Birthdays

Thanks for all the birthday wishes, emails, cards, and gifts. My birthday was actually Sunday, but Ronnie and Joshua surprised me earlier in the week with candy and presents:

There were a few other people at church with a birthday this week also, so after church on Sunday everyone sang Happy Birthday to all of us. After they finished singing, my little sweetie, Joshua, wrapped his precious little arms around my neck and said "Happy Birthday to my momma" and gave me a big hug and kiss! Just made my heart melt....

Today is also my niece, Alyssa's birthday. Saturday we were talking to her on the phone about her Princess Party she was going to have and I was able to capture a little of the conversation on video. Of course, as soon as I started recording, Joshua started walking around trying to get out of the view of the camera! It was so sweet (and funny) to listen to them talk to each other. Here's the video of his conversation with Alyssa and then Cindy:

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Later this month is my niece, Michelle's birthday and also my niece, Elizabeth's birthday. Needless to say February is a month full of celebrations for our family.

Happy Birthday to Alyssa, Michelle, and Elizabeth! We love you!

It seems...

...we have started off this year the same way we ended last year - busy, busy, busy. But even though we've been busy, we've still managed to have some fun.

Racing cars

Everyone came out to watch the races:
Drum, drum, drumming:

Playing guitar with daddy:

Singing!

I am very late with this post, but I'm pretty much late for everything...so please forgive me.

Deron and Laura so graciously invited everyone to their house in December for a singing. It was a wonderful evening and everyone truly enjoyed the fellowship.

We are so very blessed at Mt. Paran and Sorrells Springs to have such precious friends and families. We wish you all much joy and happiness in this new year.

Here is a video of some of the singing:

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

A few pictures from Christmas

Poor Joshua has been very sick, but despite that nasty runny nose and cough, he had a great Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Big Soft Ginger Molasses Cookies

I was looking for a new cookie recipe yesterday and found this recipe for Ginger Molasses Cookies. I baked the cookies this morning and the house smells wonderful and the cookies are sooooo good! Joshua kept asking "what's that smell?" (be sure to read that with a cute southern accent).

INGREDIENTS:
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup margarine, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 tablespoon water
1/4 cup molasses
2 tablespoons white sugar

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Sift together the flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the margarine and 1 cup sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg, then stir in the water and molasses. Gradually stir the sifted ingredients into the molasses mixture. Shape dough into walnut sized balls, and roll them in the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar. Place the cookies 2 inches apart onto an ungreased cookie sheet, and flatten slightly.
3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

My favorite time of year

I love this time of year, with Christmas music and decorations everywhere. It gets better and better every year. This year is even more fun because Joshua is so excited about Christmas. He loves the lights and the trees. We started decorating our tree yesterday and we're still working on it today. I usually place a large red bow on the top of the tree, but this morning Joshua told me that we had to put a star on the top of the tree. You know, it's whatever he wants, so this afternoon we will be headed to the store to find a star for our tree topper.

Here are a few of the pictures from the beginning of decorating:

Digging through the ornaments

Picking the perfect place to hang

Pooh's musical snow globe:Joshua is so funny - he's wearing the stockings as socks!

Wishing you all a wonderful holiday season!