Christmas With The Stunkard's

This year we were in Lubbock on Christmas Day. We enjoyed spending time with Toby's family. Cason especially enjoyed playing video games with his cousins Travis and Ethan. Other than going to see the movie, Frozen (which was awesome!), we hardly left the house. It was very relaxing!

 On Christmas Eve we read the story of the birth of Jesus, made a birthday cake to celebrate Jesus' birth and the kids got to open 1 present. They got Stompeez!

Don't judge the cake. It was supposed to say Jesus. I never claimed to be a cake decorator! At least it tasted good!

 Christmas morning was a riot! Cason first woke up at 2:30, then 4:30 wanting to open presents. By 5:30 he was wide awake. Molly woke up at 6:30 so that's when we all got up.

Molly was so excited to see what Santa brought for her! She was jumping up and down and squealing, "This is what I've always wanted"! She is holding the diaper bag for her dolls that Santa brought her.

Cason was super excited about his presents too!

Cason carried this little dude around the entire time we were there. Toby and I had a semi-serious conversation about bringing him home with us but then snapped to our senses real fast. Whew!

I love these silly kids!

Molly showing off her fancy jacket and purse.

Cason got a crane truck to add to his fleet.

Molly and Cason with Papaw and Granny

Christmas Fun

This has been a great Christmas season! We have had a lot of family time with a lot of giggles.

 This year we never got around to going to visit Santa BUT Santa drove by our house on a Fire truck!

Our neighbor friends made this really cool sign.

There he goes!

It was so cold and we waited for an hour and a half! But it was worth it!

 Since we spent Christmas Day in Lubbock this year, we let the kids open their big gifts a week before we left. The tractor was from BeBe and Grandad and Toby and I so of course they had to come share in the fun!

His dream come true

Molly got an art table. This girl loves art!

 Our attempt of pictures in front of the Christmas tree before church one morning.

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 Cason's preschool had a Christmas program before their class party.

Here he comes. All smiles!

Grandad captured this picture of Cason looking like he was somewhat enjoying himself.

This is how he really was. He cried through the entire program! We aren't sure why. I guess he wasn't feeling it?

He perked up at the class party!

Disappointment

Not a fun title for a post BUT I have faced utter disappointment this weekend. The Dallas Marathon was cancelled due to severe winter weather. The metroplex is "entombed" (not my word) in ice. Not snow. Ice. And a lot of it.One of the weather men said that this was due to the McFarland Signature which effectively relocates the north pole to the state of Kansas. So it has been cold! The sleet started on Thursday afternoon and continued through the night. School was cancelled and so was everything else. The temperatures didn't get above freezing until today (Sunday) but the damage was already done. I understand why they cancelled, for the safety of everyone involved, but it doesn't make it any easier to stomach. I would have run if they would have let me! I TRAINED for this. Running 4 days a week. Giving up my Saturday mornings. It was hard y'all. Really hard. I was excited about running the marathon but just as excited for the crazy training to be over. Running has consumed my days and my thoughts. It not only effects me but my family as well. I know Toby was looking forward to this being over just as much as I was. As much as I want this to end, another part of me wants vindication. I have to prove to myself that I can run 26.2 miles. I have come this far so I might as well keep going. Honestly the thought of training again makes me want to cry all over again but I have made some wonderful running friends who will see me through this. So Katy, Bethany, Stephanie, Michelle and I are officially signed up for the Cowtown Marathon on Feb. 23. I can't say I am excited. I am going to need a lot of prayers to see me through this.

Just to prove how bad it was here are some pictures of the kids and the ice. I am thankful for the time we got to spend together as a family and a nice warm house where the electricity never went out!

A Different Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving holiday did not go as we had planned but it ended up being relaxing and we got A LOT of stuff done around our house!
Our Thanksgiving started on Fri. when Toby and I took the day off to go to Cason's Thanksgiving Feast and performance at his school. It was so cute but unfortunately I forgot my camera. These are the only pictures I could get.

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After the feast is when all the fun began! I took Cason to the doctor for his 5 year well visit and apparently he wasn't well at all! He had RSV. It wasn't really a big deal because he wasn't feeling bad at all but Molly had the exact same cough as he did so I was pretty sure she had it too. I bought a breathing treatment machine and prepared for a weekend of breathing treatments. Wellllllll by Saturday afternoon Molly was SICK SICK SICK. She had a high fever and acted pretty miserable. Long story short, she was finally diagnosed with RSV and strep but spent 5 really miserable days of sleeping and moaning. Once we got the antibiotic for strep she was back to her normal self in 6 hours!
Since she was sick on Thanksgiving Day (and by this time Toby was too) my family postponed our Thanksgiving dinner until Fri.
Here is a picture of our family of 4 on Thanksgiving Day. We got Texas Land and Cattle take out and it was delicious!

This one made me laugh! It is super hard to take a picture with the timer! 

Finally on Friday we were able to have our real Thanksgiving with my family and my mom's WONDERFUL food!

The boys and Molly had some football playing fun! This is proof that she was feeling better!

BeBe had gingerbread houses to decorate for all the kids. They loved it and ate at much sugar as they put on the house!

Cason and Molly's finished product!

On Thanksgiving Day Cason and Molly helped me come up with a thankful list. But I lost it. It was a rough week people! So here is my Top 5 List:
I am thankful for:
1. A God that answers even the smallest prayers.
2. A healthy family for most of the year
3. A husband who works hard even through illness
4. My funny and energetic kids. 
5. My parents and sister who postponed our celebrations so we could all be there.