Time to Post again!

Wow! What a whirlwind couple of months we have had at the Arrant house. As you all know, we welcomed Baby Remington into this world on November 11th. He has been an amazing baby and at almost 8 weeks now, still really loves to sleep (most of the time).
Harper has truly risen to the challenge of becoming a big sister, is sleeping much better at night and has even started trying to potty train (only sometimes).
Sydney is as helpful, sweet and mature as always. She pitches in to help ALL the time (sometimes when I would rather just handle it, but she's definitely trying). She is a fantastic big sister and I continue to watch the bond between her and Harper grow stronger every day. Harper misses Sydney so much when Syd has gone to school and is constantly asking when she's going to be home. With Harper's tomboy ways she is becoming more and more of a daddy's girl every day. That girl loves her daddy and wants to be like him so much. It's completely precious.
So...the end of the year brought the holidays. Instead of sending Christmas cards, I blogged them. Instead of making a ton of candy, I made a small batch and handed it out to neighbors - everyone else got homemade jelly that I made this summer. I did my Christmas shopping really early, but continued to find things throughout December that the kids "needed"....so I accidentally went over budget...oh well :). We had an awesome Christmas and spent a TON of time in the car - lucky for us, my kids are awesome travelers.

On the 17th of December we made a trip to TX to visit my grandparents. This trip should have taken us 8hours....it took 10 1/2 - we.were.exhausted, but we had a wonderful visit with all my TX family and the two grandmothers got to feast their eyes on 4 of their great grandchildren (my niece accompanied us). The trip home went a lot faster.

The very next weekend was Christmas and it was WONDERFUL! Christmas is my favorite time of year. I love sharing the story of Christ's birth over and over with Sydney, who seems to really be taking it in more and more every year. I love candlelight Christmas Eve services and FCC Rogers did an amazing job as usual. I love the lights, I love that St. Nick really was a wonderful man who gave gifts to boys and girls who were in need. For some people they can't stand that this true story has blossomed into this crazy commercial aspect of Christmas. Yes, that part is tough to swallow sometimes, but I see a lot of good things come around Christmas. I see people get into the true spirit of giving and love - yes, there are those who take advantage of giving people and those who have a rough time with Christmas and get angry and make it tough for others, but all in all, I think there are enough good spirits out there for the rest of us to really feel the spirit of Christmas.

Christmas Eve held our usual family traditions: Buck and Bourbon Stew, followed by church, then home to open presents, leave out cookies for Santa and go to bed. Gigi and Papa were able to make it this year since there was no ice in their path and got here just before bedtime. Christmas morning brought sheer delight to the girls faces when they saw their new bikes and when Sydney saw her new journal that had an "S" on it and a pen with a plume. There were lots of great stocking stuffers and we all had a wonderful morning. Gigi and I cooked a big lunch and then they headed home. Then it was time to do laundry and pack because we headed out at 6:00 am the 26th to go to NE Arkansas to spend time with Minky and Unky. The girls had a blast as usual and we had a wonderful Christmas dinner and saw lots of family there as well. The 29th brought us home (another 7 hour trip). We were home one full day then it was back to Russellville to do Christmas with Uncle Bubby, Aunt Tara and all 5 of our cousins and then 2 hours back home that afternoon.

All in all it was a wonderful 2 weeks. Now we are on to a New Year with new beginnings, new resolutions and new plans. My New Years Blog will be a different post - cause I've got a lot to say about that!!!

The decorations are down now and we are back to normal, back to school, The Pampered Chef business is up and running again. I can't wait for Christmas next year - the Christmas story, the lights, the irritated people, the commercial aspect of it and the spirit of Christmas that comes out in people when you least expect it....every last bit of it - I can't wait!