My wish and hope for you all is to have a wonderful New Year's.

Please be safe whatever you do!

Here's to a new and better year for us all!! Love you guys!

CSI - Christmas Party

Our office Christmas party was at the Summit Club in Downtown B'ham this year. I just thought I'd post a few pictures from the night. It's not everyday, well not really ever, that we get all dressed up so I thought I might put on record that Al and I do clean up pretty well when need be.

Here I am with the lunch crew. From l-r: Linsey, Me, Candace, and Andrea. We had a nice night of good food and Dirty Santa. I ended up with a Care Bears movie!! At least the girls can enjoy it.

GNO - Girls Night Out

Well ok we didn't go out but we had fun. After Granny's that same evening we had a Girls Night at my house. No boys were allowed. I'm pretty sure none really cared to be there either. Kim Lawson actually planned it but when her mom got ill she didn't feel like she could make it. (Her mom is getting out of the hospital tomorrow so Yippee for them!!) Anyway, Rachel came and brought her girlies, Emily and Bailey. We also invited my neighbor Wendi b/c well she is surrounded by boys most of the time so we thought some girl time would be good for her. It was a great time to just relax, play, bake, talk, giggle, and just be girls. I really needed it and maybe I'll make it a quarterly thing. Sound good to you girls???

Here the girlies are playing with play dough in their jammies.

Baking and decorating sugar cookies. Ms. Wendi helping out with the sticky icing!

Making People Puppy Chow. Yeah, sounds funky but it's really good and made with chocolate and peanut butter. You actually shake it all together in a garbage bag. Yep, a real, true garbage bag, well a new one that is. The girls thought that was funny and enjoyed helping.
If ya want the recipe let me know. I'll have to get it from Rach.

Christmas at Granny's

Every year my Mom's family gets together at my Granny's house for a Christmas get together. There are a ton of us. And when I say that I mean it. There are at least 15 great grandchildren at this point and one on the way (NOT MINE)!! My Granny is the best. She is over 80 and gets around just fine. We always eat, a lot, and the kidos get to open presents. It was really nice to be with my family. Again, one person was missing and that was hard but being with family is comforting all the same!!

My Granny, Me and Mags!

Daddy and one of his little elves.

The girls waiting to open presents.

Aunt Charlotte (Red Charlie) brought silly string. Here the kids are loving it and spraying it on everything and everyone that got in their path!

Here's little Lawson man, my cousin Courtney's little boy. He's so cute and I thought this was a great pic of him.

Here is Red Charlie making jingle bell necklaces with the girls. Everyone got one and somehow we ended up with all the extras at our house. The girls loved playing with them and it kept them busy!! Thanks Aunt Charlotte for loving on my girls!

Here are the twins opening their gifts.

CP and Abby Claire going strong tearing into their loot.

And one more sweet hug full of Holiday Cheer.

More to come soon from our Christmas celebrations.

Merry Christmas!

From our House (along with our adorable neighbors) to Yours,

Merry Christmas to You!!

Christmas Parading 2008

As most of you know, PawPaw has a Train he gets out every Holiday Season for the Parade circuit. It's not up to the Macy's Day Parade level yet but watch out because the Hicks Family Express is on it's way. This year me and Al didn't actually get to ride b/c we had my office Christmas party to attend but Aunt Wendy and Meme did an excellent job corralling my girlies in their Parade expedition. Below are picture from the Adamsville parade and guess what?? PawPaw's train won 1st prize!! Yay!!

Aunt Wen and Gracie tryin to stay warm.

Meme and Mags. Maggie refused to wear her coat. Hmmm... imagine that, Maggie being stubborn about her clothing!!
Clara Paige and Mags. Love that Santa hat!!

Gracie in her Barbie toboggan. Thanks Wendy for making sure my babies were warm.

My CP gettin either in or out of the train. Wish I had a picture to post of the whole thing. It's really pretty at night with all the lights turned on. I'll work on that for next year. Well, hope you are all done with your shopping and can relax and enjoy your holiday. Be safe and warm and be with the ones you love. I will be!!

Christmas Cards!!!!!

Welcome to the 2008 edition of the Hicks Family Christmas Card Out-takes.

It's always been an adventure getting Christmas card pictures of all 3 of my girlies every year since the twins have been born. The first year we bribed CP with a sucker, the next year I don't remember, one year we went to Aldridge gardens but it was exhausting and last year was about as bad. It's like some kind of self abuse me and my mom put our selves through every year so we can spread our lovely girlies to our loved ones. Well this year mom decided to go it alone before I got home from work one day. God bless her. I will admit neither of us proclaim to be camera experts but we do what we can. We do always end up with some cute shots though. Anyway, here are a few of the shots that ended up on the cutting room floor. Enjoy!

The cage or jail scene! Cute inmates though.

The open mouth to check Maggie's tonsils shot!

The mischievous look shot! I think it's Maggie. Remember I wasn't there for the shoot.

The I'm posing for a magazine, I'm the cutie pie and the weird mouth shot! You gotta love it. I know some of you out there feel my pain. Don't deny it!!

To Catch ya up...

Well, just a quick note on what's going on in our house. We have officially all been sick off and on within the last several weeks. The girls all had some kind of virus with a nasty cough tacked on. Alex and my mom also got it. They are still trying to shake it. Mom went to the doctor and has an ear infection. So, I thought that maybe by the grace of God I had squeaked by w/out getting it this time. I mean somebody had to stay well. Haha!
Last night as I was trying to wrap a few presents I noticed that my scratchy throat was beginning to hurt. Within an hour I felt absolutely awful. So yes I am also sick and actually went to the doctor to get a shot. Hallelujah for those!! I only go to the doctor (as much as we love him) when absolutely necessary and well, with Christmas a week away and lots of weekend plans I HAD to get better. Too much to do. And for right this moment I feel a bit better. We'll see how the night goes and what tomorrow brings. Wish us well so we can attempt to appreciate and enjoy our holiday as much as we can. We have enough to combat this year, being sick just isn't an option. Hope you are all stay well and happy through the holidays.

Ho Ho Ho Merry Christmas!

Here's a picture from the Church Children's Ministry Party. It was lots of fun for all. We gave toys for the less fortunate, ate pizza, decorated cookies, made ornaments and much more. The biggest news is that finally all my girlies do not cry when they see Santa. They actually love him this year and sat in his lap. They kinda did last year but I still had to be in the picture. Maggie even told him that he was her "special buddy."

Hope your Christmas season is bright yet peaceful!

"When things get tough, Always remember.....

Faith doesn't get you around trouble,

It gets you through it!" - unknown

Rainbow Omega Decorating

If you have never heard of the organization of Rainbow Omega then you have missed out. It is a group home setting/facility for adults with special needs. Our church helps support this organization and it is awesome. The residents of Rainbow Omega grow beautiful flowers throughout the year and sell them at different churches and such to make money. Anyway, our small group went last weekend to help the residents decorate their homes. I was really glad we went b/c I want my girls to get to experience these types of things. I believe that people with special needs have an extra special place in this world. They love unconditionally and do not discriminate. My girls absolutely loved it and we will be sure to make this a Holiday tradition for our family.

Here are my sweeties waiting to board the church bus. Man, they thought they were hot stuff getting to ride in the bus.
Here they are decorating one of the trees. They were such great helpers and so patient. Their new buddy, Mr. Jeff Speegle, helped them hang some ornaments. My girls just love Jeff and call him Mr. Wobbly for some reason! Clara Paige saw him on TV the other night and got all excited. I guess we forgot to tell her he was a newscaster!! heehee.

Here I am with two of my favorite people in the whole world. This was a special day and experience for me and Nana and our girls. Poor Al was sick so he missed out but next year we are all going again.

Move Sun!

Well there's another Maggie story to be told. Imagine that. As we were traveling the long 5 minute road home from dropping CP off at school on Monday morning our Mags got really disgruntled with our main light source. The girls were watching a DVD and it was quite sunny that morning so the sunshine was beaming into the van right into Ms. Maggie's eyes. This is what I heard from behind me.
"Move Sun! Move!"
"Oh I can't see Sunshine!"
"Aw Sun You are giving me a headache from shining in my eyes!"
"I still can't see. Oh Sun move to Gracie's side of the car!"
Gracie interjects a strong "No not my side!"
"Well then move to Mommy's side of the car Sun!"

Hmm... I knew Maggie was my more self absorbed child but I didn't really know she thought she could actually bully the sun into obeying her command. I bet she thinks she can move mountains too.
You just keep up that determination my little show runner! I love you for it my Mags!!

Lots Going on These Days...

Well, as I said before, I've got a lot on my mind and I think it might be squishing what few marbles I had left in it, out! So to give my poor brain some room, let me put some of it down here for you. As every family this holiday season, we are busy with the hustle and bustle and all that comes with that. On top of that, our much respected coach Tigerville, as my girlies call him, resigned. Wow, nuff said there. However, there is a vital part of my holiday experience that is missing. There's a lot on my heart right now but I'll just hit the highlights. We all miss my dad more and more every day. I know you all thought this would be a happy post and it will be but I figure there might be a few of you who have been wondering how we are. Well, we're ok. Just ok! This process of grief is exhausting and mysterious to me. I think we've all come to the realization that Daddy is gone and the numbness is dwindling but now a wave of pain has come back over all of us recently. I do think it can be a healthy thing to feel pain and sadness but if you know me you know I'm a pretty controlled person. Not being able to control my mind or my feelings is somewhat disturbing to me. Don't get me wrong. We are functioning just fine and are enjoying the season as much as possible and do seem to be keeping our selves busy as you will see. But, I dread the fact that he is not here to share it all with us. I just want to be honest with you and say that although you might see me or read my posts or get my emails, I might seem just fine. However, I'm good at hiding my emotions so don't think I'm all healed up and moved on. If you've been through this you know but if you haven't there are no words to express what my heart and head are going through right now. All I can say is that more and more I am learning and realizing how amazing a man My Dad truly was. So, to honor him I will continue to enlighten you with our recent happenings and not dwell on the negative.
Last Monday night we all loaded into mom's van and went to the Pelham Christmas Tree lighting. It was really nice and a needed night out. They have several of the area school choirs and bands perform. Also, it is held at the Pelhan Civic Center which holds a nice Ice Skating rink. Students from the skating school performed and it was awesome. I did not get any pictures so all you get to see is the ornament they passed out to us all. It was a good way to kick the season off.

The very next night my sweet Clara Paige had her first real School performance. She and her Kindergarten classmates sang a bunch of Christmas songs. My camera wouldn't take very good pictures with the lighting but she is the one with the huge red bow on her head. She had a bad cough that night but she sang her little heart out!

While we waited, in the back of the lunchroom/auditorium we caught a cute picture of the twins waiting to see their sissy sing. They were so excited! Again, there was only one thing missing but I bet ya he saw it anyway.

Also, every year my grandmother would send my girls a Gingerbread house. We also lost her this year too so to keep up the tradition, Nana bought the girls one for us to actually put together. It was lots of fun and very sticky. I think we all did a pretty good job too. I hope to continue this tradition in my Grandmother's honor for my girls.

I would love to leave it on the kitchen table since it looked so festive and colorful there. But well, it is now missing it's cute little Christmas Tree b/c our resident food snatcher, Kelsey, thought it looked too good to miss out on and snatched it right off the table. So it now sits on the counter!

There's still lots going on and lots on my mind but I think I've filled your head full of enough sugarplums and such for now.

Leave it to Maggie.....

As we were leaving our Church Children's ministry Christmas party(pictures soon) last Sunday night Maggie went to tell Ms. Candy goodbye. My girls just LOVE Ms. Candy so they were loving on her and right before we walked out Mags went and hugged Ms. Candy and was so honest and sweet as she wished her a "Happy Thanksgiving!" It was so cute and we all giggled. Ms. Candy was so gracious as she said, "Why thank you Maggie. No one has told me that this week."

Later while me and Mags were all snuggled up watching some TV, I tried it again to see if she just said the wrong thing earlier or what. I said, "Happy Thanksgiving Maggie." She smiled and said to me, "Why Thank you Mommy. Happy Thanksgiving to you too."

Sigh, I think we need to work on our seasonal transition skills at my house. Kids are so funny!!

Fa Ra Ra Ra Ra......

There's a lot on my mind right now and a few pictures to share but I think I'll work on it tomorrow b/c I'm tired. However, here's another installment from one of my families favorite Christmas flicks. Enjoy!!!

“Christmas is the keeping-place for memories of our innocence."

~ Joan Mills

Thanksgiving Pageant at Meme's

As I said earlier, Thanksgiving went fairly well and was pretty low key this year. I personally felt terrible so it was kind of a blur. However, after lunch at MeMe and PawPaw's house we were entertained by the 1st Ever Hicks/Hall Thanksgiving Male-Female Pageant. (We're politically correct in this family - however, it was Park's choice not ours) See below at the gorgeous beauties in their lovely gowns and jewelry provided by House of Meme Designs. Hehee. Sorry Louis I just had to post these b/c they are so cute!!

Ok, one of me and my Pretty Gracie but she wasn't up for pictures at that particular moment.
Introducing Mr. Park Hall of Northport, Alabama. His hobbies include one word phrases, biting, and hanging out with his cousins. (Wen and Lu might not let him play with us anymore after this but let me clarify I had nothing to do with it.)

Here are all our contestants lined up with their beautiful dresses in jewel tones. Handbags, sequins and beads are all the rage this year. Let it be known Park's is a manbag, not a purse.

I just have to share one more pic of my adorable nephew. We all love Park to death because he marches to his own beat and doesn't care what others think. You have to hand it to him that at 2 years old he is already very confident in his manhood while in touch with his feminine side, a woman's dream.

Don't hate me when you are 16 Park, please!!!

Elfin Magic....

These have got to be the cutest little Santa's helpers I've ever seen. Sorry I couldn't post a picture but itf you click below you should get a cute little show!! Enjoy!

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/GkkOufBbvIksi0sj78cd

I know it's Dec 2nd and I've already messed up my 1 post a day in December. Well I'm trying.