A Year in Review

It's hard to believe that tomorrow will be 2010... that sounds strange. As usual the year has flown by. Here's a few highlights of what this year has brought to our family.
Happy New Year everyone!
(it's kind of a long video, but enjoy the music as you watch... if you want to)



(Music courtesy of my friend Carl... you can buy the whole album here).

Snow much fun!

So thankful the Lord answered the prayers of many little kids yesterday. Enjoy the video!

Lookie....

...and it's supposed to do this all night long. I'm getting prepared for a lot of wet clothes.... :-)

Snow or No Snow?????

When you live in the South, people REALLY get theirs hopes up when there is a chance for snow. Everyone goes to the grocery store to buy bread & milk... for a milk sandwich i guess. Today lots of hopes are set high. Weather man says a chance for up to 2 inches of snow in our area. However this morning it snowed, it sleeted, it rained... and now it's doing nothing. Figures. So here's for some wishful hoping today. I'm hoping to be able to post some snow pictures later today.

WALLS

As usual... I have new pictures of my kiddos. I have enlisted one of my friends as my family's personal photographer. She does a great job & I'm always anxious to see what kind of new technique she's come up with. Walls are in. Apparently. Because I see them everywhere & I love the pics of people standing, leaning or whatever else you do to or against a wall. Therefore I present... wall pictures.

A Visit to Santa

Last night we stood in the frigid temps for over 2 hours to get to see Santa. It's our yearly tradition. Funny thing is, we see the same people every year... and they are always in about the same spot as the year before. We start out in the daylight and stand (not moving an inch) for what seems like hours until it's finally "our turn". The kids were excited & especially Kensley was ready to tell Santa what she wanted for Christmas. When we are next in line, the boys always start asking me "now what do i want for Christmas mom"? Like they need my approval to ask for something. Kensley has never sat on Santa's lap before, but she was ready this year. So we went into the little house. She hopped right up on Santa's knee... blurted "i want a baby doll high chair" and popped down & ran behind me. Fortunately, I captured a quick picture, but that was it. She did what she was supposed to do & no more. The boys had a running list & kept coming up with new things I've never heard of. Chandler wanted to whisper in Santa's ear this year... he wants a dog... (I have my sources to know this). Santa was on Mom's side. He was very discouraging of that request, but never let it be known what Chandler asked for. (smirk... :0)






As a side note, we had some entertainment while we waited. A couple was getting married on the court square steps. Groom arrived in a fire truck, bride with a strapless gown on (no cover up, shawl, nothing... just bare shoulders), a couple bridesmaids in spaghetti strap dresses, and a handful of people to watch in below freezing temps... along with about 100 kids running around screaming right beside of them. Real romantic.

Family Christmas Card

I thought I would share our family Christmas cards with you. (seems like pictures is all I have time to post these days). I got so excited about all the different designs, I couldn't decided which one to send, so I sent out 6... ha! Which one is your favorite? (my fave is the first one... i think)

Tis the season

Well, it's officially here. I can't believe this year is almost over & Christmas is just around the corner. For some reason I've had a harder time getting into the spirit of the season. I really put off putting up the Christmas tree, still don't have out my outdoor decorations & I haven't played much Christmas music yet this season. Don't know why that is... maybe it's an off season for me or maybe it's because we get too busy with all the "stuff" of Christmas & forget the real reason of Christmas. Our pastor preached a great message on Sunday about getting back to the simple life. It's really worth the listen. You can hear it here. Scroll down to the bottom & click on Nov. 29.

We had a great Thanksgiving. I think it was a little hard getting back into the groove on Monday morning. The kids have it in their heads that school is done & don't understand why they have to do so much stuff & why they have homework. The break was much needed by all. We celebrated Thursday our traditional way. Me & the kids stayed in our pj's until almost lunch & watched the Macy's parade (well, I listened to it more than watched it) and I finished cooking for our meal. When Corby came home (annual YMCA Turkey Trot is every year on Thanksgiving morning) we headed to my Aunt Connie's house for our feast & the annual ride in cousin Brandon's army truck.


Kensley loves putting makeup on my aunt. She was covering up Connie's "blendishes" otherwise known as blemishes.
Getting ready to head out in the army truck.

I stayed at my parents for a few days. The kids got lots of time with PawPaw, which they loved. Kensley even got him to stay in bed one morning until 11:30 watching Pink Panther cartoons! Me, Mom, my aunt & cousin all did our yearly Saturday shopping trip. We fought the crowds, found some good deals, ate a fabulous lunch & wore ourselves out. Sunday afternoon was the Boiling Springs Christmas parade. We all had a great time waving at our friends & getting candy. Kensley shouted to every person dressed as santa that she wanted a babydoll high chair for Christmas. I'll be anxious to see if she will actually sit on Santa's lap this year. She's pretty adamant about telling everyone that's what she wants, so I'm sure she will let me know some way, shape or form.

So here's to the season of love... may we remember the true love that this season brings. The love of our Savior. The one born on this day...

Trampoline Fun

I'm sure you've gathered by now that I love to take pictures. Every opportunity I can take some shots, I'll take advantage of it. Here's some pics of the kids having fun on on the trampoline.







She looks a little mischievous to me... hmmm, wonder what she's thinking?

You think we live in the woods

I don't know why I find this so fascinating, but we have lots of wild animals that live in our backyard. I guess it's because we live in the city... literally, in the city limits & not in the back woods of the city. We have a very small patch of woods behind our house, but when all the leaves are off the trees, you can see the houses that are behind us. A pack of deer have made home in these woods for years. We see them all of the time in our yard. Today, I spotted a mama & her baby

then another deer came out behind them... not sure if it's the aunt, grandma, uncle... who knows, but they all 3 cooperated rather nicely for this shot

We've had some strange rodents around our house too. The other day this praying mantis (huge by the way) sat on our window seal the entire day.

Christmas Cards

It's November & getting chilly. Yay! This puts me in the mood for the holidays. I've started working on Christmas cards & wanted to share a few designs that I've done so far.

These are wedding programs I just finished for some friends who are getting married today. They really turned out pretty!


I'm doing the next 3 pictures for a class at GWU next week for one of the residence halls. I did a card class in February & the girls loved it! So we are going with a Christmas theme this time.




I'm a sucker for snowmen. I think I could make the majority of my holiday cards using them. I just love this little snowman... so cute

A new tree stamp that I bought. Still trying to figure out what I want to do with it.

So my kid told me...

...tonight that I'm fat. (This was in reference to my comment about feeling bloated while I was fixing dinner.) Thanks Carter... for that supportive "word" of encouragement...to get me off my lazy bum & do something about it. He just didn't stop there. Oh no. He asked if I was pregnant..."because it's looks like you could be Mom". Okay, point taken. REALLY well.

I guess I know what I need to do tomorrow.

Haneline Family Vacation

We returned yesterday from our annual trip with Corby's family... all 22 of us! We had a great time... rented a big cabin in the beautiful mountains of Pigeon Forge, TN. We declared it a Country-Western themed weekend & celebrated Halloween with lots of fun. Here's only a few pictures from our weekend.
All dressed up for Halloween

PapPaw & MamMaw (rodeo cowboy & Cowgirl Fiona)

We had plenty of activities for the kids on Halloween day...
pumpkin decorating

Aunt Amanda made monster mash, MamMaw Wanda cooked up a witches brew, Corby & Wendy told the kids they found a dead bear & had some bear parts for the kids to feel & taste,

The kids had the hot tub to play in

We had a few visitors next door... they seemed to want our food

We celebrated my nephew's 12th birthday (Adam)

Played lots of dress up...

And finished the weekend with a go-cart race.


We had a great time!