christmas day...

goes a little something like this...

mommy gets up and puts the muffins and sausage balls in the oven, early, like 6:30 a.m.

kids wake up and walk out into the living room and see this...the gifts that santa has left for them.

olivia's gifts from santa- a REAL digital camera (pink of course!), a REAL fish, and a microphone.

a BIG basketball goal, a REAL basketball, and a BIG firetruck that makes noise. :)

we play and pose for some pictures...

then we dig into our stockings and see what santa has left in there...

this year the kids were most excited about the candy canes-- really??

while looking at our stockings olivia remembered to look at the plate of cookies she left out. here is what she saw...

empty glass of milk, half eaten cupcake, nibbled cookie, and a dirty wet towel.

o was really thrilled that santa used the towel she left AND the reindeer ate the reindeer food we left for them in the front yard. ;)

then the kids open a few gifts from mommy and daddy.

now it is time to get dressed and load up the car to head to allen for the "blanchette christmas" at nana and gramps house. more family. more gifts. more food. and lots of fun!!

the ridiculous amount of gifts! there are a TON of people, but really this is might be a little much. (oh, i should mention that my parents "cut back" this year!)

side one of the study

side two- the gifts that made it under the tree.

gramps and jack diggin' into the stocking candy. jack knows who will open his candy for him every time-- gramps!!

daddy posing with the "cool" snowflake glasses. stylish don't ya think?

olivia and gramps with the BIGGEST gift under the tree- the princess art kit. olivia could not wait to rip open this gift. good thing it lived up to her expectations. she LOVES it!! way to go gramps (and nana).

mom and gramma. this picture makes me miss my grandpa. :( his presence was missed for sure.

one of mark's gifts from chrissie... now everyone will know they are entering a baylor lovin' house. sic em bears!

jack's favorite gift-- the rescue station!! thank you nana and gramps!! :)

then it is time to load up again and go to b and pops for the "bowlin/fifer christmas." repeat-more family. more gifts. more food. and lots of fun!!

***by this point in the day everyone is tired of me taking their pictures, and honestly i get lazy with the camera. that does not mean we are having any less fun or enjoying ourselves any less, just less documentation. :)***

o with her stacks of gifts. she was ready to open them up!!

jack had the "gift opening" thing down. he was even getting pretty good at the bows by this point in the day.

inspired by jack's love for the hotel robe at the beach, b got the kids all monogramed white robes with matching slippers. so stinkin' cute!! great gift b!!

and to end our evening with the bowlins and fifers we opened our stockings. :)

and after an exciting day we head home full of gratitude for family, an abundance of thoughtful and generous gifts, and remembering that this day is really about the birth of our savior, jesus, whom we desperately need. we ended our day by reading the real christmas story (luke 2) and thanking god for all of the blessings he gives us, but also for his son and the love, grace, and mercy he shows to us.

our prayer is that your family had a day filled with fun, family, and some gifts, but that you would know the incredible love that can only be found in christ through a deep and personal relationship with him, who's birth we celebrate today!!

merry christmas to all and to all a good -night!

a typical christmas eve...

for our family goes a little somethin' like this...

our little family gets to hang out for most of the day, and then get dressed to meet the WHOLE family at church for the christmas eve service.

and i make my kids take the obligatory picture by the tree. if only they would pose together- maybe next year!!

then after church we go out to dinner with our traditional group of friends- the hopkins, the guys, the bowlins, and the newlyweds- the lassiters!! we went to our traditional spot- maggiano's. yummmm! (no pictures sorry!)

then we come home and the kids open one gift...

christmas jammies. this year they matched! both o & j were excited about that!

then we set out cookies and milk for santa. olivia decided that santa might need a towel this rainy christmas eve, so we left one of those too!

then daddy reads "the night before christmas."

then we tuck the kids into bed, santa makes his visit, mommy and daddy fall into bed around midnight, and then the excitement and traditions resume in the morning (around 7:00 AM).

merry christmas eve!!

the rehearsal and the real thing...

i can hardly believe that the wedding between ivy and drew is actually happening. they have been apart of each others lives since they were born (literally) and years and years of crushes on one another, and finally they will be husband and wife.

first the rehearsal...
drew and ivy asked mark to help with the music and order of their service as well as sing.

here he is practicing with one of ivy's friends. they sounded great!!

then after running through things a couple of times and working out some details we were off to the rehearsal dinner. the lassiters hosted a lovely evening with beautiful decorations...

us at the rehearsal. (not real sure why the pic of mark and i is larger than the rest, oh well.)

yummy mexican food. and there was lots of laughter and even a few tears as we wished ivy and drew many many years of love in marriage.

and then it was wedding day!!!

i didn't take one picture. sniff! sniff! i was just enjoying every moment. but her photographer did an amazing job capturing the day. ivy wore the same dress her mom and grandmother wore. so sweet. she had one of her friends design a reception party dress that was just darling and she wore some amazing red shoes. really the whole event was just great!!

here is my favorite one...
but click here, for a few more images from the day. they are amazing pictures. :)

happy marriage ivy and drew. we love you so much and are so thankful to be apart of your lives and your wedding day.

hopkins lassiter wedding continues...

with a manicure and pedicure party for ivy and all her best friends. ivy is truly one of the most precious people i know and that is clear by the friends that she has. she only had three bridesmaids, but still wanted to include all of her friends in the wedding so she had the rest of the girls as honor attendants. it was a joy for me to help host a manicure/pedicure party and get to spend friday morning before the wedding with ivy and all her friends. her friends are just as darling and gracious as ivy.

ivy and turner appreciating the little details- ivy's new monogram on the coffee cups. :)

the shower in pictures...

hostesses-- joanna, michelle, kathy, and me (ivy's in the middle)

drinks- coffee and punch in these fun cups.
spread of food-- muffins, fruit, cinnamon rolls, sausage balls
flip-flop favors

and of course manicures and pedicures.

what a fun morning!! the girls were off to the bridesmaid luncheon and i will see them all later at the rehearsal...

dance show-off day...

for our little dancer.

bffs. o and kk are taking dance together again and of course they love that!

we love ms. janie and dance, but one of my favorite things is that each december she does a "show-off" class. she invites the parents in to see what the girls have been learning all semester and show off their skills. this year olivia is taking a combo class- ballet and tap so we got to see lots of dancing!!

quiet and graceful ballerina, ending her dance with a prayer.
tappin' her feet and swingin' her arms. gotta love tap!!

sadly, i had to miss this performance too! i was hosting the manicure shower for ivy. i made those plans way back in the summer before we knew about this date. sad to miss seeing our ballerina and tapper!! nana, chrissie, b, pop, rara, christman, and daddy all told me how great she did!!

her fan club...


next time she takes the stage will be in may at the recital. ms. janie announced today that they would be dancing clowns and have two numbers at the recital!! :)

hopkins lassiter wedding weekend begins...

with baking,

the bride-to-be, ivy, baking aunt libby's pound cake

the pound cake and cheese-its cooling before they get all wrapped up.

filling,

the groom, drew, filling the boxes with crinkle filler. there was LOTS of this stuff.

tying,

cathy, drew's mom, tying up the lance peanuts and cracker. drew's grandfather worked for the company for most of his career.

labeling,

the amazing labels, designed by ivy's good college friend and designer extraordinaire, leighann. there was a label for EVERYTHING and they made the boxes PERFECT.

and packing these boxes...

the final product, complete with schedule of events, a letter from the bride and groom, and suggestions of sites to see while in dallas.

i was thrilled when two of my most precious friends {ivy and drew} finally got engaged back in july. i was honored when ivy asked me to help in some of the planning of her wedding, help making the out of town guest feel welcome. love it!! we spent several lunches chatting about all sorts of ideas. we decided on the best hotel location, worked out the logistics of getting everyone transported all over richardson and dallas, and we worked out all the details for "the boxes." "the boxes" were the welcome gift that each of her out of town guests would receive upon their arrival to dallas. they were so much fun to dream up, create, and deliver.

ivy and drew's wedding reflected their personalities and was full of family traditions, so "the boxes" reflected that theme as well. we decided to include a bunch of snacks and goodies which were all favorite family recipes-- aunt libby's pound cake, glorified cheese-its, hallelujah hot sauce, kathy's german chocolate muffins, and lance peanuts and crackers. i sampled everything, lucky me, and it was all soooo yummy!!

once "the boxes" were complete and delivered we tied bows on the programs.

i loved getting to be apart of so many of the small details of the wedding and getting to spend so much time with ivy and drew and their families. i can't wait for the rest of the weekend. :)