Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown!

Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year! I have to admit, it's kind of nice to get past all of the holidays and get back into our routine. Today I'm going to take down all the Christmas decorations and pack them up and clean! Here's to starting the New Year fresh and clean.

We had a great Christmas, Siah was very good traveler. He only cried when he was tired and slept almost the whole way when we flew. I was really worried about whether or not he would cry the whole way and everyone on the plane would hate us, but he was wonderful. It was so good to be with our families again. I forgot how much I missed everyone. Josiah got more gifts than he could need, and I only see that getting worse in the future. Of course, we had to leave about half of them (the noisy half!) with the grandparents because we didn't have enough room to pack them all. :-) That's my strategy. Only have enough suitcase room for the amount of presents you want to take home. Otherwise, I see my whole house turning into a Toys R Us! My favorite gift was the book my dad wrote for Josiah. He wrote a story called "I Live Here and You Live There". He painted pictures of Josiah that I'd put online, and a friend is sending them away to be made into a children's book. I tried to get him to give me the originals, but my Mom already called them. I'm slightly bitter, but he promised to get me prints. The picture is page one. All of the pictures are watercolor and amazing. Here's the story they go with:

I live here and you live there, but that's not the way it used to be. There was a time not long ago you didn't live so far from me.

You lived here and I lived there when you lived near my house. But where you are is where I was when I lived in a different house.

Where you are is not so far when you are all grown up like me. But when you are small and cannot drive, that's not the way it seems.

I love you and you don't know that soon you will come home. Then I'll see you and you'l see me and we'll play until you go.

Now don't be sad when it's time to go and you all leave and fly away. One day I will come to where you are, and again we'll laugh and play.

So where you live right now you see is really not that far. A phone, a truck or my motorcycle can get me to where you are.

And as you grow we'll stay in touch, we're family that's what we are!
My little girl is your mama and that makes me ...

YOUR GRANDPA!

They read it to us at the end of Christmas with my family, and everyone was crying. I can't wait to get the book.

On another note, I have an amazing husband. Almost as soon we got home TJ got a really bad cold. He was miserable for two days (which wasn't fun for me, because I had two grumpy boys. Josiah didn't understand why we didn't want to hold him all the time like those people we just finished visiting) but now he's finally over it. Naturally, as soon as he got over it, I caught it. It really hit me yesterday, but today I'm feeling pretty gross. I'm hoping if I keep up the vitamin c pills and tissue action I can get through it as quickly as TJ, although his immune system is ridiculously quick. And even though I have all these plans to clean and be energetic today, he told me to get as many naps as I could today and last night he took care of the baby while I holed up in our bedroom with a box of tissues. The worst part of being sick is trying to keep Josiah from getting it. I know it's kind of hopeless, he's going to get it, but I'm trying anyway. I'm sure you can appreciate how hard it is not to kiss the biggest cheeks on the planet. Especially when he's giggling and smiling at you. I'm dying here. Hugging and kissing the back of his head is really not enough. (Funny story: TJ can't get over how big Josiah's head is, so he measured his head and it's actually wider than his body! I keep reminding TJ that his Papaw said TJ didn't grow into his head until he was 5. Siah's new nickname is Charlie Brown.)

Baby, It's Cold Outside!

It was sooo cold today! We're having a couple over from our small group, (he is actually the leader) and I had to run to Walmart to get a few things, so we bundled up and then headed out. I forgot about how much different the wind out here is. The temperature can be ok, but then with a bad wind chill it takes your breath away. It's been a good day to be inside listening to Christmas music. (And cleaning like crazy.)

The Mavericks game on Saturday was so much fun! We left Josiah with my Aunt Leslie, and met up with everyone at church to carpool to the game. We had so much fun, the game was really good. They played the Oklahoma City Thunder and it was a close game all the way through. I have to admit my favorite part was the dessert cart though. :-) My friends Natalie and Pam and I all got a different dessert and then shared. I got the apple tart, Natalie got the s'more cake, and Pam got the m&m caramel apple and the turtle. We decided the caramel apple was the best. It was as big as my fist! Then on the way home we drove the route that Kennedy was on when he was shot. I saw the book depository and the grassy knoll, and we all talked about how LBJ did it. I love a good conspiracy. :-)

Only one more week until we're back in Kentucky! I can't wait to see everyone!

No long-arrgh pirates! (Sorry, I had to)

We're not pirates any more~when we moved into our apartment we discovered that someone around us hadn't secured their wireless internet, so being the friendly people that we are, we decided to help them share with us. (I have a feeling this is a lesson I will have to help my son un-learn when he gets a little older!) Then, last Friday, we discovered that the free internet was gone. So I have been facebook, email, and blog-less for the last 5 days! It's kind of sad, but I felt very disconnected without the internet. I thought with my phone, I'd be fine, but it really makes a difference. Then a wonderful guy named Kirk came in and hooked everything up, and I'm back online! He told me he was our cable guy and he would take care of us, and all I could think of were jokes from The Cable Guy (with Jim Carrey). Fortunately, I managed to keep those thoughts to myself and smile. :-)

This past weekend was so great, my sister came out to see me (with a friend who was visiting people in Texas). We had so much fun, mostly shopping, and it made me so excited to come home and visit our families. We love Texas, but we miss everybody. TJ was so sweet, he offered to watch the baby every time we wanted to go out, so I got to have fun and not worry about anything. He is extremely thoughtful. Although I'm sure he didn't mind getting to play Call of Duty as long as he wanted without any interruption from me. :-)

Church is still going really well, last week was the Christmas Cantata, and that was the first time we'd seen the symphony and choir. It was really really great, I felt like I was in a Christmas cd at times. They had one song where little kids came out and sang, and it was SO cute. There was one little boy on the end in a sweater vest with a huge afro, and I was cracking up. And then there was the little girl who was so excited, she sang even when it was just supposed to be the adults. That would have been me.

Ok, last exciting thing. We found out last night that one of the guys in our small group got a box for us to watch the Dallas Mavericks game on Saturday night! I can't wait, I've never been to a pro basketball game, and we get to be in a box! We're gonna go be mavericky and cheer for the Mavericks. :-)

I can't believe it's already December! We've been in Texas for a month and a half now, but it feels like so much longer. I don't know what I would have said 3 months ago if you told me I would be in Texas before November. It's been a great move though. Thanksgiving was great, although we miss our family. We spent the day at my Aunt Beth's house and played Rock Band until late. We were the last ones to leave - it's an addictive game! TJ played the bass, I sang, Uncle Gary played guitar and Aunt Beth was our drummer. We had a blast. It was a great, relaxing weekend. The Oklahoma Sooners beat the Oklahoma State Cowboys on Saturday night, which was awesome - although my poor son had to wear his little Cowboy outfit that a friend of mine bought for him (trying to turn Siah against me). It won't work!

Yesterday I started decorating our house for Christmas, and even half done it feels so great. I forgot how much I love Christmas, and Christmas decorations. They're so happy. I think it's the lights. I love twinkle lights. We talked about not getting a tree this year, due to our being in Kentucky for the week of Christmas, but then my aunt found out and gave us her old tree! I didn't realize how much a Christmas tree meant to me until she offered to give us one. I am so excited. I'm going to go get it sometime this week, and it's probably going to take up a quarter of our living room. TJ thinks it might be a bit much, but he's letting me go overboard because he knows how much I love Christmas...and Christmas decorations. :-)

Well, it's time to get some cleaning done - my sister's coming to visit tomorrow!! I'm so excited, and the house has to be perfect for her first visit. After that, it's just too bad. :-)