Pics from Christmas time

We love our family!
My brothers Chris & Aaron with their babies Georgia & Benjamin:
Love this pic!

By the way: the day before this, Aaron pulled a FIRE TRUCK at a charity event. He got to meet his childhood hero there who was the "world's strongest man" back in the late 80's...he was pretty excited about it:)
My cute sister-in-law Beth with her CUTE sign Marissa made her:

My adorable nieces with the adorable plaques Aunt Marissa made them:

My niece Georgia Clare (aka Georgie) Twinners?

Kodak moment: Caroline with her new cousin Benjamin and Aunt Elizabeth

Chris' gift to Aaron...oh, brothers ;)

Candace and I baked up a storm while watching Christmas movies with Stace...mmm:

My mommy:)

My favorite little sister, Jessica!!! Home from college in Hot-lanta

Candace and Berkeley's gift to Stace...we laughed so hard when he opened this!

Stace trying on his new suit his parents got him! This will come in handy for grad school interviews!

We got some super soft robes!

A little giftey to Elaine:)

Stace and I modeling our Christmas clothes:)

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas spent with family and friends and the love of our Savior was abundant in all of your hearts & homes!

And I Think to Myself, "What a Wonderful World!"

What a great past couple of weeks it's been! For starters, we had some fun taking Christmas photos this year. Stace went to Target and found these festive cat accessories and practically begged me to get them (yes, begged...it was kind of cute:).
So we thought we'd spread a little bit of holiday humor with the photos:

Jordy Claus

Proud papa?

My little elfey!

On Wednesday, December 16th, 2008, Kiley Michelle Newman was brought into the world by our wonderful friends, Katie and John. We love her so much already! To see her and hold her was simply awe-inspiring. Amazing. As you can see, she is absolutely perfect!

A real proud papa!

A proud honorary uncle:)

Sweet baby Kiley with Hannah and I

December 18: I got to spend an evening with my friend Mindi and her sister, Alyse, learning how to ice and decorate Christmas cookies. It was so much fun! We began at 7:00 and all of a sudden it was 11:00!!!

December 19th: My sister, Marissa, and her husband, Tom, came into town for the weekend! We had our friends Mary Ann and Jonathan over with baby Riley. I got to try out some new recipes and after a much-delayed dinner starting time, we finally got to eat:) We ate crab legs (thanks Daddio!) and had "A Very Crabby Christmas"dinner! Mary Ann brought some delish garlic and herb biscuits and my sister rocked a Paula Dean "gooey pumpkin butter cake." Mmm!

After dinner Marissa, Tom, Stace and I ventured over to Dorothy B. Oven Park to check out the Christmas lights. Stace and I decided to take advantage of a photo op in the sleigh. Not sure if we were supposed to get in it or not (there was no sign saying not to!) but once inside I was little nervous it would collapse beneath us!

They are so fun to be with:)
Afterward Marissa and I went crazy at the grocery store getting Christmas cookie ingredients. I just love this time of year and wish it would last longer!

And the cherry on top: Governor Crist today announced that all State of Florida employees will have the day after Christmas and the day after New Years off! I was already taking next week off, but now instead of asking four days, I'm only asking for three! And then the next week I'll only have three days of work! It will be so nice to have that break. So now you see why I am thinking to myself "what a wonderful world!" :)

Candace Is Right

Candace commented on my last blog post and noted that Colby does not look near as good under our tree as she does. It's true. She's the best present one could ever find under the tree!

Christmas season 2006

Decorating!

I love putting up Christmas decorations! I wish we could keep them up all year...perhaps I will. Unless of course you would like to buy our house! Then I will take them down. :D I grew up with a real tree in my house, and always thought fake trees were lame. But when you're a newlywed and someone gives you a free tree because she wants a real one (thanks mom!) you take it! And then get the Christmas tree scented Febreeze. (No offense to the fake tree lovers; I've truly grown quite fond of them now:)

When we got our Christmas ornaments and decorations a couple years ago, I thought I would just go with a funky look and then when I "grew up" I would go for the more traditional decor. (Which I love too!) But this year after I decorated, I wondered if I ever would truly be able to part with my hot pink Christmas decorations. I just enjoy them so much!

The inspiration for our current blog design:)



Colby likes the tree a little too much. I think he thinks it is one giant cat toy. But here he is looking more docile:)

Thanksgiving O-8...a Wee Bit Late :)

My sweet 6-week old Nephew, Benjamin! (Notice Stace's professional photography skills!)

My giant brother and his tiny baby!

I'm a natural...no? :)

My first ever apple pie: recipe compliments of Mama E :)





Baking sweet 'tater casserole for Stace; it's his favorite but I don't like it:P

My brother has a hydroponic garden and he sells what he grows to restaurants...pretty neat! Here we are collecting bibb lettuce for our salad

Candace and her favorite pal: Morgan!

Clee, my love:) As you can see, I was ecstatic to be holding him, but he however, had other plans!

Some of the Sirmans family at the annual Thanksgiving Reunion in Pearson, Ga. Fun times were had by all!

The Tale of Despereaux

I read this book when I was an early childhood education major a couple years ago, and I LOVED it. It is such an entertaining read. I remember looking forward to the day that I would be able to read it my students and children. So if you have time, don't just see the movie, read the book! It is just too cute!

I Know That My Redeemer Lives

Please watch this (and listen to the music) if you've never seen it before. I just watched it for the first time and my heart is so full.



Happy Thanksgiving :)

Trans Siberian Orchestra

Yesterday was the Florida Prepaid birthday party and it went really well! I was so happy after the event that I just couldn't go home and sit down. So Stace and I went to the Trans Siberian Orchestra concert, something I'd been saying I wanted to do for a while. I used to send Stace the Christmas CD's on his mission. (It was allowed, yes!) So, we went and bought the cheapest tickets money could buy (though admittedly still not cheap). While we were on our way up to the nose bleed section, we were stopped by a couple really nice Civic Center workers, who apparently were very much in the Christmas spirit. One said "Come with me" and sat us in some of the best seats in the house! I was so thankful everything went so well with the event yesterday, and so thankful for the time I got to spend with my husband just enjoying each other and a great evening, and then to have been given the seats we were given...yesterday was truly a great day. :)

Getting ready to go to the concert! Colby would have loved it!
A taste (WARNING: turn volume down before pressing play, then adjust as desired:)

talk about musical genius

Interview in Spanish

Remember that post about me going down to South Florida for work? Well, we went to Miami because yours truly agreed to do an interview in Spanish because I'M CRAZY! Even right now as I type this I get nervous...nervous just thinking about it! I have viewed this video oh, about...once all the way through because it makes me jittery just to watch it. My sweet husband helped me practice my Spanish before I went, and on the cell phone many times as I prepared for the interview! After all of his help and lots of prayer, I made it through! Before and after the interview I kept thinking of that "I can do hard things" saying; and then of Phillipians 4:13..."I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." Sister Dalton gave me some courage and inspiration with her words at GC:o)

When I uploaded it to the blog, the timing messed up because my mouth doesn't match the words...that's annoying!

My Dream Bedroom...

In my dreams, if I had a 500 square foot bedroom it would look like this:

Except I would choose a different chandelier (silver), nightstand (wood), and would have a wooden four-post bed. Oh...And the flowers would be peonies! The next time I decorate a house, it will be more beautiful creams and neautrals and pastels...ah...one day... :)
There are 11 more beautiful bedrooms listed on this website if you want to find your dream bedroom:)
PS: I know...I'm singing it too...wake up and do something more than dream of your mansion...haha! I'm just sayin!

He Has Numbered Every Sand of the Sea...

We had a lovely evening at YWIE! We finished decorating RIGHT before it started, so I was rushing trying to get pics to document the night...





Mary Ann (and I hear Lindsay M was a great help!) made these beautiful cupcakes!

The pretty water! Fruit frozen in ice cubes

Oh what fun it is to...Shower and Trick-or-Treat!

Or, trick-or-treat then shower I should say, if you want to get technical...
Stace was going to be out of town on Halloween, so I didn't figure out a costume, and I guess I thought I'd just stay home by my lonesome and hand out candy to the 2 trick-or-treaters that hit up our neighborhood every year. Then, my wonderful friend Mary Ann was my zebra (mommy) in shining armor and saved me from a night all alone: she whisked me away to go trick-or-treating with them (and lots of other kids and parents that I love) and then go back to her house to chow down on some spooky treats while watching Nightmare Before Christmas. Then Stace decided not to stay the weekend for his trip and came home early! Yay! So...I borrowed a dress from my friend, Ann, who used it before to dress up as Alice in Wonderland...but seeing as I had no white apron and no time to come up with one, I used one Stace's grandma gave me and it all came together into a nice 50's housewife costume! We had lots of fun!
Mary Ann, Jonathan and the love of my life: Baby Zebra Riley!

Cute little family:)

mommy zebra & 50's housewife...

Us after a fun night of trick-or-treating! (as you can see, Stace and I were able to put together a very nice costume for him at the last minute...he is an...AE model? yeah, we'll stick with that)

(notice how cute Riley is! He was high on sugar at this point!)
Saturday morning I woke up and showered the day away for my friend, Katie! Ind't she cute?

Here we are with my little craft project I did for Baby Kiley!