More Christmas Fun

This month, I've really tried to balance some fun Christmas activities with just enjoying being at home.  There is nothing sweeter than being at home as a family and enjoying the sights and sounds of Christmas.  The second I wake up in the morning, the Christmas tree lights come on and I light my favorite Christmas candle.  We've been playing Christmas music almost constantly while we play and I just love it!  

Here is a little bit more of what we've been up to…

We attempted a Christmas movie night with the kids.

We were going to watch Merry Christmas Charlie Brown, but we had some technical difficulties, so we ended up watching crazy Christmas light houses on YouTube. :) The kids were mostly just interested in the popcorn anyway!

We had our annual Christmas lunch at Brookwood with the Myers girls - one of our favorite traditions!

Chris and I went to a Christmas Open House at Courtney and Quoc's.  

We had our small group Christmas party.  So thankful for this group and their children!

We decorated a gingerbread house!

We wrapped up a great first semester of preschool!

We got the most special gift from Reid and his teachers!  

Isn't this precious?  I will treasure it forever!

We covered our fridge with Christmas artwork.

One of my favorite things about Reid being in preschool is getting all of these cute things!

We let the kids exchange the gifts they got for each other.

The boys went hunting last weekend, so we had a girls weekend at Mumsie's house!  We relaxed, watched a few Christmas movies on TV, went to lunch with the Comeauxs, Mumsie gave me a sewing lesson, and we went to brunch where Georgia Kate really enjoyed her biscuit. ;)

The boys did whatever boys do at the ranch. ;) 

Last night, after the boys got back, we all went to the Really, Really Big Christmas Show at Second Baptist!  They have an AMAZING train display set up that Reid loved.  Georgia Kate did surprisingly well and sat through the entire 2 hour show.  I couldn't believe it.  She was being so cuddly and I ate it up! :)

Today we are hanging out at home and getting excited about celebrating Christmas the next two days!

2 photo shoots, 1 girl

All of the boys have been away hunting, so my mom, Georgia Kate and I spent the weekend together!  We had some fun and did a couple of photo shoots with our baby girl.

We tried to copy some of the pictures we've seen on Pinterest.  If you are a photographer, cover your eyes. ;)  My friend Kim was so sweet to help me figure out what settings to put my camera on to achieve the look we were going for.  They are far from professional looking, but I am happy with what we got!

Yesterday we met up with some friends for lunch and decided we should take some pictures of our little peach in her bonnet and cape!

It sure is fun to have our own little baby doll! :)

Joy Journal

Now that 2014 is winding down, I wanted to share something that has made such a difference in my life this year!  We've been talking a lot about gratitude with Reid and how important it is to have a grateful heart.  Obviously this is a very abstract and difficult concept for a 3 year old, but it's just so important.  It's something I want to model for our kids every day.  I truly believe that joy and gratitude go hand in hand.  I started a Joy Journal on January 1st and have written in it every single night (with the exception of a couple of vacations when I forgot to bring it).  I end my night by remembering a moment that brought me joy that day or something that I felt thankful for that day.  Sometimes it's something really small and other times it's something bigger.  This Joy Journal habit has helped me notice our blessings and find moments of joy more than every before.  I find myself walking out of the grocery store and thinking how thankful I am that we are able to buy what we need to feed our family or giving my kids a bath and thinking how blessed we are to have an abundance of clean water.  I'm sharing this so that maybe someone reading will feel encouraged to start a Joy Journal of her own! I promise it will change you!   

I also love looking back and reading what I wrote throughout the year.  Here are just a few of my random entries… :)

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Here is our Christmas card for this year!  My mom took the pictures for us.  Thanks, Mom!

Here is the front:

This picture went on the back.  It is sooo hard to get Georgia Kate to smile for the camera.  We got about two pictures where she was smiling. :)

This picture was our runner up!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours! 

Reid's Christmas Program

Reid had his very first school program on Thursday!  I had no idea how it would go because while he loves music, he does not love attention and people staring at him.  I tried to be really casual about the whole thing and not really talk about it a lot.  Well, he did great!  It's so funny to me to see all the different personalities.  There are the kids that are SO into it and were just born to be on stage and then there are the precious little statues that don't move and look terrified.  Reid seemed kind of neutral about the whole thing, but he did most of the motions and sang most of the words.  I definitely got a little teary during Silent Night.  There's just nothing sweeter than children singing.  

 Here's our handsome 3 year old before we left for school.  

Here's his class walking into the chapel.  He seemed so grown up walking in a line with his little class!

Sweetness...

Chris and I, Georgia Kate, Grandma, Mumsie and Poppies were all in attendance, but we only managed to get these two pictures.  

Reid was really sad when we had to leave, but his wonderful teacher texted me this picture 5 minutes later to let me know he was doing great! :) 

And then there was this picture.  I couldn't stop laughing.  Reid was not impressed. :)