What to do with a rainy day.

Take a rope and some sheets...

Add some blankets, pillows and books...


A string of Christmas lights...




And you have a rainy day fort/tent to play in...



Or sleep in...

Hope you are having a great rainy Thursday! :)

HelloMornings!!

I happened across an ebook a few months ago while out in bloggy land. It was called (and still is, last I checked ;) Maximize Your Mornings by Kat at inspiredtoaction.com. It was just what I needed to encourage me to GET UP in the mornings and get started before my kids wake me up and get everyone started off wrong. :) So, I was doing pretty well for awhile, and then...the holidays came!! And being on a crazy, husband-at-home, staying out late, sleeping-in schedule, I lost the groove. But then I saw where inspiredtoaction hosts the HelloMornings Challenge! And, as much as I don't exactly feel like encouraging myself to get up earlier in the mornings, I knew this would be the only way to get myself back on track. And I am hoping that through this I am able to make a habit that will last for more than a month or so!! It is too late to join the winter session for the challenge, but they host it 3 times a year, so if you are interested, you could sign up for the next one (held May 15-August15) starting April 16th. And if you have any questions about it, you could ask me...that is, AFTER we get started (January 16th). So, here's to early mornings and quality time with my loving Savior!! We'll see how it goes...

A Merry Christmas indeed

We had a great Christmas with family all around. My family's on Christmas Eve, then home to have Christmas with our little family Christmas morning, then back to my family's house for breakfast and to hang out for a while, then to Cullman for Kevin's extended family get-together, then to my mother-in-law's to spend the night, then back home to unpack and pack again, then to spend the night at my parents so that Kevin and I could get away to Chattanooga by ourselves for a day and a half!! (THANK YOU MOM AND DAD) , then finally back home. We then proceeded to go to Birmingham the next day (I took my niece and nephew while Kevin helped his brother lay tile) and then we had all of Kevin's family to our house New Years Eve to do our Christmas together. Here are a few pictures of our holiday festivities. :)

Mom and Dad with the cool family tree print Micah and Julianne made for them...okay, i think they got the coolest present award...

 Mom and Dad with all their 18 grandchildren...hard to get that many little kids to look at the same time :) (the oldest is 11, by the way...and 14 of them are under 6!!)

 Our mantle Christmas morning...

 The boys excited to get to open presents on Christmas morning...

 The "super-capes" I made the boys for Christmas...

 Joel, showing off his super-block-building skills...

 I have virtually no pictures of the get-together at our house on New Year's Eve...but this cute one of Joel with his little cousin, Dylan, in their Auburn shirts from Gran makes up for the lack...

Hope you all have a very blessed and happy New Year!!