Happy Birthday to Alyssa

Celebrating Alyssa Rose

turning FIVE years old!

Getting ready with Grammy

Kacey and Alyssa... pre-party excitement!

Here she is in all her charm!
She wanted a shooting star birthday party!

Alyssa and Mommy celebrating her special day!

Happy Birthday to My Niece! 

It was a very special day

And her mommy looked beautiful for the day too!

Sugar and spice and everything nice.....

My Sweet Sugar and Spice friends honored me with an overnight party to celebrate being 40!

I have to say I am completely spoiled this year. This is my 4th celebration - I have been ushered well into my 4th decade!

(and Erin I think we're good -- we will not need to celebrate once per month for the next year - Ha!)

We started our evening off with a little mexican cuisine! And it was delish. 

another pose before leaving the restaurant since Karyn was blinded by the multiple flashes on my camera in the first pose...but oh my now she has a water droplet on her eye!!! we are jinxed!

Laughter and fun on the drive home

Thanks Heidi for being our Chauffeur

Back to the house for a wheat free cake.... Thank you Stacey for making it and for your creative writing skills!!

We also enjoyed many Amy Friendly foods... you were all so thoughtful to make so many foods I could eat... and I went to bed stuffed! -- and I didn't take any pictures of our breakfast which was another delicious Amy spread of foods! I think we ate well!

Here was our best group shot except my head is covering half of  Erin's!  We tried. Maybe Jenny's turned out great. 

Thank you Ladies from the bottom of my heart for being such dear friends to me. I love each one of you and you have all enriched my life in amazing ways. Thank you Laurie for getting your in-laws home for us to stay at! It was a perfect evening - Thank you for sharing it with  me. It was such fun to eat, play nertz, laugh and share stories together!

You are all a GIFT to me!

Sugar and spice
and everything nice
that's what little girls are made of

...And Big Girls too....

IT was very Fun to have an "all things girly" night out!
and I will end this post with a cheer for....
Charleston on the top!!!

A date to remember...

Happy Birthday to Me.....

a pose with my family before I'm off on my date

For my Birthday this year Jeff gave me a date night with my parents. It's so rare in this big fun family of ours to get them all to myself! 

we snapped a few poses.....

and opened a few presents before leaving Kristi's house

 For dinner we went to On the Border! A favorite of mine but not my hubby's so a good night to capture the opportunity. 

we then stopped off at PF Changs for my favorite flourless chocolate cake with raspberry drizzle and fruit... mouth watering deliciousness!... and a tiny cup of oriental tea

Katy just got off work so I pleaded with her to join us! She was fearful of ruining my "alone time" with the parents!  It was fun to have her be a part of the evenings "indulgance" of yummy food

Then we were off to the Embassy - where we stayed with 2000 pentecostal youth who were there for a retreat.. no joke! the place was crawling with them ha!! 

Now one might think you go to the Embassy to sleep... not us we just went so we could have a good late night chat! We soaked up every minute of my birthday day! When I went to snap this picture the clock said 12:29 which was perfect since that is my birth date... but it changed over right as I clicked the picture.

here are the two that ushered me into this world and have now ushered me right into my 40's.... and we did eventually sleep and then rise to only eat some more of the Embassy's delicious breakfast buffet.

Thanks Dad and Mom for the date Night

Thanks for loving me

Thanks for introducing me to the One who gives us life

Each day of our lives we make deposits in the memory banks of our children.  ~Charles R. Swindoll

Thanks dad and mom for still making deposits into my memory bank!

Love you both to the moon and back!

a Christmas dinner of honor

This Christmas season we all came together to celebrate Life

The Life of Christ, our Rock, our Refuge, our Hope

and to celebrate Kristi

Our sister, our daughter, our mother and wife, our friend

one chosen by God to steward the story of cancer

Kristi has chosen the color purple as her symbol for her kind of Cancer

As a family whether we are together or far apart we can join the battle with her by wearing our purple. 

On this Christmas we all donned our Purple in honor of her and what God is going to do in and through her.

"Purple is the color of good judgment. It is the color of people seeking spiritual fulfillment. It is said if you surround yourself with purple you will have peace of mind. Purple is a good color to use in meditation"

Daniel 5:29
Belshazzar did what he had promised. He robed Daniel in purple, draped the great gold chain around his neck, and promoted him to third-in-charge in the kingdom

 Purple combines the stability of blue and the energy of red. 

Purple in scripture signifies Honor and Royalty

Esther 8:15
[ The Triumph of the Jews ] When Mordecai left the king’s presence, he was wearing royal garments of blue and white, a large crown of gold and a purple robe of fine linen. And the city of Susa held a joyous celebration.

 Jesus was dressed in Purple before his crucifixion

Mark 15:20
And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.

Daniel 5:16
Now I have heard that you are able to give interpretations and to solve difficult problems. If you can read this writing and tell me what it means, you will be clothed in purple

Acts 16:14
One of those listening was a woman from the city of Thyatira named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth. She was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message.

Merry Christmas Sister! Together we will wear our purple with honor and go to battle for you along side the ONE who was stripped of His Royal purple robe for our Redemption and therefore we place our HOPE in Him alone!

Christmas Morning

Unto us a Child is born, a Savior, Christ our Lord!

Do you know why we give gifts at Christmas?

We give presents because it's Jesus' birthday

Long ago, an angel told Mary
she would have a baby named Jesus

On Christmas night baby Jesus was born

Angels told the shepherds,

Jesus is born!

You will find Him lying in a manger."

Wise men also followed the Star to the stable and to Baby Jesus

They all brought

Baby Jesus

presents because they

LOVED 

Him.

 We give gifts at

Christmas

to show our

LOVE

skyping with the rest of the family who stayed over at Kristi's

...and to say

"Happy Birthday,

Baby

         Jesus"

Christmas Eve

On Christmas eve we enjoyed a family friendly candle light service at our church

This picture is funny... makes it look like Breck randomly wore his pj's to church but really there were others in the crowd including Isaiah and Alyssa but some day I can hear him asking me why I took him to church in his jammies!

The originals pausing for a pose after the church service

After the church service mom and dad "hosted" our fun out at their condo. We had lots of yummy food, some puzzle solving in the picture above and the kids sang and re-enacted the Christmas story for us.Wonder why I didn't take more pictures.... some one please share your photo's with me!!

December Fun

A couple of our favorite Christmas activities includes the parade of homes and our local Christmas parade down town.

What a treat to have Aunt Katy here to go to the parade of homes with us!

donning our booties before entering one of the homes

another special treat with my sister Katy
She came over with Jackson and Isaiah to watch the Christmas parade
we were FREEZING!

all the kids bundled and waiting for the floats

cute mamma and her baby boy
Jackson probably wonders why he has to sit outside in the freezing cold weather
and he couldn't even enjoy our hot chocolate with us! although he has lots of "brown" fat that keeps him warm.