So far...

I've wet my pants about 32 times on this trip with all the coughing. You gotta love a post pregnancy bladder. Just don't work like it used to!

We visited a town called "big tits". Okay, not really, but it's called Grosse Tete which is French for big tit! Only in Louisiana.

We've discovered that the Barbie Dream House should have actually been called The Barbie Playboy Mansion. Everyone is NAKED! And they're all in the tub together. Two girls and a guy. I think there's a name for that...

Ashton has given me a new nickname: Shamu! There's two things you never want to be called: "killer" and "whale". But being the good sport that I am, my response to her was, "Oh well, I guess that makes me the top predator in the ocean and you know what that means little Ashy-poo? I can gobble you up!"

Since when did Barbie clothes come with a cocktail? Okay, I already threw it away or else I would post a picture, but REALLY. It was a martini glass!

You know you're old when you get REALLY REALLY REALLY excited about opening a new iron on Christmas morning. Really excited!

You know you're getting old when you really don't care if there's anything for you at all under the tree but instead are just as excited about watching your children enjoy the experience.

It's been a great trip so far. We arrived in the Lone Star State yesterday evening. The girls were FABULOUS in the car. We had a lot of fun singing Christmas carols. We even changed our voices and sang like dogs, cats, donkeys, I sang like an old man, you get really creative when you're trying to occupy small children for 23 hours. Creative or crazy, not sure which. Cary has been sick the whole time, running fever that no drug seems to cure. So he's been kind of a grump o' rump (that's my new word) but other than that, things couldn't be going more smoothly. We stopped in Houston at 2nd Baptist Church for Christmas Eve services and played in the "snow" after the service. It's such a neat place. 45,000 members. Crazy huge! The pastor is the father of our pastor in Dallas. Ed Young Sr and Ed Young Jr, both remarkable in their own right and yet with totally different styles all their own. Their service was called "Christmas for all Ages" and afterwards they had snow machines outside and the kids got to play in the snow. It was a nice break from the car ride. Today has been very relaxing and wonderful. We're about to eat lasagna and SLEEP. Tomorrow, Cary and I leave for our getaway to the Texas Hill Country. Let's pray that we are both healthy by then. I normally like to stay home for Christmas, but this trip was exactly what I needed. I needed to get away from everything and be nurtured a little like only your mother can do!

Merry Christmas everyone! And remember the birth of our savior! Thank you Lord for coming down the stairsteps of Heaven to Earth with a baby in your arms...such a beautiful image of divinity becoming humanity.