Hot Chocolate & Christmas Cookies

We made some yummy sugar cookies this year! They were extremely good sugar cookies, soft and delicious, but they weren't the best for decorating. We still had so much fun decorating them and drinking hot chocolate.

Thanksgiving!

I started this post and thought I had a lot more pictures then I do..Sorry about that..Oh well here's a cute picture of My kiddos from Thanksgiving!


Daddy & Owen


Hallie dancing


Her cute bow


More new Posts Below!

Funny Lazy People

Forgot to mention this on the last post..When we had Hallie's party it was a sunday. On sundays att my parents house we go through dishes like crazy, there are always people over including most of the 10 kids...so when we had Cake and Icecream that night there was no clean silverware, I looked around and this is what I saw:









I guess everyone was too lazy to wash some silverware, and too anxious to eat cake and Ice Cream. My mom walked into the Kitchen and saw this and laughed, then she saw me taking pictures and said, "Bonny, you better not put this on your blog..." {Evil Laugh}

Hallie's 4th Birthday!!!

We decided not to have a huge Birthday Party for Hallie this year, (meaning, just family-that's big enough lol). I didn't want the stress. We had a party at Mimi's house & later one at Gammy's house.

At Mimi's house we had a Strawberry shortcake Birthday Party.


She had So much fun!


Here is her Strawberry shortcake hat & Cake.


And a few Favors


Blowing out the Candles...


Opening Gifts...


Owen got a Remote Control Car from Aunt Candi & Uncle Ray Ray..it kept him busy...


I got her some Cupcakes at Sam's for her Birthday Party at Gammy's house, she liked them because they had Strawberry's


She loved her TuTu that Gammy got her!


Happy Birthday Hallie!! Stop Growing up!!! Okay?

With all the traveling back and forth to Cookeville (Chad is working there), the Christmas shopping, the baking, the visiting with friends and family...I haven't thought much about the True Reason for Christmas, Christ our Savior. I feel really guilty about this. We are constantly reminding the kids why we celebrate Christmas, but I need to be reminding myself. I need to think of The Savior more, what he has done for us and the Love Heavenly Father has for us for sacrificing his Son. That excites me more then any present I will give or receive on Christmas, it is my reason for Living, it is my hope, my life and I am truly Grateful.

I Love to See the Temple!

We had Stake Conference at the Franklin Stake Center this year, which is next door to the Temple. It was the first time the kids got to see the Temple. They were so excited. For those of you who don't know what the Temple is, it is a place where Couples are Married & Sealed for all time and Eternity. It is where Chad and I got Married. It is also where we make Covenants with the Lord. If you want to find out more about LDS Temples click HERE.

Deck the Halls

We decorated our Christmas tree a week before Thanksgiving. Chad couldn't wait. He gets so excited for Christmas, so do I, but he, well....for example our first Christmas he woke me up at 3am to open presents..we didn't get up until 4am. HE just gets WAYYY excited. It's so fun and so cute, he's like a little Kid.

Every year I get the kids a Christmas ornament. (That way, when they leave home they will have some ornaments to take with them to decorate their own Christmas tree someday) I wrap them and we open them the night we decorate the Christmas tree. Chad and I also buy ornaments for each other. I always write their name and year on the ornament. It's a fun tradition.

Here is Hallie and Owen with their Ornaments.

Hallie loves anything girlie, so I thought she would love this little Ballerina.


Owen is really into trains so we got him a cute little train ornament.


I got Chad a John Deere Tractor, well..b/c he LOVES John Deere.


This is what Chad got me...Perfect right?


Decorating the Christmas Tree




The finished Tree!


Hallie broke our little Dollar Tree star again this year..lol..so finally Chad decided it was time to get a new star..YIPEEEEEE!!! We didn't put the Star on until after Thanksgiving, here it is:

Another Job Update

Chad just got accepted to the Public Administration Masters Program at TSU!!! He starts in January! Finally, some good news!!

We had been waiting to hear back from the YMCA in Cookeville, for the Aquatics Director position. They told him they couldn't afford him and they wanted to hire from within.

We are still waiting to hear back from Vanderbilt. He called the other day and they said that they had received his resume and that he should be getting a call soon. Keep your fingers crossed for this one!

Chad has been thinking about joining the Air Force. He has already lost 20lbs in 3 weeks. (yah..I know, it makes me sick, it took me 4 months to lose 12 lbs) We are going to talk to a recruiter about this in January. I am against it, but there are some pros, schooling is paid for, stipends, early retirement etc. I'm not sure if that is what I want for our little family though, we shall see..any comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Everytime someone asks Chad what he wants for Christmas, he says, "A job." It's all he really thinks about. He is stressed to the max, but I still know the Lord has something great in store for us. Keep us in your prayers and hopefully, we will hear something soon!!!!!!

Randomness..

Chad and I went to Sam's Sushi in downtown Nashville the other day...It is this tiny little restaurant on Church St. next to Printer's Alley. It is so good & so inexpensive. I definitely recommend going there, if you like sushi!


We parked at the YMCA where Chad used to work (he had to pick up a check) On the way out this caught my eye


It's a Maserati..(Every time I read the word, "Maserati" that Paparazzi song, by Lady Ga Ga, pops into my head, but instead of singing "Papa, Papa Razzi," I sing "Masa, Masa Rati") Anyways, I looked it up and yeah..it's a $120,000 car...I knew it had to be expensive when I saw it..


We went to I-hop one day b/c we had these "buy one get one free" coupons..Hallie saw my camera in my purse and said, "Let's take a picture Mommy!" So I did and she licked my face, right when the picture snapped..ew.


This is a Barbie dress that Chad's Grandmother, Nana, made for his mother when she was a little girl. I love it. The color of the dress is more vibrant than what is being shown in the picture..I wish you could see it in person, it is so delicate and just adorable.


Hallie cleaned her room...by herself..I didn't help AT all..I was very proud of her..I told her she shouldn't have done it though, because, now, in the future, I know that she can. Nice. Now I should just teach her how to Vacuum.


Hallie wrote her name on the tag for her Daddy's gift. ALL BY HERSELF! I was a proud Momma. She hasn't gotten the 'E' quite down yet.


I got this dress for $4.99 at Good Will.


I got this dress for $6 at a Consignment shop.


Together, I think they remind me of Cupcakes.

Black Friday

Chad and I got up at 4:45 to get to Target & Wal-Mart for the Black Friday Sales. It was my first time ever doing that..I must say...WOW. I will never do that again. I'm tired..I think I will go back to bed now. Good Night..or should I say morning?

Funny

Hallie calls unicorns "neighcorns" at first I thought she was saying "acorns" but No..she was saying "Neighcorns" I laughed.


Today we went to Zaxby's with Chad's family. We had to sit at two different booths to fit us all, at one point, Chad got up to go talk to the Hallie at the other booth..I put a packet of Zaxby's sauce at the end of Chad's straw and put it into his drink..he walked by, grabbed his drink, took a HUGE gulp, and..you should have seen the look on his face...I laughed...Hard.

Another No.

He didn't get the Job at the Cookeville Fire Department!

Check out my Halloween Post Below!!

Halloween!

Halloween was so fun! We went to my parent's Ward, Trunk-or-treat on Tuesday, our's on Friday & then Trick-or-Treating on Saturday. It was a busy week, but the kids had a blast! It was really chilly Halloween night, we cut the night short because Hallie kept falling, her hands and nose were just too cold...I was fine with that..I'm not a big fan of Trick-or Treating, unless everyone is giving Chocolate, which isn't too common these days guess it's more expensive.

Hallie was Shirley Temple & Owen was Woody, I made Hallie's dress and Owen's vest.


Hallie loved dressing up as Shirley Temple, she loved posing for the camera!


I love how Owie's hat is sitting on the pumpkin


I had 5-6 pictures of her with this facial expression, she kept singing, "Animal Crackers in my Soup!" The camera just happened to always snap the picture when she said "..Soup!" Don't w


I took too many pictures!




My little Woody!


Woody & Buzz!


Woody & "Bullseye" That's what Owen called the stroller, after he got his candy at each house, he would yell, "BULLSEYE!" "BULLSEYE!!" Until Chad would say in a very deep voice, "YES, Woody, YES?!?" (Bullseye is the name of Woody's horse on Toy Story 2)



Trick-Or-Treat!!



Next house Please!!!


Such a Lady! Every time she sat in the stroller, she crossed her legs..so Shirley Temple-esque don't you think?


Look at all that Candy!! (We still have most of it still sitting on the Fridge, except for the chocolate...it's gone...the kids..I mean I ate it all.