OOPS!

I missed posting about Mike's Birthday. We celebrated Mike's 38th birthday on Dec. 18th. Mike- you are amazing! We love you so much. Thanks for being such an involved dad, loving us all so well and for always showing me grace! Happy Birthday!

Christmas 2010!

We had a wonderful Christmas this year with my parents in Houston. It was filled with fun firsts and lots of great memories. Some of my favorites:
1. The big kids got to go to the Nutcracker Ballet for the first time. Maddie loved it, and Brennan loved the first half (when the Nutcracker and the Rat Prince have a sword fight)
2. The kids went ice skating for the first time! And yes, I was very sore the next day!!!
3. My mom converted my old playroom under the stairs into a grand kid room. They spent a lot of time in the new fort! Most meals were enjoyed in the privacy of their new little space!
4. My mom and dad took the kids to buy gifts for and angel tree family and then they all got to go together to meet the family and deliver the gifts to them. It was sweet to see them find some joy in giving.
5. The kids and I discovered how to make dairy and soy free gingerbread men :), and then we ate our weight in cookies!
6. Maddie stayed up for her fist ever New Year's Eve party. (New Year's is so incredible when you are at a Bridges Conference! The party starts with a talent show- pianist from China, dances from India, songs from Africa, comedic acts from China, harpist from America guitar players from Lebanon...and the list goes on. Truly a unique experience! Then, you get to ring in the new year with people from 48 different nations! Amazing!) I was glad Maddie got to experience it with us this year.
7. We were able to have a quick visit with our cousins from Florida who were in TX for the holidays. Bill and Lynsay are amazing, Godly people, and we count it a privilege every time we get a chance to spend time with them.
8. We got to go to six flags in San Antonio as a family! So much fun!

Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!

Madison just turned 7! I can't believe it. Friday the 10th was her big day and she got to celebrate with friends at school and then with our family later in the day. She is such a treasure!!! I don't even have the words to express how precious she is. She is kind, hard working, loyal, organized, friendly, faithful, and just an all around joy for me to be around. She was actually sick this week and had to stay home from school for 2 days...and do you know I loved every second of it. I just love to spend time with my sweet girl! Here are a few pictures from her big day.

Thanksgiving

We celebrated Thanksgiving with Mike's family here in Austin this year. We went up to Jack and Suzy's house (Mike's Aunt and Uncle) on Thanksgiving day and enjoyed a low key day with a delicious meal and sweet fellowship with family. Maddie and Brennan brought us back to the first Thanksgiving by attending as a Pilgrim and and Indian!

OUCH!

Brennan and one little fire ant met each other Saturday night. His poor little hand. He was bit last year too, same finger...but this time his hand seems to have swollen up much more. Those are nasty little fellas.

A Reason to Give Thanks

Yesterday marked one year since Mike's precious mom Roz went to be with Jesus. As we reflect on her life and death we give thanks to the Lord for the hope we have in Him.
"Death has been swallowed up in victory." 1 Cor. 15:54

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." Romans 15:13

The Birthday Celebration

This year we gave the kids two options when it came to celebrating their birthdays. They could have one good friend go to dinner with them, or have a birthday party together. When I first told them the choices (last year after all of the parties) they were not happy. They of course wanted their own parties...so I told them they had a year to think about it, and if they didn't like any of the options then we would be happy to just have our normal family party and nothing more! :). As the fall rolled around they started to talk about it more and more. I reminded them of the options, and they had lots of conversations about it. In the end, they decided on a joint party (Brennan's 5th birthday and Madison's 7th), and I am so glad they did. God really blessed us with a beautiful day, a wonderful park, and a stress free fun day. We didn't plan any games or activities, we just had more of a 'mega play date'. I think the kids really enjoyed it, and I enjoyed not trying to pull off more events during the holiday season. I think I am going to really reap the benefits of having the party in early November now that the holiday season is here and we are not trying to plan another bday for Maddie. (of course we will do a family celebration on her actual birthday). So, here is a little look into our family birthday celebration:

Kids and sand just go together. I think it took a week to get all the sand out of Brennan's hair.







Brennan kept changing his mind about what type of cake he wanted. He decided on Iron Man, but after my attempt at and Iron Man cake for our family celebration failed miserably(it turned out looking more like Arthur the Aardvark), I talked him into Superman! Whew!







I don't know why, but Maddie's cake looks blue in all the pictures, but it was actually purple.

Some odds and ends

It has been a busy fall with a lot more travel than usual and lots of 'events'. But the sweetest moments are still the everyday ones. Here are some moments I want to remember from the last few weeks...

We have enjoyed wonderful time with sweet friends!


We have spent a lot of time with Superman.



There has been a lot-and I mean a lot- of lipstick



'The Twins' on their way to a dog show.(which was a very fun fist experience!)




A fabulous night with International Students on Lake Travis.




Maddie and I got creative with jewelry making- so fun!




Cuddling with Nana...




Regular visits from a little cowgirl.



And...a car for three? (thanks Jen)

Halloween

We had a fun filled weekend. Saturday night we had a party with International students. It is always so fun to celebrate with people who are experiencing Halloween for the first time. I thought I would go with an easy costume, but sadly, most people didn't know who I was...please tell me you know! Macy was cute as a button with her Raggedy Anne and Maddie and Brennan were Ariel and Iron Man (they were so busy running around I couldn't get a good picture of them)






Then on Sunday, we did it all over again! God has blessed us with some super fun new French neighbors. They had us over before trick or treating to make some fun crafts and yummy monster eyeballs! Then a big group of us went trick or treating. It was a beautiful evening and we had a big group of about 12 kids to try to keep up with. This time Brennan went with Iron Man again (a birthday gift) and the girls went as ballerinas.

Happy 5th Birthday Brennan!!!!

Wow! My baby boy is 5!



What a great and crazy weekend it has been. Having a birthday the same weekend as Halloween is no small thing. No one fell into a sugar coma, but this might be a week of detox!

On Friday morning Brennan got to celebrate his birthday at school, and have a Halloween party. So that was a great start to his birthday- seeing as how dressing up is one of his all time favorite things!



Brennan could not be any more wonderful! He makes my heart overflow. His imagination and fun loving spirit are such a blessing to our family. Here is a look at his big day...