My Hero!!!

Kyle's mom is a member of a club for Military Moms of students from Kyle's old high school. In November, a man who owns many of the downtown kiosks in Dallas contacted their club asking for photos of their children so he could put them in his kiosks. He believes this is his ministry, to ask others to continue praying for our military by putting a face to the cause. So, out of 300 military members, only 20 were chosen. My hubby was one of those chosen! So, at Christmas, we drove to downtown Dallas to get our pictures taken by it. On a previous trip, Kyle's mom saw two different men walk by and salute Kyle's picture. It is humbling really, as we live it every day and don't think twice about it. Thank you, Mr. Scott Reynolds, for your ministry. We must never forget those who are fighting and dying for our country so that we can remain free.

A rite of passage

Well, our son has officially had his first emergency. On Saturday, we were in a model home scoping out furniture that may go up for auction when our son decided to lean on a table leaf that wasn't too secure. It gave out from under him and he hit his chin on the edge of the table. Enter the blood... We quickly ushered him to the front porch so as not to bleed in the model home and put toilet paper (all we could use) on the cut to control the blood. Did I mention there was blood? Anyway, off to urgent care (of course it had to be a Saturday, Murphy's Law, I guess). Three hours later and three stitches later, our son looked like Frankenstein but was, in his words, "all better". He was extremely brave and even got the nurses laughing a couple of times. He called himself Santa Claus when they taped gauze soaked in lidocaine to his chin. Then, when he was all done, he profusely thanked everyone he saw and enthusiastically said his goodbyes. What a ham! Today, we had the stitches removed and, yet again, he entertained the entire pediatric clinic. "Wow, what a cool bathroom" and "What? I'm 31 and a half pounds?" were two of his highlights. Doctors say he will be left with a small scar but, we women think scars are sexy, right? Watch out ladies, here he comes!

Ho, ho, ho!

The offending table!

Sea World and old friends..

On New Year's Eve, our good friends came in town and we decided to visit Sea World. After all, it was the last day of the year and neither of us had used our free one day admission for being military. This is our second year in a row celebrating New Years with the Rendells and we think we will make it a tradition! We only stayed at the park for about four hours but, in that short amount of time, we crammed in a lot of activities! We tried to pet the dolphins, we toured the aquarium, rode the water ride, saw the Viva show, saw the Shamu show, and visited Shamu's Happy Harbor (for the kiddos). Kyle and I were even lucky enough to get about a 15 minute date when our friends watched Gatlin so we could ride the Steel Eel roller coaster. Thanks guys!
After the Viva show, we ran into one of our friends from the squadron and all of our kids spent about 20 minutes playing on a big hill. That was great for us and helped the kids burn off some energy. After the Shamu show, I saw a few friends of mine that I used to work with at Sea World and was able to catch up with one of them. It was so great to reconnect with her and capped off a wonderful day.

Tongue draggin (like our dogs) after romping with his friends!

Only picture we got of the dolphins in the petting pool

My friend Leslie lounging on a killer whale's tummy. I don't know about you but, I do that everyday! NOT!

Reuniting with my buddy, Jen

Christmas came and went..

What a wonderful holiday we had this year. Kyle was given about two weeks off without us having to take leave just due to the fact that things were slow.

You can imagine how spoiled we've become. We spent about a week in Dallas with Kyle's family and did it up right! Gatlin was really into Christmas this year which was so much fun to see. He even left cookies and milk for Santa and we started a new tradition with the Elf on the Shelf. If you don't have one or have never heard of it, check it out. Gatlin decided to name our elf "Birthday Cake". I said "Are you sure, cause it's gonna stick" (hoping I could persuade him in a different direction). He emphatically said yes so, Birthday Cake it was. I guess it's fitting since Christmas is really all about the birth of Christ, why not name our elf Birthday Cake in celebration? On Christmas morning, Gatlin's booty included a new Thomas bicycle complete with matching helmet and knee pads and a motorized truck zooming around a track. He also got lots of airplane decor for his new big boy bedroom and several more Thomas the Train motorized trains and too many other gifts to mention. He was in heaven on earth! We also did our third annual Christmas pageant and Gatlin was the shepherd. He took his role very seriously and is now considering a future acting career. He still talks about it to this day but, next year, he has his sights set on the role of the Angel!! He keeps practicing with his blanket making wings with it and saying "Look Mommy, I'm the angel". Kyle and I feel so blessed to be able to spend the holidays in Texas with family and hope you all had a blessed Christmas.

Our little shepherd boy

The whole gang!