'Twas the Night Before Christmas....

Christmas 2006 was a BLAST!! Probably without a doubt our most fun yet! Here are a few pics to share with those that weren't able to be with us this year!

Gavin and Reese sharing the bottom bunk in Gavin's room the night "Santa" was to arrive. They were so excited they stayed up late and went to bed together....sound familiar mom?Our tree right before "Santa" came and we put out "Christmas".

Christmas at the Lloyds....Caden was having a blast as you can tell and Christopher getting a little friendly with the Christmas decor...

Reese admiring her new dress up Princess shoes from Grandma...

Gavin excited to try out his new Leapster game from Pa Haslam... The gift mommy was anxious for Gavin to have...so our little budding photographer will stop stealing my digital camera...
Christmas at Granna and Pa Lloyds...also pictured are cousins Russell and Carter and Aunt Cori...

Reese is about to pass out from all the Hello Kitty "prizes"...

Gavin can't wait to find out what's inside...Uncle Gary's present....oops...

Hope y'all had a Merry Christmas and enjoyed being with family and friends at this special time...remembering our Savior's birth and gift to the world!!

Christmas Eve

Texas Town at the Dallas Arboretum

This past weekend we went to the Dallas Arboretum to check out "Holiday at the Arboretum" which features the "Artistry of the Nativity". It has over 300 creations depicting a cultural interpretation of the nativity. Before we did that, we went to "Texas Town" which depicts a Texas Pioneer way of life and adventure. The kids had fun learning how the pioneers lived and the types of toys they played with, what types of natural medicines and bugs they had. They explored a real tepee, a real sod house and two settlers cabins. There were also miniature club house, school house, church and pub. We took the self guided tour and as you can tell, we had a lot of fun. It was hard to choose just a few pics to post......

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Christopher, Gavin and Reese in settlers cabin...

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Pioneer Christmas tree...

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Sariah and Reese found their cabin... .....

Gavin and Reese still monkeys jumping on the bed... (only this one was made of rope and corn husks)

This last picture of Christopher and Reese was them exploring a tree house on our way to the nativities.

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We never made it to the actual nativity event. It was cloudy when we left the house but by the time we got through Texas Town, it was 80 degrees and REALLY humid. We were too hot and wet to "enjoy" the nativity with young children. So we left...bummer. But, we still had a good time.

2006's Hung by the chimney...

The Forney Five have a Christmas tradition in which we make our own stockings each year. It started the first Christmas Christopher and I were married. We made stockings (I should say sacks,..b.c that's what they are). We had so much fun spending time together making them, the following year we decided to do it again. So what did we do with the previous years stockings? We stuffed them and gave them away to people whose Christmas's might have needed a little help to make them brighter. Friends, neighbors, missionaries, you name it. Once we added a few more to the Forney clan, they quickly picked up on the idea and Gavin gives his stuffed to a friend of his choosing. We sure have fun making them and then going out as a family and stuffing last years for giving.

This year, we went a little crazy, but sure had fun. We used over a pound of buttons, about 9 different fabrics and came up with these snowmen and tree stockings. We went over board on the buttons and might have overdone it,...they are overwhelming to the eye....but we had fun and that's what counts.
Here are a few shots of them up close. Excuse the poor camera shots, I forgot to take the setting off "soft edges" from something else we were doing, and now they are fuzzy. Of course, I'm too lazy to re-do the pics...... This first picture is of my stocking.

This is Christophers....

This is Gavin's...of course,...gotta have all the orange (his favorite color) buttons....

Reeses' stocking in all its glory....

And our Forney Fifth, Caden's....(we helped him a little bit) These last pictures are just some shots from last years stockings....time for stuffing!

Kids Christmas Pics

Christopher insists on doing family Christmas photos (ourselves, by the way) for our cards that we send out every year. And every year it is such a major ordeal to get everyone looking at the camera (on timer so they have to stare at it for 10 seconds), not crying, moving around, silly faces,...y'all with children know what I'm talking about. This year was not any different and we are lucky we got one that we can send. Anyway. You will see our photo in the mail sometime within this next week. Here are some shots of just the kids that we did just playing around.

Reese .....

Gavin and Caden (the brothaaaas Lloyd) ......

Gavin, Reese and Caden TOTALLY in true "cheese" format.

Y'all have a Merry Christmas ya hear!

It's ChristmasTIME!! (said with David Booth copyright)

Well, I said I would put up some pictures of the tree when it was finished however, it is taking some time. Why? I have no idea. We have most of the ornaments up but no ribbon and trim nor even a star for that matter. Here it is as it stands by day....

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At evening...

And at night, as Christopher and I cozy up on the couch doing one of our favorite nite time retreats.....popcorn and NETFLIX baby (which by the way is AWESOME) on the big projector wall we call our TV! The white lights give just the right soft ambiance for total peace and relaxation.

We don't have glass bulbs on the tree, which I love. When Gavin was but a wee 15 month child, he forever changed the way we do Christmas tree decor, as he grabbed a bulb and crushed it in his hand requiring many stitches in his right hand. And mommy had to hold him down so they could stitch his poor tiny hand. NOPE,..mommy isn't going through that again. So, until ALL our children are older and actually listen to reason, we do crafty and soft decor. It's all fun!

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Every year the LDS Arlington Texas Stake does a Nativity Scene Program which has over 1500+ different sets depicting our Saviors birth. They open up their doors to all and it brings such a great spirit to the community. This year we took the kids and it was absolutely fabulous. We walked through each room of the church where literally hundreds of nativity's were set up. We saw them all, from a Star Wars depiction to those made in many foreign lands. Here are Reese, Gavin and Caden in one of the rooms. We all had a great time remembering the reason for this season,..Christ, our Savior.

P.S....if y'all could shoot me an email with your mailing address that would be super...b.c it's Christmas card time! Don't be left out! ;-)

Just two words for you....

ARTIC BLAST!!

Holiday Weekend Part Uno - Backyard Fun House (Ghetto Fabulous Style)

Christopher started off this holiday weekend with a backyard cardboard fun house! We had saved all our cardboard boxes from things we had bought over this past year for a Haunted House we wanted to make for this Halloween past. However, as we all know, we ran out of time and it never happened. Before recycling all this cardboard, Christopher took it upon himself to amaze his awe struck wife, and be the coolest daddy that ever walked the earth once again! He made a cardboard playhouse with Gavin and Reese.Complete with ceiling to floor front window and door.

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Front view of finished project. You might be able to notice even a table inside that was made from cardboard for them to use for various activities. Chairs were also included for comfort. Multiple rooms that branch off the front wing,...all "carpeted" as well.

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Back view of the mulitple rooms and tunnels.

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And our cutie pie Reese enjoying her playtime with daddy, poised from the side window. This place is spectacular as Christopher made it with metal posts for stablility....it still stands today! That is...until it rains...but who knows when that will ever happen again!

Holiday Weekend Part Dos - Thanksgiving Turkey Trot

While our Turkey was brining back at home, we joined Gavin and Christopher among 31,000+ runners for the 39th Annual Dallas Turkey Trot. Here's Gavin with his very first event number!
The Turkey trot has two events, the 5K fun run (3.1 miles) and the 8 mile race. Christopher and Gavin were in the 5K along with a million other people. The route took them through downtown Dallas and they got to race through the towering sky scrapers. It was a beautiful day for it too! (Hottest day of the week at 80 degrees) This was so cute. As were were getting the numbers ready and the safety pins out of the stroller, we looked down to see Gavin doing some warm up stretches. He was very excited to run a race with his Daddy and had on his special "fast shoes" Christopher bought for him a few weeks ago while in El Paso for this very occasion. Sariah and Reese stood on the sidelines waiting for Christopher and Gavin to finish the race. Afterwards Reese and Gavin went to the jumper-landia seen in the background.
Christopher tried to run during the race, but the strollers had to start at the back of the pack. And when I say pack I mean mob of 30,000+ turkey trotters. So Christopher tried to weave his way through the crowd so he could run, but after almost killing a few runners, taking out a couple leashed dogs, and mowing over some innocent children, he decided to just go with the flow and walk the 3.1 miles. So, from the time the race started, it took him 15 minutes to just get across the starting line because of everyone in front of him, and another 50 minutes to get back to the finish line! But all in all they had lots of fun and Gavin was thrilled the entire time. There were live bands playing on the side of the streets and lots of craziness, like this couple making out in the background for instance. That right there lets you know how slow the pace was.

Holiday Weekend Part Tres- Culvert Diving

Christopher wanted to finish off our weekend with some off roading or "mudding" as they call it in Texas. While returning from visiting with Christopher's family in Tyler, he missed our turn to the highway and needing to do a U-turn in the middle of a "farm road". Our vehicle doesn't have the greatest turn radius and therefore required a 3 point turn for our U turn. While doing this, an oncoming vehicle traveling at "super speeds" suddenly came flying right up over the hill. Christopher and I panicked that it wouldn't see us in time to stop and broad-side us hurting the kids in the back seat. So, claiming it was all for the sake of the children, Christopher drove right into a culvert. The car came to a stop teeter-tottering off the side of the road with back tires in mid air. Stunned at the spectacle before it, the oncoming vehicle stopped. It was apparent that we flung ourselves into a culvert dive. The pic below is the best shot we got, but doesn't give the moment its justice. You have to imagine Sariah sitting in the passenger seat screaming at Christopher, "What are you doing, he's going to ram us, AAAAHHHH!!!" and Christopher in the driver's seat believing her enough to plunge his unpaid-for car into an impossibly steep ditch.Luckily it was a gradual dive and everyone was OK. We immediately unloaded the kids from the car, turned death trap, just in case someone really did run into us now that we were even less visible. Within moments we had car loads of helpful East Texans offering us their cell phones and aid. Christopher called his Dad who was 30 minutes away to come pull us out with his truck and logging chains. Even with help on the way, the second car that stopped refused to leave us until we were on our way. They were coming back from a Saturday night church meeting and it turns out it was the pastor and his wife, Robert & Jane. They lived just down the road and knew someone with a tractor. Just as we were about to call Robert's friend, the man who lived right in front of the accident site came out with his truck and suggested he pull us out. So he went back to his barn and came back with this massive John Deere tractor (below). Christopher called his dad and told him to turn around since we would be out before he even got there. Robert begin stopping traffic and the Tractor guy (name unknown) started positioning his back-hoe for the extraction. While he was getting lined up the state patrol and a fire engine showed up, emergency lights flashing. Gavin made the comment, "Wow! I've never seen a real fireman before! SWEET ACTION!!". Before they could take over traffic control we were out of the ditch. After making sure everyone was OK and the car wasn't damaged, the state patrol rolled their eyes at our stupidity and let us go. We were very blessed that there wasn't any damage to the car. Just a few scratches under the rock guard and a few places on the under-carriage frame. It will definitely take some time for Christopher to live down this little excursion.

Holiday Weekend Part Quatro - Christmas Tree Hunting

Unfortunately, we didn't remember to bring our camera for the biggest event of the weekend. What's up with that? Every year we buy a REAL tree for Christmas. Nothing but the best! So we out to Lone Star Pine Christmas Trees once again this year to pick out our tree from the farm. Last year we went traditional East Texas Pine...however, it was too much like a bush for my liking. I didn't like it when we bought it, however, being my first Christmas in Texas, I wanted a traditional Texas Christmas. Forget it! Frankly, I like my Fraser Firs, and this farm sells them too! Only, they have to buy them and ship them in. No problem for me. We grabbed our tree, and at a bargain price at that,..$52 bucks! Last year they were $89....so I'm feeling the REAL Christmas Tree love this year! We still took our tractor hay ride around the farm and pitied all the other little Texas Pine Christmas trees. Drank our hot Apple Cider which Gavin lovingly referred to as,.."hot apple juice" and pretended taking our picture with Santa and his Snowmen....all in 78 degree weather. Ah,...I love Texas! We will be decorating the tree tonight, (although my house is in full Christmas decor already) and so we'll get a few pics to add to the site later. Hope y'all had a wonderful holiday...now bring on Christmas! Share with me what you did this past weekend....and I know more than 3 of you read my blog....so post already! Ok, emailing me and calling me is still cool!

Gavin's Pre-school Thanksgiving Program & Feast

Today was Gavin's Thanksgiving Program and Feast at his pre-school! His class, Mrs. Lewis' class, dressed up as Indians for the program. He made his feathered head band and vest.

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They sang songs of thanksgiving and faith. Gavin decided halfway through the program he wanted to ditch the Indian getup and be a cowboy (notice the cowboy boots he wore just for the occasion)! Gavin wasn't the embarrassment this time around. That would have been the kid second from his left without a hat on. He started picking his nose for about 5 minutes....all for the video cameras!

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Gavin here leaving his Indian TP to tend to his prairie campfire in preparation for the feast!

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Then it was time for the main event,....the FEAST! Gavin was waiting patiently for the Kindergarten Academy to finish their program before scarfing down the Thanksgiving grub!

No pictures of the actual food,..as we were enjoying it too much to think about pictures. We all had a good time and look forward to the Christmas program coming up this next month!

Forney Four on Wheels....

Biking is another hobby we have taken up since moving to Texas. While the little ones are learning to ride bikes, we tote them around in this pull along carrier. This is Gavin and Reese last summer ('05) being pulled along for a ride to the park. This is Gavin and Reese this past weekend in the same biker carrier. My how they have grown. It's fun to look at "then and now" pictures of the kids when they are still this small. This Christmas Gavin will graduate to having to ride his own big boy bike, so Caden can take his place in our biker "chariot". Christopher has decided that he would like to train for an actual Triatholon, so, he's gonna have a fun time training while pulling our children along!
This last picture is just a fun one of Reese. She was just so cute b.c she wanted to wear her scarf,...b.c she really doesn't get much of a chance to wear it here in Texas. She will when we take our vacation to the "greatest snow on earth" this January.