Happy Birthday, Sissy!

Today is my big sister’s birthday!  I consider myself to be one of the luckiest little sister’s in the world.  My “Sissy” has taught me about life, love, motherhood, teaching, and the list could go on.  She is one of the most kindhearted, sweet-tempered, smart, witty, creative, and loving people that I know.  I’m so blessed to not only call her my sister, but my friend!

Here are a few pics of us doing life over the past year….

Summer fun at Great Wolf Lodge

Chick-fil-a Cow Day 2012

Birthday celebration 2012

Late night dinner at Applebees over the summer

                                    4th of July <<BIG SMILES>>

I love you, Sissy!  I hope 2013 is your best year yet!

The Last Christmas Post {maybe}

For the past few years we have been celebrating Christmas with my family on the 26th.  However, this year my mom had to work on the 26th so we waited until the 27th.  Yes, this was another tradition that was rocked a little this year, but I survived.  We enjoyed a fun night of eating and gift giving.  It always takes us forever to open gifts so we actually worked in 2 shifts this year.  The kids unwrapped first and then the adults.  The kids like to just go after it and as adults we prefer to open one at a time so this worked best for everyone.  After gifts we enjoyed dessert and coffee and just spending time with each other relaxing.  It was a perfect way to end the official Christmas holiday!

Christmas Day 2012

I’m sure you are wondering if these Christmas posts are ever going to end.  Well, there will only be one more after this one and we will move on into 2013!

Christmas morning at the O’Shields house was full of smiles, hugs, laughter, and love!  The girls were so excited about all of the gifts Santa brought.  Mackaylan’s big item was a Kindle Fire HD and Lydia loved her baby doll and stroller.  I do think I have decided that next year Santa may bring less so the girls will have more to open up under the tree.  We usually try to do 3 gifts, but with clothes and other little stuff it always seems to go way beyond that.  I think I will stick to my guns about 3 things from Santa next year, but only time will tell! 

Anyway, here are some pics from Christmas morning….

Mackaylan’s 3 items from Santa were:  A Kindle Fire HD, a Barbie Limo, and a Journey Girl Doll.  She also got quite a bit of clothes, some new boots, a new comforter, an alarm clock (which was a defect) and a big box of Reese’s. 

Lydia got a baby doll, a stroller and cradle, a potty, and a little make-up vanity set.  She also go some clothes, a few bath toys and towel, and some M&Ms.

Granny and Granddaddy made their traditional visit to check out the girls’ Santa stash and to wish us a Merry Christmas.  We do not celebrate at their house until after Christmas due to my mom’s work schedule so we enjoy having this chance to see them on Christmas day.

Over Christmas break Lydia has discovered Bubble Guppies.  I love this picture of her watching the Cowboy episode with Granddaddy’s hat on.  We have watched the same 6 episodes 1, 210 times over the past 2 weeks!

Here’s a picture of Mickey with one of his favorite gifts… a Chicago Bears football ornament.  The second picture is him trying out his “Tickle Gloves” on Mackaylan.  They were a hit too!

I’m not sure what Santa thought when he saw stockings hung up this year.  Last year he had to leave all of our goodies in giftbags because we never found our old ones.  Mickey made sure we had stockings this year even if they didn’t all match!

Later that afternoon we went over to Mickey’s parents house to have our Christmas lunch with the Rush family. 

I think this smile pretty much sums up our Christmas day!  Don’t you?

Christmas 2012.. Part 1

I must admit that this Christmas has been very atypical.  First off, we did not get out of school until the 21st which left very little time for last minute preparations.  On top of that, I was diagnosed with bronchitis on the 22nd, Lydia was diagnosed with the flu later in the week, and Mickey and Mackaylan have all been sick as well.  Besides all of the sickness. several of our regular traditions were altered a little for various reasons and while I understand (and appreciate) some of the changes it just felt weird. I’m not one for change. Anyway, presents were not under the tree wrapped until the 24th and pretty much I just wrapped them as the event took place.  The good news is no matter what society stresses the real reason of the season doesn’t change because our presents aren’t tied nicely with a bow, desserts aren’t made for family gatherings, and traditions and events are different from what they normally are.  Jesus is the reason for the season and that will never change!  Despite all of the aforementioned, we made the best of our circumstances and did a lot of loving, eating, gift-giving and receiving, and relaxing….

On the 23rd we had our Bagwell Christmas at my sister’s house.  We enjoyed our traditional lasagna and the kiddos opened presents.  We missed having Grant and Heather with us this year, but we are already looking forward to next year and having baby Jax with us too!

On Christmas Eve, we took the girls to see Santa at the mall.  Mackaylan had her picture made, but Lydia wanted nothing to do with him.  That night we went to the O’Shields for dinner and to open presents.  We usually have this event at our house, but since I was not feeling well at all my mother-in-law offered to have it at her house.  I usually enjoy hosting this gathering, but I welcomed this invitation because cleaning house and cooking a meal was the last thing on my mind for Christmas Eve.  We had a fun time eating and opening presents.  We even enjoyed a few hearty laughs during the night too!

Stay tuned to see what Santa brought to the O’Shields house and how we spent the rest of our Christmas holiday…