Things That Make Me Smile

I'm still working my way through the plethora of Christmas pictures and came upon several that just made me smile. Since smiling is top on my list of things to do in '10, I thought this grouping might spread some cheer :-)

On the Sunday before Christmas (while Davey worked), my parents and I watched Miss Tay sing Christmas carols during big church. They practice on Wednesday nights throughout December and then visited a nursing home to share Christmas with the residents. This was the encore performance and Miss Tay did great. 

Editor's note: The lighting in our church is very dark, which is great ambience most of the time but not necessarily when you're trying to photograph your singing child. You should get the main idea, though....

Anyone who's been reading this blog for long know that Taylor is all about hats. Any excuse to wear one is good enough for her and Christmas is certainly no exception. We actually have a couple of installments of this type of goodness to share. This was one of my favorites.

She even got Dave in on the fun. Apparently the lighting in my parents' home is pretty dark as well because all of my pics have this gold glow to them. Oh well, it still makes me smile. And laugh a bit too.

After opening presents on Christmas Eve, Tay and I put together this gingerbread Christmas tree. Truth be told, I'm still scarred from the homemade gingerbread house my parents and I made when I was in junior high. Let's just say it took more than one attempt, was traumatic and is now known as the "Gingerbread Incident."

Needless to say, I bought a Wilton pre-made kit so that we would enjoy the experience instead of referring to it years down the road as some type of "incident." It was a lot of fun and we even got to eat some errant icing so SCORE!!

Later Christmas Eve night I moved on to making the snowman cake that was on December's issue of Good Housekeeping. While they claim it is "super cute and easy," I can't say that I concur with the easy part of the equation.

It was difficult and messy but the end result turned out pretty cute, I think, and Tay was ecstatic. She had requested this dessert but didn't exactly play a hands on role, if you know what I mean. I've since found a mold so you can bet your britches that the next time this ol' cake makes an appearance on the blog, it was with much less pain and effort because I will not - WILL NOT - ever make it without a shortcut again.

That being said, it brought my child joy and that's all that really matters, right?

Right!
And now I bid you adieu...

Christmas at the Mayborn

On the Saturday before Christmas, Miss Thang and I took a trip over to Baylor so she could buy Davey a new Bears' hat as her gift to him. We also had lunch at Chili's Too and then took a trip over to the Mayborn Museum to see the model train exhibit and all of the holiday decorations.

Because we go here often, I'm just going to give you a bunch of pics without commentary (you're welcome) but I want to make one disclaimer about Tay's outfit. Dave gave her the t-shirt during respiratory care week and, because it came from him, she wants to wear it everywhere. Even though it's two sizes too big. 

She also conned me out of the BU stocking cap while we were hat shopping for Dave and insisted on wearing it immediately. Even though it didn't match. At all.

Despite my repeated requests that she change, she would not. And, because she's currently a 'tween, I'm choosing to pick my battles. This was not one worth arguing about, if you know what I mean :-)

So enjoy...

Barkin' Ball 2009

While I do have a number (and by that, I mean more than you want to see) of pictures from our wonderful Christmas, I don't have them edited or downloaded yet so I'm going to start with New Year's Eve. 

We had the opportunity once again this year to attend Barkin' Ball, which is a wonderful event to raise money for Fuzzy Friends Rescue, which was founded by Betsy Robinson (my Baylor friends know her as the wife of Clifton Robinson - as in the tower that houses admin offices). For the past two years I've had the privilege of working with this group on their annual newsletter and some email campaigns throughout the year.

They graciously provided us with tickets to the event and we were absolutely thrilled. While last year was amazing, they certainly outdid themselves this year. The theme was Winter Wonderland and everything was decorated in white, silver and iridescent blue. A-maz-ing!!

See?

I have zero words for this picture. Absolutely none. But it does make me smile.

Pictures of the chocolate fountain at Tay's request.

Beautiful floral arrangements

Isn't this a clever way to display sponsors/underwriters?

Bananas Foster - fantabulous

Look, Mom, I finally wore the fur-lined cape you gave me!

We had a great time and even made it 'til midnight. Happy New Year to you and yours!

Candlelight Christmas

The evening after our trip to Grapevine, our church had a ladies Candlelight Christmas. It was really awesome as different ladies decorated the tables and each had its own unique theme. Our group was all from Mom2Mom and it was nice to chat over dessert while our kiddos were otherwise occupied.

Aren't we cute?

My friend, Sharla (above in the pink shirt) decorated our table and, as you can see, she's quite talented.

We definitely had the brightest and blingiest (is that even a word?) table there so you know I absolutely LOVED it! Sharla even had these cute jars filled with candy for us to take home as sourvenirs.
This was such a special night and I appreciated Sharla asking me sit at her table so much. Having been involved with a similar project at our last church, I also greatly appreciate all of the hard work I know she put into making it awesome.

On another note, you know that thing I've been asking you to pray for? Well, I just found out my prayer has still not been answered and, quite frankly, I'm really in a bad place right now. I'm angry and, to be honest, I'm mostly angry at God. And myself for believing something that obviously wasn't to be.

I'm bitter, negative and just don't know which way to turn right now. So, if you happen to think about it, I promise you won't waste a prayer on my mental state. Or on Tay's arm since it's also still not straight. We're starting PT in the New Year and I hope it will work. Nothing seems to be going our way right now.

I know "everything happens for a reason" and "He only says 'no' when there's something better around the corner." But, you know what? I'm tired of saying those things. And I'm tired of hearing them. And I'm also going to stop typing now because my bitterness is raging at the moment.

So, if I don't get back on the ol' blog in the next couple of days, please know we wish you each a very Happy New Year. May 2010 be much, much better than 2009.