Christmas with the Stones!

It has been such a long time since I have posted! I have many Christmas pictures and stories to share and only a few more days off rom work, so I thought I had better get posting. So settle in with a hot chocolate and warm blankie...

First of all, I want to acknowledge the true reason for the season, Jesus Christ. And with him also God the father and the Holy Spirit. This Christmas I felt a change in the meaning of Christmas for me (in a good way). It is no longer so magical and exciting, but it is so much more meaningful. I actually took some time this Christmas to talk with Jesus and thank God for sending him.

In fact, I had meant to do a web post of "Is Jesus like a Wii?" but I never got around to it. I was thinking one day...my sweet brother gave us his Nintendo Wii at Thanksgiving. Yes, he GAVE it to us. I know how lucky we were! Not only did we save over $600 (he had tons of games too), we also didn't have to get up at 4 a.m. to wait in line for one (as some of our friends did!). Funny thing is, we had this Wii, and we never got it out to play. It wasn't like we were saving it for Christmas or anything. Hannah already knew we had it. We just let it sit in the box. We knew it was fun, we had played it over Thanksgiving. Yet, it just stayed in the box. So...it got me thinking. I think that Jesus is like that Wii. He is so awesome - the best gift EVER! And we all have access to Him, but maybe because He is so freely given to us, we just leave Him there unopened and untouched. How much greater is Jesus than a video gme system, but yet there are whole days (and weeks) that I go without ever opening His word or talking with Him. So, is Jesus like a Wii?...no, but it did make me think about the most awesome gift of all this Christmas, and how I need to make time to enjoy Him and not let that gift go to waste. BTW, we have broken out the Wii now and play it often! Funny though, now I think of Jesus every time I play!

Speaking of Wii...here is Rich and his sister, Sheila, on Christmas day. :-)

So now to the Christmas festivities... We opened gifts as a family a few days early because Hannah spent Christmas at her dad's in Chicago.

Here is our beautiful teenager in front of the tree.

Allegiance is opening her gift from Granny. She loved the sticker book and got lots of new clothes with the cash!

This pic of Hannah is one of my favorites...it's not that often that you get to see a teenage girl that excited about anything!

I could list all of the wonderful gifts that we each got...but I am sure you all recevied great things too. As I reflect on the greatest gift of all, listing everything else we got seems a little silly. But trust that the girls and I were very well taken care of by Daddy and Santa!

Here is a pic of our beautifully decorated house. Rich worked so hard on it, and it looked so great. Too bad we can't keep it up all year!!!

And this is my attempt at capturing our street. We turned our street into Candy Cane Lane for a decorating contest in our neighborhood and we won! There were many more candy canes, but I was just trying to show the gist of it. We had lots of neighbors decorate this year and it really made our block beautiful.

The day after we opened family gifts and saw Hannah go, we went to downtown Fort Worth to check out the festivities. Here we are wating to see Santa.

And here is Allegiance telling Santa that he had better come through the front door and not down the chimney. She was VERY worried about that. For whatever reason, she did NOT want him coming down our chimney. She wanted him to knock on the front door and for me to let him in!!!

On Christmas Eve, Rich took Allegiance and me to the North Pole! Actually, it was the ICE exhibit at the Gaylord Texan hotel, but we told Allegiance it was the North Pole. And it could have been, it was so cold!


Here is the snow bunny, ready for her big adventure!

Everything was carved out of ice. This nativity scene was my favorite.

Allegiance and me on an ice sleigh.

Christmas morning was not the same without Hannah here, but it was still great to see Allegiance's reaction to her Santa gifts. Liberty was not too excited about getting up early!

And lastly, here is Allegiance in her Christmas dress on Christmas day. She was so busy playing with her Polly Pockets that I couldn't get a picture of her standing...

As you can see, our Christmas was very blessed. Hope you enjoyed reading about it.

Our next big endeavor is Allegiance's Princess birthday party. Check back after January 13th to see pics of the big day!!!

First Ever Violin Recital

Hannah had her first violin recital this Saturday. WOW!!!

She is really doing well. Her teacher played another part along with her.

Click here to hear her play...

Christmas Party Fun

This weekend was a busy one for Rich and me. We had my work Christmas party Friday night, my friend from work's Christmas party Saturday night and our home group party tonight. They were all a lot of fun!!!

My favorite part of the night is when Hannah played us The First Noel on her violin. She played beautifully and it was a great addition to the party!

The guys worked together on Christmas trivia.

The girls worked hard, but unfortunately the guys knew a little more about Christmas!

Hannah helped Allegiance decorate Christmas tree cookies that Heather had made for the kiddos. She is such a good cook!!!

Six Flags Fun!

Six Flags has a "Holiday in the Park" each year in December. We haven't been out there since the end of summer, but since we had the season passes, the girls and I decided to check it out.

We had loads of fun!!! We rode the train and sang Christmas carols, rode a few rides, drank hot chocolate, and the girls got to be in the Looney Tunes show we went to!

Plus, to make it all even better, Allegiance got brave and sat on Santa's lap. We really didn't think she would do it this year. We had already tried once this year with no success. But something about this Santa at Six Flags...she went right to him!!!

God is so good to bless us with fun times like these.

I am so blessed to have such a great family and good times!!!

Christmas Cheer

Rich is so good at putting up Christmas lights. Here is our house before he even finished with it. I will have to post more pictures closer to Christmas because he just keeps adding more to it!!! He has also helped two of our neighbors with their lights and is going tomorrow to decorate a friend of mine from school's house! I am so lucky to have him to make the holidays so special for the girls and me!

Riding the rockin' reindeer!

Our brand new nine-foot tree, thanks to our TALL ceilings!!!

Naughty or Nice???

Thanksgiving in the Mountains

We had a week long break from school this Thanksgiving...so we headed to Ruidoso with my parents and brother, Dustin. I can't think of a more beautiful place to have spent a restful weekend. We saw snow, eat plenty, played games, and just enjoyed each other!

Funkytown Dance!

I tried to post this below, but it wouldn't work!

So try this video, not the one in the next post!

Football Fun

Tonight Allegiance and I went the the Titans football game because our own dear Hannah was playing in the band! It was a nice chilly night (nice because it was 80 degrees here yesterday!). We had a great time. Hannah played well and Allegiance enjoyed dancing and cheering.

Hannah playing the bass drum.

Allegiance acting like she is playing the drums.

Sweet kiss through the fence.

Silly dance!!!

Try this video...I don't think it loaded right, but if it did, you are in for a treat!!

Hannah's Halloween Party

I never got a chance to post pics from Hannah's Halloween party, so here are a few...

She had a great time with some of her friends. She is definitely growing up though because Rich's attempts to scare the girls didn't work at all!

Hannah, the apple bobbing QUEEN!!!

Eating sticky caramel apples...

Halloween Fun!

We had a great night tonight! We went trick-or-treating down our street. Allegiance was so cute! She was a real trooper. I know she got tired of wearing that costume, but she just kept going for MORE CANDY!!! What fun!!!

Here is Hannah with a few of her friends that we ran into trick-or-treating...Hannah was such a good big sister. She went with Allegiance and me and even carried Alle's bucket when it got to heavy. Now that is love!!!

This is Allegiance with her friend, Zana, from down the street.
And , lastly, my beautiful girls in front of our home. Could God bless anyone more???

Middle School Dance

Well, Hannah had her first official Middle School Dance tonight. Funny, I remember those dances (where nobody except the two "couples" in the school danced, and all the girls sat around drinking their sodas and talking, and watching the boys they had a crush on). She had a good time. It is so strange to see her growing up. I guess I finally know a little of how my mom felt now.

Fall Festival

Allegiance and I went to a Fall Festival for my school tonight. It was lots more fun than I thought it would be. We went on a hayride, ate caramel apples, painted pumpkins, and danced. Who would have thought that Allegiance could do the Cha Cha Slide? She had a blast!

Bubble Bath Kid

Well, I couldn't decide what Allegiance would be for Halloween this year. She doesn't have anything she particularly likes except for Dora, and the Dora costumes out this year weren't all that great. So, I decided to make her costume this year (like my mom always did for us...thanks, Mom!). I found this one for a bubble bath on the internet and fell in love. Just right for Allegiance. I showed her and she loved it too. How could she not? It's pink and white! Her favorites!!!

Painting Pumpkins

Allegiance and I stayed home sick on Monday. She had a touch of the stomach bug and I was all about staying home. :-)

We had a good day of resting...and painted our pumpkins. Here is the little artist hard at work.

And here she is almost finished.

Almost her entire pumpkin was painted pink by the time she was done!!!

Tractors and Wagons

We got on the big tractor at the pumpkin patch...

And Allegiance drove the small one too!

Allegiance thinks she is so big. Here she is pulling the wagon around!!!