Memories with Family

Just wanted to post a few pics of you all with family and record the family events we attended this year:
Dec. 21st we went to Papaw Raymond's big family get party. Aunt Barbra host's the party at the Bright Star restraunt. You all get to play with cousins that we only see occasionally. This year one of your cousins married a famous country star. We got to meet her and their kids. Her name is Sara Evans. She and Jay have 7 kids together.
Here is a picture of us at that party:

Then we spent an evening at Papaw's and Gramaw's house with your Aunt's and Uncles and cousins. Papaw bought the game Rock Band for all of you. So, you spent the evening rocking out on the drums, guitar and microphone singing and dancing. We finished the night with the presents that you made for each other. This has become one of my favorite traditions. Alex gave Chesney and book that she wrote all about Chesney. It was beautiful and something we will cherish always. Camryn gave Britton a home made wooden letter "B" for his room. Uncle Joey cut it out of wood and Camryn painted it. It looks so great in your room! Chesney and Britton gave Austin and Mackenzie home made advent calenders. Everyone was really impressed with your crafty skills. Austin and Mackenzie made tie dye shirts for Alex and Camryn. They were awesome. Here is a video of you guys rocking out: (okay, so I still haven't figured out blogger video and picture uploading quite yet, video is below).

On Christmas Day, we woke up to presents from Santa. Britton got a Wii game,a bow and arrow and some board games. Chesney got a pink scooter and some kitchen toys. Cade got a ride on train and some car toys. Papaw,Gramaw and Uncle Rob came over and ate breakfast with us and saw all of your presents. Then we packed up and went to eat at Gramaws and Papaw's house. We left there and went to visit with Aunt Lindale who is in the nursing home. She was so happy we went by to see her. She cried and hugged you all 1000 times with tears of joy for our visit.

The day after Christmas Mommy's family came over for dinner. Nana brought all of the food and a TON of presents for all of you. Britton was given some new Wii games and Mario shirts, Chesney was given a grocery cart and some new notebooks and pins, Cade was given some more cars. Mommy was given a beautiful Cresh from papaw. I cried tears of Joy when he gave it to me. He was so proud of his gift to me, and I was so proud to receive it!! We played dirty santa and no one was very dirty. Everyone liked the gifts Nana picked out! Here are a few more pictures of that party.

Christmas Eve Celebrations

Tonight we had wonderful time together, just the 5 of us. We went to a local church for candles, carols, and communion. While we were at the big church for this special service, Chesney asked where Mickey Mouse was? Papaw and Gramaw are taking us to Disney world in January for our Christmas present. So, we have been talking alot about Disney world lately. I guess this very big church that we have never been to made Chesney think of Disney world. Who will ever understand the mind of a 3 year old?
Then we came home and had a family dinner of turkey and dressing. We ate birthday cake and celebrated our Kings birth by reading the bible and singing Happy Birthday to Jesus. We each got to open one present before heading to bed. Everyone got new PJ's. Britton's were Star wars, Chesney's had Tinkerbell on them, and Cade's had balls all over them. Britton's were star wars because he is a huge fan, Chesney's tinkerbell, because you really enjoyed the book Peter Pan that we recently read, and Cade's are ball's because that is what you really love right now. All ball's of any kind. Then we made cookies for Santa and went to bed eager to awaken in the morning. It was a wonderful evening of spending time together. I cherish these moments together!

Answered Prayers

God is so gracious to us! Below is an email that I sent Aunt Holly about how the Lord used her to bless us and answer our prayers:

-------------- Original message from "Brook Best" : --------------



My sweet friend,

Your package was a direct answer to my prayers. I wanted to share with you how the Lord used you to answer my prayers. I do not tell you this story for you to give us any pity, but to tell of the Lord's glory! I have really been trying to give the Lord our finances completely. What a struggle it has been. I am so selfish with what He has provided for us. However, I am trying to pray over every penny that I spend. For Christmas, I have been praying for the Lord to show me where I need to make cuts and how we should spend our Christmas budget. The ginger bread house kit is something we have done for the past 2 years. The kids love it. Every week when we go to the store they ask me to please buy it. I know it's not a huge cost, but I still hadn't felt the Lord was allowing me to buy. So, selfishly I prayed Lord please provide that gingerbread house for us. That prayer was on Thursday, your package came Friday or Saturday. I wept as I opened your present. Britton asked me why I was crying and I explained how the Lord had used Aunt Holly to answer my prayers! Britton the replied, "See Mommy our ways are not always His ways, but His ways are always better." He said, " I learned that from my favorite book The Three Trees. Then I wept some more, as I am weeping again recalling the whole thing to let you know you are an answer to our prayers!! Thank you my sweet friend.
I am so grateful for you and how you bless my life all of the time!
I love you Holster.
Brook

Here's Aunt Holly's response:
Are you just trying to get me to cry? I know I don't do it enough, but really!!
Isn't God good? I am humbled to think I could be an answer to your prayers! I often don't feel like I am making a very big Kingdom impact. However, your email is encouraging and reminds me that it is the culmination of our daily faithfulness that can make a big difference!
I was hoping to get the gingerbread houses out before everyone did buy/make their own. But I have been so behind this year that it was driving me crazy. But maybe, I was behind just to wait on your prayer :) How cool it is that our lives are so intertwined. It is a blessing and a privilege to serve along side you! Enjoy your family gingerbread house activity!
Love,
Holly
PS I was hoping to make this a new "Biddy tradition". So wait a little while next year before trying to buy a gingerbread house kit :)

Thanks again Aunt Holly and Biddy family. Here is the end result. We aren't very crafty, but we sure know how to have fun decorating gingerbread!

Christmas Fun

Boy this Christmas has flown by. Only 5 days left until Christmas. Your WONDERFUL Nana brought you all a gift to open everyday until Christmas morning. We have open such gifts as: candy, balls,chap stick,coloring books. All kind of fun stuff. Thanks to Nana you have a gift to open every morning. You all wake up looking for your present!
Some fun things we've done this month have been: Picking out our Christmas tree's. This was Cade's first time to help pick out the BEST tree's. One for us, one for Gram.
We all participated in decorating. Britton has come to love this as much as Mommy. Daddy tolerates this part of Christmas, but doesn't really enjoy it.
Then we went to the Trussville Christmas parade,we had a great time there.
We also went to see the Rockets. Something Mommy really wanted to do. Cade loved it. He clapped through the whole dance. Chesney and Britton kind of enjoyed it.
We went with Nana and Sissy. We also went to see the play, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. You both really enjoyed this play. We went to Mrs. Amanda's and Eric's Christmas party. Santa showed up at the party and gave you some neat gifts. Chesney got a nutcracker video, Britton received a star wars watch. Cade was given some candy. Cade didn't like Santa at all. He cried and really wasn't sure of what to think. One thing we did different this year was to make presents for our friends. We made many Advent calenders. We had a lot of fun as a family putting little pieces together of baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph, wise men and the angel Gabriel. Now all we have left to do is put together our gingerbread house, send out our Christmas cards, celebrate Jesus' birthday and open presents. This Christmas has been filled with many wonderful memories so far. Here are some pics and video from some of all of this fun!!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Happy 1st Birthday Cade!!!

My Dear Sweet son,

This week you are turning 1. Tonight we are celebrating your 1st birthday at our home with family. Below are some comments to you to wish you a happy birthday:

Hi Cade!I love you so much!your the best!I am so glad you are my cousin! Camryn

Happy 1st Birthday Cade ! You are the most Precious, Happy Baby. I Love you, Nana

Hey smillie! Happy Birthday ONE year old! You are the BEST! Love Grandma

Happy Birthday Cade. God Bless You. love, PawPaw Jim

happy birthday to you. have a good 1st birthday. I love you JOJO

Happy Birthday Cade you big one year old ! Love Uncle Cliff

Happy Birthday Cade, Your not making a very big mess with your cake but your still as cute as can be. Your such a happy baby. I love you, Sissy.

Happy Birthday Cade! Hope you have a great one! Love always Uncle Colby

Happy Birthday!!!! Big Boy, Paw Paw Ray

Hey Cade! I can't believe your 1! Wow, you're so cute!!! Haha, next year, I'm sure you"ll dig into your cake more... love you soooooo much :) keep smiling, Alex (p.s. i hope you"ll be this happy all the time!!!)

Happy Birthday!!! You have been such a blessing to us. You have been the happiest baby and now I guess you'll be the happiest toddler. You help get us all, especially Chesney, in a better mood with your contagious spirit. I look forward to celebrating many more and I give you all the love in my heart. I hope one day you look back on this day with as much happiness as I have for you now. Love Daddy!!!

We love you Cade and are so proud of you. You bless our lives incredibly. I especially like how you play peek-a-boo, walk around the house pushing cars, and how you try to sneak up the stairs constantly.

Tonight we celebrated you by inviting all of our family over for dinner and cake. You dug into your cake and enjoyed it greatly. You got a little people nativity set, a big tonka car, some soft balls, a race track and a teddy bear. The people who came to celebrate you were: Nana, Papaw Jim, Granmaw, and Papaw Raymond, Uncle Joey, Aunt Kristin, Camryn and Alex, Uncle Cliff & Colby, with their friends Monica and Annie, and Sissy. Of course Mommy, Daddy, Britton and Chesney all rounded out your party. You had a great time. We love you so much sweet son.

Memorable Kid Quotes

Chesney: 10/1/08- " Mommy, If you or Cade or Brittn or Daddy, If I hear a peep out of you, I'll get ya!"

12/11/08: "Daddy, I didn't throw up in a bucket, God helped keep it in my throat." This was during the middle of dinner!

Britton:
12/10/08, Britton say's, "I want to play the real football in the fall, not flag football." Daddy replies, "You got to be tough to play football." Then Britton replies, " I am tough, haven't you seen me take down a 13 year old girl!"

12/11/08, Today we were at the Birmingham Children's Theater to see The Best Christmas Pagent ever. This morning Chesney woke up saying that her tummy was hurting and she had "the look" that says Im going to be sick. She rested a while and then seemed fine, so we decided to go on to the show. Once we got in our seats, Mrs. Cristy J. and the kids were there sitting a couple of rows back. Britton then yelled over two rows of people to say, " Mrs. Cristy, If Chesney gets sick then Momma's going to take her to bathroom and Im going to come sit with you."