A Very Merry Christmas!

we hope you all had a beautiful christmas with your family and friends!   we sure did!  it could not have been more perfect for us.  God is so good! 

we were so happy to have the peseks at our house a few days before christmas... including our anniversary ;) it really couldn't have been any better. we got to enjoy last minute shopping and late night talking, the kids were so much fun to watch together!

emma

isaac

baby jude

 we were able to carry on our traditions with all 28 family members on the mickan side all at gramps and granny's house.  christmas eve mass (with no one going to the cry room may i add..) and celebrating the whole night together.  it was so perfect! 

all 16 grandchildren

sweet Sydney

                                                                                                                  

Braedon, Joey and Luke

some cousins were able to pull off surprising each other at the front door!

  

                   

so happy chad came down from north carolina with his family!  love him!

 the kids put on the nativity play before we opened gifts.  emma playing the role of the "star" sang  her solo "gloria"

 

erika, taylor and michaela

  our baby girls are all stylish teens now 

camryn and her babies 

couldn't be happier to have all my sisters with me!

gabrielle hasn't changed a bit ...love her!

yum

yum

yum!

apparently to all the neices and nephews, this is one of their favorite traditions... movie night in the garage.

 waiting for santa to come!!

before breakfast we sang happy birthday to jesus!

gramps and his boys, with one more coming in march. it should be enough for a family football team right?

 then christmas morning we packed up to host christmas at our house for the pagels  for the 3rd year in a row.  uncle albie surprised us at our front door... it meant so much!

Tyler, Ashton and Jack

this christmas we realized how blessed we were to have such a deep and rich faith and a happy family!  we pray this new year ahead of us only brings us closer to Christ as well as one another! 

yes this may have been a picture overload, but it was such fun to capture this christmas to remember.

xxoo

it's the most wonderful time of the year...

hey little man! we have enjoyed christmas alot the past few years, but something tells us we are going to only love it more and more with you!

we've been spending our nights out strolling to look at lights...

we got our second christmas tree with you!  this year you were really just wanting to run away from us.  but we had fun!

familly is about to come into town and we couldn't be more excited for the week ahead!

love you sweet boy and all the smiles you bring us!

xxoo 

Special Prayer Request!!

Please offer up any prayers or sacrifices on behalf of our dear friends, the Smoters. Her recent updates are about their new baby boy Joshua.   I met SarahBeth over a year ago through Familia, our young mothers group at our church.  They are such a beautiful young family with a strong faith!  Please keep them in your prayers!

jack + hat, any hat, any time

oh my how i love you buddy!

The Liebster Blog Award

The Liebster Blog Award is given to up and coming bloggers who have less than 200 followers.

Brittany @  the mcquire family  honored my blog and I was so touched by her sweet words.  She is a beautiful mama of one adorable little girl and another one on the way!  I love all of her family updates and her great since of style!   She always gets me in the mood for changing up the style of my house and well to be honest... my wardrobe!   Her family is too adorable! 

Liebster is a German word meaning 'dear, sweet, kind, nice, good, beloved, lovely, kindly, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing and welcome'.

To keep this award going (by passing along to other new deserving blogs), the recipient must now recognize five other bloggers with less than 200 follower sthat have really stood out in the crowd.

The rules for the Liebster Award are:

1. Thank the person who gave the award and link back to their blog.

2. Reveal your top 5 picks and let them know!

3. Copy and paste the award on your blog post.

4. Have faith that your followers will spread the love too! 

my top five... in no particular order :)

1. Maria  @ Enjoy This Moment ... for This Moment is Your Life  Comes from the most amazing family, so amazing I think I could post all of her family's blogs as my top 5 but  then there would be more than 5 :)  I met Maria through my sister, Kindle, at an ECYD camp almost 4 + years ago!  She was newly married and expecting her first little one!  I have loved seeing her family grow and  seeing what great faith she has.  She posts the sweetest stories of her little ones and their deep conversations as well as those little "moments"  that you never want to forget as a mother.

2 Brittany  @  the mcquire family can I pick you as a top 5?  I might be breaking a rule here but she really is my go to gal on fashion as well as me squealing at how cute her little girl is!   She is a wife and mother of 2 sweet girls.  She shares her sweet family updates as well as  whatever she's in the mood for....all the pictures of dream rooms and materials a big girl can squeal over :)

3.  Becki @  the moore family  I've known Becki for 4 + years now!  She is a wife and mother of two precious boys Charlie and Henry.  She is an amazing photographer and her boys are simply adorable!  That's a great combo!  She shares updates on her family as well as some great photos!   

4. Lindsay @  my child i love you  - although I have never met her in person, I at least found out she was Maria's sister in law ( did  I mention how amazing her family is?)  She is such an inspiration to me.  Her blog shares her amazing Catholic faith, her beautiful family and reminders of the important things in life... family and enjoying every little moment God gives us with them.  

5.  going natural woman  Well yet another blog I stumbled upon from Maria.  A website for women, wives,  and mothers who are open to life. It is a blog that was created as a way to unite Catholic and Christian women who are using NFP. It is a way to keep us all strengthened in our mission to be truly authentic Christian women, reminded of our true feminine dignity, and by God's grace, remain faithful in being open to life..  Very inspiring posts!

a special visit...

from dear saint nicholas last night...

family fun and a parade!

hey buddy it's finally getting cold outside!

and this last weekend was a fun one for you!

we had lunch with granny and gramps at lupe tortillas!

your great aunt and your second cousin came to town so we were able to visit with them too!

you figured out how to ring the bell at gramps and granny's...an angel is thanking you from above! :)

then we went over to nana and papaw's house for the christmas parade.  this was your very first parade!

 you were not very fond of all the horns and sirens from the firetrucks and ambulances.

but you took in all that you could!

the parade even ended with santa clause himself!  i'm not too sure if you noticed him up top but as always he was watching you!

unfortunately on sunday mama didn't have her camera charged, but you also had your first christmas party and  a matt maher concert date with your sweet sienna.  you two were so sweet to eachother giving each other hug after hug and praising God with your dancing as well :).