Christmas 2014

I realize that tomorrow is the last day of the year and I haven't posted any pictures from our Christmas this year, so here are a few from the big day.

                                                          Sugar cookies for Santa!

We went to Christmas Eve church service and then out for dinner.

We tracked Santa as he was delivering presents around the world.

Rebecca kept asking me to check, she didn't want Santa to miss us.

Christmas Eve family picture.

Awake and ready for presents!

Me and my "Grandma you're my Star" coffee cup.

The girls had a Holiday shopper day at school, where they could go

shopping and buy little gifts for family and friends. Rebecca was so excited

to go shopping and buy us gifts. She told me that she knew I love to drink tea

 and that a cup was the perfect gift for me :)

Playing a new game.

Christmas day it was nice and sunny, so the girls played outside for awhile.

Wearing our new slippers.

It was another wonderful Christmas!

 

 

Joy to the World

print from SweetBlessings Blog

Photos from my Phone Friday

This has been a busy week for the girls, with lots of Christmas activities going on everywhere. Today was the last day of school and now we are on Christmas vacation! Here is what we have been up to....

Rachel is part of the children's choir at church and they performed a Christmas show on Sunday night. The kids did great and Rachel is in red on the top row.

                      We have been keeping up with some of the Christmas time activities and traditions.
                          The girls decorated a gingerbread house pretty much by themselves last week.

Making gingerbread men.

We went to Macys and the girls wrote and mailed a letter to Santa.

Then we talked with Santa for awhile.

We finally made it to Wendy's for a Frosty treat.

Thank you Nana and Papa!!

I love this Christmas CD by Michael Buble.

I have been listening to it a lot the past few weeks.

I had Christmas lunch with the girls. My first lunch with Rebecca

and my last with Rachel.

I remember in my church growing up having an Advent wreath and candles during Christmas.

I finally made one for our house and we have been doing simple Advent readings.

 

Today was party day at school!

 

 

 

Refresh Summit 2014- The South

Way back in November, I drove to Franklin Tennessee area to attend a women's retreat. Several bloggers organized the weekend to help women focus on God, friendships, food and fitness.

                Megan, Amia, Bobbi, Lindsey and Brittany-- these ladies organized  and hosted the event.

I invited several of my friends, but no one was able to come with me. So I drove up to Tennessee. I didn't realize the time changed by a hour, so I wandered around the little town of Franklin until it was time to check in.

Our weekend was spent at Deer Run Retreat Center. It was out in the country, so very peaceful and beautiful and no distractions.

The first night we all got acquainted and had dinner together. I met my roommate, Liz, who had come from North Carolina . About fifty ladies total attended the retreat and over 15 states were represented.

There were different workshops to attend- I did boot camp first.

Then I tried PiYo which is Pilates and yoga combined.

I also went to a class on body image and a cooking class too.

We did a huge zumba class all together.

The dining room was simple and pretty. The staff cooked us

some amazing food!

We all had a coffee cup to call our own.

There was lots of time for Bible study, walks, talking, eating and sleeping.

 

All the speakers had great ideas and points that they shared---

Lindsey, shared about her struggle with an eating disorder and we talked about

how we see ourselves and our bodies. She stressed the importance to love the body

that God gave us and to stop comparing all the time. Also, so many of us spend hours exercising,

deciding what to eat, or not to eat, looking at healthy living articles/books, talking with

friends about our weight, diets, exercise,etc.... She said, "imagine if we took all the time

we spend worrying about our bodies and put that time and energy into the relationships of

the people we love and The Lord- how much stronger those relationships would be ." Amen!

 

The main speaker, Amia asked us..........

Are we following the road God has chosen for us?

Or are we dragging Him along with us where we chose to go.

A few of my roommates--Michelle, Liz, me, Lindsay.

Michelle and Lindsay came together from Pennsylvania and

they were so nice and funny. We spent a lot of time laughing.

It was a great weekend away!

School Spelling Bee

This past Tuesday, Rachel participated in her school spelling bee.

She had won her classroom contest and was competing against the

other fourth and fifth grade classes.

Rachel was first up !

We had practiced all sorts of words for a couple of weeks to get ready.

She did really well and stayed in the contest for quite awhile.

She ended up missing the word "trumpet"?

The contestants and the principal.

The girl that won moves on to the county spelling bee.

Proud of our Rachel!!

A Christmas Carol and Christmas on the Corner

Last night we took the girls to The Alliance Theater in Atlanta to see the play A Christmas Carol.

The lobby was decorated and actors from the play were singing Christmas carols

before the show started. We had seats in the balcony and we all enjoyed the show.

The show didn't start until eight o'clock, so Rebecca started getting tired and wiggly, but overall

she did really well and paid pretty good attention.

Our family before the show.

 

I took the girls to Christmas on the Corner last weekend.

A nearby church does a lot for the community and they put on a big

event with rides, food trucks, games, a live Nativity, singing and shopping.

Rebecca and Gabby in the spinner ride.

We found Elsa and Anna!!

We did a "walk through Bethlehem" and heard the Christmas story.

By the time we left, it was dark out and our town has these pretty

snowflakes along  the road.

 

I can't believe Christmas is only twelve days away!! We have a busy

week ahead with school parties and Christmas events going on.