It's over...all over

Yes..the holidays are almost over...


no more wrapping
no more looking for the right present
no more baking
no more decorating
no more high electric bills
no more running from house to house to be with ALL your family

and I miss it!
Already!!

I miss having the things that I am very thankful for right in front of my face.

Through the hustle and bustle of day to day life..I get busy..I get caught up..I forget.

I forget that family is so so so important...to talk to them EVERY day...about everything and nothing.
I forget that just hanging out is worth so much more than presents
I forget that.
I forget that you have to make time to go and just visit with family and friends.
I forget that we can TALK not TEXT.

I forget that we had a man whipped and beaten to die strictly for us.
for ME.

I know God is with me.
I hear him talk to me.
I feel him near.

But sometimes I forget what he really done for me.

All the Christmas songs are over....the Christmas sermons will come again next year..

but January to November .... I need to remember....what is so easy to forget.

God isn't supreme just in December.
He is the same yesterday , today, and forever.

So as all the Christmas decor comes down, the lights slowly go off, the songs fade away....
my love, worship, and praise will not

I will love him, praise him, and thank him .. just like I do in December all year long!

The Christmas Recital

Yep...this is the song I sang.
I can't believe it either.

But I did it. And I got good reviews!!!
yay!
Now I don't know if they were just being nice ... or not...but i will take them at face value and make myself feel good about it!

I know I cracked in at least one spot...but to my defense ...I can NOT breathe with this whole gall bladder thing going on!
I had to have an ultra sound done on Tuesday ...and they said that I would have the results on Monday...so I am just waiting..waiting for them to say it is my gall bladder and I have to go in for surgery to get it taken out.

I know I know..it isnt a hard surgery anymore..I have seen many horrendous scars and heard many horrible stories...but I, myself, have had ZERO surgeries...and I particulary do NOT like them!
So I try not to have surgery often...my brother on the other hand...different story! I think he enjoys them...me ...not so much!

Anyway...I did my best at Natalie Grant's song..I got NO WHERE near how she does it..She is amazing!!
But I actually enjoyed myself!
I practiced ALOT! ALOT!

Here are a few pictures of Lyla practicing with me...
sorry for the blur....it was on my phone...and of course you have to move when you sing..so i couldn't get her to stay still!

This is after practice at Taco Bell..and she was tired of pictures..she said ,
"No More"

lol

phone internet

Yes..i am now thankful for internet on my COMPUTER!!!
I love having internet on my phone..but I am begging our cable company to hurry up and fix this outage before ibpull my hair out!!
I mean the only thing I have to do is laundry and seriously who wants to that...which reminds me I need to put the clothes in the dryer.

Our Annual Pastor's Dinner

I have so much to talk about this time of year...that I have to control myself! :)
So today I am going to focus on our annual Pastor's Dinner.

Every year our Pastor has a dinner for his congregation. Just to say Thank You for being the GREAT people we are!! ha ha! I'm serious! He does!

It is a great time to reflect on what all has happened throughout that year. Sister Judy always collects pictures from everyone throughout the year and makes a slide show of ALL of them! It is amazing to see how fast a year goes by now that I have a child of my own.
I remember those days when the year used to DRAG on for forever...I didn't think Halloween was ever gonna get here!!

Now it just flies by! I still have to get my Christmas cards together and our family newsletter written!! ACK!

I think God speeds up time for you when you become a parent so you don't literally go insane and pull every strand of your hair out! I think he gives us an extra hour in the winter time to sleep because he knows the kids can't go outside and play ...and it saves mothers' sanity and we literally Praise God for that extra hour of darkness!!

Ok..am i the only one that does that?

Moving on...

Sister Myers..our Pastor's wife..decorated the tables..I could tell because she loves using curly willow! She put it in my flowers at my wedding! I have to admit..I love it too!

Everything was beautiful...our Youth put on a little show for us that was HILARIOUS!!!

It was a great night of food, friends, fun, and a lot of laughter!!
What can beat that?

I need to edit some more pictures....more to come!

I am SOLD on Shutterfly!!

I personally have never purchase a Christmas card from Shutterfly..but today I recieved one at my preschool Christmas party!

I have gotten this reminder in my email inbox to write a little post about what I think on Shutterfly ...but i had no review because I have never used them.

Well..after today..
I"M SOLD!

The card was SUPERCUTE!
The pictures were awesome...the writing was clear and readable...the font was cute!

and the best part..
It was thick!

It was a heavy duty thick Christmas card! The kind of Christmas card that would hold up if I wanted to send it from my little town in Arkansas all the way around the world to Norway to my foreign exchange sister!!
Yes! I am Sold!!

And not to mention...they have a bajillion differnt options for you to choose from!!

Look Here!

And..don't stop there..they do more! Not just Christmas cards!!
Go on and look through...

They have Birthday Invitations...which I WILL be using!

Graduation Invitations..

or you could even make your own Wall Calendar with your own pictures...instead of buying some calendar with someone else's pictures that you don't know!!

Wow...Now if that doesn't sell YOU on Shutterfly...I don't know what will!!
Go check it out!!

Employee Christmas Party

Last night was our Employee Christmas Party!!
First of YAY! because there was NO kids!
ugh..that sounded bad..i love my child..but sometimes it is good to get away..far away..

ok..i will just stop digging that whole!

Anyway..the first thing we done was dig into some amazing desserts!! AMAZING!!
I ate so much sweet stuff that any talk about sugar made my stomach hurt.

Then on to Dirty Santa! I brought Nana's Apple Cake Mix from Tastefully Simple..They loved it!
I got a huge stuffed snowman with Chocolate Covered Cherries..woo hoo for me!!
Lyla loved it..I gave it to her when I picked her up from mom's house.

Then we moved onto games..we played alot of games..it was alot of fun!

This one we played was called Reindeer...we had to blow up balloons and put them into pantyhose and make antlers out of them! The first team that got the antlers on thier head won a prize!
Team A won..I was on Team B..but we were close!!

I won alot of cool prizes!! I can't post them because I plan on regifting them! :)
Just Kidding...
I won a candy dish, a beautiful hanging diamond (not real diamonds..so don't rob me) cross, a stationery set, a photo album, a sock monkey (Thanks to Katy for switching me the blue one for the pink one! ..Lyla loves the pink one!)... and more.

Then on top of all that our bosses bought us all gifts!! We got a picture frame with the initial of our last name on it...and an ornament with the initial of our first name! Very cute!

Then we got a gift bag just full of goodies. Always Great!


The last game we played was really cool. We all got to pick a box...they all sounded the same...all in pillowcase boxes ..and we couldn't open them until everyone got one!

They were all gift cards..mine was for Starbucks! Yay! I need the coffee!!

I had a GREAT time! I love the girls I work with..and I absolutely love my job!

Some days I wonder WHY in the world I picked this profession....but when I get that "Good Morning Ms Nikki" every morning...I remember why!! And I wouldn't trade it for anything! :)

Here are a few more funny pictures from our party!!

She was a Candy Cane if you couldn't guess!

Grandma playing Twister

Ha Ha!
Have you ever seen a Grandma playing Twister?
Here ya go!

How cute is that!!
Grandma does the spinner and Lyla does whatever Grandma says..
The bottom picture is "Head on Green"
:)

Then Skip Bo for the adults!!
I lost! Boo!

Good times!
Good memories!!