Christmas!

Quick version- Went to Dumas opened presents, mom got pneumonia, went to Amarillo-opened presents, came home -santa came, went to Odessa-opened more presents, sister got ENGAGED, Coen got sick. Came back to Lubbock-praise the LORD! Whew!
What a relief it is to be back home! Christmas time is crazy for our little family. We spend who like around 10 hours in the car traveling to see all our families. Dumas-home-Odessa-home...crazy!
Avry was very excited about Christmas this year. She kept asking to open more presents. She got a bean bag chair, lots of little people, a mini trampoline and an art easel, and a camera! She was a little bit freaked out by Santa leaving her toys on Christmas morning though. She couldn't figure out how they got there- I guess she is still too little for the magic part of Santa!
Coen managed to sleep through Christmas all 4 times we had it! He did roll over front to back sometime during the whole Christmas thing! He is getting so big-12lbs and almost 24in. long!
This year Greg and I have had 2 weeks off for the holidays. It has been so nice! We have slept in, laid around, ran errands and played with our kid's!
I hope everyone has been as blessed as we have this Christmas season!

Sick kid and Christmas Magic

I really should learn how to put pictures up on here! Maybe after Christmas when I hopefully have a new camera I will do that! For now you will just have to use your imagination! Coen is sick with double ear infections right now. Last night was a nightmare. Avry never had ear problems, so this whole ear thing is new to us. He is running fever, cranky, can't breath, and doesn't really care to eat either. Poor baby! Dr. Brodbeck gave us some good medicine this morning so hopefully we will be better soon! Avry got to stay home with Dad and Coen today too, she lucked out! We sent her to the sitter this morning with intentions of leaving her all day, but she left her "special blanky" at home. So, lucky her Daddy went and got her. That blanky, I tell ya, it is magic. You see they are a tradition in our family, my Mamaw started the tradition. I have yet to see a child that doesn't love their checked blanky! Avry snuggles with her's every night, nubby's (yarn strings) up, so she can wrap them between her fingers as she falls asleep. The other day, I caught Coen doing the same thing. Must be soothing.
One week from today we will be celebrating Christmas with my family, then Santa will be coming! Then it will be off to Odessa for more Christmas-with the McClellands! WOW! It is coming up on us so fast. We have been singing Happy Birthday to Baby Jesus for about a week now. It is so sweet to hear Avry singing the song! She also has been playing with her Little People Nativity Scene and we have been teaching her about baby Jesus being born. I think we might have to leave the Nativity Scene down year round, she loves it! Christmas is such a magical time of year. It is like God sprinkles magic happiness dust all over the world, the bad seems to be put on the backburner and all the good stuff just gleams!

Be Blessed

This blog thing is pretty fun. Its a great way to let out some thoughts and feelings and keep up with friends too! I have been thinking lately how blessed I am. I worked with a guy in my previous job, who was an associate pastor or something like that at this church. The church was called "Church of the Blessed." When you think about it, we are all so blessed, every church is a church of the blessed. He used to tell us all the time to "be blessed" God blesses us with so many miracles and daily things. So, with that being said here are the things that me (and my family) have been blessed with.
1. A strong christian man, parents and in-laws.
2. A beautiful little girl and a handsome little boy
2A....a sister, God had a plan for her to be in my life, it takes something special to find your best friend in a sister who is not even genetically related to you! Love you sis!
3. A roof over my head and a car to get me here and there
4. A job, that I love and a job that my husband loves.
5. The birth, burial and ressurection of Jesus to take all my sins away
6. Lower gas prices---ha ha
7. Friends!
so, my last thing that I am thankful I want to explain. When I started looking for a job, it was traumatizing to me to think about leaving my kids. I prayed about it alot! A whole lot!! Well finally I got in touch with a former boss of mine and found his wife was keeping kids. Let me tell you that next to the birth of Coen, our sitter has been the biggest blessing this year. She loves my kids like no one else ever could. Believe me, I know how stressfull it is to keep kids- and she does a wonderfull job of it. She is patient with them, cares about them and their needs and most of all I know that she is a christian woman!
As I go to sleep tonight, I know I have been blessed. I can only hope that I am as blessed next yr as I was this year! Nighty Night!

our first blog

Well first, I have to explain the McClelland 5, no there isn't another baby on the way! I am Sarah and I have been married to my fabulous husband Greg for 3 1/2 yrs. I grew up in the small town of Dumas. Greg grew up in Odessa and graduated from Permian High School. We started a family quickly. Ok- Avry was a bit of a suprise. It was more like a 3 months after we got married shock acually! Which brings me to our kids....We have 2 beautiful children. Avry, who was born July 10, 2006 - 4 wks early and our new addition is Coen who was born Aug. 18th, 2008 - 5 wks early. and the 3rd piece of the 5 is our fabulous dog Zoe! We have been so blessed by each other and our children. Avry and Coen both were really hard pregnancies. God showe us many blessings during both of my pregnancies.

Lets see-- about me--I just went back to work after staying home for 2 yrs. I have a degree in Human Development from Texas Tech. I however, probably wont' ever use it. My boss says "sometimes a degree is just that- a degree." I am currently an administrative assistant to the Vice Provost for Financial Planning at Tech. ( sounds fancy huh!) I love my job! I also love scrapbooking, sewing and keeping up with my family

Greg is an IT dude at TIEHH, he loves his job! It is super good for him, He also is a video game player (kinda makes me crazy), and loves to play with Zoe and I would imagine he would say he likes football too!

Well, I guess that is a good basic start for a blog! More to come!