365:356 - 361 and One Thousand Gifts (574 - 580)

Christmas Eve jammies

Christmas morning.  This is part of the torture we make the kids endure
before they can come open gifts.

I'm all set!
Teapot from D, cup and Teavana tea from Bob.

Annual silly string war!

574.  Christmas morning celebrating the birth of my Lord and Savior

575.  Christmas Eve with my big kids and grand babies

576.  Lots of smiles.

577.  Illness waited till Christmas was mostly over before it struck. Most of us are doing okay now.

578.  Kids got to spend Christmas with their brother.

579.  I was able to sleep all day and not worry about the kids.

580.  Talking to my sister.  Lots of laughter.

365:353 - 355 and One Thousand Gifts (568 - 573)

Two of my most favorite people. 

Silly girl.  I love how she isn't worried at all about "being cool".
She just loves life.  What a great quality! 

568.  Walking through the beautiful lights at Ethel M

569.  Hot chocolate in the car

570.  Out to breakfast with the crew

571.  Annual trip to the mall to get our ornaments.  (One trip to the mall per year is about all I can handle!)

572.  Having Bob home from work.

573.  Hearing the kids call him "Daddy" still.

365:348 - 352 and One Thousand Gifts (556 - 567)

My sweet Boo.  She's so pretty.

The Wolfman.  I don't think that's how the game is played.

E-Baby.  As beautiful as her mommy.

The boys are getting ready to race.  

At the skating rink.  

556.  My kitty is better!  She's finally eating and drinking again.  Turns out she ate a 12" long piece of yarn.  Yes, I measured it when she finally coughed it up. It really messed her up.

557.  Sweet, sweet friend watched all the kids so Bob and I could go Christmas shopping.

558.  Kids had a wonderful time playing all variations of cops & robbers for nearly 4 hours.

559.  I survived Chuck E. Cheese today.  It's not so bad if you go when it first opens.  The kids love it, so that makes it worth while.

560.  Roller skating with all the kids.  I only fell twice!  Unfortunately, I jammed my back again.  This would be humorous if it didn't hurt so bad.

561.  Seeing "old" friends at the rink.

562.  Helping out at the Angel Tree lunch.

563.  Meeting a new friend

564.  Getting to know people in my new church family a little better

565.  My kids, ready and willing to serve others

566.  Bob's and my annual Christmas tradition of staying up late, wrapping presents, drinking eggnog and watching sappy Christmas movies.  It usually takes us about 5 nights of this to get all the kid's presents wrapped.

567.  My dad came through surgery well.  Now, continuing to pray for test results.

365:341 - 347 and One Thousand Gifts (546 - 555)

My boy and his dog

Being brave and navigating the tunnel

The first ornament we got together

It's the prettiest tree we've ever had.  You know you HAVE to say that every year, right?!.

Bokeh

More bokeh. It's not only fun to say, but also fun to do!

My poor Jubi. She's so sick.  She spent the whole day in
the hospital and they still don't know what's wrong with her.

546.  Spending time with 3 very cool kids! So blessed to be able to get to know Matt, Mike and Macy better

547.  School is done till January!  

548.  Kid's playing nicely (well, mostly) together

549.  When your reality does not line up with your expectations, God is trying to give you a revelation of who He is.  ~ Pastor John, NVF.  This really blessed me on Sunday.

550.  My dog is so worried about her cat.  She sits outside my bedroom door and whines.  It's really cute to see her devotion.

551.  Playing games with the kids

552.  Tacos.  The kids made dinner tonight!

553.  The tree is finally up.

554.  Listening to Bob praying with the kids upstairs.

555.  Golden milk.  Just discovered this and love it!  It's mega-healthy too.

365:335 - 340 and One Thousand Gifts (539 - 545)

Love love love the colors of Fall!  The colors out East are better though.

E-Baby's 5th birthday

Molly likes pinatas too

Pillow fight!

Weird piggy back rides

Helping daddy.
I'm having lots of trouble lately with light metering.  I routinely blow out backgrounds in order to get the darker skin tones right.  Frustrating. And what is that strange reflection coming off the bbq? Maybe my lens needs cleaning.

539.  Lots and lots of rain!

540.  Watching Mr. Baseball lifting his hands in praise at church.

541.  E-Baby is 5 years old.  I cannot believe how fast she is growing up.  I love her soooo much!

542.  Wonderful teaching today on John 13.  

              "Be a humble servant, like Jesus, who is willing to let go of preference and comfort to serve 

                people even in the hard, undesirable, and filthy areas of this life."

543.  Afternoon naps

544.  Nice, clean email inbox.  Haven't seen that in a while!

545.  One more week till Christmas break.