Walmart Attitude Adjustment

We all have those days. Days when we're discouraged, frustrated, and overwhelmed with the responsibilites of life.  I had one of those days not too long ago so I took a trip to Walmart.  I know it sounds weird, but Walmart gives me clarity and perspective.   I guess some of the people in Walmart give me clarity and perspective.  We all joke and pass around the Walmart emails, but every time I go in that place I'm reminded of how blessed I truly am.  Blessed to have the job that requires me to work so hard, blessed to have the car that needs new tires, blessed to have the house that constantly needs to be cleaned, and blessed to have the husband and kids that always seem to need something from me. 

Speaking of blessed... we had Thanksgiving dinner with my family this year.  Talk about blessed...

Sisters, brothers, neices and nephews... all that get along and enjoy being together. 

Parents that love my kids and spoil then (and us) like crazy! It was a great Thanksgiving. I had the whole week off this year and we got to see both sides of the family now that Chris' parents live close. 

Just try it... the next time you're in a funk, go to Walmart for an attitude adjustment. 

Abundantly Blessed

Abundantly Blessed... that's how I feel right now.  That's how I felt on Thanksgiving and that's the feeling I want to hold on to all year long.  We've had our share of hard times... and its so easy to get bogged down by the "don't haves" and "didn't go as planneds" that I sometimes forget how abundantly blessed we truly are.  This year I want to be blissfully grateful... the way Reese and Tucker were when we spent Thanksgiving morning on the playground...

Man I love these boys!!!!

 And when we spent the day after Thanksgiving at the petting zoo...

Can you believe Reese??  I'm not sure what happened to this girl... she ran right up and couldn't wait to feed the horses.  There's hope for her after all.

We spent Thanksgiving in Houston this year.  The weather was beautiful so the kids got to do some fun outdoor stuff with all the cousins... we all enjoyed time on the playground and feeding the animals.  Another thing that we're abundantly blessed with... lots of family and lots of love... 

We were all amazed that we could get everyone on that staircase... and there weren't even any crying babies this time. 

Parade of Lights

Friday night the Doyle Women took the kids (minus Caden who went hunting with his dad) to the Fort Worth Parade of Lights. It's been years since I've been and I totally don't remember it being as good as it was. It was really fun... and the kids absolutely loved it...

Just hanging out waiting for the sun to go down.

Tucker was completely mesmerized the whole time.

These angels were standing up on their beautiful white horses. Impressive.

Reese is way into lights right now... pointing at them everywhere we go.

Can't wait to go see ICE! at the Gaylord Texan!

Tucker just cheered and laughed. He couldn't get enough of the firetrucks. Just like a typical boy... he loved the sirens.

Reese and me snugglin.

Santa came in on the last float... just in time to go light the Christmas Tree downtown.

Christmas is going to be fun this year... I can already tell!

Turkey Day '09

We spent Thanksgiving weekend with my family this year. Each year we rotate... Thanksgiving with one side of the family and Christmas with the other... and then the next year, we swap. Since Chris' family doesn't live in Fort Worth, we can't be with everyone for every holiday. But this seems to work pretty well.

The weather was beautiful so we spent some time outside after stuffing ourselves with turkey and all the fixings. Unfortunately, Reese and Tucker are in a very uncooperative phase when it comes to pictures, so we didn't really get great family shots. They are constantly on the move and refuse to sit still long enough for us to snap a picture. Well... unless they're eating of course. Notice the pics of them with their turkey legs! Reese was totally disgusted by it... guess she's gonna be one of those "I don't eat meat off the bone" kind of girls. Watch out boys... this one is going to be high maintenance.