Christmas card in review

When I was digging my addresses for cards this year, I was taking a glance at the ones from the past. I guess I started in 2005 and didn't do one his first year....if I did, I can't find it. This was on the step of McCurdy's.

I'm missing 2006, but here is 2007 taken from our yard.
And here is 2008 during Aubree Cate's first year. It was freezing this day; Aubree could stand alone, but hadn't started taking steps yet......
2009 taken at Mama/Daddy's.
2010 in our yard.

This year in our yard. I changed their clothes quickly....... posed them for about 10 minutes and they went back to playing. I told them the faster they cooperated, the faster they could play :)

Painting Christmas

I've made more posts in two days than in two months! Tammy and I decided to let the kids paint some pottery for Christmas presents. We took them in November so that would be one less thing we had to take care of in December.....

We decided on a color pallet that all the kids would use to paint Mama's plates.

Mama's finished product! Before we left, my kids painted plates for Mrs. Libby with their handprints. They used stamps and made prints around them..... It was really fun to do something different like that, but I asked the lady if she stayed stressed out all day with the hustle and bustle around all the breakables???? That seemed like a perfectly suitable question coming from me! She said they stay pretty busy and it gets hectic, but she REALLY enjoys doing it!!! :)

Kids' Christmas program

The kids had their "Light Before Christmas" program at church. It turned out really cute..... I felt a sudden weight lift when they sang the last word of the program! :)

I don't know why I get lines through some of my pictures when I load them!!! UGH The real picture is fine....... This was "Do the Shepherds Need Shades" :)

I also had two songs recorded on video, but Blogger is extremely annoying about loading videos!!!! I left it alone for over 2 hours, but I still don't think it loaded even one.......

Christmas party with toddler friends

On December 16th, after eight short years, we partied our last Christmas with Mrs. Wanna & Mr. Bill. Time really does fly, because in no form or fashion does it seem like it has been that long.......She is so good to the kids at Christmas!!

It was like Christmas morning when AC was dressing up from the trunk load of clothes that one of the Wood boys gave her!!!
Among other things, we will MISS our Christmases with the Pennington family!

31 years....

As of Thursday, Mrs. Libby will say farewell to 31 years of service with the Federal Government. Her Fort Stewart co-workers had a retirement celebration in her honor in Richmond Hill....***I forgot to get a picture of her accepting her plaque***

Family picture: Mrs. Libby with brothers and sisters and Grandma Sally leading the pack.

*Both of my kids doing some sort of something....not sure! :) Retired husband and now retired wife.....with very supportive grandkids! :)

Uncle Hamp and admirers Mrs. Libby has worked long and hard...we are very proud of her accomplishments!

Creeping in...Christmas & Hair

We had the kids' Christmas program last Sunday night, so I'm hoping those will be the next pictures I'll get loaded and posted. It's pretty shocking, but this is the longest my kiddo's hair has ever been! I just have a strong pet peeve about children's hair - not all children are meant to have long hair! I started to feel guilty and bad mother-like for not letting her hair grow out just yet, especially when she would just STRESS how badly she wanted a pontytail like some of her friends. On the weekend we would pull, stretch, clip, and pretend....... She would look and say, "My hair is getting long!" So I'm going to let it grow at least enough for a decent ponytail. I can't believe how quickly it has grown, though! I looked back at our vacation pictures from July, and it was mid-neck length....not even touching her shoulders. It's come a long way, baby......only a little more to go! :)

Closing the gap

My gaps between posts seem to keep getting wider and wider......no kidding!

I decided that today was as good of a day as any to get current, especially since I had a blog discussion today:) But as Aubree is yelling, "Mama, Mama!" in the background, it is less than easy to concentrate on "work".....I've already stopped about three times in these few short sentences!!!! :)

I'm not even going to worry about rewinding.....I completely skipped Thanksgiving, but it was yummy and relaxing nonetheless.

We have a good bit of activities coming this weekend.....I'm taking the kids and meeting friends to see The Journey tomorrow night, celebrating with Mrs. Libby in her long awaited retirement on Saturday, and the kids are FINALLY going to put all this practice to use when they perform their cantata on Sunday night (Can I get a Hallelujah!). So, hopefully, you'll be hearing from me again soon! :) **I love this picture**