Last Day of 2011..... Happy 2012

As I sit here and reflect on this year, it amazes me how it truly seems like time is moving by so quickly.  I usually measure my life and years in "school years" because that is just the way my life flows.  There is no way I could use a true yearly calendar that begins in January  - I have to use the academic calendar that begins in July and ends in June!  Usually my definition of a "New Year" is July 1st when the hustle and bustle of the new school year begins!  So truly looking from January to December is a difficult as in mind-shifting and FUN thing for me to do!


Creating this blog has been a wonderful way for us to really see and reflect on the yearly events of our lives. As I look back on all of the posts this morning, I am amazed and humbled about how God has truly worked in our lives.  


2011 was the year I married the most amazing man who is my best friend!  Thank you, Dan!  Words will never express what you mean to me.  If you have ever heard Blake Shelton's song, "God Gave me You" then it pretty much sums it up!  


2011 brought many trials and tribulations, love and hope, tears and smiles that any year will bring.  These are the things that make us stronger and bring us together as family and friends.  


We love you all and wish you a very Happy New Year! 

We will open the book.  Its pages are blank.  

We are going to put words on them ourselves.  

The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day. 

 ~Edith Lovejoy Pierce

Merry Christmas 2011

We hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas 2011!  We enjoyed spending time with family and friends.  I am so proud of some of the awesome family traditions we started this year.  We are so blessed! Here are some pics from our fun gatherings with our families.  :) 

Getting ready for Santa 

WOW!  Look at all of these fun things!

Ready to ride the Razor 360!  

Becca cooking breakfast!

Grandmama and the girls! 

Grandmama & Popie with the girls.  :) 

Maylee and Granny 

Granny and the girls!

Excitement! (not sure what is on her hand)

PRESENTS!

Dirty Santa.....it was the year of "underwear"!

Nice, Logan!  Looks like Popie would like to steal those!  :)

Grandmama happened to open the infamous set of Penguin Hot Cocoa Mugs!  :)

Popie modeling his gift!

Dan and Popie :) 

GrandPA (Daddy) & Amanda after an awesome Christmas morning church service at DeSoto Hills!

Dan & Amanda 

Maylee & Mommy.....and the new baby doll!  

GrandPA and Maylee

Maylee learning to cast her new princess fishing pole Christmas Day at Horseshoe.  It was too chilly to actually hit the water, but she was getting some great practice!  Daddy only had to fix one tangled line!

Shelby trying to sip on a Pepsi!  :)  

Uncle Joe and GiGi (Mama) at our Christmas Mexican Fiesta.  (hate this is blurry, but still cute!)

PRESENTS

More PRESENTS

And MORE..... :) 

Lynsey and Becca....got a priceless look on Lynsey's face!

Ma starting to open one of many boxes within a box!  :)

And finally......a beautiful Open Heart Necklace from the whole family!  Our sweet Ma deserved this so much!  We all had sweet tears watching her open it!

Days of December

It is almost Christmas!  We have had some fun days during the Christmas break.  Shelby turned 1 on December 16th, so we had a fun time celebrating her birthday.  Mama Ann came home from Florida, so we enjoyed spending some time with her!  Sunday was a special day at church.  All the children came to "big church" to give a special "Happy Birthday, Jesus" offering.  The girls were so sweet going to the front and giving their offering.  On Monday, Maylee lost her first tooth!  Dan had been pulling on it for a week and it finally came out.  He was out hunting, so with some coaching from Aunt Sabrina on the telephone - I managed to pull it without passing out.  Teeth are something I just really cannot do, but I did!  :) We visited with our special friends, Mary Brett, AnneCarter, and Aunt Kathy Tuesday night.  On Wednesday, it was movie day.  We went to see Chipwrecked and had lunch at Huey's.  After the movie, Grandmamma and Jalyn came over to bake and decorate cookies.  

We would like to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas!

Happy 1st Birthday, Shelby!

Maylee lost her first baby tooth! 12-19-2011

This is before the "Happy Birthday, Jesus" celebration at church.  The girls went down to give a birthday offering.  

Fun Christmas times with Grandpa and BonBon

Enjoying the visit with Mama Ann

Grandpa doing the Helium/ Balloon Trick!  :)

Making Christmas Cookies with Grandmamma after seeing Alvin and the Chipmunks!  (The girls played "dress up" during the baking process).  

Lunch at Huey's before the movie!  The girls LOVED writing on the wall.  

Becca leaving her signature.

Simon!

Theodore!

ALVIN!

And THREE becomes FOUR

We have some very exciting news to share!  We are having a new baby in our family!  Baby Samples will arrive this summer - due July 1st!  We are all so excited.  We decided to share our wonderful news with our family and friends with a photo!  Originally, we planned to send these out as our Christmas cards and not mention a word to our parents - let it just be a surprise in the mail!  Well we could not wait, but we still used the pictures to tell them.  Here are the pictures!  A special thanks to our dear friend, Kathy, for taking the pictures and keeping our secret!  :)