Co-op Christmas Program

Putting the finishing touches on Pastor H's card...

All the kids signed it...

Ready for the big performance...

Girls just wanna have fun!

All the kids on stage before their performance.

The staff at SWCC giving the kids a standing ovation.

Pastor H and the kids.

Grandma Gough joined us at Legend Gardens.

The residents enjoying the show...

The girls passing out cookies and chatting.

Love this pic of Viv...

She just opened a present from the girls.

Our co-op group.

The kids had their annual Christmas Program this morning. We made two stops this year. The first- Pastor H and the staff at church. Then we went on to Legend Gardens (an assisted living residential home). We kept it pretty simple. The kids recited Isaiah 9:6 and sang two songs. They all did GREAT and it was such a blessing to see them show the love of Jesus. They were ADORABLE! Afterwards, we came back to our home for a Christmas luncheon and gift exchange. What a wonderful way to end the year with our beloved friends!

Thanksgiving Day 5K

Ready... set...

Go!

My support crew.

My goal was not speed, but simply to run the whole way without stopping. Inspite the crowds of people (over 3,000), I did it and I'm proud of myself!
My usual morning runs are only about 1.5-2 miles long so doing a 5K is a BIG DEAL for me. It was a fantastic way to start Thanksgiving morning as well as help those in need around our community. My legs were exhausted by the end of the day but it was well worth it!

God is so GOOD!

Thanksgiving 2010

Our clan of pilgrims...

All the kids...

The adults...

Ben & Morgan before a morning ride.

A new tradition... Thankful Conversation Starters.

Grandpa with his grandsons.

Lucy, Grandma, and Jen.

The grand kids...

Kiss the cook!

Uncle Roy carves up the turkey.

The kids table...

The hosts.

The girls...

Chicken fight at Grandma's...

Grandpa, Grandma, and Aunt Mary enjoying the patio.

Shawn serenading Gracie.

Gracie trying out Kyle's scooter.

Christina, Jen, and Cat.

What a Thanksgiving to remember! I love the holiday and everything about it.

In addition to having our family in town for the last few days and being thankful for so many blessings in our life, God showed us His amazing faithfulness and power by providing us an offer on our house, on Thanksgiving Day!! Our home had been on the market for 139 days (that's quite a story in and of itself). I'm looking forward to sharing the details sometime soon. It's been a tough sellers market with so many foreclosures and short sales all around, but God honored our desires and He was faithful in His own timing.

So much was learned through this whole process of trusting and learning patience through the months of waiting to sell our home. We gladly accepted the offer the next day! It's been quite an emotional week for me for various reasons. I stand in AWE of our God and I am overwhelmed by His presence, provision, faithfulness and grace.

Dinner was fabulous. Everyone helped out by bringing and doing so much. We started new traditions, played games, laughed a lot, and most of all, enjoyed being together and celebrating our last Thanksgiving in our beautiful home. Thank you, LORD! We love you and honor you today and everyday.

"Give thanks to the LORD for he is GOOD, his FAITHFUL love endures forever." ~ Psalm 118:1

Birthday Boy

Daddy & Gracie.

Me and my first born. :)

Time for birthday dessert!

So sweet.

All his girls adore him!

tokens of love...

We celebrated Morgan's birthday today. The girls were so excited to wake him up and wish him happy birthday. We showered him with hugs and kisses and presented him with cards, first thing in the morning. Morgan worked from home all day but not before having breakfast with the girls and spending some time reading them stories. Morgan rarely calls attention to himself and like me, gifts are not his love language. His birthdays are simply an excuse for us to love on him even more and make him feel extra cherished.

So, what did the birthday boy want for dinner??

RIBS! So ribs it was! We went to Tony Roma's. It was actually the first time we've ever been to the one here in the desert. It was surprisingly NICE! It also happened to be "Kids Eat Free Night." We left stuffed (with leftovers).

It was a great night!

Thank you, God for the gift of Morgan's life. We are so grateful that he is ours!

Bring on the holidays!

#1 Little helper- Faith.

#2 Little helper- Grace.

Their beloved 'Little People' Nativity Set.

All dressed up!

I think they have on every piece of jewelry they own.

Our beautiful tree in the daylight.

Our fancy tree in the dining room.

My simple yet elegant Thanksgiving/Christmas tablescape.

Playing with chalk on the driveway.
Nevermind the clothes, how did they get it on their faces??

All cleaned up and ready for bed.

On Thursday afternoon, I mentioned to Morgan that I might like to start decorating for Christmas this weekend. Normally, I'd do it the weekend right after Thanksgiving but since all of Morgan's family will be here in a few days,
I thought it would be fun and festive as well as save me some time later. Before I knew it, my dear hubby had all the Christmas boxes out of the garage and into the living room on Friday morning. When the girls woke up and saw all the boxes laying around, you would've thought it WAS Christmas! They were so excited to help me decorate. They did great and only two ornaments were broken in the process. :) It took us about half the day to decorate and yes, we skipped doing school on Friday, too. Just another wonderful benefit of homeschooling, I'd say!

This year, I switched it up a bit. I put all of our traditional ornaments on the big tree in the living room and my fancy ornaments (as their called here), on the smaller tree in the dining room. The colors look great and I'm happy I made the switch. I also vowed this year to buy nothing new as far as decorations go.
I don't have a ton of decorations but I do have enough to make things nice.
I also managed to get some presents wrapped and under the tree. I'm loving the fact that I got an early start. We can simply look forward to spending time with our loved ones as well as the upcoming Advent season.

Morgan even asked me last night if I wanted him to put up the lights on the house. Huh?? I wasn't quite ready for that. :) It was windy and getting dark so I said maybe after Thanksgiving. LOVE my man.

Disneyland

Daddy took the day off from work on Wednesday so we could go to Disneyland during the week as a family. Morgan and I used our free tickets from the "Disney Give a Day, Get a Day Program" earlier this year. Then my brother called a friend who works at Disney and they were able to get the girls in for FREE, as well as my sister-in-law, Emily. So nice!!

We had so much fun and the girls did fantastic without a nap all day! They said their favorite ride was the roller coaster, which we went on 3x's! My, how fast they're growing up. We splurged a little on the face paint. We've never paid for it before but since we saved so much on the tickets, we thought it was a fun treat. :) The girls loved it. We stayed for the Christmas parade and watched the fireworks show from the parking structure where our car was parked. We were home by 9:30. What a fabulous way to ring in the holidays!