Hell Is A Real Place!

It's True!

"GOOD LUCK" Dance Gift!

I was racking my brains trying to design a great dance gift and nothing was satisfying me. So instead... I utilized the holiday that is right around the corner, St. Patrick's Day, and designed the prettiest gift basket for our weekend in Charlotte for the Hollywood Dance Jamz Convention/Competiton. The basket was all about "GOOD LUCK". Okay, so I do not think the right terminology is "Good Luck!" I think saying that is actually "bad luck", but since I don't believe in LUCK, but rather JESUS.... I proceeded with my dance gift for BOTH Lilah and her "Bull Buddy", Elizabeth. 

Elf On The Shelf - Day #13

Yea, so here we are... in APRIL, and I am still posting about the "Elf On The Shelf".  I'm telling you, mom life is FOR REAL busy right now. It is busier than when I had a 3 year old and a set of newborn twins. You can probably tell how busy I am based on the small quantity of posts I have been able to compose. Or could it possibly be HOW OUTDATED my blog's homepage is.  Ahhhhh..... don't worry.... it's in the process of getting a facelift.

Any whoo, on day #13, our elves spent way too much time spelling out a very important message using CHEERIOS!!

 "We are having so much fun, but don't forget God's ONLY son!"

One elf was goofing around, making snow angels with the cheerios.  

One elf got stuck in the box or maybe he fell asleep.  

We believe that Jesus is the reason for the season.  We desire to put HIM above all other holiday traditions, but we don't believe it is wrong or sinful to create memories and family fun with the Elf on the Shelf tradition.

Side note: I can't even begin to explain what kind of emotions, spelling out a message, using cheerios, at 4:00 a.m., causes a person to go through. LOL!  #DontTryThisAtHomeFolk.

Need to see more? See the video footage below.

Love Is....

LOVE IS... being willing to have your life complicated by the needs and struggles of others without impatience or anger.

LOVE IS... actively fighting the temptation to be critical and judgmental toward another while looking for ways to encourage and praise.

LOVE IS... making a daily commitment to resist the needless moments of conflict that come from pointing out and responding to minor offenses.

LOVE IS... being lovingly honest and humbly approachable in times of misunderstanding.

LOVE IS... being more committed to unity and understanding than you are to winning, accusing, or being right.

LOVE IS... a making a daily commitment to admit your sin, weakness, and failure and to resist the temptation to offer an excuse or shift the blame.

LOVE IS... being willing, when confronted by another, to examine your heart rather than rising to your defense or shifting the focus.

LOVE IS... making a daily commitment to grow in love so that the love you offer to another is increasingly selfless, mature, and patient.

LOVE IS... being unwilling to do what is wrong when you have been wronged, but looking for concrete and specific ways to overcome evil with good.

LOVE IS... being a good student of another, looking for their physical, emotional, and spiritual needs so that in some way you can remove the burden, support them as they carry it, or encourage them along the way.

LOVE IS... being willing to invest the time necessary to discuss, examine, and understand the relational problems you face, staying on task until the problem is removed or you have agreed upon a strategy of response.

LOVE IS... being willing to always ask for forgiveness and always being committed to grant forgiveness when it is requested.

LOVE IS... recognizing the high value of trust in a relationship and being faithful to your promises and true to your word.

LOVE IS... speaking kindly and gently, even in moments of disagreement, refusing to attack the other person’s character or assault their intelligence.

LOVE IS... being unwilling to flatter, lie, manipulate, or deceive in any way in order to co-opt the other person into giving you what you want or doing something your way.

LOVE IS... being unwilling to ask another person to be the source of your identity, meaning, and purpose, or inner sense of well-being, while refusing to be the source of theirs.

LOVE IS... the willingness to have less free time, less sleep, and a busier schedule in order to be faithful to what God has called you to be and to do as a spouse, parent, neighbor, etc.

LOVE IS... a commitment to say no to selfish instincts and to do everything that is within your ability to promote real unity, functional understanding, and active love in your relationships.

LOVE IS... staying faithful to your commitment to treat another with appreciation, respect, and grace, even in moments when the other person doesn’t seem deserving or is unwilling to reciprocate.

LOVE IS... the willingness to make regular and costly sacrifices for the sake of a relationship without asking for anything in return or using your sacrifices to place the other person in your debt.

LOVE IS... being unwilling to make any personal decision or choice that would harm a relationship, hurt the other person, or weaken the bond of trust between you.

LOVE IS... refusing to be self-focused or demanding, but instead looking for specific ways to serve, support, and encourage, even when you are busy or tired.

LOVE IS... daily admitting to yourself, the other person, and God that you are unable to be driven by a cruciform love without God’s protecting, providing, forgiving, rescuing, and delivering grace.

Ask yourself… are you a LOVE-ing person? I think if you're honest... I think if WE are all honest... we are not loving others well.  Remember, scripture says...

"And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. ~1 Corinthians 13:2"

Ouch!!! This topic is truly so important and really important to meditate on and think about, myself included. The world would be a much better place and God would be much more glorified if we all considered the cost of hate and the profits of LOVE.

Christmas 2017

Christmas morning finally arrived... and BOY was I glad! This holiday tends to be all consuming for me between all of our traditions, the Elf On The Shelf, gift shopping/wrapping and so much more. We always tell the kids they have to wait to come down UNTIL we say.  I think they let me sleep until 7:15 a.m. It's all a blur at this point.  

Despite the fact that their gift piles seem so much smaller...

They still seemed impressed and happy.  

Jax's stack.

Ty was sweet.  He came up to me 2 days before Christmas, after he could sense I felt like their gift piles looked "weak" and he said, "Mom, I am just excited to get anything.  If it wasn't Christmas we wouldn't be getting gifts.  AND BESIDES, I'd rather have 5 good quality gifs than 25 crappy ones."  I felt more relieved.  It's just, as these kids get older, the gifts get more expensive. A pack of stinking socks cost $24.99 these days. SO... give your kid a pack of socks and an iPhone and that's $500.00 already, BEFORE you even start paying the cell phone bill.  

Ty's stack.

Lilah is always so super excited on Christmas morning.  What kid isn't?

Lilah's stack. It looks bigger than the boys' stack doesn't it? Ugh... girls are so much easier to shop for.

 Even Sadie and Simon received Christmas stockings.

 

Darren's stack!

I needed another piece of furniture in our family office and I have been considering a cocktail cart for sometime AND NOT JUST for liquor. Quite honestly, I love the idea of using it for parties, ice cream buffets, candy buffets, and so much more. I plan to dress this cocktail cart up for EACH HOLIDAY! I'll be doing a separate post on this beauty! BUT... if you want to know where it came from, in the meantime, it came from Pier 1.

My stack!

I didn't take too many photos of us opening gifts because I just wanted to enjoy our time together. We started with all of the gifts from the kids.

 The boys chipped in with their own money and bought their daddy a Buffalo Bills hat!

Ty bought Lilah some new squishes!

Ty also bought Jax a large piece of Dallas Cowboys' fabric from Walmart.  He even had the lady cut it ALL.ON.HIS.OWN.  He thought it was a blanket. LOL. So we will turn it into one of those "no sew" blankets.  The other side will be footballs. Jax was THRILLED.

Liley got her daddy a pound of coffee.  

Next up... stockings.  Ugh... ignore my ugly morningness.  I did have on lipsense & browsense though, so my lips and eyebrows were on point.  My family knows me well. Isn't that little dog "frame" cute!?

 I also received this adorable shirt from Altar'd State.  

ALL of the kids received AMAZON echo dots!!!! Ty received the accessories that assist him, via voice command, to turn on his ceiling fan and bedroom lights.  SO fun and so cool!

We had our typical and delicious breakfast.  COFFEE, OJ, egg casserole, creme brûlée french toast, and applewood bacon!  I also made Darren and I mimosas.  Those were fabulous.  

The french toast doesn't even look pretty right? Well... when you turn it upside-down... that's where the beauty and deliciousness is.  It's all kinds of melted brown sugar, butter, and yummy BAD corn syrup.

After we open the gifts that mommy and daddy give, we head downstairs to see what Santa brought.  

We always let Santa use the basement for his gifts.  These photos are beyond precious to me.  Here are their reactions after seeing what Santa brought them.  

I'd say it was a happy Christmas!!

Ty came down like "Joe Cool"!

But his reaction was so mature and so appreciative.  I'm really loving this stage. Maturity fits him well (most days).  

What did Santa bring?

Jax received a Dak Prescott jersey, a Nintendo Switch + games and accessories.  The craziest story behind that jersey... he was asking for it for weeks.  IT was sold out EVERYWHERE, even ON-LINE.  We went to see Santa, at the Tanglewood Mall on the Saturday before Christmas, AND GUESS what?! In the crappiest MALL ever, we found it! Darren and I were FREAKING OUT and so excited.

Lilah received a gymnastics bar, a mat, and some gymnastics clothing.  What's in the wrapped box? "Everything Unicorn", as she requested.  I will share those items in another post, but let's just say... she truly has a unicorn obsession.

Ty received an IPhone 8 Plus, a new case, a screen protector, AND UNLIMITED data. The unlimited data was HUGE because Ty has been on a 5 gig plan for almost two years now. His unlimited data gift note was in a set of (3) nesting blocks.  So he had to dig for it!

The rest of the day, we kind of let the kids just enjoy their gifts.  Darren and I, the OCD crew, began cleaning, organizing, and breaking down boxes.  We even took a trip to Starbucks and a big dumpster to get rid of excess trash!

I made a homemade marinara sauce with some yummy calamari for a "starter".  

I usually set up the Christmas dinner table so fancy... using my snowman plates and fancy candy cane glasses, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it this year.  We just had fancy napkins and used the black, wine glasses that I inherited from my mother-in-law.  No one even noticed.  LOL!  Everyone, but Darren was still in their pjs.  LOL! Suits me.

We had HAM!

Mac & Cheese.

Broccoli. 

& Rolls.  

It made for a colorful plate.

Dessert was our traditional, and TY's favorite, "Not Your Momma Banana Pudding", made with Pepperidge Farms Christmas Cookies, homemade oreo bark, and Happy Birthday Jesus cake!

This was so yummy!!!  We even sang to Jesus.  

I usually use a 9x13 dish for the pudding, but I ran out of glass dishes.  I thought this truffle dish was a perfect substitute.  

Can I count this as my fruit serving?

We began our day and ended our day celebrating our Savior! 

There is SO MUCH MORE to share.  I am hoping to get back to 2-3 posts PER day, until I am ALL caught up.  This post took a while, so check back around 4:00 p.m. for another post. I pray you all had a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!