Merry Christmas Eve

From our family to yours:
May you have a very merry Christmas.   May your holiday be full of love and happiness.  May you be surrounded with the people you love.   May you not forget, but fully celebrate the wonderful gift that was given to us on this day: Jesus.  Happy Birthday to our King and Merry Christmas to you!

 The Party of 5

Christmas Eve 2011

Get this party started...

The holiday is full of parties!  Neighborhood parties, school parties, church parties, and the yearly Ballet party.   

This little party is one of my favorites.  

It's only an hour long which is just the right amount of time for my three little people.  

It's beautifully decorated and what is cuter than little girls showing up in their most beautiful Christmas dresses:

(wearing tights that are too small!)

 They sing a little song for us:

 This song caught Garrett's attention or maybe it was all the pretty girls around him.   He stood dead in his tracks in the middle and just looked at them!

 

Brie was dazzled by the twinkling lights and fancy wrappings:

A little elf came and took a picture with two of my favorite party goers:

I'm so thankful we get to be a part of this fun party each year!

Tea Party Tradition

A tradition has been born in our house
 that started shortly after the babies were born:

Kiera was only three years old when she had her first Family Tea Party.

We have progressed quite a bit in our little parties.  We dress up, we get out the real breakable tea sets and we even cover our ugly (but free!) table.  Even our crumpets have gotten better!   It's quite a treat (pun intended!) to attend our tea parties.

The best tea parties are when we get to share them with others in our family.  Here is Aunt Wanda admiring her Little Princess make her grand entrance!

I love how we started our own little family tradition.  

There's even talk of having tea in England.  

Wouldn't that be fun?

A visitor on my porch

The twelve days of Christmas has turned into the ten days of Christmas.   I had good intentions, but life gets in the way.   Sometimes that is a good thing, though.

Last night I was turning over my blog post in my mind.   I was planning a date with my keyboard shortly after the kids drifted into dreamland.

As I was bathing the kids,  a visitor showed up on my porch. 

The best kind of visitor.

The one I married.

A day early with a smile (which I took to mean he didn't get fired, so it was a good thing he was home early three days before Christmas!)

Turns out he got to come home because someone in management need some flight time.   So not only did he get to come home for the overnight, the guy offered to take his Lubbock turn as well that was scheduled for today. 

Best part:  he gets paid to be home.

No, the best part is that he gets to spend 4 days with us over Christmas.   I can't remember the last time that happened.

I don't think he ever has had this much time off at Christmas.   God is so good.

Oh so good!

It's what I was made for

When I used to be a teacher, I knew I was not in the right place.   I remember sitting on my back porch in Charlotte looking at my sweet new husband with tears streaming down my face and saying, "I hate my job."  He told me to quit.   I kept thinking to myself, if I am not meant to be a teacher, what am I meant to do?
I was 23 and I hated my job.  

Devastation set in.

Little did I know, God was growing me.  Preparing me for something much bigger than I could have ever imagined.  Of course that day that I sat between my steel blue house and detached garage, I did not know of His plan.  In fact at that time, I didn't even know he would move us more than 800 miles to Houston, Texas where I would meet the best friends of my whole life and start a ministry that would help young moms in crisis pregnancies.

Each Christmas I am reminded of God's plan for me.   This year was no different.  On December 5th, we walked into a beautifully decorated room at a neighborhood activity center.  We covered the tables with bright tablecloths and delicate poinsettias.  A life group from my church filled the room with wonderful smells of lasagna and garlic bread.  But, no one felt the true Christmas spirit until our girls walked in with their kids and husbands or boyfriends.   The best part was when Santa came in with Mrs. Claus and started handing out gifts.   This is what Christmas is all about and this is what I was made for.  Watching a young girl of a teen mom sit on Santa's lap is one of the sweetest things I have ever witnessed:

I am thankful for the trials and devastation God had me endure to get me where I am today.  

I have arrived at Parenthood

 Three hours

Three people

491 pieces

491 little teeny intricate pieces.  

Do you see the test tubes?  

That little thing is four of the pieces.

This is what she will unwrap on Christmas morning.    

She will be given a map to find the school (which will be hidden upstairs!)

She better love it!   Take a good look now because it will never look the same and it will never have all it's 4 HUNDRED and NINETY ONE pieces again:

I just completed my first Christmas assembly.  I have arrived at parenthood.   And I have three kids- oh dear God!

Tired Mama

This is one tired mama because this is one happy little birthday girl:

I will be back tomorrow with lots of fun Party of 5 stories!

The HoliDAZE

I hope you're not too caught up in the craziness of the season.  Today, I got my comfy pants on, did a little cleaning, made a Christmas gift, and broke out with a puzzle in which I easily wasted hours on!

Now, that is my kind of Saturday in the middle of Christmas.  

I made sure and blogged for my Twelve Days of Christmas.   But, in order to keep my day simple, I chose the cutest, sweetest most recent picture of my sweet kids to use for this post:

Merry Almost Christmas!

Five Years

Five years ago today, our lives were changed forever when we welcomed our Christmas miracle nine days early!

Kiera Rebecca Simpson

 

The next four birthdays flew by!

First Birthday:

 Second Birthday:

 Third Birthday:

 Fourth Birthday:

 Today a beautiful, sweet, intelligent little girl is amongst us celebrating her fifth birthday.   I asked her stay 4 forever, but she wouldn't.   She said her birthday came so quick she couldn't stop it!  Here she is on her fifth birthday:   (It's horrible picture quality, but our camera batteries were dead, so the Iphone will have to do!)

 One of my favorite pictures of Kiera:

It captures her sweet little self.   I think she has already grown up so much in the four months since it was taken!   Makes me a little sad to think she is growing up so fast!

Here is a little more about Kiera as she starts her fifth year:

Favorite Food: Spaghetti

Favorite Color: Blue

Favorite Drink: Orange Juice

Favorite Book: The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe

Favorite Game: Her new Leapster

Favorite Activity: Play with her friend Katharine

Her Biggest Fear: Bears!

What she wants to be when she grow up: A teacher

Something she asks for everyday: To sleep in our bed (and sometimes we let her!)

Sisters

All I wanted was another little girl so Kiera could have a sister.  

I got my wish plus one more:)

 This is why:

 I love my sister!  She is my best friend.   I simply can't imagine life without her.  Apparently neither can someone else:

Happy Birthday Aimee!  I can't wait to see you in less than one month!!!

Thanksgiving

We had a fabulous time this Thanksgiving.  

We hooked up our trailer and headed to El Paso.  

We even took the dog:

First stop was Granny's house:

 We enjoyed a fabulous early Thanksgiving dinner, and even had a Tea Party.   During the tea party, we wrote what we were thankful for and made a Thankful Tree.  I just love this picture of Kiera and what she is thankful for (I am thankful for him too!)

 After a visit with Granny and Grandpa, we headed over to Grandma and Papa's.   His train in the bar was a huge hit!!!

 We enjoyed the traditional dinner cooked by my mom. 

It was delicous and quite enjoyable:

 After a few days visiting family, we packed up and headed to the mountains.  It was soooooo cold!    But, thank goodness for Kevin's awesome fire building skills, we were able to enjoy the outdoors:

 But it was most cozy inside curled up with a loved one:

 On a whim, we drove up to the ski mountain and the Littles had never seen snow.   They were not all that impressed...too cold!

Not everyone hated it... we sent Kiera to ski school.  She loved it!!!

 How could you not?  Look at the views we experienced:

 It was absolutely amazing to watch my little girl ski down with her daddy. 

I am so thankful for my family, my health and my ability to travel!   We had a fabulous time!

The Twelve Days of Christmas

And so it begins!  Let's start off with a great big Merry Christmas from the Party of 5!  Not only does today mark the beginning of the Twelve Days of Christmas, it is also two very special little peoples 22nd month birthday!    

This picture sums up my sweet little boy:

 

 He is quiet, calm and a great big lover of anything that moves: 

cars, trains, airplanes, trucks, etc.   

He must have said TRAIN 50 times at my parents during the five minutes we watched Papa's old train clickity clack around it's track:

 

He knows no strangers.  

He will go to anyone especially if they offer to hold him:)  

Even this jolly old man:

  He is a lover of the outdoors as long as Mama is close by.  

He has such a sweet little smile!  I just love this little boy!

 He has many words and can almost clearly say Kiera.   He has just started to string two words together and he can count to 1!   He loves fruit and sweets and his "big sister" as she has taught him to call her.   His most favorite toy is his bus!  He is a sweet and sensitive boy whom we love dearly!

Crazy, party of 1!

Never a dull moment with this little stinker:

 She is not such a good sharer, so please don't ask her for a bite:)   Speaking of biting, she finally stopped chewing on her brother for her enjoyment!   She really looks up to her big sister and mimics many of her actions.     She is the life of the party wherever she goes...just don't pick her up.  She knows who she belongs to and she doesn't want anyone to be confused by that! 

 She knows ALL of her colors and can count odd numbers:  One, Three....   lol.  She has many words and starting using two word phrases:  my daddy, brubber nigh nigh (brother is night night), and she calls herself Bee.   She loves meat and Fiber One Bars.   I told you....Crazy, Party of 1!  She loves her Daddy like no other and of course that warms his heart!   We are so lucky to have this little bit of spunk in our lives!  We love her dearly!