I love this song!

The past week

Wow!  What a week!  There has been lots going on, and my camera has been working overtime.  Here are a few images from the last 1 1/2 weeks:

Thomas's birthday party.  He has a few friends that are very dear to us.  I have known them all since before they were born!  We asked a few of them to celebrate Thomas's birthday at the Baylor basketball game.  We had a blast, and I am so thankful for Thomas's sweet friends!

Lauren's shower was Dec. 11th.  It was lots of fun, and I really enjoyed seeing how much Mary Beth loved it.  She is getting to be such a big girl, and wants to be with the girls all the time.  She was in her element at the shower, and was very helpful with passing out the gifts!

Matthew's class Christmas party:

Mary Beth's class Christmas party:

Thomas's class Christmas party:

Mary Beth's ballet class.  Once a year, the parents get to watch the class.
"Sophisticated Baby"
Matthew's Christmas program performed at school the following morning.

Baking night!

Christmas recital:

Calling Dr. Brainpain....

Last night was the 3rd grade Christmas musical at the boys' school.  We have an amazing music teacher, and her productions are a sight to see!  Last month, Matthew informed me that he had made it to the final two boys for the 2 lead roles...Santa Claus and Dr. Brainpain.  The music teacher couldn't decide and a panel of three judges couldn't decide who would be which role.  Finally, they decided that Matthew looked like a "Dr. Brainpain", so Dr. Brainpain, he became!  The premise of the musical was that Santa hit his head and forgot who he was.  Dr. Brainpain assisted in diagnosing "advance amnesia" and helping Santa remember who he was. 

He had lots of speaking lines and a solo.  Matthew loves to act and sing, so he was in heaven last night.  He told me that when he got on stage, he didn't even know what the word "nervous" meant! 

 He also decided yesterday afternoon that he wanted to look more authentic, so he made himself a name badge....Dr. Brainpain, Ph.D.  He Deedah (my dad) has a Ph.D., so he opted for that, rather than an M.D!  Our family was so proud of Matthew last night.  He looked and acted so grown up.  We love our Dr. Brainpain!  

Santa wish lists

I have a lot to post about the last few days, and I will try to post those later in the day.

Here are the kids' wish lists:

On Friday, I went up to Thomas's class to take ornament pictures.  While there, I snuck into his desk and read his journal from his birthday.  Here is what the entry said:

Dear Santa,

I have been a good boy this year.  Will you please bring my sister a new Barbie?  Will you bring my brother a new DS game?

Love,

Thomas

P.S. Tell Mrs. Claus I said hi!

That's it!  It choked me up that he would only think of his siblings and not himself.  Later that night, I told Matthew and Mary Beth what I found in Thomas's journal.  This prompted Matthew to write his own letter.  He is never one to be outdone, even in the self sacrificing department!

Dear Santa,

I don't want much for Christmas this year. (Really?  Read on....)  If you have been watching me lately, you should know that I love Ridell Mini Helmets.  I want the PAC- 10, Big 10, and the ACC conference mini helmets.  I also want books for Christmas.  I like series books, and mystery books.  I would appreciate it if you got me A to Z mystery boks, Artemis Fowl books, and Junie B. Jones books.  I want a camera, too.  Not the kind mom has, but the ones like Uncle Michael's.  The little ones like this:  (visual aide)

But Santa remember this, Christmas isn't all about you or the presents.  It's about Jesus Christ.  If he hadn't of died on the cross, we would all be on the naughty list.

Love, Matthew

P.S. I also want 3 Nintendo DS games.

P.S.S.  I want Thomas's and Mary Beth's presents to be far far beyond mine.  And I mean far far far beyond mine.  I'm talking better than Shaun Alexander coming to our house and giving him an authentic full game worn jersey with his signature in a frame.

Love,

Matthew

I love stepping into the mind of Matthew!  It is always an interesting journey!

Oh, and Mary Beth...All she wants is a Barbie Jeep.

Happy birthday, Birthday Boys!

We had a nice few days celebrating the lives of two of my favorite guys. My Dad turned 60 and Thomas turned 7 yesterday.  On Sunday, everyone gathered at our house for Dad's birthday party.  We ate beef tenderloin and lots of other goodies.  What a great start to the holidays!  After lunch, we presented Dad with his gifts.  His three kids named 20 favorite memories of Dad, then we gave him a Shutterfly book full of pictures of his entire life. My mom scanned over 700 pictures starting 1 1/2 years ago for this event!  We also watched a video of Dad's life.  Lots of happy tears were shed remembering what an incredible person our Dad is, and what a wonderful childhood he and our mom provided for us.  I was running around like crazy before dinner and had red, puffy eyes and the end, so no pictures were taken!

Tuesday night, we braved the frigid temperatures to eat dinner at Thomas's favorite Mexican food restaurant.  Yesterday, Mary Beth and I ate lunch with our birthday boy.  Because we were so up in the air about when Baby Jack would make his appearance, we had to wait on kid party planning.  We decided to take a few of his life long best buds to the Baylor basketball game on Saturday.  They are number 23 in the nation and so much fun to watch!

I think Thomas is such a fun kid to know, and I feel blessed that I get to be with him every day. 

*He is kind, loving, tender hearted, calm, and thinks of others before himself.  He gets to go to the treasure chest often at school, and can't wait to bring his treasures home to give to Mary Beth.  

*He tells everyone that it is better to give than to receive, and his favorite thing about Christmas is celebrating Jesus.  

*He is funny and quick to giggle.  

*He is strong and built like a tank.  

*He is obedient.  

*He is a good friend.  I have often looked through his folder and found drawings from different students saying that they loved Thomas.

*He loves school.  He loves to read and do math.

*He hates telling me about his day!  This kills me! ;)

*He is a rule follower.  At dinner on Tuesday night, he was filling out a sheet where it asked him to write down his name and age.  He asked me if it was OK for him to go ahead and write 7 years old!

*He, like his brother, is a sports fanatic.  He loves his teams, but he is particularly obsessed with Alabama football.  With torn allegiances, he can't decide if he wants to be a quarterback, like Baylor's Robert Griffin, or a wide receiver, like Tyrone Prothro!  He also states that he wants to live in Tuscaloosa when he is older for a while, before moving back to Waco to be with me.  He also loves his Seattle teams.  He has a Japanese fighting fish named Ichiro, after Seattle's Ichiro Suzuki!  

We love our Sweet T and couldn't imagine our family without him!

Thomas calls his fleece, "Fleece Navidad"!

I just found this picture!  One of my favorites of these two!
My handsome Dad.

Disco Barnhill Elves!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Santa's watching!

I had a plate of smoked turkey for Mary Beth to eat at lunch.  I walked away for a moment and found this sweet face with a Snicker's wrapper by her plate.  I guess she thought if she covered her mouth, I would NEVER figure it out!  Doesn't she know that Santa's watching?

Introducing Jack Michael!

I am headed to bed after a long and exciting day, but HAD to post pictures of the newest love of my life!  Jack Michael was born this afternoon at 2:30 p.m. and weighed 6lb4oz.  He is beautiful!  Lauren did great and is feeling great.  They will post more later, but wanted to go ahead and give you the first glimpses....

Thanksgiving weekend wrap up.

I enjoyed every single minute of our 5 day holiday!

We gathered at our house for Thanksgiving this year.  Bryon's parents, sister, her family, my parents, grandmother, sister, and her family all piled into our house to celebrate Thanksgiving.  Mom and I did the majority of the cooking, and it all went off without a hitch!

Friday, we transformed our house from Fall to Christmas.  This was quite an undertaking, and we put the finishing touches up yesterday.  I am happy with how everything looks and hope the kids remember their house looking magical at Christmas!  

When we weren't decorating for Christmas, there was lots of football being watched.  With all due respect to my Auburn friends, let's just say that order has been restored to the state of Alabama! ;)   I was also proud of our Baylor Bears.  We lost three games in the single digits, which is quite an improvement!  Lookin' forward to next year!

For the past few weeks, I have been focused on Fall events and not thinking much past Thanksgiving.  I can't believe how much is going on the next few weeks!   I want to savor every second of this holiday season.  

The last week of Fall

Next week, I will be completely in the Christmas spirit, but I want to savor the last week of Fall.  This can be hard to do at times, since there have been Christmas lights up in our neighborhood since Nov. 1st, and Christmas music has been on the radio for several weeks.  But still...I won't give into the Christmas decorating temptation until Friday.  This could be that I am having the family at my house for Thanksgiving, and I want everything Thanksgiving-y.

I love Thanksgiving.

I love the month that it is in. I love the meal.  I love the family time.  I love the Peanuts Thanksgiving special.  I love the kids' two day school week.  I love the football.  I love Thanksgiving.

There is so much to be thankful for this year, as well as every year.  Happy Thanksgiving everyone!   I will be busy getting the house ready and cooking all week.  What fun!

Matthew at 9

Matthew had a great birthday!  We brought donuts for the class and Bryon picked him up from school a tad early to watch the Baylor Bears whoop Sentinary.

Now that Matthew is 9, he is officially half way through his time home with us.  This blows my mind! He continues to be such a joy to us, and this milestone is a reminder of how precious and fleeting these days really are.  

So, Matthew at 9....

I really feel like I write the same things about him every year.  He has a strong personality and always has!  Matthew is the poster child of "first born"!  With both of his parents and 3/4 of his grandparents being oldest children, he really comes by it honestly!  When I think of Matthew, the terms, "alpha male", "opinionated", "perfectionistic", "driven", "leader", "strong willed" come to mind.  Here are a few more:

1. Witty.  Matthew has a great sense of humor and he has a dry/sarcastic wit that I am very proud of! Thank you, Robinson genes! ;)

2. Energetic.  Matthew's motor never turns off.  He has a force field of energy always surrounding him that is almost palpable.  During his birthday party, he asked me to give him a tiny piece of cake, because he didn't want to stop playing for any longer than he had to!  Thank you, Barnhill genes!

3. He loves to perform.  Matthew got one of the two male lead roles in the 3rd grade Christmas program.  He loves singing and acting.

4. Artistic.  Matthew draws beautifully and has very nice handwriting.  He likes writing in different fonts.

5. Voracious reader.  Nothing, other than sports, gets Matthew more keyed up than books.  Countless times, we will put the kids to bed, and Matthew will come into the living room 2 hours later exclaiming how great a book was that he was reading.  I have come into his classroom before and seen him with a text book up, and Gulliver's Travels hidden inside the cover of his textbook!  He usually has several books going at once.

6. Sports fanatic.  This one is always on the list!  He can hold his own in any adult male's sports conversations.  He remembers scores and opponents from years past that amazes me.  He called in to talk to Art Briles, Baylor's head coach, on the radio a few weeks ago, and talked to him about how well so and so was playing.  Coach Briles told Matthew he knew a lot about football for being just in third grade!  Matthew told him his whole family knew a lot about football!  His big story everyday after school involves the daily drama of the recess football game.  I love this about Matthew and love watching him play sports more than just about any other motherly activity!

7. Lover of words.  Even as a young child, Matthew was fascinated by words.  He would laugh if he thought words were funny ("student" and "budget" were always sure to evoke a laugh as a 3 year old).  He really uses large words when speaking, and it annoys him when people don't use proper grammar.  He has learned, after a few embarrassing incidents, to keep his distain to himself and just look at me when bad grammar happens!

8. Passionate!!  Matthew is hot or cold.  He either LOOOOOOVES something, or HAAAAAAAATES something!  The words "Laid" and "back" are never used in succession around Matthew!

9. Never one to bow to peer pressure.  I hope and pray that this one continues!  I have to share a story that made me so proud of Matthew the other day.  I saw one of Matthew's friends talking to him and I asked what they talked about.  Matthew said that the friend started talking badly about another peer and an authority figure.  I know that these digs had come directly from listening to his parents talk (I heard the same stuff from the parents).  Matthew looked at the friend and said, "I don't believe any of that", and walked away.  I wish I had had the same backbone to say the same thing to the parents!  

I ate lunch with Matthew at school on his birthday, and interviewed him:

1. Favorite food?  Spaghetti

2. Favorite dessert? Luby's coconut cream pie

3. Favorite color?  Green and Gold (Sic 'em bears!)

4. Favorite show on TV?  Anything on ESPN, and College Gameday

5. Favorite book?  Three way tie between The Invention of Hugo Cabret, Tom Sawyer, and Gullivers Travels

6. Favorite subject in school? Social Studies

7. What do you want to be when you grow up? A punter in the NFL

8. Favorite bible story?  The Stoning of Stephen

9. Where do you want to live when you grow up?  NYC, San Diego, or Tampa Bay  (Who says watching professional football doesn't help with geography? ;)

Marathon Complete!

I feel like I started a marathon 10 days ago and finally finished it last night!

One of my friends and I have been in charge of our fall book fair at school the last three years.  I love spending time with my sweet friend, Amy, and enjoy being up at school all week.  Getting to browse books and see the boys throughout the day makes for a fun and busy week!  It was a tad stressful trying to get our entire family of 5 ready to go for the day at 7:45, and I have a newfound respect for families that do this every day!  On Friday, we tore down the book fair.  It was a great week which brought in a lot of money for our PTA!

Friday night was Matthew's birthday party.  He has been blessed with such great friends at school, and I always enjoy being with this group of kids.  We had his party up at our church's gym.  When I ask Matthew about his day at school, there is always mention of what occurred at recess.  His group of guy friends plays football each day.  We decided for Matthew's party to throw all of his friends in the gym and give them balls to play with.  Party planning at its finest!  The kids enjoyed playing football, ping pong, and a friendly game of dodge ball.  It was definitely the loudest birthday party that I can recall, and we enjoyed it tremendously!  I can't believe my baby boy will be 9 tomorrow, but I will write more about that later.

Me showing empathy! ;)

Saturday, I went into party planning mode for the book club that I hosted last night.  Bryon and the kids went to the Baylor/ A&M game while I cooked.  I HATED missing that game, because I felt like Baylor had a fighting chance, and they won 41-21!  I was so happy that the boys got to see this.  Maybe finally I can live down the incident that occurred 4 years ago...  Our friends hosted a Halloween party for adults that conflicted with the Battle of the Brazos, Baylor/A&M game.  I persuaded Bryon, who NEVER misses a home game, to come to the party.  Baylor upset a much better A&M teams that year!  This comes up in conversation still to this day!

We also had our family party for Matthew on Saturday.  My sister was gracious enough to have us at her house, so my house could stay "party ready" for Sunday.  Mom and Dad got Matthew more mini football helmets, which are his latest obsession.  He spent the afternoon matching up football helmets to who was playing that day.  Lauren and Josh got him a High School Musical DVD game that he can't wait to play.  He also got lots of books, which he adores.  Matthew got some great gifts, but he was most excited about the electric guitar that my brother gave to him.  We got him an amplifier to go with it, and his is ready for be a real "Guitar Hero"!  Michael also gave Thomas his favorite Bama hat that he wore all throughout college, so he wouldn't feel left out!  

Don't you wish James enjoyed cake?

Book club was last night, and we discussed a great book: The Thirteenth Tale.  I read the book last year, and really enjoyed it.  I hosted book club with a good friend of mine, and we spent the afternoon cooking.  (Bryon took the kids to the Lady Bears basketball game.  They got to sit on the third row and see Baylor upset the number 2 ranked Stanford!  Two exciting Baylor games in a row!)  We enjoyed a great meal: roasted vegetable lasagna, poblano corn pudding, roasted sweet potatoes/brussel sprouts/fennel/parsnips, and butter rum pound cake with bananas foster sauce.

I had been promising Mary Beth all last week that on Monday, we wouldn't get out of our pjs all day!  She is enjoying a few minutes watching Super Why, so I can get all of this written, and then having a fun girls day with NOTHING TO DO!!