Tuesday, November 27, 2007

santa baby


Today, Lily and I visited Santa at Stonebriar Mall along with our friends Kristyn and Preston, Sarah, Crew, and Corban. As you can see, he's a great looking Santa. Lily was not quite sure what to think of him, but at least there were no tears. After pictures we hit the play area, had some great sandwiches at Rollerz, rode the carousel (of course), and even ventured into a few stores for some window shopping before any meltdowns. As we drove away, the kiddos crashed before we were out of the parking lot. Now, that's what I call a good outing.

Monday, November 26, 2007

Sunday, November 25, 2007

one last post before i call it a night. here are some of the artists i'm enjoying this christmas:

james taylor: at christmas
josh groban: noel
michael buble: let it snow
vince guaraldi trio: charlie brown christmas
diana krall: christmas songs
ella fitzgerald: a swinging christmas
mercy me: the christmas sessions
sarah mclachlan: wintersong
amy grant: a christmas album

what are your favorites?

my heart is happy

Laptop in lap.
Slippers on feet.
Daughter asleep in crib.
Husband asleep in chair.
Christmas music playing.
Tree lights twinkling.
WoodWick burning.
Christmas coming.

Thanksgiving Feast

I know it's been FOREVER since I've posted. What can I say? At some point I knew that my lack of consistency would eventually creep into my blogging. But the streak is now over so here we go...

The week before Thanksgiving my mom, Lily, and I drove out to "wide awake" Wylie to Tibbals Elementary. This is a special school to our family because it's named after my grandparents Harry and Retha Tibbals. They have been outstanding citizens in the Wylie community for close to 50 years. This special Tuesday was the Thanksgiving Feast for the students and parents. It was so sweet to see Nanny interacting with the children. One mom told us her son asked if she was the President of the school. They love receiving her hugs and warm smiles.





This mural is painted in the school foyer with the school's motto: "If you love them, you can teach them." -The Tibbals



Sunday, November 4, 2007

Baylor Homecoming

Yesterday we took Lily down to the Baylor Homecoming parade. As you can see, the green and gold suits her well!




Nonni and Pappa Neal


Katelyn and Lily - future Baylor roomies?!?


cheering on her team


loving on CoCo


Jonathan and Missa


the wedding

Last Saturday we flew out to Ocean Springs, Mississippi for Josh's cousin's wedding. It was fun reconnecting with Josh's aunt and uncle and cousins. This was Lily's second plane ride and she did great...Lolli and I kept her occupied with crackers, picture cards, books, even the skymall magazine. She also enjoyed riding the escalator up and down as we waited to board. We flew into Mobile, AL which is about an hour's drive from Ocean Springs. I was sure that Lily would crash as soon as we pulled out of the parking lot. And she did for about 30 minutes (slightly shorter than her usual 2 hour afternoon nap).

We got to the hotel around 2pm and Lily and Lolli set out to explore. Auntie Kathy and Uncle Larry stopped by to say Hi before the evening's festivities got under way. After a short visit, we returned to the room to find the crib waiting outside our door. It was a sad little crib with an even sadder mattress that was probably two inches thick. I tried to improve its state with a couple of blankets. Now, Lily was able to take her nap. Or at least I thought she would be. But Lily had other ideas. Thirty minutes later it was obvious she was not going to sleep. This made me kinda nervous since we had a long night ahead of us. I was worried she would be super fussy at the wedding or have a major meltdown during the reception. As a last resort we stuck her in the car hoping she might fall asleep on the way to pick up dinner. No such luck. Oh well. Back to the hotel to get dressed up!

Lily looked soooo precious in her little dress, white tights, and pink shoes. She LOVED being all fancy! We headed to the church which was only a few minutes from the hotel. Lily and I explored outside while Josh and Lolli sat in the ceremony. So far she was holding up pretty well on 30 minutes of sleep. Just as she began fussing and squirming in my arms, the bride Amy and groom Clay came out the front doors. Lily immediately froze, pointed to Amy, and said "Ooohhh! Touch!" The rest of the night she was mesmorized by Amy in her beautiful white dress wanting to be close to her every chance she had. This came in handy during the big family picture...Lily actually sat still in my arms! (can't believe I didn't take any pictures of the happy couple.) :(

I could tell she was starting to come unglued so we made our way to the car. Not more than 5 minutes later, Lily was out! She slept in my arms the entire reception. Didn't even wake up when I changed her diaper and put on her pajamas in the car or as I carried her into the hotel. Thankfully she slept all night long on that sad little mattress.

The next morning we woke up relieved to have an extra hour due to daylight saving time (or so we thought.) We casually got dressed, packed up, and went to eat breakfast. Josh hoped to catch an earlier flight since we had so much extra time. (bet you know where this is going...) At breakfast, Josh noticed that the clock on Fox News said 10:30 central time which was when we needed to leave to make our flight. I decided to go double check at the front desk and sure enough, daylight saving time had been pushed back one week! We raced back to the room, loaded up the car, and sped all the way to the airport. Five minutes short of the cut off, we were all checked in, ready to board, and a bit out of breath. It was a quick trip, but a lot of fun. Congratulations, Clay and Amy!!!

getting a little restless on the flight home

Friday, November 2, 2007

Halloween


our little flower



Josh as a college freshman