'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! ;-)