Christmas with Cousins

We had FIVE different Christmas gatherings to attend this year and the best ones were the ones with our cousins.

Gavin loved the cookies at Nana's house, but I am not too sure she loved the icing in the grout after we left.  Hunter thinks Gavin is WILD and Gavin worships the ground he walks on, so when Hunter laughs he does more!

Camryn, Gavin, Emma & Hunter getting ready to open their Santa bags from Nana that were filled with tons of goodies.

They all seemed to love this Toy Story spaceship and figurine set that our little man got from Nana.  Look  at Gavin looking at that Woody, just dreaming of bringing him to life.

This was Christmas Day at our house before they all opened a gift. Look at sweet little Chance back their by his buddy Gavin.  We missed Peyton, Jackson, Kaiden, Hudson and Maddox this year.

The twins, Miss Brynlee was not going to get in with the crowd, but I got this one of her with Aunt Stacey.

Poor Hunter, these kids wrestled all over him and we finally made them stop.  He is such a great big cousin and is so sweet to all the little ones.  When they finished this wrestling match, they were all red faced and breathing hard.

I am so glad my kids have so many cousins and the number just keeps growing. There are currently 11 in the Carnes family, 2 sweet babies in heaven and 2 more on the way.  Dana/Chris and Marla/Dwain, we can not wait till next year when their are 13 little Carnes running around everywhere. It is gonna be fun!

Cousins are those childhood playmates who grow up to be forever friends.

Christmas Eve with Papa

Every year my family gets together on Christmas Eve to celebrate, however this year we got together earlier in the day and spent it with my grandfather at the assisted living facility.  I am so happy we decided to do this and I think it made Papa feel very special.  Unfortunately I forgot my camera at home, so this is the only picture I got with my phone.



This picture makes my heart happy and I am so glad that Emma & Gavin have had the opportunity to know my Papa.  He is such an incredible man with so many stories to tell, but he is getting older and is experiencing some health issues.  My kids think Papa is pretty funny and he thinks the same thing about them.  He gets really tickled watching Gavin run around so full of energy. Honestly, it took all I had to walk in this place on Christmas Eve, but I am so glad I did.  I pray that Papa had a Merry Christmas and that us celebrating at his place blessed him this year.

I'm a Scientist!

While brother bear napped today, Mommy started the process of decluttering the house and Emma Lou decided to paint with her new easel.   This little girl loves to cut, glue, color, paint and create.  She spends most of her time at our craft table and is often found making things for others.  Christmas day she decorated popsicle sticks and glued them together in the shape of a cross for all of her cousins.

I was busy boxing things up when she came and found me and said, "Mom, come look at my painting.  You are going to love it, I think I am a scientist."  I must admit I was super impressed when I turned the corner and saw her creation.  She was so super proud and I told her she would be a great scientist one day, later on I explained to her that artist paint also.  That silly girl just chuckled and said, "oh yea Mom that too, I really took my time and concentrated on this one."  

Please pray for my sweet girl as we head to the Allergy and Asthma specialist tomorrow in hopes of getting off Singular, Flovent, Pro Air, Steroids and Nasonex.  I decided a couple weeks back that I have had enough of the medication, so I am hoping we can come up with some alternative plans tomorrow.  I am almost certain we will be saying goodbye to dairy soon, but we are ready to do whatever it takes.  This little girl is begging to play soccer again, dances a couple days a week and will be starting swim team in the Spring, so she needs a healthy set of lungs to be involved in these things. I pray daily for her to be healthy and the weather not to interfere, I know there are answers and we just need to find them.  Looking forward to what the specialist has to say in the morning.

Christmas with the Fraziers

It is time to de-Christmas our home and I am sitting her trying to motivate myself to get started.  As much as I love to decorate for the holidays, I dread cleaning and packing all of it away until the next year.  My only motivation this year is the thought of locating my daughter's James Avery ring that lasted about 5 hours on Christmas day and there has been no sighting of it since. 

Our family of snowmen that I pray over every year before we put them out in hopes that no one decides they love them more than me (hee hee).  The two in the front center were made to represent Emma & Gavin.

Welcome to our home that is filled with laughter, love, friends and family throughout the holiday season.   Each year I blog our home at the holidays so my sweet babies will be able to look back one day and reflect on the way we celebrated Jesus' birthday (it also helps me remember where everything goes).

One of my very favorite parts of Christmas are the Christmas cards and seeing all the families change year after year.  I hang all of our cards on 2 topiary Christmas trees and garland in our formal dining room.   Our mantle is loaded with lots of greens and reds with cutest little polka dot stockings ever.

Christmas is scattered everywhere in our house, with little whimsical trees, ornaments, Santas, Mark Roberts Fairies and so much more.

I have had this little snowman forever and everyone that comes over ask if I will leave him to them one day, he is as jolly as they come.

Our advent calendar we use daily and reflect on all we have to be thankful for while receiving a little goody to start the day.  The kiddos got candy and books on certain days along with a dollar or two here or there.

This nativity scene was given to me by my husband the year my Daddy passed away, so it holds a very special place in my heart.  I can not wait to pass this down to Emma one day.  My sweet MIL gave us the metal train that sits at the base of our fireplace.  She gave it to us before we rode the Polar Express and had a plate engraved that reads, "The Frazier's Polar Express 2011". 

Gavin's room is decorated with a sports tree and his little safari friends even got their own Santa hats to celebrate this year.  There were a couple times I would hear him laughing in his room and I would go in there to find him with the giraffes hat on his little head.

Wreaths on the kiddos doors and the inside sign reads, "Dear Santa, leave presents take my Brother/Sister!"  Of course it is just for cuteness, because anyone that knows them understands they would be lost without the other.

The turquoise/orange penguin tree is in E&G's bathroom and matches perfectly.  Emma's room tree is pink and funky.  It now has all sorts of ornaments on it from dogs, princess and ones she made at school.

Our gold/brown tree was from my pre-kid days, of course we had to add some color as the kiddos arrived.  The other tree is in our foyer and is my fairy tree that I love, love and love some more!

I had a florist make me lots of bows and rework a wreath for me this year.  In the middle of the day one day they text and said they made a wreath that had my name on it for my kitchen. Can we say SUCKER, it was hanging in my kitchen by dark.

These little stars hung over the windows across the back of our house and added the perfect little sparkle for the festivities.

Poinsettias could be found everywhere and I so wish they lasted all year long.  I do not have a green thumb, so I was lucky they lasted through Christmas day.

More stars and Merry Christmas signs to welcome our guest and help them feel right at home during their visit.

Any decorations we opted not to use in the house, we moved outside to the playhouse and back porch.

Everyone needs a little Christmas greenery and an angel to watch over them the whole season through.

My favorite tree in the house is our family ornament tree.  This tree chokes me up year after year when I unpack and look at all the ornaments along with the years of memories each represents.  This year we added quite a few that we had purchased at Disney/Bahamas along with the series we collect from Hallmark year after year.  Emma & Gavin get ornaments from family members every year that we will treasure forever.

Every year I struggle with packing my children's artwork away, so this year we decided to string all the Christmas projects up in our playroom from corner to corner.  They loved seeing their work displayed and pointing it out to family members this Christmas.

This is on the back of our front door and can be seen by our guest as they leave.  There is so much more that fills our house during the holiday season and even though it is a ton of work to display it each year, I would have it no other way for the sake of my children.  I want them to celebrate life in a big way and I feel like this is just one of the little things I can do to make their holiday memories merry and bright. 

Emma & Gavin, you made Christmas 2011 the best yet for us as a family.  You guys were so much fun and your excitement carried us through this holiday season with no regrets.  Making memories as the Frazier Four gets better and better year after year. 

Santa Claus came to Town

We were ready for Santa Claus to come to our house in a big way this year.  The kids were so excited and made sure that all their toys were picked up and in great shape.  They understand that if Santa thinks you take really great care of your stuff that he might leave you a little more. 

We know that Santa and his reindeer are super busy on Christmas Eve, but also get lots of goodies everywhere they stop so we just left a little out for them.

We love Christmas and we love to give, give, give at Christmas time.  Our kiddos only get for their birthdays and Christmas, so we tend to go a little overboard and have no regrets.

Santa's big gifts this year for Gavin were a scooter and a tool bench (silly man, he left the scooter in our closet) and Emma got an easel and a Leap Pad.

Both of the kids got super hero capes with their initials and names monogrammed on the back of them, super cute! 

Our house is overflowing with Toy Story stuff and Santa brought more.  This year he brought all the Hawaiian themed stuff and one very special Buzz for little brother.

Not a great picture, but this is when Daddy walked them out to see Santa's goodies.  Emma is so wonderful and stays in bed till we give her permission to get up on Christmas morning, because we want to see their little faces light up.

Emma only had 3 things on her list, because that is how many the wisemen brought to the stable.  She asked for a walkable pet shop, a Leap Pad and a real ring from James Avery.  Santa delivered it all and she was one happy little girl, until the ring was lost hours later and has yet to be found. 

Gavin's list consisted of candy, cookies and candy corns from Santa, so he was very happy when he got more.  Of course his BIG sister created a list for him and helped him put it in the mail to Santa.

The famous ring that had everyone searching high and low to find.  We are thinking it went down drain or got thrown away.  We replaced it for her, but she is only allowed to wear it to church, dinner and special things now.

Gavin was thrilled with his razor Santa brought because he wants to be just like Daddy and shave in the mornings.

Emma digging through the special bag of goodies that were left behind for her to enjoy.

Gavin's very special Disney Fan Club D23 Buzz Lightyear, I think we are up to about 9 Buzz's now.  I am seriously thinking of putting all their Toy Story stuff in a pile and taking a picture, it is crazy.  However, I love to hear Gavin play with all of them and bring them to life just like Andy did in the movie.  I promise you he could play the role if they ever needed him to reinact Andy or Bonnie's parts.  He loves all of them and it is hilarious to watch him when he plays with them.

Christmas was so much fun at our house this year with a two and a half and four and a half year old.  I seriously can not imagine it getting any better or more exciting.  I love to watch my kids when they get new stuff and I love how appreciative they are when they open each gift, it truly makes you want to buy for them and every gift is their favorite.  Christmas 2011 has been the most JOYFUL Christmas I have ever experienced thus far and I know it is only going to get better.

Merry Christmas 2011

Frazier Four Christmas Traditions

I love traditions and I especially love HOLIDAY traditions.  Each year we have traditions that we have started since we became a family and hope that our children will one day continue these when they have a family of their own.

Some of our traditions are our holiday getaway trip, Elf on the Shelf, our advent calendar, Night before Christmas book, Hallmark ornaments, Christmas pajamas, feeding the reindeer, letters to Santa and this year we added our cookie decorating party.

Last night I decided to open my Kitchen Aid mixer that has been sitting in a box in the pantry for 7 years unopened.   I pulled up Paula Deen's sugar cookie recipe and before I knew it my entire kitchen was covered in flour, seriously!

Emma & Gavin enjoyed helping turn my mess into the cutest little sugar cookies you have ever seen.  I am not real sure what little man was trying to do here, but he was thinking hard.

Look at my sweet boy decorating his cookies with icing, sprinkles and candy.  We were very concerned he was going to throw up he ate so much sugar.

Emma was super excited to bring this little gingerbread man to life and cover every cookie with icing.

I made these for my sweet babies, they were simple but cute and I am certain they are going to be yummy.  We made a special one for Santa too.

Daddy made a train for Gavin and a gingerbread girl for Emma.  I am so thankful for this man and am blessed that he is such an amazing Daddy to my children.

I am so glad that we decided to add this tradition to our list this year.  It was so much fun and we will definitely continue to do this for years to come. 

Emma has been looking forward to sprinkling the reindeer food in the front yard all day long.  Our reindeer love to eat oatmeal and glitter mixed together.

Little man was excited and ended up turning his bag upside down to empty all of his special food out.

Oh it is so much fun to enjoy Christmas through the eyes of these two. They have been so appreciative of every gift they have gotten.

Daddy started this tradition 5 years ago and I love it.  Every year he goes out and hunts for the perfect Night Before Christmas Book and brings it home.  Right before the kids go to bed on Christmas Eve he sits them down and reads them the story.  Tonight Emma helped him and was almost able to retell the entire story.   This year we put all of our books together and read them to the kids often.

Our little advent calendar is a fun way to count down the days until Santa arrives.  This year Emma took all the odd days and Gavin to the even days.  Every morning their was something in their little pouch and in order to get it they would have to tell me one thing they were thankful for and I would write it on paper and stick it in the pouch.  Emma gave me some amazing things she was thankful for and Gavin told me he was thankful for Buzz, candy, his birthday, food and other super silly stuff.

Meet Elfy and Chippy our Elves on the Shelf, these guys make their appearance on December 1st every year and get themselves into some silly situations. 

Our babies are in bed and Santa's milk, cookies and carrots for the reindeer are ready and waiting for him.

As tired as I might be at times,  I am so glad we have made a commitment to continue to create traditions with our family. This little chalkboard is on our fridge and Emma wrote this message on it a while back, she is such a sweet, sweet child and is so in love with Jesus.

As time goes on the traditions do too.  I encourage you to create traditions with your loved ones that will live on for generations to come.