Merry Christmas!

Christmas isn't about the presents wrapped under the tree but rather the presence of family wrapped around the tree.

Merry Christmas to all of our friends and family! Our relationships with each of you are some of the greatest gifts we posess!

Christ Mas

Seth asked me if I knew what Christmas meant. I wasn't sure what answer he was looking for. He told me that in spanish the word mas means more and so Christmas means that we need MORE of CHRIST! His primary president is hispanic and told them this last year. I just thought it very appropriate for the season and suprised he has such a great memory!

Christmas a bit early..

What a fun and busy weekend we had! Seth's team the Warriors won the last of their pre-season games which means they won all 3 games! What a great start to the season. He is lucky that he gets to play with a great group of friends from church, hence the name the Warriors - Stripling that is! Grandma Rosie & Grandpa Harry came to visit and brought Christmas with them! The kids had so much fun opening presents early, introducing them to Tin Star and getting to see the production of Gloria with them.

Falcon Celebrations

Friday the kids had their 6 weeks award celebrations. They are both doing well in school. Emma is really working hard on her reading and enjoys her first grade teacher and class. She received Outstanding Conduct! That means she is a good little student and got no marks! And Seth is also working hard in third grade. He made the Principals Honor Roll and received the Story Falcon award for his class! I can't believe that he gets real grades! He still seems like my little baby! They are growing up so fast.

Thanksgiving Break!

We had a great week! We kicked off with a trip downtown to see Disney on Ice: Finding Nemo. It was amazing! We then headed over to Shreveport for the weekend. It was a rather small group this year with only our family, Laura & Brent, and mom and dad. But it was really nice and relaxing. The girls had fun cooking while the boys watched whatever game they could find on, which were many. Dinner was delicious! We were able to visit Grandmas too. And we got a couple of games of Settlers of Catan in. Laura even won! Beginners Luck! We were just glad she stayed awake with us! And of course we did the traditional Black Friday shopping. The girls were up and out by 4:30! Yes, we are crazy! But it was fun and I got exactly what I wanted which made the whole experience worth it. We also got to see Enchanted which is just darling and check out Christmas on the Louisiana Boardwalk. The kids loved riding the trolley 'Magnolia Belle' and the Holiday show complete with a fake blizzard (they do it everynight at 7pm if you haven't been). We helped Grandma & Grandpa put up their Christmas and so now I'm officially excited for the Holidays! We are going to make the spirit of this Christmas season last as long as we can! The only sad thing that happened this weekend, at least in Ryan's eyes, was that Utah lost and BYU won! There is always next year.... Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!

We Are Thankful For.........

Family friends JESUS CHRIST health SUNSHINE scriptures earth MUSIC teachers HOME yummy food PARENTS transportation A JOB our bodies sports FREEDOM Faith good books MODERN TECHNOLOGY XOXOXO prayer

Emma the Gymnast

Emma had her parent show for gymnastics this week to show off all of her skills and tricks that she has been working hard on each week. I can't believe how flexible she is! She did a great job!

Tag, I'm It!

Ok, so I have been tagged. That means I have to tell you 7 random facts about myself. So here it is......

1. Chocolate & Dr. Pepper.....My favorite combo! Ryan knows this too. I love opening the fridge on an especially tough day only to find a Peanut Butter Twix with a cold doc! What a sweetheart!
2. Queen of Nostalgia...... I love the "remember when" stories and to share and talk about random details from the past! I also love looking at old pictures and hearing family stories.
3. Clean Floors....... So I have this thing for clean floors. I don't really care what other peoples floors look like but mine have to be clean. We have wood floors and I honestly mop once a day with my nifty swiffer.

4. Movie Night..... Friday night you will find me at Family Movie Night! One of the highlights of our week. It is bubble bread or pizza with a good movie every Friday. Some of our most recent selections have been Bridge to Terabithia and the The Apple Dumpling Gang. We give them both a thumbs up!

5. I'm a sucker..... I really don't know how to say the word "no"! I seem to to continuously add things to my life that I really don't have the time for. That would be the reason I am the volunteer coordinator for PTA this year, Room Mom for Seth and going to have a LiaSophia party in January. Jewelry anyone? Actually, that one I am looking forward to. They have some great stuff!

6. Holidays..... This is my most favorite part of the year!!! Beginning with Halloween and all the way through the New Year! I love the sights, smells, shopping, baking, decorations, excitement of the kids, music, games, food, and time spent with family!

7. American Idol...... So this is my one show ( besides The Office) that I really do keep up with! I know it is sad. This season I will actually have DVR, Yeah! That should make things much easier because it always seemed to disrupt the bedtime routine. I love music! Just wish I could sing it.......

So there it is. Since I am so new to this I am not going to tag anyone but rather challenge the few of you family members that actually read this to start one of your own so that we can keep up with each other!

Family Photos

We finally had some new family pictures made last week so that we could prove Erin really is part of our family! She wasn't too thrilled with having her picture taken though. So you will notice there aren't many of her. Just as we were leaving she decided that maybe it wasn't so bad but it WAS too late! We will try again with her soon but for now here they are..... And don't worry grandmas, you will all have your own copies soon enough!

October Happenings! A Look Back......

First Post

Ok, so we are jumping on the bandwagon and joining the world of blogging. I think this is a great way to share with you what's going on here with the McClellan clan in Texas! The kids are growing up so fast. They loved Halloween this year. Seth was Jason Terry - for those of you that don't know who that is -well he is only one of the best basketball players on the Dallas Mavericks according to Seth. Emma was a Spider Princess. She was just excited to have an excuse to wear make-up for a night! And little Erin was our kitty cat. She got really good at saying meow! She loved the whole idea of Halloween. People giving candy!!! That is a dream come true for her! She had a really hard time keeping up with the other kids because she was too worried about what she was going to open and eat next!