Onesies, Pokemon & Maple Syrup

Christmas Morning, 2014

Our Romey girl in our manger - yearly tradition since kids were itty bitty 

(well, it used to be a baby doll clothed as Baby Jesus) 

My four babies...half-way grown up now. Ready to come down to begin the festivities.

They love this dog. I mean....REALLY love this dog.

Ella's long awaited "Taki's" - spicy fried chip thingy's that I refuse to buy. That's what makes Christmas special. ;-) The box also had a hot glue gun and some new books.

New monogrammed makeup bag...my girl's grown' up. She even asked for nice make up this Christmas...and I mean nicer make up than her Momma even uses.

All Owen asked for, dreamed about, thought about and talked about this year:

POKEMON

Will has been wanting to try "real" maple syrup, but I told him it was super pricey...thus, he got a mini bottle in his stocking - ha! :D

Garth Brooks txs for my Love...

Abby did the sweetest thing for Ella. A brown bag with "a few of her favorite things" because of Ella's love for the Sound of Music movie. She bought her a clear mascara and a Godiva bar.

The Bro's with their new UA bags

Mimi giving a double tickle

As many know, December is a challenging month for me. I have worked 15 years to teach my children to focus on the reason for the season...this is not an easy task for anyone, including myself. The to do list is beyond, our family calendar is overwhelming, it truly all becomes a blur. I even took the wrong gifts to a family event due to the brain cell reduction that occurs during this 12th month. 

Amidst it all, I still was able to see Christ's light glimmer through the chaos.   

He is, and will always remain, my rock and my salvation. 

Happy Birthday my Savior...may You be glorified through this crazy thing called my life.

Halloween 2013

*The Queen of Hearts*

Creative lil' thing made her card collar herself...so impressive!

My 3 Loves...our first year not to have all 4 together :-(

Dorothy (of which I've been trying to get Ella to do since she was like 3; she only consenting b/c I told her she could walk Romey...sadly, we didn't end up getting to even take Miss Romey) and my Fierce Little Pirate (couldn't find his patch or earring set yet again...showed up b/w Great Wolf Lodge and Halloween and then got lost again), arrrgh Matey!!

Ella & Reese (Frankenstein girl)

JSE Besties

JSE 4th Grade Friends all went Trick or Treating together 

 7th Grade Friends at the Mackey's Cul de Sac Party

The whole gang 

 Ran into Miss Sydney...fun surprise! 

Our sweet new neighbors, the W's, left my kids their very own signed bag o' candy

 Candy Explosion 

(seriously, it's the most we've ever gotten!)

Now to keep Romey from getting to all that chocolate...

Rise 'n Ring!

So, our little darling has been BEGGING for a phone for about 2 months now. Our initial thought was...no way Hosea. But, as we marinated on the idea, we started to see some reasons why it might just be a good idea.
And, according to our Abby Lou...there are MANY reasons why it would be a good idea:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On May 30, 2013, at 9:49 AM, Abby Ruley wrote:

REASONS WHY!!!

* I will contact you if there's an emergency

*I will call people!

*i won't get on the Internet without permission

*I will delete youtube 

*I can call you from school if pom schedules change or for any other school reason

*I can do stuff without having to have wifi

*I will babysit,vacuum, and do dishes to pay for the phone bills

*I can play music without wifi

*I can express my personality with a awesome case!!

*on the IPhone adults can apply the parental controls where adult can block stuff

*i won't stalk my crush or brothers and sisters 

* I won't prank call (cant anyways)

* I will let you know my password

*I will not give out my number to random people

*I will only get apps with your permission

*Literally all my friends have one!

*I won't EVER drop it

*I can FaceTime without wifi

* Siri!!

*Its the cool thing to have

* emoji

* I can go places without having to use someone else's phone :-(

*more storage

* create your own voicemail!

* unlimited texting

*unlimited calling

*free games

~Abby~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In order to reaaally surprise her, we decided to wait until the day after her actual birthday.  

So, early on the morning of Friday, June 7th, we tied up Abby's favorite thine (Romey) with our card and carried up her gift.

We awoke Sleeping Beauty with Romey on her bed :-)

The message written in our card explained why we felt that it was time for her to take this step...and honestly, the biggest one wasn't even realized until late the night before. After opening what she thought was all of her gifts the night before, and then gracefully thanking us for a lovely evening and all her new presents...I was so moved that I had a daughter who desperately wanted something that she did not receive and yet did not say one.single.negative.word about not getting it. I was beaming with love for this girl of mine...I was so proud that she acted so much better than I ever would have at her age.

What a Girl of God she is! She inspires me!!

Abby had tears in her eyes and was full of joy

Daddy showin her the ropes

then big bro had so share some iphone skillz as well

Her 1st call

p.s. Another cool side story to this is that my old Iphone 4 that we thought had seen its last day back in December, came back alive when we went to see about getting it fixed to give to Abby...seriously, we had a phone resurrection!!

Momma's Day 2013

Early mornin' Momma's Day Breakfast in Bed...someone wasn't quite "up" yet ;-)

(see bottom left corner of pic - hee, hee)

Will loves him some Romey cuddle...and apparently some Abby cuddle too

(thankfully these two have always gotten along super)

(My FB prayer)

Dear Lord, thank You for entrusting me with these four precious souls...may I make You proud, and may I cherish every moment. 

p.s. Please make time slow down...it's going WAY.TOO.FAST

(sorry for the 3 different shots...the sun was so bright we kept trying different angles)

My Girlies

One Word for the Mom of these 2 Boys: LUCKY

Abs and her Romey girl

Oh how I love this lil' guy! His passion 4 life makes my heart go pitter patter...

Ella's homemade chocolate concoction made just for me :-)

BEST CARDS EVER this year - all were so unique to each of my loves

Helping Daddy prepare for my special dinner

Greg prepared dinner for me tonight...the entire dinner! (this.is.HUGE!) He even looked up a marinade recipe and grilled one of my fave's ~ kabobs! We also dined on a delicious spinach and strawberry salad and almond rice pilaf...YUMMY! For dessert ~ an ice cream sundae bar thanks to Ella "Cherry and Sprinkle Lover" Ruley. ;-)

My invitation for some M's Day Performances

"Oh How He Loves Us" by Ella Bella

Romes had to join in on the fun

"Stuck Like Glue" by Abby Lou

"You are Beautiful" by Will

“Motherhood is a choice you make everyday, to put someone else's happiness and well-being ahead of your own, to teach the hard lessons, to do the right thing even when you're not sure what the right thing is...and to forgive yourself, over and over again, for doing everything wrong.”― Donna Ball