Happy Birthday Jesus 2014

 

What a JOY-filled day Christmas was this year! More than presents, we focused on Jesus and spending time with our family. And it was so perfect! :)We had a fabulous wake up with Zion and Ellie, (although Mommy was up for awhile before everyone else because she was so excited!) and then headed over to Monny and Poppy's for the second annual pool tournament!  So fun!!! While, much to Brandon's chagrin, Poppy won for the second year in a row, we all had lots of fun! Brandon and my brothers enjoyed setting up the brackets and establishing the rules... serious business you know. :) And at the end we get to pick gift cards in the order of how we finished. FUN! I got a gift card to BJ's(I was like the wildcard player or something like that, so I finished ahead of Brandon, even though I stink at pool!hah!), Brandon got one to Walmart, and because Monny and Poppy are awesome, Zion got one to Chuckie Cheese! Everyone had lots of fun! :) And that was just the start to our wonderful day! Hopefully I'll have more time to add to this later! For now, enjoy this! :)

Ahhh! So much to catch up on. ...

BUT so little time! So, until I have time to catch you up on the last wonderful month we've had,  here are some current pics of the cuties!  :) Enjoy! 

When you say "smile" and hold up my phone, this is the response!  Haha! Love it! 

Zion has started taekwondo!  He's only done the first day so far, but he's SO excited for class again today!  He did so good!  I'll post more when he gets his white belt! :) 

No words needed!  :D

She's infatuated with her socks at the moment.  

Our strong man! 

And the little one who could play games for hours and hours!  :) So fun! 

More pictures. ..

THANKSgiving

We had a lovely thanksgiving weekend, filled with love, laughter, thankfulness, food,  giggles and goofiness!  :)  We have such fun together and love making memories. We also put up the tree, which elicited joy and wonder from both of our blessings.  4.5 is a great age and Zion got such joy out of each ornament, snow globe and bobble that we have.  Fun fun fun.  And Miss Ellie wants to get into EVERYTHING.  :) it's amazing that at just 6 months you can tell that she delights in getting into what she thinks she shouldn't have. Lol.  She loves getting ahold of Zion's little people nativity scene.  Lol. 

But,  back to Thanksgiving! We are so thankful for the Many many many blessings that God has given us! ! Every single thing we have been given is a gift from God that we don't deserve. .. but are so thankful for! ! Most of all our salvation!  Thank you Jesus for dying on the cross to save us from our sins and rising again 3 days later!! Our children, incredible gifts that we are SO thankful you chose to give to us!  Our marriage, the gift of getting to spend our life with our best friend.... priceless! (My husband is the bestest ever, just in case you didn't know that! ) :) And our family and friends: we are thankful for YOU! I can't imagine living life alone.... so glad we don't have to! We're surrounded by wonderful people!

AND we're thankful that we will soon be seeing some of our favorite people!  We haven't seen grandma and grandpa Miles in over 2 years!  But we will be with them soon!  Yay!  I think every sales associate in green valley knows that too. Lol.  Whenever we've bought anything lately, Zion is sure to tell them, "this is for me to take on an airplane to take to grandma miles!" :) So fun! We can't wait!  Meemaw, Papa Wo and the Aunties are also driving over the pass for a couple of fun days in Seattle!  :) So... stay tuned for lots of fun! :) Be blessed today! And as I will soon sing to Zion and Ellie when they wake up, "this is the day that the Lord has made! I will rejoice and be glad in it! "

Veterans Day 2014

Took time this year to go to the Tucson Veterans day parade.  Never too early to start instilling in Zion pride in our country and respect to those who have served to protect us!  It was great!  HoT, but great!  :)

Operation Christmas Child

We hosted a costume party and Operation Christmas Child Shoebox packing party this year!  It was so fun!  Zion was Cowboy Larry (a favorite cucumber character from a favorite book), and Ellie was, naturally, a princess! The kids each brought supplies/gifts to fill plastic shoebox sized boxes to send to children and the world.  Together we had 5 boxes overflowing with presents, soap, toothpaste coloring pages and letters from the kids. Such a great way to teach compassion and giving

A New Smile

Ellie has a new smile!  LOL!  She has started doing this goofy smile when I say smile!  Haha!  It's hilarious! She is such a hoot and already brings so much laughter to our family!  :) She has also started waving AND saying mama! :) Yay! Brandon is working on getting a Dada and Zion is working on a Zizi. :) soon!  She's so smart!  She's blossoming into such a big girl! Almost 6 months! Ah!