I don't want to forget....

Yesterday we attended our church's 4pm service. It's geared toward families with small children. Our family definitely fits that category. Here's a picture of the stage full of kids while Keith read the Christmas story from Luke 2. 6 of the cousins were up there.  All the cousins wearing the outfits Mimi bought. So fun that they like dressing like each other. Not sure how many more years we'll be able to do this. I think AK and his cousin C almost look more brothers since they both have glasses now. :) Our family...not an easy feat to get all four to look. Christmas pajamas! AC came to me yesterday morning and reminded me that she wanted to go buy some Christmas presents. Sweet girl used her own money to do so. What a kind heart she has. She wrapped them last night and wrote a card for each person. I love her generous and giving heart! She's like her Daddy. :) Here's the card she wrote AK. :)

AC started taking violin in September. She is doing a fabulous job. Her teacher teaches the Suzuki method, which I wasn't familiar with, but so far it's a good match for my girl. She can play by ear and loves to learn new songs to play for her teacher. She had her first recital earlier this month. I am so proud of her for getting up in front of a room full of people and playing. She was nervous but did a good job for her first time! (Her recital made me so thankful that I don't have to do recitals anymore. STRESSFUL!!) AK had his preschool Christmas program last week. He had been singing some of the songs around the house and around town. I knew he was ready but the morning of, he said he wasn't going to do his program. I knew he was nervous. (He missed his church choir program b/c he said his ear was hurting him that night at dinner. He hadn't said anything all day about his ear, but suddenly it was going to be "embarrassing" and "distracting...

I posted this a week or so ago on my Facebook page. It was the first I had heard of this blog, but it resonated so strongly in my heart. Have you read it? Here are a few excerpts from their post, then please go read it. It will do your soul good! What if God says no? For anyone who has read or heard of our story, you know of our bold prayers to the Lord asking for healing and health over Alisa. We had an idea from sonograms of potential health problems she might have once born, including a hole in her heart and possible digestive issues. Since she hadn't received a prenatal  diagnosis  of Down Syndrome, but only screened positive, we also begged God that she might be born not just healthy, but without Down Syndrome at all. We loved Alisa no matter what, but as her parents, we longed for her to born with little or no health challenges as her young life began. And so, that morning I wrestled with the question that tumbled endlessly in my spirit as I considered ou...

Good gracious I love this little one! Even if she has been waking her mama up 2 times a night for the past week! I can hardly believe she's 10 months old. Each month really flies by. She is a delight to be around. She loves her family dearly and we all love her!  Sleeping: You were sleeping great! I'm not sure if you're working on a tooth or what, but you've been up around midnight and then again in the early morning hours (before mama needs to be awake). You take 2 really good naps each day (morning and afternoon) and are ready for bed by 7:30 pm. You love your sleep sack. First baby to use one! Eating: You are nursing about every 3 hours...sometimes a little longer. You eat one meal a day, usually dinner b/c it's just time consuming and messy. You do snack on gluten free puffs and coconut milk yogurt puffs. You've also tried to feed yourself cut up green beans and banana.  Teeth: Still just 7 teeth. I won't be surprised if your 8th one pops through ...

We are so blessed to have both sides of our families nearby. We had lunch with Keith's parents and brother's family and then went to my parents house for dinner.  We don't get to see our Katy cousins too often so my kids LOVE it when we get to spend time with them. AK loves being around other boys! EK loves her big boy cousins and gives out lots of smiles. :) EJ celebrated her first Thanksgiving with some gluten free puffs and pureed apples & blueberries.  Some playing in the living room after eating. EJ was so easy going, despite only a 30 minute nap. Proud of this little one. We got a picture with all seven cousins! Yeah! :) It was a full day spent with family! Lots of fun!

Last year I had a sweet friend (who's a great photographer) offer to take pictures of my kids. The high that day was 40 degrees and we only got some great pictures of AC. (Because she is a trooper and knew she'd get some peppermint hot chocolate.) This year I decided to take the pictures myself for several reasons. First, EK does best when it's just mama with the camera. Second, I could decide at the last minute based on the weather prediction and lastly, I have a good camera that I need to use more.  I asked my mom to meet us so I'd have an extra hand and it worked out pretty well. In about 20 minutes, we were done. My kids don't get better with practice. Either you get a winner in a short amount of time or you don't. Ha! It was interesting trying to get all four to look happy. I wasn't even trying to get everyone looking. Sometimes the candid pictures are much better! Tuesday afternoon Ms. Kendall came by to see the kids. We are so thankful for her. E...

Oh no!! We are getting dangerously close to turning 1 years old! It is crazy to think that she's been with us for more than 3/4 of a year. What a sweetie and drama queen EJ is! Food: You still love milk! Because I'm kind of lazy, you only eat one meal of baby food right now, usually dinnertime. You LOVE puffs! You're really good at using the pincer grasp to eat. I need to start introducing some other soft finger foods. Sleep: You take 2 good naps a day still and usually sleep a good chunk at night. You are worn out by 7:30 most nights and then sleep until 4am...sometimes later. The past couple nights have not been good, but that might be because of more teeth. Teeth: You have 4 on top and 2 on the bottom with the 3rd on bottom coming in.  Moving: You are army crawling everywhere and you're fast! You can find the tiniest piece of trash or get to something of AK's or AC's in just a few seconds. You can't sit yourself up yet and you're not pulling ...

Keith had a meeting in San Diego last week with some other pastors. We took the younger three kids and stayed a couple extra days.  We love San Diego: the weather,  the ocean, the food. It was the all three kids first time to fly. Obviously, the middle two did fine. EJ didn't stress me out too much. She didn't sleep much going out there, but did nap at least 30 minutes on the flight home. You don't realize how long a 3 hour flight can be until you have a baby to occupy. Ha!  We got to see some of my relatives. We also took the kids to the San Diego Zoo and Sea World.  I think they really liked both and they slept well each night after all the walking. :) EJ did pretty well, considering her naps were minimal or sometimes non-existent.  The last time Keith and I were at the zoo we had EK who was a little older than EJ. Crazy how time flies. It was really good to get away for several days.  EK spent the week with my parents at our house.  I know she mi...

One Keith's best friends, one he has had since college, came in town with his family this past week for our church's annual Bible conference. We had such a fun time together!  On Thursday we went to the Fort Worth Zoo.  They have four kids ranging from 14 to 8 years old. Their youngest is a few months older than AC. AC loved having more girls around.  :) Even though their oldest is 10 years older than AK, he thought it was great having another boy around. It was EJ'S first time to the zoo. She was a good baby. :) So very thankful for good friends!