Thanks guys!!! We love them!! You all know I need all the help I can get with decorating.
Cullen's 9th birthday was Tuesday, January 6th. My kids are just growing way too fast. He loves pizza and wanted pizza for his birthday. We waited until after 7 because Christian had gymnastics until then. We then met Meemaw and Pawpaw at the pizza place and Cullen chowed down. He ate 20 pieces of pizza!! He kept count and felt like the winner of some pizza eating contest that we did not know about. That's my boy!! We will be having his birthday party Sunday and enjoy playing flag football with everyone. He wants me to make Philadelphia Eagles cupcakes...we will see how that goes.
I do have a prayer request. While at the pizza place I met a young lady who confided in us. Since our family does not blend too well people feel free to comment, ask questions, and share with us as they see fit. For 99% of the time it is all wonderful! We have met and had some wonderful conversations with many people. This young lady realized we had obviously adopted Clara. She was so quiet. She worked there. She was at the salad bar refilling as I was fixing my plate. She said how cute Clara was and asked about us adopting her. She then shared with me that she had given her son up for adoption. I had to give her a HUGE hug as the feelings that goes with adoption are so strong and vivid. It takes a strong woman to choose life for her child and then to also give up the opportunity of raising them for the child's betterment. She then shared that she was pregnant again! Her friends were trying to convince her to get an abortion and I just shared all the info I had with her. I told her what a blessing and honor it was to have Clara and that there were many families out there that would love to adopt her blessing. I threw in that Clay and I had talked about it before (not saying it will happen but you never know what God has in store for us). We talked for quite some time and I felt her struggle and pain. I remember being 18 and pregnant....terrifying!! She also has a scholarship for choir at the moment and the baby would be due right when her college career would be taking off in August. Just pray for God's peace over her and His wisdom. Pray that like with choosing life for her son she can leave a legacy with this child and be able to live with that other than trying to live with the decision of killing her unborn child. Please pray safety and health over this unborn child. I gave her all of my information so that she can call for anything!! I sure remember crying a lot when I was pregnant at 18. It was nice to have shoulders to cry on. My heart so aches for her and the life-changing decisions she will be facing in the future.
Until next time.....
Clara's favorite part of opening gifts is the tissue paper.....yummy!
Papa Dave helping Christian open up his bag full of gifts!
Taffy and Papa Dave always manage to get a "yucky" Christmas present every year. One year the kids got a poopin' moose and this year they got gross balls filled with little roaches or rats...YUCK!! The kids thought they were neat though as you can tell by the look on Cullen's face.
Here is a pic of Clara in the cute PJs Taffy got her.
The boys got these neat riding carts from Taffy and Papa. Clara gave them a whirl and loved them just as much too. I have video of the grownups and Clara having a blast on them. I will have to get it uploaded soon. Just watch the video links at the upper right corner of the blog.
The next stop was Meemaw and Pawpaw's for our traditional Christmas. We have been having Christmas the same way for as long as I can remember. When I was young we celebrated Christmas by spending Christmas Eve at my grandparents house (GG's house; my dad's (pawpaw) mom & dad). We would wait forever to open our PJ's for Christmas Eve and that was the only present we could open up before Christmas morning. We would then play cards, eat, hang out, and enjoy families together. Christmas morning, up bright and early, we would wait to be surprised at our "walk out" to see what was left under the tree for us. We focused a bit more on Santa as kids but we just have it as surprises and do not do Santa now. We want the focus to be on Christ's birth and the life He gave for us. So no Santa photos here.....sorry! =) We would rush out and there would be a blur of wrapping paper, oohs, awws, and excitement filled the air. It is very much like that today but we now spend the night at my parents house. We play cards and open our Christmas PJs like all the years before and I pray many more to come. The difference was that PJ time came late this year as the newly married couple, Matt & Candy, have many Christmases and arrived after midnight. Clara could not wait that long and got her own special time to open her PJ package. Here is my treasure sporting her Christmas PJs.
Here Clara is cuddled up and goofing off with Pawpaw as usual. Does she look like she is ready for bed?? She ended up waking back up later that night and hanging out with us for quite a while.
I hate that Clara went to bed early and missed the group open of PJs. Here we are in ours....yes the grown kids still get their PJs and we VERY HAPPILY look forward to it each year!! Who doesn't want new PJs?? 
We played our usual cards and had a blast. Pawpaw changed things up this year and made 2 different tables. We had a tournament of sorts. We played golf. The winners of one table moved to the next and had a play off. Here is a shot of all of us playing cards. The next shot is of Cullen as the winner of the award for the Double Loser (notice the 2 L's on his forehead). He lost at the loser's table.....=) Cullen is quite like his daddy and can be quite cocky while playing cards....it bit him in the butt this time. =) It was a BLAST!! Time you can never have again!
By the way...I belong at this table too. Somebody has to take the pictures!
Then, we all went to bed way too late...something like 1 I think. Candy and Matt made it safe and sound. The kids cannnot see the living/dining room presents until the "walk-in" so they are protected away from there until time to walk in. Here is a shot of Clara's first "walk-in" with the boys!!
This was Clara's stocking present. She picked it out herself at the store but don't remind her...=)
The big present this year was a laptop. We needed one (wanted one) for the schoolroom. The boys have other ideas for it but I really could use it in the schoolroom. So now we finally have our schoolroom and a computer in there to top it off. God is good!!
I have the sweetest boys God ever made. They went to a football game with Meemaw and Pawpaw and Uncle Jerry. They did some Christmas shopping after the game. The boys wanted to pick something out just for Clara. They picked out a GREAT hippo ball pit! Clara just LOVES it!! They are so thoughtful and caring and it does not hurt that they are head over hills in love with their sister!! Makes my heart feel great!!
My Cullen already eating his stocking candy before it is over....that is my boy!
After playing with Clara inside we moved the hippo and balls outside and watched a great game fo Christmas football!!
We put Clara's stocking stuffer together and brought it out for her. She got the hang of it pretty good. It has a place up front for her to carry her babies. 
Here is a picture of the spread before it got demolished!!
Okay...after this post I realize I take WAY TOO MANY pictures but I cannot stop myself. I just LOVE to take them. I wish I would have taken more when the boys were little. We spent some time New Year's Eve at mom and dad's (Meemaw & Pawpaw) playing cards and looking at old photos. Life is just a glimpse, a whisp of time that passes so quickly. I like to document each moment on film. Here are a few more shots then I am quitting on this post. I hope to post sooner next time. 
Okay, okay....one more picture. But I did not take this one. I stole it from my new sister-in-law, Candy. I use the term "new" loosely because Candy has been around as long as Clay and I have been married if not longer. But it was so nice to have her at Christmas morning with us and she actually spent the night at mom and dad's and as she put it in her blog....got to sleep in the same bed as Matt finally! See....being married is a good thing! Okay, I could not resist stealing this picture and sharing it with you guys. (Don't worry, Candy steals my pics often too). Candy got a new camera for Christmas and is now a picture-taking-fool like I am. When you have a good camera it is very difficult not to see life in little snapshots that can be saved forever. Okay, get ready...How cute is this?? My Treasure and the best hubby ever!! God is GREAT!!
