What an AWESOME Break thus far

Chris, Natalie and I have spent the past week with my family for Christmas. We were able to go to the Butcher Shop in Longview and eat some of the best burgers ever as well as some great tasting desserts. This was also were Natalie ate a foot long hot dog! I guess she was hungry too :)

We also started a few family traditions.

Chris and I were basically trash talking to each other about how good our cookies were, we decided to have a "COOKIE WAR"! This was between Chris, Allison (my sister) and I. I ended up not making them because I was still recovering from the massive amount of food I ate the night before. Allison made Mocha Chocolate Chip Cookies and Chris made Fig and Walnut Cookies. Chris went to the grocery store about 3 times to get all of his ingredients and one ingredient was more per pound than a T-bone steak! CRAZY! We had our family friends judge them and Chris came back the winner.

We also watched "Christmas Vacation" on Christmas Night. Allison had never seen this and she LOVED it! This will be a tradition we carry on in the future. Such a funny movie!

We also started our "Davis Family" tradition of making Christmas about Jesus and his birthday. We read the Christmas Story from the Bible and Natalie did really well. She loves it when Poppi speaks and she loved to respond back to him while he was reading. We also each took a turn to say a Christmas prayer and Natalie was well-behaved during this part too. In addition to this we sang "Happy Birthday" to Jesus and then had a birthday cupcake for him. This was really cool and I enjoyed having a tradition like this. I plan on doing this EVERY year with all my kids!

We also were able to go out on 2 date nights and an evening with a long time friend. This was a great opportunity for Chris and I since we rarely ever get to go out since the lack of babysitter! It was great to go out to eat and not have to leave extra tip for the mess Natalie made or eat quickly so to get Natalie out of the restaurant! I actually enjoyed the meal! It was awesome!

Finally, today we spent the morning with my sister Allison since it was her birthday! She is 23 and she is loving every minute of it! I made her some cupcakes last night and then gave her a cupcake stand to hold them! It is really awesome!

Overall, Chris and I had a blast and are VERY grateful to my parents and sister for such an amazing week. We are going to spend New Years with Chris's parents in Conroe and then head back on Saturday or Sunday! It is going to be EXCITING!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Diet Problems

Well... Chris and I lost over 70 lbs between us on the HCG diet since October. It was a long and hard process but we each dropped the weight. We have been on the maintenance part of the diet for about 4 weeks. The maintenance part of the diet is not bad at all and Chris and I actually enjoy this part of the diet. Since coming to my parents house for Christmas, Chris and I have each gained about 5-6 pounds. We have ate so much stuff. Today we didn't eat breakfast or lunch in hopes of dropping a few pounds. Tonight we are going to eat Tur-duck-en. I have never had this before so I am really excited! Hopefully, we will be able to drop the extra pounds quickly. Starting on the 1st, Chris and I will be on the 2nd round of the HCG diet. I am praying that each of us will be able to drop another 25 or 30 pounds. Thank you Lord for the pounds we have already dropped. I will let you know how the Tur-duck-en turns out!

Date Night (Two nights in a row)

Thanks to my mom, dad and sister, Chris and I have been able to go out on a date 2 nights in a row. We planned on going out and eating at a favorite restaurant of ours in Tyler and going to see the new Harry Potter Movie. We did this on Sunday and had a great time. I really enjoyed Genghis Grill. This time Chris and I decided to get the never ending bowl and try all of the special bowls they recommend. These bowls were OK but next time we are going to just eat our own creations. I LOVED the Harry Potter movie. I have not read the books but I have seen all of the movies and recently since the new movie coming out, I have seen each movie in order several times. This movie was AWESOME and I cannot wait for part 2 of the final movie to come out.
Today, my mom, sister and I went out and shopped all the "After Christmas" sales. We found lots of bargains and items to buy. I didn't spend much at all but used several coupons to get about 5 dress/ work shirts. They are all a size smaller thanks to the weight I have lost doing my HCG diet. I am very excited about this. Chris and I are doing another round in January so I am anxious to get into an even smaller size. Once we got home from shopping, Chris said he liked our date last night so much that he asked my mom to babysit again so we could go out again. Of course, without delay my mom said YES! So... Chris and I were able to go out on 2 dates with FREE babysitting! Thank you Mom, Dad and Allison! Chris and I really appreciate you!


Once again, this goes to show that God is good and his blessings never cease! Thank you Lord for your many blessings!

What an amazing Sunday!!

Today I was able to sing a song as a special in my dad's church in Arp. He is the pastor there and has been for about 15 years or so. I grew up singing with my mom or singing solos at church. When I was in college I would travel up to see my grandparents in Wichita, KS and would sing a special on Sunday morning at one of their churches. When I attended Bethel Baptist Church in Norman, OK I also performed with the praise team.

I began playing my saxophone at my church ensemble when I was only 14 years old. This was really fun and I knew I loved to worship by playing my sax. I continued this into college where I played in the orchestra/ band at Bethel in Norman and became a music intern and band director. When I got married and moved to Shawnee, I also continued to play my saxophone in the worship orchestra. This is so great because I am able to give the talents the good Lord gave me back to him each and EVERY Sunday at church.

Today as I listened to my dad preach I remember the joy I had when I sing at church in not just play my saxophone. I love to sing! I wish I could do more of it at my current church! What an amazing Sunday morning service today at AEBC! Thank you dad for a great sermon and service and thank you Lord that I could worship you through my singing!

May God bless each of you as your conclude your 2010!

What a Joy is Christmas!

Well the past 3 Christmas's for me have been truly amazing! Not to mention the other 25 but lets start here:

2008- We found out we were going to have Natalie Grace!

2009- I got my Masters from UCO

2010- I received the "Teacher of the Year" award from my school.

It is always so wonderful to spend time with your family! It has been a true blessing to be able to be here with my family and Chris and Natalie! This year we decided to start "Cookie Wars" with Chris, Allison and I. Each of us will make cookies each Christmas/ Thanksgiving and have some family friends judge them! This year Chris made Fig and Walnut cookies and Allison made "Mocha Chocolate Chip Cookies". Chris's cookies won by 1/2 of a point! Congrats to Chris!

Today we celebrated Christmas and started our very own "Davis Family Tradition" for Chris, our kids and I to continue for years. We read the Christmas Story in the Bible and then sang "Happy Birthday" to Jesus and had a cupcake for him. We also discussed and prayed with little Natalie. I am so glad that we will be teaching our kids the REAL meaning of Christmas! I owe this all to my parents who did the same for me!

We got tons of gifts and I am so grateful to Chris, Allison and my parents for all the wonderful items I got today! So many things that we will have to just come back to Tyler some other time to get it all! Little Miss Natalie got a wagon, Mega Blocks table set, A PINK Tee-ball set, a "Natalie" doll and tons of other stuff. I got a beautiful "Family Blessings" picture frame, A Cuisinart Griddler, a New York Yankees snuggie and lighted wall sign, a beautiful sweater and necklace set; not to mention the tons of other items I got my my family.

It seems with each Christmas that passes, they only get better. God is so good and I am so blessed! Thank you Lord for my family and the joy we share together! Thank you Chris, Allison, Mom and Dad for helping make my Christmas PERFECT!

Merry Christmas to all my friends and family! Remember... JESUS is the REASON for the SEASON!

God Bless you!

What a crazy and yet AMAZING December

My December has been so crazy. Of course, December for a musician is ALWAYS crazy but this year was just out of control. Here is what my schedule looked like:

December 3rd- I took my 3rd Graders to Rose Manor Nursing Home to sing to the residents

December 9th- I took my 4th graders to sing to Rose Manor; I also had a Pep Band Basketball game that night
Rose Manor is ALWAYS my favorite time of the Christmas Season. I have always been a fan of going to a nursing home and singing or playing my saxophone for it's residents. I used to play fr my hometown's nursing home once a month. I also played at the nursing home in Norman while in college. I think it is really important for our young students to get out and show a service to their community and this is a great way to do so. We go and sing Christmas Carols and walk up and down the halls giving out cards, ornaments and candy canes. The adults and students alike love it. It is my favorite thing of all!

December 10th- "Grove's Got Talent" Vocal Auditions
"Grove's Got Talent" is a school wide talent show that I developed to help the band department at Grove. It is similar to "America's Got Talent" and this was the vocal auditions (#3) for the whole school. This failed miserably due to technical difficulties and just bad luck I guess. I was "boo"ed by the students for making them go back to class and several sets of parents were not happy with me and told me why. It was a terrible day!

December 10, 11 and 12th- IBC "The Promise of Christmas" Musical Production
This was the annual "Cantata" or music program at my church. I am the orchestra director there so we had been working on this for weeks but it was time to perform. It actually went REALLY well but just time consuming!

December 13th- Grove Christmas Band Concert
We always have 1 in the daytime and 1 at night. This year since Chris had not been working he piked p the trumpet and began to play with my 5th graders 2 days a week. He was supposed to play with us on both concerts but little Miss Natalie decided to get sick that weekend so we had to take her to the doctor instead. It turned out she had an ear infection so daddy could not make either concerts. This was sad for me because I was really looking forward to having Chris play with us and this was the VERY FIRST TIME that I did not have ANY family member in attendance. Good thing I have it on DVD! Natalie is feeling much better now... Thank you Lord!

December 14th- Redo of "Grove's Got Talent" vocal auditions
Thank goodness we were able to reschedule as quick as we did. This made it a little easier for me. We had 16 students sing and they were ALL AMAZING! We had a student with special need come up and sing and it really touched my heart! Not a dry eye in the place! Amazing!

December 15th- IBC Orchestra Christmas Party
Not a performance or anything but just alot of work on my part!

December 16th- Grove Elementary musical "The Incredible Reindeer"
Just like the band concert... we have 2 performances. The 1st performance was OK but the music didn't work right . Then the evening performance was AMAZING! I think it was my best Elementary musical to date at Grove. Chris and Natalie were able to attend! It was great!

December 17th- Rose Manor Nursing Home Band Trip
I took my 7th and 8th Grade Band members to Rose Manor to perform their Christmas concert for its residents. It was awesome! I think we will need to take them on tour and visit my own grandma in Wichita, KS!
Also on this day I was name the "Grove Teacher of the Year". This was a surprise because I was up against 4 of the best teachers in our school. Seriously... they were all awesome. I was shocked.

This just goes to show that God works in mysterious ways! It also show that God is working all the time. He gives us blessings when we need them the most! I am so lucky to work at such a wonderful school. Even if I am stressed to all get out and pulled myself way too thin... God works it all out. He can do this for you too! All you have to do is ask!

Thank you Lord for your many blessings! Thank you Grove faculty and staff for your kindness in voting for me. I am lucky to be working with you!

All of that happened in December but the most important thing of all has yet to happen. Jesus Christ was born for you and me because he loves us. Don't forget... Jesus is the Reason for the Season!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!