Christmas 2012!!!!!

Hard to believe that another wonderful Christmas has come and gone.....seriously, where does the time go?  And is it a sign of me getting older that after each holiday, my post has something to do with how fast things fly by now?  Oh my, I am starting to sound older, aren't I??!!  Oh well, if this is getting older, I am all for it!  How blessed I am!!!  We were able to enjoy a wonderful month of December.......lots of fun things to do together as a family, fun times with just Jason and I, wonderful extended family times together, and so many wonderful memories made!!!  Here are just a few of our latest holiday memories.....1) Allie's Christmas choir concert @ school (she sang beautifully and of course, looked so pretty and grown-up....I'm in denial on that grown-up part.....), 2) our annual Ladies Tables of Christmas event @ church (I had the privelege of doing a monologue of Mary....so humbling and amazing to see what God can do thru events like this!), 3) Jason's annual work Christmas Party down in Nashville, TN (he and I were able to head down just the two of us to enjoy a weekend of great food, fellowship with his office, and a bit of Christmas shopping together....one of my favorite weekends of the year!), 4) family outing to Danville, IN to see the Christmas lights display there (kiddos jammed pack in the van, singing carols while eating takeout Chinese food out of the containers, snuggled in our car, seeing the awesome lights....pure FUN!), 5) making gingerbread houses with our cousins (total mess + total laughs = great times!), 6) annual family tradition of heading to the Childrens' Museum on Christmas Eve day (time to play together as a family before the night festivities begin!) and 6) spending Christmas break home from school enjoying each other (while trying not to drive each other crazy....ha!)......we are beyond blessed and thank God for continuing to give us these wonderful times together!  And especially thank Him for the real reason to celebrate Christmas....His son JESUS!  God is so very good......

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!

AHHHHHH.....my favorite time of the year has arrived!!!  I love the fall season but it truly doesn't get me giddy until Turkey day approaches.  Besides Christmas of course, Thanksgiving has to be my absolute love of holidays.  Glorious spreads of food galore and extra time with family.....nothing better.  This year we again hosted my side of the fam here at our house.....close to 30 people and the fun lasts all day!  Then my sissie, nieces and my almost teenager (Allie!) headed out for some Black Friday shopping from midnight til 6 am....woohoooo!  Now that was some serious fun!!!  Saturday was spent getting out all of our 887 Christmas decorations (that number calculated by my lovely hubs!) to put up in our house before heading south for a couple of days w/ the KY relatives.  Awesome holiday weekend to kick start the festivities to come......it truly is the most wonderful time of the year!  : )

Halloween 2012!!!

We had already celebrated Fall with the girls' harvest parties at school....disclaimer....Allie wants me to be sure and remind everyone that she is too old to have this fun activity at her school since now she is officially in middle school and almost a "teen"!  HA!!!  But having the younger two girls' school parties late last week at school and (I hate to say this as it sounds bad but you mommies out there know what I mean.....) getting them out of the way was a nice way to make the actual day of Halloween not so crazy.  Allie was not sure she wanted to do the actual "trick-or-treating" this year but when I reminded her that she would get lots of candy and that if she didn't, there would only be so much that her sisters would be willing to share with her.....well, she quickly changed her mind.  She decided to be a 70's "Hippie" girl....which Mama had to kind of talk her in to...and then she loved her look and even had one of her best friends dress up like her!  Lauren was a 50's girl....so cute!  And Katelyn....well, in true sassy "Katie" fashion, she decided to be a cowgirl/sheriff!  They were all three the cutest trick-or-treaters I saw all night....and I'm sure I'm not biased at all!  We did some trick-or-treating around our neighborhood for a bit (it was cold!) and this year, I let Allie walk around with 2 other friends.....I was a little nervous but then again, our neighborhood was FULL of kids walking around and given that it's a pretty small area, we ran into her and her group a couple of times so I knew she couldn't go too far from my "watch"!  ; )  After a bit of that, we decided to head to Grandma and Papa's so they could show their cute costumes to them.  And by the time we got done there, it was time to head home and crash from the sugar highs!  But what a fun family evening.....Halloween is not my favorite holiday by far but I do love the season of fall, the fun of seeing the kiddos dress up and getting some of my favorite candy along the way sure doesn't hurt anything! 

Fall Break VACATION!!!

Well we have been planning this big trip since spring of this year and it's finally come and gone!!!  Fall Break 2012!!!!!  Alot of wonderful memories and too many giggles to count were had during the 10 days of all out family fun!  We spent 4 wonderful days exploring every nook and cranny at Walt Disney World, then headed south to Naples to take advantage of Jason having a work conference at the Ritz Carlton there.....oooooh la la!  4 luxurious days of relaxing by the pool, the beach and a gorgeous hotel.....living the live of the rich and famous for just a brief few days was pretty nice!  I have to admit that I could get used to having someone wait on me constantly, eating alot of amazing food and kicking it back!  But it is also nice to get back to home sweet home!  What a blessing to enjoy such a wonderful vacation with my awesome family!!!!

Allie and her golf game!!!

Allie has started her golf career at Mooresville Jr. High and she is doing great and better yet, she is really loving it!  : )  We are so proud of her determination, her discipline, her perseverance....and her talent!  She is taking after her Daddy with this sport!  I would like to take some credit for it....but I won't! ha!!!!  Here are a couple of pics from her first match.  Although I miss the days of my kiddos being sweet babies, I am really enjoying this stage of life as well......watching my "baby" growing up and having fun seeing her playing a sport she loves!  FORE!!!!!!!  ; )  Get ready LPGA, my girl is headed your way!!!!

Lauren's 8th Birthday Celebration! : )

Happy birthday to our sweet lovable Lauren Elizabeth!  You are just a few days from turning 8 years old and Mommy just cannot believe that!  : )  You are growing up so quickly.  You are our "middle" girlie.....a perfect and unique combination of both sides of our family for sure!  Because Lauren is "growing up", she decided to host a friend birthday party at the rec ctr at our church this year and make it into a "salon" party so we had fun with manicures, massages, decorating purses, trying on fashions, and doing our makeup.....such fun!!!  Then we also hosted a family party to round out the birthday fun.  Nothing better than celebrating the day another sweet daughter was added to our family.....happy 8th birthday Lauren Elizabeth Massey.....you are a joy to us!!!  : )