To Texas we will go...

We are almost all packed for our trip. I've noticed that I am quite capable of handling all the details without Tim - it just takes me 3 times as long to get anything done! I've pretty much been packing and getting organized since Tim left on Saturday. But I think I'm almost there. Thankfully Mark has been "helping" me pack our suitcase. In addition to all the clothes I've packed he has added:
-a washcloth
-2 couch pillows
-Dad's slippers
-a few dishtowels
-a Christmas ornament
-a Thomas DVD

Basically, anything laying in the living room that wasn't already in the suitcase. As you can imagine, it was very helpful of him. I guess I should just be glad he isn't taking things out.

I'll be gone for a couple of weeks but will hopefully post a few updates while we are traveling. In the meantime, I hear mexican food calling my name from Dallas...gotta go finish packing!

Caution...

If you hear your 3 year old singing "5 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed" and substituting his little brother's name in the song, the answer to the following question should probably be no.

5 little Lukie's jumping on the bed
1 fell off and bumped his head
Mama called the doctor and the doctor said
No more Lukie's jumping on the bed!

4 little Lukie's jumping on the bed...

3 little Lukie's jumping on the bed...

Mommy, can Lukie come play on my bed with me?

I'm gonna go with no on this one. What you think folks?

It was looking a lot like Christmas...

Welcome to our new home!

I've been intending to do this for several weeks now, but I thought I'd post a few pictures of our home decorated for the season before I take it all down. Plus, I've hardly posted any pics of our new house here in Georgia so this satisfies that need as well. Enjoy the short tour...

This is our entry table. It's one of my favorite spots this year.
I love the Luminous Nesting Bowls and the Celebration Wreath.



We haven't put curtains on our back doors, so I hung two fresh greenery wreaths. The sun shone on them every morning so the house smelled so nice all month.


This is my snowman collection on top of our media console.


We don't have a mantle so I improvised with an armoire and used my Holiday Tabletop Tree to decorate the large space.


One of my favorite features of our house is the tall ceilings and space above the kitchen cabinets. Here's one of the spaces that I decorated this Christmas.


My china hutch in the dining room.


I loved the way this turned out on my dining room buffet. It felt very whimsical and fun, yet still dressy enough for the dining room.


Our HUGE tree. Tim and I did not realize it was this big when we saw it in Hobby Lobby. But thankfully it fits and really was lovely in our living room this year. We just can't ever move to a house with smaller ceilings!

My Cathedral Luminary - so simple and elegant. I just love this!

Okay, so maybe I love it all. I wish I could tell you that I didn't go shopping yesterday and hit all the post-Christmas sales. I did though. But that just means that I have more beautiful decorations for next year. Christmas certainly isn't about the decorations, but there's just something so beautiful about celebrating the holiday in your home with your family. For me, this is what our new home looks like. I hope your home gives you the same warm, comfortable feeling however it's decorated and wherever you are.

Merry Christmas!

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. Ours felt especially precious as Tim left this morning for a patrol. He'll be gone about 7 weeks, then home for 3 and gone again for 9 more weeks. We were so blessed to have this time together just the four of us before he left.

We went to Christmas Eve service as a family. Tim had Mark and I had Luke. If you were to think I got the better deal, you'd be wrong! Mark was so good. He sat in the entire service and listened and sang the carols. He was quiet and (mostly) still. Luke, on the other hand, spent the entire service in the lobby. He was so disagreeable and loud. We then went to a neighbor's house for a time of meeting our new neighbors and visiting. There were quite a few kids and the boys enjoyed playing with all kinds of new toys. The boys then opened one present each, put out milk and cookies for Santa and went to bed.

The boys "on the go!"

Christmas morning started early, but Mark didn't remember it was Christmas so he happily played in his room until 7:15 when we all got up. The boys got their presents from Santa and we enjoyed a yummy breakfast. We had Texas grapefruit, (Thanks Mimi and Papaw!) Chile Cheese Bites, Crescent Roll Cinnamon Rolls and Eggnog Lattes.

Luke enjoying his cinnamon rolls!

Mark was nearly too excited to eat.

It took us 3 hours to open presents because the boys wanted to stop and play with all their new toys. But that's okay because we didn't have anything else to do Christmas morning. We watched our new Thomas DVDs and spent all morning in our pajamas. So fun!

Luke loves Thomas as much as Mark.

After a yummy Christmas Dinner, we all napped and had a leisurely afternoon. We played outside for a while, in the dirt of course. I think Santa should have brought a sandbox for the boys. All they want to do is dig in the sandy dirt!

Reading one of our new books

Our makeshift sandbox requires us to take off our clothes before we go inside.
Good thing our neighbors can't see!

After baths and dinner we ventured out of the house to look at Christmas lights. It was the perfect end to a wonderful Christmas. As blessed as we feel for having the gift of family time together, nothing compares to the gift we have in Christ. The Incarnation is the most miraculous and wonderful of all gifts. Nothing else can compare. It is our prayer that you know the gift of Christ this blessed Christmas season!

Merry Christmas!