We are storytellers by nature.

Whether that’s because we’re southern, or just simply human – in my family, stories fill our days and nights.  Some of our stories are funny, some are sad, some are serious and some (if told by Monkey) are highly embellished and exaggerated.

Stories are a way of keeping people alive in our hearts.

Stories are a way of preserving memories, passing along history and a way of bringing us closer together.

I encourage my kids to share their stories, to write them down, to draw them, record them, to save them…

My children spend hours lost in paper and crayons – putting their stories down on paper and presenting them to us like the priceless treasures they are

This year, for Nathan’s birthday – my kids wanted to do something special for him.  Using their individual gifts – they wanted to create books that could travel with him, go to work with him and remind him every time he saw them of how much they love him.

Princess is an amazing artist and storyteller, so she grabbed her art supplies and made Nathan a book.

Monkey’s gift?  He’s a natural born storyteller – he is animated and funny and has a gift for words, as everyone whose ever been around him for more than 10 minutes can tell you .  At 5, he’s not quite able to write as well as Princess and he didn’t want to just draw Daddy a book.  I assured him that we’d come up with some way to use his gift to make Daddy the best present ever.

Last week, while at HEB, I found it – A Hallmark Recordable Storybook.  The moment I saw it, I knew it was what Monkey had to give Nathan.

As soon as Monkey saw it, he agreed immediately and ran to his room to read it:

How did we know it was meant to be? Take a look at the pictures of this Dad and Me storybook.

I had to share this video with y’all.  Last night after Monkey fell asleep, I pried the book out of his hands and recorded a few pages out of the book.  I love his voice, his imagination, the way he sees his Dad. 

I love that my kids wanted to give Nathan memories this year.  I love that stories, memories and heart are so important to my kids.

Happy Birthday to the love of my life.  I can’t wait to share these with you, to watch their eyes light up as they tell you about each of their gifts and how they created them just for you.

Here’s to the memories and a million more stories.

Happy Birthday.  I love you.

This post was written as a part of my work with  Hallmark  and their “Life Is a Special Occasion” campaign.  This is not a paid review of the Hallmark Recordable Storybook – I bought that all on my own.  The opinions, photographs, ideas and children are 100% mine.

The other night we were at a friend’s house relaxing when the back door flew open and Monkey came barreling into the room, his little face bright red and his eyes sparking with anger, tears and that wicked gleam that only appears when tattling on a sibling…

Following coolly and calmly on his heels, is Princess.

5 year old Monkey: “MOM, DAD!!!  Princess just slapped me in the face”

Without missing a beat, Princess replies in a voice dripping with that special blend of exasperation and sarcasm that only a big sister can manage

8 year old Princess: “No I didn’t.  I was just giving his face a High Five”

I can’t begin to tell you how hard it was for us to keep a straight face.  The minute they were back outside, we were howling with laughter and wiping tears from our streaming eyes.

Weren’t we just moving you into a big boy bed?
and now.
You’re growing, changing, moving faster than my heart.

Ready.

(wait, let me get my camera)

Set

(hold on, let me change my settings)

Be.  Still.  My.  Heart.

No Training Wheels

Bike vs. Neighbor’s Brush Guard aka Thank God For Helmets

Even at 5, you show the man you will become.

Even while the tears are streaming down your face, you get back on that bike with Daddy’s strong hands steadying you and you ride one more time, just to prove that you can.

Be Still My Heart

Want to know me better?

I do.  I learn a great deal about myself when I look back over the past year of posts, I see what I’ve gained, lost, learned, missed…

Whether it’s a recipe, a photograph, a story – here are the posts that I best think show the last year

January 2011

Discarded

February 2011

Joy

March 2011

Wisdom

April 2011

For The Grand Old Banjoist

May 2011 - the hardest month this family has endured in years-  the month that brought me to tears just reviewing the posts

Danny

More Danny

Peace

June 2011

A Decade

Mexican Pasta Bake

July 2011

Blueberry Crisp

Chili Garlic Dipping Sauce

August 2011

Enough

Spiced Apple Walnut Cake

September 2011

Balsamic Vinaigrette Coleslaw

5 years your mother

October 2011

Glimpses

November 2011

Traditions

Pumpkin Cake with Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese Frosting

Eight

December 2011

Dark Chocolate Cookies with a Candy Cane Swirl

Thanks for going on the journey of 2011 with us, here’s to 2012!

I hope it’s filled with love, laughter, joy, surprises, family, friends, joy and happiness!

Love,

Rachel and Nathan

and

Princess and Monkey

Since it’s Christmas Eve, I thought I’d share a fun little present with y’all

The traditional Christmas Eve, poem

‘Twas The Night Before Christmas’

Texas Style

 Merry Christmas, y’all!

With much love from my family, to yours.

A Texas Christmas Eve 2010

Original Poem Source

If you want another giggle – This is my favorite Christmas Eve Memory from growing up:   Carrots, Reindeer and Icy Rooftops

Every year, Nathan and I put the kids in the car, grab a pizza and drinks, put on Christmas music and drive around looking at Christmas lights for hours.  We’ve done this since Princess was 1 year old – it’s something we all look forward to.  It’s as much a part of our Christmas as decorating the tree, Elf on The Shelf, Baking, Tamales, Chili and Country Ham.

Here are 3 of the kids’ favorite shots things from this year.

“Oh Holy Night” -

life size Nativity

“I Killed It”

“Skating”

What are some of your favorite family holiday traditions?

In case you need a grin today – Here’s Monkey’s little Hip Hop performance from his school’s Holiday Extravaganza this past weekend.

(He’s the one in blue and grey – my husband was the cameraman)

Peace Out, Yo!

My favorite Christmas tradition is decorating the Christmas tree.

Christmas Trees are just magical.

They twinkle and glow, they tell a story, they shelter our gifts, give home to cheeky elves and they lend a sense of magic to our homes.

Part of what makes these trees so magical is what we choose to decorate them with.

I don’t know how y’all do ornaments in your family, but in my family the Family Tree is just that – it’s not a Macy’s display – it’s Family Tree.

It’s a 6 1/2 foot tall bedecked, glowing, family history.

In my family, we are given an ornament every year of our life.  While I was growing up, my parents and my maternal Granny each gave me an ornament every single year. When Nathan and I got married – they included him in the tradition giving him one, and giving us a couples ornament, too.  Once the kids were born it was an ornament for me, an ornament for Nathan, a couples ornament and an ornament per kid; plus we gave each kid an ornament.  (If you’re doing the math – 2 ornaments per year up to age 22 = 44 ornaments. 4 ornaments per year after that.. oh wait then we had kids .. my brain hurts)

One of the reasons that I love this tradition so much is that every year when we decorate our tree it’s a walk down memory lane.  It’s family history lesson. More often than not tears come into my eyes as I run my fingers over 30+ year old papier mache and yellowing lace edged angels, as my kids shout out the year and try to guess who each ornament came from and how old I was when I got it.

Memories swarm me.  Sometimes overwhelming, always welcome and always a blessing.

Every ornament that I choose for my children tells a story of who we are that year, what they’ve accomplished, experienced or where we’ve been.  Every ornament is a tale waiting to be told, a memory ready to be unwrapped.

This year we’ve done a lot of stargazing.

While we camped on the beach, while we sat crying over losses and while we hoped for change. The stars have played a huge part of our lives this year.

My amazing friend, Lisa, created this Molded Star Ornament and gifted one to my family.  When I opened it, my breath caught. The handcrafted beauty, the weight of the metal, the soft velvet ribbon.

When we took this ornament out of its bag and hung it on our tree, Nathan and I both ran our fingers lightly over it – we exhaled and we remembered.

I cannot thank Lisa enough for this gift. Lisa’s timing is unbelievable, her gifts always seem to arrive on a day when we most need a blessing, a reminder.

For our family this year, we wished upon many stars and Lisa’s star ornament will grace our branches for years to come.

I urge you to order one of her beautiful custom ornaments for yourself, a friend or a family member. The ornament you choose this year, will help share your family history for years to come.

So here’s what I want to do.  I want to give one of you a memory.

I’m going to buy one y’all one of Lisa’s Ornaments:

Molded Heart Ornament 

Molded Star Ornament

Stocking Ornament

Please click on each link and go look at the beauty that is her handcrafted ornaments and jewelry, I promise there’s someone on your gift list who would love a Lisa Leonard Ornament

This post isn’t sponsored. Lisa gifted me with one of her gorgeous, custom Christmas ornaments and I have written about it because I adore her and her ornaments.

*** heart and stocking ornament images shared from Lisa’s blog with permission*** all other images are my own

Fence?

Building?

Bridge?

A Damn WHAT?

Oh, I get it.  They can’t spell, or they trust way too much in auto-correct.

……..

Not really a word you expect to see on a Children’s Menu Crossword Puzzle about animals.

Spelling FAIL!

iPhone photo taken at People’s Restaurant last night during Princess’ birthday dinner.

“Mom, Can you believe I’m going to be Eight?”

“No, no my darling girl — I can’t”

Wasn’t this just yesterday?

So much has changed, So much still the same.

The moment you saw the ocean,  it was true love. You were a water baby,

and now you’re a Boogie Boardin’ Diva.

 Even from the first, you’ve been much more fashionable than I ever was.

I’m so glad that hasn’t changed, your fashion sense makes me so happy.

I love how you’ve always marched to the beat of your own drum

How from day one you have  been strong and confident in who you are.

You are independent and fearless.

Fun loving and silly, you love life and all that it has to offer.

You are your brother’s favorite person

Your Daddy’s little angel

and my … my favorite playmate, the one who made me a Mama.   You are my heart and soul in a smart, funny, beautiful, wonderful, blue eyed, freckle faced package.

I am so blessed to be your mother.

There will be times that I will yell at you, there will be times when we won’t like each other very much, there will be times we both say things we don’t mean, but there will never be a time that you are not loved, a time you are not cherished, a time where I am anything but thankful for you.

I have always known and understood love. Your Daddy showed me a different kind of love, but you, you my amazing, wonderful daughter, you have taught me a love like no other.
You are borne of my body, my heart, my soul and my mind and you opened up a place in me that I didn’t know even existed.

You are smart, funny, strong, beautiful, compassionate, silly, confident, loving, temperamental, friendly, energetic, inquisitive, vibrant, frustrating, head strong, lively, independent, fearless and amazing.

I pray that at 18, 28, 38, 58, 78, .. you retain all of these qualities.

I will do my best to stand back and allow you to live, fall, experience, fail and triumph. I will try to never stand in your way, to allow you to stumble and fall because the biggest disservice I can do you would be to never let you fail. That being said, I promise that I will always and forever be there to pick you back up, kiss away the tears, whisper I love you and nudge you back towards the right path.

Happy 8th Birthday to the one who changed everything.

I love you.