Christmas 2010

I was in Uganda the first two weeks of December so our family had to cram a lot of Christmas in the last two weeks! Tis the season! It was a whirlwind but we made lots of fun memories!

We decorated the Christmas tree. I accidentally deleted the pics of the girlz decorating the tree! Ugh! :-(

The girlz attended our homeschool Co-Op's Christmas party...

We saw the Nutcracker with the Simon Squirrels...

We went to Utica Square to see Santa and the Nutcracker vignettes. (Correction - I went to Utica Square to see Santa and the Nutcracker vignettes. The girlz went to satisfy their mother and get a free cookie.)

We took the girlz shopping to buy gifts for each other...

We watched Family Time With Santa - a countdown to Christmas and one of our corny traditions. This may have to be our last year to watch this video. Too much torture on mom and dad.

We attended the Christmas PJ Party at Chick-fil-A with the Simon Squirrels...

We read The Nativity by Mark Weimer. We really enjoyed it and it helped remind us about where our focus should be this Christmas season.

We bought a goat on WorldVision.org for a family in a third world country. Some of our family members that usually get worthless gifts from us had their $ go towards the goat. Merry Christmas! ;-)

We watched Christmas With a Capital C...

We had fun celebrating Christmas Eve at Steve's parent's house...

And here's pics of Christmas at our house...

Christmas lunch at Steve's aunt and uncle's house...

And Christmas night we donned our Snuggies and took my mom to look at Christmas lights. Oh yes we did. You're jealous, I know ;-)

My sister and her boys came to see us from OKC and we celebrated Christmas with my mom. They gave us Kids Dance for the Wii which was way fun. We opened gifts and have a yummy turkey dinner...

We went to the Aquarium...

And saw the Lights Over Rhema...

Lots of fun memories from Christmas 2010!

"M's" New Do With a Purpose

Our 11 year-old, "M", has been patiently growing her hair out long so she could donate it to Locks of Love. She's wanted to cut it off for a long time now but the thought of her helping out another person who lost their hair to cancer kept her motivated to keep growing it out. Locks of Love requires hair to be at least 10" long and she finally hit that mark so I took her to get it cut one day last week. I think she looks cute although too bad for her - everyone says she looks like me now ;-)

Here's a few before, during & after pics...

Now our 8 year-old, "A" is trying to grow her hair out so she can donate it, too. Only 2 more inches to go! Almost there!

Straight No Chaser - 12 Days of Christmas Mix

Had to post this video for my girlz - they love to watch it over and over again ;-)

The Digital Story of the Nativity

While You Were Sleeping - By Casting Crowns

Hope Within Our Reach

As mentioned a few weeks ago, I was invited to go to Uganda with Project Hope Worldwide. Well, I just returned and had an amazing experience while in Africa. I've started to post my journal entries on my "Uganda blog" here. We saw lots of sadness and poverty but had happy moments, too. I needed to see it with my own eyes. I put together this video with some of the pictures I took while on our trip. I encourage anyone considering going to a 3rd world country to please try to go if you can. It's life changing and you'll see everything with new eyes.

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Nutcracker Reflections

One of our favorite Christmas traditions is to see the Nutcracker with my friend, Brandi, and her two girls. Today marks our third year we've watched it together and we always have so much fun. I found a few pics from years past and thought it was neat to compare them and see how much the girls have changed. Our little girls are growing up into young ladies before our eyes...

2010

2009

2008

I've been taking "M" to the Nutcracker ever since she was very little. Here's a pic of us when she was five years old - pre-glasses, even and I have noticeably fewer wrinkles! ;-)

Here's a preview of the ballet at the Tulsa PAC. It was AmAzInG - I highly recommend it to anyone considering going this year! Such great talent and an interestingly different take on the Nutcracker as it is set in the Roaring 20's in France.

A Charlie Brown Christmas