Christmas Festivities

Every year Auntie Amy has a work party (LAPD communications division) for the kids with face painting and Santa and cool Po-Po vehicles.

The Sanderson/Case/Wahler goodbye trip. We stayed in a cabin for two nights with fun games, baking and Christmas movies. Fun and Christmasy!

There is the Christmas concert at Shelby's school. Very sweet to watch our little girl sing about Jesus.

We had a cookie play date where we made nativity scenes out of cookies.

Our best little Christmas present this year. Evidence of God's blessing in our lives this year.

Merry Christmas Eve!

All spiffied up and ready for Christmas Eve service.

Happy Birthday, Jason!

Today is our Jason's third birthday. I'm so thankful for such a great boy! JD is so sweet and loving. He is great at giving hugs and still loves to snuggle. He loves his sisters and is always the first to hug Shelby when we pick her up from school. He enjoys making Ashley laugh and every time he says, "She like me!" He really has an excitement for life. He enjoys sports and anything that travels. He gets so excited when he sees trains, buses, and even trash trucks. My favorite quote from when he opened his presents was, "Oh my goodness. Look what me got! It's so cool!" Jason add so much joy to our lives.

What the kids are up to...

Shelby is all about school. She loves it and is learning so much. Here is the traditional Kindergarten Thanksgiving feast costume...a right of passage for every kid, I think!

Jason potty trained himself the week of Thanksgiving. Well, I guess I initiated it, but I CANNOT believe how easily he caught on. I was shocked! He had 1 or 2 accidents the first three days, then started telling us when he had to go. After a week he was completely accident free. Yahoooo!!

P.S. Yes, I'm aware that, in a few years, JD will probably be horrified that this picture is up for the world to see.

Ashley started solid foods this month. This is the face she made after every bite the first time. She still has very little interest, though she enjoyed the mashed potatoes and yams on Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving #2

This one is for my aunts! I thought you'd like to see your folks enjoying their great grandchildren. =) My kids are blessed to still have two great-grandparents around, after saying goodbye to one of them this year. We are thankful for family! We have so many special family members so close by.

Nema had lots of fun with her grandkids at our celebration. All these kids just love their Nema.

Happy Thanksgiving #1

We had a great Thanksgiving at Aunt Amy's new house. So fun!

She does have a reputation in the family for being a little turkey sometimes.
But she's a cute one!

A Peek into October

I apologize to all of you with a blog addiction. It has been two months! I have all the usual excuses, but also somehow I reached a max on the number of pictures google would let me publish. Of course I only found that out last week so that excuse doesn't go very far. But here are my favorite three from October....okay, now let's move on to November already!

Our Turtle Story

About 2 weeks ago our neighbor showed the kids her turtle, which she kept in her garage. Then last Monday, Jason decided he wanted a turtle. Picturing a silver-dollar sized turtle we could keep in a tank, I told him if he wants a turtle for Christmas maybe he should start praying for one. The very next day, as I was going to pick Shelby up from school, I open my garage and there was a desert tortoise walking up my driveway. Not wanting it to get run over (and since it was in my driving path), I put it in a box on our porch and called my neighbor to let her know her turtle had escaped. She eventually came over and informed us that this was not her turtle. It doesn't belong to any of our neighbors. So for the time being, we own a turtle, which JD has named "Lightning." It was a very cute way to teach Jason that God answers all kind of prayers!

"Grounded" in Bakersfield

We made it to our family camp with church this year (called "Grounded"). It is the first time we've been camping with more than one child and WOW, it is much different with three!

JD decided it would be fun to play catch through some tree branches with a 4" diameter rock. The inevitable result was a nice shiner. Thankfully it hit above and not in his eye. Boys!

Ashley did really well...thanks to all the prayers! It was way too hot for her. I think I overestimated my ability to bring a four month old tent camping in 100+ degree heat. Thankfully our lovely, generous friends with a trailer, shared their air conditioning (and a fan). Without that we probably would have had to take her home.

Shelby had fun with all her friends and their dogs. These are our friends', The Clarks, girls and Zach Gardner. They had lots of fun and didn't seem to mind the heat. It turns out I didn't need the many warm clothes I packed for everyone. It did cool down.....but not until 2am!!

First Day of Kindergarten

So here she is! My Kindergartner! Shelby wasn't very excited about K-5, but she didn't seem apprehensive either. She seems to be adjusting well, even though the days are long.

Daddy went in to work late and we had a special breakfast at Karen's Kitchen (our new favorite place because of the delicious pancakes!).

To sum up MY feelings about school I say "here we go!" I feel like the roller coaster now begins!

Gracefest

As a nice end to summer, we went to Gracefest at our nifty little outdoor amphitheater here in Palmdale. It was pretty nice! The bands were really good and the weather was cool. A nice way to welcome the fall and celebrate Labor Day. Super Chick was a little hard-core for me, but BooBoo really liked it. I think he wished he was down in the mosh-pit. I've never been that type. But I'm glad he had fun!

Piratey Fun

Poor JD doesn't have any dress up clothes. I saw these masks and pirate toys at Michael's for half off so I got them for playtime. The kids and Daddy had fun in the back yard playing sword fights and throwing canon balls at each other.

The little pirates and Peg-leg Jeff.

By the way, if anyone is planning a Pirate birthday party all the stuff at Michael's is on clearance and is really cheap! I'm a little bummed that JD insists on a Cars birthday party this year.

Summer Fun Away from Home

Jeff has enjoyed taking the kids to Dry Town this summer. Ashley and I tagged along the last time. Since the kids were deathly afraid last summer it has been fun to watch them play.

I did one trip around the lazy river with the kids.

The baby was an angel which, if you keep up with our family, is a miracle in and of itself. The swimsuit was a photo opp...it's the only time I've dared to even take her near the water.

Summer Fun at Home

Shelby has been on a creative, artistic kick lately. On days when we are home she spends much of the day coloring or drawing. This was a chalk drawing she was proud of one day...her garden. I was impressed with the snail! =)

Goodbye Great-Grumpy

We had to say goodbye to another family member this month. My grandpa on my mom's side passed away at 92. He was so special and generous and love my kids so much. It was fun to see a 92 year old interact with the little ones. This picture was taken the last time we saw him healthy. I'm so thankful for this picture as it is the only one I have of him with Ashley!

Can I post a link to your blog?

Hey, if you follow my blog, and you don't mind if I list you under my blog list, please leave a comment. I have a hard time finding all my friends' blogs and I'd like to post them here so I can easily find them all, but I don't want to do it without your permission. (Except for Steph =))
Please let me know if I can!

On the Lake

The kids really enjoyed swimming in the lake. The water was nice!

Safety first!!
I loved this life vest we borrowed for Ashley. She was actually quite comfortable in it...for about 10 minutes.

The kids loved fishing, which they've become interested in lately, mainly because of Daddy's iphone fishing game. No one caught anything this trip....pretty much what I remember of the little fishing I've done in my life.

And while everyone else enjoyed the sun, this was Ashley's happy place on the boat. She likes to be enclosed in tight spaces so she slept quite nicely in this little duckie bathtub.

This was the chosen spot for a little memorial we did for Sharon on her birthday. We tied our two boats together and did a devotional, and said goodbye once again.

Shaver Lake

All the Cases went away to Shaver Lake last week to celebrate what would have been Sharon's 60th birthday. It was beautiful and fun, especially for the kids.

One of the highlights for the kids was a large fire pit in back of the big cabin. The cousins had fun making smores, playing and getting filthy back there.

This was our cozy little cabin. It was really nice and perfect for our family.

Fourth of July Fun

Happy Fourth of July!!!!

I was so excited to have matching dresses for the girls! Thanks, Britt!

Ashley is now seven weeks old. It is fun to see her shed some of the "newbornness."

This was Ashley's cozy spot for watching fireworks. She wasn't bothered by them at all, feeling safe in Papa's arms. Favorite memories...Jason's reaction to fireworks like "Wow, that a big one.....that huge...that amazing...that a popping one!" Two is such a fun age!

This and that...

I like this picture. It's a great one of the girls. And then there is Jason, already trying to jump into pictures. He did his own hair, by the way.

It is funny to say that Suzie looks big, considering she was less than 2 pounds when she was born a year ago (on July 18th). But Praise the Lord, Suzie is doing great!