Reason #365 Why I Love My Husband

Two words... Pizza Delivery...

Brought to the door by a friendly man waiting to take our money - that's another reason why I love my husband.

Silly you say? Not when you've been stressing over what the family is going to eat that night and your husband has been at work all day (again) and you have to sing at church that evening and you car is out of gas and it's cold outside and you haven't been to the grocery store for non-holiday related food in a while. (Sorry for the horrible run-on sentence but sometimes it just has to be done, for effect of course.)

We rarely order pizza out anymore (we just eat the frozen section kind) but last night my husband had the foresight to know that that was exactly what had to be done - call Papa John's and tell them to bring us the goods. God bless him. He's a keeper, I tell 'ya.

Christmas Present

Don' t you just love double entendre?? Yes, the last post was "Christmas Past" so I thought this one would be perfectly named for several reasons. Today I post pictures of our current Christmas, here at our home with our two beautiful boys and all the wonderful "presents" we received. Yes there was "stuff" but there was also the simple joy that we witnessed on Ben's face today and the time with family and friends.

Last night we had our local family over to celebrate the holiday, including Tim's mother, her parents, and Tim's brothers Keith and Brian and Brian's son Jack. We ate lots of yummies and of course there were gifts aplenty! But, before the festivities even started it was apparent what Gavin's favorite part of Christmas was going to be... the wrapped presents and paper! Here he is, caught in the actHere are some more shots from last night.

Mother Bear, Gavin, Keith

Cousins Jack and Ben talkin' it over
Tim's grandparents Gordon & Carolyn Teague

Oh and Gavin also liked the tree...

Today we had a great time watching the boys open and enjoy their toys but only after making sure they had on their matching holiday p.j.s! Tim made a wonderful breakfast with our new Belgian waffle maker (a gift from "Mrs. Claus") and Mother Bear was able to witness the boys' excitement too since she stayed over so we could sing at Midnight Mass early this morning. Ben's gift from Santa was none other than his very own Tidmouth Sheds for his Thomas collection. Inside the shed was his favorite train, Lady. Just one question... Can a little boy have a crush on a train?? If so, he has one on her! Here are the boys in all the Christmas morning cuteness

The toy on the right is Gavin's Santa present. It makes noise and has little balls that go with it, so it's definitely a hit with the 7 month old plus crowd (Ben liked it too!). Here are Tim and Ben with their favorite presents. Tim is wearing his new Tony Romo Cowboys jersey and Ben is holding Lady. Oh the joy. I thought Tim might cry when he pulled his jersey out of the box. I cannot remember if he slept in it or cuddled up with it... hmmmm... You see, because I bought him this I get to be his wife for at least another few years! HA!

At first Ben played with his shed on the floor, where Santa had set it up, but then it had to be moved to his train table. It might actually be a tie for favorite present...

Gavin liked his Santa present but unfortunately we did not have the batteries required. Thank goodness Walgreens is open on Christmas Day. The thought of people working there today does upset me but it sure is nice when you need something... So, once those were installed it was much more fun.

We spent the rest of the day just hanging out and our friends Chandler, Claudia and Ethan came over. Ethan brought some of his Christmas presents over and the boys had fun playing together as usual. Have you ever seen a Catepillar bakehoe and T-Rex race before? Well today is your lucky day!
We had a very nice and enjoyable Christmas at home. Although I did miss being with my family at this very special time of the year, I didn''t miss having to lug home all the goods! My parents will be here in a couple of days to celebrate with us and once more I can only be so thankful for the family and friends that surround us.

Of course let us not forget the real "present" of Christmas, the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

"For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his Name shall be called: Wonderful, Counselor, All Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." -Isaiah 9:6

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Past

I really LOVE this picture of me during what I presume to be my second Christmas season circa 1976. I would have been about 21 months old. I am just gazing up at the tree in awe I suppose. Who knows what I was thinking, but I think it's a great shot. I am going to guess that my daddy took this picture, but I would have to ask to know for sure.

The fact that the picture is turning yellow on the bottom reminds me that there are about a kazillion pictures out there that I wish I had time to scan of me and my family when I was growing up, etc. You know, before digital images were even a thought. Unfortunately, I think it is only a matter of time before many of those pictures are unrecoverable

Anyway, I just wanted to share this image and recapture a little of my childhood and the sheer joy that children get from the season. Only 5 days left!

P.S. Don't you just love the shag carpet?? HA!

Playing Catch Up

I have been so busy looking at other blogs and "touring" other homes on the internet that I haven't had time to put a few things on here that I have wanted to. So here area a couple of updates.

Last Friday the playgroup came to our house for play time and cookie decorating. We had a good time and the kids left with some very beautiful treats! ; ) Here are a few highlights.Chloe and Ethan are just getting started on their cookies.

Here's Trinity with a couple of her masterpieces

Ben made the Christmas tree "for Daddy!"

Kirstyn with her lovely and yummy cookies!

Yesterday we had breakfast with Santa at Ben's school. Ben was extremely eager to sit in his lap but when his turn came he wouldn't really look at him. Honestly I think Santa's oh-so-fluffly beard was bothering him! He finally told him what he wants for Christmas after much prodding. Gavin got to sit in his lap too and took a few of those beard hairs in his hand as a souvenir!

The kids were all quite excited to see him when he first arrived and many of them created this barrier in front of him, which I thought was quite amusing. I assume some of their mommies and daddies were saying "get in the picture with Santa" but it was just too funny how they flocked to him and looked to be guarding him almost!

Christmas Tour of Homes

While continuing to blog about my the boys and other family happenings, I am also getting involved and "joining in" on certain events, contests, etc. that other blogs host. I think I mentioned a little while ago that blogging is running rampant throughout the internet world and it's like it's own separate world!

So, today I am getting in on Boo Mama's Christmas Tour of Homes, 2007. She has a list of links on her blog to many other blogs (mine included) in which each one has linked to pictures of their home during the holidays.

Below you will find some pictures of our home and some of the favorite things in our house during the holidays. So, Come on In!

Upon entering the house there is a festive wreath on the door, the first dose of holiday cheer!

Next to see is the tree, the "biggest" and the most beautiful Christmas symbol (besides the baby Jesus of course) in my opinion. As I put in an earlier post, we purchased a new, pre-lit one this year and it is quite a bit wider than our old one. However, I think the time saved on lights was taken up by the extra "fluffing" time!

Here are couple of ornaments to highlight this year.

Here is Ben's first school-made ornament. I plan on keeping this FOREVER, since one of the coolest things about my Mother's tree is that she still has all of our handmade ornaments that we made as children and I just love to look at them when I am at her house for the holidays.

Ben and I made this one together at a playgroup event where we painted our own ornaments. As you could probably guess, Ben painted all the GREEN and I did the little red ornaments and yellow star. Team work!This ornament was purchased while Tim and I were on our honeymoon and I just think it is so cute. It says where we went (Deer Valley, Utah) and the snow people look so happy together - just as we are!

There are MANY other ornaments that I love but we would be here forever just on that subject... so, moving along.

Here is our mantle/fireplace area.I collect Santas so here are 3 of the bigger ones in front of the fireplace. Notice there are only two stockings? Well, there is a good reason for this. My mother-in-law has hand-crafted all of our stockings and she has taken re-possession of Ben's so that she could add something to it (guess what - a train!) and she is in the process of making Gavin's so that is why only Tim and my stocking are in this picture.

Here is our little nativity. It is humble and lowly, don't you think? No, really the manger was passed down from my parents so it holds a special place in my heart. Nothing fancy here, but I assume that is how it really was when our Savior was born, so it's quite fitting I think.

These are on a bookcase in our living room. I believe I picked them up at a Salvation Army store, nevertheless I just love them. Tim and I both sing and love Christmas music (also noted in a previous blog) and I think they are darling.

Here is the table that holds all the Christmas greeting cards. Of course some of our friends have decided to send e-cards this year, so sorry... but your cards are not in the picture...

Venturing into the kitchen we see this lovely handmade door decoration. I thought it was cute when Ben first brought it home from school but it's pretty sad that the 3 year-old had to point out to his thirty-something mother that the door knob makes his nose. DUH!

In our den I display some more of the Santa collection. You may not be able to see them so well, but there are 5 of the smaller ones that I own.

And here is another picture of the living room that Tim took last night with our new camera (our other one was horrible and so we just accepted it and bought a new one!)

That's about all. No fancy dining room because ours is currently the kids' playroom, but someday... oh I do hope someday. Merry Christmas to you all! We hope you enjoyed this little tour of the Alguire home at the holidays!

Alguire Elves

Have you seen Elf Yourself yet? One of the blogs I read had a link to her family and then last night Tim's cousin Sally sent us her family of elves. Too Cute! Anyway, check out the Alguire Elves when you get a chance!

Jeans & 7 Months

Did someone say free designer jeans?? Here's a link to where you can go to enter this contest too! It's a site called True Jeans where they take your exact measurements and make jeans that are just right for you. Sounds good to me!

Oh and I know that I just posted a some pictures of Gavin last night but today he is 7 months old, so of course I have to mark that milestone.

I think he asked Santa for some hair products for Christmas so he can tame his crazy do! Nah, actually he loves his hair, as a matter of fact he was just telling me the other day how it gets all the ladies!

Bath Time and Smilebox

My friend Tracy told me about Smilebox today. It's a website where you can go to make videos, digital scrapbook pages, postcards, etc. So, I decided to "bite" and I got on the site tonight and put these cute bath pictures of Gavin on this digital page. If you click on the play button it brings up a short advertisement (because this part is free, so you have to see the ad) and then a bigger version of the page. Of course I could just post the pictures, but I wanted to try this and thought it was cute.

I don't know if you can read it on the page, but I put on there that bath time is the only time that Gavin's hair does not stick up, which is a completly true statement. I have to say I am overwhelmed with his cuteness these days, whether he's in the bath or not.

Make a scrapbook - it's easy!

Candy Cane Love

I decided to investigate the history of the candy cane today. "Why?" you may ask... Well because for some reason Ben has been has been obsessed with them for the last few days so I figured I would look it up on wikipedia. He keeps asking me "Momma, what is a candy cane?" He made a beaded one at school the other day (so cute to hang on the tree) and... OH! they are made of candy, one of Ben's favorite things EVER, so that probably explains the current excitement about them. Here's the history if you want to know too.

No Fuss, No Muss Gingerbread House

Okay, even if you are not a child, you will have fun with this. At least I did. Just click here and you can decorate your own gingerbread house online. It's so cute! Have Fun!

Christmas Memories

I believe in Santa Claus, in some form or fashion, don't you? Well, when I was a little girl Santa came to my house pretty early on Christmas Eve, mostly because we had to be at Midnight Mass by 11 to get a seat, and because we were headed to my Grandmother's house early the next morning. Good thing he knew our schedule, huh??

My older brothers were "good sports" and would help hide me while "he" came to deliver my toys. Santa rang a familiar bell and later I would come to find out that it was the one that sat in the curio cabinet of our Grandfather clock! It seems like I remember the sound of his reindeer's hooves on the roof too, but I am not exactly sure how he would have managed that! Maybe I just made that up in my head. But whatever sounds I heard, the anticipation was almost too much to bear as I waited to see what was left under the tree each year. My best memories of gifts that Santa delivered included a Little People doll house (that my mother still has) and a lavendar bicycle with a banana seat - loved that bike! Can't you all just picture me in my leg warmers and slinky bracelets, toolin' around the neighborhood on that baby?? Oh, I did love to ride my bike...
Anyway, my memory has faded over the years but I am sure there were many other gifts that I was infatuated with - those 2 just stand out in my mind the most.

I don't remember what age I was when I learned that Santa wasn't one, jolly red-suited man, but I have never stopped believing that the spirit of his being is always alive in our hearts at Christmas, especially when you have children of your own. Many people have asked Ben what he has asked Santa for this year and his reply is always "A Thomas engine." Gee, imagine that! I only hope that Tim and I can create some of the same memories for our children that our parents did for us on those Christmas Eves and mornings.

Highchair Happiness

Gavin has graduated to the big high chair that Ben used to use. I don't know how it is for other mothers, but it's a little surreal to see your new baby sit in the chair that your first baby sat in over and over and over... Gavin is almost as old as Ben was when we moved into this house, so because of that, coupled with the high chair and hand-me-downs, I have had many memories lately of Ben as a baby. I will admit, you forget a lot and since Ben was in daycare at this point I am unsure even when to start feeding Gavin "breakfast" or "lunch." Right now he only gets other stuff at dinner time. (Any tips on that would be greatly appreciated). So, because I have had the memories, here is a picture of my Ben at around 7 months.

Ain't he cute? He was this age right around Halloween, so that's what is up with the bib.

And here is Gavin in the high chair that he will use over and over and over.

This Morning...

... I am up early. Well, I am ususally up pretty early with the baby, and I was again today but now he is snuggled back in his bed as are the rest of the "boys" in my life, while I am in the kitchen baking for our church choir bake sale today.

It has become quite the event these days. When Tim and I first started going to our church, right after we were married, it was just a little bake sale that made us a little money for our Christmas musical but NOW it's this huge bake, craft, raffle sale and it brings in the big bucks, let me tell ya! Anyway, I am making a few breads and some cupcakes.

As far as the craft part goes, most everyone knows I LOVE to scrapbook so my contribution to that part of the sale are these:

They are kind of like oversized Christmas tags. I bought a kit of tags and ribbon and some ebelishments at the big scrapbooking convention, here in Arlington, a couple of summers ago and decided to use most of it for these, plus some of my other scraps and miscellaneaous things. The ones here are 3 of 15 that I made, and these were some of my favorites. Maybe I can recreate them again as long as I have a picture.

So, hopefully the sale will be a big success again this year and right now my house smells like pumpkin bread - yummy!

Wanted - Advent Wreath!

We always had an advent wreath in our house when I was growing up. We would light the appropriate candles during each Sunday of Advent, just as it is done during mass. For several years now I have wanted to create one for my family to carry on the tradition and for whatever reason I had yet to do so. After this week I now know why.

Here's my story of the search for the (almost) impossible. I bought just a regular wreath at Joann's the other day and decided to do little votive holders for the candlers rather than tapers, thinking that those could just sit within the greenery. Well, finding one pink votive and 3 purple ones proved EXTREMELY difficult. After visitng several stores that retail all types and colors of candles I wound up in the bargain basement section of Garden Ridge with 1 pink, 2 purple and a sort of purplish/plum color votive. I couldn't even find 3 that match, but at this point I was out of patience! So, after all my efforts tomorrow we will light the 2 candles on the second Sunday of Advent (yes, I know I am a week late, but at least I accomplished it at some point this year!). Now I just have to search for some ribbon, since I was waiting to see exactly what color the candles were going to be first. Let's say an Advent prayer that the ribbon is easier to find than the votives. Amen.

Christmas Music

I am an musician - yes it may be in the slighest sense of the word - but I do sing in public and sometimes even for pay (!) and have since I was a little girl. I used to "play" the piano (again using the term "play" VERY lightly!) and I can read and sightread music. I say all this leading up to the fact that I LOVE Christmas music, as does my hubby. I think this is why we got together in the first place... Oh, no, just kidding ... a little.

Christmas music has always been a big part of my life whether singing it in the choir in school or at church or playing it on the piano while at my parent's house for the holidays. Or... listening in the car. See, pretty much every year since we've been married Tim has compiled a new CD of various Christmas songs that we could listen to on the way to Austin in the car. Although it usually includes some new finds, he also recycles several of our favorites each year so that we can hear them again and... again. I always look forward to the new CD (hint, hint hubby!) and I've listed my top 10 favorite Christmas songs below. A few of these are ALL TIME favs while others are of the moment and could change at any point. Most of them however have provided years of seasonal emjoyoment. By the way, these are in no particular order because I wouldn't be able to choose.

1. Breath of Heaven - Amy Grant

2. God Rest ye Merry Gentlemen - Bare Naked Ladies/Sarah McLachlan

3. O Holy Night - Jewel's version

4. The Christmas Song - Celine Dion's version

5. Little Drummer Boy - Jars of Clay

6. River - Sarah McLachlan

7. Linus & Lucy / Christmas Time is Here - Vince Guaraldi

8. Sleigh Ride - Leroy Anderson Arrangement

9. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas - Martina McBride

10. Merry Christmas Baby - Sheryl Crow

So there it is, the current list of the songs I love to hear the most at this time of the year. Let me know your favorites in a comment if you want. I can't wait to "hear" them - HA!

Also, I am trying to see if I can do a blog entry every day this week since yesterday so make sure to check back when you can for the new stuff!

Cool CHRISTMAS Song/Video

My friend Jennifer Gibson sent me this video and I just love it. Not only does it say what a lot of us Christians want to express at this time of the year, but it's also quite catchy too! Enjoy it!

Click here

Hives, etc.

Well, Gavin's issue turned out to be "just" hives. At least that is how the pediatrician said it to me. I took him there on Friday morning because he broke out pretty bad again and of course by the time we got there and saw the doctor they were pretty much gone. He said that it was probably something he breathed in or ingested that caused him to have an allergic reaction and basically as long as he's breathing okay it's fine and to just keep giving him a little benadryl. He also said that he could break out form the same thing for up to 2 weeks. Great! Such comfort to a mother, I tell ya! Anyway, he still had a few today but each time it is less and less.

Not much else going on with us right now except Tim is working like crazy and let's just all pray he makes it through this very busy month. (Let's pray I make it through too! ; ) )He and Ben did get to spend some Daddy/Boy time together on Saturday when Tim took him to see the spectacular train display at North Park Mall. Apparently it is quite amazing. I am thinking of taking him again just so I can see it too!

Here are couple of cute pics of the boys (Gavin is hive-free!)

Gavin now likes to play with the plastic bowls and such so this is him playing in the kitchen tonight and Ben wanting to be with him too. They are getting to the point where they really seem more like brothers to me now, not just the older boy and the baby (does that make sense??)... and it's quite cute. I can't wait until they can really play together. Notice Ben's skinny legs? Well Gavin's are quite different! HA! The chunk on that boy is quite amazing but oh so cute. I do love my boys...