Christmas Photo Recap

We travelled to my brother and sister-in-law's home for Christmas this year. There was quite the blend of multiple families, and it was fun to get to see so many on Christmas Day! Here's a small recap...

Cameron, Caleb, Katin and Daniel ready for Christmas Eve service

Christmas morn...

Greg unwrapping the very special gifts the boys picked out and wrapped themselves for him

Oh the brainpower used to put these Star Wars binoculars together; it made everyone just full of the Christmas spirit! :-)

Sweet, happy baby Katin

I can't remember the last time I saw both my grandmothers on Christmas Day. Here they are together on my brother's couch. It was very special to see both of them. I love you!

The boys all playing their babysitters Ninetendo DS's

Nothing is hung by the chimney with care...

...not that there ever was, because we don't have stockings at our house since I can't chose on four that I just absolutely love and can't live without. Don't get panicky, we have stockings at the parents' houses. ( i knew you were curious where Santa leaves my coal) :-) Anyway...

The decorations have been down and packed away for almost two days. I luurved my tree this year, and it makes me sad to have it gone, truth be told. Don't get me wrong, it's nice to have it all down and done. However, now there is a lot of empty space. I went from some really pretty fall decorations for two months to Christmas decor for 6 weeks, that quite frankly, I'm staring at some barren space now that I have no idea what to do with. I am related to some really crafty, artistic, keen eye kind of decorators, but that gene passed me right up. I'm pretty sure there is going to be some painting in my future - don't tell Greg - the words painting and Aleesa in the same sentence give him nightmares.

So, tell me, are you happy to see it all down and back to normal? Or are you a little sad and feel you have empty space like me?

Remember...

This time of year, I seem to always get a little reflective - I think about those who are no longer with us and we are spending the holidays again without, I think about those going through the holidays for the first time without a loved one, I think about those families whose loved ones are serving our country and missing their moms, dads, brothers, sisters, sons, and daughters, I think about the soldiers so far from home, I think about those sick or alone. I think about all these people and pray. I think about all these people and remember how blessed I am.

Today, I think about two families in particular. Greg's cousin leaves in 5 short days for 6 months aboard a ship serving us in the Navy. He leaves his wife and three children. Six months. And, also for this family . This is my cousin's blog. I think about going through the diagnosis of cancer with a 6 month old when you should be celebrating a first Christmas. Six months.

So, take a moment today and pray for those around you, those far away, and those you don't know.

~Love~
Aleesa

Blessed

Have yourselves a Merry CHRISTmas!

I pray you are all filled with the Blessings that can only come from above, and seek to find your peace in Him.

God Bless!

Northpole Village

My dad, Myra and I took the boys to the Northpole Village Thursday night to see the big man in red. My boys LOVE going here every year and it has become a tradition of sorts. The village is set up so fun for them - the bakery has cookie decorating, the toy shop lets you adopt a toy, in the library you get to pick out a book to take home, the barn has animals you can pet, a workshop lets you make a jingle bell necklace, icefishing for chocolate, in the church is a nativity with carols, an outdoor sleigh ride (hay ride pulled behind a tractor) and a live nativity. My two favorite parts, though, are seeing Santa, and the postoffice where you can write, stamp and mail a letter to the Northpole. This, unfortunately was where the battery died in my camera and was not our last stop. Myra had her camera and I got some more pics throughout the village, but I don't have those pictures yet. I will post them when I get them.

Kiai

pronounced key - ah and with a lot of emphasis

On Wednesday, Caleb tested for his white belt in karate. I can promise you his father was waaay more nervous than the student. Caleb was so stoic during the test, but so excited when he passed. It was the perfect birthday present for Greg - they have both worked so hard. We are sooo proud of Caleb!!

I know he may not seem threatening - you know on account of him being so darn cute, but don't let it fool you!

And, on account that it was Greg's birthday, we had a small celebration here at the house. Our amazing favorite neighbors came to toast Greg.

This is the less than pretty, but SOOO yummy carrot cake Cameron and I made

Happy Birthday Sweetheart - you are my best friend and the love of my life. You make every day better, and I am so much better because of you!

And the Winner Is...

ME!!

On Sunday, Greg and I attended our first ever Ugly Christmas Sweater party. Umm, I was very slightly obsessed with finding THE perfect (and by perfect, I mean worst) Christmas sweater out there. Alas, I was quite disappointed with my shopping finds. But, never fear, 'cause I know people. After searching through multiple Goodwill stores, resale stores and stores you might think would carry such an item and coming up empty handed, I called in the resources.

Now, I'm a little concerned about revealing my sources for fear you out there might try to take their goods next time you are invited to such a party. (but not really)

My mom brought some lovely items. And, one of them was a quite ornate sweater. However, I feared it was not quite tacky enough in its own right, so I accessorized. The sleighs on this particular item were all different animal print, so I wore animal print tights, an animal print scarf, and took it one step further by adding pink lights (battery pack operated) to my ensemble.

For Greg, we called in our secret weapon - Cindy. She HOOKED US UP! She had several less than currently tasteful sweatshirts and shirt/pant get-ups and one really special sweater. I really think some of her stuff was better than the animal printed sleigh sweater, but I was afraid to lose on a technicality of wearing a sweatshirt versus sweater. And, let's face it, it's all about winning. Right?

I do want to note, out of respect of our sources, that none of our items are in their current seasonal attire pile. They all had to be located in order to be borrowed. But thank goodness these people stockpile!

Are you just dying to see our pictures?

The first is a close-up so you can see the fantastic-ness that is us. The second is so you can see all my accessories. Notice the lights? You can even see one of them glowingly reflecting off of Greg's pocket. :-)

So, due to my "lit up" style, and after a vote, I was announced ugly sweater contest winner. I don't know that that necessarily makes me a winner, but I'm taking it and claiming it!

Busy Boys

Greg gets an award for this past weekend! I flew to the DFW metroplex for my cousin's baby shower thrown by my other cousin and Greg stayed home with the boys. He managed to get the yard done, make sure there were no dishes in the sink when I returned, take the boys to see Kris Kringle ride into Gruene and...

He hung some lights outside and...

Hung a mirror that's been sitting in the office to hang since August and...

put up some decorations and...

left me a sweet note on our key holder and (*sidestory* - this key holder has been there for about 4 years; there has NEVER been anything written on it, or pictures in the the 4 picture holders. He rummaged through some sort boxes and found pictures and put those in as well)

some elves bought me a poinsettia and put it under the tree with a beautiful card





At first I felt so undeserving, but I quickly got over that crazy notion and just went with it! Thank you, boys, for all you did - you make me feel special!!

My youngest Performer

Yesterday was the Christmas program at Cameron's school. He's not so much one for the hand movements, and he was often blocked by the kid sucking his thumb or the girl with the ponytail in front of him, but nonetheless, he was one of the cutest and he did sing his heart out for Jesus!

I have no idea who/what he was pointing at, but he's cute, so I took the picture

HI MOM!

I love you, Jesus

And then they lost him to something really interesting on the ceiling

Last Night

Last night, we had the Hanging of the Green at church and both boys performed with their choir classes. They were all so good cute.

Happy Birthday Papa

We celebrated Papa's birthday on Sunday, and we were blessed to have my brother Jason and his clan there as well. Caleb, Cameron and Daniel had a BLAST playing outside for hours, but, unfortunately, I have no pics of that. Katin entertained us all, and his little personality is precious. Good times.

A Rough Day at the Office

By Thursdays, lately, Cameron is one wiped puppy. We have afternoon/evening activities Monday thru Wednesday, and Cameron has school on Tuesday and Thursday. So, by Thursday, the boys are so happy to get to come home and play and veg and have nothing to do. Three weeks ago, Cameron climbed up next to me on my bed where I was checking email and fell fast asleep. Two weeks ago, he fell asleep in the car from the bus stop (three houses down) to home. And last week, after playing dress-up and finding some reading material...

Toothless Wonder

So, four years ago, a friend of ours lost his first tooth, and Caleb became quite concerned. He DID not want to join that club. Let's just say he was slightly fearful. We convinced him that he was fine, and that his friend was 5, so it would be a while before he lost teeth (I realize many lose them before 5, but I figured we'd cross that bridge). Well, by the time he was 5 he started expecting to lose them. And, when his friends started losing them, he really wanted to. Then when some of his friends younger siblings were losing teeth, and we didn't even have a loose one, Caleb was getting quite concerned and slightly frustrated. Well...


FINALLY!! It's happened, and we are EXCITED!!

But, if you look closely, my post title is not completely accurate, since his permanent tooth has already started to make an appearance. It doesn't matter, though, 'cause there is a 7 yr who is on cloud nine!!

Caleb, I am your father

So, for Halloween, Caleb really wanted to be Luke Skywalker. This is the first year that he was pretty adamant, or really had an opinion at all. Well, Cameron followed suit, and though he's not seen Star Wars, he knows everybody from Caleb. We were looking online at costumes, and Anakin Skywalker appeared. After we had gone through about 40 different ideas for Cameron, he was sold on this costume. For those of you who don't know, Anakin is a young Darth Vader, who is also Luke's father. So, for a couple of days, Cameron walked around saying in a deep voice (well, as deep as a 4 year old can get), "Caleb, I am your father." Then, he would breathe heavily like Darth does through his mask. No amount of convincing that he was younger and not Darth could persuade him, and honestly, it was hilarious. Here's a photo recap of our candy-getters: