CA Christmas

We are having an awesome Christmas vacation in Southern CA. It was a very hectic, but fun week! And these vacations always go by too quickly. The kids love spending time with grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. We have visited with some friends too. They got more than they will ever need in the gift department (so did Peter and I). And the tamales, oh the tamales. They are the best. We spent most of the week at my grandma's house, and a few nights at my sister's house. The kids LOOOOVE spending time with their cousins...we would have stayed there the whole week if they had their way!

I decided a slideshow would be the best way to see all the photos from the mayhem.

The cousins decided to go "caroling" one morning. Too cute:


And now Christmas is over and we head back to AZ tomorrow. It was a very special year....2010, here we come!

5

Today we celebrated our precious Alayna, who turned 5 years old. Oh, how we enjoy this little girl! She has been such an incredible addition to our family. Her smile can light up a room. On my worst days, she can make me laugh. It was nice to put aside a day to celebrate her life. So often over the past few years, she's gotten pushed to the wayward because one of her brothers requiring so much of us. But, she never complained or tried to get our attention with negative behavior. She just tried to include herself in everything--with Ezra's therapies, doctor appointments, feedings, or Jeremiah's teacher conferences, school activities, play dates with friends. But, now, she's her own little person. She has play dates and school activities of her own. And she embraces life with an enthusiasm and appreciation that we should possess ourselves. She is a pure delight.

We had her party this afternoon. With all of the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, not many people were able to join us, but we were so happy to have my parents, Peter's mother and brother, and a few friends over for some games and cake and ice cream. We played "Pin Alayna on the Castle" and Musical Mats. We took pictures galore! Peter's brother is a fantastic photographer and he brought a lot of his fancy equipment with him and took some great photos. Once he gets home to edit the photos, he'll send us a CD and we'll put together a slide show of the day. What a day it was!

For now, here are some photos the rest of us took.

Birthday Girl


Ready to Party


Games




CAKE




Presents!




Friends



HAPPY BIRTHDAY MISS ALAYNA! WE LOVE YOU!

Christmas--Two Weeks Early

Because Peter's Mom and brother were in town this weekend, and we won't see them over Christmas, we decided to have Christmas this morning so she could see the kids open their gifts. They were stoked, of course. Even Peter and I got to open a couple gifts. It was a fun morning, Christmas--two weeks early! Here are some photos:

Stockings




The Boy






The Girl






We will be in So Cal for Christmas...we're so excited! Peter will be home (he has to work), but will join us on the weekend after Christmas (since Sat and Sun are his days off). Happy Christmas!

Time For A New Tradition?

We ran short on cards this year, and didn't get to mail it out to everyone on "the list", so we thought we'd post it here. I am not even sure why we bother sending out cards anymore. Every year it seems like we spend SO much money on them. Not just the cards, but the stamps, and the waste of paper when most people just toss it, either into a box they will never look in again, or in the trash (or recycling bin, I hope). We went ahead and did a card this year, but I am thinking that starting next year, we might not do it anymore. We are in touch with most everyone via email, blogging, or Facebook. It makes much more sense to just post a blog/facebook greeting every year. We will save money, time, and trees! What do you think?

This year's card:


(Click on image for larger view.)

Thanksgiving

Another quiet Thanksgiving since, like last year, Peter had to work the swing shift. We had a Thanksgiving "lunch" and it was delicious, especially after a 3 1/2 day fast of rice and beans! (For more info on that, read my other blog.) Since it was just the four of us, I cooked turkey cutlets, mashed potatoes, green beans, cornbread stuffing with cranberry sauce and Hawaiian rolls from the store. I did buy a frozen pie, and Peter made homemade whipped cream. We took some photos and shared what we're thankful for, which is so much! We are blessed with an abundance of provision from God. We know that it is to Him that we owe our greatest gratitude for giving us mercy, grace, and redemption, of which we are so undeserving. We thank Him, for He is good and His love endures forever!

We asked the kids what they're thankful for and here are some of the answers we got:

Mom and Dad (J)

Buddy (A)

God and Jesus (J)

Ezra (A)

Beans and Rice (J)

Pillow (A)

Friends (both)

Bike (J)

Video games (J)

My teacher (both)

Arizona (J)

There were more, but it got pretty silly.

We only got 2 usable photos from our little session this morning. And some candid ones during our afternoon walk.

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! God bless you today and always!

Blogworthy

I was studying for my Biology test when I did the usual 9 o' clock rounds to turn off radios and pray quietly over each child, as I do every night. And I happened upon this:



Mind you, he does have a perfectly adequate bed with a comfy mattress to sleep on. But, this is how he sleeps half the time. Sometimes Peter transfers him to the bed and sometimes he doesn't. In this case he will since J is halfway into the hallway. The other night he fell asleep in the hallway, probably because he had snuck out of his room to eavesdrop on our conversation (we were talking about the kids' upcoming birthdays and how we wanted to celebrate them). Naughty boy.

He also got a hair cut recently:


That's our Jeremiah--what a character!

Visit with Grandma and Grandpa B

This past weekend, my parents came for a visit. We love having them here! It was a great weekend. Of course, there was Halloween, and then, on Sunday, we did some Wii stuff, went miniature golfing, went out to lunch, and worked on a puzzle. The kids always have so much fun when family comes to visit. And its always so sad when they leave. But they will be back in 6 short weeks for Alayna's 5th birthday party!

Bummed that I didn't take a photo of the just the kids with my parents, but we did get these fun shots:

Happy Halloween!

We had a great Halloween! Grandma and Grandpa B are here visiting and that made it so much more special for the kiddos. We bought a pumpkin to carve with Grandpa, the artist, who would have designed something cool, but the kids didn't seem interested. So, we wound up playing Wii Fit Plus all afternoon before trick or treating. First, we went to the 'trunk or treat' at the elementary school and then up a few streets in the neighborhood before heading home (and stopping at every lit house along the way). The kids got a TON of candy. I will probably end up eating it all though!

We had our Superboy and Supergirl, who looked adorable in their costumes. Peter and I thought it would be fun to dress up this year, so we put together cowboy outfits with help from Craigslist and the Goodwill. We got to go to a nonkid-related party for the first time in 8 years! We had so much fun!

It was a fantastic Halloween!


(The pictures came out grainy because our camera battery was pretty much dead and that's what happens...oh well)

Visit with Grandma

Peter's Mom paid us a visit this past week while the kids were on Fall break. What a fantastic time we had with her. Peter, Mom, and the kids went to a farm and corn maze out in Queen Creek (I had to stay home and work on homework). There was a lot of stuff to do there, and the weather was still pleasant the day they went. Mom F took each of the kids out for special "alone-time with Grandma" trips. Friday, she took Jeremiah to see 'Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs' and out to lunch. They went to Country Buffet and Jeremiah gorged himself on a LOT of food. Grandma had to cut him off at one point. On Saturday, it was Alayna's turn. Grandma took her to the AZ Museum for Youth and out to lunch as well. The kids love spending this kind of quality time with Grandma. Of course, because the weather really heated up over the weekend, there was some swimming. The climax of the visit was a trip to Canyon Lake yesterday morning/afternoon. It was hot, 90 by 11am. We rented a motorboat and cruised the lake for an hour. It was awesome. A nice, cool breeze, and lots to see. We had so much fun! Then, we went to Goldfield Mine (ghost town in Apache Junction) and had a picnic lunch. We got home in time for a quick afternoon swim. We had such a great visit with Grandma. We are so blessed to have such a wonderful and supportive and loving extended family!!! We wish we could see them more, but we are thankful we have the opportunity to see them as often as we do!

Fun on the Farm











Canyon Lake

Pumpkin Patch 2009

We are loving the Fall weather and had an awesome opportunity today to go to Mother Nature's Farm and Pumpkin Patch. We got a group rate going on a "play date" with the MOMS group that I am apart of at church. A HUGE group of us went and we all had a blast. Hay ride, maze, playhouse, bounce house, farm animals, and pumpkins galore. We spent a couple hours there this morning and took a few photos. Its hard to get these kids to "pose". Jeremiah never wants to look at the camera and Alayna is a wiggly worm. But, we do our best. We're still waiting for it to get cooler (its going to be 98/99 this weekend), but we've had a beautiful couple of weeks. Fall is here and its my favorite time of year!