The day after Christmas Ally was invited to a birthday party. It was at Snip-its, which is a haircut place for kids, but they also have parties for little girls too. It was really cute. They let the girls pick out a dress to wear, they decorated a canvas bag, had their hair fixed, ate a snack and then had a fashion show. The girls really enjoyed all of the dainty activities.
Before the Fashion Show, they asked each of the girls some questions and one of them was what they wanted to be when they grew up. I had no idea what Ally's answers were at all, until she walked down the red carpet.
She wants to be just like Mommy when she grows up. She is just too sweet. I hope that she still has this view of me when she is 13!
One of Allyson's Christmas gifts was two tickets to see Disney Junior Live On Tour! Pirate and Princess Adventure. We went Saturday afternoon and she and I had such a good time there. We got to see live acts from Doc McStuffins, Sofia and Jake and the Neverland Pirates. It was a great afternoon with her.
Here are some video clips for those of you who are interested. Ally loved it!
Opening act of Sofia the First!
Announcing Sofia the First!
Captain Hook and Smee from Jake and the Neverland Pirates.
Closing song with all the characters and Mickey and Minnie joined the stage at the end.
I think I am just now recovering from Christmas...along with my house. I still don't want to take down my Christmas tree or decorations; it is so homey feeling. Maybe tomorrow or this weekend!
We had a great Christmas this year. Our children are not early risers at all and we practically had to wake them up to get the festivities going. Here is a clip of Jase and Ally waking up and beginning to open gifts. I remember my parents setting up the video camera on Christmas morning and watching us open gifts, brings back memories.
Ok, so I thought the first thing Jase would see when he came down stairs was Davy Crockett's gun: Old Betsy on the fireplace. He probably opened 3 or 4 gifts before he saw it. Priceless.
My mom came over for a short visit and Jase found his gift from her and PawPaw as we went outside to "take out the trash."
And another surprise as we were walking in, the kids saw their trampoline! Here is Allyson trying it out Christmas morning!
The kids enjoyed opening gifts and Ally really loved opening up the packages! Finn found a snack in his stocking and he was content with that!
We finished up presents at our house and then headed to Shawn's parents' house for family time. The weather was nice on Christmas day. A little chilly in the shade, but in the sun it was perfect. The kids {and Shawn} enjoyed playing outdoors.
Here is a clip of everyone opening gifts at Grandma and Grandpa Frenches house. What a blessing to have so many kids and grandkids present.
Lastly, we headed over to my sister's house to visit with my family, eat dinner and open up gifts there. It was a nice and relaxing time. We had a surprise for Finn over there: a Little Tikes Rock Climber! He, Jase and Ally played on it while we still had sunlight.
At my sister's we sang Happy Birthday to Jesus and I told the m&m Christmas story. It was a great day spending time with family.
We hope you had a very Merry Christmas today as you gathered together with family and friends. May the season of Christmas bring you joy, love and hope as you are celebrating the birth of Jesus. God bless.
After church on Sunday, we went over to my mom's to celebrate PawPaw's birthday. Mom made some homemade lasagna...so good! While we were all in our church clothes and the kids coordinated, I wanted to get a group photo of them. As you can tell, not always as easy as you think!
Then I got a decent one of them all looking forward. Score! I cannot believe how big they are getting. And Jase, he just keeps getting taller and taller! So blessed!
And we managed to pull off a family pic as well! :) Merry Christmas!
Friday afternoon I hosted our First Annual Homeschool Christmas Party. Just because we homeschool, doesn't mean that we shouldn't partake in the gathering together for parties. Me and the kiddos were excited about having our friends over and celebrating this joyous time. Four families were represented, with a total of 12 children.
We started off eating a little snack. We kept the menu pretty basic, but believe me there was no shortage of food.
Here we are around the table. {We were missing one family in this picture.}
After everyone was in attendance, it was story time. I found a cute way to tell about Jesus' birth through m&m's on Pinterest. I had pinned it last year, but never got around to using it, but this was the perfect time. Here is a little video as I am first getting started.
While I had all of them seated, I decided to play a game. Ever heard of "I'm a Chubby Bunny?" No one at the party had either. Haha! Well, I left the bunnies out of this and called it "I'm a believer." All you need is {big} marshmallows and participants. You start by handing everyone who is playing a marshmallow and they have to say "I'm a believer." Once everyone has said it, you go to the next round and hand out another marshmallow and everyone must say it again. If you can't say it, then you're out. Oh and you cannot eat the marshmallows. I remember playing it at my birthday parties when I was in late elementary or junior high. It was always fun!! And definitely entertaining. Here is a clip of that! And yes, I played!!
Next, we had some craft time at the table. I had precut strips of Christmas scrapbook paper and they had to find strips and make it look like a Christmas tree. They turned out cute.
And here's the whole gang! It was a great afternoon shared with friends. Very thankful for these families and looking forward to many more parties together. Merry Christmas!
This morning Allyson had her Christmas party at school and it was a success. I signed up to bring cheese sticks and dipped pretzels. I had no idea there was a snowman theme going on, but my cheese sticks fit right in!
Allyson had fun and we just love Ms. Tracy! Hard to believe that this is her last year of preschool and she will be starting Kindergarten next school year...way too big!
This evening we had our Sunday School Christmas party at the Houston Food Bank. We spent the evening volunteering together and it was great. I was very impressed with their facility and how stream-lined their processes were. I. Am. A. Fan. If you're looking for an organization to volunteer with, check them out HERE. It was a blessing to show up and be used the entire time. And everyone had a job and stayed busy. And what a great ministry: feeding the hungry!
We volunteered in the Scan-A-Can program, which scans in all of the items received from grocery stores, mainly Krogers. Once the items are scanned in, the goods then belong to the food bank and they can start sorting the products and distributing them. I believe they told us tonight that they feed 137,000 people a week. Amazing.
Here we are in action!
The guys below are sweeping the floors after we finished up.
And a new friend I met. He was awesome! He was volunteering as well. He was from St. John's church downtown and invited us to his church to volunteer. Super nice guy and so friendly. When he found out that everyone in our group was a believer in Christ, he was thrilled. High Fives all around. :) I hope I see him again!
Our nightly Scan-A-Can totals being announced. Yeah, we rocked it out!
While not everyone from our class was able to attend, I'm very thankful for those that did volunteer. Hoping that next time we volunteer, we'll take a bigger group. We will definitely be doing this again!
I thoroughly enjoyed the worship music this morning from our choir and band. It was such a joy to see my son up on stage singing praises unto the Lord. The message was simple and clear this morning. We are sinners, who are in need of a Savior. God came down to this earth as a human, through Jesus, to live a perfect, sinless life and He sacrificed His life for us. He paid the price for our sins. While we don't deserve Heaven, He gave us access through Jesus. All He asks is that we put our trust and faith in Jesus Christ. I have come to the realization that we are not worthy of praise, but Christ is.
~We all need salvation because everyone has sinned.~
There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Romans 3:10-12, 23
~The price/consequence of sin is death.~
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6:23
~Jesus Christ died for our sins. He paid the price for our death.~
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 5:8
~We receive salvation and eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ.~
If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Romans 10:9-10,13
~Salvation through Jesus Christ brings us into a relationship of peace with God.~ Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ
Romans 5:1
There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus
Romans 8:1
I pray you find these scriptures as a source of HOPE and you respond to God's call of salvation, if you have not already done so.
Dear Lord, thank you for sending Jesus to this earth over 2,000 years ago to save those that seek him. Help me turn away from my sins, whether that is lust, gossip, jealousy, love of money, what have you. I believe that you died on the cross for my sins and through your sacrifice I will have eternal life. I am trusting that Jesus is the only source of hope, joy, love that this life offers. In His name I pray, Amen. May we remember this as we celebrate CHRISTmas this year. God bless.
Yesterday we had a busy party day. Things come in 3's right? Well our parties sure did on Saturday. We started off our day at Chuck E. Cheese! Who doesn't enjoy some fun at CEC? The party was at 10 am, so it really wasn't that crowded, which was nice. Just look at my little man, he is getting way too big, way too fast! A week shy of 17 months.
And look at this girl, she was completely giddy when taking pictures with CEC! Last year this time I don't think you would have caught her near him, but not this time, she was taking full advantage of this photo opp!
Next we went home for a wardrobe change and were off to a Tea Party. Her best friend, Rylee, was celebrating her 5th birthday and she was all excited about it! Sara did a great job setting it all up and the theme was too cute. The girls enjoyed being big girls and sitting at the table with their friends and having a spot of tea {or apple juice!}.
This group picture is just too cute. Some of their personalities just come right off the picture when you look at it. I hope these girls are friends for many years to come!
And the last party, I didn't get any pics from; too busy chasing around kids {or maybe eating...I can't remember!} haha! We were celebrating one of our best friend's 40th birthday. The friends, fellowship and food were great! Always a great time when we're together. Love them to bits!
Speaking of parties. Ever since the Kayak Party back in October Allyson has not stopped "planning" parties. I mean all of us in the house have celebrated our birthday's since then, we've had parties for her imaginary friends, you name it we've done it. Tonight we were sitting around at the table and she told me "Mom you're baking the cake for the Disney Junior party tomorrow, right? Mom, thumbs up {as she holds up her thumb}." It was too funny! We all just started laughing! Then she told my mom and sister that they were coming over to help decorate for the party. She has been inviting EVERYONE over for these parties. Just last Tuesday she brought one of her gymnastics teachers an invitation she made {a piece of paper with writing/scribbling on it} and told her she was invited to her party. Geez!! What have I created...besides a little mini me with the party planning?!?!
And I debated on posting this, but c'mon we're all real people and who doesn't like a good laugh? {I hope you're not eating or have a weak stomach!} We got home and were about to go upstairs and tuck the kiddos into bed, but I wanted to take my shoes off first. Well, I pulled off my first boot and look what I found!!!
I mean, I have sock fuzz every now and again, but this was outta control {and apparently picture worthy, photo credit: Shawn}. I just could not {and obviously still not} get over how much there was! I'm glad to report that the other foot didn't have near as much. Ha!
After gymnastics Tuesday evening Shawn had a special evening planned for his little girl!
Chili's had some tables designated for a Princess Dinner and Shawn took her there for a date! He spends a good amount of one-on-one time with Jase with sports and hunting, so this was something he and Ally could do together. Chili's had some little girl trinkets for her to take home. They took their picture together and put it in a foam frame and let her decorate it with glitter princess stickers. Can you say right up her alley? I'm glad Shawn was able to spend this special time with her.
Sunday morning Ally performed in her Christmas choir program at church. All of the kids looked so cute in their Sunday Best. And Ally did such a great job performing: singing and hand motions! I wasn't sure if she would freeze up when she got up there, given how timid she can be, but she did awesome!!
This is about the only decent picture we got of Ally. For some reason our camera went crazy on the red eyes and this was the best I could do to correct it. Boo to that! {Sorry for the nose picking! Ha!!}
And this was so cute. There are two big projector screens behind them and she realized she was on the big screen! Her first debut! :)
A week ago Sunday, we sat down with the kids to watch The Polar Express (with Tom Hanks) and we asked them how they would like to ride on a real train, just like The Polar Express! They got all excited and Jase and Ally wanted to! We proceeded to tell them that we would be riding The Polar Express on Friday night! We had bought tickets to ride the train and booked a place to stay in Palestine, Texas for Thursday and Friday.
The night before we were scheduled to leave, I got out to run an errand and guess what?? I got a huge nail in my tire. I ended up having a flat on the freeway, but a little shy of 2 hours later and roadside assistance, I was hooked up to a tow truck and headed back home. We ended up getting a new set of tires the next morning before heading out of town. It was time for a new set, but was not thrilled about spending that kind of money before vacation/Christmas/taxes... On the upside, what a blessing to be able to afford this inconvenience. Merry Christmas to us!!
On our way to Palestine, we took a little detour to a visit one of Shawn's old friends, Chris Williams. He and Shawn grew up together, fished together, hunted together, played football together; they were buddies from way back. Well, he was in a bad car wreck a few short months after graduating high school and he did not survive. I remember this was a very hard time for Shawn, and I can understand why. While I was not close to him, it was an emotional stop for me. It was very awakening to think that this could have been Chris: married with three children. I know and trust the Lord holds all things together, but humanly speaking it was sobering moment. I'm glad we were able to stop and reminisce about him during our trip.
We arrived and boy was it chilly!! It was misting some too, so that only added to the "brrrr rabbit" factor! We tried to brave the weather as much as we stand it, but ended up indoors most of the time!
Can I tell you that it was so nice to just relax?!? No where to be, just out in the country with my little family, it was great! This was one of the highlights of the trip for me: taking some time to breathe a little.
Friday night: The Polar Express!! We arrived over an hour early for the train ride, not knowing what to expect. We had no idea it was going to be so packed in the train station. And yes, it was still super chilly, like 28 degrees! So here we are, three kids dressed in pjs and trying to keep them bundled up as best as possible.
Here we are waiting outdoors to board the train! Can you say COLD?!?
We boarded the train and were ready to go! I think it helped that we had just watched the movie less than a week earlier and were refreshed on the details.
Here are a couple of videos from the train. These were pretty much recorded within 5-7 minutes of the train taking off. We had been singing that "Hot Chocolate" song all week long {and still singing it!}, so it was neat they played it.
The Chefs served hot chocolate and a cookie to everyone on the train. While it was nothing special, the kids really enjoyed their hot chocolate and cookie!
While we were snacking, The Polar Express book was read over the PA system. We brought the book with us and Jase followed along as it was read.
Once the book was finished, we came to the "North Pole" where Santa and his elves were. I read some reviews online where people were disappointed in how small the North Pole was and that the light display could have been better, but I thought it was fine. And really the North Pole was not the climax for us; we enjoyed all aspects of the ride.
The train came to a stop and we started heading back toward the train station. Then over the PA system they announced that Santa was on the train! Santa handed out bells to each child on the train and they LOVED getting the bells!
In the midst of Santa passing out bells, we are singing Christmas carols. The Chefs did a good job of doing motions to the songs and were constantly running up and down the aisles. Lastly, the conductor came by and punched a hole in their ticket. While he did not punch out letters to spell a word, it was still neat having him come by and make a presence before we got off.
Even with the cold weather, the train ride was well worth the trip in our opinion. We stayed at Bar - S Ranch Resort and it was a neat little place. The room we originally booked was located in a house that was built in 1891! It had so much character to it! The only downfall is that the heater was broke in it and it was pretty drafty, so we decided to switch gears and stay in the bunk house. In the long run, this was a better plan for us, as it gave the kids much more room to run and stretch out. Here are some pictures of the house built in 1891.
And on the way back home we drove through the town Crockett. We so had to stop there!! I read that the town was named Crockett because it was known that Davy Crockett had camped close to there on his way to the Alamo. Jase enjoyed visiting the local drug store and taking a picture in his coon skin hat!
Shawn and I are high school sweethearts. Married for 12 years with 4 beautiful children and reside in the great state of Texas. We are sinners who have been saved by grace, through faith in Christ Jesus. In our home we enjoy: laughing, praising and learning about God, watching sports, and homeschooling.
