As with most of us this month was very busy!  I hope you enjoy.

We baked...all sorts of yummies to keep and give away.

You girls made lollipops with Big Mama to give to friends and of course a few to enjoy for yourselves. :)

 You all had a jolly ole time opening packages arriving by mail...thanks to all our families!

And we had great fun walking the neighborhood looking at lights, visiting friends, crafting, Glendale Glitters with Jazz friend Jasi (it was funny cuz people thought all the girls were sisters), special church service and just enjoying time at home and outside in this beautiful weather together.  I love my family!

I'll have to update our Christmas morning when I get to those photos but I didn't want December to end without a post to come back too. :)

A Crazy Month

Wow!  Not much to show in photos but its been a cRazY month of November...feels like a blur.  On top of normal happenings with busy high school girls,  we've been very busy helping Big Mama with a variety of projects from moving in to general around her house stuff like painting, installing new lights, over stove microwave, water heater timer, dishwasher and I don't even remember what else.  Its been some long days for you Gideon.  She has a bed in the living room along with a bazillion boxes since she was getting new carpet.  So while mama painted you sat here watching a few movies on the mini dvd tv I brought over (thank you Papa) and getting into all sorts of mischief like climbing boxes, kung-fu with paint sticks, adventuring into empty closets--ah it was somewhat exhausting.  Here is a shot of you.

We had a few nights just hanging out at home. 

Gideon you've become quite the artist.  Jocelyn has spent some time in your house with you drawing on the chalkboard-such a FUN big sister!  She's drawn lots of pictures that of course you've erased for "my turn"-sorry Joc-you had some good ones. :)  So I was out there with you the other afternoon and asked you to draw mama--not sure what all the lines are across my face-wrinkles?!? haha-but I love the eyes atop my head and my long skinny legs.

On another note we finally have a lite Christmas tree!!!  This tree is about 5 years old; pre-lite of course.  So after taking it out of the box one string didn't work so when Papa was over we spent 2 hours taking it out and after hooking a new string another string went out and so it went twice more over 3 days!  I could have heeded Daddy's advice and bought a new tree but this one was perfect without the light issues.  So finally I pulled all the strings down and put new ones up! YAY! YAY! YAY!  Joce was probably most excited-you've been waiting since the day after Thanksgiving! :) 

Also this month we remembered Grant's due date.  Ugh so hard.  Sometimes my mind wants to question why God would allow us to get pregnant when we were seriously keeping it from happening for we thought our family was complete to waiting for a joyful arrival only to have it dashed from us but I know those thoughts are not from the Lord and I must guard my heart. 

Today I'd like to remind each of you to daily spend time in prayer and reading the word-Gideon I'm teaching you.   My one true desire for you is to walk uprightly in the Lord, trusting and obeying Him your whole life; He will never let you down. :) xoxoxo

'This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.' Psalm 118:24

 

Busy, Busy, Busy!

RRRRrrr!  Alright I have some photos of our latest happenings but for some reason I cannot pull them from Joce camera to any computer. :(  So this will be a limited photo entry. :(
In the last few weeks we've been incredibly busy.  Jazz finished her last meet for the CC season.
Big Mama moved down here with the help of Uncle James.  It was so much fun having him in town.  We've bummed around and visited the Phoenix zoo with him, Papa, all of us except Daddy was on-call and Chloe and Ben.
The following weekend we visited the Freeman Pumpkin Patch in Chino...wasn't as cool as we like it but with the kettle corn and pumpkin lattes we got in the fall mood. :)
And in the last week we found Big Mama a house--yay!
At the end of last week the 26th, we headed out to see a pep rally at the girls school...wow it was cRazY loud but fun!  Gideon loved cheering and all the games, dances that they did during the rally. :)  I even got to see some of my old students who are now sophomores and freshmen!  Here a video of Joce.


Pep Rally

Next Halloween rolled around.  Let's just say I knew, knew, knew I should have gone with an easy costume...like repeat Charlie Brown.  Gideon just is not into dressing up.  We tried a simple cowboy--NOPE and a simple Batman--NOPE.  It was funny with the Batman since he has this mask, he'll put it on and we'll say "It's Batman" and he'll pull it off and say "just kidding."
So we carved our pumpkins set them out along with some candy on our walkway...yes, there was still candy there at 9 that night and had our own party.  We actually had so much fun, I think we might start a new tradition. :)  Big Mama had bought glow sticks and a glow sword for Gideon.  We turned off all the lights and did a lights/music show for about 30 minutes until the Great Pumpkin came on.  Big Mama and Daddy didn't buy into joining but just viewing.  We came up with a variety of routines and it was a blast! Not to mention a killer workout.  
A little video...looks way better in person! :) 

Fall Break

Well our fall break was very eventful from camping to dentist visits to homemade pie making to our new town park visits to the fair! Whew!
Camping is always fun but this time was AMAZING!  We went to the lake but while fishing saw a  turtle that kept stealing our bait, as well as, a adorable duck that visited us each day on the lake also stealing our bait. :)  We named him Leroy Brown since he was the only duck brave enough to come around people.  We also saw a wild donkey and a coyote.

Thank goodness for timers on cameras.

Daddy got tired of baiting our hooks so we had to step it up and bait our own. ;)

Jazz fish...small but so proud!

Leroy Brown...he'd swim out to our bobber and dive for the worms so we'd have to reel in fast.

Gideon with his fish.

Gideon and Leroy.

Ah you two are so cute!

Mama's boy!

These are funny...every time Joce tried to take a photo this is what we got from Gideon.

Daddy and his boy.

Chillin' while driving on a dirt road.

I thought this was funny...my truck is so wide I tried to squeeze in with the hubby and got half a face but check out Jazz. :)

Sneaking a bit of mixed berry pie.

Wisdom Teeth

Alright Miss Jazz, you surprised me with wanting to see your chipmunk cheeks on here. :)  Thankful you were that they only lasted about 4 days after surgery.  Now we'll be in agreement that your 2nd year molar will come through without any issues. :)  I love you, chipmunk cheeks and all! xoxoxox

Giving Thanks!

Thank you so very much Rachel for taking some AMAZING photos of my three loves.  It was not easy with a 2 year old...I have this idea that my girls were always so sweet and did what was requested of them and this boy of mine is the complete opposite which is probably not entirely true.  Thanks again Rachel; especially for your patience! :)  I wanted to share some of my favorites.

Homecoming 2012: Spirit Day and Parade

Today was school spirit day!  Since Joce is in student council she also participated in the homecoming parade...freshmen class doesn't get a float just a banner.  They did an AWESOME job...the vice president Jesse hand drew all the letters and characters!

And finally, the homecoming dance.  Joce went with two of her best friends. Jazz and her friend Tina just hung out at the homecoming game with friends. :)

Homecoming 2012: Circus Day and Cross Country

Today is Circus Day...Joce is an acrobat of sorts. ;)  Her unique outfit is made up of pajama shorts, white tee, ribbon, jewelry and hot pink fish net tights (thank you Target clearance $1).  Again, Jazz decided to opt out of this day.  I dropped off the girls and I concluded that if its too different not a lot of students participate in each day's theme.  Not sure I would have at their age either. ;)

And Gideon was full of energy this morning...I just adore this photo since it shows my boy as he is most often.  It always seems the photos I snap of him are of him putting on his best photo face (not really him) or shy.

Finally, last night was another meet for cross country.  I need some action photo practice because I only got part of Jazz.  And a photo of the girls team spirit.

Jocelyn and I decided that XC may be one of the worst spectator sports...you are cheering as they leave and then wait around for another 20 minutes until they start to approach the finish...even Gideon was asking to "go home now."  But we wouldn't miss your start and finish Jazz! :)  We love you girl! xoxox

Homecoming 2012: Twin Day

You two were so excited about twin day!  You look AWESOME!  Yes you do look a lot alike but I can see the subtle differences. ;)  I love you girls! I am so happy you're mine. :)

Homecoming 2012: 90's Day

Here you are Jocelyn in your 90's attire...pegged legged jeans, tucked in shirt with a belt, Keds and a scrunchie in your hair.  I wish I would have held onto my penny loafers; then you'd really be 90's :)  I had to laugh when you came home and told me how people were asking you what they should wear for 90's day.  Your response, "Have you seen Saved by the Bell or Fresh Prince of Bellair?  Wear something like that." ;)  Perfect answer.  Jazz decided to opt out of 90's day. :)

Look at your sassy self!

Homecoming Week 2012 and Week's Wrap Up

Week's Wrap Up
During this week we celebrated Jazzy's and Daddy's birthdays.  Jazz was adamant about no fanfare for her 16th birthday so we celebrated with family. ;)

Happy Birthday!

Mmmm cake!

Cousins!

A few photos of Jazz and Gideon.

Gideon kept running back and forth to check out the results of each photo.

Ah you two are so cute!

And Gideon has started a new chore; sorting the silverware.  He does good; with the occasional mix-up.

 

Homecoming 2012
I think I may have failed to acknowledge that Miss Jocelyn won the seat of Freshmen Class President!  Yay Joce!!!  This week is homecoming week so I thought I'd capture each day's theme; today is Cowboy Day!