Santa's little reindeer

My sister-in-law starting monograming and has been making cute clothes for my niece. She decided to be make Hudson and Ella Kate matching reindeer shirts to wear this year. They turned out really cute. This was our attempt to get a picture of them in their matching shirts. Ella Kate was perfect (notice "Elfie" in the tree making sure she was on her best behavior!) and Hudson was not having anything to do with a photo shoot! So we took lots of pictures. Not sure we ever got "the one" but we still had a good laugh during our attempt. Hope this puts a little smile on your face too!

Take 1:

Hudson was a little upset about taking pictures...

Take 2:

Hudson still not excited about pictures...

Take 100!

As good as it's going to get.

I love seeing these two together! I thought they were pretty cute in their matching shirts.

Ella Kate was loving posing for all the cameras!

That's our sweet boy:)

Finally, I got a sweet smile out of him!

Merry Christmas!

From our family to yours....

We have had a wonderful Christmas so far! We hope you are enjoying your celebrations as much as we are! We are in St. Charles for a few days with the Lewis family. We are having a great time! Lots of updates coming soon!

Garth Brooks!!!

To say that I have waited my whole life to for this moment is a little exaggeration but I was really, really excited when I found out Garth Brooks was going to be doing a benefit concert in Nashville. We were hoping we would be able to get tickets to his show. We were a little bummed when we didn't get tickets....but then he opened up eight more shows! So we were really excited when we got tickets to the Sunday night show. I could not wait to finally see him in concert. I'm pretty sure I cried (really I did!) when he finally took the stage. He puts on a great show and he loves entertaining the crowd. He raised over $5 million for the flood relief, not to mention all the hotels and restaurants in the downtown area that benefited from the nine sold out shows in the one week period. Thank you Garth for an awesome show!

Thank you, Garth!

The greatest country singer of all time!

Hello, Garth!!

Taking one last bow after multiple encores!

Leaving Garth....

Family Fun!

Every year the my moms side of the family gets together a week or two before Christmas for a get together. This year was a little bittersweet since Grandmother Miller wasn't with us to celebrate. She always loved having us all together. When we were younger she would have lots of fun (and silly!) activities planned. Sometimes it would be a skit for all the grandkids (there were nine of us!) to do, a game to play or just a fun way for us to get our gifts. We still laugh at some of the things she made us do but we are so thankful for all the memories we shared. The holidays just aren't the same without her and we miss her so much. I really wish she could be with us to celebrate during times like these.

My dad and my sister in law chatting away

My wonderful cousins:)

Chad and Brandy came in from Colorado to be with us for the weekend. We loved having them home during the holidays. We don't get to see them enough and we miss them when they aren't here. Hudson loved getting to spend time with them. They always spoil him when they are here. This time was no different!

The same day we also had a tea for my cousin Josh and his new wife Katie. They got married in Vegas in October so his parents threw wanted to have a celebration to honor their new marriage. We are so happy to have Katie in our family and we are really excited that Josh finally made her his wife!

Josh and his new wife Katie!

A Bunko Christmas

Every year, my Bunko group gets together for a Christmas party. We all bring tons of food and a gift. Sometime we draw names but we usually just play dirty santa. It's much more fun that way! We love stealing each others gifts. I think this year we were all pretty happy with the gift we ended up with. I admit I was a little sad when my original gift got stolen but I was very happy with the ThirtyOne bag I took home! I really just enjoy spending time with these girls. We always have so much fun and enjoy our night together with just us girls. We missed some of our regular girls but we enjoyed having our subs join us for the fun. I am so thankful for these girls! One I have known since we were five, another one has been with me through everything since sixth grade and some are friends from high school and college. No matter how long I have known them, we each share memories that will last a lifetime!

The table of food....after we started eating. Everything was so yummy! I might even have to share a few of the recipes with you. My friend Amy made a delicious hot bacon dip. I will be making in soon!

No holiday gathering is complete without Oreo balls! Oops...Looks like one is missing!

All this gifts!

I forgot to take a picture of us with our gifts but thanks to the self timer on my camera I was able to get a group shot:

Take 1:

Where's Monica?

Take 2:

Where's Allison?

Take 3:

Much better!

I can not tell you how much I love these girls!!!

Prayer request....

Please Pray for this family. They lost one of their twin daughters, Evie. I do not know them personally but I heard of them through my friend Desiree's blog. From what I understand she passed away in her sleep. She was only 20 months old. I can not even begin to imagine what this family is going through. Please keep them in your prayers.

http://www.threedoodles.blogspot.com/

Please pray for Summer, she is a family member of a friend of mine from high school. She had cancer and was in remission and recently found out it has returned. The prognosis is not good. She had surgery today and the cancer has spread. Please keep her and her family in your prayers. They need peace and strength in the days ahead.

Gray Skies are Going to Clear Up: Update From Summer's Sister, Lynley

A Christmas Program

Sunday night was our Christmas program at church. It was so cute seeing all the kids in their cute Christmas outfits. We have a mentoring program at church so a lot of these kids participate in the program. The kids took turns singing songs, reading poems and telling jokes about Christmas. They were all so proud of the part they played and took pride in it. The Skykidz (the children's church that Hudson takes part in) also sang a few songs for us. Hudson went right up on stage for the first song. He was perfect. Then, it was time for the second song and he cried and he was not about to go on stage! It was really funny! They kids were singing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" and so the whole way back to his seat he cried "Twinkle Twinkle!" He loves to sing but I guess he didn't want to sing in front of an audience.

All the kids singing Away in a Manger.

Look at our little man!!

At the end of the program all the kids sang We Wish You a Merry Christmas!

We had to take some pictures of our handsome boy once we got home!

Most of you know we love trains on our boy...so he had to have this sweater. I had my eyes on it for awhile and as soon as it went on sale I ordered it. It is actually a little big on him this year so I am hoping he can wear it next year too.

Love this boy!

The boys

Let the Christmas fun begin!

We were so excited to put up the Christmas tree this year. Hudson is fascinated with lights so we knew he would love the lights on the tree. We decided to put our tree up the weekend before Thanksgiving this year. The first year we were married we put it up on Halloween. We thought about doing that again this year- but with all the kids I have in and out of the house we decided to wait a little bit. Hudson was a little confused as to to why there was a tree in our living room but after a few minutes he was very excited. We waited to do the ornaments so that he could help us. He loved getting to help decorate the tree. He has only taken a few ornaments off since then! He has even opened a present. Wonder how many times that will happen before Santa comes?!

Just give him a box and a tree and he is one happy boy!

I took this with my phone so the quality isn't great but then I went and got my camera and we had a little photo shoot. He sat in his box by the tree and would go and get books and toys and just sit. He was very content with his box.

The best Christmas present of all!

Here is what we are thankful for....

We have so much to be thankful for this year! We have a happy, healthy two year old little boy. Everyday he does something new and he brightens our day with his precious smile. Todd has a job that he loves and keeps him very busy. I am blessed to be able to stay home with Hudson and have been given the opportunity to keep other precious kids in the process! God has provided so many opportunities for us and we are so thankful! We have become part of a new church family that we love. They have helped us grow closer to God and comforted us tremendously in the last few weeks. We are so blessed to be a part of the Skyline family. We also have awesome friends. Some we have known a long time and some we have only known a little while. We are so thankful for each and every one of you! Our families....I could write for days about our families. We are both blessed with wonderful parents. They would do anything for us and Hudson. We are both very close to our siblings and their spouses. We both got lucky and inherited some pretty great in laws! Not to mention our precious niece and nephew!

We can not thank God enough for all that he has blessed us with!

Hudson is thankful for:

Mommy and Daddy

Yummy Turkey

and

Football!!

You Are God Alone

The past few weeks have been some of the hardest days we have ever faced. I know that our faith in God has grown stronger. Our marriage has grown in a way that I never thought was possible. We have realized that everything comes from God. We would have nothing if it weren't for Him. The Sunday that Grandmother passed away...and we had just found out we were pregnant. We sang this song in church...

You are not a God
Created by human hands
You are not a god
Dependant on any mortal man
You are not a god
In need of anything we can give
By Your plan, that’s just the way it is

CHORUS
You are God alone
From before time began
You were on Your throne
Your are God alone
And right now
In the good times and bad
You are on Your throne
You are God alone

You’re the only God
Whose power none can contend
You’re the only God
Whose name and praise will never end
You’re the only God
Who’s worthy of everything we can give
You are God
And that’s just the way it is

I cried all the way through it. The words are so powerful. This song really hit home to me that day. We have sang this at church in the weeks since her death and our miscarriage (a word I am still not comfortable with using) and it still gets to me.

God is with us...in the good times and the bad times. He will continue to provide for us. He will get us through this.

Babbling Brooke: Christmas Memories

My friend Brooke wrote this awesome post on her blog. I just had to share it with you.

Babbling Brooke: Christmas Memories: " Last night we had our small group Christmas party. It was hosted by our leaders Danny and Susie Walker ..."

Ups and Downs.....

The months of October and November were full of ups and downs for us. On October 21, Todd and I were excited to find out that we were expecting another baby. We had planned this pregnancy perfect. I was due July 1st. Todd would be out of school and it was during the summer which means not during high school football season. We knew we had to get pregnant by a certain time or we would take a chance of having a football season baby. We were thrilled when things went according to plan.

Then three days later my precious Grandmother Miller passed away. We were heartbroken. She lived an amazing 90 years and she passed peacefully in her sleep. Just the way she would have wanted to go be with the Lord. It is still never easy to loose someone that means so much to you and you love dearly.

Fast forward to the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. I was eight weeks and four days pregnant. We were so excited for our first check-up. We went in for our ultrasound and were amazed to see our precious little baby on the monitor. I remember thinking something just didn't seem right but I just played it off to me being paranoid....as usual. Then the ultrasound tech tells us that she isn't seeing a heartbeat. My heart literally fell into my stomach. I asked her if she should see one at this point and she proceeded to explain that from the looks of things it had just happened. The baby measured 8 weeks and 4 days. Exactly where it should have. She said that we may not be able to hear the heartbeat but at this point we should be able to see it.

We were devastated. I don't know that my heart has ever hurt so much.

I had just dealt with the loss of Grandmother but this loss was much different. GiGi(what her great-grandchildren called her!) lead a long, amazing life and our little baby never had a chance. We spent a long time with our doctor discussing our options and he continued to reassure us that it was not our fault, nothing we did caused this to happen and so on. At the time I couldn't see it that way. I went over the last few days in my head trying to figure out what I had done wrong.

We went on to Arkansas to celebrate Thanksgiving with my dads family. It was nice to get away and try not to think about things. We enjoyed our time together. It was also nice to be reminded what all we have to be thankful for. We tried really hard to focus on these things. We spent lots of time praying and thanking God for the many blessings in our lives. We continue to realize that God does have a plan for us and His timing is perfect. We have been overwhelmed with the thoughts and prayers on our behalf. We have an amazing new church family that has showered us with prayers, love and hugs. We are so thankful for these wonderful people that God has placed in our lives. We realize we are blessed with amazing family and friends that love us.

We also have this precious little guy.....

Our little scare crow at Trunk or Treat at church

Our precious family at the Pumpkin Patch. I am so thankful for these two boys!

Hudson Junction!

Hudson is officially TWO! I can not believe it!

We celebrated his birthday with Nana and Poppa on his official birthday. We also had a party Labor Day weekend with family and friends. He had a train party and it was perfect. We are so blessed with so many people that love our sweet boy!

He is becoming such a big boy. He is a very active two year old. He keeps mommy and daddy very busy! He loves trains, cars or pretty much anything that has wheels! He loves animals, especially horses. He LOVES to sing! And he can carry a tune much better than his mommy! His favorite songs to sing are the ABC's, Itsy Bitsy Spider and any song from Bible class. He loves going to Bible class and singing in church. We pray every night before bed and he prays for the sweetest things. We enjoy every second with our sweet boy! We love watching you grow and we know God has amazing things in store for you!

Hudson's delicious cake from Dumplin's

Hudson with Aunt Cece!

Hudson opening his presents

Wow! More presents!

Mommy and Daddy helping Hudson blow out his candles.

Jackson pushing Hudson on his new train.

Anniversary Weekend!

Todd and I celebrated our third wedding anniversary on July 21! The following weekend we left Hudson with my parents and went to Nashville for the night. It was so nice just to get away. We enjoyed dinner at Cheesecake Factory in Greenhills. It is one of our favorite places to go and we try going there to celebrate everything. The closest one is in Nashville but it is so worth the drive for us to go there. Then on Sunday, we attended church in Brentwood at the church I attended when I was living in Nashville. It was nice seeing old faces but it was so weird not having Hudson with us. Then we headed back home. We had to make one stop along the way....

The Loveless Cafe. Amazing!!

We are already planning our next trip to this famous Nashville cafe!

Ella Kate turns 3!

In July, we celebrated our sweet nieces third birthday! I can not believe this sweet girl is already three. It seems like yesterday we were all at the hospital waiting for her early arrival. We all prayed over her as she spend the first thirteen days of her precious life in the NICU! It was such a scary time for all of us, especially my brother and his wife. We thanked God that both Ella Kate and her mommy were finally able to go home. Thank you God for blessing us with the beautiful girl!

Ella Kate turns 3!

Riding her new four wheeler from her mommy and daddy!

Wish I knew what these two were up to....

Aunt B loves her Ella Kate!

Dallas!

In July, we went to Dallas to celebrate our sweet nephews first birthday. We enjoyed getting to spend time with Todd's brother and his family. Todd's parents also flew in from St. Louis for the big bash! We had a great time. Here are lots of pictures from our trip:

No trip to Dallas is complete without a trip to Southfork! Byron and Jennifer live just a few miles from this famous ranch. So while they were both at work on Thursday we did a little sight seeing.

Hudson and I at Southfork Ranch

Hudson showing off his fire hat from Firehouse subs. If you have ever been to Firehouse you know the subs are amazing!

Hudson and Jackson loved taking turns pushing each other. It was so fun to see the boys playing and interacting with one another. They also enjoyed getting baths together every night! We got very spoiled having them together for almost a whole week. We made lots of memories!

Happy Birthday, Jackson!

Another fun thing that we did was Downtown Dallas. We went to the Dallas Children's Hospital to see the train exhibit. It was very neat. Hudson loved looking at the trains going all around the track. It is a free exhibit inside the hospital for the kids to go look at and get their mind off of their illness.

Hudson's first trip to the Grassy Knoll. Todd and I both took turns running and getting our pictures made standing on the "X" where President Kennedy was shot.

Last stop was the Dallas Children's Museum. We had a lot of fun. Hudson loved getting to run around all over the place!

One of our many attempts to get a picture of PePaw and Mimi with the boys. This is the closest thing we got! We had a great time in Dallas and are so glad we got to spend so much time with all of the family. We are looking forward to our next trip!