Happy New Year

This is Lilly's "Pumpkin" the snowman she made with her Daddy after we got back from Christmas. We asked her what she wanted to name it and she said "Pumpkin". She loved being out in the snow so much, we had a hard time getting her to come inside. Actually the snow man is still standing in our back yard after two weeks. It's so cold outside!



So, 2010 is going to be a big one for us. We are expecting our second little girl in February. I thought I would give you a pregnancy pic. My shirt is sticking out in the back.....that isn't all of my back end please let me note!haha I feel like a barn and am ready to have this precious little one out of my body, but am I ready for the craziness? I think so. I have washed the baby clothes and Rusty has put the cradle together. It's so funny how different getting ready for the second one is compared to the first baby. We are very excited. Keep watching for news of her arrival!

A

Merry Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas! We hope you had a great one too. It was such a great year fellowshiping with our friends and family. I was not stressed out at all and we did so many things.

Lilly saw Santa twice once at Daddy's Office and at Nana and Granddad's.....the picture above is Granddad dressed as Santa. What a fun tradition. What Lilly remembers the most about Santa is that he brought her a sucker and a piece of chocolate. She wouldn't go to either one until we told her that he would give her candy! She never cried, which I was surprised. At the beginning of December when the Christmas Tree went up she started to say she was "scared" because Christmas was coming. I didn't understand for awhile, but she meant Santa.

Lilly also made a gingerbread "shack" with her cousin Noah at our house. I call it a "shack", because it wasn't a traditional house. I tried to make them without a guide! Why I thought I would know how to construct a house out of gingerbread is beyond me. They loved it!

Lilly loved spending time with her cousin's at Nana's. They played and played. You can see them in their matching Christmas PJ's.

Before we headed to Woodward for Christmas, Rusty, Lilly and I spent Christmas together at our house. We went to Lilly's favorite place for dinner....Chickfila! She got to see the cow dressed up as Santa and played in the play place with some girls. We came home and opened our presents.

We then headed to Woodward with Aunt Devan to visit Grams and Gramps before the blizzard hit. We got to go to a Christmas Eve service, have Christmas with Grandma Eagon and enjoy just visiting with family and friends. It was very relaxing.

Then we headed to Plainview, TX to see my Grandma Bennett and family. Lilly was such a great traveler. It's a 4 hour drive from Woodward and 5 hours back to OKC. Lilly got to play with my cousin's children, which was a lot of fun.

The next weekend we went to Laverne, OK to visit with the Roush Family for Christmas. We had a good time seeing everyone and watching the OSU bowl game.

I can't believe it has come and gone. I can say this year I really felt connected to the true meaning of Christmas because of my sweet little lillian. We would talk about Jesus birth almost everyday and she would remind me about it just out of the blue. Seeing how excited she was to look at the manger and talk about everyone who was involved in our Saviors birth, gave me a new perspective on what Christmas means. What a blessing.

Thank you Lord for little girls who love Baby Jesus!

Fall Happenings

Above is the pumpkin patch we went to in front of Rusty's work. Lilly loved getting to pick out a pumpkin, until she tripped and hit her lip on a pumpkin stem! I think it hurt pretty bad, but she is pretty tough.

Above are Halloween pictures of Lilly and Piper in their fifties skirts Shelly and her Mom Judy made for the girls. Aren't they cute! Thank you Judy so much! Shelly and I took the girls out for a little photo season on Halloween. They had so much fun playing outside and running in the leaves. I think they are already becoming good friends. What a joy to watch.

Being a little creative

So, I got into a very fun mood one day and decided to be creative! I love being creative. It is a high for me. It is that feeling when you are standing behind a red velvet curtain on a large wooden stage in total darkness and music begins to play. Instantly the curtain opens and light peeks through a small crack as the velvet flows past you. Your heart starts to pound while the music grows louder and the light becomes blinding. All of a sudden your in front of a crowd but you can't see anything. Your ready to give everything you have and thankfully your not playing yourself for at least the next two hours, so you actually believe your capable of doing anything. Ah.....that is the most fun ever!

This girl hasn't been in front of a stage in a long time, which is probably a good thing! Being creative gives me that same feeling. The nice thing about creating is you always have something to show for what you have been up to. Here are a few pictures of my day of cooking, photo taking and painting.

One of my college friends, Amber, recently asked me to do some painting for her new Optometry Clinic her in OK. I haven't really done anything like that since High School, but I was so excited to try. Here are the pictures of the process and the end result.

Chicken Tortilla Soup
So, yummmmmy and simple

3 frozen chicken breasts
1 can black beans
2 cans rotel
1 cup salsa
1 small can of chillis
1 can tomato sauce

Put all ingredients in your slow cooker in the morning and leave on low for 5-6 hours. When you get home from work or taking care of the kids all day you have a really good meal. Add, tortilla chips, chesse, sour cream, avacadoes, and black olives!

Cream Cheese Banana Nut Bread
This is my Cousin Melveta's recipe. Thanks Melveta!

3/4 cup butter, softened
1 8oz pkg cream cheese, softened
2c sugar
2 eggs
3c flour
1/2 t baking powder, baking soda, salt
1 1/2c mashed bananas = 4 bananas
1/2 t vanilla

beat butter and cream cheese at medium speed with an elec. mixer until fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until blended after each addition.

Combine flour and next 3 ingredients gradually add to butter mixture beating at low speed just until blended. Stir in bananas, pecans and vanilla. Spoon batter into 2 greased and floured 8x4 loaf pans or pour into muffin tins.

Bake at 350 for 1 hour first.

Stir together 1/2c brown sugar, 1/2c chopped pecans, 1 T melted butter and 1/8 t ground cinnamon. Sprinkle over bater. Put foil on pan last 15 min. Cool 10 min in pan and 30 min on wire rack before serving.

Rusty is about to be out numbered

I thought I should post a family picture with just the three of us, because it only will be 4 months until a new little one will be joining us. Surprise, it's a little girl. Soon Rusty will have to be playing dress up and having tea parties with all three of his girls! I can not believe we are having another little girl in exactly the same month. My sister and I were both born in June, so I have a little experience with this. We are three years apart and my girls will be two. Sisters are such a blessing and I am so thankful for mine! I pray Lilly and this new little one will grow close and have a life long friendship. I know there will be many days of fighting about who is the boss of who, someone just took what was theirs, who's turn it is to ride in the front seat of the car, and who gets to wear that shirt they both wanted to "share" when shopping at the mall a week earlier. But, in between all of that will be fun times of hugs and kisses and playing and learning about our Savior Jesus together. We are so excited for her to join us. Lilly I know can't wait until her "Seesster" comes for her to take care of. That's how she says it, it's so cute. She loves giving babies their bottles, pacies and blankies. I know she is going to be my Big helper.

What Lilly is doing these days

Just being the cutest little sweetheart her Mom ever met!

Going to the State Fair with Mom and Dad. Having a lot of fun petting the cute animals at Agtropolis.

Swimming with her Daddy and cousins.

Riding the Clinton Train with the Roush gang.

Spending the day hanging out with Grams.

Helping take care of Grandma Eagon after her eye surgery.

Being silly in her pack-n-play while Mom works in the office.

Getting into Mom's laundry basket and taking out everything in her
diaper bag while Mom cooks in the kitchen!

Reading about tractors with Granddad and cousin Benjamin.

Celebrating Nan's Birthday with the Roush family!

Taking care of Gramps after some of his doctor appointments
by reading books to him.