Happy Birthday!

Here's the deal:

When you have two small children you don't like to go to the store.  You'd rather take a sharp stick to the eye.  (Well, I would.)

But when you don't go to the store, you can't get the things you need, like birthday cards.

And then your grandma's birthday rolls around and even though you love your grandma you didn't send a card and you feel horrible.

Then you remember you have a blog and your grandma reads the blog and voila! - you have a way to say Happy Birthday.

:)

Grandma Crower turns 81 today and the Lyons want to say "Happy Birthday!"

I am very grateful for my grandma and the gifts she has given me, like my awesome Mom for example :) and passing down her faith and love for God through the generations.  I don't think a greater gift can be given than one of faith and she has been a dependable prayer partner through the years always keeping our family, especially her great grandchildren, on her heart and in her prayers.

So...

Happy Birthday Grannie!  See you in a few weeks :)

  

Gifts

Today in the mail we received a beautiful gift.  My 80 year old grandmother (aka: Gram, Grannie, Grandma) sent the kids Christmas cards today but not your store bought variety... handcrafted, artistic cards!  I was shocked because I had no idea my grandma possessed such talent! 

Inside the cards she put a picture of her and her six children (my mom and her five siblings) for the kids' memory boxes.  So sweet.  Thanks Gram :)

I have been busy with the kids' busy schedules, baking (unsuccessfully at this high altitude), decorating and planning for the party we had last night.  We hosted the Christmas party for our Flatirons Church small group which was an Ugly Sweater/Gingerbread Man decorating party.  We had a lot of fun and I'll probably regret posting this picture but here are our sweaters.

Mine wasn't actually that bad... I mean, snowmen throwing snowballs is kind of cute... not my style, but cute.  David on the other hand sported a festive (ladies) turtleneck and a festive (ladies) sweater vest.  We looked awesome.

Everybody brought their best to the Gingerbread man decorationg contest.

THE WINNER!

Adam n' Eve.  This was David's idea, my creation.
David also added that this was the "Senior Version"
because of their wrinkles...

Now that the party is over I feel like I can breath a little bit.  I love hosting and preparing for a party but it takes a lot of work and it's always nice to host a lovely party and then know it was all worth it :)  Christmas shopping has been done for several weeks now so I don't have that looming but I do have teacher and neighbor gifts to prepare which I'll work on this week.  Blaine is also back in O.T. (back to a lot of driving) and I'm beginning to look at our Kinder options more closely now... 2013 is almost here and Blaine will be 5 in February!  (me=freaking out)

It's not all about business though.  The kids and I do something fun every day and last Friday we went to a great Festival at the Hammod Candy Factory.  They had games, decorating and (of course) candy!  We didn't do the factory tour because the line was long and since we live here I figured we can go anytime.  We had a blast!

Hannah's Gingerbread Man.  The more candy, the better.

Blaine's Gingerbread Man.  Very Nice!

Other than that we're counting down the days to Christmas.  We actually have three different calendars so Blaine can know (wherever he is in the house) how many days until his Texas family arrives and how many days until Christmas.  What a fun and blessed time this is - I love it.

And in case you haven't met her, this is Hannah Grace... my 2 1/2 year old that is going on 10!!!!

How pretty is she?  So grown up...

I am off to bed to rest up for the busy week ahead. 

Love you all!