A Few Things Christmas Related...

I made my very first burlap wreath! I love it so much!

We had an ugly sweater Christmas party ;)

In our Christmas jammies...haha!

Christmas Day!

Tessa & I have been having fun playing piano duets together recently. Here's one that we played in December.

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Click here to see more pictures from this photo shoot.

A Christmas Tree Hunt

For the past several years we've gone out into the woods to cut down our own Christmas tree. You can go here and here to see pictures from previous years. There's just something about tromping through the woods and snow to find a tree, it's very festive and makes for good times and fun memories!

Thanksgiving '13

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I know I sure did! It was a wonderful times spent with family and friends. One of the special things about the day was that we got to use my great-grandma's china! I had so much fun setting it all up!

 

 

I wanted to take advantage of this Thanksgiving season to teach the kids what it means to be thankful. I made a thankful tree and we spent many afternoons coloring leaves, asking them what they were thankful for, writing it on the leaf, and letting them glue it on the tree. I also made up a little song about thankfulness and taught them "In every thing give thanks." It was a fun craft for the month of November, and a great way to teach the kids to be thankful!

 

 

Mia Familia

I love my family SO much and am thankful for the wonderful relationship we have. I know not every one has a great relationship with their family, so I definitely don't want to take what we have for granted. It's definitely because of the Lord! I am so BLESSED!

Whose Cupcake Is Best Of All?

Last year Maggie & I had a 'cupcake war,' and we decided that it would be fun to do it again! Nicki was in town for the weekend so she joined us in our fun! We had it at church after the evening service, and all of the adults that were there had the sweet job of being judges. :)

All ready to be judged!

Nicki made pumpkin cupcakes with a cinnamon drizzled whipped cream frosting. I made a lemon meringue cupcake. Maggie made a chai cupcake with cinnamon cream cheese frosting. They were all so yummy! Yet only one could be the winner!

  

And the winner?? ME!!! Woo hoo! I was so happy that I didn't lose two years in a row. haha 

Here they are up close...first, second, and third place!

We had so much fun with our little 'war' against each other! I'm already thinking about next year! :)

Fall + Family = Love

My brother, Josh, and his wife, Liz, recently came for a visit! We hadn't seen them since their wedding last summer, so it was wonderful getting to spend some time with them! While we were together we took the opportunity to have some family pictures taken. Here's a few of our favorites!

photo courtesy: uncle Brad ;)

Are you still there?

Wow, I feel like it's been forever since I last posted. I've had all sorts of blog post ideas swirling through my head, but just haven't sat down and done anything about it. Sooo...in an effort to end my unplanned blogging hiatus, let's play catch up, shall we?

::we had a mother/daughter banquet at church and had a wonderful time together!::

::a very dear friend and her boys came for a visit::

::and yet another dear friend!:

::the Lord blessed me with the opportunity to earn a little extra money making a wedding cake::

::this happened ;) ... you can read about it on Maggie's blog (Ok, I have to tell you the story behind this picture...I was sitting across from them and meant to SNEAK a picture, but turns out my flash was on!! I was caught! It was slightly embarrassing, but hilarious at the same time! So, they obliged and posed for me:) ::

::my dad and another man at church were licensed to preach!::

::quick trip to oregon to celebrate selma's high school graduation::

::lots of sunshine means lots of water fun::

::i found this turn table, raised grid scrabble board at the thrift store for 25 cents! i just love seeing how the Lord provides for not only our needs, but our wants too, no matter how small::

::celebrated father's day and recreated an old photo from '95::

::celebrated maggie's birthday::

::had a blast being a part of vbs again this year! i think we had 10 kids get saved!! PLUS, another saved in Sunday School last week! God is good!::

::we made it in the paper!::

::headed over to the west side for the annual waldron family reunion and got to spend some time with grandma::

::good times bowling with family and friends::

::held a backyard campout for our 4-6 grade sunday school class::

As you can see, a lot has been going on around here. It seems that once May/June hit it's been non-stop! Next week will bring even more fun as Maggie & I head off to camp with 6 girls. I'm really looking forward to spending time and connecting more with them, and am praying that God works in all of our lives. 

Mom

Sister Road Trip

Maggie & I recently went on a little road trip together. It was SO nice to be able to get away and enjoy time together. We stayed with our cousin and were able to spend some time with friends in the area too! It was such a great trip - girls-night-out at the park, game night, the zoo and science center, late nights talking about anything and everything, and of course lots of laughter! Apparently we were having too much fun at game night, because we didn't take one.single.picture. :( Oh well...next time!!

We thought it would be fun to put a little video together of some of the pictures and videos we did take! Enjoy!

Hello Monday {Birthday Blessings}

Hello breakfast in bed - lemon blueberry bread...yum!

Hello birthday wishes in just about every form of communication possible.

Hello friends and family that make this girl feel so blessed!

Hello SUNSHINE!!

Hello shadows while going for a walk.

Hello birthday dinner - bacon avocado burger, parmesan potato slices, frog eye salad (weird name, but delicious!)

Hello sweet family of mine. (We need to convince Josh and Liz to move here asap...miss them so much)

Hello wider hips birthday cake. Pound cake, coffee ice cream, whoppers, ganache, and whipped cream is a deadly combination!

Hello 26!

"Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah."

Psalm 68:19