Merry Christmas

 

I hope you all had a wonderful day!

 

 

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

20 WhAt?!?!?

I turned 26 last week and as I have gotten older my birthday has slowly turned into not just a one day thing, but a week long celebration. Nothing big or crazy, it's not like I'm expecting Chris to have a gift for me each day of the week or anything, I just like getting together with my friends and family and since most of the time they can't all get together on the same day it just turns into a Birthday Week. :)

Last week was a pretty great week!

Before the week started I treated myself to a mani and pedi.

My actual birthday fell on a Monday and it started off with a birthday sticker from the principle, which I wore proudly all day and got lots of hugs and birthday wished from all the kiddos. My awesome team at work got me a Starbucks gift card and we had a little party at work during lunch!

Monday evening my parents, grandpa, sister, nephew, and Chris' grandparents came over. 

My mom brought my all time favorite meal, ChIcKeN and DuMpLiNs which she makes for me each year on my birthday and Chris' grandma made me a Neapolitan birthday cake, Yumm!

My nephew Levi wore this shirt just for me! I love his tough guy face in this picture! 

I couldn't get him to smile.

Tuesday evening Chris and I went out to dinner with some friends of ours, Chris and Heather! We had my other favorite, Mexican, and for dessert they treated us to Cold Stone Creamery Birthday Cake Ice Cream!!

Wednesday and Thursday were normal days but I ended the week strong . . .

Friday night we had a Pizza/Game night at our house with Anna and Mason (sis & brother-in-law) and Heather and Bret (our best friends). We played Family Feud (girls against guys) for hours and I'm pretty sure we were all laughing most of the time!

It was a pretty awesome week and
I am thankful to everyone who made it special for me!

Photoshoot

Chris and I got a chance to get some new pictures taken a few weeks ago so I thought I would share them with yall!

Special thank to Amy Horton for taking these for us!!!

 

 She always tries to make us do serious faces and I'm sure the pictures would be so cute if we were but we just can't do it!

 It took EVERYTHING in me not to crack up here!

Yes, it was George's birthday the day we took the pictures :)

The wind was CRAZZZY & again, we can't be serious!

  LOVE these last 2!!

Thank again to Amy . . . We Love her!!

I have the best dog ever . . .

and yesterday was his birthday! 

 

Thanks to Amy Horton Photography for the picture! :)

Familiarity

One evening I was on facebook and I was checking out old post that I had never gotten around to reading when I came across this quote that a friend of mine had posted.

 

I've never read it or even hear of the book but it was taken from "Enemies { From Within } Exposing the strongholds of negativity and familiarity" by Norman Willis and this is a quote from an Anonymous source.

"I came face to face with one of Satan's slyest agents, the agent of familiarity.

His goal is nothing less than to take what is most priceless to us and make it appear as most common. To say that this agent of familiarity breeds contempt is to let him off easy. Contempt is just one of his offspring. He also sires broken hearts, wasted hours and an insatiable desire for more.

He is an expert at robbing the sparkle and replacing it with the drab. He invented the yawn, he put the "hum" in "hum drum" and his strategy is deceptive. He won’t steal your salvation; he will just make you forget what it is like to be lost. You will grow accustomed to prayer, and therefore not pray. Worship will become commonplace; study will be optional. And with the passing of time, he will infiltrate your heart with boredom and cover the cross with dust so that you will be safely out if reach of change.

Nor will he steal your home from you. He will do something far worse. He will paint it with a coat of drabness. He will replace evening gowns with bathrobes, nights on the town with evenings on the recliner and romance with routine. He will scatter the dust of yesterday over the wedding pictures until they become a memory of another couple in another time.

He won’t take your children; he will just make you too busy to notice them. His whispers to procrastinate are seductive. There is always next summer to coach the team, next month to go to the lake, and next week to teach Johnny how to pray. He will make you forget that the faces around your table will soon be at tables of their own. Hence, stories will go unread, games will go un-played, hearts will go un-nurtured, and opportunities will go unnoticed all because the poison of the ordinary has deadened your senses to the magic of the moment. Before you know it the little face that brought tears to your eyes in the delivery room has become, perish the thought, common. And unless something changes, unless someone wakes you up, the common kid in your home could become the common stranger.

All because of familiarity.

It took the near drowning of our child to waken me. I had forgotten how important common things are. I'm forever grateful."

Happy Halloween

I hope you all have a fun and safe Halloween!

Our Newest "Nephew"

One of my VERY BeSt FrIeNdS welcomed her Sweet #5 into the world!

Blade Thomas Cox

10lbs 8oz 21 1/4in

Born 10/25/2012 at 12:34pm

 While mom and dad were busy at the hospital Chris and I got to spend some quality time with his big brothers and sisters!

 We spent the afternoon hanging out at the house waiting for the "All-Clear" from dad to bring them up to meet their new little brother!

 We LOVE him!!!!

After our short visit the 6 of us headed back to our house for a sleepover! :) After a pizza picnic on the kitchen floor we snuggled up to watch some Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles before calling it a night!
You all have no idea how proud Chris was that the kiddos loved the old cartoons!

This brings us to grand total of 5 nieces and 4 nephews and we love them all to pieces!!!