Happy New Year!!

The White Wennings took pity on our non existent New Years Plans and came over with lasagna and the Grundy's for a new years eve dinner. The best part, Julie brought sparklers!! The boys were thrilled!!

The "Morning Glory" (Julie knows her fireworks :) was the highlight of the show. I know this picture isn't the clearest (fireworks make for difficult photos), but I couldn't resist including it - check out Wy's excitement.

Not sure what to say about this little poser.

So, until our New Years Cards get here (COME ON UPS!!) and you receive our official New Years Greetings, HAPPY NEW YEAR! Hope 2008 was all you hoped for we'll see you next year.

Bang it!

Today Stacey was trying to open a drawn in his room, he kept saying "bang it." I asked him what he was saying and he repeated very clearly, "bang it." He would let out a big sigh and pull on the drawer and say "bang it, I can't get this open." Whoops, I guess "dang it" is more a part of my daily vocabulary than I realized. Dang it, I'm going to have to stop saying that.

It's an honor just to be nominated :)

WOW, my first blog award!!! Thanks Ang. Even though you would encourage me if I wrote about nothing but potatoes, I'll take it.

I finally got around to finishing this post!! Not sure what I could possibly tell you that you don't already know but here goes...

1. I look forward to nap time and bed time. I adore my boys, and I love it when they are awake, but I also look forward to a break when they take a nap and unwinding when they go to bed. Around 5ish I'll give myself a little pep talk via monologue that says, "OK self, you can do it, suck it up just a few more hours." I have heard other Mother's talk about how they miss their kids when they go to bed, that is wonderful and God bless you for it, but this Mommy needs a break.

2. I don't have a single bra that really fits me and gets the job done right now. Between pregnancy, nursing and lots of cheep ones between fluctuation sizes this girl needs to invest in a some new digs for the girls - I know that is TMI, but I'm just being honest. Stacey (from TLC not my husband, although he would probably agree) and Clinton would not be happy with me.

3. I watch Gossip Girl and The Hills among other ridiculous shows and I love them :)

4. I sneakily skip pages when I'm reading to Stacey, but only if the book is really long and boring (usually the Disney ones that are the movie condensed into a book - yawn). Yea, now that it is out there I'm going to have to stop that. This is feeling more like a confessional than honesty.

5. I'm addicted to reading your blogs!! And I get really angry if no one has new updates. I'm not sure when this became such a consistent part of my daily life, recently I guess since most of my friends just started blogging. I look forward to checking my google reader daily and seeing what is going on. I also get really excited when I get comments on my posts. I know this makes me a loser, but it is true. One of our little angels recently bent our computer's power cord making it very difficult to get a full charge and do much of anything on the computer and even without it for a few days I was lost!! OK maybe not lost, but I really missed it.

6. I'm obnoxious. When I watch video of myself mostly from High School or College, I want to tell myself to STOP TALKING!! Just last weekend Stacey was videoing and I immediately went into some obnoxious character voice when he asked me a question - seriously what is wrong with me?

7. I am a rule follower. I'd like to be a rebel that thought rules were made to be broken, but I'm not. I've been this way since I was little, my parents say they would usually just have to ask me once and I would obey. Hum, wonder when my boys are going to start that?

8. I'm not very good at cooking and I really don't enjoy it very much. SB listed this among her honest thoughts, but I have to jump on the bandwagon. Yes, I manage to get dinner on the table and I can follow a recipe no problem, but cooking is more of chore to me than a delight. When I see other women who seemingly effortlessly whip up amazing meals and truly enjoy every minute of it I am insanely jealous.

9. We had to put Wyatt and Stacey in time out a few times recently for arguing with each other or fighting over something (and if I'm being honest I often get lazy and use time out when really a spanking is in order, but in this case the boys just needed to sit down and chill out so we could talk). For Stacey this is a very common procedure, but it is totally new for Wyatt. I know it is completely not the point, but he looks so cute sitting there waiting for us, and I think he is almost excited because he has seen Stacey there a million times and thinks he is such a big boy. We were giving Stacey the usual talk and then turned to Wyatt. We asked him to tell Stacey he was sorry and he walked over and said "torry tatey" and gave him a huge hug. Seriously, he could have gotten away with murder the rest of the night.

10. I'm completely depressed that Christmas is over :(. I look forward to December and all the traditions, family time, focus on our Savior, decorations, smells and excitement that go along with it. So when it is over and it is time to take down the tree and the lights and return to a normal pace of life it is a little Debbie Downer for me. And if you're still reading this you're probably thinking no problem, that took me a year to read so buck up Christmas 2009 will be here in no time, yikes sorry for the long post!

"When you receive the prize, you must write a post showing it, together with the name of who has given it to you, and link them back. Choose a minimum of 7 blogs that you find brilliant in their content or design. Show their names and links and leave them a comment informing that they were prized with 'Honest Weblog'. List [if you can and/or dare] at least ten honest things about yourself. Then, pass it on!"

I'm nominating some seriously wonderfully honest bloggers: Wendi, Karla, Chrys, Katy and Stacey. Feel free to share or just bask in the glory of this prestigious award. :)

Christmas 2008

We had a WONDERFUL Christmas with the Smith family this year. Shelley and Geoff (Stacey's sister and husband) graciously opened their home to host us all. We met Christmas Eve afternoon to get things started and after some naps headed to the 3:00 Christmas Eve service at Watermark. Going at 3:00 was awesome and the service was just wonderful...with the exception of my busted lip. We let Stacey choose if he wanted to come to big church or go to his class (they had childcare for 4 years and younger) and he really wanted to go with us. He did a great job and I actually loved having him with us. At one point he picked up our pager for Wyatt and dropped it, the batteries rolled out and as I leaned down to pick them up his head popped up and met my bottom lip. I was bleeding and had to excuse myself for a minute, but returned with a slightly fatter lip to enjoy communion and the candle lighting.

After the service we headed back to the house slipped on our matching PJ's (yes, both sides of our family do this every year!!!) for dinner and presents. Needless to say we had all been spoiled before Santa even arrived. We got a video camera!!! Thank you Nannie and Big!!!! So we were able to capture all of Christmas morning on film!! Christmas morning Wyatt immediately came out a took Brylie's stroller and started pushing it around, but we eventually diverted him back to his stash. Stacey checked Santa's cookies and milk and confirmed that he had indeed been there. The kids were really fun to watch this year and truly LOVED all of their gifts. III got a camera from Santa and was snapping pictures (I'll post some of his work later - pretty funny) all day. After thoroughly enjoying all the fun new toys and treats and feasting on the traditional eggs Benedict we had a birthday party for Jesu2 (the cake decorating letters only came with one s :).

Then it was time for the gift game. Every year Debbie and Cassie come up with a game of sorts and there are usually gift cards involved. One year we had magazines and we had to figure out which magazine went with which person, the next year it was restaurants we had to figure out which restaurant best suited each person then we got gift cards to that spot. This year our game was movie themed. There were envelopes with movie quotes and we had to guess what movie the quotes were from and then determine who among us would want to see that movie. Inside the envelopes we got movie passes and a traditional box of movie candy.

It was a great holiday and as usual we find ourselves unable to express how grateful we are for a family that loves the Lord, is creative and generous and loving and that we love to spend time with. There were to many pictures to post so I put together a little video. Hope you had yourself a merry little Christmas too :)

Purdy Christmas

We had "fake" Christmas with my family this weekend. I have been looking forward to this weekend since we scheduled it knowing that we would all be together, including our newest addition to the family Lila Elizabeth!!! Seriously, could you be more precious??

It was a WONDERFUL weekend, thank you Mom and Dad for hosting us!! But, as usual it was WAY to short. :( We treated Sat. like our Christmas day. This is Dad reading about what Christmas is really about before we started opening presents.

The kids were totally spoiled with gifts galore - thank you generous family!

Princess Ally & Chef Ally - she is so diverse! One minute royalty the next a hard working baker.

Snuggle buddies.

Since Santa can only come on real Christmas (duh!) after we had opened all the wrapped gifts, the kids went on a little scavenger hunt for a big bag of additional goodies. Thankfully one of the boys gifts were these awesome flashlights!!Cool scooter!

Best gifts EVER!

Three generations.
Couldn't resist these guys in their matching sweaters.

We are so blessed to have an incredible family that love us beyond what we could ever deserve or imagine. We love spending time with you and look forward to our next Purdy Christmas and every visit in between.

Santa 2008

Oh let the good times role. :) They say a picture is worth 1000 words and I think this one speaks for itself.
You might be thinking "Oh, poor Wyatt, did he fall out of Santa's lap?" Um no, he threw himself on the floor for a full on fit. I really don't think he is even afraid of Santa at all, he has never been fearful of costumes and this isn't our first encounter with Santa this season, but when he decides he doesn't want to do something forget about it. When we'd try to even have him stand near Santa he would do that jello in your arms thing. Not even a "bo bo" (aka dum dum) could distract him. I was getting a little panicky thinking, how am I going to get him to stay up there!?! And in the absolute chaos of the moment I couldn't think clearly. Thankfully Angie thought to switch him to Santa's lap while Stacey sat on the chair so poor Santa could help hold him in place while they snapped a picture.

I love it. Sweet Lila slept through the whole thing. Until next year Santa!

Jingle Bells

Stacey has is very first ever performance last night, we were really excited and he did such a great job!!! Jubilee Junction his MDO has a small service and the older classes sang two songs. He marched right up there ringing his bell and smiled and sang like a champ. Being our first event of this kind we were pretty proud :)

I'll warn you this video is terrible. I took it with my camera so the video quality is always sub par, but it kept trying to focus on the directing hand that popped in and out so consider yourself warned.

Burrrrrrrrrr

No, the heat has not gone out, Stacey just thought he'd like to take his nap with a little extra gear today. Hope you're staying warm!

All Aboard the Polar Express!!!

Several months ago the Smith's told us to set aside December 14th for a little Christmas sussy. None of us knew what were were going to be doing, but we kept the day free and yesterday was the big reveal. We met over at our house at 1:00 and headed out to an undisclosed location. In the car they told us we were going to ride the the Polar Express!!! The boys were thrilled when we pulled up and saw a real TRAIN!!!

After exploring the tracks and eating some dinner it was time to put on their jammies and get on board! Here we are anxiously waiting.

Brylie Ruth was showing some big love to her cousins!!

The boys were pretty excited about the train ride. Wyatt kept saying Tane Choo Choo.

Here are Nannie and Big with their the three musketeers.

Once we were off hot chocolate and Santa candies were served. Yummy!!!

After the story was read (for those of you not familiar, a little boy rides the Polar Express to the North Pole where he meets Santa and is given a special bell from his sleigh. Only those that believe can heat it ring) we sang Christmas Carols and then we finally arrived at THE NORTH POLE!! Texas style of course, no snow :)

Then Santa made his way through all the train cars to visit each passenger and give them their special bell. My picture of Stacey with Santa does not do his excitement justice. He embraced him without hesitation. I may add a few more later from other cameras, needless to say this adventure was well documented.

When I put Wyatt in his car seat to head home, he stuck out his best pouty lip and said, "Bye Bye Tane, Bye Bye Tane." It was a VERY fun family outing with all of the Smith's and we are so thankful for Big and Nannie's creativity and surprises. Thank you for a wonderful Christmas memory that will not soon be forgotten!!

All I want for Christmas is...

Stairs.

I was equally confused. About thirty minutes after I had put Stacey down to bed he peaked his head around the corner in the living room with a sweet little smile on his face and said, "Um, Mommy, for Christmas I want a camera and a firetruck and stairs." Now lest you think my child is um, greedy, he rarely has an answer for what do you want for Christmas, but we saw Santa today. We didn't sit in his lap and take a picture see him, but we were at the mall and saw him and I told him we'd have to come back to see Santa (when the boys weren't wearing orange and camo) and he could tell him what he wanted for Christmas. So, I guess he had been thinking on it.

Me: Stairs??
Stacey: Yes, stairs, you know like you climb the stairs
Me: Well, that might be a little tricky, what made you think about stairs?
Stacey: You know in Kung Fu Panda when he comes down the stairs?
Me: Oh yes, at his house?
Stacey: Yes.
Me: Well, I think usually you have to have another story in your house to have stairs, like you walk up the stairs to go to the next level or down the stairs, but our house just has one level, so we don't have stairs, but those are some great ideas.
Stacey: OK so for Christmas I want a camera and a firetruck and st...well I guess not stairs.

Way to crush those dreams Mom!!!! If anyone sees some stairs at Toys R Us let me know...and apparently we're going to need to add a firetruck to the shopping list. :)

Advent Calendar

Stacey has been VERY interested in our advent calendar this year. He will ask me every morning if we can "open the little door now." A few years ago, Debbie and Cassie (Stacey's Mom and Aunt) gave these to all the kids for Christmas complete with all the "fixings." This year more than ever I am appreciating this little treasure!!

Each day has a bible verse and a small toy or figurine that goes along with the bible story. For example, behind today's door was a lion and the verse/story was from Daniel 6 and read "Daniel was a good man who wound up in the lions den. That's because he chose to pray to God, and not to men. But Daniel was kept safe and sound. He did what was right and God sent down his angel to shut the lions' mouths." Stacey is especially fond of the "and he SHUT THEIR MOUTHS!" part which we say enthusiastically.

What a great opportunity each day to talk with Stacey about the truths in these stories. Daniel obeyed God, just like we are called to obey God. God is our protector and he honors our faith and trust in him etc. And it is a fun countdown to Jesus' birthday as well. On a separate note, III was very curious/confused about how old Jesus is going to be on his birthday this year.

Stacey: Mommy how old is Jesus going to be on his birthday?
Me: Well, we are celebrating the day he was born. God sent Jesus to the earth as a baby and we're celebrating that.
Stacey: But how old is he going to be?
Me: Jesus already lived his life and he died on the cross for our sins, remember? So at Christmas we are celebrating the day he was born.
Stacey: So is he going to be 1 like Wyatt's 1?

Got to love those wheels turning.

Snuggle Pups

Bob and Jack cuddle up like two peas in a pod on these cold nights. Poor dogs, I remember the days when they'd be on the couch with us, my how things change. I like how the puppy vacuum is close by like he is just one of the guys.

Hard At Work

A visit to Dad's office after a little lunch date.

Oh Christmas Tree

We had a fun family outing Sat. to pick out a Christmas tree. We usually have real tree, but with the four of us in fairly close quarters we thought it would be fun to get two little trees to put in the window boxes. This turned out great and solved several problems. They are out of the way, the boys have a tree in Stacey's room with all the "fun" ornaments and we get a pretty one in the living room and they serve as our outside lights as well.

Here are the boys giving Santa some love at Home Depot. Do you think this can count as our official visit?
A family pic, with the timer in Stacey's room. Not sure why we took it right then since the tree was mid decorations? I later found a red baby bed sheet to serve as the tree skirt in here - you would have thought I found $100 bill I was so excited when I found it :)

Only draw back was the window boxes aren't big enough for the Christmas train. Stacey had one of these when he was a little boy and has great memories of getting out the train every year, deciding how the track would go etc. The Smith's gave the boys one a few years ago and we knew they would go nuts for it this year. So we decided to transform our table into a train station (family dinners are overrated anyway - JK). Notice the glitter houses from last year, I was so excited to pull them out this year. And, I had bought a bunch of snowflake ornaments on after Christmas clearance at Target last year (again, you would have thought I won the lotto when i pulled out the box and found this forgotten treasure!). This is a terrible picture, but you get the idea. The boys were thrilled with the Choo Choo when they woke up.
I have really been struggling with the balance between not spending money, which is just where we are right now and wanting to create a warm home with great family and Christmas traditions. I know the Lord has called me as a wife and mother to be the heart of our home, but he has also called me to treat every dollar as if it were his - which it is! I'm rambling and I'm sure there are other posts to come about God's continued provision for us, but yesterday was a great day and I am so thankful we are able to have a Christmas tree(s) this year. :)

Aunt Cary!!

Is there anything sweeter than the birth of a new baby?? I don't think so! Here we are in the waiting room. After several walks and several books he finally decided to peace out for a little siesta. Over all Wyatt did quite well spending the day in the waiting room. I sent III back to Dallas with Stacey since he had been a little sick. Everyone thought Ally (my niece) and Wyatt were twins, somehow I got home without a pic of the two of them, but they were two peas in a pod.
Ryan was the real superstar in the waiting room! She's HERE!!!! This is Josh bringing out Lila's first of many pictures. I absolutely LOVE this incredible moment when the proud Dad gets to share the news that his daughter (or son in some cases) is here and she is perfect!!! Praise the Lord, what a miracle!!!

And perfect, is just the word to describe this little girl!

I love you so much Lila!!

Wyatt, meet your cousin! He was very curious and wanted to stay close to Liiiiiila and Kakey

Lila Lou, you're too precious, and that hair!! I could eat her up!!

Doll baby!!!

Kacey is a natural and such an AMAZING mother. What beauties, both Lila and Kacey!! I am so proud of my baby sister!!!!

Thanksgiving

Now that I am back to Dallas, missing Lila (that post is next), here are some fun pics from our Thanksgiving. On Thursday we had a relaxing day at the Smith's. Nannie (Stacey's Mom) had a turkey cookie craft for Stacey. He called them Thanksgiving roosters :)Beautiful

On Friday we headed to Houston and had some great time with my family. This is Honey (my Mom) and Stacey making Thanksgiving roosters out of a tracing of their hands. Our boys are so lucky to have such creative grandparents!!

On Sat. the Wood's joined us in Houston and we had our Thanksgiving dinner. It was delicious, but in retrospect, probably not the best idea to host a large dinner with four kids under 5 at the home of the sister who is about to give birth!! Somehow Kacey managed to set a beautiful table in the midst of the chaos, which included III puking all over me and the couch about an hour before dinner and a pan of gourmet macaroni hitting the kitchen floor before we got to taste it. Good Times!!!!

I have SO much to be thankful for and while I wouldn't have minded a quiet dinner with adults while my children were cared for on another planet by our nonexistent Nanny, I know how blessed I am to have my two turkeys and I wouldn't trade em for the world :)