The Nutcracker

Ally Beth's favorite Christmas tradition is our annual trip to see the Nutcracker. This year, we stayed local and went to the Killeen's Vives Les Artes. They did a great little production.

This year was very special because not only did Grammy go with us (which she does every year), this year Grandma (Tony's mom) and Aunt Jenny (Tony's sister) and Ally Beth's girl cousins, Emily and Erin, came too!

Beforehand, the 2 grandmas, the 2 mommas and the 3 girls met up for a girls dinner at Olive Garden. It was so fun to get all dressed up and hang out together!

Here are Erin, Ally Beth and Emily looking at the Olive Garden menu:

The gals: Top Row: my mom (aka Grammy), me, Linda (Tony's mom, aka Grandma) and Jenny (Tony's sister). The girls: Emily, Ally Beth and Erin

The biggest treat came yesterday when the girls put on a full scale production of their very own version of the Nutcracker, complete with costumes and props. It was amazingly creative and so much fun to watch! Gotta love cousin Christmas fun!

The Best Christmas Pageant EVER!

This year, the cousins cooked up a little plan to present Tony's family with a Live Nativity. The newest cousin, Aiden, is only 2 weeks old, so he was the perfect baby Jesus. Emily was Mary, Blane was Joseph, Ally Beth was Gabriel (with hot pink fairy wings that Aunt April and Uncle Joel had given her for Christmas), Andrew and Nathan were shepherds, and Caleb and J.T. were sheep. Oh, Uncle Joe doubled as Mary's donkey and later a wiseman. Doug and Tony joined Joe to round out the Three Kings...

The kids got to play their Christmas piano pieces and the older ones recited the Christmas story from Luke 2 at intervals as the story unfolded.

It was such an amazing time of wonder and awe. It was a precious memory that NONE of the Busti Bunch will ever forget...it was the best Christmas Pageant EVER! The stage is Grandma's living room...

But first, backstage (the room beside the living room), here are the cousins, hamming it up!

Here is one sheep and the shepherds (from left: John Thomas, Andrew & Nathan)

Here's Mary, climbing off her "donkey" (aka Uncle Joe):

Joseph, Mary & baby Jesus (who is in the bouncy seat in an adorable khaki reindeer suit!)

The angels announcing the news to the shepherds:

Nathan the shepherd comes to worship the baby Jesus:

The wise men come to worship:

The finale: a Jingle Bells singalong:

Jesus...the Reason for the Season...the Reason for LIFE!

Andy & Casey

We got to spend some great time this Christmas break with Tony's brother, Andy, and his girlfriend, Casey. We don't get to see them often enough, so when they come to town, we love hanging with them! They are both amazing artists and have been so helpful to me as I've ventured out into this photography hobby. I am so thankful for all of their help and encouragement along the way! Here is what I squeaked out during our fun, hilarious, almost-peed-in-my-pants-one-hundred-times photo shoot:

JUMP!!!

Here's where the laughs hit pretty hard...some poses just don't go as planned! But, I must say that I crack up when I see this picture! I guess it's just one of those "you had to be there" moments.

Thanks for all the help and laughs, guys! We love and miss y'all already!!!

Aiden Rush is here!

Aiden made his arrival on December 11th. He is a tiny little thing! Daddy, Mommy and he are adjusting well. It is amazing to see Joe Busti as a father! Here are some of Aiden's newborn pics that we snapped yesterday...

To see more of Aiden, check out his web page here.

Hope for a New Year...

These words spoke so very deeply to me about this upcoming change of year...my resolutions will fall flat unless they are His resolutions for my life, accomplished by the power of His Spirit working in me. This post is from Ann Voskamp of A Holy Experience. Here are her words on the New Year that spoke so deeply to me.

A Fear of Being Too Happy?

This quote reminds me of my study this year on loving God with all your mind...

"Those who are wholly God's are always happy...Happy are they who give themselves to God...Happy are they who throw themselves with bowed head and closed eyes into the arms of the "Father of mercies" and the "God of all consolation"....Those who are God's are always glad, when they are not divided, because they only want what God wants and want to do for him all that he wishes....The more one loves God, the more one is content...What folly to fear to be too entirely God's! It is to fear to be too happy."

-Francois Fenelon

The Primary Purpose of a Home

"The primary purpose of a home is to reflect and to distribute the love of Christ...Anything that usurps that is idolatrous."

-Ravi Zacharias

Reindeer?!

As we were leaving Jess and Drew's log cabin, which is cozily tucked away at the back of an exotic animal ranch (oh the perks of being a game warden!), the weather was dreary and foggy. The zebras were in the middle of the road. They courteously moved aside as we came up on them and I just had to snap a picture...

Then, further up, we came upon a large herd of elk. The kids began yelling, "Mommy, look at the reindeer!!!" They know full well there are lots of elk at the Alexander's house, but in the Christmas spirit, they insisted that they were reindeer!

I guess it's not very often that Texas kids get to see reindeer!

Waiting on Abigail

I can hardly believe that one of my dearest friends, my "little sister," is about to give birth to her firstborn! Jessica, can you believe we're all grown up now?

Drew and Jess are just days away from little Abigail's arrival! We can't wait!!! We had such fun designing the nursery and so many people helped it come together. To see her finished nursery, click here. (You can click on each picture to see an enlarged version).

Here are some pics of Jessica's belly that I took today...

I promise after this I will not use my hand and let it heal! But, maternity pics can't wait 6 weeks for a healed up hand! Abigail will come before then!

Now, I'll go put my sling on like a good girl :-(

A new Busti is expected soon!

And, no...we are not pregnant!

Tony's youngest brother, Joe, is about to become a father for the first time! Aiden Rush is expected very soon. We can't wait to see that little guy!

So, I had to grab some pics of Sara's cute little belly before Aiden arrives. Here are some of my favs...

Check out more sara-belly pics at www.aidenrush.shutterfly.com

Like Father, Like Son...

Payne-ful Christmas

Here are some more Christmas shots I captured last week after Thanksgiving...these are of my parents (the Paynes) and their grands...

First Christmas

The Christmas season is in full swing! Wahoo! Hope you all had a blessed Thanksgiving...

Thought I'd start off the Yuletide season with some Christmas pics I took of my niece, Bethany...this is her first Christmas!

Padwan Learner

Okay, this post is for all you Star Wars junkies out there...well, really the moms of boys who are the Star Wars junkies (Tonya, did you hear that???)

Master Jedi Blane has taken on a padwan learner as his apprentice. Padwan Caleb is showing promising signs of a future that will involve the use of light sabers (or so says his master!) Master Blane says Padwan Caleb's meta-chlorines are higher than even young Anakin Skywalker's were (reverent ooohs and aaahs...)

May I just stop right here and say that at times, I wanna slap myself for ever thinking that letting them watch Star Wars was a good idea...Do you feel that way, too, Tonya?

I must say, though, that I do enjoy watching my boys tear out the back door together to go out and defeat the evil forces trying to invade our "starship" (aka, our house). I pray that they will always be close buddies. I pray that Blane continues to show Caleb how to fight evil. I pray that they will work together take on the forces of Satan and gain victory for our Lord and His Kingdom.

Fight on, boys!

Caleb Cam: Outside Play

Caleb chewing on some dried fruit as he played...

For those of you concerned that Blane and Ally Beth don't get devoted "cam" entries, I must explain...

Since birth, I have taken thousands upon thousands of pictures of them and they generally avoid the camera...

Caleb is not yet "traumatized" by mommy's photography addiction, plus he is the one growing the fastest, so... he gets the "cam" entries (plus he's cuter than they are...JUST KIDDING...kind of)

Caleb LOVES swords, even if they're as big as he is. He walks around all over the place hauling a sword pretty much all day. Gotta love those weapon-totin' almost 18 month-old boys!