Christmas 2011

The weekend before Christmas we hosted my family.

Uncle Shane brought the boys Eskimo hats.  

Gotta love the BOB - the stroller that keeps on giving!  We dusted this thing off...just in time to use it come May for our fam!

We like our backyard to play soccer games

Our tree...5 days after we moved in.  Nice decor, eh?

Justin upgraded his golf clubs thanks to the golf-loving Birdie and Papa

Elise sporting her new 147 million orphans shirt

That Saturday night we headed Steve & Kerry's house for the Smorby Christmas event.

G-pa & G.G. with their two great-grandkids....it will be 5 come the end of March.  Aunt Elise has another bun in the oven and we will have officially two more kiddos on November 15th!

Aunt Joannie, Aunt Kerry, and Mom

Me and my pseudo sisters, Val & Gingi

Justin talking it up with Carter and his girlfriend Kayla

The whole fam, minus Amy who was in the hospital for pneumonia.  Thankful she came out of it!

What is some Morby without some fun?

We all brought $25 giftcards and had a giftcard exchange

Except for Shane stealing Justin's Chuck E Cheese giftcard and coins it was a pretty tame affair.  And yes, Justin ended up with the giftcard from Shane saw himself some Lululemon.

Sunday night we drove to the Hopkins new digs in Friendswood for a big ole family sleepover.

The Livesays drove down from Victoria, the Junods were in town, and all four families bunked at the Hopkins abode for a night of fun.

Derek reading to all the kids one of our Jesse tree stories for the night.

Pajama fun!

We had a one day breather and then the Michaelis' came into town to celebrate Christmas at our house, a first for Derek and I to host.  We enjoyed it so much, not traveling, going to church in Houston, eating great food, etc. that we said we would host anytime.


Tom, the fellow Chicagoan, is big on stuffing.  So Justin got to help with the stuffing.

Uncle Kevin was great with playing with the J man

 Grandpa and Grandma each gave Justin a book where they recorded their voice on it to read to him. He loved it.

 We were still lacking in furniture, so this was our puzzle table in the living room.

 Back to the stuffing.  Michaelis tradition that everyone in the family has to touch the stuffing.

 All to go inside the turkey...hold on while I wait for my stomach to come back.

 Justin's first Indian giver gift, though he didn't know it.  He bought Daddy Mousetrap....so that he could play it with Justin.  Great motive and totally innocent, but reminds me of the Christmas that Shane bought the whole family Dumb and Dumber for our group gift....

 The soccer goal from Grandma & Grandpa.  Played with weekly around here.

 We got invited to a party for Piggies and Paws and made the Micahelis an airplane since Grandpa was in the Airforce.  Papa & Birdie got a golf cart, and we got a soccer ball.  GREAT Christmas idea for grandparents and a fun way to use handprints and footprints.

 The turkey.  I can see that stuffing waving at me from the inside.  I still stick to my dressing.

 Lots of night spent out by the firepit.  My two new kids can't wait to do this, and we keep telling them cooler days are coming.

Thankful for all the ways the Lord continues to bless us.

First part of December

Christmas this year was minimal.  In a refreshing sort of way.  It's not about the hoopla, but about worship.  We moved during the month of December, closed on our old house, packed up everything, hosted Christmas, but managed to find consistency through worship.

This year we started the Jesse tree.  Will definitely become a yearly tradition.  Bought this book and loved preparing for Advent this way.  Our Logos Sunday School class decided in November at our monthly ladies' dinner to get 25 ornaments for everyone to share.  So each of the 25 moms brought 25 ornaments of the same thing.  Then we all went around the table and collected one of each, coming home with 25 different ornaments of the same thing.  Such creativity displayed, and so easy to do.  Would recommend any group of ladies to do it this way vs. making 25 different ornaments.


Was running out of creativity so I put all the ornaments in paper sacks with a different design on each one. 

We got a small real tree to decorate with.

 Ready to go...and ready to be moved.  I wish I had taken a photo of the finished product with all the ornaments.  Look forward to three children waking up each morning excitedly opening up each sack and then reading along in the book the story that prepares our hearts for the coming of our King.  Christmas is going to be so much bigger this year!

Justin went to Waco the first weekend in December for the UT/Baylor game.  He is a bit conflicted when it comes to the two schools thanks to all the Longhorn-loving-Lukes in our life.  But he knew who to support come game time.


Cheering in the rain

 Playing football with some big boys

 Bears win!

Our last outing for the CBB.  Santa was in the neighborhood.  Or so we thought.  He no-showed, and since I had already resigned as social chair and passed off the reins, I was thankful to just sneak out.

 Loved the snack idea.  Decorate your own ice cream cone as a tree. 

 All Justin wanted to do was play football with the boys.

The 2nd weekend in December brought a surprise planned by Derek and his coliquoy group, as we call them.  Derek and three of his buddies do daily Bible readings and accountability.  Once a month they get together at one of their houses after the kids go to bed to hang out.  They are diligent with their readings and have a deal that the one that has the most missed days buys everyone dinner at the end of the year.  Win win for everyone.  I love my husband surrounding himself with men that point him to the Word.

The fellas wanted a couples evening (for the once the ladies were included) and planned a surprise evening out.  We only knew to get a sitter.

We rode around in style!

We ate somewhere that somehow none of us had gone, which was a feat in itself since most are from Houston.  We ended at Brasserie 19.  We looked at our menus on iPads. Nuts!

Then we took the night elsewhere, where I felt old, too sober, but thankful to not have kids! 

These guys mean the world to Big D.  Thankful for their friendship!

Then the next night, the night before we moved from our first real neighborhood, we had a get together with the Wedgewood Gang, as we called ourselves.

The Wilsons....we miss them so.  But still see them a lot since we will all be at HCE.  AND, Justin and Lily, far right, are in the same kinder class!

The Laxmidas' hosted our group for a lovely Indian dinner.  We will miss the Laxmidas', the Dickinsons, the Nooranis, the Plotners, the Wilsons, and the Casadas.

Amin would come use our basketball goal at times and was always so good with the kids.  We would even hang out at the trash cans where we would bump into each other. 

We loved Randi, our realtor.  She both sold our house (it took 3 contracts to finally finish the deal) and helped us by our new one.  She knew what Derek and I did not...which was a lot!

We moved the next day, with Mary Beth helping out for a few days.  Thankful for Mary Beth and her servant hood!  Then she left and a few hours later the Livesays came through to spend the night.  They realized once they got there that we had literally just moved. 

They left bright and early the next morning, and then Andrea Rowe Allen, one of my Baylor roommates, came over with her two kids.

Sydney and JT

Justin loved Drew

Then Justin had his school Christmas program.

 One day he was a wise man and the next day he was a shepherd.

 Love this smile, as it's brilliance is sometimes lost on me these days.

 Come on ring those bells...

Then the next day we hosted my family, and then the Michaelis', all the way through Christmas.  With some friends in between.  More on that to come.  Looking back I see the Lord's grace in all the fun, festivities, and boxes in my home that month.  Thankful He was able to slow me down to worship His Son.