Big MaMa's Cinnamon Rolls!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On Friday, Greg, the kids, and I had some time alone while Granny and Papa had some errands to get done for Christmas so we headed to Crown Center in downtown K.C.  That is where we had the BEST and BIGGEST cinnamon roll in the world!  I have been asked many times what my favorite food is and I have never been able to pinpoint just one thing.  But after MUCH thought I have decided the cinnamon roll is my favorite food. 

 It is carbs, it is sugar, it is gooey, it is yummy and I crave it at odd times.  

I think it's my favorite food...it's still hard for me to pick just one thing because I am a girl of "many" favorites but for now, at least at this point in my life, it is Big Mama's cinnamon rolls in Kansas City.  You should try it sometime....you won't be disappointed:)

yes it fills the ENTIRE pan!  Amazing!!

Ready to dive in!  Wait for me!!!!:)
We couldn't finish it....well we could have but we stopped ourselves,  we like to be healthy;)

Christmas Eve

Merry Christmas Eve!  We just had a wonderful night of worship, food, family and gifts!  AS my sweet niece Eden would say, "It was the best Christmas I ever had!"  Nicely put Eden:)

The kids went to bed EAGERLY and can't wait for the morning...guess Greg and I better get to work huh?

Eden (brother's daughter) in her new PJ's and her new Webkin that we got her for Christmas.  Abby picked it out for her and Abby also got the same one for Christmas.  She was VERY excited that Eden would have a matching one to her.  Abby loves her ONLY girl cousin:)

Abby painted this for Aunt Christi.  Isn't it awesome?  Abby continues to  amazing me!  So talented!

New journal from Granny and Papa!  She loves to write and doodle:)

Rob and Christi

Trevin--looking so much like my sister here:)

Doesn't Abby look beautiful here!  

Abby and Reese got iPods!  They were ECSTATIC!
They have already loaded the up with music and are dancing around the house:)

The whole family together at the Christmas Eve service...we took up a whole row:)

Chiefs Game!

Greg, Reese, Trevin and Rob (my sister's son and Fiance:)  went to the Chiefs/Raiders game today!  I did not go but what I gathered was that it was COLD and they lost:/ 

Well I'm glad they got to go anyway....good bonding time. 

Reese LOVES football right now so this was a big treat for him.  It was also great for Greg to get to know my sister's fiance, Rob.  He's a great guy and we are very excited for them to get married in June.  He will fit into the family just nicely:)

Trevin and Reese outside the stadium

and again:)  Cool guys...ha!

Reese, Trevin and Rob....cold:)  I think it about maybe 40 degrees out:/  Gotta love football in KC:)

Drive to K.C.

Yesterday the kids and I drove to KC.  Greg had to stay back and work so we headed on and tried to beat the storms.  We noticed on the radar that in Wichita, KS there would be snow/ice mix, blizzard conditions so I avoided I-35.   We headed through Tulsa instead and look what greeted us there!

I have NEVER seem storm clouds like this before.  It was so weird.  I felt like I was driving in a tunnel.  To our left there were black clouds and to the right white clouds then the black clouds consumed us...it was awesome!  

We also saw a double rainbow!  I got it the best I could with my phone!  So cool!

We got here safely...left about 7am and pulled into my parents neighborhood at 4pm!  Great time!

The kids told my parents that Mom doesn't let us stop...ha!  There is a little truth in that.  We did stop 4 times but only for a potty break, a snack, a stretch and then we were off:)

They love travelling with me....they just don't know it yet:) haha!

You can see the rainbow on the left side there...sky was so black!  weird.
Oh and we were able to out run the bad part of the storm.  We only had a little rain and besides that we were all sun and blue skies:)
Greg said 30 minutes behind me was a different story so I just kept truckin'!!!!
No food for us:)  ha!

sorry the reflection is bad but you can see it.

yikes!

Flag Football Over:(

Last game was on Saturday:( So sad!  This was a nice change for the Stamps.  It is always baseball and football was refreshing:)

Reese had a BLAST and we are not sure he will ever play baseball again. We will see when spring comes!

Way to go Hawk-eyes!  Great season!!!

Christmas a few days early...

Since we were going to KC for Christmas we decided to have Christmas at our house about a week early:)  We can do this for two reasons:
1.  We have never done a big push for Santa...sorry Santa:)  We decided when the kids were babies that we didn't want Santa to be the one that got to give all the cool gifts...that's crazy!  We wanted to give the gifts and Santa could just fill the stockings with tinker toys:)  And this plan has worked out just nicely... especially since we don't spend every Christmas at home so we don't have to "explain" aka "lie" to our kids about some silly old man that brings gifts through a chimney wherever we are....sorry I may seem bah-humbug and I hope to not step on any toes- cause of course you can do whatever you want with your kiddos;)  This just works for us.
 Don't get me wrong I do love Christmas---AS Jesus' birthday and I DO tell the kids about Him;) He travels easily and doesn't have to fit down a chimney:)  haha!
2.  And our kids are kinda on the fence about Santa anyway since they figured out that I am the tooth-fairy they have been asking questions-- oops:)  So we didn't have to do too much explaining except bring the stocking things with us to KC.


We opened Friday night so the kids had some time to play with their new toys.  Reese's big gift was an electric scooter and Abby got legos and a 3-D puzzle to put together--so they needed some time to do those.  Her big gift was 20 art lessons to a real art studio in Southlake.  She has been wanting to do something more challenging so we found a real instructor that does small classes and teaches technique and art history.  She is VERY excited!
Greg and I got some good stuff too!  Greg got mostly clothes from me.  Some new shoes and a few new shirts and such --oh and soap:)
 No he doesn't stink.
 He always brings home the sample soap from the Palomar in DC and he LOVES it so I bought him the REAL thing-ha!
 I got...well...I like to call it a "kitchen" Christmas;)  Greg got me a food processor (to make Pesto Pasta and such:) and a salad spinner--yes, I have been wanting these...thank you honey:)
I also got clothes and I think he only did that to redeem himself just in case I was upset about the kitchen stuff:)  I wasn't so he was in the clear:)
We then finished the night off with White Christmas and hot chocolate...oh and we had Mexican for dinner--what else would you have for Christmas dinner?:)
I love my sweet little family...Merry Christmas guys!
Kansas City here we come!

Reese in his new hat and shirt

Let's do this!

W.O.W!  Lots of gifts!  (not all ours:)

the pass out frenzy!

new blue electric scooter!

oh the love!  Thanking each other for their gifts.
Reese gave Abby chocolate and a tiny teddy bear she had been wanting
Abby got Reese the movie Cats and Dogs

Musical Theater Class Recital

Thursday night Abby had her last musical theater class.  Sadly, it wasn't what we thought it would be so Abby was happy to see it end:(  She had perseverance though and stayed with it to the end, which pleased us---as if we were gonna let her quit;)

She did learn alot of fun games and seemed to get more confident in front of people.  She "seemed" to be having lots of fun and I even got to go and play a game with her during the recital.  I was pretty terrible and didn't have the right clothing on to really get into it but tried my best! ha!

Well I got a video of her performing the song Let's go Fly a Kite so enjoy!

Good job Abby! 

Getting ready to perform!

Reese and the cousins wrestling while watching:)

the class

silly theater games

me trying to do a good job:/

City View Church

http://www.cityviewchurch.net/

Times are a changing in the Stamps house!  It has been a long, hard yet exciting journey but we have finally decided that we are joining a new church plant here in Texas!  I have put the churches website above because they do a pretty good job of painting a picture of what they are all about.
It's good stuff...good God stuff:)

Anyways here's the story:  (in short....very short:)

Greg and I are so excited for this next chapter in our lives!
We are beginning to explore the possibility of planting a church one day ourselves!!!
Wow, that's is so crazy to type out:/  Now it's in black in white...now it's real! :)

 To make a long story short we have always had a heart for this but not until recently (over the last year) have we really felt a pull, a tug, an uncomfortable restlessness in our souls to JUST DO SOMETHING!

 Maintaining is just not our thing:)

This church we have decided to plug into is ALL about reproducing and training church planters so we believe we are in just the right place.  We, of course, have so many questions, uncertainties and a bit of anxiety about the whole thing BUT we feel such a peace, weird right?
No, not weird at all...we believe the Bible is our guide to the will of God.
He tells us what He desires in black and white and we just can't deny the fact that the Lord is a missionary God...a God or reproduction and movement and we want to GO with Him. We want to go with Him to the people, the people He loves and wants to gather to Himself.

 Like I said we are still uncertain but are ready to learn and be equipped and who knows it could be that God just wanted us to be willing and ready and we will end up going another direction, but honestly right now all that doesn't matter!
What does matter to us is that we are poised and ready for where He takes us, whether it's Colorado (which we are always exploring;) or Uganda....we will go, we will plant wherever, we just want to be wise, ready and unattached to this world.
So, over the next few years, maybe more maybe less, there could be alot of changes in our family.
Let's do this!:)
*on a side note:
For those of you who know Todd Cook... the lead pastor of City View was in Todd's youth group (the church right before he came to us at FBC Raytown...was it Nolan Road?...anyways, crazy right????!!!
Such a small world!!!

City View Church

http://www.cityviewchurch.net/

Times are a changing in the Stamps house!  It has been a long, hard yet exciting journey but we have finally decided (2 months ago:) that we are joining a new church plant here in Texas!  I have put the churches website above because they do a pretty good job of painting a picture of what they are all about.
It's good stuff...good God stuff:)

Anyways here's the story:  (in short....very short:)

Greg and I are so excited for this next chapter in our lives!
We are beginning to explore the possibility of planting a church one day ourselves!!!
Wow, that's is so crazy to type out:/  Now it's in black in white...now it's real! :)

 To make a long story short we have always had a heart for the this but not until recently (about 2 years ago) have we really felt a pull, a tug, an uncomfortable restlessness in our souls to JUST DO SOMETHING!

 Maintaining is just not our thing:)

This church we have decided to plug into is ALL about reproducing and training church planters so we believe we are in just the right place.  We, of course, have so many questions, uncertainties and a bit of anxiety about the whole thing BUT we feel such a peace, weird right?
No, not weird at all...we believe the Bible is our guide to the will of God.  He tells us what He desires in black and white and we just can't deny the fact that the Lord is a missionary God...a God or reproduction and movement and we want to GO with Him. We want to go to Him to the people, the people He loves and wants to gather to Himself.

 Like I said we are still uncertain but are ready to learn and be equipped and who knows it could be that God just wanted us to be willing and really and we will end up going another direction but honestly right now all that doesn't matter!
What does matter to us is that we are poised and ready for where He takes us, whether it's Colorado (which we really are exploring) or Uganda....we will go, we will plant wherever, we just want to be wise, ready and unattached to this world.
So, over the next few years, maybe more maybe less, there could be alot of changes in our family.
We are ready!  Let's do this!

Reese has BRACES!

This morning I took Reese in to get his braces on!  He was kinda, not really, nervous but excited (that about covers his emotions:) to get them on.

It didn't take long because all he got on were the front 4 teeth and he will have to wear them until the other 2 front teeth come in.  ~he didn't have enough room for 2 teeth to come in so the braces and expander are making room.

I am glad (now:) I went through the whole braces saga because I know how it feels to have braces on and what makes it feel better...makes me think of how Jesus sympathies with our weakness in temptation because he was tempted in every way (Heb. 8-10)....sorry I've got BSF (aka the Bible:) on the brain.

Anyways we will see how he is after school...hopefully not to sore!  

I better have some mac and cheese and apple sauce ready:)

No pictures please!
Don't be deceived  he wanted me to blog him getting his braces on:)  He asked me to!

wide mouth frog:)

there ya go...still doesn't have his wire on but you can see how his teeth need to be brought back together and then those side teeth need to grow in.
Fun, Fun!:)

Happy Veteran's Day!

I don't know how I missed posting this last month?  BUT I didn't want to not do even if it was late:/

Abby's class at school did a Veterans Day program and it was so good!  They sang and at the end they had all the veterans come to the front and tell there name, what brand of military and war they served in.  Abby was thrilled to find out that Granny and Papa extended there trip by 3 days to be able to stay for her program.  When my Dad spoke and told the audience that he was Abby Stamp's Grandpa she was beaming (and turned bright red:)  I was VERY proud of Dad! He doesn't like to speak in public and he did so good...you never would have thought it:)

Thanks Mom and Dad for extending your trip, it meant the world to Abby!  And thank you Dad for serving in the Air Force.  I am sorry they way they treated you when you came back from Vietnam and if I could I would take all that pain away but since I can't just know we are very proud of you and love you more than words could express.   

Papa talking to the crowd...making Abby blush:)

Papa standing with all his fellow veterans

Abby singing away!

Look at all those Veterans---wow!  Such a sweet time of honoring them all!

I Pledge a Allegiance!

I Got Ran over by a Bison

Here's a story Reese wrote for his teacher the other day....very creative:)
One day I was practicing shooting my bow and arrow and then I saw a bison coming right in front of me so I ran fast but it caught up.
The End.

What happened when it caught up???? Oh no! What a cliff hanger:)

ICE!

Purty:)

My fleece babies:)

Ready to go in!

Impressive!

Huge!

I had to sit in the  ice outhouse....I would have made a funny face but there was a line of people staring at me:)

getting ready to go down the ice slide

Abby and Reese racing

Ice dragon!

Abby got a cookie as big as her face:)  Little did she know we were all sharing with her! ha!

Checking out the trains and Christmas decor:)

Burrrr!!!  It's cold:)
We had such a great day!  We got tickets a few months back to ICE at the Gaylord Texan.  It's just a bunch of ice carved into shapes...very impressive actually:)
We pulled out all the stops this year.  A few years back we were not so prepared and froze to death SO this year we broke out the ski gear...smart:)  Only our faces were cold but we felt like it would be a little much to wear face masks;)
After walking around the ICE display of Shrek we then walked around the Gaylord and saw all their Christmas decorations.....it is officially Christmas people!  I must admit I mourned a little today as I threw all my pumpkins away:(  NO I do not make pies out of my pumpkins, that's why they sell cans of pumpkin:)
It makes me sad to think I have to wait another year for Fall...I love the Fall. Christmas is cool and all but there's nothing like the Fall, nothing:)
Greg put up the Christmas lights on the house today and tomorrow we break out the Christmas tree...it's gonna look so pretty:)  Let the countdown to Christmas Day begin!