Lord, You're Holy

I just wanted to share this video of my church choir singing the finale of our Christmas Concert.  The song is Lord, You're Holy.  I hope you enjoy it and pray it ushers you right into His very presence.  The ending is my absolute favorite part!  Wonderful, Glorious, Holy and Righteous, Victorious, Conqueror, Triumphant, and Mighty, Healer, Deliverer, Shield, and Defense, Strong Tower and My Best Friend, Omnipotent, Omni Present, Soon-Coming King, Alpha, Omega, Lord of Everything... HOLY, HOLY, HOLY is your name!

Munchin at Mercado's and a new Flower Bow!

We love Mexican Food!!!  And, Mercado's, a local favorite, is the one place where all four of us can eat and all get full without spending much!  The kids really eat well there!  Tonight we treated ourselves to a dinner out and stuffed ourselves full.  You just can't go wrong with free flour tortillas and chips and hot sauce!!  MMMmmm!  I get full before my meal ever comes!  HA!

Jack loves tortillas!!!  I think he'd eat every one of them if we'd let him!

Mallory loves bean burritos, but ending dinner with the free ice cream is her favorite!!

Jack likes the ice cream, too.... especially holding it himself!

Tonight I made a new bow.  It's a flower-shaped bow that can be worn in the hair or as an accessory for your clothes.  Mallory stopped playing "Snow White" for a few minutes to let me take these pictures...
 

I need some opinions... what do you think? I can make them in all sizes and colors.

Should I add them to my Mandy Jane boutique????

My model decided to show her silly side!!!

We are enjoying our days off this week!  I hope you're enjoying time with your family, too.

Christmas 2010

Well, it went by just as fast as it came... Christmas 2010 is now a memory.  But, what a wonderful memory it is!!!  As is our custom, we attended the Candlelight Lord's Supper Service with my family on Christmas Eve.  It's always so wonderful to sit in the quiet sanctuary, reflect on the past year, and remember all that Christ has done for you.  Sitting there with my family is so special.  I treasure that time with them so much!

After the service we go to my mom and dad's house for Christmas Eve munchies!!!  Greenberg turkey sandwiches, rotel cheese dip, 7-layer dip, chips, sausage balls, pigs-in-the-blanket, and DESSERTS!!!  My mother makes the most wonderful CHOCOLATE desserts you've ever tasted!  Oreo truffles, mini chocolate pecan pies, fudge, cream cheese and chocolate chip swirl cakes, chocolate and caramel brownies!!!... you have to eat dessert in shifts so you can get a taste of everything!  It is heavenly!  :-)

The food is always followed by gifts... tons of gifts.  With 4 kids in my family and four spouses and seven grandchildren... you can just imagine!!  It's a fabulous time, especially watching the kids!  This year they all put on their Christmas pj's that my mom bought them.  They all looked so precious!  Here are some snapshots of our evening...

Mallory and Jack decked out in their Christmas best for the Candlelight Service

We let the kids open the gifts we had for them before going to the Candlelight Service.

Mallory loved her "Mr. Rabbit" from Alice in Wonderland.

Jack got a Snoopy and an Old Navy baseball cap.

My Daddy and Mama

Mallory loved her new coat, Twinkle Toes!, and rolling princess backpack Nana and Papa gave her!!!

And, Jack was crazy about his Mickey Mouse rolling backpack!!!

My sweet Mallory

After all the gifts were opened, Daddy read the Christmas Story from Luke 2 and the kids placed the nativity pieces in place as they were mentioned.  This has been a special tradition for my family every Christmas Eve!

We tried to get a picture of all the cousins in their pj's. 

Can you tell what Jack thought about that!?!

He was NOT a happy camper!  :-)  HA!

Isn't that a hoot?!?!  Pictures with Santa he's ok with!

Pictures with his cousins make him cry!

Unbelievable!  :-)

I hope you had a very, merry Christmas!!!

We sure did!

Playdate with friends and Christmas Cookie-Makin'

We started our morning with a playdate at Allie's house.  Allie is Mallory's friend from school and her mom and I are longtime friends.  The girls have become good buddies and I'm so thankful for that!  It's wonderful  to know Mallory has sweet, little friends to play with and grow up with.  Allie's Aunt Judie has been a good friend of mine since highschool.  We were on the drill team together, sang in the school and church choir together, and chased boys together!  :-)  Fun memories!!!  Today's playdate was filled with lots of neighborhood kids and their moms.  Unfortunately, I forgot to get my camera out!!

This afternoon my sister-in-law, Tennille, had Mallory and Jack over to make Christmas cookies!  This was the 2nd year for us to do this together and it was so much fun! 

Jack, Mallory, and Cousin Grant picking out their favorite cookie cutters.

Pressing the cookie cutters into the dough.

Grant loved the candy canes!!

Me and Jack (Can you tell it was his naptime?!  We had one sleepy boy on our hands!)

After the first batch came out of the oven, the kids iced them!  This was a first for Jack, but he did really well.

Mallory and Grant really got into it and used all the colors!

The boys were through as soon as Mary Poppins came on!  :-)

Here are Mallory's creations.

And here are Jack's creations... what he didn't eat!!!  :-)

It was a fun afternoon!

Tennille, we had a blast!  Thank you for hosting us!

Christmas Lights

Last night my family caravanned over to Athens, Texas to see the lights!  Our first stop was Whataburger!  You should have seen the worker's faces as all 17 of us tromped in to eat!  Hilarious!

Then it was off to the lights display.  It was amazing!  I've been through several Christmas light parks, but none like this one.  It had more wooden Christmas cutouts and lights than I have ever seen.  It took us 45 minutes to drive through it all.  And there was SO much to see!!!  Here are some pictures of our evening.

Tunnel of white lights

So many snowmen!

Lighted displays over the water

Tunnel of multi-colored lights

Castle scene from Cinderella

Cinderella and her coach

Tunnel of blue lights

The Christmas park church - I love how Santa is kneeling in prayer by the door.

There was an entire town of Bethlehem and the manger scene

A HUGE display of dolls!!

The green tunnel

This is our car-full!  Tennille, Grant, Mallory, Jack, and I all rode in the back of Mama and Daddy's suburban!!!  FUN TIMES!!!

We ended the night with a stop at Braums for ice cream!  MMMmmm!

Kristin decided this needed to become a family tradition.  I couldn't agree more!  We had a blast!

Sunday Snapshots

Today after church, I tried to get a few pictures of the kids in their Christmas outfits.  The professional photographer of the family, my husband, was deer hunting, so I had to try and wing it myself.  Here's what we ended up with!  :-)

Merry Christmas!