Life with captions...

BOARD GAMES 

WINTER SPORTS 

READING GALORE 

OUTSIDE WHEN WE CAN 

JUICE CLEANSING.... OR AT LEAST DADDY MADE IT THE FULL CLEANSE 

COPS 

THE DAY KEVIN DECIDED TO SNEAK TWO MELATONINS... 

GHANGSTA CAR SELFIES IN THE SWAGGERWAGON

SNOW MUCH FUN DAYS 

CAR SHOW 

LOTS OF SNUGGLES 

MOM IM STUCK,,,,

Jakes 7th Bday

Jake decided he wanted a football party. So, we decided to have small neighborhood party. The neighborhood crew invited their dads and it was a man fest over here. Jake loved every minute!  I love how Jake chose the theme and it completely portrayed his personality: simple, fun and football. 

And then he turned seven...

My oldest baby is seven. I don't really know how to feel about this... It's like I blinked and all of a sudden I have a boy in front of me who is really big! He will always be my very first baby. The nice thing about being the first born is that even though you end up having to,"share mommy and daddy," you get to experience everything for the first time together. We had our first feelings, bottles, cry it out sessions, crawling, walking and talking moments together. We learned what tantrums were and how toddlers act. Now, we are seeing a boy who can read books, do homework by himself, take showers, write thoughtful notes, make phone calls, pray to God, teach his brothers... All for the first time. It is very special and for me it never gets dull. Our biggest is continuing to be big. It breaks my heart and gives me butterflies in my stomach to think of just how old you really are.  At the same time, it makes my heart melt and swell with pride at the boy you have become. 

Here is a wee taste of our boy at seven years old:

- You still maintain a slightly gullible, but mostly innocenct way that I hope you never lose.

- Your love for sports continues to grow as you now can watch a game the whole way through and have somehow managed to learn all of the rules and players names. Daddy loves it!

- Although, you are a fair weather fan and,"your team," does seem to change depending on who's winning....hehe

- You love board games. Although between school and activities we have less time to sit and play... So we make time.

- You like reading at night and I often come in your room the next morning to find a large stack of books all over the floor. 

- As far as clothing goes, you would wear,"sports gear," every day all day. So, we have an arrangement that Sundays, I get to dress you! 

- You are becoming more responsible and helpful around the house. You're not the biggest fan of chores, but you are motivated by money and rewards. So, we are working on helping you understand the meaning behind hard work and helping you see it's more than short lived rewards.

- You also love video games. So much so that we have to put limits on it. Your favorite games are football games and minecraft.

- You have become a great eater and are much more willing to try new foods. 

- You're fun to be around and truly enjoy life. I love that about you!

- I think you are one of the friendliest kids in the world. You befriend and have fun with anyone.

- You love school. Especially gym, art and reading. 

- You love church and youth group (FUSE) and often pray for others who may need it. Makes me so proud. 

- Your mind never shuts off. At all times you are either talking to someone or yourself, running a football play accross the family room (literally) jumping around and laughing about something your thinking about, You my boy are a thinker and sometimes quite a bit of a dreamer. I hope you learn to channel this ability for the good because I think it is amazing. 

- Words to describe you right now would be: sporty, fun, energetic, likable, outgoing, sensitive, dreamy 

- Favorite color: green

- Favorite foods: cheeseburger, fruit, tacos

- My prediction for your profession: Pastor or Engineer

- Dads Prediction for your profession: Something in sales 

FIRST BIRTHDAY PARTY

FIRST DAY OF MOMMY AND ME CLASS (18M)

SECOND BIRTHDAY PARTY 

THREE YEARS OLD 

KINDERGARTEN GRADUATION 

LAST WEEK, ME AND MY SWEET BOY. SEVEN YEARS OLD. 

A New Year it is!!!

This year, we spent New Year's Eve with our church community group. This is a group of people we get together with every Sunday night and try and, "do life," together. We read books on marriage and parenting, watch video series among other things. All trying to learn how to live a christian life in the world today, maintain solid marriages and be intentional parents. Doing life with these people the past two years has changed my life at our church dramatically. I feel like I have a second home now and a group of people looking out for us, praying for us and having fun together! These people help us stay accountable, grow personally and as a family and we have built a trust and bond that to me is priceless. We may or may not not see each other in between Sundays,but we are there for each other, I'm thrilled that my kids are getting to witness what a community feels like. They see us set aside time for family and make it a priority. They are watching us desire to know God more, work on our marriage and learn more about how to be the parents we need to be for our kids. I think that is incredibly powerful. I'm thankful for these people (not all could be present that night) and look forward to beginning a new year supporting each other and having more fun!! 

Christmas Time Fun

I truly can't believe Christmas is already over! It is my favorite time of the year by far. This year we continued traditions, started some new ones, spent time with family and missed loved ones who are afar. It was also a bittersweet season for us as a few of our dearly loved family members are ill. We started the season off by decorating the day after thanksgiving as we have in the past. It's my favorite day! I have two favorite traditions at Christmas time. One of my favorite tradition we do throughout the month of December is the Jesse Tree. Adding a different ornament to our Jesse Tree and reading a small of part of the true christmas story each day. My second favorite is the live nativity we participate in with our Chruch. Our church has created an amazing live nativity that people come through. There are twelve or so scenes requiring 200 people to make it all run. Last year 20,000 people went through. What an awesome way to share the true meaning of Christmas and teach my children to give of their time, energy and heart! We love it. Last year we did one night, this year we did two nights. I hope to continue this trend as long as it is running. Jake participated with us in the scenes and had so much fun. We also went through on another night so the boys could see it in full. 

I also love a new tradition we started which was a stack of twenty five books that were wrapped. Each night, the boys took turns opening them and we got to read a new story each night. As we got closer to Christmas... they became more focused on Christmas, ending with,"The night before Christmas." 

Christmas Eve was extra special for me this year as our Pastor asked me to read the Christmas story at one of the services. I was truly honored and a little nervous. I was excited for my children to be able to see me read it and continue to show them the reason for the season. Having some family there to watch me, helped my nerves a bit too. It was a lot of fun and the children were great. We also saw Mommel as well as Poppel and sally. Sally made us an Arizona Christmas Eve which was soo tasty!

Christmas morning is always fun with kids. We wrap the hallways with wrapping paper and the boys bust through it. Santa came and the boys were thrilled with their presents. I'm always grateful to see their hearts when they open presents. Will and Kev just love everything. They were excited and happy to play with everything right away. Jake was amazing and as always so animated and excited. His maturity was so cool to see. He said things like,"thank you so much for getting this for me!" Very cool. 

After we opened our gifts, we went down to Balitmore for the day and spent time with my side of the family. The boys had so much fun, Pop Pop and Gigi spoiled them and we had a nice family dinner together. We missed Nikki and Eko and the boys who spent christmas in Turkey this year. We also missed Thomas, Abby and Edie who spent Christmas in Altanta. Although thanks to FaceTime, we got to see everyone! The day after Christmas we visited Rick, Janet and Kim. We had dinner together and exchanged gifts. It was important for us to spend time with Kimmy and we feel lucky to be so close with her. I love that my boys have so many people whom they love. 

We also feel blessed to have found such an awesome church family. This is a picture from our community group's Christmas brunch. They have truly become such important people to us.