Hello Peeps!

*I did not realize when I wanted to post pictures from Shutterfly to my blog that they would show up as they did. I wanted to write about the different pictures, but I guess I will tell you about them here in this post. :)

We had a wonderful Christmas this year! My Mom, Dad, Todd, and Matthew ALL spent Christmas Eve night with us. (Todd and Matthew are Jason's brother and nephew) It was a ton of fun!!!! We had several wonderful Christmas'. We started off Christmas Eve morning at Jason's grandparents,The Carlile's, for brunch. Then, we headed to Jason's mom and Ross' for lunch and presents. The kids got big presents that they had really wanted from Granny and Papa Ross. Jake was thrilled with his DSi. Jaelynn was super excited about her HUGE Barbie house. Jolie got a really cute princess carriage CD player with a microphone. She LOVES music and dancing!!! Then, the whole crew headed to our church for a terrific Christmas Eve service. Jason did not play the guitar this year. It was nice to worship side by side. After the service all our family came to our house and enjoyed time laughing, eating, and hanging out. We decorated our Happy Birthday Jesus cake and made reindeer food. We settled down for bed by reading the Birth of Jesus. The kids fell asleep quickly. Christmas morning we had to wake Matthew and Jolie up to see all the presents. Ross and Sue came over to join all the fun and enjoy our yummy breakfast that my Mom made. We have a tradition of sausage balls, blueberry muffins, pig in the blankets, and we added cinnamon rolls this year.  We sang Happy Birthday to Our Savior and thought about all the blessings we are so thankful for in our lives. That afternoon we went to Mom and Dad's house to celebrate some more. Jake got the Criss Cross race track that he had been begging for months to buy. He was SO excited. Jaelynn decided to get money this year instead of presents. She ended up buying a digital camera which she had been wanting for YEARS!!! :) Jolie had not stopped talking about the dancing Mickey Mouse. When she opened it she did NOT have the reaction we had hoped for. She played with all the rest of her toys instead. Later on she decided she did like Mickey and danced like we had hoped she would. The day after Christmas we went to Ross' mom, Ma's house. We always enjoy seeing cousins that we only see one time a year there. We ended up with two extra kids on the way home. :) The girls had a great time together. We are truly blessed with family! I love Christmas! All the family closeness and activities. Yes, it can be stressful trying to make sure we see everyone, but this year we seemed to glide through the season with no upsets.

Then, comes my birthday. Let me just say it was FANTASTIC!!! I got up that morning went on a walk. Came back to a table of presents. Opened new workout clothes, a Willow Tree angel, and a gift certificate to Academy(which helped buy my new Asics tennis). Then, we went on about our day cleaning, playing,etc. That night Jason and my family went to eat at Mercado's. Yum Yum! Then, we all went back to my parents to eat my strawberry cake and open presents. If you looked at the pictures in the last post you will see (close to the end) a picture of me laughing really hard and then hugging Jason. I opened his present last and it was a CRUISE!!!!! Yes, a C-R-U-I-S-E!!! We have never been on a cruise before and I am SUPER DUPER EXCITED!!!!!! When I looked at the date to leave it said January 27th. I about flipped out. That was a month away from then. Now, it is THIS WEEK!!! We leave Thursday and I am beyond excited. This is the first time we have been away since Jaelynn was a baby and she is 9! I will post pictures when we return. Until then Bon Voyage.......

Christmas2010 and My Birthday

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Christmas....

I have so many post that run through my head and never make it to the blog. So, I will start with this one and may work backwards later. Ha ha!

Christmas. What does it mean to you? Family? Presents? Jesus' Birthday? Santa?
I LOVE Christmas!!! I love the times that we are with our family. Last night we all snuggled by the fireplace, drank hot chocolate, and watched The Legend of the Candy Cane. You know in this day and time Christmas is SO materialistic and WAY over commercialized around toys and Santa. Yesterday we were doing a Christmas Glyph for school. The activity means each part of the picture represents something else. You answer questions and it tells you how to color the picture, what to add, which way to turn an object, etc...(more about this in a minute.) Jake and Jaelynn love Christmas just like any child. They make their Santa list, talk about the commercials, and what they want all the time. Jolie has even jumped on the bandwagon replying to every commercial with I WANT THAT TOO!!! BUT- when asked what Christmas is truly about they all pipe in that it is Jesus' Birthday. When asked why do we get presents they know it is to help celebrate Jesus' Birthday and the Wisemen brought Jesus presents too. Jaelynn knows all the truths about Christmas and expressed how hard it is to keep the Santa secret. She said do you know how hard it is NOT to tell the truth.  We have always had Santa come to our house and will until Jolie knows the secret too. As excited as we get about Santa-that really is NOT what our family is so focused on. It was apparent yesterday when we were doing the Glyph. Jake and Jaelynn both put their favorite thing about Christmas was spending time with family! Oh how that warms my heart!!!! I love that we can celebrate in all the different ways, but keep our focus on what is the most important this season. Jesus' Birthday and spending quality time with family. I hope you will take the time in this busy season to love on your family. Merry Christmas Friends!

My Word When Did Our Baby Get So Grown Up!!! 9!!!!!

***I started this post October 18th. Oops!****

Jaelynn got a BIG surprise for her birthday! She has always LOVED Chris Tomlin!!!!! Even went dressed as "Chrissy" Tomlin for Halloween one year. So, when a good friend called and told me he was coming to Tyler....we jumped on tickets. How more perfect could it get that it was on her birthday week!

We went with The Solberg's and had a great time!

Then, comes the Cowgirl Party!!! We took a few girls to see the movie Secretariat. IT WAS SO GOOD!!! Jaelynn loved it and had fun dressing up as a cowgirl at the movies. Then, we came back home and had a slumber party. I think I am getting too old to stay up late.

Jaelynn wanted Jolie to be a little cowgirl too!

Our Beautiful Cowgirl!

Thank you Lauree for a cute and YUMMY cake!!!!

 Mrs. Chelsea, Miss Kelly, and Miss Emily came and did a wonderful job dolling up the girls. The girls make up looked beautiful. It made me sad seeing what they will look like in just a few short years.

Sister Beauties! Kate and Tess look absolutely stunning!

                                                                      

Jake had to get in a little dancing too! Love the hat!



She has all her friends to play with and look who she still ends up goofing off with.



The Whole Crew

 Grandme and Poppa enjoy the craziness too!





Family Reunion

Oh, the family reunion is always so much fun! The kids never want to leave the farm. Here is some fun pictures that captured the excitement of the little time that we were there.

It is always fun to see the kids swinging on the swing. We used to swing in this same spot on a not so fancy swing. Our swing was a board with a newspaper rolled around it.

Poppa and Jolie rocking.

Jaelynn was locked in the chicken coop by some cousins. Hillbilly fun! Right?

Jolie turns 2!

We started off Jolie's Birthday morning with a not so wonderful surprise! We went to get her and her and her bed was covered!!! Poor baby had got sick sometime in the night and we never heard it in the monitor. So, our plans to go the zoo and meet Jason for lunch were postponed for another day. :( We just chilled at home and she acted fine all day. Jolie really wanted McDonald's for dinner and cake. We invited my parents and Sue (Ross was out of town) to come after Jaelynn's soccer practice. 

I am NO baker. I leave the cakes to my friend, Lauree. I had to make one for her actual birthday though.

She loved her monkey purse, monkey lipstick, and Belle phone.

Poppa and Grandme gave her cute shoes and clothes!

Granny brought some more cute clothes and a fun tricycle to ride!

 Jolie was really excited on Thursday when we went to the zoo. She HAD to carry her purse to the zoo, but look who was sweet enough to carry it for a little while. ;)

My Three Beauties

 These were her favorite animals that she could not stop talking about......

This was my first attempt of Wonder Under on clothes. She is really into princess right now and I love those initial shirts.

His shirt says it all...Superhero! Well, to us anyway. :)

Peek-A-Boo Beautiful!

Cutie Pie!

Getting Di-R-tYYYY!!!!!

Goodbye zoo! We had a wonderful and beautiful day celebrating Jolie's Birthday!