Christmas Blessings 2011

Merry Christmas from the Lotterhos Family!
Livie-5 and Jones-3

It was amazing once again. Every year Christmas just gets better and better because of the kids. The only downfall of this year was that for two weeks of this Christmas break, between the 4 of us, someone has been sick at all times. It's been a little rough and stressful(especially those last couple of days before Christmas), but we have somehow survived and were still able to enjoy Christmas.
The kids were overjoyed with all that Santa brought plus the awesome gifts all the grandparents gave them. We were able to go to church on Christmas Eve night and listen to Livie sing in the children's chior and then worship our Savior at one of the most moving services I've ever been to. Have I ever mentioned how much I LOVE OUR CHURCH???!!! :-)
It was extra special this year reading the Christmas story with the kids on Christmas morning(we always read out of Luke before we see what Santa brought). Watching their faces as the story was read, sunk in, and they could talk about all the different people who were a part of the only reason we were celebrating the day. It was the perfect gift for Chris and me to hear their sweet voices talk about baby Jesus and that he was better than any gift Santa could have left. Thanks to HIM our babies understand that amazing blessing. I hope everyone had a great Christmas with family and friends...here's to hoping 2012 is better than ever! Happy New Year!

Livie helping make our homemade cinnamon rolls

A small shot of all their Santa loot

Harley man

Happy 30th Birthday Uncle Evan!

Jones in his new Scooby pj's with his new best buddy Woody, watching Scooby. 100% satisfied!

Livie baking with her new Easy Bake oven...she's a natural

I caught this perfect moment...watching Dora and just loving each other.

A little Wii action. Definitely the favorite present of 2011.(for Mommy and Daddy too!) This is Just Dance 3...so much fun!

The Candy Can What?

The Jones Lotterhos Christmas Traslation Guide:

Candy Can- n. Yes, you read that right, noun. (he tricked you) A red and white striped cane shaped candy often seen during the Christmas season. A favorite treat eaten by children and adults alike and can bee seen hanging on Christmas trees.

bethel-ham- n. BUT, not a proper noun to be confused with the town of Bethlehem. A bethel-ham is any animal in any Christmas book that you don't recognize.
Ex: "The animal standing next to the shepherds in that picture is called a bethel-ham."

and last but not least, my personal favorite...

Jo-fuss-n. The Earthly father of Jesus, husband of Mary, and citizen of Nazareth. Most commonly know as Joseph.

Another Catch Up...Fall Edition

Once again, I have been a total slacker when it comes to blog updates. These past two months have been busy as ever, but I guess when school is in session, that's the way it goes. November and the beginning of December have been full of ups and downs. We celebrated the 60th birthday of my Dad(Granddaddy) and the 1st birthday of our cousin/niece Emily. And on the other end of the spectrum we attended two funerals and mourned the loss of friends gone way too soon, April(35) and Brad(34).
We've celebrated friends birthdays, had new experiences, learned new things, been with friends and family, celebrated holidays, and just been extra thankful for who and what we have. So, here's a recap of our last two months. Hopefully this will be the last time I get this behind!

Field Trip to Cedar Hill Farms

Soccer Camp together. Jones thought he was big time getting to do what Livie was doing.

End of the year soccer trophy~2nd season

Team Madrid

Hallie Dodd's birthday party

Jones dressed up for school

Sharkboy and Lavagirl~Halloween

MeMommy and Granddaddy

CeCe and G Daddy

Let the trick-or-treating begin, with Madison(Ariel)

Much needed night out with the Kleins

Christmas Parade with MeMommy and Granddaddy~it was extra special this year because our cousins from Jackson, MS were here!

Sweet cousins~Livie, Avery, Ella, Jones

Chris and me with our cousins, Melanie and Steven down on Beale after our yummy dinner at Bleu~Melanie looks amazing. No big deal, but this was only a few hours after she ran the FULL St. Jude Marathon....AND CAME IN 13TH!!!

Livie's first time to spend the night out with Emily and Emma

Another spend the night party...Lucas and Jones

Livie as Mary in her school Christmas pageant

Livie's class

Jones and his friend Hayes at their class Christmas party

We tried...they're 3!

Jones with his awesome teachers, Mrs. Amy and Mrs. Jennifer

Poor sweet Livie at her Christmas party. She didn't feel well at all, but insisted on staying and not missing any of the fun. You know she really didn't feel well when she wouldn't eat pizza or Christmas cookies. That was yesterday, and she's still sick today. Hoping for a full recovery before the Christmas festivities begin.

Fall Break

Last Thursday through Tuesday was our school fall break. We stayed around here, but stayed super busy and had so much fun!

Downtown at Memphis Madness with the Marshalls...we didn't get in but ended up heading over to Blues City Cafe for a yummy dinner

Zoo with MeMommy



We finally got to meet sweet 3 month old Grace Egan and hug on her Mommy. We miss them and can't wait to see them at Thanksgiving!

She shoots...She scores!!!

Last Friday, Livie scored her first EVER soccer goal. It was no fluke either. She turned and absolutely blasted it past the goalie. Chris was standing behind the goal and got to see her face, and he said it was one of the most precious moments and sweetest things he's seen in his 34 years. The really fun thing about it was our team won 1-0. Yay Livie! She was beyond excited and we are so proud of this little girl. As my dad said later...this was just the first of many!

And She's Off...Just Like That!

Last week Livie got in the car from school, and matter of factly told me she wanted to take her training wheels off her bike. So, we got home, took them off, talked about balance....and this is what happened. I couldn't believe it.
It just so happened this was on Septemeber 28, which was our 9 year anniversary. Married in 2002, then the exact day, 9 years later, our 5 year old baby girl is learning to ride her bike without training wheels...I love the seasons of life!

Sasha free house...FINALLY!

We have had a tough time trying to break Jones of his bad habit...ALWAYS having his "sasha", which is his name for his paci. Well, as of September 21, it is no more. We just woke up one morning, told him it was time for it to go, and that was that. Well, after about 3 hours of screaming and crying, but that was it. Really kind of simple. The worst part about it, for Mommy, is that now he doesn't want his Blue Bear either. I almost cried that night when he said, "I don't need Blue Bear anymore, because I don't have sasha." He's growing up!