Sunday, December 27, 2009

Sunday After Christmas

It's 2 days after Christmas and my cousins Jamie and Mandy are here w/ their two girls, Ella (age 8) and Ruthie (age 4). We've had a great day with them. Clark is on his way w/ Anita and Eva, probably about an hour before they arrive.


Here are my cranberry almond tarts I made for Christmas dinner. Yum! yum! And above you see the wheat crescent rolls I made instead of Mom. I know they look great, but Mom's are a lot better. I had a lot of trouble with them. But they DID taste great!

Christmas afternoon we went down to Lake Park to see the Cowarts again. Here are John and Susan opening our gift.


Then my Jenny got there! Isn't she gorgeous? I love her so much.



Jenny got Hannah a gingerbread man decorating kit. She had fun making them while Poppa looked on.



Saturday, Evelyn gave me and Hannah hour-long massages. Oooohhh, it was so nice. She's a licensed massage therapist in north GA. Big Mama wanted a picture with Evelyn before she left for home.




Here's a shot of Ella giving Dad his flu shot. Ella wants to be a doctor when she grows up, which we all believe she will. It didn't really hurt that much.



Here's Ruthie! Ruthie is a hoot and a half. She says her favorite thing to do is "to play and never never have to clean up."



Jenna loves Ella and Ruthie! And they love her!




My bella Ella told me all about her Christmas morning while I clicked away with my new camera.



Hannah and Megan pushed Ruthie on the tire swing. She loved it.



Then, Aunt Jenny arrived with Eli to take Hannah and Megan to Wild Adventures Amusement Park. Eli is 4. He loved the firetruck we got him.



After they left, I asked the girls if they wanted a story. They LOVE stories. So, we began reading a very long version of "Beauty and the Beast."


Ruthie was so cute, snuggled against my shoulder. I was amazed that a four-year-old would be so quiet and attentive for so long! Then I heard a faint snore. I looked down, and saw her prone body, fast asleep. Photos, courtesy Jenna Lee.


Well that's all for now! I hope you all had a great Christmas with your family. We return to Texas early Tuesday morning.
Good night!












Friday, December 25, 2009

Unto Us A Child Is Born


We're at Mom and Dad's for Christmas: Jenna arrives in Tallahassee at 5pm, and Clark comes w/ Anita and Eva on the 27th. This is a small gathering today. Aunt Evelyn's here, so there were 6 of us for Christmas dinner.

We started off the morning with the traditional reading of The Christmas Story from Luke chapter 2. Hannah read, and did a great job.


Then we opened gifts! Ha ha ha, we weren't supposed to do gifts this year, but we did. Everyone was happy.





This is a gorgeous card Evelyn made and I just had to include a photo of it.



Then, we got down to business! I made omelets and Dad cooked bacon for breakfast.



Here's the oregano from Mom's garden and chopped tomatoes.



It was as delicious as it looks. Yum!!


Mom made cranberry relish for the meat.


Dad worked on infusing the turkey with some Cajun sauce he bought.
More pictures to follow later! We're off to the Cowarts to celebrate with them.
Merry Christmas!













Thursday, December 24, 2009

Christmas Eve 2009

Hi all, from south Georgia. This was taken from my inlaws' backyard at sunset, Christmas Eve Eve. They live right on a lake, and the sunset was pretty awesome. I got the new Canon EOS 7D for Christmas from my darling husband, and was thrilled to try it out! This was taken with an ISO of 6400. Hooah!

Here's Hannah with Granny Roughen. We haven't seen her in two years. Well, I haven't. It was lovely to see her and Poppa for a day. They live in Savannah.

Here's Mom and Dad's house at night, all lit up for Christmas!


Today, I made Smitten Kitchen's amazing tomato and corn pie (I've blogged about it previously). Again, I got to use my new camera. Pretty awesome!




And Hannah and Megan made this gorgeous pumpkin all by themselves. Can't wait to cut into it tomorrow after Christmas dinner.
Merry Christmas, everyone!








Monday, November 09, 2009

Operation Afghan Christmas


We have a week to go before the shipping deadline, and I am just amazed at how much STUFF we've got!


A friend of mine and I are working to gather Christmas gifts to send to four Afghan families, totaling 24 people. At first I was overwhelmed by the number of people, and the severity of their needs. Winters there are terribly harsh. Each man asked for warm winter clothes for their children, and shoes. Would it be too impossible to provide each person with an entire outfit, plus shoes?

Not for God! So far each child has a sweat shirt and matching pants (the warmest thing I could think of), and the older ones all have gloves and hats. We continue to receive donations, which should cover shoes. I've seen a total of $280 come in, not to mention my friend over there covering the cost of shipping! Wow!




A group of ladies is getting some dolls together for the younger children. It's so exciting!

Thanks to those who gave. I only wish we could see their faces when they receive these gifts, but I guess we'll have to wait until Heaven. When I hear from my friend there, I'll pass the word along.

We had an incredibly busy weekend, AND I have some thrilling news about attending Bill Johnson's conference in north Austin at Church of the Hills. More on that tomorrow! --RLH

Monday, October 19, 2009

The Big 8-0

Tuesday is Grandmother Lee's 80th birthday. I had no idea she was turning 80! I just knew it was her birthday. Aunt Pam fixed a birthday lunch for her on Sunday after church so Hannah and I flew down ASAP to celebrate with the family.


Since the planets have to align in order for me to be at Pam's while Bonnie AND Elizabeth are BOTH there, I made sure to bring my camera. Here are Grandmother's great-grandchildren: Dylan, Zara, Hannah, Marley and Zena.

Even though I was having a terrible hair day, I handed Hannah the camera so I'd have a recent photo of me with my cousins. Bonnie and I are the same age, I think, and Liz is 6 years younger.

Zena is quite the fashion model. She's 7 years old, and always wonders why she doesn't see Hannah more often. Isn't that hilarious. These girls are so sweet, and just plain friendly.


Little Zara was born on Hannah's birthday. She is three!


Marley is the baby, and I'd never met her before. She's almost two. Initially she wanted nothing to do with us, but by the end of our time, she was letting me hold her and play with her. What a cupcake! I wanted to steal her.


Dylan is 4 or 5; I'm not sure. Being a boy, the ONLY boy, he played by himself mostly, quite content to not be in any photos. But he graciously held still for about a nanosecond for this photo.



The rest of these are just images I managed to capture as we rested from all the food and cake and presents. It's so nice to have real family out here in Texas.



Hopefully I'll see these cutie pies again before 2011. Happy Birthday, Grandmother!

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Finally, Some Real Photos

Izzy spent two nights with us while Mommy was in the hospital with baby brother, Josiah. The night I took Izzy home, I lugged my camera along. Josiah was unhappy with bright lights and being taken out of his fuzzy warm blanket, but I HAD to get some "first day home" pictures.


Izzy still wasn't too keen on the little guy, though she was awfully glad to see Mom.


'Siah is suuuch a sweet baby. He's also pretty single-minded. All he thinks about is eating. If thinking is involved at all. More pictures will follow once I get back over there and get all the kids together. I got sick for 5 days, so I've avoided all Small People in an effort to cut off any plagues.

Monday, October 05, 2009

Josiah Eli Todd
10/05/09
7lbs, 12 oz. 21 inches long. Born at 10:33a.m.
He's so beautifullllll!!! He was already looking around when Aunt Rachael got to hold him. He was only one hour old. Hee hee hee! Izzy is doing fine with us. I got her some new boots, and she showed them off to everyone. I took some video; maybe I'll get it on YouTube.

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