Well, Neil actually got the computer to turn on late last night, so I thought I would jump on here. We are having lots of problems with the laptop, and I can't do pictures from our desk top. That computer is completely full. I can't even add pictures to it. I can still blog from the other, but it's boring without pictures. I will try to add our Christmas stuff later, if it stays on!

Bye!

Merry Christmas!

From: Neil, Camie, Emma, and Lily

The girls had their Christmas program last night. It was so much fun! And we were pleasantly surprised that my grandparents came down to see them. We had my parents, my dad's parents, my mom's mom, and Neil's parents there.

The girls were so cute.


Lily was a little elf.



And Emma had to wear red.

They both were so good! They really knew what they were doing, and were so serious about it. Emma really got into the spirit and was shaking it. Someone saw Neil waving at Emma when he went to get her afterward, and asked if she was his. Neil said yes, and the man said that Emma was the best one out of all of them. So sweet! And yes, I'm bragging. I decided, it's my blog, I can brag. :) Just kidding. I'm just really proud of her.
It was really hard getting pictures, so, I'm just gonna try to put the videos in here. They are so cute! I really hope you enjoy them!

(The lights were really bothering Lily. That's why she keeps covering her face.)

Ok, I am working on getting the videos on. I'll post them when I have a chance!

Christmas Parties!

I am exhausted! I just spent an hour, running between two classes, helping with two Christmas parties. We had tons of food. Probably twice as much as either class could eat. But I'm thrilled that parents actually came and helped out! We had so many people in both classes. So much better than the two last year. I did take my camera, but wasn't able to take many pictures. I ended up having to put the camera up so I could run around. But I did take a couple.


This is Lily playing pin the star (the red bow) on the tree. That's her teacher in the red sweater. She is just the best teacher for our girls. She had Emma reading before she was out of Pre-k, and I am certain Lily will be doing the same!


Here is Lily waiting for a candy cane from Santa. They weren't able to do their pictures with him this year. I'm not sure what happened. There were different excuses, from a family member dying, (they actually told pre-k this) to his sleigh breaking down. (This was told to the 1st grade.) So, they were excited to see him. Lily was especially excited because she wasn't scared of him. This is huge, because last year, when he came to Thursday school, she was hiding under the table crying until they brought her to me. It took me about 5 minutes to calm her down so we could go stand about 4 feet from him to get a candy cane. The little girl in the middle, wearing blue, is her best friend Kara. She is pretty sweet. Her older sister is in Emma's class and one of her good friends. When Lily and Kara leave each other, they have to hug each other. This afternoon, Kara said, "Lily! Hugs and kisses!" So they hugged and kissed each other goodbye. So cute!


She didn't get close enough to actually touch him, except for his hand, but hey, she never ran to a table, so I am so proud of her!!!!!


I didn't get to take many pictures in Emma's class. I walked in after Santa gave her a candy cane. So, here she is drinking her juice. She had lots of fun! I wish I had gotten some pictures of her with her friends and teacher. But there's always next time.

They had their programs last night, and they were awesome. So, I'll go and write about that.

Bye!

Field Trip

Emma went to see Santa and to watch a movie with the first grade last Friday. I got to tag along. I didn't take many pictures, but here are a few.


Here is Emma and one of her best friends. They were standing in line to see Santa. They were so excited. The whole class was crazy!


They were being very silly. I couldn't take my own picture of her with Santa, but I'm hoping I get a copy of the one her teacher took. Then they ate their sack lunch and headed to the theater. We watched Bolt. It was really cute! Emma wanted the Nintendo DS game from Santa, after seeing the movie. (She needs a Nintendo DS to play it though.) (Shhh! Don't tell her, but we got her one for Christmas!)


She had lots of fun!

Cookies! Cookies! Cookies!

I got one thing off my list of "To Do's" tonight." Cookies for the girls teachers! I even had a photographer taking step by step pictures, too. He was very acrobatic. He even brought in a ladder to get a bird's eye view. He's so sweet!


Here we are getting started. They are wearing aprons that my grandmother gave us. Too cute!


I told them they had to take turns or I was gonna make them myself. They did really good. We only had a few bumps. Like for some reason, the package only wanted 1 egg. Not good with 2 girls. But we make it work. Emma broke the egg, and...

Lily poured it in there.


They really liked to put their hands in the flour, before I had them roll out the dough.


See?


Things tended to get messy, but that was expected!



Here's Lily rolling out her batch of cookies...


...and using the cookie cutters.


She had to get messy too!


I love this picture!


Now for the decorating. I was way too lazy to mix up some icing, so we just used colored sugar. They were very pretty!


She had lots of fun!


Here they are baking, ignore the messy oven!



Now it's Emma's turn! Rolling out the dough...


...cutting cookies...


...decorating...


...now they are baking!!


Here are Mrs. Sanchez's cookies.


Quality control!

And here's Ms. Pierce's cookies.

The girls did really good, and the cookies were delicious. The final package turned out great, we filled them up with cookies and then tied ornaments to them. Very sweet. I know they will love giving them to their teachers!

Chirstmas Time!

Lily and Emma's Christmas program is tomorrow night! I am so excited! I remember last year, I sat there and cried because I knew next year Lily would be up there. They just grow up so fast! Anyway, Neil brought home a nifty camcorder from work to use tomorrow night, so I might have a video to upload on here. The programs are so cute, the music teacher really does a good job. I'm afraid we might lose her next year because she's having a baby. Anyway, it's gonna be really fun.

We should also be making cookies tonight. We usually make some for the teachers and the neighbors, so I'll be sure to take pictures of it and share. They are really excited about it. We have a lot of stuff coming up, the girls are having their Christmas programs/parties Thursday and Friday, and we are going to see family this weekend, and Neil will be on holiday/vacation for 2 weeks, so hopefully we will have lots to post about.

So, stay tuned!

I have finally finished my Christmas shopping! Yeah! I am so relieved! I ran to Lubbock today to finish up. I also went to Neil's Christmas party! He got an awesome digital key chain too. It was such a long day. I even had to call the school to have Lily go to the bus room. I just didn't have enough time in my afternoon. But we are now home, my dishes are done, and I'm just about to get supper going. It has been a very productive day! Now, I really have to get some wrapping done so the girls know we did buy them some stuff. Right now, all we have under the tree is the gift Emma got Lily. But at least my tree is up, right? (Treesa ;)!) So, all I gotta do is have Lily buy something for Emma. Should be easy enough! Ok, I've ran out of stuff to write, and I've really gotta quit putting off cooking, so I'll sign off now.
Bye!
Camie

Oh, and Mom, have you tried Game Stop in Amarillo for a Wii? They had some today at ours. Of course they sold the last one when I went in there. Anyway, good luck!

She's home!

Lily is home safe and sound. She is now taking a much needed nap along with her sister. She had so much fun, but was ready to be home. Mommy, Daddy, and Emma missed her very much! The first thing Emma said to me this morning was, "Mommy, I miss my sister." I told her, "I do too! We leave in 20 minutes to go pick her up!" We went to town to get some groceries, and get a few things at the mall. Yeah, it was pretty busy there! Neil was a trooper and didn't complain any! I only wanted to go to two stores, and then we were outta there. The girls were so tired, it almost wasn't worth the trip, but we needed food so bad. Plus, the next week is gonna be sooooo busy! I can't believe it's the last week before Christmas! The girls get out of school Friday, after their fun Christmas parties. At least they better be fun, I'm the room mother in both classes! Anyway, I'm really excited! Neil is taking off the two weeks the girls are off, so I am so ready for that! I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Love, Camie

Mommy Moment

I'm having a mommy moment here. Bare with me. My baby is at her first slumber party. I bet you are thinking I'm talking about Emma too, huh. Nope! It's Lily. Can you believe it? Her friend, Cadence, was having a birthday slumber party tonight. She was so excited!!! I thought for sure she would want to play for a little bit, and then come home to sleep. But so far I haven't gotten a call. Of course, it's only 8:46 pm. Who knows what will happen between now and 9:00 am. But I really think she's gonna do it. I just can't believe she was ready for this. And the sad thing about this is, this is Emma and Lily's first night apart since Neil and I brought Lily home from the hospital! I can't believe how hard it was to let her stay. Well, yeah I can. But it was really nice to have Emma all to myself. I took her to Burger King for supper. And then we went and bought Lily a Christmas gift from Emma. Anyway, just letting you in on my mommy moment.

Happy Birthday!

Today is my nephew's birthday! Johnathon would have been 9 years old.
Happy birthday baby boy!

Not a day goes by that I don't think about you.
We love you and miss you so much!!!

Here's your picture Neil...

Neil worked out front again this morning. We decided to add more green lights to the roof. And he added Santa, the snowman, and the angel to the yard as well. Just so you know, the Santa and reindeer move, so it might look a little funny. As we drove up a little earlier, the girls and I were excited to see the lights on. (Neil has them on a timer.) They are so pretty. So, if you come see us, come when it's dark so you can get the full effect. :)

And again, I need a tripod, and now I know I need a remote, so not the best picture at all.

Mom again!

I know I just emailed you saying the small blooms were gone, and there was no more smell, but look what I just found...

They must just want to bloom at night, and the scent is back, strong as ever. I see now that the small blooms are from the first blooms. I think each one turns into these flowers. Very pretty!

My Poor Emma

This girl has become a magnet for bees. A couple of weeks ago, she was standing in the living room holding Cade. She was walking over to the couch when she stepped on a sticker. Down went Cade. He landed gently, but we let her know that when you are holding a baby, you have to put them down gently, then take care of yourself. She was tending to her owie and I asked her to pick up the big, black sticker. She kinda freaked out when she saw it was a bee. She really thought she was gonna be sick. Poor baby. She had stepped on the bee and gotten stung. Thankfully we now know she is not allergic to bees. This was very good information to know today, because she got stung yet again. And not by usual means once again. Ya know, a bee landing on you and stinging you. Oh no. She can't be easy about. She has to be creative. She was sitting at the table with Lily eating her chili dog this afternoon, when she took a drink from her can. Yelp, she took a drink of a bee. Neil and I heard a splat, and we thought she spilled her drink. She came running into the living room saying she got stung by a bee in her mouth. She was really upset. So, I took her in the bathroom to clean up, and I looked in her mouth. On the side of her tongue was the stinger. So, I took that out, we cleaned her up, and I went looking for a bee. Sure enough, he was next to her chair. Just a little black bee, just like before. I think we will be pouring our drinks into a cup from now on. Thank goodness Neil was home, or we might have had to take a trip to town. But he kept me rational, and I kept Emma rational. My poor baby!

It is starting to swell a little on the lower right hand side. Thankfully, it's not hurting her any. We did give her some Benadryl. So, maybe it will go down soon. I still can't believe her tongue got stung by a bee!

Christmas Decorations!!!

Neil dug out our Christmas decorations this morning. He put the lights on the house, and then went to work. So, the girls and I have been working to get the house clean and decorated. It was a lot of fun, but we sure missed daddy, so we took pictures along the way to show him. And, as always, we saved the star for him.

Neil decided last year that he didn't want to mess with a real tree anymore, so he talked me into buying a fake one. We bought a cheapy from Walmart, with the plans to buy a really nice one after Christmas. Well, that never happened, so we are using the cheapy again this year. It's a pretty one, though. We accidentally grabbed a tree with different colored lights, instead of clear, but the girls loved it, so I'm glad we messed up.


This is the girls ready to get it started. They just could NOT wait to get it up. "Hold on, wait, just a second," was just not something they understood today.

But we got it up. And it's very pretty.


And here it is decorated.


I let the girls decorate it. Can you tell? I only did the delicate decorations. I love it. It's so cute. I think this is the first time I just sat back and let them do it. I think they were very proud of it!



We found the Santa hats. I think Lily is saying "Ho, ho, ho." So funny!

Here's Neil's elf hat. Emma was singing a song about elves while I took her picture. I love this picture. You can see her freckles really good. She's so cute!


They were pretending to be Santa's elves working on toys. Emma first, and then...


...it was Lily's turn to be an elf. They are so funny. They both have to do it, and they both have to have a picture of it. Very sweet! Oh, can you see the stocking Emma is wearing on her foot? She actually fit into that thing when she was two months old. I have a picture of it sitting on my piano. She has gotten so big!


And here is the house. I thought it was a cool picture so I thought I would post it. I really need a tripod! Anyway, you can see the green lights we added to the clear, and our Christmas tree is the red lights in the middle. It's really pretty out in the yard. Neil is gonna put up the Santa, angel, and snowman tomorrow, so I'll get more pictures later. Maybe he can help me set up a steadier picture.

Neil should be home soon, so I will write more later!

Love, Camie

Mom,

This is so much easier than sending an email with pictures. Here is the plant. Isn't it pretty? This was taken a few days ago.

Here it is today...


See the tiny blooms? I still can't believe how strong the smell is. It's pretty, but so strong. Do you know what kind of plant it is? I'm glad it's covering the smell of the dust on the Christmas stuff. I've got lots to clean!

Love, Camie

Legwarmers

I made the girls leg warmers. They are so cute. I wish I had a better picture of them, but we were heading to school. I bought some more skirts for them to wear with them, and some Christmas shirts. I will try to get some better pictures soon. But I just wanted to show Mom and Sabrina how they turned. They turned out to be a huge hit. Everyone has asked me about them. I just love that they keep Lily's legs warm in her skirts and dresses.

'Twas the night before Thanksgiving...

These poor girls were so excited to be going to Grandma's that they couldn't sleep. They finally crawled into bed together and this is how I found them a couple of hours later. Aren't they so sweet! If you can't tell, they are holding hands and sound asleep.


Anyway, this is gonna be a huge post, so get ready. I had to weed through TONS of pictures to come up with these, so I hope you enjoy them!


This is my nephew Jeffrey. I almost didn't recognize him. It's been a long while since I last saw him, and my how he has grown. He is huge! Well, actually, he's just tall. He has lost a lot of weight. He has been working out with the football team. I am so incredibly proud of this boy! He has gone through so much, and he is so sweet and strong despite or maybe because of it. I still can't believe how big you are Jeff. I still see you as that sweet, little boy that stay with me and Uncle Neil. I love you sweety! This boy is so ornery. He came home with us to Grandma's, so we got to spend more time together. He's always been a cuddler, and even at 13, thought he could still sit on my lap. He did until I had to push him off because my legs were going to sleep. You are definatly not a baby anymore kiddo!


This is me and my sister in law Sabrina. I love this girl so much! She is one of my very best friends. She is so much fun to be with, and when we are together, I end up with a stomach ache from laughing so hard. I was trying to get her to pose, and she did very well! But, I won't post those pictures, so I don't embarrass her, even though they are so funny!


This is my handsome daddy, Duane. He's not much of picture taker, but I had to get one in here. He is one of the most compassionate, patient, loving men I know. I am very blessed to have him for my dad!


Here is my brother Ike and his son Kade. Isn't he a cutie? He's finally come around to his Aunt Kissy. (Me) He loves to be chased. One of his favorite games. He wears me out, but it's so hard to stop because he gets so tickled. It's so cute!

Here is my pretty momma. She is another person who can make me laugh so hard. She is a lot of fun to be with. She is going through a lot right now. (So, please remember her in your prayers.) She has taken over the care of my grandmother. She is a very courageous person for doing this. Even though she gets exhausted, I know that she will be very blessed for taking her in. You are doing a great job, MOM! We are very proud of you!

Here is Isaac and Sabrina. This is a great picture! I'll have to print it off for you guys.


Here is Emma and her Grandma. I'm embarrassed to admit, but I didn't get many pictures of Emma this weekend. She was soooo busy playing with her cousins. She adores them! She was constantly with them, so she wasn't in front of the camera like she usually is. But she did stop long enough to get some lovins' from Grandma.


Here are all the girls of the family, except for GG. (Starting from the left: Destany, Sabrina, Me, Emma, Laura, Grandma, Lily, Katelyn, and Mandy on top)
It was the best picture, but of course Laura has her tongue hanging out. Silly girl!


Lily decided to take a LONG nap before, during, and after dinner. She was so hungry, I felt so bad she didn't get to eat sooner. But, she was sooooo sleepy. We had gone to bed late the night before, and then we got up at 6:00 am to leave. Poor girl slept for maybe 2 hours. I'm sure her stomach is the only reason she woke up.


This is my brother Jeremy and his wife Mandy. They were the ones who hosted Thanksgiving this year. They just bought their first house together. They sure worked hard to get it ready for everyone. It's beautiful! You guys sure have done a good job. These are the people I had mentioned that have recently gotten custody of Jeff and Laura. Jeremy is such a good dad to them. He is making sure they are doing good in school, and they are just thriving! I don't know Mandy well, yet, but I sure am thankful for her. She takes good care of them, and I really love her for that. Mandy, you will never now how much it means to me and my family to not have to worry about Jeff and Laura anymore.


These are my sweet grandparents, Arvia and Jalene, aka Emma Granny. This is the woman who Emma is named after. They are just the nicest, sweetest, most caring people I know. We usually have Thanksgiving at their house, but they recently moved. They now are the proud renters of a one bedroom apartment. They really enjoy it, and it's a lot closer to family. It was just too hard to squeeze everyone into their place.

This is what she looks like awake. It sure was nice to see. I saved her lunch, and she wolfed it down, and ran off to play.


Here's Ike and Neil bumming around. They were posing, but I couldn't get my camera going fast enough. It's probably best, they were being a little crud. Shocker, I know.


We finally made it back to Grandma's and Grandpa's house, and out came the Wii. This is my sweet niece Laura, playing with Lily. I think Laura did Lily's hair. It's hard to see, but it's cute. I think they were practicing cheerleading here.


Lily and Uncle Ikey played boxing together. At least I think that's what game it was since they have both controllers. Anyway, I think Ike won this game, but....


She got him back the next day, when she beat him at bowling. It was awesome! I think I broke everyone's eardrums screaming so loud. I just couldn't believe it. And Uncle Ikey does not like to be beat. But I think since it was Lily, it was sorta ok.


Here is my Emma playing with her Grandma. I think they were bowling here. Not sure. It looks like Mom is showing Emma how to scoot her ball over after rolling it. "Shift your hip this way, Honey! That's right!"


Here is my niece Destiny, hiding away, reading Breaking Dawn, the last book in the series in Twilight! I love this series. One of the best I've read. I was so excited to hear she was reading them. She and her mama went to see the movie when it came out. I am sooooo jelous. I kept asking her, "Where are you in the book?" "Ohh, good part!" "What's happening now?" I'm sure I drove her nuts. But it was fun talking about it with her!


Oh, and she even has the shirt! I made her pose.


Mom, this is for you. This is Sparkles, aka, Sparky. The very spoiled pup of my momma. I took the picture and Mom commented on how pretty her eyes were. So funny!


This is GG. This is my mom's mom. She is sitting in her new chair that she is so proud of. It's so cute how possessive she gets with it. She would take a nap and wake up with Ike's dog, Foxie asleep at her feet. Oooh, GG would pitch a fit, and make her get down. It was so funny. We would all sit around waiting for her to wake up to see what she would do with her. She is watching someone play the Wii in this picture. I'm sure she didn't know what to think about it all.


Another picture that wasn't so great, but I had to post it to show how long my dad's hair has gotten. I can't believe how fast it's grown. As far as I know, he has no plans to cut it, so I'm so curious to see how long it will get. I love it! It's so him, believe it or not!


And last, but not least, (Mom you knew they were coming), here are the Wii pictures. Actually, it's just pictures of my mom hogging the Wii. She wouldn't let anyone play it! ;o) She is playing the bowling game in the next few pictures. She loves to bowl. Her and my dad use to be on a league. Actually, she was bowling on the day I was due to be born. (I came 4 days late.) Anyway, here they are...

...wait for the release...wait...
Ooooooh, bad release, SCOOT! Will it scoot if I push my hips over here and hold my breath????


Okay, let's get serious here. What's my stradegy?


WooHoo! That's it! I did it! I'm the bomb! Oh yeah!!


It was so funny watching her. She was soooo serious! We kept thinking she was gonna hit the tv. She would go from one side of the room to the other, and miss the tv by maybe an inch. It was like she was at a real bowling alley. And if anyone got in her way, well, let's just say, you better not!

It was a great weekend! It was so much fun seeing everyone, and I can't wait until Christmas! I hope everyone else enjoyed it as much as we did!