We have had a wonderful, busy weekend! I just finished up my very
last class needed to complete my Post-Bac teacher certification and am now just waiting until student teaching begins in early February. Once that that is finished, I will be a fully certified teacher in the state of Texas! Whoo-hoo! I'm SO glad that Abby has a nice long break from school...we can just relax and enjoy the rest of the year!
Friday: We woke up to snow! Not a whole lot but enough to cover the ground, plus it was wet so the roads were not icy and slick. Abby's school held a holiday sing-a-long where the kids sang and performed different Christmas carols. Wyatt and I went to see Abby and had so much fun! Since it was a half-day anyway, we pulled Abby out a few minutes early and went to have lunch and run by Wal-Mart.
After Casey got home from work, he took Abby to the movies for a "Daddy-Daughter Day". They went to see this movie:
Abby has been begging to go see this movie for weeks now. They came back wearing their 3D glasses and complaining of bellyaches from all the popcorn! Wyatt and I stayed home. He took a much needed nap, and I finished up wrapping a few gifts. I made my nephew Trey some soft baby blocks and they turned out so cute. Did I take a picture? No, of course not. But they look similiar to this with different fabrics:
After dinner, we had a family Bible study focusing on the birth of Christ. Abby loves the story and always has a million questions. "What do angels look like"? "What exactly are magi"? "Can we still see the star they followed to find Jesus"? It's really refreshing to read through the stories of the Bible with a childlike perspective.
Saturday: We went to Perryton to celebrate an early Christmas with my family since my brother had his twin girls this weekend. My mom made a delicious meal of pulled pork sandwiches, chips & dips, summer sausages, cheeses, crackers, and lot of homemade cookies. After eating, we exchanged gifts. I'm sorry to say that I didn't get many pictures. After about the fifth or sixth picture I took, my camera displayed a message saying, "Out of Memory". I have got to figure my camera out soon.
My sister Lauren and my sweet nephew Trey. He started running a fever shortly before we arrived and was just feeling miserable the whole time. Bless his sweet little heart. He is the absolute most precious little guy you could hope to meet.
My sweet girl Abby. She is the oldest cousin and just adores all her "babies".
Wyatt slept some of the way from Amarillo to Perryton and was looking a little disheveled in this picture! He wanted to play with my nieces' toys the entire time. Notice the pretty princess chair he insisted on sitting in. ;)
I am so sad to say that I was not able to get any pictures of my sweet twin nieces Addison and Ashlynn before my camera stopped taking pictures (of course I was able to figure out what was wrong with it after we were back home). This picture is an older one of them.
These are the cutest, sassiest two-year old girls you could ever meet. They went around and around with Wyatt over toys today. There was even a showdown over who got what chair at the kids' table. Wyatt was not being much of a gentleman with his cousins today, but they did not back down!
Poor Addison broke out in a rash while we were there (yes, seriously, another cousin sick). I am praying that my two do not end up with anything right before Christmas. I feel like we have already had more than our fair share of illness this year.
I hate that I was not able to get pictures of the gift exchange. All the little cousins opened all their gifts at once and it was an absolute frenzy. Wrapping paper everywhere. My mom and I had to sort through it all to make sure that actual gifts were not lost in the mix!
My parents spoiled us and we all went away with some wonderful gifts. My sister and her family recently moved into a new little rent house so I was able to take a tour of it. She's still not set up, but she is working on it. Even though Perryton is only 2 hours away, I rarely get to visit. Usually, my family comes to Amarillo since it's bigger and has much more to offer. But I have to say, there is nothing like visiting your hometown for a dose of nostalgia!
Sunday: Since we got home really late Saturday night, we missed Bible class and instead just showed up for worship services. I hate missing Bible class, but we were all so exhausted. We spent the rest of the day cleaning the house, finding homes for all of our new gifts, and just relaxing. I bought a few gifts from a local Christian bookstore a few days ago, and I picked up a new Bible study for me. I've mentioned on here more than once how much I admire
Casandra Martin. She is a wonderful Christian woman and author of my absolute favorite Bible study series,
Women Opening the Word. She has a fantastic website and blog, so check it out! Here is the book I got...
ABCs of a Godly Heart. I cannot wait to start this study. It is a walk through the book of Psalms.
After evening worship services, we went for our "official" Christmas light looking extravaganza. I had originally scheduled for us to go on Friday night but we ended up getting really busy plus since it had snowed during the day, we didn't want to chance frozen slick spots on the streets.
I love looking at Christmas lights. We always stop and get a hot cocoa first (chocolate milk for Wyatt) and then the fun begins. There are some really festive neighborhoods in Amarillo that we never miss. Great times and great memories!
After a busy weekend, I am hoping to have a relaxing week. We have some fun things planned this week. Christmas is just days away!
Happy Monday!
