Christmas!!

Christmas is always fun around the Rice household. It is actually a week long event most years. This year we started our Christmas festivities on the Saturday before Christmas, when we went to celebrate with Nick's family at his mom's house.

After that, the festivities did not resume until Christmas Eve when we went to Mamaw Judy's house. Here we took a "Happy Birthday Jesus" cake and sang happy birthday before cutting and eating the cake. We also sang happy birthday again Christmas morning when the kids woke up.
Here is my masterpiece of a cake...

(No, the icing isn't lumpy, it is chocolate chip icing)

Christmas continued on Christmas day where we celebrated at home, Mamaw Sharlett's, Nick's dad's house, and my mom's house. What a full, but exciting, day!

This year Santa brought the kiddos Big Wheels. Gracie got a pink and purple "princess" big wheel and Evan got the traditional yellow and red one. They loved them! Poor Gracie's pedal kept falling off (Santa didn't bring one of the pieces that holds the pedal on, so we will be calling the manufacturer to get one) and poor Evan's seat wasn't on right because we didn't know which position it would best fit him. But even with the mishaps, they loved them and wanted to test drive them around the living room. So, of course we let them!

Santa also brought Evan (and Nick) a Wii! Evan was so excited, although he wanted to know where the Lego Batman (Wii game) was because it wasn't under the tree and he had asked for it. He was excited to be reminded that he had already received the game as a Christmas present from MiMi last Saturday. Here they are with their new pride-n-joy...

So, that's Christmas in a nutshell for the Rice's!

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas this year!

Gracie's 1st Award!!

Gracie received her first award on Dec 11! Her "preschool" (Doss High School Kiddieland) took part in the "Unite to Read" program. With this program students were encouraged to read at least 15 books from the week after Thanksgiving through December 10. If they read at least 25 books, they received a special star sticker on their award certificate.



The high school students (Gracie's "teachers") kept track of how many books their students read while at school (she goes M, T, Th from 12-2). Gracie read a total of 48 books!!! This was one of the highest numbers achieved. Yay Gracie!!! We are sooooo proud of you!!!!

Florida scrapbook

Ugly/Tacky Christmas Sweater Party

This year our Life Group had our traditional Christmas party with a twist! We all were to find and wear the ugliest/tackiest Christmas sweaters around town. At the party, we were to model our outfit and there would be a winner. Some people found them in their mom's or grandma's closets!! Some were actually told that they wanted the sweater back to wear this season! Those mom's and grandma's will remain nameless...

I know you all are wanting me to explain why on earth I didn't stop with the too small ugly Christmas vest. So, here's the story.......

After putting my size medium ugly Christmas vest on, my husband told me that I didn't look tacky enough. I had planned that just the fact that it was 2 sizes too small was funny and tacky enough. So, I thought, "Hmm...what could I do to make it tackier??" That's when the tackiness began! Unfortunately for anyone who is related to me, it began and I couldn't stop!

As you can see in the picture above, I did a pretty good job of making myself look a little more tacky. What began as an ugly vest became an ugly outfit. First, I added a door hanger (from my bedroom door) to the back of my vest. I tucked my jeans into my red and white toe socks so they would look like boots. And then the greatest idea of all came as I was walking through the living room. The Christmas tree skirt looked up at me and said "Wear me! I am definitely ugly enough, and you would look really, really tacky with me on" How could I say no to that??!! On it went. When I walked back into the bedroom, Nick laughed, and I knew that I was now tacky enough.

So, there you have it, an explanation of that hideous picture of me!

As for Nick's outfit, the women's sweater vest/dickie combo couldn't have looked better on anyone else!

Oh, and by the way, I did not win the grand prize :( BUT I did win the prize for "Do not get pulled over on the way home, the cops would never believe alcohol wasn't involved" YAY!!!

Diaper Baby and Christmas Trees!

Diaper Baby-I am so proud of myself! I made a diaper baby! Kinda like a diaper cake, but a baby! It actually took me a lot longer than I thought it would-it wasn't too awful hard, but harder than the directions made it sound! Anyway, here's my final project...his name is Grinch.

Christmas Trees-Yes, trees with an "s"! We put up our Christmas tree a little bit early this year. Last Sunday we arrived home and our next door neighbors had decorated their house already. Evan was so excited and kept saying "Mommy, it's so beautiful" and then asked if we could put ours up. Being that we didn't have plans for that evening, I caved. You would've too if you'd been there to witness his reaction to seeing the neighbor's house! So, two weeks early, up went the tree and on went the lights and ornaments!

AND since that was so fun last Sunday, we decided to do it again yesterday! Last night we went to my parent's house to help them put up their tree. Here are a couple of pictures from the putting up of the tree at Grammy and Papaw Phil's house!

The sad goodbye! Unfortunately, we had to leave before all the ornaments were on the tree, which was very sad for the kids! Here they are sadly hugging Grammy and Papaw Phil goodbye!

A Carriage Ride

For those of you who don't know, I have been wanting to go on a carriage ride in downtown Louisville for as long as I can remember. So, I finally got my carriage ride~YAY! It was a beautiful night and the weather was perfect. THANKS, Honey, for my carriage ride!

The Love Dare

I have been reading the book "The Love Dare" (by Stephen & Alex Kendrick, featured in the movie "Fireproof"). Whether you've been married one week or thirty years, you could benefit from reading this book. The purpose of the book is to teach you how to love your spouse unconditionally, just as Christ loves us. Each day has a short devotional and then a "dare" for you to complete. The book also offers a space for you to reflect your thoughts after completing the dare.

Now, I don't think (nor have ever thought) that I have a bad/rough marriage. BUT, after seeing the movie, I thought it'd be fun to get the book and give it a try. The results have been AMAZING! I have found myself thinking about Nick and missing him throughout the day, even through all the daily chores, work, etc. Not that I never thought about him, but you know the way you think about someone when you first start dating them??? That's what I'm talking about. Yesterday was our 8 year "dating" anniversary, and I still feel as if he just asked me to be his girlfriend! I truly feel like I'm falling in love all over again!

So, for those of you wondering, no, I haven't been paid to promote the book! :-) It's just that I've really been enjoying the book and the results. Not only do I feel close to Nick, but I feel closer to God. I'm only on day 15, so 25 to go, but I have a feeling that I will be starting over again after my 40 days is up!

I leave you now with a few verses from today's chapter titled "Love is Honorable."

"Live with your wives in an understanding way...and show her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life." 1 Peter 3:7

"I will also honor them and they will not be insignificant." Jeremiah 30:19

Halloween 2008

Sorry for letting so much time go by between posts! I somehow "lost" my USB cable so I haven't been able to download my pics lately. As you can see, it is now found and here are the Halloween pics of my beautiful children.

I let them pick out their costumes this year.

Evan was Darth Vader and, yes, we know, Evan's light saber is the wrong color.

Gracie was a "princess" (Sleeping Beauty, but Gracie wanted it because it was a pink dress).

Here are some pictures of our family and friends at Trunk or Treat:

The family

Charlotte was a lobster (too cute)

Evan was so excited to find Larry the Cucumber

Ella was Minnie Mouse (so cute)

Michaela was a lady bug (aaww)

Evan's First Field Trip

Yesterday I had the honor of going to Huber's with Evan's class. It was so much fun!

It was Evan's first time riding a school bus, and boy, was he excited!


We went to Huber's, where we got a tour about how they pick and package their apples, then got to go to the pumpkin patch. Each kid got to pick their own pumpkin to take home.

Here is Evan with his pumpkin.


After picking pumpkins, we had lunch, then play time. I was responsible for keeping up with Evan and his classmate, Abdullahi.

Here are a few pictures of them having fun.

After play time it was time to go back to school for their "fall party". I stayed and helped out with the party. It was such a fun day! I am so blessed to be able to do things like this with Evan. I look forward to many more class parties and field trips with both Evan and Gracie! :-)

STUDENT OF THE MONTH!!

This past Friday we had the honor of going to Wilkerson Elementary School to see our awesome son receive the Student of the Month award!! He was chosen by his teacher and the award was given based on "respect and effort". So cool! We are so proud of him! Congratulations Evan!!

*****BIG BIG NEWS!!!!!!!!!*****

After a year and a half of prayers by a lot of people, it has happened!!!!
NICK IS GETTING TRANSFERRED TO LOUISVILLE! PRAISE THE LORD!!!!!
We are so excited. It could happen in as little as five to six weeks-yay!! Thank you to everyone who prayed for us. We are truly blessed!!

One Week Later...

One week later and still no big news! Well, we did have another fish die. That makes 3. "Anakin" decided to be adventurous the other night and jump out of the fish tank. How he found the two inch open spot in the lid is beyond me. It was very traumatic for me to be walking across the living room Monday morning to find a dried out Anakin on the floor. My plans to let Nick sleep in quickly vanished as I ran into the room and woke him up. (You didn't think I was going to be the one to pick him up and flush him, did you??)

Evan seems to be taking the death of the fish well. Actually, it doesn't seem to phase him that much at all.

So, Monday Nick went to Feeder's Supply and bought three new fish to replace the three dead fish. We'll see how long they'll last! :)

Been a while...

Well, since being home from Florida, we haven't had much excitement! Let's see......what has happened around here?

*Gracie went poo-poo and pee-pee on the potty :)...one time, no more. :( She loves to go sit on the potty, but most of the time she tells us she has to go she has just gone in her pull-up. We'll get it down soon (I hope)

*Nick started a new shift at work. 8:30-4:30-he started yesterday. It was different having him home for dinner! We are really excited about him being home on weekends and in the evenings.

*Today was Parent-Teacher conference day. I met with Ms. Johnson, Evan's teacher. She had a lot of good things to say about him! He seems to be doing great. She said he knows pretty much everything that he should know at this point, and is doing great with attitude and work habits. His daddy and I are very proud of him!!

That is about it for now. Like I said, not too much excitement in the Rice household at this time.

We are home.

No exclamation point behind that title! We arrived home around 11pm last night. I can't lie, it did feel good to get back to my own bed (even though it is a hard bed, but nevertheless, it is my hard bed).

Yesterday, while the locksmith was getting into my grandparents car, Evan came over and very seriously said "Mommy, JuJu, that man is trying to break into Papaw's car" He is so cute! I still am wondering how in the world he knows about breaking into cars...???

So, back to life, back to work, and back to school for the Rice family. Special thanks to my husband, my parents, and my grandparents for making last week so relaxing and fun. We had a great time!

We thought we were leaving Florida...

...but Mamaw Judy had other plans!!! This morning while loading the final things into the van in the parking garage Mamaw Judy decided she had to do one final bathroom run while Papaw was taking the luggage carts back. That was all fine and dandy until Papaw came back and realized that Mamaw had locked the car...with his keys on the dashboard!!!! :o Yup, you heard right, keys on the dashboard, purse in the floorboard. Both sets in the locked car. So, here were are sitting in the parking garage as I type! It is pretty interesting sitting in a parking garage for an hour. There is a lot you can do:

1-Evan & Gracie had a breakfast picnic on Mamaw and Papaw's trunk.

2-Update your blog with the interesting story for all to read

3-Sit and wait

4-Repeat steps one through three

So, we have all decided that God wanted us to start a couple hours later than originally planned (which was 7am here, 8 am Louisville time). It is now 9:34 Louisville time.
Just wish He would've told us before we got out of bed!!! :)

FLORIDA!!! day 7

:( Our last day! :(
Today we took the kids to the Jr. Museum of Bay County (trying to excuse Evan's 5 unexcused absences). It was a neat place and we all had a lot of fun.
Here is photo recap of our last day.

The kids were excited to wear their new Pineapple Willy's T-shirts, so we got 'em all dressed up in their new attire and left for the museum...

On the way to the car Daddy started swinging Gracie around, which lead to him swinging Evan around too...

Nick thought it would be funny to take a pic of me backing the car out of the parking space...

We finally got there...here the kids are driving the firetruck and the train...

Evan got to be the cashier at the grocery store...

Daddy is driving the boat while the kids are fishing...

After the museum (our camera died while we were there) we went back to the beach (with new batteries of course)...

Here we are enjoying our last sunset in Florida...

Daddy & Evan

Our "America's Next Top Model" poses

Here we are holding the sun, trying hard to keep it from setting

AWW!

Goodbye Panama City Beach, we will miss you!!!