Happy December!

I could not wipe the stupid grin off my face yesterday. I tried, but to no avail. The white flakes of snow falling from the sky in Houston made me feel so happy, I forgot all about the rude emails I just got at work and the soreness that will not leave my throat no matter how much nyquil I take and the never-ending mess that is my house right now. All of it forgotten. We were with some friends for Bible study yesterday and the kids had so much fun having snow ball fights and pretending like they were northerners for a few hours.
















Look at all the snow on my windsheild! I called Martin to tell him about it and he scolded me for not having an ice scraper (or whatever that tool is called). Ha! Look at the trees and the roofs of the houses! I still can't believe how beautiful it was!





























Tatum's first snowball!















Laney did not like the snow that much, maybe because her negligent mother forgot her shoes, so she's in her socks! Don't worry, I only let her sit there for about 10 seconds. Thank you Lord for blessing Houston with a little taste of real winter. WE LOVED IT!

We went to SA for Thanksgiving last week and had a great time relaxing and being taken care of by my family for a few days. The girls all got a stomach bug for about 24 hours each, but thankfully they were troopers and we still had a fun time. Mom, Avery & I got to go see The Nutcracker downtown put on by a professional ballet company. It was beautiful to watch the dancers in all thier costumes and doing such amazing things on the tips of their toes! I will never understand how that is humanly possible, but it is beautiful to watch. Avery enjoyed it so much and still talks about the nutcracker and the mouse king and the sugar plum fairy almost every day. My brother's girlfriend, Tracie, gave our girls the most awesome gift: a computer loaded with all kinds of educational games that her kids had outgrown! Tracie sat down with Avery and showed her some of the games on it and Avery was in heaven! It is now set up next to our computer here in our study and Avery can come sit at the desk and turn it on and go to town all by herself! What an unexpected, amazing blessing!

This is about as good as it gets for a family picture of us!



















Heres Nana & Papa with the girls














Here's my MeMe & PawPaw with the girls. Laney has MeMe's eyes, which are also my Dad's eyes. She's a "Lewis." I love how genetics works.














My mom MADE these adorable PJ's for the girls, with matching pillowcases for each one too!














Tatum has been doing really good at keeping her pull-ups dry so we ventured out to Target today in big girl panties and she did great! I am so proud of her and I am so glad that I'm only paying for diapers for one child now. That is another blessing, that I am JUST NOW paying for diapers again. Back before Laney was born, Brian's baseball team gave us a diaper shower (click here to see that post), and those diapers lasted us until about two weeks ago when Laney was 10 months old, I had to buy our first box of diapers again. Brian and I estimated it was probably almost $1000 worth of diapers and wipes we were given. We have thanked God so many times for that amazing blessing.

My little pee pee princess!














This girl knows how to enjoy a cupcake!














Laney is officially weaned. I must admit it has been a bittersweet experience. I am thrilled that she will take a bottle now and I can leave her with someone else for more than 3 hours at a time, but I am sad because it means she's not a baby anymore. She is growing up so fast. She has already taken her first steps, although I wouldn't say she is walking. I think she will figure out walking any day now. I had to put away the 12 month clothes last week and get her 18 month things out. She is almost too big for size 3 diapers so I am going to finish this box and move her into size 4, which is the same size Tatum wears to bed. I took her to the doc last week and she weighed 22 pounds! She had a double ear infection, poor thing, so we got some antibiotics and she is doing alot better. Here she is showing off her two top teeth! Sorry for the snotty nose!















Silvermist and Tinkerbell had lots of fun helping decorate our new house for Christmas!














One night last week when I was tripping over all the pairs of shoes that were all over the downstairs, I asked Avery to pick up all the shoes and put them by the stairs so we could all take them up before bed that night. I thought she would just pile them up at the bottom of the stairs, which would've been fine, but this is what I found when I walked by the stairs later on. Can you say OCD? They are arranged in order too. Her furry boots are at the top, I guess because they are special. Then Daddy's shoes are on the next step, Mama's shoes are on the next step and all the rest of the girls' shoes are all on the last step. I know God will use her organized, systematic little gifts for a special purpose one day!














Off to work on Christmas cards, and to call my dear friend, Jennifer, for her birthday today! Hope it's been a wonderful day, Jen! Your friendship encourages me more than you will ever know and we are going to take that birthday vacation together when we're 35, okay!? Let's start planning now!