James "Jim" Goulding

AKA Grandpa...passed away in the wee hours this morning. We will miss him greatly but our hearts are warm in the thoughts that he is in Heaven and more comfortable now. We love you Grandpa!

Cookies for Santa

We got all the cousins together at Aunt Kelly's house this morning to make cookies for Santa. Aunt Kelly loves to make these things special for the kids so she made the dough from scratch and they were great! Thanks Kelly. At one point Kyler stood there trying to get her attention and waited until she stopped to tell her she was the best! How sweet is that? He has such a great heart. The cousins had a great time decorating the cookies and playing together.

Our First Christmas Pageant...

Tonight was our first Christmas Pageant. We started with a pizza dinner at Aunt Kelly's house and then were off to the church to get ready. Kyler and Austin were two of the three wisemen and Alex and Nicole were Angels. It was so precious! I can only say this experience was necessary for our spirits right now. Gran, Papa, Paw Paw, Grandma Sarah, Aunt Kelly, Uncle Shawn, Mandy and Gage were there to root them on and listen to our wonderful children sing.

Preschool Christmas Program

Last night was Kyler's Christmas at school and he was very excited to surprise us with his slideshow and songs. We had a wonderful showing of family to support him in his first school performace; Grammy, Poppy, Gran, Papa, Aunt Kelly, Uncle Shawn, Austin, Alex, and Gage. Kyler loved having his family there and waving to us from stage. i don't think I stopped smiling the whole time. It was nicely done and he did a great job, especially since he was out sick all last week! Here are some pictures from it. I did video it with my new digital camcorder Christmas present from Graddy (I was like a kid opening it in disbelief!) but don't know how to get it on here yet....things to come. We were very proud of him and he was proud of himself too. They grow so fast! We went to dinner at On The Border to celebrate afterwards and needless to say the waitress earned her large tip! I am officially off for Christmas break and am ready for the time off.

Need I say more?

This was story time with Daddy/Uncle Kyle Monday night. Need I say more?

Welcome to the family...

On Friday, December 12, 2008 my cousin Derek and his wife, Sally, had their first child. Cole Brian Franklin 8 lb 6 oz and 19.5 inches...Welcome to the family Cole! I can't wait to nibble on those toes!

Boy's night

Last night Poppy was sick so we couldn't do our birthday dinner. We hope he gets better really soon! We went to dinner with Grammy, Aunt Kelly, Austin, Alex, Gage, Nana Geri, Mrs. Christy and Brianna. Alex and Brianna's sleepover was seemingly contagious and Mandy ended up getting invited too so, we invited Austin over for a boys night. We would have had Gage too (leaving Aunt Kelly childless for the night) but he was beyond tired and wasn't gonna happen. Here are my boys ready for Alvin and the Chipmunks...

Curtains are in!

 

 

Thanks Connie (mom)! They just changed the whole room! I got my dining room curtains up and they are fabulous...see!

Dancing Day

Yesterday was a big days for dancing. We started by going to see Brianna dance at the Alvarado Christmas festival and ended the day by watching Mandy and Alex dance at the Burleson Christmas festival. We had a wonderful family support and cheering section! Thanks to everyone for coming out even though with all the recent chaos at our house, we were unable to remind everyone of the performance and time. We saw a parade with Santa in it and then rushed back to Alvarado to sit in Santa's lap (no lines in our little town!). Kyler ran right up and Mandy screamed and did everything NOT to sit in his lap again this year. Aunt Lisa, we are SOOO glad you and Sydney came down. We really enjoyed sharing this holiday outing with you too.

Joys and Concerns

At church we have prayer requests where we express our joys/praises and concerns. I would like to do both tonight...
A praise to God for Chris, his chemo is considered a success and he will not be needing any further radiation at this time. He will continue 6 more months of chemo and reassess then. So, PRAISE God for looking out for him.
A prayer request for Grandpa (Goulding), he went into the hospital so please add Kyle and our Goulding family to your prayer chains.