Christmas is here!

YAY!!!  My mom and dad and brother are here to celebrate Christmas with us.  I'm sitting in the living room watching country music videos and listening to my dad and brother sing.  That's the sound of my childhood, and it's sweet to my soul!  Oh, and I was so ready for it!  I had pneumonia this week and 2 kiddos with strep.  John has been an absolute hero!!!

But there's also been SO much sweetness.  I wanted to give you some little peaks into the fun we've already had.

My little elves have been helping me ...

 

Here's a few peeks of house decorations...

Check out these AMAZING candle holders made by my friend, Courtney...

I won a blog giveaway this week.  It's one of my very most favorite blogs.  And I'd taken a class here in Waco and made a journal with these amazing artists.  And I WON A GIVEAWAY ON THEIR BLOG!!!  I am still on the moon with excitement!

I made this fun little garland this year.

I made that from the scraps from these little goody bags for

the teachers at Zach's school.

Thanks, pinterest!!

Some neighbor and friend gifts...

Well, the excitement was building, and THIS BOX came from my brother with gifts. 

The kids were SOOOOOO excited...and so was I! 

Notice Zach stretching his arm out to show you the scale of the box.

Mom and dad and Jeff got here yesterday, and the fun is ON!!!

Here's dad working on some building projects with the kids.

Last Christmas, dad and Zach built this great gumdrop tree.

We reloaded it, and it's a hit!

 

Here's a sweet Christmas hug.  I could just sit and look at this picture...for a long time!

Merry Christmas from Texas, friends!!!

happy days

Catie and lambie

Jacob and Thomas

my two favorite little doggies

picnic breakfast

the never-ending joy of playing in messy stuff!!

(We've been on a kick around here of making fun stuff...slime, oobleck and playdough!)

Z's favorite was the oobleck!

The kids making their own candles at a festival.

Zach is 7, Catie is 4, and Jacob is 2.  I love, love, love these ages and want to freeze these memories into my heart!!!  Children truly are a gift from God!!

Baby shower and Thanksgiving fun!

I know I've said this before, but we are SOOO thankful for our friends here.

We celebrated Thanksgiving with some of them, and it was a BLAST!!!

Here are the "little two" (which Catie feels is a huge insult because she is NOT little!!) eating dinner.

Zach at one of the boy tables.  Check out that cool turkey Zach made that himself on Thanksgiving morning to take for decorations.  YAY!!  I think I've rubbed off on him a little!

Me and Katie Zurcher.  Katie and her husband, Jarrod, moved here summer '11 and are currently doing Elevate.  They are awesome, and we're so thankful for some more

ATL friends out here!

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Courtney and I threw a baby shower for our friend, Susan.

We had a BLAST planning this shower and loving on Sus!!

Here we are gathered around Susan praying for her.  And she needed it cause she went in to labor THAT EVENING!!  We barely snuck that shower in!

get cookin'

Zach cooked cookies ALL BY HIMSELF for the first time the other day!

He did such a great job, and everyone totally enjoyed his delicious oatmeal cookies.

Our boy is getting SO big!!!

We're in school...again!

This week is week 3 of our church planting school.

That practically means that John and I are in school 4 days/week from 8:30-12:30.

To help make up work hours, John is working on Saturdays.

We are LOVING the class, the classmates we're getting to know, what we're learning!!

Our kids are doing great, and God has provided amazing people to care for them.

(We just need someone to watch Jacob on Thursdays in January, still!)

Please pray for us as we are in a crunch time.
And please continue to pray for God to prepare us for what He has next for our family!
Oh, there are so many ways I could ask you to pray!!
How about if you just ask God what to pray for and then pray for whatever He tells you!
Thank you, thank you for carrying us!

SURPRISE!!!

We've had some great surprises around here lately!!

Check out this amazing coupon from Zach...

(It says...for three times do everything in the house that needs to be done!  for mommy and daddy earned for just because you guys are the best parents)

Surprises just don't get sweeter than that one!!

We also got the BEST TAMALES I'VE EVER TASTED

from our amazing neighbor.  We love our neighbors!!

I colored my hair.  Which was a super-fun surprise for ME!

Catie is so excited that now we have matching hair!

And one of the best surprises I've EVER pulled off.  Mom came to visit last month, and we didn't tell the kids she was coming.  We were just watching a movie together when there was a knock on the door.  They were super-surprised.  Check it out...

 

aaaahhhh...mimi time!

I love surprises!!

Thanks for reading and keeping up with our family!

We're so thankful for you!!!

food fun!

We've been having some fun food around here lately!

Here's a peek...

I make smiley-face toast some mornings.

The other day, I fancied Catie's up!

I was SO happy that Zach had no school the whole week of Thanksgiving.

One day we had a special turkey lunch!  (Thanks, pinterest!!)

One of our family FAVORITES is mystery muffins.

I put some batter in, a little jelly in the middle, and more batter on top.

These disappear FAST!

Mikayla bought Jacob some special Cars mac and cheese.

I love this stage when little boys are into trains and cars.

Check out how excited he was!!

And most recently (thanks again to pinterest), we had a fun Christmas snack.

I wrote out directions for zach on how to assemble it and sent it in his lunchbox. 

Since he is into all things detective and figuring out clues, he LOVED it!

I've got to think of some more mystery lunch box ideas.

I hope you get to play with your food today!