New Year's Eve

After getting him doughnuts and then going to get groceries, Aunt Jessie sat down with Noah to let him get a little arts and crafty.

Good fun and great times had by all.

And, can you just imagine with me the sheer joy that this boy had at having THREE "candy j's" open at one time?

New Year's Eve tradition, since as far back as I can remember {as in, like elementary school!} has been spent with our good friends, the Bullard's. Lesa and I were friends throughout the school years {we met when we were not too much than Noah and Addy are now!} and Mom and Marlene have been friends ever since. It's so much fun to see our little ones now carrying on the same traditions.

Our dinner party was just a little too big, so Bryan, Jessie, BB and Ben ended up sitting at the "kid" table... and pestering me to boot.

Once back home, we tried to get to a cute picture of Noah and Ellie, but only Noah would kinda cooperate.

He would smile and then immediately want to look at his picture.

Before Ellie went to bed, we got our last family photo of 2010:

And one last one of Bryan and Jessie too...

Marlene, David, and Addy arrived at our house and the two kiddos had. a. blast.

But there was no way that they were going to make it to midnight.

We barely were, ourselves!

So, we celebrated with the kiddos early...

passed out hugs and kisses, and said goodnight to 2010 {and the kiddos}.

The rest of us {Ben, BB, Mom, Daddy-Man, KK, and I} stayed up the rest of the time til midnight talking...

doled out New Year's kisses and hugs...

and said goodnight and goodbye to 2010 and Hello 2011!

2010, you've been a great year. 2011, we hope you treat us just as well. ♥

Quality Time

We had lots of quality time today.

Quality time playing with lots of new Thomas and Friends trains.

Quality time reading.

Quality time with the kiddos, Mom, and sisters, driving all over OKC and shopping {holy cow, Ellie's new cloth diapers are SO cute!} .

Quality time with Great-Grandparents {Grami is feeling much better... thank you for all the prayers!}.

Quality time with my Mom and sisters while we shop, sans kiddos.

And quality time checking out the new developments over at Aunt BB's new house.

{Including the entirely gutted kitchen... Daddy-Man and BB have been getting lots of quality time together working on it!}

Project 30 {Donated}

Two more blankets have been donated to my Project 30 for My 30th since my last post:

{Crocheted by my "online" friend, Lisa - go enter her giveaway too!}

{Quilted by Brenda - her first one!}


Thanks Ladies!


***

I've tried twice now to get a hold of the NICU at Abilene Regional to donate the blankets to them. They never called back. So instead of waiting any longer, I decided to just bring them with us to Oklahoma City to donate to the OKC Chapter of Project Linus.

It took three bags to hold all 32 blankets!



The ladies at The Stitching Post, a drop-off point for the blankets, were happy to take them... and pose for a photo for the blog!

I loved the parking signs - "We sell toys for big girls"!

Friends and family who donated blankets, fabric, and money to buy fabric, thank you. From the bottom of my heart. And those who still want to donate, check out the Project Linus website for details on a chapter near you. Families and little ones throughout the OKC area are being blessed and comforted by your generosity. And I just love you all for that.

Thank you, thank you, thank you. ♥

Christmas {in Oklahoma}

In order to conserve his days of leave {we're trying to get him to the point that he has use or lose time}, we didn't leave for Oklahoma until late this morning after Ben went into work for a little bit.

Everyone was anxious for us to get here.

We were ready to get here too.

Once we got everything settled and out of the car, we started our second Christmas. The kids were spoiled. We were spoiled. The entire family was spoiled. We're blessed beyond measure.

One of the big hits was a doll stroller for Ellie... which Noah also calls his.

This year's photobook was a big hit too.

And the amount of Thomas trains? Spoiled, is all I can say.

Finally got it!

Ben was spoiled too... a Craftsman circular saw! Though, everyone {including him} agreed that is was really for me because heaven knows I've got a list of things for him to build now!

It's good to be home.

Out of Control

Ellie, Dearest One, your hair is out of control.

Thank you for at least holding still long enough so that your bangs will now be out of your eyes.

{Better photos tomorrow of the not-quite-as-out-of-control-hair... I promise. ♥ }

Packing it Up.

We started packing up all our Christmas decor today and I finally got the chance to finish up some ornaments that I had started on Friday. I've been seeing these cute hand print snowmen all over the blogsphere, on various things like small canvas and plates, and when I finally saw one on an ornament, well, I had to make them with Noah and Ellie's hand prints... and I'm so glad I did. They turned out just darling!

Ben and I laughed at how close in size Noah and Ellie's hand prints are.

I love it when Daddy takes over bath time duty for me.

And I especially love when I bring "slow-eater" Ellie in to be washed up too and find that they have been using the Crayola bathtub crayons that Santa brought to write me a love note:

♥

The Day After

***

We're already starting to get things prepped so that we can take down the Christmas decor. One of those things is going through all our Christmas lights. Seeing what we have, what we need to get, and what we need to get rid of. While Ben was going through them, he found one of our {two} strands of multi-colored lights... and, instead of getting rid of them, I suggested we hang them in the playhouse for "light". So, when Ellie woke up, Ben got to work hanging them and finished up just before Noah woke up. I wish I would have thought to have the camera ready as soon as he saw "Noah's Christmas house, Mommy!".

They were a big hit. Good job, Daddy!