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.