Christmas 2011

We had a wonderful Christmas this year!! We are truly blessed and loved spending time with our families.

Christmas Eve we went to James' parents house and had a blast. I love seeing Farrah old enough to play with her cousins. She has grown and changed so much this year and she is so much fun! This year we decided to make it easier on ourselves and have a dinner that was easy to make and clean up. I'm pretty sure all us girls LOVED this...haha!

Every year Quinn and I pass out all the presents. We've done this for years and I love having this tradition with Quinn.




Farrah had a great time opening gifts. She kept saying "For me?!?!"



Christmas day we had Christmas just the three of us. We woke up early so we could open presents before church but then I realized we forgot to leave milk and cookies out for Santa. Ooops! This is the first year that we've actually done "Santa" and we totally forgot...haha! So, I'm running to the kitchen pouring a glass of milk and eating half a cookie so Farrah will see that Santa had been there. I promise we will do better next year...haha!!



Farrah's big Santa gift is still in the garage and when it gets warmer outside James will have fun putting together her trampoline!



This year, James was my hardest one to shop for! He had no idea what he wanted and I had no clue. I did get to surprise him which was fun! A couple of months ago he mentioned wanting a shot gun shell reloader so I found one and that's what he got. He was really surprised and very excited.



After presents we headed outside so Farrah could play in the snow. I LOVED having a white Christmas! Farrah loved every minute of playing in the snow and we had fun watching her.



We celebrated Christmas with my family on Monday. It was nice being able to spread Christmas out this year. We weren't running from one family to the other family.



Every year my Meme makes every great grandchild a blanket and we love these blankets! I just love that she still gives homemade gifts!!



We had a great Christmas and really enjoyed out families. We are truly blessed!

Project 365

This week in photos....

I promise I did take a photo everyday this week. With Christmas I want to have a post with just that so here it goes.

We had a wonderful white Christmas!!



Farrah's new trick in the tub!



Farrah looking for sparkles. This girl and her sparkles!!



Farrah has discovered dress up and this just makes me smile. I remember spending hours in my mom's closet dressing in all her clothes and having a blast. I know this time is coming and I love having a daughter!!

Week in photos

I'm a little behind in our daily photos so this will be short and sweet. I really want to remember this week so here it goes!

Farrah has really wanted to help me with daily chores so I thought this would be a great opportunity to teach her. This week she is learning to make her own bed. I must say she does really well for a two year old. She has also learned how to set the table with plates(paper) and forks. She gets so excited! She is also learning how to take her plate to the trash when she is finished.



Farrah had pajama day at her KDO. She wasn't sure what to think about this. We were leaving for KDO and she said "Mommy, I need clothes on for school not PJ's!"




Farrah has been very interested in taking pictures so here is her take on pictures...haha!!





I had a first for me. I LOVE peanut brittle and have always wanted to make it so I found a recipe and just did it. I was so glad that I did! It was so good and now I can't stop eating this stuff....haha!! I will give some advise, it takes two people to make this stuff. It goes buy so fast and when it's ready, its ready!






And lastly, who can resist a picture of a sleeping child? I know I can't!!

Christmas Fun!!

This weekend has been so fun!! I can't believe this will be Farrah's third Christmas. Her first Christmas was so fun because we had a baby and this year will be just as fun. I've always loved the saying that says "Live your life through your child's eyes." I love watching life through Farrah! She takes everything in and it's so innocent and new.

On Wednesday, we make cookies and decorated them. I will be honest and say that it started out a nightmare but ended in so much fun. I made the cookies and when I was trying to roll the dough out it was just a big mess. It was so sticky that it was just not going to work. I brought James in on the cookie making and he was even better then me...haha. Let's just say we ended up just throwing it in the trash and I went to the store and bought the already made dough and rolled it out. It was much better!!!

After we got all the cookies cut out we baked them and I do have one question....How in the world do you bake cookies so that they will keep their shape? My snowmen looked like big blobs and my Santa hat looked like I don't know what! Oh well, we still decorated the cookies after we figured out the shapes..haha!







On Thursday we took the kids to look at Christmas light at the Vintage and around town. Farrah loved the Vintage Winter Wonderland! It has a big Santa sleigh and she was so excited to sit in Santa' sleigh. Her, Lucas and Annika ran wild through all the lit trees that were set to music. They played and danced and were just crazy.







Farrah is really noticing the Christmas lights everywhere. It felt like we went all over Lubbock to show her the lights. James was being "funny" and pointing at all the lights for example, He would point at the Waterburger sign and street lights and tell Farrah they were Christmas lights...so wrong!!!! Farrah was not ready to go home but after two hours of looking at lights it was time to stop.

On Saturday we took Farrah to see Santa. We are teaching Farrah the real reason about Christmas which is Jesus, but I don't see any harm it having some Christmas fun as well. The first two years of seeing Santa, Farrah was not impressed so we weren't sure what to expect this year. We took her to Holland Gardens to show her all the decorations and Santa. She LOVED all the trees and decorations. She also did pretty good with Santa. On a side note, mommy was NOT impressed with this Santa! He was s rude to me that it totally turned me off and so I let James finish Santa with Farrah. We did get a picture with Santa so it was all ok in the end.

Year one



Year two



This year

Photos 365

My friend, Paige, is starting this fun idea of taking a photo everyday for a year. I love this idea because Farrah is growing so fast and changing everyday. At first this idea seemed a little stressful but I decided not to stress about this and make it a fun project. There will be days when we do a lot of things and days where we do nothing but I want to capture my day as best as possible. (Some photos will be from my phone so it won't be the best quality but I have a picture.)

So here's my first week in photos!

Farrah had fun "playing hair" as she calls it. LaJuana and Annika are such good sports!



Farrah and I had a picnic in the living room. We have not eaten a meal in front of the TV (I know shocker!!) so Farrah thought that was extra special. We had sandwiches and watched Frosty the Snowman.



Farrah's new game is playing Hide and Seek. She LOVES it!! So much that we are all tired of playing Hide and Seek.





Farrah's teacher at KDO asked for us to bring a family picture so they could make a family book. I looked back at this past year and I found TWO family pictures....TWO!! I have a ton of Farrah and a some of James and Farrah and me and Farrah but only two family pictures. So at breakfast before KDO started we took a family picture...haha!!



Farrah also learned how to play London Bridges this week. She had so much fun!



I have more photos but I want to write a post about each of those.

Christmas cards are impossible.....

For the last two years I have LOVED our Christmas cards! This year I have a busy little girl who won't sit still for nothing. I finally threw my hands in the air and said "If you smile and look at mommy I'll give you some candy!!" Did it work? Well you be the judge...haha!!











These are just a few of the pictures I took. Will there be a Fortner Christmas card this year????? I just don't know...haha!!

Farrah you are one big mess right now but I LOVE every minute of it!! You are so much fun right now and you have a whole lot of sass! Dad and I are still trying to figure this one out! Love you so much sweet girl!

It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas.....

I wanted to decorate for Christmas weeks ago, but since I was having Thanksgiving at my house I thought I should wait. So I waited til Thanksgiving night...haha! I also had to wait for James' help. With having both my shoulder's operated on I couldn't get all the things out of the attic and I couldn't lift anything heavy.

James was a good sport. He put together my new 9ft tree and I fluffed it (Thanks babe!) Last year I went to the after Christmas sales and got some really good stuff. The best thing was opening everything for the first time and seeing it all over again. I must say, I got some really good stuff last year!!



Last year I ordered these amazing stockings! I ordered them off of Ballard Design. I've been eyeing them for two years and I just finally bought them. I told James I wanted some stockings that I could keep forever and these are definitely them! I even ordered extra to match for our future kids.



This year for the big tree I went with the red and lime green and I LOVE it! It's so festive and fun! Farrah looks at it and says "Mommy, I like your Christmas!" My favorite purchase was my big tree topper. It a big top hat that lights up.



I've always had the dream of putting a Christmas tree in every room so this year Farrah has one in her room. I've used that tree for the last three years and its so fun that I just had to use it for Farrah. She's not really sure what to think about it in her room. The first night I left the lights on while she went to sleep and about five minutes later she was calling me in to turn them off...haha! She really does like it just not the lights.



Every year I buy Farrah a Christmas ornament and I found her a great one this year! This girl is so into Texas Tech football that when she see's a football game on TV she'll ask "Mommy, we go see the boys play today?" I keep Farrah's very first ornament on the main tree, and then the current ornament on the main tree and then it will go on her tree next year.

This years ornament


2010


Farrah's first Christmas 2009




I love this time of year! The promise of new life and promises. Families getting together and loving on each other. I love the cold and hoping for snow. Every year I so badly want a white Christmas and this year I will hope for the same.



Merry Christmas!!!



I want to remember this story from Farrah so this is just for me but you can enjoy it as well. Last week we came home and the neighbors across the street had their Christmas lights on and Farrah said "Mommy, I want sparkles on my house!" It made me laugh and then I told her she needed to tell her daddy! For 10 years James has told me that he would put Christmas lights on our house and still nothing...haha! James told Farrah for sure next year we would have Christmas lights...that a way Farrah!!

Thanksgiving!

We had a great Thanksgiving is year. It was super busy but we enjoyed every minute of it. We started with lunch with James' family. We went to James' brother house and loved seeing his family. I love have such big families with little kids running around. Farrah was worn out, which I was thankful for...haha!

After lunch we came home and napped Farrah and ourselves before my families Thanksgiving. I love cooking for everyone and this year I made the homemade cornbread stuffing. Last year I wanted to learn how to make homemade pies, crust and all, and my 90 year old grandmother stood in my kitchen for three hours teaching me how to make pies. This year, I wanted to make the stuffing so my mom told me the recipe that has been used for many generations. I love family recipes!

This Thanksgiving was such a fun one for us but I can't help for being very thankful this year. I am so thankful for both our families but most of all for my little family. Farrah is growing so much and there is not a day that goes by that she just makes me smile and thank God for her! I'm incredibly blessed by a wonderful husband who always puts my needs before mine and Farrah's.

This has been a rough year but a great one at the same time. Thankful for so much!

When it rains....it pours!

You know the saying when it rains it pours, well this statement always seems true for my family. Its nothing really bad but it just seems that just when I think I've got everything under control something changes.

After my therapy on Wednesday, I started having this spot on my back that was hurting. At first I thought it was from the heat pack they put on me after I'm done with my therapy. I had James check it and he couldn't see anything wrong. So everyday my skin just hurt but I just thought it was from dry skin or something.

Last night I noticed a small cluster of blisters on my back and the pain is getting worse so I went to a clinic today and I have.....Shingles!!! I can honestly say this is the worst pain I've ever felt.

What's so weird is that my back doesn't look bad at all! From what the doctor said was that the Shingles are attacking my nervous system and my nerves are going crazy in this area. But the nerve that is under attack is on the front right side of my chest and goes under my armpit all the way to my right shoulder blade. So this is a large area and one that is very deceiving. From what I've also learned is that Shingles are brought on by stress...haha!!

One challenge I'm having is the sleeping part. Since my double shoulder surgery I can't sleep on either one of my shoulders and my back and front hurt from the Shingles so this is going to get real interesting!!

I have to go back this week and get a shot so hopefully the Shingles won't return and yes that's a possibility....yikes! One last piece of info is that Shingles are not contagious!! Yes, they are in the family of Chicken Pox but there is no way you can get this from me so Farrah and James are totally safe and so are you..haha!!

(The only reason I'm blogging about this is because I want to remember this.)

Shoulder surgery #2!

A couple of weeks ago I had my left shoulder surgery and I'm officially done with surgeries for a VERY long while! This shoulder surgery was so different then my right shoulder. There was more damage and the tear was worse but I've not had near the pain with this shoulder then I did my right.

From what James tells me (I don't remember anything about that day except for being VERY sick!) Farrah wouldn't leave my side. She was a great mommy sitter...haha! At one point she crawled in my bed and wouldn't leave.....sweet girl!!



Farrah has had a whole lot of fun while I've been down! One night James put his pop up deer blind and Farrah thought that was the greatest thing ever!! There has been lots of playing with Lucas and Annika and Uncle Lance and Aunt Juana too.







I'm very thankful of having a wonderful family that is so willing to help me with Farrah. I'm also very thankful to Kelsey, Abby Cherri and Andrea for bring us meals this past week! It was a huge help and such a blessing!!