White Christmas

Mom, Kellye and I had a great girls night out at the Orpheum Theater...

Playing in our new tents!

Aunt Kellye got the kids an awesome set of 2 tents and a tunnel that connects them for their birthday! Daddy set it up in the school room for them, and he's excited that they are really good quality tents that can be used for camping outside! Mommy thinks she's going to have to move one tent into each of their rooms until their playroom is finished, cause it has taken over her classroom!!

My Babies Aren't Babies Anymore!!

Well, it happened. It came from out of nowhere, and I am still in shock. I always knew the time would eventually come, but was completely unprepared. My babies aren't babies anymore - they're kids! Samantha and Jackson both had birthdays in the last week. Sam turned 6. Jack turned 4. I'm so proud of the people they are becoming, and so blessed to be their mom.

Sam at about 2 weeks old....
Sam on her 6th birthday - December 4th
Jack at about 2 weeks old...

Jack on his 4th birthday - December 12th

Trick or Treat!!

Sam and Jack had a great Halloween! This was their first year to go trick or treating, and they loved it! First they went to FedEx with daddy and trick or treating at all the offices. There were kids all over the place! I'm thinking not much work was accomplished! Then, after dinner, we walked around the cove and back. They had so much fun seeing all of their friends from the neighborhood all dressed up! I was pleased to see that the trick or treaters were all young children, and there we NO scary costumes. In our old neighborhood, lots of teenage trick or trickers and scary costumes were part of the reason we never took them out on Halloween.

Sam was "Annabelle" the pink poodle and Jack was the cutest Darth Vader you ever saw...

It doesn't get any cuter than this....

Guess who got promoted to manager!!

Sam's First Day of School!!

Sam had a great first day of Kindergarten. She worked hard, and didn't want to stop! Her favorite is Math time, she loves to work with numbers just like her daddy. She really enjoys reading/phonics, too, mostly because she is a show-off and loves that I am flipping out over how much reading she can already do:) We have lots of fun things planned for the next few months, and I'm very excited. Here are a few pictures from outr first day...

Matching the Spanish word to the English word. Every time they find a match, they have to say the words in English and in Spanish. This is technically a Memory game, but Jack hates Memory because Sam always wins. So, when he plays we just make it a matching game:)

Separating the vowels and consonants.

Making handprint rainbows....

Noah's Ark maze...the kids did this while I read the story from the Bible.

School Kick-Off Party!

We had a party yesterday for Sam, Jack, and some of their friends who will also be homeschooling this year. Everyone had a blast hanging out and playing together. Here is a picture of some of the kids taking a snack break.

Mya, Mahalya, Ainsley, Samantha, and Jackson (always the ladies man!)

Videos!!

I finally figured out how to put videos on here!! Check them out...

It's Always a Party When Aunt Kellye Visits

Kellye spent the night last weekend, and we had a great time. As you can see, the kids have a blast when she's here, and always hang all over her...

Jackson - what long legs you have!!

LOL, Samantha is so tall that this probably would have been funnier if we'd used Daddy's legs...Sam will probably be as tall as aunt Kellye by the time she's 10!

Getting Settled in Oakland

Well, we're still walking around the house in a daze! We have been so blessed beyond our imagination, and we find ourselves thanking God every time we walk from one room to another! Getting here has been a roller coaster ride for us, but we're so thankful for it. God has proven again and again that He is in control, and our faith has been strengthened. It is exciting to think of the plans He must have for us here, and the ways He plans to use us in this new phase of our lives together.
I'll post some more pictures of the house soon!

Let's Go Redbirds!!

We had a great day at Autozone Park last week watching the Redbirds win!! The heat index was about 101, but the kids insisted we stay to the end because the HAD to see the Redbirds win the game. They were more into it than we were!

Bead For Life

A small group of Ugandan refugees have been beading their way out of poverty, one necklace at a time. Each of the vibrantly colored accessories is hand-crafted from recycled magazine pages. Starting at just $5, they are sold through the Bead For Life organization. Profits support a community of nearly 3,000 people.
This is a small way for us all to make a difference and minister to this community. Please spread the word and feel free to post this on your own blog or email.

http://www.beadforlife.org/

We Bought A House!!

Well, we finally found our new home! We went out with our amazing realtor, Ken, last Friday night with a list of 4 houses we wanted to see. As we were leaving the last house, another one down the road caught our eye. Ken brought us in to see it, we fell in love! We made an offer Saturday morning, and they accepted it about 2 hours later.

It's in a new neighborhood, close to the golf course (Brian is very happy). We close on July 6th, and will be moving in that weekend! We are so excited!!

Go Diego Go!

We spent Mother's Day weekend in Nashville and took the kids to see Go Diego Live. We had a blast at the show, and spent the rest of the weekend swimming at the hotel and hanging out with the Basham family. Here are some pictures from our busy vacation...