Sunday was an amazing day. Playing the keyboard went well, I think. It was VERY fun! Thank you for all of your prayers! I had tons of energy all day and every went incredibly smooth.
Carols & Candlelight Sunday night was BEAUTIFUL!!! It was a great night. Everything was gorgeous. We have an amazing choir director and he created the perfect night. The choir music this year was so pretty, every song gave me goosebumps. It was a very fun time.
Here is a close up. It's our pastor, myself, Melissa H. & Amber. My dad is right in front of me. Can you see why we had so much fun? It was a fun group! Melissa H.'s father-in-law took these two pics. He's an amazing photographer.
After the choir performance, it's tradition for us to take pictures in front of the poinsettias.
Heath, my mom & M-I-L kept Ella in the service with them and she did great. She was so excited to watch her mommy and grandad up on stage.
So I was told by Titus' parents, that he told them this week that he is going to "marry Ella". When they asked him why, he said "because she so cute!" I was laughing so hard when Vernon, Titus' dad was telling me this. So Amber posed them in this perfect engagement shot. :-)
I love Titus' face in these!
Ella & Karoline! I love the picture progression of the sweet hug.
It was a great night. It blessed me tremendously! It was the perfect way to start the week of Christmas.
Tuesday night, my parents, my M-I-L, myself and Ella went to Arlington to look at Christmas lights. We had heard about this amazing neighborhood called Interlochen that goes all out every year. It did not disappoint.
I have this adorable video of Ella getting so excited when we told her we were going to go get donuts and hot chocolate and go look at Christmas lights.
Wednesday night, I had choir practice for our big Christmas program called Carols and Candlelight. I don't normally sing in the choir during the year, but they ask for extra singers for this special performance. It really is so much fun! Melissa H., Amber and I get to sit together and I wouldn't be surprised if our very kind choir director was very annoyed at all the giggling he hears from the back row. And this year my dad is singing with us! He's been a music minister/choir director for most of my life. He's been retired from the ministry for a few years, so this is a fun time for him to get back into a choir.
After choir practice, I had worship team practice. This is also not a normal thing, but I was asked a couple of weeks ago if I would like to join the mic team and thought it would be fun. This week however, the guy that plays the keyboard can't be there Sunday, so Jared (our awesome worship leader) asked me if I would fill in. Nothing like jumping in with both feet. I'm a little nervous for tomorrow morning, but VERY EXCITED. It was SO FUN playing with a band. I had never done that before. I loved it! So Wed. night was a late night.
Thursday night we had our staff girls' Christmas party. It was the best white elephant gift exchange I have ever been a part of. First, every gift was AMAZING!! Therefore, we had so many steals, mainly from our pastor's wife. Every time she picked a gift it immediately got stolen. I think this happened about 6 times. We were rolling!
Friday and Saturday have actually been pretty calm! Meme took Ella to get her haircut on Friday at this adorable place called Pigtails and Crewcuts. Isn't that cute? We just trimmed her bangs and the back of her hair. It's adorable.
Today, we went to Christmas on Main Street in Grapevine with the family.
Does this Santa and Snowman kind of creep anybody else out?
Y'all can pray for me tomorrow. Between worship team and our choir performance, I will be at the church from 7:45 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. with a short break in the middle. Thanks! It's all good though!
It has been another whirlwind of a week, but all very fun!!!
Thursday night, Ella and I went to Kristin's annual Santa On The Roof. This was our second time to get to go. Ella was SO EXCITED to see Santa this year!!! She is VERY into Christmas and it's so fun.
Santa on the Roof.
Santa has a gift for each child that is there. When Santa yelled "Ella", Kristin helped Ella catch her present!
Ella was so happy to see Santa!
Maybe a smidge happier this year than last year. What do you think? I sent this picture in to the Ellen show last year, but it didn't make the cut for her Bad Santa Photos segment.
Ella loves her friend Laney.
Friday, we packed up and stayed at Heath's sister's house for the weekend. It was our annual Christmas baking weekend. Every year we all get together and hibernate in one house and bake dozens upon dozens of breads and cookies. And then split them up and give them away as presents. It's always a lot of fun.
This year, first thing, Heath's mom got to open a surprise Christmas present from Heath's sister!!! It's the major, deluxe one. Heath's mom is well deserving. She is an incredible cook and baker.
A huge thank you hug!
Breaking it in!
It definitely got a work out.
"More, please!"
In between timers, mixing, and measuring, we did a LOT of this!
A few weeks ago, our church had a Square Dance. Our church does this quite frequently mainly because of the callers that we love so much. Their names are Otto and Hot Rod. They are the cutest couple and have been doing Square Dance calling for decades. We always have such a blast.
Ella doesn't get to wear her full cowgirl gear very often, so it's always a treat for me to get to see her all dressed up from head to toe.
Ella LOVES to dance!! She couldn't take her eyes off the dancers and she never stopped clapping and swaying the whole night. In fact, she SO badly wanted to dance with the grown ups that she was standing back trying to copy every move they made without even thinking about it. My family and I have always been in awe at how she can clap on beat and stay on key while singing. I think she has musical talent just like her Grandad.
Kim and Bobby (Ella loves them) saw how badly Ella was wanting to dance with the grown ups, so they grabbed her hands and let her join in with them for a song. It was the cutest thing ever!!!
This is Ella's friend Karoline! Ella and Karoline are so cute together. Karoline's mom, Krystal, and I often talk about how Ella and Karoline are surrounded by boys their age at church that are their friends, but as far as girls, they pretty much have each other. They are very sweet friends.
Funny story about the stickers...earlier that day, Ella and I went over to Laney and Kristin's house to play. Ella had let Laney put these stickers all over her face. Very cute and they loved it. Well, apparently these stickers have some kind of super power and would NOT come off. When I try to peel one off, it pealed the paper off but left the glue on her face. I knew I was in for some drama. I didn't have time to mess with it before the Square Dance so we had to leave them on. I got lots of suggestions on how to get them off while we were there. When we got home late that night, I put her in the bath and rubbed them off with a wet wash cloth and that did the trick. It was not near as traumatic for her as I was imagining it was going to be.
I don't think I ever posted these on my blog last year, but here are a few pictures of Ella and Jackson and me and Amanda at the Square Dance last year that was at our church.
