Christmas Eve Recap

We spent Christmas Eve at mom and dad's house.  As per tradition, mom made her delicious stuffed shells for lunch, then we opened our stockings and presents (rotating one at a time by age), we went to church, came back and enjoyed a delicious tenderloin sandwiches that dad made and a Happy Birthday Jesus cake.  Then the kids got on their pajamas and everyone headed home so Santa could come.  The pure excitement from Lily, Layne and Mullen made this year even more special!  

Everything Layne got he said 'It's just what I wanted!' and he just beamed with excitement!

Mullen was into it too.  Especially the reindeer food that was in his stocking! 

 They enjoyed helping each other open their presents!

 Mullen sure was proud of his snow boots.  Now we just need some snow!

Nonna and Poppa gave Layne a costume chest and he LOVED it.  Here he is as a construction worker!

Mullen and Lily took a dance break!

Lily had been wanting some Lincoln logs, so she was thrilled when she opened this present!

 And she is crazy for anything with horses!

 Layne was pretty proud of his new shirt!

It wasn't planned, but it was a plaid kind of Christmas for us Mullen girls!

 Logan got an awesome frame filled with the highlights of their farm family article.

 Construction worker Layne came to the rescue when someone needed help opening their presents!

 How cool is this Jared Vaughan original wooden guitar that Ray got from the Jones and the Jett's!

 Mom loved her rain jacket

 Costume change...train conductor Layne!

 Mullen concentrating on a present!

 Emily's cute shirt from Mullen.  He gave me a Grizz shirt and I can't wait to wear it to a game soon!

 Another costume change...Fire Chief Layne!

 Resting before church!

This is the best pajama picture we could get with Nonna and Poppa and their Grands.  Layne jumped up in Poppa's lap and the next second he wanted his mom.  Oh to be Layne!

Ray and I enjoyed a quiet Christmas day at home by the fire with some homemade cinnamon rolls and breakfast pizza!  This season has flown by, but has been filled with so many special memories to treasure!

Fun night with forever friends...

And where else would you expect us to end the night!


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Merry Christmas

And Happy Birthday Baby Jesus!



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Season of Advent

I am so enjoying this Season of Advent.  My heart is filled with peace, hope, love and joy!  It has been so PEACEful being able to fully enjoy the season and being able to give where needed.  I've shopped for Angel children, helped fill toy trucks, necessity baskets, red kettles, neighborhood libraries and food pantries and my heart is overflowing with joy that I'm able to do this and so much more. I've also enjoyed watching some Hallmark Christmas movies (I highly recommend you watch The Best Christmas Party Ever and The North Pole next time it comes on), making some new recipes and reading some Christmas books.  It hasn't been all play...I have had conference calls and shared meals with potential employers.  Never in a million years did I imagine I would have so many opportunities without even looking!
Last week I got to attend some of the GROW Christmas parties.  These pictures were at Brewster Elementary where after we read Snowmen at Night, did a craft and snowman math worksheet with all 6 classes of PreK and K, we presented each child with a long sleeve uniform shirt as a Christmas present.
This school gives me HOPE for public school education in Memphis.  Such well behaved and well educated inner city children.   As well as thankful!  Besides these precious thank you notes from all the kids, the teachers even had us a thank you reception for everything we have done over the year.  The chair of this committee rocks and what a wonderful partnership we have formed with this school.
We were made aware that one of our GROW families was in need of a washer and through the power of social media we had one secured for them within 12 hours.  Our friends Kembree and Tony had purchased new ones on Black Friday and graciously donated their old ones.  I had the honor of escorting Santa's sleigh (aka Director Casey) to make this pick up and delivery.  I can't think of a better way to spend my days!

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Oh what a weekend!

We love Garth Brooks and were super excited when he announced a St. Louis date.  Molly was able to secure us some great seats and we had the very best time singing along to one of our favorites!  He was AWESOME...put on a great show and I hope to get to see him again on this tour, plus we had a great time just being together!

Ray needed me to be in Nashville on Saturday night, for a work event.  So, thankfully Southwest had a cheap flight.  We had a blast at the Preds game with some of his customers.  Carrie Underwood was sitting directly behind us cheering on her husband #12.

We rushed home so I could attend the annual I Love GROW Christmas party.  This is one of my favorite holiday parties!  I love how our group gets bigger each year as volunteers become leaders!  Plus, I think the world of these ladies and everything they do for our community.  I'm so glad I said yes when they asked me to lead the first year of GROW Thursday nights 5 years ago!  

Then if that wasn't enough, I had agreed to lead the committee for the Harbor Town Tree Lighting which happened to be Sunday night!  With the tree being across the street from our house, I couldn't stand for them not to light it due to a lack of volunteers.  We scaled it back, but ended up with a huge turnout.  The lights looked great and Santa was a big hit as always!  I'll post some professional pictures when I get them, but I'll leave you with one from the Nashoba Carriage Association.  This association comes every year with sleigh bells around their beautiful horses and rides through the neighborhood to spread Christmas cheer.  Those sleigh bells are the sound of Christmas!  I had stopped to thank them for coming and they insisted I take a quick ride.  Even though it made me late, I'm so glad I did.  We went all along the river and it was such a delight!

One last picture of my littlest favorite!  He was the star in his church's Christmas program.  I hate I missed it, but I sure loved getting this picture.  He warms my heart and I can't wait to hang out with him soon!

My first full week off between jobs...

Was packed full!  I did a lot of cleaning on Monday and then a little shopping with mom.  Emily's birthday was on Tuesday, so mom and I went and had lunch with her at Mikes in Colt and we took her her favorite cupcakes and cookies.  It was very good and Layne was so excited!

At the last minute, Caleb and Emily decided to come to dinner at McEwens' and they invited us to come for drinks before hand at the Peabody.  The Peabody is always beautiful, but even more so at Chrsitmas!

Then they insisted we went to dinner with them (and how can we say no, when McEwens' is our favorite restaurant, plus it was Emily's birthday!).  It was delicious as always!

Wednesday after a goodbye lunch with an old vendor and lots of errands, I ended up going with mom to take dad to the hospital.  In the end he had kidney stones again and man I hate it for him.  I know it has got to be so painful.  After 2 nights in the hospital and a surgery to blast them into little pieces, he came home on Friday.  Hopefully it will be a long time before they make another appearance!
On Thursday night, I left the hospital to attend our GROW Thursday night Christmas program where the Nutcracker Remix preformed.  These kids LOVED it!  They watched for an hour and were so engaged.  I love how they are starting to really appreciate the arts!

Grateful Heart

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with Ray's family.  When I think of all the blessings in my life, my heart literally feels like it could explode.  So much to be grateful and thankful for today and always!  We started Thanksgiving morning off with the Hot To Trot Turkey Trot in Knoxville.

Followed by the annual Thanksgiving breakfast with the Howards!

Then we headed to Ray's aunt's house where we ate a wonderful turkey dinner.  Unfortunately, I didn't take a single picture again until Friday night when Ray's mom and I went to see the Beautiful Winter Light show at the Asheville Arboretum.  My phone hasn't been taking great pics lately and it especially doesn't like Christmas lights, but believe me when I say the displays were stunning.  

On our way home from Asheville, we continued our tradition of cutting down a fresh Fraser fir to bring home.  It had snowed in the mountains of Asheville and below is what the farm looked like early Saturday morning!  Simply breathtaking!

We picked our tree, got it tied into the truck and were on our merry way!

This is a 9.5' tree and it is full and lovely!  We placed it in our plastic stand on Sunday and I put lights on Monday and it fell over!  The thought of the tree falling over with all our keepsake ornaments  makes me sick to my stomach.  So, I went to Lowes and bought a metal stand (with a lifetime guarantee) and now it is standing pretty again!  Here's to hoping everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Tuesday with Lily and Layne

I went and got Lily and Layne on Tuesday, so Emily could get everyone's Christmas pajamas finished. They were such great helpers because they wanted to create the biggest pile of leaves to jump in and I believe they did just that! We played and played and laughed and laughed in the leaves!

 Then we went to bass pro shop, for cupcakes and to a new playground per their requests!  Love getting to spend time with my favorites and hope to get to have some special time with Mullen soon!

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