Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! Are you all ready for 2011? 2010 was a mix bag for me in terms of ups and downs. My Dad getting sick and spending three weeks in the hospital and we weren't sure if he was going to make it a few times was certainly one of the downs. And the on going process of the fall out from my marriage falling apart was another down. But I've never been one to look at my glass as half empty so my up's have been there too. Sometimes I think in the process of some big hits in your life comes the potential for big growth and I have seen that in so many areas in my life(and I thank God for them). I am much more independent than I have ever been in my life(yea, I still have some tweaking to do in that area) but before I would have felt so insecure going to functions by myself(especially when everyone came with a spouse) but I have no problem doing that anymore and I went back to work out of the house, which has been such a blessing. Hey, I even went out and bought my first TV on my own without anyone's help and I think I did a pretty good job in picking it out!! Ha! Might not be a big accomplishment for some but I walked out of that store feeling pretty good.........I was able to do some traveling and remembered just how much I loved that part of my life!! So yes, 2010 was full of ups and downs and I'm sure that'll be true of 2011 too but I'm also sure in the mix of it all will be that potential for mega growth!

Happy New Year friends!! When I count my blessings for the year, you guys are always part of it!

Christmas ~~ 2010

I've spent the past few days taking down all the Christmas decorations but am just getting to posting about Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. I usually take everything down right after the holiday but I have loved my outdoor tree so much and it's still in great shape(it's been frozen) that I thought I would decorate it with hearts and red for Valentine's Day! Haha....I thought the grands would get a kick out of it. I don't think it'll last for St.Patricks Day or Easter.....ha! Though that would be fun to have a tree for every holiday...maybe I'll plant a little pine out back for the kids to decorate......
Here's a few pics from my holiday! The girls made a Happy Birthday Jesus cake and decorated it. They said Jesus really likes sprinkles so they put alot(the whole bottle) on the cake. :-)
This photo is funny because they got so many toys but the game they wanted to play the most with everyone was restaurant. What's restaurant? Well, the girls ask you what you want to eat and than they pretend to write down your order and throw you pretend food. Yep, they throw it to you....Ha! And I always catch it and say it's wonderful.......

The last few are of Christmas Eve at my sister's house. Maddie and I were having fun and Maddie and Sydney were waiting for Great Grandpa(my Dad) to give out presents! I had a nice Christmas and still have one to celebrate with Cameron this weekend!! I hope everyone had a great one and I'll try to make it back before the new year but if I don't- Happy New Year!!!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone!! This is just part of my family after the Christmas program at our church. My son and grandson couldn't make it so they're not in the picture. :-( I need to work on getting a photo of all of us but it's hard to get everyone together at the same time! I hope you all are having a wonderful Christmas week. Mine has been busy and full, dinners, cooking, wrapping presents etc...... I was off work all week, so that was nice. All the presents are wrapped, most of the food is ready( I'm trying to make it as easy as possible) and I guess I'm about as ready as I can be.

Another Christmas, another year....wow......where did it go? I feel better than I did last Christmas and emotionally I'm in a better place.........but sometimes if I'm real honest and don't just want to put on a brave face....I get sad for Christmas past...but in the end it's all about that little baby that was born in a stable. Have a wonderful and safe Christmas bloggy friends!! Thank you for your gift of being my friend!

Baby, It's cold outside!!

Busy, busy weekend and my car never left my garage till this morning.....LOL My sweet grands all came over this weekend to hang out with me. I LOVE having them but they were with me because my daughter Melissa(Maddie and Sydney's mom) was recovering from what the doctors are calling a missed miscarriage. We are all so sad that we will not be welcoming a new sweet baby into the family next summer. We were all so excited when we found out they were going to have another baby and it's just sad............
So we played in the snow........made hot chocolate and popcorn and I really did try to get them to eat some healthy food but I didn't have much luck!
Sassy(Sydney) was coming at me with her snowball. LOL I have about a half dozen snowballs in my freezer right now. They wanted to save them.....
Here's my outside tree I was telling you about. I really love it out there and will try to take a good picture of it at night to show you. It sits right outside my patio doors so I can sit at my kitchen table and watch the twinkling lights at night. Last night I sat there with a cup of hot chocolate and a chocolate biscotti. I was in chocolate heaven.....
And Aunt "Tess" came over to play with the girls on Saturday night and we took some more photos. I love these photos!! Look at Maddie's face in the one above, she's just so happy!! The girls did not want to come in from the snow, no matter how I tried to reason (bribe) them. LOL
Hope you all had a wonderful weekend and have a great week!!!

Lots of Catching up to do!!

I have lots of catching up to do! These pictures are in reverse order but it'll have to do because I have no time to fix them! Ha! First off I won this beautiful bracelet from the (in) courage gals. I am so excited. This bracelet is called the shield of faith bracelet and you can find it here at Gracewear. First of all it's a gorgeous bracelet and big and bold--everything I love in jewelry! But the meaning behind this bracelet is especially meaningful for me and I'm sure for many others. It's based on Ephesians 6:10-18 and represents covering women daily in God's protection mercy and grace! Thank you so much!! Everytime I wear it I will think of God's protection mercy and grace.
So here's what I've been up to, other than eating way too much lately. Doesn't it seem like you get on a roll with eating and can't stop...tell me I'm not the only one.......please......ha...okay so this past weekend we all went downtown to celebrate my sweet niece Stephanie's birthday, she's the one I have my arms around. That's my son and his girlfriend and my brother in law and his girlfriend with us! It was fun and it's so pretty downtown right now with all the Christmas decorations!!
The next few pics are of Thanksgiving. Here's me and my little girls!
My Dad and his sister....I love this photo..they are both in their 80's and have some health issues so I'm loving the time with them both!
Here's me and one of my big girls.....my daughter Christina.....we are wearing the same dress only different colors....Ha...she borrowed it from my closet.......
And the day before Thanksgiving, I met my son and my grandson Cameron for dinner since I wouldn't be able to see them on Thanksgiving Day! They were playing silly games....
And remember my last post about sweet Ava, well we did get to meet her and her beautiful family! I told you my Dad had a special place in his heart for her! Maddie and Sydney just adored her too!
This is my Dad and Ava's family which is made up of my aunt, cousin and I guess second and third cousins but I get confused about second and third cousins sometimes...ha!
Ava was such a loving little girl, hugging people and talking and her brother and sister were just as sweet as could be. I hope we see more of them. Don't you love this photo of my Dad and Ava?
Woo...long post....did you make it to the bottom? I've been working alot lately which hasn't been too bad other than I'm tired and I spent Thanksgiving morning to early afternoon working at Cincinnati's Fall Feast. I can honestly say it was one of the best Thanksgivings I've ever had and I hope to work there again next year. I've been decorating for Christmas and even put a real tree out on my back patio this year, it was just something I did at the last minute and I am liking it more and more. I'll post some photos as soon as work slows down...which will be the end of next week!!! Take care and sorry for the length of this post. :-) Oh yeah..one more thing...

I was suppose to be going to the Beth Moore Deeper Still event this weekend in Birmingham but something has come up and I can't go now. I won a ticket to go but can't go this weekend. I'm watching my little girls for the weekend and I'll explain why sometime in future posts. But I sure hope to go to one of Beth's conferences someday!! Okay, now I'm out of here!!...See ya.....