Christmas Recap

It has been entirely too long since I posted, and we've had a lot going on, so I'm just going to hit the highs and lows. I don't have a whole lot of pictures, but I'll post what I do have later:

• We went to Angelo the weekend before Christmas for the Cauley side of things. We opened presents with my parents on friday night and had our big Barn Christmas on saturday with my dad's parents. The Barn is our favorite Christmas tradition. This year is wasn't very cold, which is actually kind of disappointing to me. We eat and then open presents, and then spend the rest of the night, and I do mean all night, playing 42 and other games. I, however, missed out on all that. I had a lovely allergy attack right after presents and O.D.'d on Benedryl, children's Benedryl at that, so I passed out halfway into the first game of scrabble. I'm told they had a lot of fun. Sunday Cameron, D'Laney and I went over to my mom's parents house to open our presents with them since we weren't going to be in Iraan for the whole holiday.
• Monday night we had our little Christmas. This will be the last year that we can do it whenever, next year D'Laney will probably understand Santa and all that. I'll have to actually hide her things, not leave the box in the living room for her to see like I did with her little kitchen this year. We didn't get her much this year, we decided to let the grandparents spoil her until she can understand a little more. We got her an adorable little kitchen that expands as she grows and a stroller and carriage for her baby dolls.
• Tuesday we headed to Iraan for the rest of the week. We spend a lot of time just hanging out with family, which is rare these days. It was nice not to have to rush and have things structured in the one and a half days that we're usually there. Cameron got to go hunting several times, one day my sister in law, Amy, and Cameron's cousin's wife, Amy, and I all went into midland for the day, and Cameron and I got to spend some time alone together. We had a pretty good week, but we were very ready to come home by Sunday. 5 days is a long time away from home, and D'Laney doesn't sleep very well when she's not in her bed.
• Tonight my brother and his girlfriend are coming to spend New Year's with us. We're going to go to bed early, cause we're old and boring like that, and watch a very full day of football tomorrow. I love New Year's Day!!
• These last couple weeks haven't been all peaches and cream. The economy right now is affecting everyone, but no area as much as the oilfield. We found out on monday, just 3 short days before Christmas, that Cameron's company is downsizing, and having only been working there 4 months, Cameron was one of the first to go. I think they wanted to do it then so they wouldn't have to pay him a bonus. It kinda puts a cloud over the holidays when you're suddenly unemployed. And it's the worst possible time of year to try to find something else. Cameron has just about decided to go back to welding, we're just not sure in what capacity. We have a couple options out there, but either one means that he'll more than likely be on the road quite a bit again. It's a scary thing, not knowing what's going to happen next week or next month. I know that something will come up, God has always taken care of us, but this is just one of those times when we're really tested to trust Him and not worry.

7 am on a saturday...ugh!

D'Laney is bright eyed and bushy tailed early this morning. Ah, I remember the days when I could just lay her in bed with us and we could go back to sleep even if she didn't. Although even that wouldn't last long.
Y'all are not going to believe this, I still don't believe it. My parents have had boxers for the last few years...Keida, a beautiful little brindle, and one of her puppies, Gus, named for Lonesome Dove, who was an athlete of a dog, except he still acted like a 2 month old puppy even though he was almost 4 years old. My folks were excited when they finally moved out to Maverick that the dogs would have a couple hundred acres to roam instead of small back yards. Well, a couple hundred acres wasn't enough. They hadn't been out there 2 weeks when the dogs ran off. We found Keida, but we never found Gus. It was just a few days later that Keida took off again, and that was the last we saw of her. That was in september, and since then, Lucas and Cadye (who are both back at home, lol) have gotten two precious little blue healer/blue lacy crosses that are sweet little girls. Well... Cadye called me late last night and said, you're not going to believe this. When she got home from work last night, who was there to greet her? None other than Keida! Just sitting there! Cadye said she's skinny, doesn't have a collar on anymore, and was a little timid, but she came when Cadye called and followed all her commands, well, both that she knew, sit and stay. She also said her breath was terrible, which makes me think she's been fending for herself all this time. It's been almost 3 months! I just can't believe it. That poor dog has been through so much, when I was in high school, she had apparently gotten into some one's sheep or goats, because daddy found her on the porch one afternoon with her butt shot off, hanging there. The vet was able to sew everything back on, the only effects are a massive scar on her haunches and her tail is crooked now, but it didn't hurt her any, she had two litters of pups. That's one tough little girl, definitely lives up to her boxer title. Since Cadye and Lucas have the two pups now, I think I'm going to try to talk Cameron into letting Keida come live with us. Our backyard is small, but at least she won't have to be tied up during the day. And she is the absolute most gentle dog I've ever been around, and that's perfect for D'Laney. But truth be told, I don't know if I'd be able to get her way from my parents, even if Cameron were to agree!

Flashback Friday

I'm running out of older pictures on my computer, I'm going to have to start scanning! This picture is from Christmas 2004, our first Christmas together, at the barn. We always have the get-together with my dad's folks in their barn. When we were little, we'd stay the night in the cold, but now that everyone is a little older, we all stay in the house and let the kids stay in the barn with the men. Christmas at the barn is by far my favorite tradition. Christmas of '04 was special for us because Cameron proposed. I have that on a disc somewhere, maybe I'll find it and post it next friday.

20 years old!

My parents are officially old... they have three kids in their 20s! Today my little sister is 20. So happy birthday, Cadye, we'll see you soon!

LOL, this always works so well when Shaunna has Addi do something like this!



And, need more proof that D'Laney is a daddy's girl?

I asked for a kiss and she just laughed...

Christmas decorations

I couldn't wait to decorate this house for Christmas, but it never crossed my mind how expensive it might be! So I just used what I had and bought very little more. Maybe next year I can add a little more. It's a lot of pictures, but I think it looks pretty cute.

No lights, just a little garland and a couple wreaths.


Welcome to the Holifield house!

No fireplace, so we hung the stockings on the stairs.

So far, D'Laney has left the presents alone, and she can't reach the tree.

Christmas card display

I used a lot of pine cones this year, and of course lots of candles!

White dishes are easy to dress up, just add a little color!

My little jar of candies. Isn't the lamp beautiful? My mother-in-law had an antique oil lamp converted to electric. I absolutely love it, it's probably one of my favorite gifts I've ever received.

The Santa on the right is bipolar. One way, it says nice, the other way, it says naughty.

a few random pics

She really does love him... just not his whiskers.

Chilaxin'... we get more use out of this thing now that we ever did when she was little.


OK, short story about this blanket. When Cameron and I decided to start our family, he was working in New Mexico for a few months and only came home once a month. When he came home for thanksgiving, well, D'Laney was born in August so you can do the math. It's totally embarassing, but it's Cameron's favorite story to tell in a large group... we burnt a couple batches of cookies the morning of thanksgiving. I really wanted a baby! plus I missed my husband, so yeah, really embarassing, but I saw this blanket at Wal-Mart and almost died laughing. D'Laney looked at me like I was crazy, but I had to have it.


Cameron was supposed to be putting D'Laney down last night. This is what I found when he didn't return. The crib didn't break, but I was worried about it.

I love these two!!

And a couple videos...

Cameron would spit in his can, and D'Laney would mimick him. I should have been mad about it, but it was so cute.

Laughing at Daddy playing peep-eye at the top of the stairs.

How long has it been?

What a week! Well, actually, more like what a 9 or 10 days! Last week, D'Laney and I spent the whole week in Angelo to help my parents get ready for 2 Thanksgivings. We squeezed a 15 month well baby in there, and I'm very pleased to report that the little munchkin isn't so little anymore! She finally hit the 20 pound mark, which puts her in the 10%. I was so relieved. She also hit the 30 inch mark, and is still in the 15% for height. Dr. Patyrak was pleased with the progress and told us that developmentally, D'Laney is in the 18-24 month range, so even though she is always going to be tiny, it hasn't held her back in any way. We spent the rest of the week shopping, cooking, and hauling dead sheep (daddy's having trouble with some wild dogs.) Thursday we had a wonderful day with my mom's parents and one of her brothers, the other one lives in Idaho. We ate entirely too much and watched the cowboys and the horns win big. Friday, Cameron and I went to town, without D'Laney, and got to eat and go to a show. We saw Australia, and it was great, I highly recommend it! Saturday, we had another Thanksgiving with my dad's side, although the football kind of spoiled the meal. Stinking Baylor, they just couldn't pull it out. And Oklahoma just had to win convincingly. Ugh, I can't stand it any time OU wins. *Sigh* oh well. Sunday afternoon, Cameron, D'Laney, and I headed to Iraan where we dropped D'Laney off. I had never, ever spent more than a few hours away from her, but it was time. I wasn't worried about D'Laney, she'll do great, but I was worried about me. But it's been a couple days now, and I only cried once, and even that was because of that stupid (but great!) new Darius Rucker song. Yesterday, I got most of the rest of my christmas shopping done, Cameron helped me put the tree up, and today I'm going to finish decorating, wrap what I bought yesterday, and take a nap! Tomorrow I'll leave for Iraan as soon as Aubrey is picked up and get my baby! I do miss her like crazy, but my goodness, it's so nice to be able to get some stuff done without little helping hands. You'd think this post would be loaded with pictures from the very busy week, but my camera decided to suck this week. It won't hold a charge at all. I'm going to buy a new battery pack today, so hopefully that's all it needs, and I can get some pictures of the house all decked out. The second I walked in to this house for the first time I couldn't wait to decorate it for christmas, and it's been a lot of fun. I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!!!