Five Question Friday!

1. What's the oldest piece of clothing in your closet?

2. How many random blog readers have you met?

3. Do you let your kids stay up till midnight on New Years Eve? (Or, if you don't have kiddos yet, did you get to stay up until midnight as a child?)

4. What are the gas prices where you live?

5. What is one resolution that you know you should do but are too afraid to try?

 

1. I actually have one of my mom's shirts from when she was in high school in my closet. Of my own clothing though, I probably still have some from high school, eek! It might be time to do some clothes purging, ha!

 

2. I have never met a random blog reader, I think it would be fun though!

 

3. I don't let my kiddos stay up until midnight, yes, I know, mean mom. I used to get to stay up until midnight when I was a little older though because my birthday is on New Year's Day.

 

4. Between $2.99 and $3.09. I love it but don't want to get used to it. This is the lowest it's been in ages.

 

5. I don't make resolutions, I just can't ever follow through with them. Then, I get annoyed with myself for not following through, sigh.

 

**Happy New Year!** 

InstaFriday

I realized this morning that today is the last Friday of the year!
Crazy.

I cannot believe how quickly this year flew by, seriously.

I might have a case of whiplash from this year going to quickly!

Alas, it is Friday, time to link up and share all this past weeks cell phone pictures.

Christmas Eve church service.

It was amazing.

Our pastor said that it was the most packed service we have ever had.

The candle lit portion of the service always gets to me, so touching.

This sweet baby Jesus is from out nativity set.

This is the set that my mom gave us a few years ago that we used when I was a child.

I love it and pray that my daughters love it as much as I do.

 

Adison got a new DS game for Christmas.

This was her most of the morning.

She was so excited when she opened the game :)

We got Abby an Abby-ka-dabby for Christmas.

This little cutie talks and sings a song.

So stinkin' cute!

Ainsley is my sweets girl.

She loves herself some sweet treats.

On day I let her have a ring pop and she was to the moon excited!
Look at that face, aw!

Well, you guys, I did it.

I finally gave Abby a hair cut.

The baby mullet is no more.

*sobbing*

She looks adorable though and couldn't stop shaking her hair.

Last night when I met my in-laws to pick up Adison is had been sprinkling a bit.

Shortly after there was a rainbow.

I love rainbows and the accompanying sunset was gorgeous.

The Good, the Bad and the Funny

The Good: ADISON IS HOME! I missed her! This evening she went with me to run some errands, just the two of us, it was so nice chatting with her. I get to see my mom tomorrow! Yippee! K and I celebrate our birthdays this weekend.

The Bad: Nothing bad, well, except that my kids are getting older so darn quick! I gave Abby a haircut today, yep, the baby mullet is gone. I will share a picture tomorrow :) I got bit on the cheek by a spider. On. my. face. Who does this happen to? Me, the lady that's been bit by a brown recluse 2 times, ha!

The Funny: This evening we were talking about Abby's haircut, she had to show K and Adison. Out of nowhere she starts shaking her head back and forth to feel how different it was. She just kept shaking it over and over again while smiling the entire time. I know we have a lot more things, I just can't think of them, darn.

Right now

Right now:

it's 9:02 in the morning

I'm still not ready for the day yet

My coffee tastes AMAZING

I'm missing Adison, she asked to stay with K's parents for a couple more days

The littles are enjoying lollipops and watching Abby's new movie. 

I need to get ready so we can go to the library

I am excited about seeing my mom

I cannot believe that I am about to turn 31 in a few short days

I need to get some more books to read

Feeling so very blessed, family is amazing

Had such a wonderful Christmas, I love celebrating Christ's birth

I'm looking forward to diving into the devotional I got for Christmas

I'm amazed by Adison, she is teaching herself the piano

Cannot believe we haven't had any real snow yet

I'm not ready to put away my Christmas decorations yet

I'm craving brownies and an asiago cheese bagel

I need to do laundry AND the dishes

I am going to get up and be productive today

Twas the day after Christmas

When all through the house, all the children were playing...my creativity ran out.

Today has been a gloriously relaxing day.
The plague has resurfaced and relaxing is what the doctor ordered.

Yesterday was such a nice day, it was nice to see family and celebrate the Lord's birth.

Yesterday morning, I actually woke up before the children. I had time to get ready and make coffee. Finally I asked K if we could wake them up, ha!

How was your Christmas?

Merry Christmas!

"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Might God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." Isaiah 9:6



I pray that you are having a blessed Christmas!




Xoxo, Danna

InstaFriday

Happy Friday y'all and also Merry Christmas Eve Eve!
Can you believe that Christmas is only TWO DAYS AWAY!?!
Eek, so excited!!

 

Last Friday my hubby and I celebrated 11 years of marriage.

We went to dinner and a movie.

I saw this at the movie theater and knew I had to get a picture, how cool is it!?!

On Sunday, my dad invited my oldest daughter, my niece and I to see The Nutcracker.

I still cannot get over how beautiful this logo was.

I want to frame it and put it on my wall.

Seriously.

Also on Sunday, K and I took the girls to see a Christmas light show.

I still cannot get over how cool of an experience it was.

Simply amazing!

I think it will need to become a new Christmas tradition.

On Wednesday evening, we celebrated Christmas with my dad, step-mom, my brother and his family.

My step-mom is an amazing cook and the cookies she baked were stellar!
I have a soft spot in my stomach for cookies, I LOVE them!

Anyways, Ainsley immediately asked for this gingerbread man then promptly bit his head off.

She thought it was too funny {and to be honest, so did I}!

Abby's new Christmas shirt.

I LOVE it!
 Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer is still one of my favorite Christmas movies, it's a must-watch tradition in our house.

The Good, the Bad and the Funny

The Good: Christmas break is on! Today is the first day, so far so good. We celebrated Christmas last night with my dad, step-mom, my brother and his family. It was fun watching the kids play and the adults had fun talking. My step-mom made peppermint butter balls = DELISH. Christmas is in 3 days, eek!! I am so excited!

The Bad: I can't think of anything. I'll call that another good!

The Funny: Abby is loves this song

On Tuesday, while I was watching my niece, we were headed home from the grocery store. This song came on the radio and Abby started flipping out {in a good way}. She was singing and dancing and just having a great time. Then, my niece, Cameron, watching Abby have fun starts dancing with her. Then the giggling started, then they would dance together. It was a really sweet and funny moment.

Someday will you promise to have a big, white beard

Ainsley 2009

This was an actual conversation that K and I had on the phone today while I was waiting for my prescription to be filled.

Hey, there's a guy driving that looks like Santa.

Oh.

Someday will you promise to have a big, white beard?

Okay, why?

Don't you remember me telling you that story from like two years ago, the one where I was at Walmart with the girls and there was a man there that looked just like Santa? The girls were in awe of him and one of them said really loudly that Santa was shopping at the store and then he gave them candy canes?

Oh yeah, I remember that.

It's one of my favorite memories so I think you should have a big, white beard when you are old.


Yes, my brain is that scattered.
But seriously, it was so sweet.
I think the man must have gotten the Santa comment a lot because he readily had candy canes on hand.
He looked EXACTLY how I imagine Santa would look.


It was such a neat memory of the magic of Christmas and a reminder that there are wonderful, fun people in the world.


What is one of your favorite Christmas memories?
Please share, I am in the Christmas spirit!

A splendid Sunday

Sunday was such a fun day.

My dad called on Saturday evening to see if Adison and I would like to see The Nutcracker with him and my niece.

I used to do ballet when I was younger and have such a sweet spot in my heart for The Nutcracker.

It was not in our fair city but the town next to ours and at a center that I had never been to before.

Adison is such a smart little cookie, she quickly figured out that the giant, cardboard things hanging from the ceiling were the constellations.

They had a giant, live Christmas tree in the foyer, it was gorgeous.

Like a dork, I of course, had to go smell it, ha!

Adison and Cameron waiting to go in.

This was the stage before the ballet started.

I couldn't get over how pretty it all was.

The orchestra was AMAZING!
It was a mandolin orchestra, they had three people playing the mandolin with the rest of the orchestra.

Hey look!

It's me!
I was so excited for it to start.

This was the beautiful logo for the ballet.

I LOVED it and couldn't get over how pretty and creative it was.

Sunday evening we went to a new event for us.

One of the local churches puts on a Christmas light show.

I had heard AMAZING things about it and could not wait to see it for myself.

The angels' wings moved and the whole facade of the building had lights on it that changed with the music.

Abby kept saying, "Look! Mama look! It's so cool! It's awesome!"

They had live music playing that you could tune into with your car radio.

In the windows were the musicians playing and they were so entertaining.

In one of the windows by us {on the bottom, second from the left} were two guys playing electric guitars.

They were amazing!

A surprise date

Friday was K's and my anniversary.

11 years!

I was planning on a quiet evening at home but K and my dad apparently had different plans.

My dad showed up at our house to "drop off a little gift for your anniversary" and instead announced that we was babysitting the girls.

He gave up a wonderful gift card to dinner and movies, woo hoo!

I could not have been more excited! 

A night out with my husband.

The two of us.

This was my delicious dinner.

Pasta with basil, artichokes and a TON of black olives.

I am sure that people looked at me weird for taking a picture of my food, ha!

K was being super goofy at dinner.

It was so nice to be out, to talk and laugh together.

I had such a wonderful time.

After that we had some time before the movie started, so we decided to head over to Barnes & Noble for a bit.

It was nice to look around a bit and we even saw a friend of mine that I haven't seen in ages.

 Next it was off to the theater.

Look at this candy machine!
I have never seen anything like this, so I had to snap a picture, again, I am sure I was getting weird looks for it.

My oh-so-yummy candy snack, it was yummy but there was just too much, I brought the rest home.

Waiting for the movie.

We decided to see the new Sherlock Holmes movie and let me tell you, it did not dissapoint.

We both LOVED it!

Thank you so much Dad & K for planning such a fun evening!

It's our anniversary *11 years*

11 years ago I married my best friend.

It was freezing, so darn cold I could not believe it.

We had some had-been-scary-turned-funny-moments and truly a beautiful day. 

Okay, so, I had been planning on doing a sweet, heartfelt post.

But then, I thought of how our morning went and I thought that I would share a real "us" kind of post.

K and I tend to be goofy people {I know, you're shocked!}

We have little things that we just do, you know, jokes, movie quotes...

Anyways, whenever it is our anniversary we sing a certain song, kind of a silly running joke.

The funny thing, is that I don't even remember listening to this song when I was younger, although K told me this morning that he had the tape.

Yes, I realize how much that sentence dates us.

This morning, to wake him up, I decided to google our anniversary song and surprise him with it, because who doesn't want to wake up to some awesome like this:

In true Kirk fashion, he popped open one eye, looked at me and for the millionth time proclaimed

You're weird.

At least I'm consistent, right?

Happy Anniversary Babe, I love you!

InstaFriday

Today is the Mr. & I's anniversary.

11 years.

Wow, I cannot believe how much has happened and how quickly it has gone.

Cold kitty + goofy husband = funny picture

We've had the plague, I think I've mentioned that before, right?
Ha!
This was my view last night.

Lovely Christmas memories.

This past semester I have watched my niece on Tuesdays.

This past Tuesday I needed to go to the grocery store to pick up sick food items: crackers, ginger ale, soup and of course Redbox movies.

I cannot tell you how many comments I got for "having my hands full".

Someone hit our tree, well grazed it, but our tree suffered an impact.

This tree is actually quite sizeable and the result was quite shocking.

How they managed to drive away is beyond me.

I just pray that they are safe.

Five Question Friday

 

1. What's the best Christmas present you've ever received?

2. Worst/Funniest White Elephant gift ever received?

3. Is your Christmas tree plain and simple (white lights and matching ornaments) or is it wild and crazy (colored lights with lots of ornaments collected over the years)?

4. "How" do you iron your clothes? The old fashioned iron/ironing board way, the shower, back in the dryer, etc.

5. How much baking do you do for Christmas and what are your "must make" items? (I'm looking for recipes here, peeps...)

 

1. Hmmm, the best Christmas present I've ever received. That's a tough one. One of the most memorable was when I was *maybe* five years old. My parents got me an antique Snow White figurine. I remember looking at her with awe, she was lovely. I have her put away so that eventually I can give her to one of my girls.

 

2. It's been so long since I've gotten a White Elephant gift that I can't remember. One of the funniest gifts I ever got though was a Troy Aikmen Christmas ornament. I love the Dallas Cowboys growing up.

 

3. I would say a little of both. It has white lights and matching ornaments with a bunch of ornaments from over the years.

 

4. Iron, I don't iron. Not unless I absolutely have to. I normally throw something back in the dryer or spray it with a bit of water, smooth out the wrinkles and wait for it to dry.

 

5. I don't normally do a lot of baking, usually a batch or two of cookies. My favorite are Butter Balls Cookies. Yum, I need to get the ingredients so I can make some of these, my mouth is watering, yum! 

The Good, the Bad and the Funny

The Good: we are FINALLY starting to feel better. I know better than to get my hopes up, this bug is a tricky one. We got both of our cars back from the mechanic and they are working beautifully. Christmas is only 10 days away & K's and my anniversary is tomorrow. 11 years!

The Bad: the previously mentioned mechanic trips for BOTH cars, you might need to hold me while I cry a little. 

The Funny: Abby has been a little parrot lately. She loves to mimic Ainsley and Adison is the most. I have been having her repeat:

I am awesome

I am amazing

I love you

To hear her little voice say it is absolutely precious! She has also been singing a lot lately as well, her favorites are Jingle Bells, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and Jesus Loves Me.

How did THAT happen?

It seems as though the plague {or possible walking pnemonia} has taken up residence at our house.

It has hit hard and strong.

Everyone was home today.

Adison was the last holdout and praise the Lord, but it seems as though having a day of rest has helped her immensely.

The funny thing about this bug is that you start feeling better and thinking that you are over it and then WHAM you are even more sick than before.

K has been in bed for two days.

Lee developed a fever yesterday morning and was miserable most of the day.

She still had a fever this morning but it seems {fingers crossed} to have broken.

Abby is slowly getting better, still coughing and has a runny nose.

Me, well, I am coughing and having headaches almost everyday.

Fun stuff.

Okay, now for the "How did THAT happen?" segment of our program.

Kidding, I've always wanted to say something like that.

First, I will give some background.

Due to the previously mentioned plague, I was nice and NyQuiled up on Saturday evening.

Sunday afternoon, my dad called asking if he could pick up Adison to run some errands with him.

She was thrilled to go.

As I was walking back into the house after walking her to his car I spied something out of the ordinary.

VERY out of the ordinary.

Yep, someone hit our tree.

The tree that K and I keep talking about taking out but haven't done and now probably never will as it probably saved our house from being hit.

{Wow, that was a long sentence!}

They didn't hit it a little bit, they hit it A LOT & hard.

K and I both commented on the fact that we are shocked that they were able to drive away afterwards.

 

I didn't hear a thing due to my previously mentioned deep sleep courtesy of NyQuil.

K heard something, but it happened at around 2 in the morning and he thought someone had hit a trashcan.

Our poor tree!

How was your weekend?

Five Question Friday

 

1. What is your favorite Christmas cookie?

2. What's your favorite holiday movie & why?

3. Is there a gift that you bought for your kids that you wish you hadn't after they opened it?

4. What is the messiest room in your house right at this moment?

5. What is the furthest you have driven for the holidays?

 

1. I am a sucker for cookies. I love them all {well, except for the ones with raisins or other fruit in them}. My favorite it though are probably Butter balls...or chocolate chip...or snickerdoodles...oh, I give up, I just LOVE Christmas cookies. Speaking of which, I really really really need to bake some.

 

2. I have so many favorites, kind of like cookies. If I had to pick one though it would have to be A Christmas Story. I have watched this movie for as long as I can remember and it just does not feel like Christmas without watching it. I still cringe every single time that Flick sticks his tongue to the pole, I just can't watch it. 

 

3. Um, yes, how about anything electronic that makes loud noises. Kidding, kind of.

 

4. Um, probably our room. We still need to put away everyone's clean, folded clothes. It just never seems to get done though.

 

5. We don't travel too much for the holidays. The furthest is K's parents and they live a little more than an hour away. We try to stick close to home so that the girls can have Christmas morning at our house.