Noooooooooo...

What an awesome Christmas we have had! Last night and today have been filled with lots of wrapping paper and squeals. Christmas Eve is always spent opening presents with my mom's side of the family. (at least when it is an Oklahoma Christmas) So, true to tradition we opened presents at my Aunt Jan's house. Both of my kids were thrilled with all the gifts they got. Jaden even told us in the car that the Indiana Jones sword he got from Aunt Dinkey was (and I quote) "A dream come true!". Who knew a plastic sword was all it would take? But before anyone gets to excited he also said the McDonalds coupons he got from Aunt Gloria were dreams come true as well... Gabby loved all the Barbie and other fun stuff she got. She hasn't been quite as dramatic though. When they both came to the conclusion that Christmas was coming to an end there was a huge gasp and a long whiny "Nooooooooooooo" from the back seat. It should be an interesting week watching my Indiana Batman spy pull the trigger on the nerf gun that I'm sure will disrupt the barbie ball being held in the other room.

Today at my Memaw's (dad's side) Jaden put on a show, while Gabby begged him to stop. I think that I really am reliving my childhood and reaping things my brother sowed. (I was the perfect child of course) Anyway, I realized how much I REALLY miss my family! Because, sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name, and they're always glad you came.... Sorry, Justin and I watched to much T.V. growing up. I will post pictures from the week soon. Until then...Merry Christmas!!

Can we Open Presents?

Has anyone else had kids asking "can we open presents?" My two kids can not wait to get to my Aunt Jan's house to open presents tonight. They woke up this morning eyeing the tree and scoping out the gifts with their names on the tags. I love the excitement in the air on Christmas Eve. It is electric around the house. The anticipation is absolutely contagious. I'm actually excited to see what's under the tree with my name too!

Later today we are going to the movies. Gotta get to bed early and sleep tight, 'cuz Santa is coming tonight!!

Happy Holidays...

It's almost Christmas! We are in Tulsa at my brother's house for Christmas. And let me just tell you we are having a blast! My kids miss Chloe and Charli and are getting a full dose of the Graves girls. (they are getting a full dose of Ayala too) It is so fun to watch them wrestle and chase each other, and even funnier to watch them play the Wii. Especially when JADEN is anything but a gracious loser. Charli beat him in bowling yesterday and that did not set well.

We went to the mall to see Santa and get a picture. Why is it impossible to get a good picture of kids on Santa's lap? Two of the kids look like they hit the eggnog pretty hard, one looks like she is seconds away from a melt down, and Gabby just smiled like she was about to get a shot. The great thing was no one cried though. Last night we decided to load them all up to look at Christmas lights. Not quite what any of us adults were expecting. Most of the time we were in the car someone was complaining about being cramped, having to wear a seat belt, or wanting to get out and walk in the 16 degree weather. It was all topped off with Aunt Casey singing Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas is You". Love Christmas, love my family, and can't wait to see what happens today!

Christmas Fun

Only 8 days until Christmas!! It has actually gotten cold here in Houston and even snowed last week. I spent a week at home with my mom and dad in Oklahoma City while my mom is recooperating from sugery. I even had a chance to spend some time with my brother and his family. After making a gingerbread house with the girls (for pictures go to www.TheBessertofLife.blogspot.com) I can't wait to get back for the holidays!

We opened gifts with Edgar's family Saturday night and then went to the neatest thing ever. We walked through Bethlehem. A church in Clearlake had recreated the city and had lots of hands on things for the kids to do. There were camels, sheep, donkey's, chickens, and storefronts full things for the kids to make. My heart was so full when I saw Jaden grinding wheat on the threshing floor. I had just reread the story about King David trying to purchase a threshing floor. The man that owned offered to give King David the property for free and David declined the offer stating that he could never give the Lord something that had cost him nothing.

To top it all off, at the end was a stable with Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus. The baby was screaming and Mary wasn't sure what to do about it. I almost cried when I thought about how scared she must have been that night. A new baby and no clean place to lay him. It really was a strange way to bring Him into the world. This was the beginning of a new Ayala family tradition.

It's all in the Name

As it gets closer to Christmas and we start talking more and more about the birth of our Precious Saviour, the concept of the meaning of names takes on a new thought for me. When we began to discuss names for our children the meaning of the name was so important to us. Edgar and I discovered that some of the names we really liked had really odd origins and meanings. For instance, we really wanted to name Gabrielle, Sydney. That was until we realized the meaning of the name was "a wide well watered land." Now, if you are reading this and your kid's name is Sydney, know I think it is a lovely name. As we researched further the name Gabrielle jumped out at us. It means, "the strength of God". So, Gabrielle it was.

After rereading Isaiah 9 and Luke 2 again, a crazy thought occured to me. What if Mary and Joseph had been obedient all the way up to naming the baby? Isaiah said he would be called "Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." The name of Jesus covers all that!!! Can you even imagine if Mary and Joseph had decided against the naming the baby Jesus and instead named Him, something like Mortimer? Could the government rest on the shoulders of a man named Mortimer? Mortimer means dead sea. (don't be offended if that is a family name for you, just contemplate the thought) But the complete obedience of a mother and father lead us to the sweetest name of all names - Jesus. I love His name and all that it means to me. He is my friend, my Father, my Healer, my Portion, my Banner, my Love, my Joy, my Provider, my Rest, my Fortress in times of trouble. Jesus - it really is ALL in His Name!

Uhh..New Calendar Please..

(To truly get the full effect of the title say it with a somewhat confused look on your face holding one finger in the air.) That is an indication of how I felt when I started looking at my December calendar this morning. Yet another mind boggling question for me is, how the heck does the calendar fill up so fast during the holidays?! Looking at the rehearsals and parties and programs, causes me to wonder what do we do the rest of the year? Obviously, nothing in comparison to all we do in December.

I am trying to find a good time to run back to OKC and spend some time with my mom. She has been in the hospital and is recovering from a fractured hip, and well let's just say a rough month. But the calendar is RELENTLESS. Just about the time I think I have found
the perfect time to slow down , I notice a very valid reason why the earth will not continue to rotate on its currant axis if I do. This puts an enormous amount of pressure on me. The funny thing is no one else seems to see it the same way I do. The kids actually seem to act as if they wouldn't mind store bought cookies at the class party. And I'm not sure Edgar cares if the bows on the Christmas packages are handmade or not. So this is a Christmas experiment for me. I am going to actually drop everything and do what I want to do not what I feel like I need to do. Be forewarned if gravity ceases to exist in the next few days....that would be my fault. And I'm willing to bear the responsibility.

Really....why are pictures hard to take??

Today at 11:30 a.m. I came to the realization that we had not taken Christmas pictures. So, I quickly called the local portrait studio and made an afternoon appointment for the entire family. Normally, I only do pictures of my kids, but today I was feeling a little more adventurous. The next step of course was deciding what we would all wear. After going in circles about who had this color and who didn't have that color, I began to wonder who would be offended to get a Christmas card of all of us stark raving naked. Thank God, I discovered we all had something red and something black. (a bit boring, but we would be clothed)



When we arrived at the studio, my kids were already not digging the whole concept. Jaden wanted to take a picture on a motorcycle, and Gabby just wanted to go home. When they called us back Edgar's comments about why he couldn't sit the way the photographer wanted him to sent all of us into hysterics. So then we all have those abnormally huge show every tooth in your mouth smiles and huge veins popping out of our foreheads from laughter. To make a very long story short, seriously...why is it so hard to get one good picture of four people sitting less than 3 inches from one another?? These are life questions that never seem to be answered for me.

Black Friday = Good Day

It all started at 6:30 a.m. this morning. I woke up and couldn't go back to sleep. The longer I laid in bed the more the fact people were out shopping and potentially stealing bargins that should be mine, bothered me. Edgar rolled over and I took full advantage, to wake him up of course. He kindly staggered out of bed, only after I was up dressed, make up on and hair fixed. (all in about 6 minutes flat, a personal record for me!) So out into the madness we went only to be denied first cat out of the bag. But I did remember that I had some 50% off coupons to Michaels. Success was immenant. So off we went, only to be informed that the coupons were only good after 12:00 p.m.. I ,of course, vowed to return. After stops to three other well known stores, we decided (against our better judgement) to go into Toys R Us. I never knew that you could have that many grumpy, sale crazed, screaming, relentless mothers all in one place. The line went all the way to the back of the store. Of course the item I wanted was on the tallest shelf. But I didn't care. The buy one get one would be mine. So do you think the Ayala's waited and asked for help? Negitive ghost rider. With the help of my strong and well bred man, I climbed to the top of the shelving. Oh, I got my game, I got my game. Then to make it even better I noticed that the line on the Babies R Us side was not as long, so into the babies area we went. (I did shudder at the thought of needing to shop there again) We were in and out in 20 minutes. We had a blast today, and oh yeah, I did go back to Michaels and they never knew what hit them.....

Thankful for Today

Wow! Thanksgiving has come and all our bellies are jolly. We spent the morning downtown at the Thanksgiving Day Parade. It was a blast. I think it was the best parade we have been to so far here in Houston. The rest of the day we have been at Edgar's sisters house in Pearland. The kids rode bikes, went fishing and of course bickered back and forth. My youngest nephew got stuck inside an elevator (alone), my youngest niece fell into the lake by Linda's house, my son peed his pants because he was laughing, and we fried one heck of a turkey today. It has been a great day. I really am blessed to have the family that I have. Can't wait to be all together again, because when we are...there is never a dull moment. Seriously!

I'm a big girl now....

Well, it's time for me to grow up and face my fear of technology. Most of my friends and family are a part of the blogging world so, I was feeling a little left out. So, it's Thanksgiving week and the kids are out of school for the week. My responsibility for the family feast is homemade bread. It is a process that always seems to begin with a kitchen full of help, and ends with me standing in a pile of flour and melted butter spots splashed on the apron. Even though it takes a while and is quite messy, it is worth every second. Hope you have a great Thanksgiving and find some random things to be thankful for....
Random things our family is thankful for....
1. No bologna at Thanksgiving this year
2. Fall colors
3. Pam cooking spray
4. Desk calendars
5. The ability to laugh at ourselves