Happy 7th Birthday, Amelia

I think it's neat how from year to year your child's interests change. Amelia's birthday themes have been Minnie Mouse, Dora, and princesses. Mind you, princesses was several years in a row. However, this year she is totally into roller skating. It's her new favorite thing. Of course she got roller skates for Christmas, so she insisted she celebrate her birthday at our local roller skate rink. They play Christian music on Thursday nights and it's $1 nights on Thursday. Her Birthday was on a Thursday so it all worked out. 

She went to bed super early the night before her birthday. She said the earlier she went to bed the faster it would be her birthday. She also said she wanted her Daddy to wake her up before he went to work so she could open presents. 

So at 6:15 I heard little feet running through the house hollering "It's my birthday!!!"

January birthdays totally gets wrapped in leftover Christmas paper. 

Cute story:

The day before we ran into Dollar General to pick up a few things. Titus kept running off and lingering. He's was acting suspicious. I paid for my items and he motioned me on to the car. He had something behind his back. He mouthed "It's for Amelia's birthday!"

So cute. He had a few dollars left over from his birthday money back in October. 

He bought her glow in the dark light sticks or something another. He brought it home and wrapped it. It was so cute. So on her birthday it sat with the gifts from us. She opened it and gave him a huge hug. Made my heart happy.

She got new tennis shoes, socks, Chapstick, hoola hoop, baton, and leggings. She was a happy girl. 

She requested our traditional birthday pancakes with a candle, but I convinced her to going to get donuts instead since we were already up so early. 

 Pink donut with sprinkles. 

As the day went on, snow started pouring down. I was supposed to drive to Jackson county to pick up her cake. She asked to have cake in her class that afternoon. It continued to get bad and also her Mamaw called and said they had lots of snow and she wouldn't be able to drive down to visit. I had to go talk with Amelia  and tell her I may not be able to get her cake and that Mamaw wasn't coming. She cried and cried and I felt terrible for her. 

After lunch the snow was clearing up a bit. I decided I was going to try to make the birthday girl happy. I set out to pick up her cake. The roads weren't too terrible, but I did drive through a few bad parts. Once I had her cake in the car I could breathe a sigh of relief. 

Her cake was adorable. I knew she would love it. 

While she was in music class I decorated a little table and set her cake up. She was so excited when she walked in. Momma had come through for her!!

She has worn that princess sash since she was 3 years old on every birthday. 

We had cake, Doritos, and a juice. After school we went to eat Mexican for dinner. (Of course). She hates to be sung too and this year she promised that wasn't it, but she just didn't have room in her tummy for fried ice cream. So, we skipped it this year. 

Now it was time to party. I was a little scared that she may not have a good turn out because of the weather. But, was I wrong!!  My last headcount I had was 17 kids. Not counting all the adults that came. They had a blast. 

Snack time 

She skated and skated and skated. 

She had fun playing Limbo and wipeout.  

Josiah got the hang of skating this time around. I was happy for him. Titus does awesome too. 

A little before 9 we looked out the door and realized our cars and parking lot was covered in snow. Everyone got their stuff together and we headed for home. The roads were slick and dangerous, but we finally made it home. 

Amelia was glad she had a good birthday and the snow wasn't so bad after all!!

I've got a few baby pics of her I'm going to include just to make sure I have them saved somewhere. I've lost a lot of her pics on an old computer.  

Christmas 2016

I am so thankful for a good Christmas. Funds were tight this year, but I completely trusted the Lord and He more than provided our needs. God is so good!!

We decorated for Christmas after Thanksgiving. The kids did about 90% of it while I refereed. 

We also started our first tradition of the chocolate advent calendars. 

We also attended Christmas on Main to kick off the Christmas season. 

 

It's always more fun with friends. 

The kids enjoyed popcorn, cookies, and hot chocolate. Maybe a little too much. Amelia got sick later that night from all the goodies. 

We got to see them light the town Christmas tree. 

Christmas was a busy time. I kinda like it busy though. We had a widow's banquet that I look forward to every year. 

These widows deserve our honor. 

We also had the Millikins come and had a special night of Christmas music with them and fellowship afterwards. 

We also had our annual elves show up. They didn't cause too much trouble this year, but the kids looked for them every morning. 

The whole family, except for Titus, came down with the dreaded stomach virus. Amelia even missed being in the church Christmas play. Maynard had to stay home with her. 

Her little heart was broken. 

They had celebrations and activities at school. I didn't get any pictures though. We were so ready for Christmas break. I feel like we enjoyed every minute of it(that we wasn't sick). 

Here she is feeling better and matching her baby doll. 

We made our annual Gingerbread man even though no one felt like eating him. 

I got this picture of Maynard one morning at work. It pretty much describes his life with Fed Ex during the holidays.

Tara and Rueban came in for Christmas for a few days. We went to the new house in Pittsburg to celebrate Christmas with the Parker family. I was only expecting a handful of people and we ended up with a houseful. 

 

Maynard's oldest brother and family. 

And his older brother, Kenny. 

Tara and Shonda 

We ate pizza and opened gifts. It was nice to visit with everyone. 

Afterwards, we went home and tried to get the kids in bed. I had already wrapped almost everything, but had a few straggler things to finish and prepped for breakfast in the morning. 

Ready for Christmas morning. 

This Christmas I was excited because my kids had memorized Luke chapter 2 1-16. On Christmas morning we had them stand in front of the tree and quote it. We videoed them and here's the link if you want to watch it.  

https://youtu.be/xxg6GR8b3dA

Don't be fooled. It took about 3 re-do's to get them to quote their verses without fighting. We finally  had to settle for one. Lol 

However, I was super proud of them for memorizing it so well.  They kept saying instead of reading the Christmas story they wanted to quote it on Christmas morning and they did!!!

They started out opening presents one at a time and then I don't know what happened. Is it that way everywhere??

Here's a few pics. 

Amelias's big gift was a vintage Barbie camper like I had when I was little. She had been asking for one. 

Her favorite gift was probably her roller skates. 

So she got roller skates, Barbie Camper, fringe purse like her boots, clothes, mermaid Barbie, volleyball, and knee pads. 

Titus would only ask for Nike Just Do It shirts. That's what he told everyone he wanted when they asked. I was so glad to finally find them after looking everywhere. Then ended up being at Goody's. Titus is the sweetest. He appreciates everything so much. Like he gave me a hug when he opened  up socks. He's so sweet. Titus got Nike shirts, pants, fleece blanket, socks, 3 stooges figurine, light saber, and a hot wheel model car. 

We kinda played a trick on this boy. He's more of my "trying to be thankful, but not quite pulling it off kid". Ha ha 

He was quite certain that he was getting a PS3 for Christmas. So certain in fact, that we decided to pretend he didn't get one. He opened all gifts. He forced a smile all the way through it. He got clothes, ball outfits, radio, fleece blanket, and cologne set.  After all the gifts were opened  he said "This was my 2nd best Christmas I ever had."  I was about to die. He was disappointed because he didn't get a PS3. Finally, Maynard gave them their last present. It was a PS3 with several games. All was right and bright again. Ha ha. I have to give him credit. He tried his best to be thankful and not show his disappointment. 

While the kids played I started on breakfast. Tara and Rueban stopped by to eat with us before they left. 

I made breakfast casserole, sausage, eggs, hash browns, biscuits, gravy, and homemade cinnamon rolls. Everything was delicious. My kids look forward to using the "Christmas China" every year. (What's left of it). 

We left for Elizabethtown to have Christmas with the Harpers'. 

I feel horrible, but my phone quit taking pics and I didn't get one picture to share there. 

As usual we had a blast playing Dirty Santa and White Elephant. We stayed all night and headed for home the next day. The kids were begging to get back and play with all their new stuff. 

We enjoyed the rest of our week off of school. We slept late and they pretty much played with toys and played their PS3. 

I am so thankful for the wonderful Christmas we had and the wonderful memories we made. Love having family to share it with.