Christmas with the Thompson Family

Robbie, Annie, Kaylee, and Noah headed down to my parents the day after Christmas. We were so happy they were up for stopping through Fayetteville on their way home, to spend a little time with us. My parents and Robbie and his family drove up the day before New Year's Eve and they were able to spend two nights with us. We did some shopping and just relaxed while the boys did a little work. We were so excited to give Kaylee and Noah their gifts and I know Sallie was sure excited to receive hers. She has her own stool with her name on it and everything......it is adorable! I also got a new camera from my parents for Chrismas, so hopefully I can capture even more fun moments of ours and hopefully get them posted. We put on our pj's early on Wednesday night and opened up all of our wonderful gifts. And of course, we had lots of treats in our stockings. My mom started the tradition of everyone filling the stockings with one small gift. It is always so fun to see what everyone picked out. Even if it is a last minute gift, we seem to get a few giggles when we check out all of our surprises.

Mom also started the tradition of getting the kid's an ornament each year. This year Sallie got a Mickey Mouse Christmas tree ornament. She loves Mickey's Playhouse and now watches it every morning holding her brand new ornament.....not sure what we are going to do when it is time to put away the Christmas decorations. She thinks it is so cute!

the family (minus Richie) sitting down for dinner

the girls in our pj's

Annie and Noah Hank with his new tool set

this is a picture of my dad flying a helicopter in Vietnam.....we had it framed for him

sallie got a chair of her very own from my parents.....hopes she likes it as much as they all liked the box!

We have such an amazing family and friends.....we especially realize it during this time of year. We are so very thankful for our Savior Jesus Christ and the many blessings he has given us. Happy Birthday Jesus, may we always remember (even amongst the gifts, the traveling, and the hustle and bustle) who You are and what You have done for us, striving each day to live just as You did!

Christmas 2009

Before we headed to the Christmas Eve Service

she loves her papa

opening gifts with memaw (mimi) and papa

definitely a winter wonderland on christmas morning

Christmas Day!

We stayed in El Dorado on Christmas Eve and Rich helped his Dad do a few things around the house. It was snowing and blowing about 40mph so decided to attend Rich's childhood Church for the Christmas Eve Service.
We woke up on Christmas Day to a beautiful winter wonderland and enjoyed time with the entire Morris family.....lots of laughs, some dancing to HIp Hop Harry, candy canes, yummy foods including cheesy beans and licious salad, and a great time had by all!

eve of christmas eve

We traveled to Kansas this year for Christmas.....it is always so fun getting all of the cousins together and then on Christmas Day to spend time with the entire Morris family. What a neat group of people! We got to Wichita just in time to have our eve of Christmas Eve dinner with Rich's parents, two sisters and their family! We even got a special surprise visit from Santa himself.....as you can see in the picture below, Sallie was not too happy with this one. (She is really smart and of course new this could not be the real Santa because there is no way he would be making visits the night before he traveled, I mean really.....no wonder she screamed her head off)

dodger is the biggest dog i have ever seen, really.....but so sweet!

"seriously, THIS IS NOT SANTA!! GET ME OFF OF HERE!

but i will keep this cookie you brought me

evie, sallie, and hampton...the food was super delicious, as always....thanks dana

opening presents

trevor, garry, and rich (with his mouth full of pfeffernuesse that his sisters used 16 cups of flour to make, family tradition and they are starting to grow on me)

our little family christmas

We decided to do a little family Christmas with just the three of us. Partly, because we just wanted to start a little tradition of our own......but mostly because we heard Santa was bringing Sallie a kitchen and we didn't feel he needed to carry it all the way to Kansas and back. Sallie woke up to a few treats underneath the tree just for her. I was so excited that she actually ran up to her brand new kitchen and started playing! Here are a few pictures of our Christmas morning! (on Wednesday, the eve of Christmas Eve, before we drove to Wichita)

santa even remember our stockings!

Visting Santa

We weren't sure how the visit with Santa would go this year. Sallie loved him last year (well she really didn't even know the difference) and this year she went right up to him. She especially liked the candy cane he had for her. My mom, Rich, Sallie and myself headed up to Pinnacle Hills mall to sit on Santa's lap! It was a cold day outside so we spent a little time in the food court riding on the Carousel with gg, snacking, and telling secrets to Santa! We headed out with such a cute picture.

sallie and gg were all smiles while riding on the carousel

and the stockings were hung

This year was especially fun decorating for the Christmas Season......my little helper was all about it. As soon as the boxes were down from the attic and in the middle of the room, she started helping. She would hang an ornament on the tree and run back to the storage box to get another.....of course they all ended up on the same branch, but it still looked beautiful! I put all of the ones that were "kid friendly" on the bottom branches and she spent the entire season rearranging and redecorating......we had to make sure it was just right. We have the lights on timers so they turn on at night but every morning we wake up and Sallie points to the outlet asking for the tree and mantle lights to be turned on, she loves it!

some last minute re arranging after we got home from a razorback basketball game

so very thankful

We spent Thanksgiving this year in Arkadelphia with the Thompson family! We were so glad to be able to spend an entire week with my parents. We did a little shopping, lots of eating, visiting, a little Christmas Decorating and more. My parents alwasy love it when we come to see them for Thanksgiving.......that way they have Rich to help hang Christmas Lights outside. We all had so much fun, Sallie loves spending time with her gg, pap, and her mamaw!

goofing off while everyone else was working so hard putting up the christmas lights

putting the angel on the tree.....so sweet

happy birthday pap

a little fall fun


My parents came to visit last weekend and we had so much fun hanging out and celebrating my dad's birthday! My dad actually flew up with a dear friend of ours (Don Chaney) that just happened to be flying his plane up around the same time. They left Arkadelphia around 4:45 and landed around 5:45.....what a way to travel. My dad's actual birthday was on Friday so I know he enjoyed the special treatment. Thanks Mr. Chaney for making the day so fun! On the other hand, my mom started her trip around 3pm and made it to our house around 7pm, but at least they all made it here safely. We ate some bar b que, my dad and Rich went to the second half of the Hogs basketball game, and were ready to cut into the cake when our surprise visitors showed up. Robbie and Noah traveled from Kansas to surprise my dad! He was pretty excited!

I tried to think of something fun for my dad to do on Saturday, you know shopping is not one of his top priorities. So, we headed to lunch at Feltner Brothers (yummy burgers) and drove to the Prairie Grove Battlefield Park. It was such a beautiful day....we just took our time walking around the park trying to imagine what it was like 100 years ago. After a little snack time and playing in the leaves, we were ready to make our trip back home for grilling out.

Here are a few pictures of our weekend. It is so fun to see Sallie and Noah play together. Sometimes they kiss on each other, sometimes they fight over toys, sometimes they push each other, and sometimes they walk right past one another and don't even notice another kiddo just their size is standing there.....it is too cute! I was so glad Robbie and Noah were able to make the trip and of course I loved kissing on those sweet cheeks! (Noah's, not Robbie's)

the kiddos playing in the leaves

on our walk

they had so much fun playing around

silly girl

noah and sallie, best buds!

happy halloween!

We traveled to Kansas this weekend for a little spooky fun with the Morris family. We had such a great time visiting with Rich's parents, playing with Barney (Sallie loves Barn Barn), shopping at Walter's (Rich's aunt and uncle have the most beautiful flower shop in downtown El Dorado and they had it al ready for their Christmas open house), hugging on Gaga, and catching up with family.

On Saturday afternoon we headed over to Wichita for more Halloween fun at Dana's. There were 17 people and two dogs (one very large one) that got to join in on the fun. Dana had everything decorated so cute with Halloween decor, complete with some "Witches Brew" (aka....gingerale and sherbert) that Dana's friend Kim made, yum yum!

Sallie was not feeling great but was such a great sport when wearing her ghost costume! After a few quick pics, the dad's and kids headed out for some trick or treating! Sallie made it to two houses before it got a little cool and she and dad headed back to the house for yummy chili, grilled cheese, and sugar cookies......like I said, nothing was left out, thanks Dana.

On Sunday, we headed to Red Robin to help celebrate Robbies big 35th Birthday! We were not able to stay long, but at least we got to be with the Thompson family for a short time. (Annie put together such a special lunch)

So, here are a few pics of the weekend with family, friends and of course......the Ghost, Goblin, Pink Poodle, Cheerleader, and Scarey Clown! (we were sad we didn't get to love on the Cat and Pooh, but they were oh so cute too!

boo!

Sallie loved Hampton's kitchen....maybe Santa will remember that

all the kiddos sorting their candy

not so sure where she got all of this, because she and dad only came home with one package of hot tamales.....where were those milk duds I requested?

and they are off.....

friendly ghost and dad