Birthday #3!

Our silly girl is now 3! It seems as though time has flown and then it seems like she has been in our life always! She is our comic relief and our cuddle bug. Her loving spirit always makes us smile.

I think the party was a success. I made the mistake of having it at 2:00. Kirsten was not in the best of moods. Afternoons are not her best time. She is just about over taking a nap everyday but her body still needs it! She konked out at 6:00 after everyone left and slept until 8:00 the next morning!

If you will notice on the cake, the icing is a bit messed up where the candle is. Kirsten couldn't wait until cake time to stick her fingers in and give it a taste! So that is the spot the candle got to be!

It's Christmas!

This is what we heard shouted at 7:15 am this morning! They were so excited! Who isn't, especially at this age?

Santa brought Courtney a play kitchen, Kirsten got Woody, Jesse and Buzz and Jessica got season 2 of Gray's Anatomy. Santa also brought a play store for Courtney and Kirsten. They have played non-stop!

Once we got dressed, we headed over to my Dad's for more presents. The girls got clothes, movies and some toys. Then is was on to my Grandmother's for the feast! It wouldn't be Christmas without going to Grandma's for some good eatin' but it sure was crowded this year! My grandmother would never hear of doing this somewhere else. The crowd actually is part of what makes it "Christmas at Grandma's". As long as I can remember, that is the way it has been.

Christmas Eve

This was a relaxing day, at least it started out that way! We went to church, came home and pretty much did alot of nothing! I made a last run to Belk and Wal-Mart. Jessica had to work in the afternoon. We visited Mark's mom at the hospital and his Grandmother at her house. Once we got home, I gave the girls a bath and put them in their Christmas pjs. Once Jessica got home Mark read the Christmas story from Luke 2. Then us girls painted our toenails red! I think we'll do this every year. Then we attempted to get everyone asleep. Two certain little people did not like this idea and it was close to midnight before all were peacefully asleep!

Let the festivities begin!

Our official Christmas activities began on Saturday. Jessica was the best elf and baked some yummy desserts for us to take to Stacy and Tracy's house. Here is Kirsten licking the spoon (it is just melted chocolate!) Then it was off to Murfreesboro for some good food and family fun. It wasn't as festive as usual because Mark's mom is in the hospital so they weren't there.
We did have a special visitor - Santa! He brought small gifts for the kids. Jessica got a CD, Courtney got the Junie B. Jones Christmas book, and Kirsten got a tool set, which was a big hit!

This sums it up!

The past few days have been a whirlwind! But I think the worst is over. Last night was our girl scout Christmas party and the Christmas party for the ladies at my church. Mark took the girls to the scout things and I went to church. Since I am the head of our ladies group and on the decorating committee at church, it is my job to decorate for the party. That is why I've been in a whirlwind!
Evidently, my business has rubbed off on Kirsten. This is her asleep on the arm of the couch. She goes until she drops! Yesterday when I picked her up from Mother's day out, her teacher told me that Kirsten had said she was exhausted a few times that day! I wonder where she learned that word?
I am going to try and make the rest of the month calm, if I can!

Trimming the tree

We actually got our decorations up Thanksgiving weekend. This has never happened! We're keeping it simple this year. The tree, the stockings and the nativity are pretty much it.

Photo shoot adventure

The day before Thanksgiving, we meet Mark's brother and his family at the Opryland Hotel to try and get a photo for the grandparents and for the Christmas card. With three small kids and two not-so-excited husbands, it was not an easy task! I think we might make this a tradition though! It felt good to get a card photo so early and seeing the decorations put me in the mood for the holidays.

Pre Halloween fun

The Webb family had a Halloween party Saturday night. We all dressed up. Yes, all of us! It was harder than you would think to get us old people in costume. But it was fun and worth it!

More

The Photography fairies were smiling again!

We had a quick photo shoot at my aunt's house. She has great leaves!

Pondering

I started a new Bible study this week. Not surprising it is by Beth Moore. She has started a new series called The Personal Reflection Series. This one is based on her study of David. Each day is short, which I thought was good when I bought it but now that I've started it, I wish they were longer! At the end of each day she has a page titled, "Praying God's Word Today". She has this great concept of taking a verse and turning it into a prayer.

Here is the one for yesterday:

Father, thank You for the assurance that You are always at work in my life. Help me to see that to follow You never means to throw away who You made me to be. For I am Your creation-created in Christ Jesus for good works, which You have prepared ahead of time so that I should walk in them (Eph. 2:10).

This is really speaking to me. I just need to know exactly what those "good works" are! But it is reassuring to know that what I have gone through and what I will go through is part of His plan and that I will be prepared for whatever He needs me to do.

Posers

I told the kids to jump on these rocks and they posed themselves!

Sometimes you get lucky

Build A Bear

Here is our girls and our nephew after our trip to Build A Bear! They had a great time!

Finally

For the two people who actually read this blog, I'm giving an update of sorts!

Nothing exciting has been going on in our life so I'll share some photos from the last few weeks.

How does someone fall asleep like this?! Yes, she is totally zonked out here! I have several photos of my children asleep, some in very weird positions. I'm thinking of doing a mini album of just those "sleeping" photos. What would I call it?

A Day at the Park

After a weekend of stormy weather, we had a perfect Sunday! After church we all meet at the park for our annual church picnic. Everyone brings food, we set it out buffet style and dig in! It was some good eatin'!

Then the girls played for a while on the playground equipment. We love this time of year, weather wise. Good times!

Our New Boys

We experienced some temporary insanity this weekend. We have been talking about getting a dog for months. So recently, Mark started searching the local shelters on the internet. The rescue shelter in Lebanon has some Beagle puppies, so we went to look at them. When we got there, we were greeted at the gate by these two cuties. So, we looked at the puppies (who were very cute BTW!) and then we played with these two for a while. They are brothers who are a year old. So they shouldn't get any bigger. The rescue wanted to keep them together because they play so well together. We looked at the shelters in Hendersonville but nothing spoke to us like these two did. The solid black one (on the right) is Rufus and the one with the white spot is Zeke.

They are very playful and loving! They are house trained, don't bark and love to be snuggled. The girls are excited, we'll see how long that lasts!

Cheer Camp

Courtney participated in a cheer camp on Saturday. Her interest in cheering is so random that I just can't understand it! She really seemed to enjoy it. She did this last year and I can really see an improvement. She seemed on the same level as others her age. I don't know about doing cheerleading as an outside activity. I hear it really consumes your life. But it was a fun weekend activity.

Princesses On Ice

Last night, Courtney, Kirsten and I went to Princesses on Ice with Lucas and Tracy. I really was expecting it to be cheesey but I was pleasently surprised! Disney really know how to put on a show! My only complaint is that the merchandise was WAY overpriced. They had these really cute mugs that had a lid and straw. They had them filled with a snowcone and they were $12.00!!! What! All the merchandise was stuff I had never seen before and all so expensive!

The kids were very impressed with the show. They ohhed and ahhed and clapped and sang! It was a treat just to watch them. Kirsten now wants to learn how to ice skate. The child has no fear!

So, my finial review of Princesses on Ice was that the show was all first class and well worth the time spent!

The Cake