Welcome Home Soldier

My daddy & I picked out my clothes today! LOL!
Shake that tamborine!

Waiting for the "army men" to get into the airport.

I got spirit, yes I do!

Patriotic Pup!

Forming one side of the welcome line.

I really enjoyed watching all the Veterans standing around visiting....wonder what stories they were telling!

If you have never been to a "Welcome Home Soldier" event at your local airport, I totally suggest it. This was our first, but definately not our last! There were 5 soldiers returning from Iraq & Afghanastan yesterday. One was a female soldier (the boys were amazed that there was a "girl army man"! haha! ) It reminded me of an indoor parade. Lots of retired veterans and their wives, a few young families, then all of the returning soldiers' families up front. Hearing the Marine Corp. chants, etc. gave me the chills! We sang America The Beautiful as they walked down the rows...we all got the chance to shake their hands and thank them for their service. The kids did great and I hope it helped to teach them that these people serving our country and keeping us free are REAL, not just on the TV & in the history books and newspapers, but real, with real families and loved ones. We'll be going back to more events....for sure! God Bless the USA!

Hanging out at the Grandparents...again...:)

Writing a Christmas Letter with Grandmama
The Music box is always a hit. It provides some good dancing tunes!

Bryce

Blake

Dancing to the music...

I give up! A good picture with all 3 is hard to get!

Handsome boy! Mom decided she just couldn't do the big Christmas Tree this year...she put up my grandmother's little Christmas tree this year. She passed away three years ago...I think my mom is just now starting to enjoy the holidays again.

Bryce & Caleigh

Dancing with Grampie. My favorite.

I am so grateful that both of my parents have been healthy this holiday season. My mom was feeling really bad last year...the ambulance was actually called to her house last year Christmas morning. I think the doctors finally found the right mixture of meds for her to keep her heart & blood pressure happy. So...we finished school work up before noon on Thursday & headed to Longview for the afternoon. We had a good time...played at their house, lunch at Jason's Deli, off to the mall to visit with Santa & an ICEE, then a little dancing before we headed home. Last night was the boys' Tae Kwon Do Christmas Party. They had games, treats, and a gift exchange. The kids had a fun time. We went to see the Live Nativity afterwards. It was pretty, but I felt so sorry for those standing out in the weather...it was freezing cold & VERY windy!!! The angel on top of the manger scence actually looked like she might fly away! We are heading to the airport in a bit for a Welcome Home Soldier event. The kids are busy making posters...they're quite excited! Happy Saturday!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Our Elf on the Shelf. This is his 3rd year at our house. He likes to pick a new spot every morning to appear & watch us for the day. He reports to Santa who is naughty & nice. Better be nice!!!! Caleigh thinks he's magic. Some days he brings treats back from The North Pole. The boys play along...it is fun and there are treats to be had after all!! You can visit the web-site; the kids love http://www.elfontheshelf.com/ (I bought my elf for $4.00 at Ellis Pottery. I'm too cheap to buy the book/elf for $20 at the book stores. You can get your own elf, then go on-line and listen to the story.)

My little helper "elf". Ready to wrap?

Blake's Christmas Letter to Santa.

Bryce's Letter to Santa.

Our family wish list for Santa.

Caleigh's Manger Scene on the top of her desk. Where's baby Jesus??? Hmmm...I'll have to ask her about that in the morning!

My favorite vintage elves.

Mom gave me these angels last week. I love them! Some days Hope is what gets me through the day!!! Hope for a better tomorrow ;)

Caleigh's decoration by the front door....a hodge-podge which includes Santa's sleigh..haha.

Now, I'm off to enjoy a bowl of Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream that the Schwan's man was nice enough to sell me...

Great, Great, Great....

Caleigh just finished stacking all of our oranges up for me. She was very proud. I love this picture...this is her Great, Great, Great Grandmother's bowl. I was lucky enough to salvage it out of the home place in Boerne before it became a Historical Marker many years ago.

She can finally reach.....

....her horse's stirrups! She's very pleased with herself! Girl, put that tongue back in your mouth!LOL! Silly thing!

Big Kid Toys

My baby rarely ever plays with her little kid toys. Her toy box is full of neglected play things. She much prefers "her boys" things...games, legos, crayons, ets. The only exceptions I can really think of are her own Books, Stickers, Play-doh & Little People. She's also into putting all her cooking things, puzzle pieces, anything small really, into grocery sacks and stashing them all over the place. I hope this little stage doesn't last too long...driving me nutty! :) I guess she just wants to do everything they do...I even had to copy her a Math Paper to do while they did their Math homework today! She proudly stated: "I know my 6 Multiplication Tables now Mama!". Little stinker! I guess I may as well donate most of her "baby" toys as she so fondly calls them. She asked Santa for her own IPOD for goodness sakes! Unfortunately, Santa doesn't bring 3 year old IPODs in this house, so I'm afraid she may be disappointed come Christmas morning! She does play with her brothers'. I'm sure they would love it if Santa would bring her one of her very own! ;) Here she is getting some Legos together to build something....she also made her own Matching/Memory game out of the Guess Who game of the boys. Pretty smart little cookie this one is.

Grandparents' Love

James took the boys to the deer camp Saturday to hunt and ride 4-wheelers. They saw some bobcats and several doe, but no bucks worth shooting. They all had a fun time though and arrived nice and tired with dirty laundry today. :)

Caleigh and I went over for a little visit with my parents. It's so strange to just have one child with me! She enjoyed all of their lovin' only for herself! We had a nice lunch at The Olive Garden and did a little bit of shopping. Caleigh & I finished decorating the inside of the house for Christmas and got the stockings hung on the fireplace last night. We put some yummy smelling 'Cinnamon Sticks' wax in all of our Scentsy lamps & the house even smells like Christmas now! Love it!

Tomorrow is our Homeschool Co-Op's Christmas Party. We'll see if we can concentrate on our school day after that!!! I had planned on taking all of December off, but after more consideration I decided against it. The boys really seem to do better without long breaks. More weeks with a free Friday seems to work better than taking a whole week or more off....so, we work until the week before Christmas! That's the plan! ;)

Christmas Cards

A fellow blogger friend gave me a heads up on some savings from Shutterfly! If you link your Christmas card to a blog post or Facebook post, you earn $25 towards your next purchase (which I will be using for calendars!) So, a few of you may see my card twice, but most of my friends & family are not "bloggies"! So glad I finally got myself set down long enought to get this done! What a relief!

Christmas Card 2010

With Love Chartreuse Christmas Card

Make a statement with custom Christmas cards at Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We enjoyed a warm day today...almost too warm...it is the day before Thanksgiving after all. Well, we do live in East Texas, so we're used to it...Fall today & Winter blows in tomorrow afternoon according to the weatherman. We head to the country tomorrow to enjoy Thanksgiving with family and friends. I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!

BTW, I really don't know how I got so lucky to be blessed with this beautiful little girl as our daughter. Most of her "babyness" has slipped away. With the removal of her tonsils, also was the removal of her beloved NUBY sippy cups filled with warm milk morning, noon, and night. She now goes to sleep without it...just a little rocking & a sweet "Good Bye" from her bed. She wakes with an "I'm hungry!" instead of "Milk Please!". It's bittersweet. No matter how much she grows, she'll always be my baby. ;)