Christmas Day at Home

We celebrated Christmas here at home today since we are heading out of town tomorrow. We had cinammon rolls with birthday candles and sang happy birthday to Jesus. Stockings were next and then on to presents. We opened our gifts from each other as well as gifts from Grandmamma and Dodie since we won't be seeing them this Christmas. Some of John David's new things include an airzooka air gun, lazer tag wrist watches, spy gear alarm, a remote control jungle car, moon pies, a chess/checkers game, and movies. Julia got the new Mickey Mouse Clubhouse set, and a cleaning and ironing set, a purse, a My Little Pony movie, a Dora playset, and more. I gave John a nice set of tv tables and he gave me a A&M hoodie, some candles, an ipod car charger, a sudoku game, and a neck pillow/massager. Steve spent the night with us too and so he was here with us for the morning. John took him to work at noon.

It's been a great day and now we're trying to get packed up to go to Gran and D's house tomorrow after church. It's a Merry Christmas!

More Pictures...

More Pictures....

More Pictures.....

Almost Ready

Well, the Christmas cards have been mailed, the presents wrapped, the house cleaned (as clean as it can get with a 3 year old running around behind me!) and the oil has been changed in the car. I'm almost ready for Christmas! Today holds lots of baking and some more cleaning and laundry. Some things I just can't get out of. =)

Our weather here had been in the low 80s and high 70's all last week and the beginning of this week too. It was strange to be having a Christmas program at church only to go to your car afterward and find it hot and in need of the air conditioning! We were even sweaty! We were all glad to have the temperature drop on Tuesday - now it feels like maybe it could almost be Christmas.

This year we will be spending the holiday in Wichita Falls with John's family. We didn't get to see any of them for Thanksgiving so we are looking forward to going there. My family will stay in home in Colorado this year - I don't think they could leave if they wanted to because there's so much snow. The snow is almost up to their fence line! Burrrrrr!!!

John David is ending this semester on a good note it seems. While his grades have remained high all year so far, his behavior hasn't always been the best. He's brought home a "happy face" in his folder every day since Friday though so he's on a roll. On Tuesday, when John picked him up, he looked in his folder and was surprised to find a happy face. He said, "John David, I'm so proud of you! You got a happy face again!" John David seemed equally surprised and leaned up to look for himself. He appeared to not know what to say. John asked him if he thought he didn't have a happy face and John David said that yes, he had been in trouble once that day. John replied that it must be a miracle! John David quickly said, "Yea, it's a miracle! God did that!" He told me later that his fanny was saved by a miracle. We had a good laugh about that one. =)

That's all I have for now....just some random ramblings to catch up with things.....our love to all and wishes for a very happy Christmas celebrating Jesus' birthday!

Our Very Own Nate

Both of the kids adore Nate and they have loved having him back home for Christmas break. (Nate was one of our youth since 8th grade and he graduated a couple of years ago. He now goes to Southwestern in Waxahachie.) Yesterday afternoon John David studied JBQ with him for almost an hour and then they played his gamecube until church time. Last night Julia brought in some books and they layed on the floor and read them together. It will be sad when it's time for him to go back to school again....=(

SAF's Christmas Program

Sunday morning was the kids' Christmas program at church. The older kids (which included John David) first spelled out Christmas (John David was the letter A) and then sang The First Noel. My pictures didn't turn out good of that so you just have to use your imagination. =)

Next, the 2-5 year olds came in as Mary and Joseph, shepherds, wisemen, and lots of animals while Away in a Manger was being sung. Julia was a pig and at the Saturday practice she wanted to crawl in over and over but when it was time for her to crawl in yesterday she wouldn't do it. She just closed her eyes and wanted to be a sleeping pig. Her teacher ended up walking in holding her. Even afterwards in her classroom she acted funny. I don't know if she didn't feel well or she was being shy or what. Oh well, she was still a cute little pig.

Cornerstone Christmas Program

Thursday night was John David's school program. His class sang Jingle Bell Rock and O Little Town of Bethlehem. He wasn't too thrilled about having to sing Christmas songs and getting all dressed up but he enjoyed seeing his friends. During the songs he discovered that he could put his hand through the gap in his shirt cuff and he mostly did that instead of singing. Then at the end he held up his hands and made what appeared to be kindergarten gang signs. I think maybe he was trying to make upside down Texas Longhorn signs. (He's only allowed to do them upside down because we are A&M fans!) The good news is that there were a couple of other little boys who were acting much sillier and distracted everyone. The lady in the picture with him is his teacher, Mrs. Karschner.

Sweet Julia

Julia loved lots of yummy things to eat during our trip to San Antonio, especially lollipops!

Growing Fast

Here's a newer picture of Aulora taken on Thanksgiving. She turned three months old today and she's still as sweet as ever. She is awake much more now, but she does still take plenty of naps. She weighs almost 11 pounds now and is growing wonderfully. Her brother and sister still adore her and give her lots and lots of kisses. Tonight, Julia and Aulora were wearing matching dresses for the first time ever. The look of delight on Julia's face when she realized it was precious. She reached down and gave her a big hug and kiss. So sweet!

Where The Wild Things Are

Well, Pudge had some uninvited company last night. I found his guest in the yard this morning. John David thought it was really cool and he can't wait to tell his friends about the possum in his back yard when he gets to school tomorrow. =)

Christmas Tree Night

The Thursday after Thanksgiving was our special tree night. While I made dinner, the boys went to pick out a tree. After we ate it was time to put up the tree. The kids were so excited and it turned out to be a pretty fun night. We listened to Christmas music, threw pine brances in the fire, and got out our decorations. We've decided to make this a yearly tradition.

Making Cookies

Last weekend we made some Christmas cookies for a special treat. The kids looked forward to it all week long! At one point I looked over and Julia's bottom was hanging out - I have no idea why, but it sure was cute. =) And in case you're wondering, the cookies were delicious!

Julia's 3rd Birthday

We had Julia's party on her actual birthday - November the 4th at 2:00. It was at our house in a Hello Kitty theme. In addition to family, she had 6 of her friends come and we played a couple of games (Including pin the bow on Hello Kitty which made Julia quite upset because all of her friends were messing Hello Kitty up with too many bows), ate cupcakes and icecream, and opened presents. Julia got lots of dress-up clothes and jewelry, nail polish and lip gloss, some new dollies, some movies, a game, a Dora castle, legos, and more! It was lots of fun! Happy Birthday, Julia Elisabeth Sullivan!

A Couple More Sea World Pictures

Sea World

We went to Sea World the day before Thanksgiving. It was perfect weather and not crowded at all. We watched penguins, rode rides, went to a 3-D movie, fed the sea lions some fish, and even had dinner with Shamu! There was a big feast right beside the water and after we ate, the trainers called the whales up to the edge and we were within about 5 feet of them. They did all kinds of tricks for us. It was amazing!