Easter Advent 1-The Triumphal Entry

Every year I do an Easter Advent. Many of you probably get the daily emails. This year, I decided to simply update my blog daily with the verses and that way I can include a picture of our role-play everyday too!

Mat 21:7-9 "They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. (8) Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. (9) And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!"

The Girls...

"Daddy doesn't need to hold me! I can hold him!!"
Yeah! She finally loves her daddy.

Shelby made Uncle Ryan his very own birthday cake from her Easy Bake Oven. I have to say the frosting is disgusting and produces about a teaspoon worth. Thank goodness for a tube of decorating chocolate I had in the pantry. It came out quite nicely!

"Low in the Grave"

This one is definitely for the Grandparents. This has been Jason's favorite song for over a year. He knows all the words and loves singing it before bed. Precious, I tell ya!

And the big kids....

Shelby's Valentines for her class....love and care went in to preparing each one, including a verse encouraging them to love.

The Valentine's Party at school was a special dress up day.

Entertaining ourselves at home.

He was so excited to go to the air park in East Palmdale. He was even more excited about the model airplane he got to take home with him.

What Ashley is up to...

Ashley is definitely becoming more fun (except when teething or she has an ear infection).

She finally likes Daddy, which is such a relief to Mommy! She's quite content to let him hold/comfort her (unless I come back into the room).

She finally has the waiving down. She won't always do it on demand, but the nice people on television always get waived at. Apparently she thinks they are quite friendly to her.

Rockets with Daddy

Daddy oh so loves that he has a boy. He dug out the rocket stuff from his Dad's garage and has taken the kids out launching rockets twice. Uncle Ryan bought Jason a astronaut helmet to help with the launch sequence. JD never gets tired of telling how the rocket shoots up in the air...that's his favorite part.

Pics of the Littler Ones

I've been taking a lot of pictures of Jason and Ashley because I wanted a good picture to send in to the Beautiful Baby Search (on Regis and Kelly). Why is it that when you need a good picture, you can't get one? Well, here are a few decent ones. Keep your eyes out, I'm hoping maybe their little faces will flash on the screen when they show hundreds of the thousands they receive for the contest!This is the one I used of Ashley. I love the elf ears.

This is not the one I used for Jason, but was the best one I took. Turns out I could use a December pic so I used one from his birthday because he was giving my favorite, sweet smile.

Did not use this one, but I had to post it for the cheeks. She's not chunky, but is known for the big cheeks!

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.