Our Christmas

Well first of all I want to say Congratulations to my cousin Lacey and her new fiance' Brandon!! He proposed to her in front of Cinderella's castle at Disneyland last Saturday!! She flew out to California to spend Christmas with him and his family and he popped the BIG question!! They make such a cute couple. I can't wait to meet him :-) Lacey is a special person and Brandon is a lucky guy....but he's going to have his hands full, cuz there's nobody else in the world like her!!

So on with our Christmas Day... We waited for Darren to get off work and then we woke up the kids. We had a great time that morning looking at what Santa had left for us! Hailey loved her Bride Barbie!I think they were a little overwhelmedPedro even got some new goodies from Santa!

Then on Thursday we went to Monkey Joe's to hang out with my best friend from High School and her family. She went to church with Darren and I so she really has known us for a lot longer than that. Her husband is a preacher at a church in Alabama so they came here to see her family for Christmas. This is Katie and Me. She is expecting her second baby in March. I'm so excited for her. She is having her first little girl!! She is going to go broke buying all the cute little outfits, shoes, bows, etc. that you don't get to buy when you have a boy :-) Here is Hailey, Konnor (Katie's son -He's 2), and Jack. We ate at Zaxby's after our playdate!
Then that evening the kids got busy painting birdhouses. This was their Christmas present from Konnor and they loved it!!
Jack was very serious about the green!

And Hailey had such a great time! She made sure she painted every spot she could. She even figured out how to mix the colors to get new ones! They can't wait to hang them up on our BIG trees when we get to move to our new house. Thank you Aunt Katie, Uncle Jeremy, and Konnor!! Can't wait to see you again!

Twas the night before Christmas...

(So this didn't actually happen today, but just a couple days ago...)

Hailey and Jack helped me bake a cake for my mom and dad's Merry-Mug Party!This is what it turned out like!
We also spent all day Saturday baking cookies for "Santa"

Hailey made this shirt in preschool last year, it's a reindeer :-) Here is the shrit that Jack got to make in his class. (Christmas tree if you can't tell)
Making funny faces with Daddy last night before we went to church!


Okay.....now these are really from "the night before Christmas!"

Uncle Bubba set up a new train set for the kids to play with! They had so much fun watching it, they also could use the remote to make it go forwards and backwards
Then Papa took them for a ride on the John Deer "tractor"....it's really the lawnmower, but to my kids, it's the tractor!!
Hailey had to steer, and seriously she did. She's really a good driver!

Then it was off to our house to get into our PJ's to get ready for
SANTA CLOSET (as Jack would say)

Mommy, Hailey, Pedro, and Jack

Dudlee (my mom's dog) & Pedro are best buds!!


Now it's time to set out Santa's cookies and Milk. I asked Hailey if we could leave him some eggnog and she said no, he only like's milk!

Hailey and Jack made reindeer food at preschool (it's dry oatmeal with glitter). We sprinkled it in the front yard before they went to bed so the reindeer could have a snack while Santa is busy inside tonight!!

Hailey says her's is right here!

Jack didn't want to go very far into the grass, in fact he never left the sidewalk :-)
Good job buddy....those reindeer are going to love that snack!

Then we were off the bed to read Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree (great book)
Hope you had a great night too!



Well....I stayed up so long doing this post that Santa has already come....here's the evidence!

Santa's on his way!

All of us with "Papa-Santa"

Hailey & Jack writing their letters to Santa!

Helping decorate Grandma's tree.

Hope everyone is all ready for Santa to come! We sure are... Grandma and Grandaddy Great are now here in town so the fun can begin! The kids are so excited. They got to have a little preview this afternoon with their Nana (Darren's mom). She came over and we did Christmas with her since Darren will be working the next two days and we won't make it over there to her house. They had a lot of fun getting to open some presents early. Then we went to mom's and visited with Grandma & Grandaddy Great! The kids sang them every carol they could think of! Hope your day is filled with lots of fun. Get to bed early! And remember to leave Santa and the reindeer some really good treats!!

My Man!

Well yesterday was Darren's 28th birthday! We didn't get to do anything to celebrate because he was at SWAT practice from 9am - 9pm so we will probably do something this weekend with the family since he is off. But in honor of him I've decided to do the Man Survey that I've seen on many of the blogs out there.

1. 1. Who is your man? Darren Michael Johnson
   
2. 2. How long have you been together? We met in March of 1996, starting "going out" May 19th 1996. We dated off and on throughout high school.
   
3. 3. How long did you date? We stayed serious about 2.5 yrs. before we got married on May 19th 2001 (exactly 5 years after we started "going out" )
   
4. 4. How old is your man? 28
   
5. 5. Who eats more? He does!
   
6. 6.Who said "I love you" first? Darren did, he was only 16 and probably had no idea what he was saying at the time, but now I know he does :-)
   
7. 7. Who is taller? Darren, he is 6'2, I'm 5'8
   
8. 8. Who sings better? Deffinatly Darren....he was even the lead in the spring musical in high school. He was Lil' Abner! And he won best talent in the womenless pagent for singing " I will always love you" (When you've known each other forever you have so many embarassing stories!!)
   
9. 9.Who is smarter? I think that is a tie...
   
10. 10.Who's temper is worse? Darren's, I freak out all the time...but when he does it's bad!!
    
11. 11. Who does the laundry? I do...but when I get behind and he doesn't have anything left to wear he will do a load for himself :-)
    
12. 12. Who takes out the garbage? I take it to the big can...he takes it to the curb.
    
13. 13. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Most nights I sleep by myself :-( So sad, I know...but when Darren isn't working he sleeps on the right side (when you're in it)
    
14. 14.Who pays the bills? Darren makes the money, but I pay the bills
    
15. 15. Who is better with the computer? Darren
    
16. 16. Who mows the lawn? Both of us and sometimes my brother....whoever can get it done!
    
17. 17. Who cooks dinner? I don't know, but if anyone out there wants to please call me !!!
    
18. 18.Who drives when you are together? Darren
    
19. 19. Who pays when you go out? Darren
    
20. 20.Who is the most stubborn? Deffinatley Me!!
    
21. 21.Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? See above answer... so usually Darren makes the first move.
    
22. 22. Whose parents do you see the most? Mine...we see them like everyday, twice a day, they only live a mile down the road in the next neighborhood! But we love them lots so it's okay!
    
23. 23. Who kissed who first? We kissed each other during a youth rally in Columbus, GA. We were all staying at a host house together and we met in the kitchen that night before we went to bed and kissed :-) I was only 14 :-)
    
24. 24.Who asked who out? Darren asked me out..... all three times (Ha Ha Ha)
    
25. 25. Who proposed? Darren did right after he got back from Tech School
    
26. 26.Who is the most sensitive? Darren is pretty sensitive, so it's probably a tie
    
27. 27. Who has more friends? We have a lot of the same friends.
    
28. 28. Who has more siblings? tie...I have one brother, he has one sister
    
29. 29. Who wears the pants? I guess if it came down to it Darren would make the final decision, but he's pretty good about letting me go with it....I kind of have to since he's at work most of the time.

We just got Elfed!!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1331465060 Check this out!!! We all got elfed!! Merry Christmas!

Happy Birthday Hailey!!

Today is Hailey's 4th Birthday! I can't believe she is getting so big. Some days it does seem like forever...but really it does go by too fast! I'm trying to savor the precious times and remember that the rough times aren't as bad as they seem. Hailey is full of personality and we never have a dull moment with her. Here are some pictures of her milestones.

Hailey and Papa (Just 1 day old 12-9-2003)

Hailey's 1st Earings (5months old)Hailey 1 year old (12/2004)Meeting her brother Jack (Sept 2005)2 years old (12/2005)

1st Haircut (8/2006)3 years old (12/2006)1st day of K-3 (8/2007)Today was the big day...she had a princess party @ McDonald's!Hailey is 4 years old!!!

Happy Birthday Hailey!! We love you so much!

Daddy, Mommy, Jack, & Pedro too....