Genesis 111

Here is sassy pants saying her memory verse for the month...she truly brings so much joy to our lives.

The month of sickness

This is what things were like around Christmas...crazy, living in boxes waiting to move, but mostly happy overall.  And then "The sickness" came and our lives looked a little more like this.

Lots of crying, fake smiles and tired eyes.  All because, or thanks to "The sickness."  We have to label it "The sickness" because I feel like we have had anything and everything.  From Roseola to RSV and Pneumonia to the Fever Virus, we have had it all. For the months of December and January we have gone through more Kleenex than we can count, seen our pediatrician so much to where I feel like we might be friends, and cried a lot.   Then we had a revelation given to us by none other than sassy pants her self.

 If life gets tough...put on a tiara (or a queen in her words)!!  So we have dealt with the remaining sickness with a happy heart, watched a lot of movies and maybe had something sparkly on our heads.  Hopefully, "The sickness" is gone from our family and will not be back for a long time.

Ivy Christmas

 Someone got caught wearing Pappy's boots...looking a little guilty Ra!!

 All those cute cousins!!

 Pappy and his girls.

 Raleigh modeling one of her new "princess dresses."

 Her new Minnie outfit...So precious!

 Minnie Mouse cuteness has doubled!!

 The two David boys.

 Super fly Thaddaeus!!

 Grammy does such a fun job of finding fun presents!!  Yay for Rudolph suckers that light up!!

We had Christmas with the Ivy side of the family back at Thanksgiving, but I wanted to post our Christmas pictures with the all the others.  We had a great time celebrating the dual Christmas and Thanksgiving.  It is so fun to watch all of the kids interact with each other.

Christmas in Houston

We had a great time making a quick trip to Houston for the holidays.  I always feel so bad because by the time we get finished with all the Christmas festivities with Clint's job, we are pretty tired and my family tends to get the tired, worn out Ivy's for Christmas.  We had a good time, although we didn't get to stay as long as we liked because we had to come home to finally move into our new house!!!

 My dad trying to read a Christmas story to all the kids before we opened presents.  Everyone had someone from the nativity scene to hold...somehow baby Jesus got lost, or maybe was being fought over.

 Sweet Raleigh and Pop.

 Yippee!!! Her very own camera.

 Raleigh and Daddy painting nails after opening presents.

Christmas at our House

I am so excited that we seem to have traditions taking form with our immediate family at the holidays.  This year we added onto our Happy Birthday Jesus and pajamas party cute special stocking stuffers (everybody got underwear...that's right...underwear).  Raleigh also understood a little bit more the three presents thing after daddy read to her about Jesus and his first birthday.  I really wanted to do an advent tree, but we barely got a tree up for us with the "moving game" we were playing (We had no idea when we were going to close on the house).

 Raleigh opening her pajamas at our "Birthday party"

 The pj's that Raleigh picked out....yes, that is a cat with sunglasses!!

 Thad's pj's.

 Raleigh opening her Rapunzel doll.

 Thad is showing off his new clothes.  Honestly, he is just happy to be here.  Love that boy!

 Clint's new watch.  It is named "Ironman." We name all of his clothes to help with the color blind issue.

 Mommy got new boots!!

 Raleigh got tap shoes...help us all....the girl taps up a storm...without ceasing!!!

New tradition in full swing....Raleigh is super pumped!!!

Christmas at our home this year was so fun, but I can't hardly wait till next year!!!  We will NOT be moving this year at Christmas and can invest all of our energy into the holiday season.  So, So, So Excited!!!

We Wish You A Merry Christmas and a Happy New House!!

Many of you know, but if you don't...we moved!!  Yes, AGAIN!!  I know you are wondering if I need to be medicated or if I just get excited about chaos around me.  The answer is no and maybe.  This is our 10th move in 8 years, so maybe medication could be in order for me. Ha!!  Believe it or not, I am really excited about this house.  It is a great balance and mix of all of the homes we have lived in.  It has plenty of room and closet space(Like our previous new homes), but also has places where we can add "our personal touches" (Like our previous fixer upper homes).  The back yard is HUGE!!!  Hopefully, I will keep you updated on all of the changes we make as we go.  Right now, we are still unpacking.  It has taken much longer than usual to unpack with my extra little "helpers" around.