Stationery card

View the entire collection of cards.

Hello All! Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas and all that goodness!

Our latest:

Aves is funnier every day!  Still quoting movies where I can't decide if she is really responding to me or just in some movie in her head.  She still talks to her feet, disciplines them, holds them, caresses them, and such   as if they were her real imaginary friends.  But we aren't as worried about that anymore (hehe) because she has learned to play with others really well and looks forward to meeting up with friends and cousins.  She had a babysitter a few weeks ago and as I introduced them she said, "Ok, but sometimes I'm ornery."  At least she gave the sweet girl a fare warning!

Our biggest news is that we are expecting baby #2 in April!  We couldn't be more excited and feel so blessed to have another on the way.  We found out at just 13 weeks along that we are having another sweet girl!  Good thing I saved all those clothes of Avery's!  I'm now 18 weeks along with a good size belly already.  Last month a worker in Lowes asked if I was 6 months along....gee thanks!  A lady in the grocery store that same week said, "oh my, you're going to get big".  Don't you just love the things people say to expecting mothers!?!

Our new home project is coming along nicely though we aren't in like we were suppose to be in October.  Yes, just two months behind and during the busiest times of the year.  Oh well, it will all be worth it (whenever that may be).

Many blessings to all!  Hope you enjoy this time of year as much as I do!

Happy 4th Birthday Avery!

Our sweet girl is now 4 years old.  It's so hard to imagine.  In just four short years she has learned so much...Dave and I sit and ponder sometimes at how amazing it is what all she knows and has learned.  She has created for herself quite the personality whether it's quoting a movie line, acting out a scene from a movie, singing songs of praise with the most sincere expressions or just doing something silly and saying her most famous quote, "I was like, huh? what was that?"  She is a true blessing and brings so much joy to our lives.  We love you miss Avery!!  (camera died shortly into the party, so this all I have for now...just missing pics of her grandparents, aunts, uncles, great aunts and uncles, cousins, and great granny Nanny, bummer)

 She enjoyed a very girly party with Belle as the cake and a princess theme through out.  

I had a ball (no pun intended) creating handmade decor for the celebration.  One of my favs was the number four on the wall made of pics of Aves from birth til now.  A sweet touch.  Thank you Pinterest!

Here's most of the kid crew enjoying pizza.  Thanks for smiling, haha!

7th Anniversary!

Seven years later and he still has surprises for me.  When we were first dating, I never knew where he would pop up...I spent hours at the library studying for my last semester and he would surprise me with a snack and a coffee or steal me away to feed me a meal.  Once we were married, weekend getaways came often without me knowing the landing (that included our honey moon to St. Lucia!)  Well this anniversary he couldn't have done better than to plan a weekend in my most favorite part of Texas...the little German town of Gruene.  We stayed in the neatest rustic place over looking the river, floated the river (or I should say, I floated while he paddled the whole way since the river was low and slow moving, haha), and of course we ate at all the best locations: the Grist Mill, the Gruene River Grill, and Naegelin's Bakery.  He is so thoughtful and spoils me rotten.  God has blessed me with a good man.

On the Guadalupe

From our balcony looking towards Gruene

San Antonio Vacation with the James'

Cousins! It only took 9 shots before I got this 1 with all 4 of them somewhat smiling and being still, hehe.

We made a stop at the Childrens Museum down town.  A must for the youngsters.  They enjoyed every station.  Here Aves is selling plane tickets.

Too sweet.  Avery loves her baby cousin.  Notice Caylas precious little crossed feet.

Aves was thrilled to "milk" this cow and did so til we drug her away.  She named her Abigail and would get up every so often, grab her face and tell her, "steady old girl."  She was meant to be on a ranch!

Sea World!

Feeding the dolphins. 

Gotta love this one!  Avery's first roller coaster ride on the Shamu Express!  Face says it all!  She actually asked if she could scream, so cute.

Proof I was there, too.

A ride with dad.  

After the boat and ski show where the girls did lifts while skiing, Aves showed her moves on daddys shoulders.

 Thank you Nana for another great summer vacation. 

Blessed Week at Church Camp

Another wonderful time of family, friends, fun and fellowship at the Pecos River Family Encampment!  This is something we look forward to year around.  Sadly it has already come and gone.  As Ave's said on the way home, "But I want to go back," I too want to go back!  I just can't get enough of the endless fellowship, congregational singing, Bible studies and did I mention the men do all the cooking and dish cleaning?  Another added bonus.

David and I want to thank all the counselors who dedicated their time and efforts to helping our dorm kids stay in line while being a Christian example to them along the way.  We couldn't do it without you all!    

Our first family climb up the mountain!

Two hard working dads with their adorable three year old daughters on top of the mountain.

My sweet kiddos in the 5 year old class.

Cayla playing kick ball.

Parachute games=lots of laughs

Up and under the parachute!

Madi, Aves, D'Laney and Brynna enjoying another special part of camp, the Cantina treats!

Avery enjoying her Bible class. Thank you Kay and Carrie for teaching our little ones about Moses!

Gotta love water day!  Kaegen sure did!

This is what happens when you go down the hill on water day....you get wet!

Mr. Sawyer! The only baby I know who loves the sound of a balloon popping.  He popped dozens!

Another key location at camp...the Rock Pit! Or as Ave's called it, "the Pin" or  "the Barn" or "the Castle".

Isn't she lovely?!

And isn't she ornery?! 

Love that Kreek and so does she!

4 generations by the Bell!

Ladies won the volleyball tournament for the 6th year in a row!  So sorry Senior girls, maybe next year!

Enjoying another snack though something tells me that one was daddy's. Trine's filling them in on something, he's very good at that, always has something funny to say! 

Granny and Peepaw stopped in for a visit and worship.

My wonderful friends who were not so excited to have their picture taken with me. Love those ladies!

Good times at the eating tables! And a BIG thank you to my mommy who took Ave's in so many times to allow me to walk about and visit freely!

Kreek leading a song during worship.  He's growing up so fast.

And a sweet dedication from son to mom during our ever so popular Talent Show.

What a wonderful week full of blessings, encouragement, laughter, no distractions from the world (aka no cell phone service!) and the most important, new souls were added to the Lord through baptism.
Thank you to all the men and women who helped make this week possible!  Already ready for next year!

Hiking Enchanted Rock

We Came...

with a sack lunch picnic which we ate at the base but no back pack to carry the water on the hike. So with my heavy, strappy, leather, purse we made due.

We Conquered...

Aves made it just fine up one of the nation's largest solid pieces of granite. She climbed most of it "by all herself" (as she put it) only needing help on the way down...

We Went Down the Wrong Way...

After enjoying the beautiful views from the top of Enchanted Rock, we spotted a young group of boy scouts heading down the back side of the rock and decided we would take that route down instead of the simple way we got up... Sure it may have been challenging for a few boy scouts but they should have tried it carrying a three year old! It was actually pretty scary for us. Aves had no problem and actually enjoyed her ride down. Dave and I were a little nervous as we handed her to one another over piles of granite taller than ourselves, and as Dave balanced her on his left shoulder as he scooted and slid and tried not to slide down the slick side of this monstrous rock! Hands were sweating a bit on several occasions. But she finished strong walking most of the bottom of the trail back to the car 2 hours later. It was a wonderful family day trip made possible by our new location!

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Philippians 4:13

Thought that scripture was fitting there!

More super delayed posts to come!

Father/Daughter Outing

Posing with Daddy and showing off her pretty nails! (Not sure what happened with the exposure.....must be from that snow ball Aves through at me and the camera this past winter....hmmm.)

Trying to let me see her nails! I love this smile! Don't think I've ever capture one this big before!!

David is such a great daddy to our Avery! He has so much energy which makes them the perfect pair. He plays horsey almost every time she asks (and that's alot, this girl might be a cowgirl one day). He loves to take her to the park and plays with her the entire time we are there. The other day he gave me some time to get some things done by taking her to the indoor playground at the Mall since it's been cooler lately. When they returned she had this humongous smile on her face because Dad let her get her nails done while there! What a privilege for her! And I'm not sure if you can tell what color she picked but it is a great Spring color.....bright green!!!

I love these two!!!

Gymnastics 101

How cute is that?! If you know me and if you know my husband, you'll be able to guess which side of the family Avery gets her flexibility! haha! I'm just saying, it's not me!!!

Butterfly stretch.....nose to toes!

Working with a partner on eye/hand coordination while passing a big ball.

And some kind of tummy exercise....a real hoot to watch these kids squirm to keep their ball under their feet!

On the balance beam trying to not step on the "turtles" (bean bags). Aves stepped on just about every one her first time through, hehe. She could do the lower beam all by herself or as she would say, "By ALL myself!"

Ok, I'm doing these posts out of order, hope it doesn't bother you all as much as it bothers me! ha! So to help our only child learn to respect the teacher/student role a little better plus to maybe help her with some coordination (ie: remember her broken right leg at only 22 months of age?), we put her in "bymnastics", as she would say. After a few sessions of her kicking and screaming as she was pulled away from me to join the others, she finally got to liking it, sort of. She wasn't too fond of the lady who drug her off and she made sure to ask me each week if that one lady was going to be there or not. Poor thing! I hope I haven't scarred her for life!

Once her fears were finally overcome (a bit), well, we moved. But she did enjoy most of the classes. And she was the sweetest looking girl in those leotards! For weeks she would show us her "bymnastic" moves doing forward rolls and showing us the doggy/tummy jumps on the trampoline. It was really fun to watch her!

This was so neat to watch! That is her teacher Jackie and the tough voice you hear in the background is the teacher Avery didn't want!