Merry Christmas

What  a fun week we have had!  

On Christmas Eve we had 2 services at church and then went to friends house to eat dinner, play games and laugh!  We had so much fun!  The pictures above were taken on christmas Eve at our friends house.  

Decorating the Christmas Tree

Well, I love Christmas, I love to put up lights, the tree and all my decorations.  I really love snowmen.  I have a lot of them around the house.  The kids started to count and when they got to about 60, decided that they would stop.  They hadn't counted any ornaments.  We had so much fun decorating the tree.  I unpacked the ornaments and the kids put them on the tree. 

It was so much fun to unpack our ornaments.  Every year we get new ornaments, this year we bought a flute and a guitar (those are the instruments Emily & Ethan have started to play).    

As I put out different decorations, I was reminded of memories, from when I was a little girl, of my very special Grammie, things that she made and had in her apartment, and things that we have gotten since we were married and had children.  

 

The weather cooperated and Ted was able to get the lights on the house up and the other yard decorations.  

I love to watch White Christmas, Miracle on 34th Street and The Santa Clause.  I have watched each of them already.  

I have way to much shopping to do still, but I am trying to rest and enjoy the season.  

Happy Thanksgiving

Well, today has been a little tough for me. It was 2 years ago today that my grammie passed away. She was 88 1/2 years old and one of the most amazing women I have ever met. I can not remember my grammie ever complaining, I never heard her say, why me, it's not fair or anything like that. She had a lot she could have said it's not fair about. She buried 2 husbands, was alone for about 41 years. She lived a good life, loved her family without reservation or strings and gave to everyone she met. She always had a kind word and a smile.

When I needed someone to pray, she was the first person I called. I knew that she prayed for our family at least twice per day. If I needed to talk I would call her, she always new just what to say and I always felt better by the time we were done talking.

My kids loved her, they thought she was a very special lady! Emily is still writing poems about her.

One of my favorite memories, one day when Ted & I were at her apartment (we were just married then) we were getting ready to leave and she looked at Ted and said "by Joe" we looked at her and she got the funniest look on her face and we all started to laugh. It became a big joke between us and after that whenever she would call, she would ask about "Joe." It was our inside joke.

I miss grammie so much! I miss our talks, I miss her hugs & smiles and I miss her prayers!

I have so much to be thankful for,

~ my husband

~ my amazing kids

~ my family

~ our home

~ our church

~ a beautiful state to live in

~ friends

We spent the past week at our friends, Paul & Lori, they live in Springfield, CO. We helped them move from one house into a new one. It was a lot of work, but we had so much fun! We spent Thanksgiving with them. We had so much amazing food! We had to drive home after dinner (in the afternoon), that was sad, but it was good to be home too.....

Here are some pictures of the kids

Well, the leaves are almost gone off the trees. There are leaves all over the yard. Before Ted and the kids raked them all up I took them out for a few pictures.

Time is just flying by!

Halloween

Well this year Halloween was very different for our family. Normally we are at the church participating in the Carnival of Light. Emily & Ethan have never been trick or treating. This year the church decided to try something different and sponser Neighborhood Block Parties. Our friends and life group leaders hosted one in their culdesac. We had a jumper and games, hot chocolate, hot apple cider and cookies and candy and candy and candy. Did I mention we had candy?

Emily went out trick or treating with some of the kids from our life group. They had a great time. Ethan decided he wanted to stay at the house with the jump castle and games. They had a really good time, in spite of the cold temperatures.

Here are some pictures.

Emily & Ethan in his first costume

Jordyn in her dalmation costume

Ethan the storm trooper

Emily & Jordyn

It's been a while

Wow, it has been a while since I posted any news. Of course there isn't much news to report. School started for Emily & Ethan in the middle of August and life has been racing by ever since.

The kids love their teachers, and have some wonderful friends in their classes. They seem to be happy, adjusting to the amount of homework that 4th grade and 2nd grade bring. Mom and dad are trying to adjust to the amount of homework that comes too. Our evenings are very different these days. Study time, reading time, dinner, baths and all to quickly it is bed time!

Our house is a little louder these days. Emily started playing the flute at school, she loves it! She is actually playing a few songs now. Ethan started taking guitar lessons with a very nice man from church. He loves it! He loves to play the guitar.

Emily has been writing songs these days. She has always loved to write stories, but has started writing songs now. She is having fun!

Last weekend we drove up to the mountains to see the changing leaves, we had so much fun. We drove up Hwy. 285 to Guenella Pass and went across to Georgetown. What a fun drive that was. Parts of the road are not paved, so it was very bumpy at times, the kids thought it was a blast! They loved the bumps! We found a stream with a bridge, a beautiful waterfull and lots of leaves! It was a lot of fun!

California

Hi there,

We are in California spending time with my Aunt and Uncle. Auntie Jo is doing well, they are calling her the walking miracle. We are so thankful! God has done amazing things for her and we are grateful! Everyday we Thank God for the progress she is making.

The weather is nice, last night we went to the beach / cliff area and took some pictures. it is so beautiful here. We are getting ready to go to the park and play for a while. It is so nice to just relax and hang out.

Happy Father's Day

It has been a pretty scarey week. Sunday night my aunt had a severe arrithmya and they had to shock her to get her back into sinus rythm. She was improving and getting stronger, but today she began to have some difficulty breathing. So they took her for a CT scan and they found out she has a spot of pnuemonia in one lung so they have postponed heart surgery until next Monday. How she got pnuemonia when she has been on antibiotics for 14 days is beyond me. Hopefully they will be able to do surgery on Monday so that we can get her on the road to recovery! I will be flying next week to CA to help my aunt & uncle when she comes home from the hospital.


My mom's arm is recovering well, they removed her stitches yesterday and she is feeling better.



Emily & Ethan are good. We had another swim meet last Saturday and they did awesome! They both earned speeding tickets for improving their times on different races. They can't wait to spend their speeding ticket "money" at the snack bar this Saturday. I didn't have my camera at the swim meet, but took some on my friend Deana's camera, I will post some when I get them.



We did have a nice day with Ted on Father's Day, here is a picture of the three of them. They are growing so fast, it seems like yesterday we were celebrating Father's Day for the first time and Emily was only 11 months old. Now she is almost 9 years old and Ethan is 7. How time flies!
We took some time on Father's Day to talk about what we value about Ted, it was nice to share those thoughts and how important he is to us.

(yes that is a beard on Ted and yes it is very grey)

Well, that's all for now!

First swim meet

Last Saturday, June 9th, was Emily & Ethan's first swim meet. They are a part of the Holly Park Sharks. They were so excited for their meet. We were at the pool at 6:30am and we were done about 2:30pm. It was a long day! The weather was nice for the meet, in the mid 80's.

The kids did really well. I snapped this picture at the pool while we watched the other kids swim.

Emily swimming backstroke

Emily swam, a freestyle relay (they came in first place) a medly relay (she swam back stroke (her best stroke) and they came in first place, she swam25 meter freestyle and tied for 4th place; a 25 meter Butterfly and came in 2nd place, and a 25 meter Breast stroke, she was Disqualified for that one (she didn't do the stroke exactly right, she is still learning this one).

Ethan swam a 25 meter freestyle and a 25 meter backstroke. He is still working on his, he improved his time on his backstroke by 10 seconds! He did really good.

We got lots of sun at the meet, not to much burn, just a little pink. Ethan actually has a tan line, I don't think he has ever had one before.

Today Lori & Jordyn arrived to spend the week at our house. Paul & Ryan are at Youth Camp, at camp Cedar Ridge (near Delta, CO). Emily is very happy to have Jordyn here. Jordyn is excited to take a bath at Aunt Kathy's house. (She only has a shower at her house).

Well, that is all for now.

What a week

Well, what a week it has been around here. On Monday my Aunt was taken by ambulance to the hospital. She has a blood infection and a leaky heart valve. They are trying to get the infection cleared up so that they can either repair or replace the leaky valve. She is in great spirits. The kids sent her some email messages and we took pictures to send to her. Uncle Dick printed them and she has them at the hospital with her.

On thursday my mom flew to Stephensville, Texas to attend a family reunion with on of Bob's cousins. This morning she called to let me know that she was in the hospital. She had been taken by ambulance late last night, she had fallen out of bed and broke her arm. She will be having surgery today, Friday between noon - 1pm to put a pin in her arm.

What a week it has been!

I know that God is faithful and He has both of these special women in my life in His hands! But, it sure stinks to live far away and not be able to be near either of them.

I will update later.

Welcome

Hi there,

I thought it might be fun to start a blog. That way I can post happenings in our family and pictures for all our family & friends to keep up on our busy lives! The kids had me take a picture of them to send to Auntie Jo yesterday, this is a recent one of them. They are growing fast! It is hard to believe that Emily will be 9 in a month!

It is the start of summer, the kids have been out of school for about 2 weeks now. We have started swim team and baseball.

Last Saturday was Emily & her best friend Julia's dance recital. The recital was wonderful! Every dance was so fun to watch. Emily did a great job and had a lot of fun! Here is a picture of Emily & Julia after the recital was over.

Emily was in 2 dances, the first dance was a tap dance to the song, Shuffle off to Buffalo. Her second dance was ballet to Hard Knock Life from Annie. That is what the bandana was from. Both dances were very cute.

Emily attended a volleyball camp this week at Littleton High School with Julia & Jessica. The girls had a great time!

This week Ethan started Baseball. He is on the Cub's. He got his hat and t-shirt this week. I haven't gotten any pictures yet. I will add them soon.

The kids have been swimming too. They have their first swim meet this Saturday, we have to be at the pool at 6:30am. It is an early day! They are both looking forward to the meet.

Not much new for Ted or I, just busy running the kids from place to place! That is enough right now!

Well, we will write more soon.