Life with my sister

We love counting down the days to Christmas in this house. We have advent two ways. A Chocolate advent calendar is one of then. We always had one growing up. One year mama couldn't find chocolate so we had tiny little toys in each window. It was very odd and we were ready to rush through that one! Julie and I took turns opening the days each year. One had even days and one had odd days. I was so glad when she married and moved away because it was all mine then!  Julie and I carry on the tradition with our kiddos. It's loved by them as much as it was with us. It's so fun to keep that tradition going. How many calendars have we hoarded up in our deep freezers over the years thinking we would never find any again?! We are serious about the chocolate advent calendar.  I don't do the Elf on the Shelf. I love admiring those that do. It's really cute. I just can't get a peace about it for us. What we do works and Henry loves it like it is...and we do too.  At our house...

S Family Christmas comes every year and every year it is great fun. We head to Daddy's house in Mississippi for a fun-filled day of family, gifts and food. And almost every year Daddy is supporting and sporting a new team's pullover....just kidding. He went from Arkansas to Ole Miss and now back to Memphis. I love it. He looks good in Tiger blue. S Family matriarchs , Babs and Bob. Meemaw and Peepaw did well. From Babs and Bob you have the beautiful brunette S girls. We are quite the trio. Jules and I love our cousin Hollye to pieces. She is like a sister to us. Coming from a small family, we bonded well growing up even though we lived a state away from one another. From the 3 of us you have this handsome group! Thanks to Jules for doing most of the work :) The S family produces such pretty girls. Meemaw would love pampering these two just like she did us. Claire and Anna are " our pretty girls". Meemaw used to say "my pretty girl" all the time. I love...

We spent our third Christmas at home this year. As I have posted before, we decided we would always try to have Henry in his home for Christmas Eve and Christmas morning. I was always at home growing up and Randall wasn't. He said it was not enjoyable and wanted to ensure that Henry have the experience I had and the one he always wanted. I think Randall loves it more than anyone. He is finally getting to have the Christmases he always wanted. It makes my heart happy. We do love the calmness of it and the fun of getting to make our own traditions. One of those traditions is having my mother-in-love in my kitchen with me on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Randall's parents come to stay with us on Christmas Eve and wake up with us on Christmas Morning. I love having Molly help me prepare our dishes and she always praises what I serve. I love some praise and some help in the kitchen...who doesn't?! I am working on finding the recipes we like a lot and want to serve each year. ...

Santa came and came big. Before he came we had to soak up the real meaning of Christmas. We went to church on Christmas Eve and Nana and Papa came in time to go with us. We got to sing and light glow sticks...Henry loved it! He got to go in the service with us and he did great. Christmas at our new church was such a treat this year. I reflected on things I had never really thought of. I love taking away new little nuggets of truth. I always enjoy a Christmas Eve service. It puts the rest of the night and the next day into perspective. Keeping with our Christmas tradition, we wore matching pajamas for the third year in a row. We wore Sesame Street themed pajamas this year. It was fun times. We love doing Christmas at home now that we have Henry. It is so peaceful and fun. We stayed in our pajamas all of Christmas Day. Nothing like a day in the pajamas. Those are rare for us these days. It was bliss. Christmas with a 2 year old is fun and exhausting. Capturing him on camera is difficul...

Christmas with Mama and Julie is always a huge highlight at Christmas. We do it a little early now that we have Henry and choose to be home on Christmas. Mama and Julie's family still do their exchange to each other on Christmas Day, but the ones to us and from us are ripped opened and enjoyed while we are in town. As you can see in the background of this photo...Randall is almost elbow deep in his Jelly Belly's. He was making all sorts of "recipes" with them and refused to share the good ones with us. My pretty girl with her new red sweater dress. She loved it and wore it to church on Christmas Day with her knee boots. Mama said that Anna is me made over but looks just like her mother. Nothing brings me more pleasure than to know my sister is raising me! Hee Hee . She is a leader and not a follower. She is a wealth of knowledge and shares every bit of it with you! She also has great common sense and sense of style for a 7 year old. She is a lot like me and that is n...

We all headed "home" for Christmas last week. Riding the train at the park during Christmas is always a fun family outing for us. This year we were so glad it was not as cold as it has been in years past. It was cold enough for it to be festive and that was great. We really are a handsome group. Mama always loves having all of us together at Christmas. Henry loves a choo choo. He had been looking forward to the train all week. He was so excited! Riding the train with family and friends makes Christmas in the Fort so much fun. Anna rode with me. I am so blessed to have a beautiful niece who loves me like crazy. Henry soaked up all the lights with his Daddy. He smiled the whole way around the park. Going "home" for Christmas is extra special because of the times spent with my best friend and her family. She has the cutest boys...even Sam looks pretty swank with his Christmas beard. (My man grew a Christmas beard also...not sure what all that is about) We were so glad ...

Christmas means getting in the truck and traveling to see family who live afar. Sharing the season with them is what makes this special season so special. Here is a snapshot of what our travels looked like Christmas weekend. Mama's couch is always a soft place with her girls and their babies on top of it. She loves having us all there with her. It is one of my favorite times. We have been blessed to do it a few times this year. Having the kids all together at Mama's makes memories that will last them a lifetime. Julie's kids are at the age where each time together is marked in their memory bank. I cherish these sweet times so much. I love any excuse to spend time with my sister. Being at Mama's makes that time extra special. We love to laugh at the same things and we have the same outlook on life for the most part. I love sharing history with her. We know each other better than anyone. Doing life with her is the best. We sometimes look nothing alike but I think in this ...