.  She said, can I flip Daddy, I said no he is way too big.  She said, O, well when I get older than him, I will flip him.  Funny girl!!!

These two cuties had their 8 and 10 year old well visits Tuesday and they reported to be very healthy so that is a blessing and we are grateful!

Honored

I am completely honored and SO very blessed to be the granddaughter of these two VERY special people...



These are my grandparents (Clyde and Sara) who truly are the greatest example of Christ likeness.  My mom posted this picture on her fb page as one of her thankful days and then my sweet husband re posted it sharing how special they are.  I wanted to continue sharing because they are Awesome.  They pray constantly, they love Christ and others with passion, they forgive, they don't judge, they are just awesome.  I'm sure I have taken them for granted at times, but as I look at this picture, I know how truly blessed I am to have them as my grandparents.  Couldn't EVER ask for better examples of Christ love than these two show.  So Pa and Greatgran, thank you for following the Lord with all of your hearts and loving your family and all others the way you do, thank you for such a wonderful example to follow after.  We all love you so VERY VERY much:) 

Gymnastic tricks

The other night the girls were doing some gymnastics stuff and Craig said oh I can do that.  We all laughed, so he tried.  And it was FuNnY! 

Trying to do a bridge up!  We were cracking up!

I don't know what this is called!

Abby's bridge up!  Looks good:)

Kyndal's bridge up!  Looks good too:)

He tried to hurry and get up before I took a picture!!

Craig and the girls made rice krispy treats, and Anna Claire was making sure she licked every bit of that bowl.  I'm not cutting her hair but she does usually have it pulled back, but even when it's not it doesn't bother her:)

Great fun, and memories being made around here!!!

Appreciation

Craig,

It's not your birthday nor our anniversary, just want to share my appreciation and I do that much better in typing, rather than talking (as you know).  I'm sharing it on the blog because I want you to always be able to read it (especially when I make you mad)!!hehe

I appreciate that you love the Lord and allow Him to lead you.  You love me and our girls so much and it shows.  I couldn't have hand picked a better daddy for the girls.  I couldn't have picked a better husband for myself.  I appreciate that you seek His wisdom for decisions for our family.  I appreciate that you work so hard for our family.  I appreciate that you are wise in spending money.  I appreciate that you give me off days.  I appreciate that you let me go to the gym everyday.  I appreciate that you sit at the dinner table with us and always tell me thank you and that you enjoyed it.  I appreciate that you talk to me, you share your day with me, you share your feelings with me, you share your struggles with me, and you share your happiness with me, and that makes me happy.  I appreciate that you listen to me, and help me makes decisions when I ask you.  I appreciate that you encouraged me to homeschool and work extra hard to make it possible.

I appreciate that you are a great pastor and preacher.  I appreciate that you study hard and pray hard too.  I appreciate that you love the flock the Lord has placed you with.  I love that you care so much about others spiritual well being.  I love that 99% of the time you are so patient and loving with even the most difficult people.  Actually, in all honesty, I completely admire that virtue you have.  I appreciate that you self reflect more than anyone I have ever met.  I appreciate that you seek to grow closer to the Lord every single day.

I could seriously type so much more, but now I will work even harder on showing how much I appreciate you rather than just telling you.  I obviously do get mad at you from time to time, but for the most part I think you ROCK!!!    Love you tremendously, Allye

Weekend Recap

Friday after school, we picked up Chevy for the weekend, had some lunch and came home to meet the speech therapist for Kyndal.  Yes Kyndal will meet with the ST for 30 minutes every week for I don't know how long.  The ST says it won't have to be too long as Kyndal only needs some assistance in pronouncing her R's.  She comes to our house for the session, which is awesome, and we really like her too:)  Craig took the youth group to a Superbowl event in MA, which was an all night event.  I took the girls shopping for the Shoebox Ministry and to dinner.  We had a fun night.

Enjoying some dinner at Applebee's

Saturday, when Craig got home I went to work out while the girls played and Craig napped off and on.  That afternoon we went to Matthew's birthday party and the girls had lots of fun playing with the other kids.  On the drive back home, it was silent.  I asked the girls if they were tired and they all said yes except Abby.  Needless to say, they were out early that night.  They went to bed late Friday and woke up super duper early on Sat., so they were wiped out after all their fun.  I tried to watch the Bama game, but fell asleep after the 1st quarter.  I was so tired, but I hear the game turned out really well.  Roll Tide!!!

Going to celebrate Matthew

Sunday, we had a great worship service, followed by choir practice for our Christmas program.  Then home to cook and grocery shop.  We had a ladies fellowship last night and it was lots of fun.  Afterwards, I had to finish up my grocery shopping, then home to relax!!  It was a great weekend:)

Delivering their shoe boxes to church.  They spent their own money to fill the boxes and to ship them.  Sweet girls!

Hula Hoop'in

Kyndal bought a hula hoop a couple of weeks ago and we were all playing with it the other day.  I was never good at working a hula hoop, but both girls are really good.

When I was doing it, Craig laughed and said Poor Momma!haha (all in fun by the way)

I said let's see you in action.  He said Oh, I'm good at it.  He finally showed off his mad skills and it wassssssss hilarious.  He quit as soon as I pulled out my camera.  Needless to say, it was more like Poor Daddy:)

A Night Out

Saturday evening Craig and I were treated to dinner and concert with some very sweet friends.  We went to Long Horn's and had a great steak and even better fellowship.  Then we headed down the road to the Chris Tomlin concert.  It was a super treat and we had a wonderful time.

Louie (don't know his last name) spoke and it was good!

I didn't get a pic of Chris!

We had really great seats right up front!

:):):)

Trick or Treat

We went trick or treating for the first time last night!!!  We usually have a Fall Festival at the church, but not here yet!  We went with some sweet friends and had a blast.  It was raining, but it didn't stop us.  The girls had a blast.

Kyndal was a 70's girl:)

Anna Claire was Minnie Mouse:)

Abby was a Cowgirl:)

Precious girls!

Sweet Kiddo's with all their goodies!

There has to be 1 million calories in that drawer!!!