Pizza, Playtime and Presents...

oh my...Christmas Adam was a day full of fun! We have made it a tradition to get together with Uncle Chad, Aunt Ronni and Baylee to exchange presents and celebrate Jesus' birthday! This year was a little different because we had promised Brenly that if she got all green stars for the whole semester that we would go to Incredible Pizza for a fun night...It just so happened that the only night that we could go was Christmas Adam...so we all loaded up and headed there for a super fun night...and then we headed to Uncle Chad and Aunt Ronni's house to open presents! We had such a fun night!

Santa came early...

thanks to MiMi and Grandfather...
Last Friday night the door bell rang and Ray opened the door to find a HUGE 42" flatscreen HDTV sitting at our front door step!
WOW! We are so excited and so grateful for such wonderful parents! Thanks so much for our early Christmas present! Be sure that we are throughly enjoying it!

(the picture quality is horrible, at the time this picture was taken we didnt have our HD receiver and I was trying to hurry and snap the picture while Santa was on the screen, you know, since he came early and all! Since them we have gotten our receiver and you can definitely tell the difference)

Elf on the Shelf..

it has been one of the favorite Christmas traditions and it just started a few weeks ago. Gran gave Brenly and Avery an Elf on the shelf. And they have fallen in LOVE with him!
Elf on the shelf (for those who don't know) is an Elf that you "adopt" from the North Pole...He sits in your house during the day, and at night he flies (with the help of a little Christmas Magic) to the North Pole and tells Santa about the McMillen household--have they been good or bad, what they want for Christmas, are they keeping their rooms clean, etc--and then by the next morning he has flown back to our house, but every morning he lands in a different spot, and you try to find his new location...You can talk to the Elf all you want, but he can't talk back (He has to be very attentive and just listen, so he can report back to Santa Clause) and you can't touch him for fear that he may lose all his Christmas magic.
We registered our Elf with the North Pole and they named him McElf McMillen...and he has been showing up all over our house! They can't wait to get up every morning to try to find out exactly where he landed! Brenly even claims that McElf has eaten one of her chocolates out of her Advent Calendar :)
What a neat tradition that has started at our house! Thanks to Gran and Papooh for such a wonderful Christmas Surprise!!
McElf landed by Baby Jesus, for I am sure that he understands that Christmas is about celebrating Jesus' birthday :)

Brenly finding the McElf, I just love her smile in the morning!

Avery seeing McElf, I am telling you, they roll out of bed to find him, look at that Hair!!

Collierville Christmas Parade...

and it was COLD! But we had such a fun time...We got to Melanie's house, had hot dogs and chili with lots of other goodies and then walked out of her back door onto Byhalia to sit and watch the parade! What a fun night!

Brenly, Ethan, Avery and Ellie

Daddy and Avery

Daddy, Brenly and Avery

Emma and Taylor

Ethan, Carla, Ellie and Scott

McMillen's

Brenly and Ethan

Me and Carla

Lanny and Kaci

Brenly and Uncle Lanny

Uncle Lanny and Brenly during a "mean face stare down"

Uncle Scott and Brenly during a "mean face stare down" (and Uncle Lanny making a crazy face)

Riley, Uncle Richie, Luke

Luke and Ethan

Uncle Richie and Aunt Christy

Santa Clause behind some Harley's :)

Tree Lighting

at the town square. Last night we were invited to go to the tree lighting on the square with the Dana, Anna and Ashley (Brenly's good friend in Kindergarten) It was cold be we had a fun time! There was a children's choir that were singing Christmas songs and then they flipped the switch and lit all the trees in the square. Here are a few pictures from our outing...

Thanksgiving...

(my house, Mrs. Fanning-Bren's teacher, my sister, my daddy, my mommy)

and we have SO much to be thankful for! Its been a crazy year, and as we look back we see so many times where God had his hand in our life. We have had lots of changes and we have learned that although we don't LOVE change...sometimes its necessary! We have also learned that when you pray about God's will for your life and follow where he leads...There is always going to be good things waiting for us!
We have gone from Living in Bolivar, driving 3 1/2 hours a day to moving to Colliervile with a 20 minute commute. We have gone from having both of our girls at home to have one who started Kindergarten and one who is still adjusting to life without her sister all the time. We have gone from living way out in the country to living in the middle of town. We were very accustomed to it just being our little family who never had visitors to getting VERY used to having friends over all the time. God has been SO good to us, we have been very blessed-far more than we deserve. This Thanksgiving we want you all to know that we cannot thanks GOD enough for all He is, for all He has provided and for guiding us every step of the way. We pray that you are aware of just how blessed you are as well!

Memorizing Bible Verses

"I can do ALL things through Christ" Phil. 4:13


"You made the world and everything in it" Psalm 89:11


"Choose my instruction instead of silver, knowledge rather than choice gold, for wisdom is more precious than rubies" Proverbs 8:10-11


"I am fearfully and wonderfully made" Psalm 139:14