Merry Christmas, A Little Late

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas this year! Ours was great; we had a quiet little family Christmas at home. Our kids were awesome and slept in til 9:30. After we opened presents we made Cracker Barrel pancakes (someone gave us a basket with the mix) and we enjoyed watching all the DVDs Will received for Christmas including WALL-E, Kung Fu Panda, and The Polar Express. I even got a nap! It was great!

Claire amid the mess!


Claire playing with her dollhouse


The mess in full view...Will and I are talking to my parents via Skype on the laptop.


Will and Claire playing with his new pirate ship in his room.

Will and Claire eating their pancake brunch while watching WALL-E.

We had "Christmas" with our families back on the weekend of the 12th & 13th when Scott had his graduation. It was nice to have everyone here then and get to visit. In the interim between our Christmases, we went to Lubbock to give presents to the kids at the Children's Home twice (we found a rouge present in Scott's office after returning from the first trip), hosted the LCU Praise Choir students for their Christmas Tour, and had a Christmas party for the Youth Group kids. Scott's 31st birthday was also last Monday; as his "present" to Scott, Will slept til 11:30 that morning!

Scott and Claire both have sore throats right now, but other than that, we are well. Since we were home for Christmas this year, I have been working at the shop as designer the past couple of days as our lead designer is on vacation. It's been really fun and I have done a lot of funeral work which I haven't been able to do yet. I have really enjoyed it.

I guess that's about it for now; Scott has to preach this weekend, so I'd better let him work on his sermon! If I don't post again in the next few days, I wish you all a happy New Year as well!

Commencement

Scott is the second person on the second row.

I think they are conferring the masters candidates' degrees upon them here.

Scott being hooded.

Receiving his "diploma" (an empty tube).

Afterward, at the reception, we met up with Scott's professor, Dr. Doug Foster.


The whole family

Will loved Scott's graduation cap and wanted to wear it all weekend. We let him wear it in Cracker Barrel and Target (without the tassel) and we got lots of comments on it :)

Congratulations, Scott. I am so very very proud of you. I love you!!

Simply Having a Wonderful Christmas-time!

We had a busy but fun Saturday. In the morning, our friend Amber came to photograph us for our Christmas cards. She is a professional photographer that attends our church and if you live in or around Big Spring, you should check her out. She does amazing work. Here are a few of my favorites from the shoot:
If you are interested in seeing the rest of the pictures, you can follow this link: http://www.staceyphotography.com/prather/

That afternoon, I took Will to our local museum where Santa and Mrs. Claus just happened to be spending the afternoon (*wink, wink*). He had his picture taken with them, too, and we decorated gingerbread men cookies and looked around the exhibits at the museum. I then took him for a late lunch at his favorite place, of course--McDonald's. A grand time was had by all. We had a great "date." (The Santa picures won't be ready until Dec. 16th, so I will post it then).

Then that evening was the big Christmas parade. We ended up in the same spot as last year next to the same family. We had a good time chatting with them, waiting for the parade to begin. The kids soaked up the parade, crying, "LOOK!!!!" at every single thing that went by. We saw horses, monster trucks, motorcycles, classic cars, low riders, fire trucks, tiny cars, a boat, semis, and of course lots of people riding on the back of trailers. I think this year's parade was better that last year's. Some of the floats were really awesome.

The Steer mascot dressed as an elf led the parade.

Here comes the band!

I thought this guy was funny.

This one doesn't really need a caption...

Western Container's float (they make Coke product bottles--I think).

I guess this horse is a Clydesdale. It was enormous!


The boat full of cheerleaders.


That's the Grinch in jail! (Sheriff's Office float)

And last but not least, Santa and Mrs. Claus end the parade!

Since then, I have been trying to get my house decent for visitors. The first of the visitors come tomorrow; Scott's parents and grandmother. The first of his finals is tomorrow also and his second final will be Wednesday. Then we are home free! Graduation is this weekend and we are so excited. My parents will be meeting us in Abilene on Friday and then coming back to Big Spring with us for the rest of the weekend. I usually work on Mondays, but Scott needed extra time to himself to study and write today (he has a paper due tomorrow, too) so I stayed home today and it was probably a good thing because the house needs constant attention with my two running around taking apart everthing I've just done!

Claire is really starting to spout off the words now. She picks up a lot from her brother. You can really tell by the fact that she has started growling, much to my chagrin! Anywho, there's a little update on her.

As for Will, he just cracks us up all the time. Today he told Scott (albeit quoting from a movie), "Dad, sometimes I just think I'm a genius." Really?

Until next time (hopefully with graduation pictures!).

Aww, Nuts!

With Fall comes harvest. We've had a bit of a harvest of our own lately. We are the proud owners of three pecan trees, two in the front yard and one in the back. While our dogs regularly snack on the backyard pecans, our front yard is brimming full of ripe, ready to shell and eat nuts. And boy, are they tasty this year! We've spent a bit of time collecting them and have shelled quite a few.

I'm sorry I've been so lacsidasical in posting lately...I know I always say this, but we've really been quite busy. I was sick a couple of weeks ago and on top of that was my shop's open house and a meal the youth hosted for the senior adults all on the same weekend. Whew...I'm tired just writing that. Then of course, Scott promptly turned up sick, too. Thanksgiving was the next week and we enjoyed seeing my family and Scott's brother's family. We spent a little time relaxing and my mom and I went shopping on Black Friday. It was a good time. We returned on Sunday night and I have been trying to get my home decorated and in order in time for our families to arrive for Scott's graduation next week (whoot woo!).

Of course things aren't complete around here without a few glitches. Scott began itching all over his body severely last night and began to notice hives. He took some Benadryl and went to bed, but when he woke up this morning they were still there and now his upper lip is all swollen. Oh, and did I mention we're supposed to have our Christmas card pictures made on Saturday morning? I just have to laugh, you know?

I am just so excited that Christmas is almost here. I guess I am really in the Christmas spirit this year because I know my kids, especially Will, will really enjoy it this year. He is already amazed by every Christmas light display he sees, no matter how pitiful or extravagant, he yells, "LOOK!" It's quite cute. So, merry Christmas, even though it's still early! I will leave you with a few pictures of the Christmas decorations I have done and some others.

If y'all remember from last year, I'm a bit of a Christmas tree-aholic. I have them in almost every room. This year, however, I am lightening up a bit. Instead of a big tree in both my "formal" living room and the den/family room, I am just doing one in the formal living room. So, I have combined my ornaments for both those trees this year. I did this for the simple reason that I can sort-of cordon off this room from little hands. Claire is very interested in the tree and wants to pull all the ornaments off of it. And she's not that gentle about it. I did hang all my breakable ones up high, so I can at least rest a little knowing that she can't really break any of them :)

A mini tree on top of the desk in the family room. I put all my really "folk-sy" ones on it.

Just Will :)

Claire having fun with a piece of cardboard that came with a mixer I got.

Random...

Here is a shot of the back of Claire's head after a bath...it's pretty long when it's wet and you comb it out!

Will in the tub. I have some really cute ones of both of them, but alas, I can't put them on the Internet!

Will and I back at the farm...we took the youth group kids and Will last Saturday night. It was really cold, but we had a lot of fun. This time we did the corn maze, too.


On the cow train again :)

Not a whole lot has been happening around here as of late. Scott had two big papers due this week, so we're glad those are behind us. However, the semester is far from over! His graduation is set for Friday, December 12th. We are excited. He got his regalia the other day and it just felt even more real.

I started a new cross-stitch this week...I haven't done any since before Will was born...and I am feeling pretty old. I think I'm going to have to get one of those magnifying glasses that you rest on your chest in order to see where I'm stitching! If I finish it, it will be really pretty though, so I'm hoping I can stick with it to the end :)

Next week will be a busy one for us. Scott and the youth group and the elementary kids are doing a Thanksgiving meal for the senior adults of our congregation next Saturday. That same day, I am going to see Twilight the movie, with some friends from church who've also read the books. On Sunday, we will be having our big holiday open house at work from 1:00 to 4:30 (if you live in Big Spring, be sure to come by!). Of course, the week after that is Thanksgiving. We will be traveling to the New Braunfels area to spend the holiday with my family. My aunt and uncle have a new house and I'm excited to see it! It will be a nice chance to get away and spend time with those for which I'm thankful!

Kreativ Blogger Award

I am most honored to receive the Kreativ Blogger Award from my college friend, Kisti (sorry, Kisti, for some reason Blogger isn't letting me link to you--you can find Kisti's blog in my sidebar!). I am especially honored because I find Kisti highly creative, as she is talented in so many ways. To think that she finds me creative is a big compliment! In winning the award, my job is to list six of my favorite art forms. So without further ado...

1. Painting

2. Card-making/Scrapbooking

3. Floral design

4. Decorating/Interior design

5. Photography (although I'm not very good, it's fun to play)

6. Sewing (again, not very good at it, but willing to learn...I am lacking in the time department)

I don't have a lot of time for arts n' crafts, but I love to do them. Thankfully, I do get a lot of hands on experience with floral design and interior decorating with my job! The past week has been filled with decorating the shop for Christmas, one of my favorite things to do! I will also add a few pics of my most recent creations...

The diaper cake I made for my friend Abby's baby shower this past weekend.

The silk floral arrangement I made for the same shower.

Now I get to nominate people for the award! I nominate: Melanie H., Harmony, Emily S., Bethany, and Kelly W. (Sorry, still don't know why it won't let me link to you guys!)

Farm Fun with Nana

We were so excited to have my mom with us this weekend for trick-or-treating and other fun. We went to a farm a little ways outside of Midland that has a corn maze, hayride, pumpkin patch, cow train, and other fun stuff on Saturday night. It was a little cool, but we had a GREAT time. Will LOVED it! In fact, he said that over and over again. We will definitely be going back with Daddy in the near future in the daytime.

Nana and Will on the cow train, riding "Elsie." This was especially neat because my mom's dad worked for Borden's for a very long time, so Elsie is near and dear to our hearts!

Claire and I riding "Daisy." This was also funny because my favorite dog growing up was named Daisy! Claire didn't like the cow train as much as Will did...

Will, mesmerized on the hayride. We saw lots of pumpkins and several deer. It was really cool!

Me, Claire and Will on the hayride.


Posing with some pumpkins...Claire was ready to go home :)

Will doesn't usually pose for pictures this well, so you can really tell he was very excited and had had a great time by the permanent grin on his face!

Sister and brother posing together.

Will and I pushed our pumpkins to the car in the pumpkin barrow. Every family gets one pumpkin to take home, but since it was after Halloween, they said we could have two.

If anyone who reads this is in the Midland/Odessa area, you should go out to Fiddlesticks Farms. They will be open til November 29th. It is lots of fun for the whole family!

MoRe HaLlOwEeN fUn!

Will's preschool class--notice: almost completely BOYS!

ARRgh, me mateys!
Will decided he did not want to be an astronaut or a cowboy yesterday morning. He wanted to be a pirate. Well, we don't have a pirate costume, so mom had to improvise! Here he is in his old cut-off black sweatpants, a pair of tights I had bought (when I was considering being a pirate myself) that had a runner in them which I cut up and put around his waist, a long red satin scarf around his head, and of course, to finish it off, his cowboy boots. Voila--a pirate :)

Claire's first real trick-or-treat.

Will trick-or-treating at a friend's house.

Claire is mesmerized by their dog, who is also named Claire!

The Claires face off!

Will knew right where their toys were...here he looks like a "cowboy pirate." Bang!

That gun is almost as tall as she is!

Will said, "I can take off my shirt and go swimming in there!" This fountain was INside the house!

The four of us back home after trick-or-treating.

Our jack-o-lantern...Will said it was Claire :)

Happy Halloween!