Christmas 2008

It's no secret that I don't like Christmas. I like Jesus' birthday but not shopping, Santa, etc. due to my many, many unfortunate years in retail sales; but this Christmas was really very nice. It may have been my best Christmas yet! Samantha was old enough this year and Jessica was not too old to enjoy Santa and all the new toys, and there were lots of new toys. It took me days to clean out the playroom to make space for all I expected Santa to bring. Their favorite new toy is the Wii that Aunt Sue and Uncle Scott gave them.

We had two Nativity scenes displayed for Christmas. I set them up the traditional way and Jessica decided it just wasn't quite right. I'll let the pictures of what she did speak for themselves...

...isn't it beautiful! I would have never thought to put Jesus in the center with everyone in a circle looking just at him,
but isn't that the way it should be? 

"And Jesus called a little child to him, and set him in the midst of them, And said, Verily I say to you, Except you be converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven." Matthew Chapter 18 verses 2-4.

Bethel Christmas Programs

Jessica and Samantha were both in the Bethel Christmas Programs this year. Samantha's play was first. The younger children did the traditional manager scene play and Jessica's group did a Carribean Christmas play.

Here's a picture of Samantha in her play. She "is" an angel.
Here's Sam and Aunt Sue watching Jessica's play.Below is Galyne and Jessica performing at the Carribean Christmas play. The backdrop and props were great. Mrs. Nikki and the others did a fantastic job. It was a lot of fun to watch too.

The children performed a song called Jonkonnu Is Here. It must have been a favorite of Jessica's because she sang it all the time. Jonkonnu is a colorful Jamaican celebration with musicians and dancers dressed in masquerade who parade through the streets. The picture below shows Hayden, Galyne, and Jessica dressed for Jonkonnu. They made the masques themselves......Samantha especially liked the masque.

Dale County Christmas Parade

The girls had a great time at the parade. Samantha, Sela and Kadyn all rode in the parade as Relay for Life Queens. Summer drove them in her SUV because it was freezing cold out that night (they had planned to ride on Corvettes.) Jessica rode in the passenger's seat with Mrs. Summer. They had a blast!

Here we are waiting at Colby's restaurant before the parade.

Nana and Hanna came and Clint got there just as Samantha was passing by.

We all went to eat at Rodeo's after the parade.Samantha is saying "Give me the camera." The picture below of Clint is one of the pictures she took when she got the camera from me.

Slumber Party for Callie and MaLeah!

I don't have any pictures but I had to include this in the blog. Jessica and Samantha were invited to a slumber party for Callie and MaLeah's birthday. The party was at Heath and Brandi's new house. It is a great place to have a slumber party. There are lots of rooms and lots of toys and a big staircase and balcony. It is absolutely stunning. Anyway, the staircase is where the interesting story comes in. Samantha was coming down the stairs and tripped. We think her head hit the wrought iron stair rail. She gashed her head open right above her forehead. They said her hair and face was covered in blood. When they finally got her cleaned up and saw the gash they thought there must be another one because there was so much blood. Jody kept looking for another gash but there wasn't one.
When Sue and I got there they were all in the kitchen holding a washcloth on her head. Brandi was holding her at the sink like a baby and she had blood on her shirt. What an adventure for the children. Morgan couldn't believe that Samantha wasn't crying. She said she would have. Jessica was upset but everything turned out fine. Samantha was having such a great time at the slumber party she didn't want to leave. She told me that she wanted to stay to find out if slumber parties were really "real." She finally decided to come home with us at 11:00 so I could keep an eye on her. I guess our "Party Curse" is not just for parties we give but for other parties too!
Jessica and Morgan were still up this morning at 1:00 eating Doritos in the kitchen. Nikki woke up and found them and made them go to bed!

Commander Hank Hartsfield

I went to see Hank Hartsfield at Troy Dothan. He is an astronaut from AUBURN! He talked about his missions and I was just in awe. He has logged 483 hours in space. He told us that he was the only astronaut who ate grits for breakfast! Here is his biography http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/hartsfield-hw.html

Here I am with Commander Hartsfield. Commander Hartsfield is on the front row second from the right. This is a picture of the crew from the last successful Columbia mission. That is Judy Resnik on the back row.This is a picture of the space lab on one of his flights.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a great Thanksgiving at Mom and Dad's. Dewayne, Linda, Drew, Hanna, and Lucille were all there. Robert and his girlfriend came later. We went to the river and rode in Clint's black boat after lunch. It was a warm day obviously.

It's me Eloise (at the Plaza)!

Dale County Christmas Pageant

Samantha had a great time "working" at the pageant. She took her job of crowning very seriously. Here she is with Tenley the 2008 Toddler winner.

Here is Jessica with Ashtin. Jessica placed 2nd and won the People's Choice award!

Doesn't she look like Cinderella? Okay.... enough of that where are the presents for the princesses!

Caison and Hayden's B'day Party

The party was at Kidzone in Ozark.

That's Samantha's "boyfriend" Blake in the top picutre!

Peanut Festival

The girls had a great time at the Peanut Festival Fair. Here they are with Hudson and Gunner. Gunner was being a good sport!

Briggs couldn't come down for the fair on his birthday because he had strep throat. Aunt Margie let the girls help decorate his cake. She certainly has a lot of patience! The girls loved it. I think they worked on it an hour. They were glad they were able to help Briggs celebrate his birthday even though he couldn't come to Dothan. Aunt Margie and Uncle Henry took the cake to B'ham.

New Mexico Hunt

Clint went elk hunting at the Philmont Ranch in New Mexico last week.
Here is a picture of his elk. He made the longest shot ever made on the ranch.

This is the land he was hunting. I wouldn't make it a half hour.

Sela's Annual Halloween Bash

Jes was so excited because she was spending the night with Sela after the party.

Well...the girls had a great time at the party and we got a new family member (again.)

Meet Sunny Eloise Sanders. I screamed when I saw them come in with a new fish but we realize now how much we missed having one.

Samantha's (2nd) Ear Piercing

Samantha got her ear's pierced for the second time at Merle Norman in Ozark. The first time Jessica and Samantha both got their ear's pierced and Jessica had trouble with hers after the six weeks was over. So Jes let hers heal and Samantha followed suit. But this time Samantha wanted her ear's pierced whether sister did or not. We did run into some trouble. After the first ear she decided it hurt and didn't want to do the other ear. We had to leave one ear pierced and took her back a few days later to do the other ear. This time the lady piercing her ears used a little cream to numb the ear and it didn't hurt her a bit.

Trunk or Treat!

The girls had a fantastic time at Bethel's Trunk or Treat again this year.

Mrs. Darlene and Mrs. Nikki read the story 3 in 1: A Picture of God. The trunks were great this year. I especially liked the "70's" trunk.

Samantha was Hannah Montana. Samantha walked up to Galyne's cousin Jackson and said "You are so cute!"