Delight in Everything

Auntie Shelley left for Buffalo this morning. It was so much fun having her here. We laughed a lot, cried a little, and just really enjoyed being together. Her Auntie skills were put into good use and she totally captured the hearts of all of my kids, especially Ella. We sure will miss her.

The last 24 hours have been bliss, well except for the sleep deprivation and this cold that has taken my voice. It has been one of my most favorite Christmas' by far. Visits with family and friends have been perfect, the food delicious, the Spirit abundant, and the smiles plentiful. As an added bonus I got incredibly spoiled by my wonderful husband, children and my Mom and Craig. In fact, it was the first time in years that I have been completely surprised by my gifts. What fun it is to be surprised! Yet as much fun as it was to receive the joyful reactions from my children, Andrew, Craig and my Mom were even better. Today was a fabulous day. You can see all of the fun that we had in the many pictures in th slideshow.



I do hope that the rest of you had a Merry Christmas as well and that this new year is full of happiness.

The above is a picture of Ella taken a few days ago. The photo captured the face we have seen a lot around here. She has developed this habit of sticking her tongue out like that and it is so cute. She comes by this trait honestly from her father and grandfather who are known to do the same thing.

It is hard to believe this tiny (18 pounds 11 ounces at her check-up) troublemaker is 16 months old. I wish this time would stop flying by so fast. She has such personality and she is beginning to understand and say so much. She can say the names of all of us, as well as the words: baby, hi, baba, no, three, and amen. She also babbles a lot and gets frustrated when we can understand her. She adores all baby dolls, climbing the stairs, and being chased. She is a wonderful sleeper and still takes two naps a day. Our favorite thing about Ella is her laugh, which can put even the grinch in a good mood. She finds so many things funny so we hear her laugh often. Her best laugh happens when you try to surprise her, what a hoot that is.

I was tagged to list my top 25 movies so here is my list. I thought it would be much harder to come up with 25 but I definitely had to whittle it down. The ones that I chose either had to have to be ones that I can watch over and over and still enjoy it, or they were movies that made me think about them for weeks after I watched them. I did not put any movies, although I was tempted to with ones like Shawshank Redemption and The Matrix, that were originally rated R (I don't watch unedited rated R movies) that can be seen edited on TV, because you can't rent them edited. So here is my list:

Mary Poppins
Spitfire Grill
Gattaca
You've Got Mail
Annie (the original)
Sound of Music
Castaway
October Sky
Ocean's Eleven
The Pelican Brief
Pride and Prejudice (A&E version)
Pursuit of Happyness
Sliding Doors
Hitch
Men in Black
Elf
The Santa Clause
Big
Contact
Disney Pixar's Cars
Anne of Green Gables
Catch Me if You Can
The Bourne Trilogy (cause you can't watch just one)
The Fugitive
National Treasure
The Italian Job (oh I know, that is #26, but I just remembered it and it deserves a spot)

You may have noticed that none of the Harry Potter movies are on there. As much as I love the books and the audio recordings, the Harry Potter movies are just too short for me to truly love. Now if A&E would like to do a long miniseries as good as Pride and Prejudice, well I will revise my list.

Now I tag Jamie, Logan, and Monique, and anyone else who wants to do so.

Brianna wanted me to share with you her latest homework assignment that she worked really hard on. She is so pleased with her work. This was done with very little parent help and we didn't let her use spellcheck. Andrew helped her format and insert the picture, and she typed 90% of it. He also would read it and tell her what sentences she needed to write in a different way but not how. She is one smart cookie.

Santa Claus is a drive through experience! Drive-thrus are crazy popular here in TN. I just didn't know how popular. Here's the story.

This last Monday night, Andrew was in charge of Family Home Evening. He planned a little car trip to go see a Christmas lights display. You know the kind that you stay in your car and drive through after paying an entrance fee? Well this one was very fun and at the end was a barn that you drive through to get to the exit. Much to our surprise and the kids delight, in the barn was Jolly Old St. Nick (he was watching Monday Night Football in between visits from the children, ha!) Santa came right up to our car and asked all the kids what they wanted for Christmas. We had know clue that Santa would be there so the kids weren't sure exactly what they wanted yet, however, Santa reassured them that they could change their minds. We topped off our night with some Frosty the Snowman Cocoa (a.k.a. chocolate Frosty's from Wendy's) and headed home very happy.

As silly as a drive-thru Santa sounds, it was definitely our best Santa experience ever. Seriously, no crying children, you wait in your comfortable warm car, no trying to keep your kids from running away, no long lines, and no overpriced pictures, how can you top that? We will definitely do that again next year. A new tradition, love that.

(sorry no pics because the evening was a surprise and I didn't know to bring my camera)