Four Christmases

No, I'm not referring the comedy starring Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaugn! I am referring to the amount of Christmas celebrations these two attended in one week!

I love black and white, it makes them look so sweet and innocent! ha!

Christmas with Mimi and Moose was a blast! Here are all of the kids on front of the tree. Anna was sick so she stayed home with her Mommy. We missed her so much! My Mom and Step-Dad always go all out on Christmas and they really outdid themselves this year. The kids got so many cool gifts, and we all had a great time visiting and stuffing ourselves with good holiday foods!

This is Christmas Morning. Trey got a fishing pole from Santa and Harleigh got a bb gun. We had a nice, relaxing morning at home. It was just Josh and I and the kids. We had fun taking our time and enjoying watching the kids open and play with their presents.


Harleigh was super excited about her Dora Mermaid!

After spending the morning at home with our little family, we headed over to Josh's parents to celebrate! We took Harleigh's gun and Daddy helped her shoot it and work on gun safety. We had a lot of fun with Josh's parents, sisters, and Aunts.

On Saturday we went to Nana and PawPaw's. The kids just loved their Zhu Zhu pets. They each got two, and tons of accessories! I think their favorite gift were the books that Nana picked up at The Book Fair. They just love to read!

We had such a great Christmas and we are so blessed to have such large families to enjoy the holidays with. Our kids are really spoiled, and we love it!

Bitter Sweet

My emotions are raw today. Maeson has another angel baby to join him in Heaven, which is so sweet to me. But that also means someone lost a precious baby. A dear friend of mine, and my heart aches for her. We went to school together once upon a time and have stayed close through the years thanks to Myspace, Facebook, and now Blogspot. She contacted me today for support and advice, here is my letter to her...

I am so sorry. My heart hurts for you. It is absolutely the worst thing we have ever been through. My first miscarriage was at 8 weeks, it was very quick. I went to the hospital on a Friday. They did an ultrasound, saw the heartbeat, and sent me home. My symptoms worsened over the weekend so on Monday when I went to the dr. they took blood and informed me that I had miscarried. The physical pain was bearable, but I had a really hard time emotionally. I was very depressed. I had to go back for bloodwork every week to insure that nothing of the baby was left. At my one month check-up, I found out I was pregnant again. I was not happy. I did not want the baby that I was pregnant with, I longed for the baby I had lost. I was disconnected my entire pregnancy, but of course, I'm head over heels in love with my son. It was just too soon. They told me you are really fertile after a miscarriage, wish I would've known sooner! With Maeson, it's an entirely different scenario. I was 16 weeks, I had a cold, as I do with every pregnancy. I went to the dr. cause I felt like I had the flu. They did the routine... blood pressure, weight, measured my stomach, and got out the heartbeat doppler. Only to find no heartbeat. The nurse assured me everything was fine, and said she would do an ultrasound right away. I knew. Less than five minutes later it was confirmed through an ultrasound, that my baby had died. I had a cold, I didn't go there to find out that there was a dead baby inside of me! It was horrible. The next two days were surreal. My Mom, cousin, MIL, husband and I spent two days at the hospital together. I gave birth to a baby boy. Tiny and lifeless. We made the best of it, we buried him on a sunny Sunday afternoon, it was really beautiful. I hope you can stay strong, as strong as you can possibly be through this. I had two friends who were due the same month as me. It was definitely one of the most difficult parts of my "recovery". One couple is our really close friends, they live two blocks away, and they had a boy. What I chose, was to deal with it head-on. We spent a lot of time with them during her pregnancy, she borrowed my breastpump and maternity clothes, I even threw them a couple's shower. It helped me to face the pain and not to ignore it. One night, I went through Trey's baby clothes, things Maeson would have worn, and packed them neatly in a bag and gave them to our friends. I layed on the floor surrounded by those baby clothes and cried. It hurts, it's truly painful. Sometimes my entire body HURTS, I want my baby so badly. But, thankfully, I have the experience of losing a baby, and then having another. SO I know there is light at the end of this dark tunnel, and I want you to know that too. You have to do what works for you as far as having another. Just give yourself some time and concentrate on getting through this chapter, I hope ya'll decide to try again. Okay, I have poured my heart and soul out to you! It felt good though, it's something everyone is afraid to talk to me about, so it's nice to get it all out! (hmm... I may blog tonight! LOL) I will be thinking about you and I hope your appointment goes well. ttyl

I included a picture of Josh and I holding Maeson at the hospital. We are keeping the images of him private, but I love this shot of our hands as we hold our angel baby.

Christmas Fun!

My favorite thing about Christmas is all of the fun family events. I wish there were more activities like this throughout the year. But oh well, we sure do enjoy them the entire month of December!

The fun began at Santa's Wonderland in College Station. I took Harleigh two years ago and went again with Ashley, Landon, and Madeline last year. This year, Josh and I took the kids. That place is awesome! If you have never been... What are you waiting for? They have a hayride through Christmas lights, pony rides, a petting zoo, a live band, food, shopping, it's insane! We had a lot of fun, and I'm proud to announce that we are "Stroller Free!" How sweet it is!

Trey loved riding the pony, I can't wait until his party!
Harleigh posing with Frosty!

We also had The Darr Family Christmas, almost 50 people in one place! Such an awesome tradition! We had great food, and a lot of fun, as usual! Uncle Chris brought a bounce house, which was obviously a huge hit! And we did White Elephant and a gift exchange for the kids. I am so glad that our kids get this expeience with their extended family each year. My cousins Jeremy and Joey couldn't be there, and Coby was sick. We really missed them! But we had an awesome day!

Trey, biting the bounce house! Crazy kid!

Okay, most of you know about Harleigh's Christmas Program, but I'm telling the story AGAIN! I'm still not over it! I was so excited to see my Princess sing in her first school performance. We were leaving that afternoon to go to The Polar Express (more on that in a sec) so I had a lot of packing and such to do before the program. I was in a hurry as usual, but managed to make it at 12:02 (it was supposed to start at noon). I was bummed about being a few minutes late, but I rushed in, video camera in hand, figuring I would have only missed a few minutes. TWO minutes to be exact! I was sadly mistakened. I missed the whole thing. The whole ENITIRE thing! They said that the kids were anxious, so they started 12 minutes early. I was mortified. I didn't complain, I don't want to be that Mom! But I am now planning on showing up about 15 minutes early to everything! Here is the only picture that I got of Harleigh's Christmas Program :(

Next Stop... The Polar Express! My Mom and I took the kids last year, and we loved it! Josh missed out on the fun, so he and I took the kids this year. He is working about 20 minutes from Palestine so we got to visit him and go to The North Pole! The train ride is so cool, and another must for all of you with kiddos!

Harleigh took this picture... future photographer?

No, my children are NOT afraid of Santa Claus! I couldn't be happier!

And lastly, I am including a picture of them the morning of their Mother's Day Out Christmas Party. They had their matching Kelly's Kids outfits on and they were especially sweet to each other all day! It was Trey's first school party, which was a first for me as well. The first time I would have to make food for two classes, and run back and forth so I could be at both of their parties as much as possible. It was hectic, but fun! (Trey is actually smiling in this picture. He is in a weird "fake smile" stage right now, can't wait til he outgrows it!)

These are not the last of our "Christmas Festivities" believe it or not! We still have Santa pictures with Colsyn tonight! And all in a week... Christmas with Mimi and Moose, Nan and Poppa, and Nanna and PawPaw! Wish me luck!

Texas Snow

It's a rare event when it snows in Southeast Texas. And we are lucky enough to have experienced it two years in a row! I kept the kids home from Mother's Day Out last Friday so they could play in The Texas Snow!

Harleigh was so excited, and Trey was trying to catch the snow in a bucket!

They ran and played for an hour. Trey was calling it "snow man" instead of just "snow"!

"Look Mommy! It's Snow Man!!!" Poor little guy took a nap and missed the best part!

Harleigh played and made snowballs while Trey napped away!

She was trying to get a taste!

Wordless Wednesday