Merry Christmas

Here's our Christmas card this year. It isn't very traditional, but I thought it was fun. 

Sorry the quality of this is so bad. Our scanner wasn't cooperating, so I just look a picture of the card.

 Merry Christmas from the Freezes!

"An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰ But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. ¹¹ Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord."

Luke 2:9-11 

baking and shopping

Last week Kinley and I had our first baking lesson. In the spring I found this great set of 100 cookie cutters on the clearance aisle. She has played with them in play-dough, but I decided we would try making Christmas sugar cookies.

 

She had the best time making snowmen, Christmas trees, and candy canes.  She really wanted to squish the dough rather than make cookies, but it was a fun time for both of us. I look forward to future baking sessions with this sweet girl. My mom is a great baker and also let me help her in the kitchen. That's something I want to pass down to my children.

Kinley is really into Veggie Tales and almost every activity she does involves one of the characters, singing the song, etc. In the video you'll see what I mean.

In this video she turns her head and pretends to eat a cookie. Just before I took this video I went to get my camera. When I came back she had a mouth full of cookie dough so big both cheeks were puffed out! It was so funny because she got a little embarrassed and was making a face like, "I'm about to get in trouble." But I love to eat raw cookie dough as much as the next person, so I let her indulge as well. I know it has raw eggs, but I'm certain she's eaten worse!

I wish I had taken a picture of our final product. Our cookies looked so terrible...you could not make out one single shape, but it didn't keep us from eating them :)

Mimi came for a visit this week, so I was able to get some shopping done.  All three of us spent a day at the mall and had the best time. Kinley was the best she has ever been while shopping. Not sure exactly why, but it could have been the merry-go-round rewards. She got to ride it 3 times during our shopping adventure and LOVED it! These were taken with my phone so the quality isn't great.

She's still talking about the merry-go-round asks about everyday if we will ride the merry go round today! 

I Saw Santa

We planned to have a family shopping day on Saturday. On Friday night I mentioned to Kinley that we might get to see Santa when we go to the mall.  Well that little stinker didn't forget. When I went to get her out of bed on Saturday morning, the first thing she said was "I gonna see Santa today."  Of course we had to follow through, but I was pretty sure she would be afraid, as are most kids her age. But I couldn't have been more wrong!

As we waited in line (which was very short and we were SO thankful) she was all smiles.  There was a price list for picture packages and Zach was grumbling that one 4x6 picture was $15 and prices went up to $50. And what if she screams and we still have to pay. Oh well, she's worth it, right?!!

  I had my camera strapped around my neck hoping they would allow me to capture some pics too.  When it's our turn the lady asks if she needs to take pictures or if I was going to take them with my camera! I was shocked and so excited that I didn't have to pay!!  Then Miss Priss walks herself to Santa and crawls in his lap like such a big girl and gives the biggest smiles and even said "cheese"! Why can't she do this at our professional photo shoots?!  Anyway, she was darling and here's our memory of the first visit to Santa

Here she is looking at the huge bag of letters to Santa.

Kinley, this is the smile I want in all pictures from now on, please!

When Santa asked her what he could bring her for Christmas, she got a little giddy.

This was a fun memory!

But in all the hype about Christmas, I pray that we all realize that it isn't about presents, or Santa, or parties, etc.

It's about celebreating the gift of Jesus!! Thank you God for giving your Son as the ultimate gift so that we might spend eternity with You!

Merry Christmas!

Santas lil helper

Thanks for the darling shirt Aunt K!

Check Out Shutterfly

I wanted to share with my blog friends about the fabulous deals on Shutterfly!  Someone recently shared them with me and I'm not keeping it a secret! It's a great place to store and print pictures. If you are like me you have tons of pictures that you want to share. Shutterfly is the perfect place for that, too. If you sign up for a Shutterfly account, you get 50 FREE prints! Can't get a price better then free :)  You can have the prints mailed to you or you can pick them up at a local Walgreens or CVS in about an hour! How cool!

They have the cutest Christmas cards, birthday and special occasion announcements, photo books, photo gifts and stationary. And their prices are really great!

 I've been hard at work the last few days on our Christmas card.  Here are some of my favorites I wanted to share

Sweet Holly Story Card

Here's the front. It is a folded card.

Here's the inside. I almost chose this as my card because you can put four pictures with captions. Saw the idea of using the four seasons.  This is perfect for families or young children because they grow and change so much in a years time. The picture below is fuzzy, but you can click on the link above the card to see an undistorted version.

I also like this one because it is simple and fun

called Oh What Fun

This one is a must if you have a baby or toddler. How cute to put a pic for each month!! Love it! And you have a little space for text if you want to create your own message.

Family Memories Christmas

There are TONS on deals going on right now on Shutterfly.  Click here to see their specials
Free shipping, save up to 30% off on holiday cards, 50% off on photo books, 50% on calendars and more. These would make great Christmas gifts.

One other deal for all you bloggers, 50 free holiday cards if you blog about Shutterfly!
Go check it out for yourself!!

Our little turkey

I've had the best time looking back at pictures and videos from the past two Thanksgivings. Wow how fast our little turkey has grown!

Our first thanksgiving as a family of three. K was 2 weeks.

Last thanksgiving Jenna took our pictures for our Christmas card. I had forgotten how chubby K still was. I love a pudgy baby :)

 This video isn't very becoming of sweet K, but I love it and I can't quit laughing!

There are so many things I am thankful for they are too numerous to name. We are truly blessed. Our preacher has a quote that I love that goes something like this "If God chose to only give you one blessing your whole life, that would be more than you deserve." Humbling and so true.

I'm so thankful for this little turkey!

Happy Thanksgiving!

A Message From Kinley

In case you aren't yet fluent in "Kinley", she said, "I'm gonna be a big sister"!

We're due May 20th which makes me about 14 weeks along.  So far it has been pretty easy other than a little nausea and EXTREME tiredness. It's much more difficult to keep up with an almost 2 year old when you have no energy.  I hoping as I enter the 2nd trimester I won't need a 2 hour nap everyday! And I know my house needs to be "blessed" (flylady.com term) with lots of cleaning.  Maybe before #2 arrives I'll start nesting.We are so thankful God has blessed our family and look forward to the next addition!

 I always enjoy reading other people's pregnancy updates, so I've decided I would do them, too.  I didn't do this with Kinley because we didn't have a blog yet so I don't have any thing to compare this to, except my memory. And if you know me, my memory is NOTHING to depend on. :)

Pregnancy Highlights:
How Far Along: 14 Weeks

Size of baby: a lemon
although it looks like I have a whole sack of lemons by the size of this belly! whoa! it's amazing how fast I'm showing this time around. and it is only 1 baby. I've had an ultra sound

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gained 1 lb
not sure how this happened, but yea!

Maternity Clothes: As of this week I am officially in maternity pants. I've been able to pull off the rubber band trick along with a Bella Band, but not any more. My project for Monday is maternity jeans shopping! Got any suggestions for jeans? I only had 1 pair with K because I wore work clothes most of the time. I recently bought a pair of maternity leggings that I'm probably going to live in the next 6 months. They are so comfy! I still can mostly wear my tops and dresses...as long as they are stretchy!!

Gender: can't wait to find out...first week of Jan! Any guesses?

Movement: This week I've been able to feel butterflies if I lay down after I eat.
So amazing! I love that feeling!

Sleep: so-so.
I'm waking up once in the night to go to the bathroom and it takes me a couple of hours to go back to sleep :(
What I miss: Energy. I feel like a terrible wife and mom because I'm a slug all the time.

Cravings: SALT. It's really bad.
I want Chili's chips and salsa, McDonalds french fries pickles, and pickle juice all the time! Sounds gross, I know.
Symptoms: tired, no energy. nausea is gone - praise Jesus!

Best Moment this week: hearing the heart beat at my dr appt today
last month the heart beat was 179, today 150
This past week K and I stayed at my parents while Daddy was deer hunting. She had the best time being spoiled by her grandparents. Here's a cute video of her dancing to her new tea pot....another noise making toy purchased by Mimi.  This precious tea pot did not make it back with us, thank goodness. K likes to play the same song over and over, so we're saving that to play with at Mimi and Mony's house.

Birthday Party

The night before Kinley's 2nd birthday she ran really high fever all night and was so pitiful. So we decided to open a few presents at home and the stop by the dr before leaving town.

As promised, we had birthday balloons. And she LOVED them!!

The smile is priceless!

 K has become a big fan of Veggie Tales. A few weeks ago I was in Life Way and she saw the stuffed characters. Her face lit up so I told her she could have one. First she picked Larry. Then she said "Yarry AND Bob" about 20 times, so we left with Larry and Bob.

I wrapped them when we got home and she was so excited when she opened them on her birthday.

 "It's Yay-ye. whes Bob?"

 After a few presents and a quick trip to the doctor, we headed to Mimi and Mony's house.

 Mimi hosted a great party with family, cake and presents. Cousin Aiden helped Kinley open presents

 You can tell she doesn't feel so good. Poor girl. She wouldn't even eat cake.

But she did share!

Loving on Mony

 Today our sweet friend Ava came to play. Ava's momma and I have been friends since childhood and were college roommates so it's really fun to watch our girls play together

 Hugs for Ava

 K picked out this little Dora cake early this week at the grocery store and we finally cut it today.

Happy 2nd Birthday!

Thank you for making the past two years the best ever for Mommy and Daddy!

Happy 2nd Birthday!

Two years ago today God brought this sweet angel into the world.

Happy Daddy

 One year ago we celebrated the milestone of the first year

 say cheeeeeeeese!

And today we're celebrating birthday #2!!

It may be postponed a bit because she ran high fever all night and we're headed to the dr this morning. I've promised presents, cake, balloons, and happy birthday song, but she's a little less excited about it today than we had planned. Hoping for a speedy recovery and more birthday pics to come!

Happy 2nd Birthday Kinley Clare!

We Love You SO Much!
Edited to write: Kinley is feeling a little better today. Thank you for your sweet words and prayers. Just a virus. Hope it's quick. I'll post birthday pics later tonight.

It's Birthday Week!

It's birthday week for Kinley at our house this week. I really can't believe she's almost 2! I want to put her preciousness in a bottle so I can enjoy it forever! I'll just stop with that before anymore tears run down my cheeks.

So birthday week was kicked off by a visit from Mimi and Mony.

Who brought this for the birthday girl

A girl's kitchen isn't complete without some food, right?

ice cream and tomatoes...anything goes in Kinley's kitchen

I love this picture and really wish it wasn't out of focus, but still wanted to share the real smile. This was taken before she realized I had the camera.

We were able to help move Uncle Kent back to the area this past weekend and are so excited he's back!

I'm so thankful that our church provides childcare so that I am able to participate in activities like Bible study. Last Tuesday in Kinley's class the teacher asked each child what they were thankful for. Here's Kinley's

This made my heart smile! Look at her sweet coloring beside her turkey.

Here's some not too sweet coloring the little angel did

I'm sure this is the first of many! I have been looking at remedies for removing it and most of them include things that will leave a greasy spot on the wall. I just heard that Magic Eraser might do the trick, so that's on my list to pick up.

Updates on birthday week later to come!