Snow Days

Forever Friends

These ladies are my forever friends. The crazy thing is that we're all related, and it may seem odd, but they are just so special to me. Even though I did not get the memo on wearing beige, I still love them...just kidding about the memo! The sweet lady on the left is my aunt Melinda, next is my sister, Lori, then me (in the magenta shirt, not beige), and then my mama; Mama and Melinda are sisters. When we were in GA, Greg and my Daddy watched all the kids while we went out; we had the best time, I'm already looking forward to our next night out (in 6 months, since I live kinda far away from them). Even when Lori and I were young, we all did stuff together; like shop, go to the beach, just hang out. So, as adults, it's only natural for us to be together. I feel like they know me at my best and my worst, and they still love me. We laugh and cry together; we share our hearts and dreams and concerns. We pray for each other. We talk by phone, alot; we can pick up right where we left off, always. These ladies are what I call, "my girls." What they don't know is that I feel like I'm the most blessed one!

Gaylord @ Opryland

One of the many sights to behold at the Gaylord...We decided to stay there and have some family fun as we headed down to GA for Christmas. It was so pretty and there were so many Christmas decorations (I'm a sucker for those), as you know. We had fun, my only complaint was the massive crowds of people that were there...seriously, couldn't we just have it all to ourselves? We went to the Opryland Mills for a little shopping and dined at the Rainforest Cafe, of course we had fun at the Bass Pro Shop there too! We went to the Charlie Brown Ice Sculptures, pretty cool...literally! It was 0 degrees in there, we all had on parkas to *help* keep us warm; we still froze! We enjoyed a train ride in the resort, walking around and admiring the decorations, a fountain show that was accompanied by the narration of Jesus' birth...that was really neat! One of my favorite parts...we ate out and I cooked/cleaned nothing! Is it sad when that's my fav part of a vacation/trip? I think not!

How about these necklaces? They were the must-haves...

live poinsettia tree

One of the many, gorgeous tress. I would not like to be the one to decorate/undecorate this place!

the fountains display

Charlie Brown's Christmas Ice Sculptures

This was all made of ice...how cool?!?!

ice nativity scene

Sunday Finest

~This little outfit was made with love by Gamma~

Boots and Basketball...

One thing I love about my children is that they have a mind of their own and they do things in such unique ways...sometimes it also drives me crazy! Jamison has recently decided that he likes wearing boots. I think it's super cute, especially when paired with the right outfit. It seems like there are too many times when the boys want to wear boots with shorts or sweatpants...I know I have blogged about that before. Anyways, on this day, the boots looked great with the jeans. What cracked me up is that he wanted to play basketball. He had his boots on, doesn't Jamison know you don't wear boots to play ball in? Apparently not! So, out we go, and we played some ball until I just couldn't stand the cold anymore. Not only does he have his own ideas about wearing boots, he has his own opinions on how to play basketball too!

Made with Love

So, here are some more things made with love...

I had these panels made before we left Korea (fabric was sooo cheap and it was sooo cheap to have them made too). BUT, I decided they needed something else, and after getting some inspiration at a very neat fabric store, Jackman's, I made these toppers, with trim and all. They were simple to make, the exciting part is that I actually sat down and did it...and stayed up until 2am in the process!


Now this wall art was made with love by Daddy. I have taken a fancy to the vinyl wall art, and it just so happens that Daddy's a pro at that (he owns a sign business and vinyl is one of the many products he works with). When he and Mama came out for Thanksgiving, he brought some of his creations; I love them all!

This is in the entry...

the kitchen...

It's Looking a lot like...

Christmas at the Bailey's

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care...

Some of our past Christmas pictures

Our Family tree that adorns the loft; this tree is full of ornaments that have meaning to our family. Each year the kids get one from us, some are made by them, and some are gifts from grandparents. This is a tree of memories, they already like looking at "their" collection of ornaments. This is my favorite tree in the house!

The ornament I gave Greg this year...he is my heart!

Jannah's ornament...she is my sweet little girl

Jordan's...he loves, loves, loves motorcycles

Jamison's...he did NOT want it to be on the tree, he wanted to play with it; he loves, loves, loves trains!

This is "my" tree; these colors are my favorite! The painting (one of my treasures from Korea) was the inspiration for this tree! This is in the room right off of the entry, across from the dining room. It acually holds several of our "Korean Treasures".

Our red and white tree in the stairwell. I didn't realize I had so many red and white ornaments. I was going to purchase some especially for this tree, turned out I had plenty to decorate with!

I have this ornament from my own childhood collection. My Mama made it for me in 1980...love it!

That wraps up the Christmas decorations for now in the Bailey home!

To Be Thankful

I like to think I'm a thankful person, in general. I mean I usually have a spirit of gratitude, I think. Maybe I should ask Greg about that, so that I'm not walking around deceiving myself. I think about praying and how much of my prayer life revolves around thanking God for every day and the gifts that are in that day; even the gifts that are sad, difficult and trying. I think being thankful, like many other feelings/attitudes, are choices. So, what about you, are you thankful? Do you choose to live each day, hour by hour with a spirit of thankfulness? May we each one strive to do just that. We may not have all we want, but if we have Christ, we have all we need; which should make us a thankful, grateful people. The spirit of thankfulness is constant in our home. I pray that G and I are raising grateful, thankful children; Speaking of G and the kiddos, I am SO VERY thankful for them!

This Thanksgiving, my parents joined us. They were here for an entire week!!! They actually surprised the kiddos and me and showed up 4 days sooner that was planned (G was in on the surprise). We had a great time. I always love being with our family. Family is important to us. Daddy and Greg painted until their heart was, I'm sure, very content. They covered about 2500 square feet of the house...whew...that's a lot! Now Greg and I only have 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms left. Mama and I prepared a delicious meal on Thanksgiving. Can I just say that I am still not comfortable preparing a turkey?!? I watched Mama and was ready to sanitize the surfaces once she finished! I think it's just nasty to pull that stuff out of the cavity of the turkey, I think that maybe when I'm 35 I will be able to do it, the verdict will be out until then! Jordan was beyond excited to have the 4-wheeler that Gampa brought to him (that was one of the main reasons for them driving). He's been riding it every day and so have a few of our neighbors.