This is so Tyler

Tyler came up with all of these poses for the boys. It cracks me up. Jeremy was the photographer.

MLK and Chuck E Cheese

We celebrated the boys being off of school at our (just kidding), their favorite place. Okay, so it isn't their favorite, but they really like it. Jeremy is also off on Monday's, so it worked out well. We went early to beat the out of school crowd and I think the boys had a blast.

2/4

Two out of four of my boys have stitches right now. How does that happen?

Blake (5) who refuses to let me put a picture up of him on the day of his hernia surgery has a few stitches. (Also, he is supposed to stay inactive for 2 whole weeks. That is impossible.) So, only a short three days later Tyler (7) is climbing a fence and flips over it. He has a gash in his head with three stitches and a nice bruised knot on his chin.

Facts of Life

When: Wednesday Morning
Who: Sam and Me, Gray (listening)
Where: Van on the way back from the grocery store

Me: You know that Aunt Lindsey will be having your cousin Micah soon!
Sam: How is he going to crawl out?
Me: Well, he isn't going to crawl out. Aunt Lindsey will push him out.
Sam: She will just poop him out in the toilet! Ha Ha Ha

That is a 3 year old boy for you!

21 Days of Prayer and Fasting

Free Chapel is smack dab in the middle of our 21 days of prayer and fasting. It has been amazing to see what God is doing in our church body during this time and to see what he is going to do because of it. I love that this is something we do every year. Three things that I am always reminded of during a fast is that:
1. I NEED and DEPEND on Jesus for everything!
2. I want God to have my FIRST and my BEST always!
3. I love how a fast brings discipline in more areas than just food. It bleeds into all areas of life, but most importantly into the discipline of sin that so easily binds us. Who doesn't want to be FREE from the things that keep us from being all God wants us to be?
Check out Jeremy and Chris's blog. They blog daily during the fast and it has really encouraged me!
I leave you with a scripture I read on Chris's blog today:
Hebrews 12:1-2
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily hinders our progress. And let us run with endurance the race that God has set before us. 2 We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from start to finish."

I Heart the RV!!

Over the Christmas holidays Derek's, my brother-in-law, family came in town. They drove their very nice RV from Georgia to Austin. (You can check out a pic of it on Lindsey's blog)
We all, I am talking all of us, loaded up in the RV to go to San Antonio. I have never been except to pick up someone at the airport. It was beautiful. The lights down the riverwalk were awesome. We had a blast. Jeremy, Blake, Sam, and Ty on the riverwalk.

Gray in his stroller. He didn't love being strapped in, but he had no choice.

I don't think my Dad knew I was taking this picture.

The boys waiting in line to get on the boat.

Still waiting in line and also having a little snack.

Still waiting in line. Wade, Derek, Papa, Jax, Mama Don, Lynn (Derek's mom), Lindsey (Derek's sister)

I love this picture of Wade, Kimberly, and Lawson!

On the boat! The weather was perfect.

This is Derek's Papa who owns the RV. I didn't get a very good picture. Thank you so much!!

Christmas Day

Christmas Eve before reading the Christmas Story and bed.

Christmas morning was so fun for us this year. The three older boys have been so excited about Christmas and were so cute that morning.

My mom and dad stopped by each of our houses that morning with homemade cinnamon rolls, muffins, and hot chocolate. Before lunch everyone came over to open presents and have lunch together. I am so thankful to have my family all living here.

Can you believe shorts and flip flops on Christmas Day?

This was before everyone went home for bed. We had a wonderful relaxing day.

Around the House

We have all of our Christmas Cards displayed that we have ever sent out. It is fun to see how our family has grown.

All the stockings. My mom buys all the grand kids stockings the year they are born. I love them.

Our tree. I can't tell you how many things have been broken this Christmas. That is what I get having four boys.

The boys have a tree in our media room that has all of their hand made ornaments on it. Looks like a strip of lights are out. This was our very first tree we owned. I can't get rid of it.

Santa

This is our first year ever not to spend Christmas in Birmingham. Our whole family was in Austin. We almost didn't know what to do with ourselves. First of all, it was in the 70's on Christmas Eve and Christmas day. On Christmas Eve we took our boys to see Santa. We so waited to the last minute, but it worked out wonderfully. There was no line, so we spent a little bit more time than usual with the jolly old man. Sam practically jumped into his lap and said with a loud voice "Are you fake?" Tyler and Blake were playing it way cool and Gray didn't care either way. It was really funny.

We practically had to physically remove Sam from Santa's lap, but no worries he fell out of his lap. For those of you who know Sam you are not surprised. That boy falls all the time.

Christmas Eve Day

We celebrated Christmas with Jeremy's mom (honey) and Jessie on Christmas Eve Day. Thank you for all the fun gifts.

This boy was elated to get High School Musical 3 CD.

Sam loves his Cars toy.

Blake opens gifts very carefully. He got a golf chipping net. He loves it.

More SImply Christmas Pics

Ty in action.

Jax and Sam drinking hot chocolate. It was so Yummy!

I have no idea what Sam is doing. He was so bad at this event. He was running wild.

Urban Transit.

Our hospitality team waiting for the hot chocolate. We gave out 25 gallons of hot chocolate. I thought it was 10. I stand corrected.

Lindsey, Parker, and Derek!

Anneka and Lexi

Sam's sweet friend, Kyanna! We loved the t-shirts. People were asking to buy them.

The Band!

Snow in Texas!

little drummer boy at simply christmas

Free Chapel just had a HUGE event last Saturday night. It was so fun. We called it Simply Christmas. Our band, led by Jason Martin, did Christmas Carols. We had Urban Transit (Hip Hop dance crew--think, "So you think you dance?"-there are 7 of them, but we had 6 perform), and our very own Tyler Self (7 years old) performed Little Drummer Boy. It was packed. We think around 500 people came and we gave away 10 gallons of hot chocolate and 500 candy canes. God is so good!! Our dream team was exactly that . . . a dream! They did a great job!

I had to post this little part of Tyler playing the drums. He did awesome. We are very proud of him. His prayer request on Sunday at Children's church was that he wouldn't be too prideful. (I had to give him a little life lesson on pride after Saturday night, mainly because he was giving autographs...I am not lying!)

Advent Calendar

I have been so excited about this. I could hardly wait for Dec. 1st. Everyone does advent differently. We put a treat for each boy (usually chocolate or candy, but sometimes different symbols that represent the Christmas story) plus an activity that we do as a family. The activities range from making homemade hot chocolate to acting out the Christmas story. Tyler picked first and then we will go down the line so each boy gets a turn. I hope this is memorable for the boys and it helps them understand what Christmas is truly about.

Tyler reading the activity. (Tonight was a question, so he was thinking about his answer)

Lights On

We went to our community tree lighting ceremony tonight. It was cold outside and the boys were just wild. I also tried my second try at a family Christmas card picture. We will see. I have all my cards addressed and ready to go, but no picture yet. Hopefully I will get them out by the end of the week.

Worth Every Penny

I love this toy. I got it a few years ago and it has been awesome. It is the Little People nativity scene. My boys love it. I can't tell you how many times a day I pick it up off the ground or the little table, but it is worth it. I liked seeing the boys playing with it.