Merry Christmas

WE wish you a Merry Christmas
We wish you a Merry Christmas,
WE wish you a Merry Christmas
And a Happy New Year.



We ate, We laughed & We opened gifts,
it was a wonderful day. Will finally "got it"
so it was fun seeing Christmas through his eyes.
Wyatt got his very first bike and since his feet
can't reach the petals he might get it again for his
birthday in July (just kidding mom). The boys
got a kitchen & shopping cart from Santa...this was
a really big hit.


We shared a wonderful dinner with Roonie &
Pawpaw, and our friends TJ & Elisa with their
girls Katelin & Elina, we were so blessed to have
everyone here with us, it made the day even
more special.

Some of our Christmas traditions are:
1. Go to a Christmas Eve church service
2. Open 1 gift on Christmas eve...this year it was
Santa pj's for the boys
3. On Christmas morning I get up and make
monkey bread for breakfast
4. Happy birthday Jesus cake
5. The last gift we open is the most
beautifully wrapped, inside is the baby Jesus
who gets placed in the manger to remind us
why we celebrate Christmas

We hope your Christmas was very special!!!!!

Roonie & Pawpaw

The holidays would not be complete without Grandparents!!!! Roonie & Pawpaw made the very long drive from Louisiana to spend Christmas with us. After being on the road for 2 days we were so excited when they finally arrived. During their visit we celebrated Pawpaw's birthday and Christmas.
Will loves having Roonie here and requests that she read him his books at night before bed. She taught him a special song to sing on Christmas Morning. Mom had mentioned they wanted to take the boys somewhere special for some "bonding time" so they ended up going to the park. From the pictures it looks like they had a lot of fun.
Pawpaw is very handy and he worked on some projects around the house for me. One afternoon he actually installed new child safety locks on my kitchen cabinets....Wyatt had figured out the old ones...I needed an upgrade and pawpaw was just the man to do it. I had no idea it was going to take several hours.... THANK YOU PAWPAW!!!!! What a relief to have that done. He even took the boys to the park & out for lunch one morning so that me and mom could go out for some "girl" time.

The week seemed to fly by and we were not ready for them to go but were thankful that they made the trip. Christmas would not have been the same without them here.

The Bliss Christmas Dance

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Breakfast with Santa

One of my girlfriends had invited us to join her and her daughters for a pancake breakfast with Santa that a local church was hosting. I didn't have high expectations, I thought there would be a small crowded room with a long buffet line moving slowly for some cold pancakes...but I was ok with that, this was going to be a fun outing for the boys. I must say that I was pleasantly surprised though.... the breakfast was a fund raiser for the church's youth group so the youth actually served the pancakes to everyone. The tables were nice and festive and there wasn't a crowd. The youth did a great job serving and making sure we had everything we needed during our breakfast. When we were finished eating Santa was sitting in the front of the room where the children could go up and see him. That did not go over too well with Will but I was determined to get a picture with Santa anyway. Instead of pictures with Santa, I ended up with pictures of myself trying to keep Will from escaping, with Santa "looming" in the background. I guess there is always next year.

The Live Nativity

One of the local churches here had a live nativity for the community to come out and enjoy during the holidays. My dad came along with me and the boys for the fun. First you walked through scenes of the bible where the Christmas story was told and then you end up at a small petting zoo. The boys loved it, especially Wyatt, he was hugging every animal out there. This was a special evening really got us in the Christmas spirit.

The Christmas Card Picture

I love sending out Christmas cards every year. In the past I have enjoyed making cards to send out but because of time constraints I now opt for a cute holiday photo of the boys and I try to fit in a personal handwritten note. I personally find this therapeutic...what can I say I just enjoy it. Maybe it is because I love receiving Christmas cards so much. I love hearing from friends and family and getting updated pictures.

For the past several weeks I have been trying to get the "perfect" picture of the boys for our Christmas card. It has not been an easy task, in fact it has been down right difficult and frustrating. Wyatt is touching Will or Will doesn't want to sit by Wyatt or Wyatt is looking at Will or Wyatt is crying or ...well you get the idea and these pictures speak for themselves.

So as Christmas draws closer my quest for the "perfect" picture changes to just getting a picture of both boys that will fit in the frame of the card. One afternoon while out walking Hershey I bring the camera & santa hats with the hope that today is the day... I am getting the boys positioned, ready to place the hats atop their heads, Bill has the camera ready, I jump up and down, sing, dance, act silly, do anything I can to get both boys attention and make them smile then click...I hear it, Bill says "I think we got a good one". After our walk I come inside to download the picture and this is what I see..........

Are you kidding me!!!!!!!

Florida Oceanographic Center

This past weekend I took the boys and our nephew Daniel to the Florida Oceanographic Center for a few hours. We had never been and didn't know what to expect but it turned out to be a fun outing for us. There was a big Sting Ray pool where the boys got to touch the sting rays. There were game fish to feed and shells to be dug in the sand. We will definitely be going back.