Fur, Fun, Friends, & Family

My sweet dh has been home since last Friday and it's been wonderful! We've gotten to spend some much-needed family time together (and managed to argue less than 2 times--which is a success)! So, here's a little update on our past week or so. Last Thursday, Molly and Matthew were in their last morning of school before break when my car suddenly and inexplicably turned in to Petco. My body moved, as if propelled by an outside force, to the SPCA area and I found myself speaking the words "We would like to have that sweet kitty, please." Oh, there was a lot more to it than that, but that pretty much sums it up. So, on Thursday night, our little family added 4 little furry feet to our household. Matthew named her Ginger Bell--she's 6 months old and just as sweet and patient as I can imagine. The kids LOVE her, which was the whole point. Matthew has been asking for a cat for 2 years since the nightmare I like to call "The Psycho Kitten Fiasco" which is not an understatement, but would be an entirely different entry. Then, Matthew was a shepherd in his Christmas program. And it was just about the cutest thing ever. Have you ever seen a shepherd pick his nose on stage? Well, that's just what my little shepherd did, and I loved it! I know, I know. But I did! How funny!

Then Friday, we were off to Build A Bear with my friend, Tiff, and family. Oh, how fun! The kids all had a ball. Molly even picked out pink cowboy boots for her dog and is quite frustrated that they don't fit her, too! The other night, she wouldn't go to bed until we found the boots and they were properly outfitted on her dog. So funny--she has such a fashion conscience!

The weekend before, we had our family Christmas at my cousin's in Shamrock. Going to Shamrock is the high point in Matthew's life right now. He loves, loves, loves to go see his cousins. He would go every weekend if he could. It is also good that Uncle Joe has a big red tractor to sit on.

Matthew and Aiden having fun.
Molly being silly. (Side note: when Matthew was a baby, I always took his paci out of his mouth for pictures and now I don't have any paci pictures of him--which is sad because that was such a part of his little baby life. So now I always leave Molly's paci in her mouth--I know it's not the cutest, but at least I'll have pictures!)

Could they be having any more fun? I don't think so--pure love.

I have tons of Christmas day pictures, too, but it's past my bedtime, friends. I could have blogged about 100 Shamrock pictures. Jenn and Judy: I'll upload them to shutterfly and send you the link so you can see them all. Merry Merry Christmas!

Christmas Season Fun

Oh y'all, we had such fun yesterday. We got up early and headed downtown for the Christmas parade. It was the first time I had been to it, and it was so worth it! I think this may really be a new family tradition for us. It was great!

Of course I had to stop in this cute little window sill and try to take some pictures of Matthew and Molly--until I looked at them and realized that they looked like they had gotten up early and been sitting outside in the cold for 3 hours. They were still cute pics, but let's just say . . . not Christmas card material!

I still had no photo for our Christmas cards (kind of like the cobbler's kids with no shoes), so we headed down for a family photo shoot--dressed up and as precious as can be. I got a few good shots, but Molly didn't want to sit close to Matthew, and Matthew knew this. Of course he was bothering her, and trying to sit closer and closer. It was definitely one of those brother/sister moments!

This says it all.

We also spent some time at the mall, doing a little Christmas shopping, and I love this picture of my mom. Her eyes really are that blue.

I still have a lot of shopping to do this week, I want to take the kids to see Santa, it's my week to do snack for Matthew's class, meals to cook, Christmas cards to address, family Christmas weekend to prepare for, Matthew's class field trip on Wednesday, and a teacher appreciation luncheon to organize. How fun! I think there are some weeks when this might overwhelm me, but I just love Christmas and am so thankful that I can do these things for my family--truly.

Oh--one more cute thing. Long story short: At church this morning, I took Matthew up with me to the front of our church to do communion (his first communion in big church). I whispered all of the instructions, we wait in line, get up to the front, kneel down, say our prayer, the minister comes over and gives us the cracker and juice and says (this is the body of Christ, the blood of Christ . . .), Matthew eats, drinks, and then looks up at the minister and says "Can I have more juice?!" So sweet and funny! Then he folds his little hands and says his prayer and I was just in awe at my precious boy.