Braden is 9!

Happy birthday to our smart, kind, clever, inventive, fun, funny, silly, brave, energetic, thoughtful, wonderful boy-o!  We are pretty sure that life somehow got fast-forwarded while we weren't looking and you just jumped to being 9. :)  We love you so much and are so blessed that God gave you to us so we can walk beside you in this life.  What anadventure we have had so far and what an adventure is still to come!  We release showers of blessing and wisdom and love over you in abundance!  Oh, happy day!

Braden wanted a NASA birthday.  Again, no invite-everyone-and-go-way-over-the-top party for this year.  That's next year's craziness. ;)  I did decorate and do it up boy-style.  We don't want anything too girly in this house for boy birthdays.  Just ask the boys if you don't believe me. :)  Braden helped me hang some stuff and he was very specific in the planning part of it all.  I really like it when the kids are that involved with their party planning.  I'm looking forward to when they get even more involved.  Let's just say that there should be no excuse for any of them not being able to pull off surprise parties and all the fullness thereof when they are older! ;)

Don't you love it when you can use a 40% AND 50% off coupon at michael's at the same time?!  Me, too!  I got a few things there including these cake wires:

In my perusal of the cake decorating aisle, I came across and find that I am in want of this baby in the not-so-far-off future:


I also got a few things at Hobby Lobby (totally busted out the 40% off coupon there, too. :)  I'm loving the paper lanterns and pinwheel thingymabobs lately.  I printed off the space shuttles and the garland and viola! just enough deco for a 9-year-old boy. :)

 First, we had his birthday breakfast.  He chose to have pancakes with only peanut butter chips in his.

 We all really liked how the cake turned out looking....the actual cake part, though, was NOT impressive.  This was actually the second failed attempt.  I was trying to make the raspberry lemon cake from Taste of Home, but it doesn't do well in anything other than several shallow round or square pans.  Eh, it would work in sheet cake form, too.  I tried to cook it in my pampered chef batter bowl first so that I could have the dome shape, but it never got done in the middle and the outside got burned.  So, when I was at Michael's, even though I had decided not to get a special pan, I went ahead and got the ball pan and tried it again in that.  It still didn't get done in the middle!  Ugh!  More like a gelatin than cake which makes for a very unpleasant experience.  Bummer.  The planets were pretty good though.  I just made them from rice crispy treats and marshmallow fondant and then used gel food coloring mixed with almond extract to paint them.  A special thanks to Kristen H. for helping me cover the planets in the fondant!  It would have taken me fo'evah otherwise.  I picked up some better Duff paint brushes while I was at it. (I'm starting to see a trend here... ;)  Next time, I'll just turn a plain yellow cake into lemon yumminess or maybe a lemon pound cake...mmmmmm.  Braden is a lemon fanatic, too. :)

The silliness is strong with this one!

Everyone was excited about getting their own planet to eat. :)

Braden said the best part was when I took him by himself to the store and said that he could choose what he wanted up to $10.  (He also got an Academy gift card later.)  Let me tell you, this kid bargain shopped!  He found that green dart gun in the pics on the clearance shelf for $4.48, got a few extra bullets for it on the clearance shelf for $1.98 and then went and got three hot wheels cars for $.97 a piece.  He was excited about his haul AND about not spending the whole $10!  These are exciting times, folks!  It will be a beautiful day when I get him all in to couponing. ;)  (He does already have a grasp on the Hobby Lobby coupon...it has begun:)

Happy Birthday, Brea!

Our little ooo-baby turned 2!  Seriously, time is just ticking right along!

Brea's birthday was a fun affair.  We mostly just chilled and kept saying happy birthday to her.  It wasn't as big of a to-do as Ailey's mostly because, well, she's 2.  She likes baby dolls and pretty much anything her siblings are playing with that she can't have at the moment. ;)  The next 2 years will involve her interests more and she'll be involved in the planning.  I'm really looking forward to that!  I still decorated just for her and she got cupcakes.  I've seen that she's more into cookies than cake, so we may be going with a cookie cake next year. ;)

The paper lantern balls in the pics are from Michael's and I got a great price for them!  I love it when I can use one of their 40% off 1 item coupled with 25% of entire purchase coupons!  Woohoo!  Hopefully, they will last for many years to come...especially if I can keep the girls from playing with them like they are actual bouncy balls!  Oy.

Okay, brea got a chocolate chip pancake breakfast.  She was funny because she didn't really know what was going on, though she did a good job waiting to blow out her candles on the pancakes and cupcakes later on while we sang happy birthday to her.

Ailey had help blowing out her candles on her cake, so she decided that Brea needed her help blowing out her candles on the cupcakes.  I think Brea will like blowing out her own candles next year. ;)

When it came time to open her presents, I started her out, but she soon got the hang of it herself and was excited about her hello kitty doll and her vtech phone.  She is a phone fanatic!  She wouldn't stop swiping mine and Sam's phones, so we figured she needed her own. :)  The funny thing was that the other kiddos wanted to play with her phone so much!  We have a standing rule that presents don't have to be shared on the day they are received so that the person gets to actually play with their gifts.  The gifts usually end up getting shared all around after about 30 minutes, anyway.

All in all, we had a good day celebrating Brea. :)

Precious Brea-oo,

You are such a delight!  We are excited to see what God has built into you as you grow and blossom.  We are so proud of our beautiful, lovely, wonderful baby girl!  We love you sooooo much!  Happy Birthday!

Love,

Mommy and Daddy

Happy Birthday, Lerloo!

Today our Ailey turned 4!  She's really 4...WOW!  Four whole years...some days she seems ageless and other days I think that surely she can't be as old as she is.

I've started a habit that might turn into tradition of every other year going all out and inviting kiddos and doing the huge birthday party thing.  We did that last year, but I didn't want to be all ho-hum about it on the off years either.  I want the kids to feel very special and focused-upon on their birthdays.  I make a special birthday breakfast for each of them (they get to choose what they want to have) and i put candles in it and they get to blow them out.  This year I'm adding in decorations.  I was thinking about how when we have parties, I usually go all out with the decorations because people are coming over and all that jazz.  There is always an element of impressing there when decorating, but mostly I want to make the atmosphere really fun to be in.  It dawned on me that I should do that for the kids whether we have people coming over or not, just because I think they are special and I want them to feel it the whole day on their birthday.

Ailey is now at that age that she really gets the birthday thing and she was able to be pretty involved in the planning.  She is REALLY into Hello Kitty right now, so I asked if she would like a Hello Kitty birthday and the answer was a resounding YES!  I put time and effort into making the decorations so that I could reuse them again for Brea's birthday and for many to come in the future.  Ailey is pretty interesting.  She definitely has her own sense of style.  She likes pink and purple and shiny and all that, but she's rather specific with it all.  She like a little edginess to it.  So, I thought zebra and polkadots with black and pink would work just fine for her. :)

After it was all said and done, she really loved all of it, especially the marked attention from us!

Dear sweet Lerloo,

We love you so, so much.  You are a bright spot in our lives and your flame gets brighter with each passing day!  You are a joy, a challenge and a ton of fun all rolled into a small, energetic package.  God knew we needed you and we are so grateful to be molded into the parents that you need to grow and become everything you possibly will.  You are lovely, beautiful, smart, fun, talented, amazing, wonderful, incredible and fantastic!  We are so proud of you!

Love,

Mommy and Daddy

Best.Present.EVER!

I think I have waited long enough to blog about this....I didn't want to right away because I tend to be strange about certain things (no comments from those who think me strange in all things! ;) and I wanted to just keep this close for a while I think.  A while back, I really felt God pressing in for me to be a worship leader of sorts.  At the time, I could play a bit of hand drum and I do mean a bit ;) and the tambourine and shaker and that's about it.  Good accent instruments, but lead instruments. :)  I tried to learn guitar 7 years ago when we lived in Hawaii with no success.  I was attempting to learn left-handed because I am and its more comfortable that way for me, but it really never panned out.  So fast forward to the recent past and God leading me into a place of amazing worship of Him and I picked up the guitar at the end of June, playing right-handed and have been going ever since.  Its been pretty fast-paced and I can play pretty much any song God puts on my heart.  Now, I will tell you that I can't bar to save my life...anything with Fs and Bs I steer clear of, but the great thing is I can just transpose it into Gs, Ds, As, Cs...you get the picture..stuff I can play.  I think there will be a time where I will really try to get proficient at playing chords I can't play right now....maybe. ;p  I also want to learn more about the instrument and all the technical terms and all that rigamarole, but I'm okay with that being a little at a time for now.  I also don't strum "normally" or play "normal" rhythm, but the songs sound the way I want them to and that's good enough for me!  Anyway, its been a very interesting so far and I'm loving that I can play while worshipping any time I want.   Its pretty neat!  God has just been so purposeful and gracious in equipping me this way and I'm really very honored and blessed!  I'm very excited to see where He takes me in all of this.  

Okay, now where my new guitar comes in is this...Sam has seen what God is doing with me with worship and he decided to full on equip and support me!  My husband is so great, people!  Seriously fantastic!  So buying me a guitar that is more suited for me was his opening move of empowering me:

Isn't it purdy?!  This is what Sam bought me for my birthday.  He actually bought it for me at the end of August and my birthday is not until November.  He wanted me to have it to play when I and several of the ladies of our home group were asked to lead the worship portion of a special service at a church in Copperas Cove.  I just love that about Sam!  He dreams bigger for me than I do!
Our friend Mel has a Big Baby Taylor and she let me play it and I just fell in love with it.  The wood and the feel of the guitar...just lovely!  I was totally smitten.  Add to that that she introduced me to Elixer Nanoweb strings...Oh, MY!  They feel slicker 'n' snot and they are truly lovely to play!
We had gone to San Antonio to visit and as usual, and with much gratitude from Sam and I, Juan and Donna sent us off on a much needed date while they spent alone time with the kids.  Sam decided it would be fun to go to Guitar Center there and just look to see what we could find.  They had a Big Baby in stock and I took it down and strummed on it for a minute and then... Sam found a MINI Taylor!  Oh, yeah!  I have very squatty hands with squatty fingers and short arms and it is difficult for me to play a full-sized guitar, so we wanted a smaller one for me.  Anyway, we ended up being able to get the same model at our Guitar Center here in Killeen.  I love it!  Plus, though its small, Sam can still plunk around on it and when the kids get older, if any of them want to learn, its the perfect size for that, too.  Its along the same lines as a travel guitar, but it has a full-bodied sound just like a full-size.

And yes, I did bling out my pick guard.  It was necessary, I promise!

A Weekend Visit

The kids and I had the opportunity to go for a visit with family in East Texas.  It was really nice to be able to hang with Ben, Jen and the boys for a couple of days.  Sam went trit-trotting off to Carlsbad Caverns with a couple of friends, so it was a good opportunity to get out of the house for a bit. :)  We had such a good time and of course, I snapped a few pics.....yeah, I don't know where Zekers got to during the picture taking....;)

 We enjoyed the rain..and the food. :D

 Happy Birthday, Gabe!!!

 These two are best buds!

 Happy Birthday, Luke!

 I got a smile outta Lije!

 Braden in usual form. ;)

 Ailey was having a blast in Aunt Jenny's swing.

Elijah and Brea having a face making contest.  Love this!

We have some handsome nephews and they are growing up so stinkin' fast!  Every time I see them, they have grown another foot.  Not exaggerating, either.  I'm going to end up being the little old aunt.  That's okay, I guess. :)

Happy Birthday, Zekers!

Zekey is 5 today.  Yesterday he was 4 and now he is 5.  Really?!  He has moved into big boyhood.  Oh, my!  He has such a huge heart and its amazing how God is already using that big heart.  I am so looking forward to where the Lord is taking him.  It is going to be quite an adventure!

Zekes requested chocolate chip muffins for his birthday breakfast.  Yummy!  I made one in a mini bundt pan for him. :)

Zekey you are quite the amazing little guy!  May you walk closely with the Lord.  May your heart always be open to His direction.  May your focus be continually on Him.  May you have a true friendship with the Holy Spirit.  May His heart be poured out of you like a soothing balm to all who are weary and need His presence.  May you welcome His kingdom and align your life with it.  May His favor ever increase on you.  May God grant you ever increasing favor and influence with man and may you be a portal for earth to become like heaven!  Walk in your sonship with assurance as you stay firmly planted in the foundation of the Lord!  We love you so much and are excited to share many more happy birthdays with you!

Happy Birthday, Braden!

Braden is 8.  8!  On one hand I feel like I have been present every moment of his life and on the other I'm boggled at where the time has gone...wow!  What an amazing package of gifts and blessings God has put together in the form of Braden.  It is truly an honor to walk with him in his life.  I thank the Lord for putting him in our family.  For giving him to us first.  It was on purpose and is for a purpose still.:)

Every birthday boy or girl gets a special birthday breakfast and gets to choose what we have for breakfast.  Braden asked for Malt-o-Meal and cinnamon toast.  It was even more special than usual because Memaw and Pepaw were here to celebrate with us!  Yay!

Braden, may your walk with your God be focused and real and wonderful.  May you hide yourself in Him and include Him in every aspect and moment of your life.  May you be a willing and powerful instrument for Him.  May you stay freed of all worldly restraints and may you allow the Holy Spirit to continually transform you and to work in and through you.  May you walk boldly in the power, authority and position that God has imparted to you.  May you grow in favor with Him and with man.  May you have eyes to see and ears to hear and heavenly perspective.  May your heart be the Lord's heart and may His compassion consume you!  We love you so much!  Happy Birthday, Braden-boy-o!

Happy 1st Birthday, Brea Boops!

May the Lord pour out His character, His Holy Spirit and His vision into you.  May you chase after Him with your whole heart and learn to worship Him in spirit and in truth every moment of each of your days.  May your heart bless His heart and may you glorify His name!  May you be salt and light and may your heart never grow cold!  We love you, precious baby girl.  You are truly a gift from God and we cherish each day with you.  We are honored to be chosen as your parents and may the Lord lead us in training you up in the way you should go!

Happy Birthday!!!

Ailey and Brea's Birthday Party

We had a birthday party for the girls yesterday and had such a nice time.  I, of course, went a little nutty with all the preparations and I still have to learn about how to find a balance there, but I've come to the conclusion that I'd rather had slightly nutty prep time and very calm party time as opposed to the opposite. :)  Our fabulous home group family came as well as some of our fantastic homeschool co-op friends and it was a relaxing time of fellowship.  AAaaaah.  The girls got some fun gifts and the boys wanted to get their hands on their stuff as well.  So, all is normal. ;)  The only sad thing is that Brea started having a fever not too long after the party ended and is still fighting something off. :(  It should break soon and then lil' miss will be up to playing with her toys. :)

I, along with a few others took some pics to commemorate the occasion:

 Had to put some fruit skewers in there to offset all the icing.

Rainbow jello!  Yummy!

 Thank you, Kristen H. for letting me borrow your cupcake cake pan!

Made one cupcake cake for each of my girlies.

 MMMMmmmm....more sugar for the take home bags!

 I was going to do the different color koolaid in the bottles of water, but after thinking about how much sugar was already involved, I decided to leave well enough alone. ;p

R. on the hunt...

 We had an egg hunt.  They were filled with playdoh.  Playdoh and dirt and grass don't mix well.  Guess I better rethink that strategy. :)

 A. and K. helping round up the eggs.

I tried to light the candles, but the wind was uncooperative, so we just had to pretend.  We did sing happy birthday, though!

 L. and A. helping to assist in egg collection...

 Really wants a piece....

 Colors!

Money shot.

Miss Ali and her youngest (for now) O.

Miss Rosie.

Jim in smile mode!  I had to get on to him about letting me take his pic to get this shot. :)

Face full of cake.  Its what its all about.

Love these folks!

I think I caught Patrick in the middle of a yawn...but I could be mistaken.

Lovely ladies, Kristen and Lucy with little L.

This was taken after I handed my camera off, so I can't say who took some of these, but I can say Sean, Laury and Ali were all involved....

Rachel, Jason and David and some of their crews.  Between our three families, we have 11 children. :)

Really can't say what was going on here...

Little L.  Sweetness!

Cupcake.  A picture.

Hey sweet P.!

The Ler.

I think Zekey would live in a tree if he could.

R. in solemn mode.

Braden in normal camera ham mode.

T2.  He waited patiently for his cupcake.

This is true Braden.

New hair doodads!

Um, yeah.

Ohhh, weee.  Love that baby.

Um, yeah....again.

Didn't really want that on her head.

Hi, I'm a princess.

Baby doll collaboration.

She is so cute with stuffed animals.

This is a bow holder and Ailey wanted to wear it.  I would let her except for the lack of coverage and all. ;p

Happy Birthday Girls!