Birthday Boy

16 REASONS I LOVE THIS CHILD

1.  He is the most amazing big brother

2.  He is so helpful at home, in our business, with his family and friends

3.  He thinks things through

4. He is considerate of others always

5.  He is a dreamer

6.  He wants to be the next Steve Jobs or Bill Gates, what is not to love about an entrepreneur???

7.  He works hard, follows through, keeps his word and goes the extra mile

8.  He is the most handsome 16 year old I have ever met

9.  His birth restored family relationships, not that he was born with this job, he just got to piece of that miraculous healing

10.  His smile is amazing

11.  He makes me laugh no matter what, especially when I need it most

12.  He takes me on dates to Starbucks, and we make the best iced coffees ever, even when some of it winds up on the ceiling.....see number 11

13.  He has been through so much in his short life, losing both your grandmothers, your great grandmother, and your great grandfather, in three years is hard.  However, I know that they are all watching out for him and have their own list of why he is so special

14.  He will still spend time with his boring old mom

15.  He loves his family

16.  Every once in awhile, he will crawl into bed with me and twirl my hair just like he has been doing since he was a baby, which reminds us both that no matter where he goes in life, I will always be there to listen, to talk to, to cry with, to laugh with, and to celebrate with.

YOU ARE AN AMAZING YOUNG MAN, SOMEONE I AM SO PROUD OF, NO MATTER WHERE YOU GO IN LIFE OR WHAT YOU PURSUE, I WILL ALWAYS BE PROUD TO CALL YOU SON!  I love you Brandyn, Happy Birthday!

Christmas Time

I will confess, I am a Christmas Junkie, nothing makes me more excited than giving gifts to people, wrapping presents, decorating our house, looking at my nativity sets, making new nativity sets, yes we do this EVERY YEAR, and seeing the joy on the faces of my children on Christmas Morning. 

SOME FUN HIGHLIGHTS OF OUR HOLIDAY

Isaac is obsessed with Pixar Cars and he got a lot of them, some in duplicate

Taylor got "the best present ever", her words....an IPOD Touch, Santa thought she had a great year

Brandyn got lots of fun things for his new truck, which is a bittersweet thing for me....he will be gone more often than I am used to, growing up is fun for them, hard for me

Savannah got lots of things for her American Girl Dolls, which she can play with for hours on end

Isaac got tired of opening presents but his Aunt Dana came later in the afternoon and made sure that he got the job finished....THANKS AUNTIE!

We had a great lunch/dinner with our family and it was such a great day.

Oh and the best part....we spent the rest of the week sick....NOT SO FUN!

SOME FUN PICTURES OF OUR MORNING

All this boy needs is Mak and McQueen, he is in love

Crafting project, from the smile I think it made her happy

Brandyn got some new clothes too, being almost 16 he is getting hard to get gifts for!

These two can be the best of friends or the worst friends....depends on the day and the tolerance level :)

Thirteen and a half years between these two but the bond they have amazes me, Isaac worships his big brother most days and I know Brandyn feels the same way he just does not show it as often.

She loves, loves, loves, loves this.  Santa made her HAPPY!!! I still can't believe she is old enough for one!

In addition to Cars, he LOVES Angry Birds!  A local woman made these from felt and they are washable, he sleeps with both of them!  They are so cute!

Christmas Eve, Santa came and Mom stayed up to take a picture....AMAZING

Well as you can see we had a great time and made some great Christmas memories along the way.  We hope that you had a wonderful Christmas too and enjoyed your family and your traditions, we sure did!

Some Pictures of 2011

At Los Conchas just a few weeks before the fire....what a great time we had!

At our favorite place EVER....Bibbity Bobbity Boutique, Disneyworld

The finished product

Savannah

Taylor

Look what Brandyn found :)

And is this not the cutest little guy ready for Santa or what

Afternoon at Bandelier, I just love that even though there are many years between these two boys, they love that they have for each other is AMAZING!

A great home school student, growing daily into a beautiful young woman.

The littlest diva in our house, striking a pose.

I JUST LOVE THESE LITTLE PEOPLE WITH ALL MY HEART AND SOUL.  THEY ARE ABSOLUTELY MY FAVORITE PEOPLE, THEY INSPIRE TO BE A BETTER PERSON EVERY SINGLE DAY, EVEN ON THE DAYS I WANT TO RUN AWAY FOR A FEW FEW HOURS.

CHILDREN ARE THE GREATEST GIFT THAT ONE CAN EVER RECEIVE!



I am way behind on this blog....

Well it seems to me like UPDATE BLOG must go onto my calendar one day a week, or it appears it will not get done, so my apologies in advance!  2011 has been one of the most challenging years of my life, and that of our family. 

HERE ARE JUST A FEW OF THE HIGH LIGHTS OR LOW POINTS.....

Huge martial crisis

Loss of health insurance

Losing my mother at age 50 unexpectedly on Mothers Day

Not getting our garden in to my standards because of dealing with my mothers death and clearing out her house

Being totally lost, alone, and fighting depression

Learning that all Christians claiming to be Christians are not and merely cause drama and heartache in your life

Learning who my true friends where and who they where not

A loss of a very dear friend

Losing all my inspiration to craft, it just became a source of sadness to me

HOWEVER HERE IS SOME OF THE GOOD STUFF.....

I am blessed, tremendously, even through the hard stuff

 Growing more and more spiritually in my walk with The Lord

Rediscovering who I am

Brandyn is driving, I am not that old, they must just let kids drive younger than they used to

Brandyn bought a truck, seeing the pride on his face makes me the proudest mother ever

Isaac's 2nd Birthday kicked off the Los Conchas Fire resulting in mandatory evacuations in Los Alamos, being in White Rock we stayed home

We fed the firefighters at Station 4 here in White Rock three meals a day, from my kitchen, and put together over 3,500 emergency kits for them as well, what a blessing this was for us to be a part of and especially for our kids to participate in.  Our house was in constant chaos for a week but so worth it

We FINALLY subscribed to Netflix at the request of the kids, not so sure that I love it like they do

Taylor danced her way through 2 dance recitals, was a teachers assistant for the little children's show and we continue to work on the next dance recital, which she is hoping she will be doing on pointe

Savannah is reading, really reading, something I was told she may never be able to do, but GOD Is GOOD!

Taylor is also becoming quite a seamstress, which just amazes and inspires me

So as you can see I am looking very forward to 2012, with new dreams, hopes, visions, aspirations, goals, and lots of love in my life.  With God all things are possible and I am holding onto this PROMISE, as I hope you will too!