A Cactus Christmas - a few highlights!

Not to be forgotten my Christmas baby turned 36 (wow 36) this year!

Some really cute ladies - why am I missing - because I was sick and looked pretty sad compared to these pretty ladies.

A. holding up her new diary!!!

T. sporting her new BSU jersey. Sigh... yes she has officially been brainwashed.

Christmas Eve as the girls try and look as angelic as possible...

Matching jammies from Grandma perhaps??

We were delighted to have a special Christmas Eve program put on by the girls. They were hilarious and took this very serious as they practiced all week. They sang all sorts of Christmas classics and surprised us all with the talent they had (we don't have a lot of known singing talent on my side of the family that is for sure).

Singing a little known song - actually an original composed by the three of them called - I'm scrubbing my armpits. It has yet to take off in the US but I am told is a great international hit song!

The young looking grandparents and their 4 adoring granddaughters.

The Harris Family - not the best picture of me. I was sick as a dog for Christmas. Woo hoo!!

My sis and her family.

An adorable shot of the 4 cousins. Let's just say getting these 4 girls to sit for any period of time for a picture is like herding cats!

December Part II

Hiking the Superstition "Mountain" in AZ!!

A giant lizard enjoying the sunshine and soaking up the rays.

A few more lizards enjoying the sunshine.

We took a fun 3 mile walk in AZ! Let's just say this was the end of the hike and the cousins were still wired and raring to go.

December Part I

Although A. looks pretty chipper in this picture it pretty much sums up the last few weeks in our house as we battled a nasty flu all through Thanksgiving and then all caught colds that we may carry into Christmas. It seems like this is our year to catch everything - darn it!

T. was pretty excited to wear this (much too old for her in her mother's eyes) dress!! She was also celebrating finally feeling well after a few weeks of endless crud!!

Tim's family Christmas was celebrated a little early this year with some extra family that came to town and our impending trip to AZ for the holidays. If you look closely you will see Tim's mom is on a walker - read below for more details.

My favorite picture of A. lounging around and enjoying the first of two Christmases to come.

A rare family photo.

These two are in the cheesy smile phase of life.... grrrr getting a good picture is almost painful.

A. was in her last Christmas program as 2nd grade is the cut off for her school. I was sad to see my baby perform for the last time. I was also proud of her for pulling off a solo speaking part that she was so nervous to do, but did a great job in memorizing her lines.

I let the girls host their first Christmas party with friends. It was a little crazy having 9 girls running around the house but they seemed to have a great time!!

Once again as we enter the holidays, I am reminded of the real meaning of joy during this time. It has been a little bit stressful in our home these days. I always think of the girls' Bible lesson they brought home a few years ago defining joy - finding happiness even when things don't go your way. A few things have certainly not gone the way I planned this month that is for sure - as I mentioned we started with a bang on Thanksgiving with a nasty flu bug! This month has been filled with much fun as well though. The hardest part was Tim's mom took a fall a week ago and broke her hip. I know it certainly put a damper on her plans as well as ours for the season. But I am reminded that while it is stressful there is still so much we have to be thankful for - first and foremost my amazing husband and my beautiful (inside and out) girls. This will certainly be a Christmas to remember for our family for many reasons... Merry Christmas from our home to yours!

SNOW DAY!!

I am not sure where November went?!! I think I blinked and I missed it! We barely had time to get the leaves raked up before our winter came on with a vengeance. The girls enjoyed a snow day - (a first for A.) and T's second snow day (she had her first when she was in first grade). It was a great snow fall for us and makes me wonder what our winter is going to be like with the snow starting this early!