Merry Christmas to all our family and friends...

We now have many Christmas traditions in place with our kids. Baking is one of them. Our Christmas Eve is full of family fun. Mario and I cut out all our gingerbread men, women, and kids along with our sugar cookies the night before then on Christmas Eve we icing all of them with the kids. A lot of work but also fun. We also made Chex mix which was a big hit with Elise! Cherry flavored popcorn, pretzel rods drizzled in white chocolate, Franks in a blanket, and pizza rolls Emma's favorite. We just snack all day then go to Christmas Eve church service and finally the kids open some presents. I have learned to love to cook and bake in the kitchen with Mario and the kids, it's always a favorite part of our tradition!

Elise Claire turns 1!!!

These days having been flying by for me. When I looked at the calendar and realized it was Elise's 1st birthday it really hit me. So I have been trying my hardest just to let things set just a little bit longer so I can really enjoy all three of my kids. If you saw my house right now you'd be VERY shocked but I really wanted to take a moment and share some of these cute pics of her! She LOVES baby dolls. It's so cute because she'll pat her baby's head and give them kisses. She got a baby stroller for her birthday and I really recommend it. It's a great size for her and she can even lift it if it gets stuck and her babies slide in it very easy.

Elise has walked since a few days past 11 months and has never looked back! She wants so bad to be like Ethan and Emma! She can say the basics; momma, dadda, no, hi, meow(for our cat), wave hi, and bye, be-be(for bottle). BUT she loves to just gab. She makes sound effects for her toy(just like Ethan did and still does) she loves her barn and tractor. She also has a little car she can sit on that keeps her busy, it makes cool sounds. She is getting into books now and baby puzzles. She will point at birds outside and make sounds and then just start laughing! She has an AMAZING laugh. BUT she can also have a very bad temper!!! She doesn't want to give up the bottle for nothing! We are trying different sippy cups so we'll see! She is a daddy's girl for sure, when he comes home from work she gives him the tightest hugs and I can tell that it just makes his day. :)

1st day of Ballet.

Emma had a blast!

I look at the kids in these pictures and I get a little sad. It is not until I see my kids photographed that I really see how much they are all changing. They are all growing up so fast. Emma told me she wants to stop growing when she turns eight. Not sure why eight, but she is very aware of time and ages. She is always asking me how old she'll be when Elise is a certain age and then she'll ask how old I'll be. She tells me she wants to live in the pink house on our street when she gets big and that she'll come and visit me everyday. Ethan says he's never moving out of our house!:) I have been so busy lately. Homeschooling is more detailed this year. I like to get the lesson ready the night before along with cleaning house so we wake up to a clean house and just eat breakfast and get started. This year we homeschool from 9-12 then eat lunch with Mario and then from 1:00-3:00. We really don't break much. The kids are loving History, Science, Math, and Geography. I am very happy with our curriculum this year too. We also do Abeka for Phonics, Spelling, and Language. So it makes for a busy week. Emma started Ballet this week. We don't do the what I call Britney Spears-ish dancing Emma takes traditional ballet. She loves to go and I thinks it is good for her to spread her wings a little. Last year when I would drop her off at her class she would always look back and give me a hug and kiss and tell me she loved me. I wondered if she had out grown this so I tried to prepare myself because I found I looked forward to it last year. So today when I said I would see her soon she walked into her room and didn't look back. Ethan must have noticed my eyes get a little watery because he immediately grabbed my hand and said, "Come on momma I want to read to you in the van." But as we were walking out she came back and grabbed my hand and said, "I almost forgot" hugged me and then said those sweet words, "I love you Mommy" then ran back into her room. I am very aware that there will be a time when she won't say it anymore so I was very relieved to hear it. I still remember when my own mom used to hold my hand and I remember saying to her one day when she went to grab my hand that I was too big to need to hold her hand anymore. I was around 8 years old, we were walking into the grocery store. For some reason I still remember the expression on her face but at that time I was to young to understand. Now looking back I know how she must have felt. But Emma remembered our routine and it made my day!:)

I took a picture of our Japanese grasses we planted a few years ago, I can't believe how big the one on the end has gotten! We are going to need to split it. But it is beautiful!

Garden

A hobby Mario and I enjoy doing together is gardening. We find it so rewarding as our hard work really pays off when our plants and flowers start to fill in. Our urns this year really look nice. We found this tropical plant called Pony Tail Fern that looks beautiful. Our Snow Princess flowers dripping out completely covering our pots are my favorite. I also thought the Fireworks grass turned a pretty red. We didn't have time to plant any veggies this year but all our pots are so nice to sit and just enjoy!:) The kids got so excited because we had a hot air balloon go right over our house last night, pretty cool as Emma would say!

Elise at 8 months...

The kids have been busy this summer! Emma and her friend both love playing the guitar together and Ethan with his friends playing his new favorite game on the Wii Lego Indiana Jones! We are getting ready to leave for Oklahoma this week. As you can tell from these pics I have a lot of cleaning to do. I hate coming back from vacation to a dirty house! We have been busy with VBS at our church but it has been a really fun time. Elise is now crawling all over the place( she is super fast now) and her new thing is trying to pull up on our sofa to stand. She gets into position but doesn't have her strength yet in her legs. We are finding that having 2 other kiddos dropping paper, toys, etc. on the floor is quite a challenge because EVERYTHING goes in Elise's mouth... We have had a few close calls with small pieces of paper she gets caught with in her mouth so we are trying to teach our kids to be cautious. Elise is curious and gets herself into trouble alot! :) But I must say we are really enjoying her she is at such a fun stage!

"Catch up"

I almost feel like a stranger on my own blog... I think this has been the longest I've gone not saying anything, not even a picture! AND the crazy thing is so VERY much has changed since I lasted posted! Emma turned the big 6 years old and she had a wonderful birthday party, her dance recital was just incredible, and we have been super busy working on home improvements around the house. Garage is cleaned, basement is looking more like a room in our house rather than a dungeon. But the most shocking new detail in my life that has changed since I last posted is that we found out my dad has Leukemia. He had been tired to the point of passing out a few times but we NEVER imagined in our worst nightmare that this would be the diagnosis. I know that God is ultimately in control so I have been praying for wisdom, strength, and courage for my dad. I know he is scared but seems to be surrounded by friends that love him. We are planning a trip back home soon to OKC to comfort him and spend some time with him. But with this change it has motivated me to take a closer look at my life as a mother, wife, daughter, etc. I have been grumpy with myself, family and friends. I have finally today put things into better perspective thanks to the grace of God. Today I am focusing on the emotions that I am feeling with the diagnosis of my dad. Many conversations I have had with him have ended with me crying to Mario whom I am forever thankful to God for. So today I'm focusing on what is happening now and praying God will help me understand the events that happen in the future.

Emma did a ballet called The Waltzing Cat at her recital and it was beautiful! Her party was great and according to Emma "being 6 is the best!" I can't wait to visit with family and friends in OKC in July!:) Here is the "readers digest" version of the last month in pictures!