What Could Be More Fun Than Turning 5?!

Even though it has a bent toward getting lost in the mix, Cole had a delightful birthday—took chocolate sprinkled cupcakes for his class, had a pizza party with his cousins and was given the gift he as been asking for ALL YEAR: Buzz Lightyear (Thank you Amazon!) He also ended up with a Buzz Lightyear remote control car (so cool) and an amazing remote control car with lots of power, zip and turn-on-a-dime steering.

It’s so hard for me to believe this little guy is 5! He came into the world so peacefully, was an amazingly easy baby, and has been the absolute joy of everyone in our family ever since.

Born for the stage, Cole immediately turns into performance mode if the spotlight is on. He can ham it up with a huge grin and amazingly send a room full of people into hysterics with very little effort. Tenderhearted, kind and full of spunk, Cole loves anything involving action . . . and yet enjoys curling up with a good book—especially if his big brother, Jonathan, will read it to him.

Happy 5 Years, Cole! We are so thankful we get to be your parents!

Merry Christmas!

I know what you're thinking . . . sheeeish, couldn't she find one with Cole's eyes open?!

Uh, the answer would be, "Noooo." I guess Cole just discovered a new way of posing for pictures—ALL of them!

Merry Christmas!

The Holidays Are Here

Ah, it’s that time of year. It is exactly one week until Christmas Eve . . . meaning today is our anniversary and Cole’s birthday! The holidays—all jumbled together.

Since we will be having a birthday party for Cole tonight, our anniversary celebration will be moved to a more conducive date. Personally, I'm hoping for a visit to Mr. Simmon's house—a minister who restores old and rare clocks in his garage. Since we've been in the market for a Cuckoo Clock for quite some time, David's parents recommended we give him a call. They discovered him when they needed some repair work done on their own Cuckoo Clock—a Hasz family antique brought over many years back from Germany.

David did give Mr. Simmons a call the other day; it went something like this:

David: Hello Mr. Simmons, we were wondering if you have any Cuckoo Clocks.

Mr. Simmons: I surely do. I've got an eight day Cuckoo Clock . . . and then I've got a DANDY! (Think thick Texas draw).

His DANDY has me intrigued. Since he is only about an hour away, I'm lobbying (via my blog) that a visit to Mr. Simmon's is how we celebrate . . . of course, with dinner at a great restaurant somewhere on the way.

Happy Anniversary Babe! Fourteen years of wedded bliss.

From Our House To Yours

Ah, the deadline draws nigh . . . thus I must post my Christmas tour for Heidi Jo’s Holiday Home Tour Extravaganza. Welcome to the sights and sounds of our Christmas decor. This is our entryway with our little lighted snowman.














Next is our Christmas tree. The gigantic gift in the back is for ME from David. Hmmmm, wonder what it could be?


















This is our stairway decorated exclusively by Ashley, who was way to cool to actually pose for the camera.


















These are the Christmas Carolers who stopped by Sunday night—wow, could they ever sing! Beautiful!














And lastly, is our fireplace mantle with four stockings hanging dutifully limp in anticipation of being stuffed to the brim on Christmas morn.


















You might notice the ears on the third one sticking out quite excessively. This is because if you squeeze one, this is what you get:



The rule at our house is his ear can be squeezed only once a day! Merry Christmas from our house to yours.

The Evening That Almost Wasn't

Though I can’t remember ever having the conversation, my husband was quite insistent that I had agreed to go to a Michael W. Smith concert in Dallas a couple of nights ago. Not only was it pricey, on a school night, and a lengthy drive, I really hadn’t been to a Christian Concert since about 1983 and wasn’t even a little bit enthusiastic about it . . . so much so that we almost gave our tickets away at the last minute to anyone who would take them. When it came right down to it though, we finally decided to ditch our kids (we had to hire 3 different babysitters to make it work and hire another girl to take Ashley to her dance lessons) and go with our good friends Heath and Alisa to the concert.

Wow! Was I in for a surprise. I LOVED this concert! It was set in the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center which was decorated incredibly beautiful for Christmas. Our seats were right above the stage where we had a bird’s eye view of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra—whose magnificent sounds could possibly compete with the ensembles of heaven. Getting to hear The Katinas and Melinda Doolittle (American Idol finalist) was an added bonus. The atmosphere and music were simple majestic. Such a nice way to celebrate the Christmas season. My only regret is that I didn’t take my two older kids—I think it would have been great inspiration for their own musical pursuits.

We topped off the evening by eating at The Cheesecake Factory and I even got a chance to run into my favorite store next door: The Container Store. What a great night! What a great husband to be so thoughtful! Honestly, I would have paid double for such a wonderful evening.