It was a very Merry Christmas.

Christmas 2008 is over. It came quickly and quietly without a lot of fuss but it was a good Christmas. This year John Derrick was very excited. He would ask every morning when Santa Claus would be here and when he could "u-pen" presents.


This is John Derrick after he took a bubble bath. He stuck his chin in the bubbles and would say "Ho, ho, ho! I'm Santa Claus"

Christmas wouldn't be Christmas if one of my children wasn't sick. John Derrick struggled with a cold for over a week and then Faith started with a runny nose. Kevin took both of them to the doctor the Saturday before Christmas and both of them had DOUBLE ear infections. I feel very blessed because my children do not get sick a lot. It has been a while since either one of them had an ear infection if fact, I can't remember the last ear infection we had at our home but since it was Christmas, they had to get sick. They both got antibioctics and by Christmas Eve they were feeling much better.

Christmas Eve is spent at my parent's house. Everyone is suppose to be there but unfortunately Penny and the kids went to Florida this year to see her family. Marty was able to come and so was Lane and Kristen and little Josie. We still had a wonderful time and Faith and John Derrick loved their presents they got from Grandmommy and Granddaddy. Faith's favorite present was her Goldfish Webkinz from Uncle Lane and Aunt Kristen. John Derrick's favorite present was his tool set and Scooby Doo movies from Grandmommy and Granddaddy.

We were able to "get" Granddaddy this year. Every year Granddaddy wraps all the presents and he likes to use A LOT of tape and add a few surprises to the boxes like bricks and dried beans and maybe but a box inside a box and inside a box. Sometimes it takes someone a while to open a present. Oh, they also use food boxes that they save throughout the year. So we open a lot of 100 calorie snack boxes. This year, I put his present inside a ziploc bag, put that inside a cereal box, wrapped it and then kept putting boxes inside boxes and wrapping each one. I used a Dunkin Donut box also. I put all of these inside one big box and then filled it with "filler". I put two shoe boxes of Happy Meal toys in the box. I had fun wrapping the present and I think he had fun unwrapping it.









Christmas morning started about 7:00 this year. Faith was the first one up which isn't surprising. We had to wake up John Derrick and he didn't want to get up at first, but when he saw the presents under the tree, he perked up. Santa Claus always leaves wrapped presents under the tree. They are wrapped in two different color wrapping presents with no names on them. He leave a nice letter that he has typed. The letter tells the kids how proud he has been of them this year and tells them which presents are thiers. Faith's were wrapped in red wrapping paper and John Derrick's was green. Santa was very good this year. Faith got an Easy Bake oven and decorating pen, Wii Fit, Super Mario Galaxy for Wii, a Bible devotional book, Pixo's pen, Silvermist doll and a few other little things. John Derrick got a remote control Monster Truck, play food, blocks, Lego Batman for Wii, a Bible devotional book and a few other little things also. They have really liked what they got for Christmas this year.

For Christmas day, we go to my Aunt and Uncle's house for dinner and the unwrapping of the yearly gag gifts. Dinner was delicious and it was nice seeing all my family. John Derrick got to play with his 2nd cousin, Lawton and that was fun to watch.

Now I need to get back to normal. It is the Monday after Christmas. Kevin has gone back to work. The kids did not get out of their pajamas all day (what is really scary is they stayed in their pajamas the day after Christmas also). I did change clothes today and cleaned house a little. I made my grocery list and played on my blog for the afternoon. (Thank you Laura Beth for telling me that changing the background is easy because that is what I did) I am planning on trying to start my shopping tonight after supper and if I get it done, I don't have to go with the kids tomorrow. They hate going to the grocery store and I don't like taking them. But, if I don't do that, we will probably stay in our pj's again. So I need to think of something to do with them that doesn't cost any money.

Till next year...

Happy Birthday John Derrick

My baby is four years old. He has grown up so much in the past year that I can't believe that he is the same boy. Over the last year, he has learned how to carry on a conversation, he found out that he likes Batman, he is going to turn into a giant "mar-moe" (marshmellow), he learned to like the swimming pool, he has a best friend named Cooper, he now likes Mickey Mouse and Blue's Clues, he has learned to aggravate his sissy and drive his mommy crazy, he watched Scooby Doo over and over and over and over again, he went to the beach for the first time, and he likes to "help" mommy in the kitchen.

I am so proud of John Derrick. He is such a sweet boy and I love him so much. I pray always that God will watch over both of my children and protect them. I pray that God will bless John Derrick's life and help him grow up to be a fine Christian man who will one day marry a Christian girl. I pray especially that Kevin and I will be good Christian examples and to raise him as God wants us to.

We had John Derrick's birthday party at our Thanksgiving meal. This is him with the Batman cake that I made him. He was so proud of his cake and turning four. If you ask him how old he turned on his birthday, he is going to tell you that he is eight (because Faith is eight and he wants to be just like her)

Patiently waiting to open his presents.

John Derrick riding his new scooter.

We also went to Baton Rouge for Thanksgiving to visit Kevin's family at his brother Donny's house. Memaw decided to have a little birthday party for John Derrick while we were there. She went to Wal Mart and got this cake. Once John Derrick went through the kitchen and saw it, he came running into the living room and was pointing to the kitchen and saying, "There is a car cake, him in there (meaning Donny) made it for me!" It was so cute so we credited Donny in making the cake for John Derrick.