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Christmas Card Time!

Yes, it's time for Christmas cards! One great way to do this is to use Shutterfly. Super easy to use and upload pics. Check out this invite we made for Jenna's birthday party...

 

Baby Pink Dots Birthday Invitation

Shutterfly birthday cards and birthday party invitations.

View the entire collection of cards.

Happy Shopping!

As the Christmas shopping season draws near, I am constantly reminded of the power of how I spend my dollar in the marketplace. With that in mind, here is a list of great businesses that are making a difference in the world around us. Especially check out the link for Acholi Beads...awesome jewelry with an amazing impact on women in Uganda.

http://responsiblegiftguide.tumblr.com/

Jenna's Birthday Party

Jenna celebrated her first birthday on September 1st. Here are some pictures from our party at the park!

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Shopping Fun

One day we randomly popped in a store we never go to just to grab a couple of things. Wouldn't you know they would have the coolest cart ever! And as any mom of littles will tell you...yes, cool carts can make or break a shopping trip :)

Lazy Days of Summer

We loved going to the beach this summer! Anna Kate enjoyed building sandcastles and running in and out of the water. Jenna Grace loved eating all the sand she could get her hands on :)

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We Love Sea World!

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Anna Kate turns 3!

This past Saturday we celebrated Anna Kate's 3rd birthday! She will actually turn 3 on Tuesday. We did a princess tea party with lots of dressing up and play jewelry. The girls had so much fun![gallery columns="2"]

Jenna Grace is growing up!

On September 1st, Jenna Grace turned one! Eventually I will catch up and post some pictures. Following her birthday, I realized that she is a full-on pre-toddler...not a baby anymore. This girl can keep up with her sister in most situations.

The other day Anna Kate was helping me unload the dishwasher and she climbed up and started handing AK the small cups and spoons for her to put away. Already a great helper :)

Anna Kate and Time

My sweet oldest daughter will soon turn 3 years old. Her curiosity and love of learning new things is blossoming at this age. Especially her love of time! This girl loves clocks! The other day a friend brought her a new clock for her room and you would think it was a ticket to Disneyland. Anna Kate was thrilled!

Common questions in our house include: what time will it be ready? what time are we leaving? what time do i wake up? what time baby grace wake up? what are we doing now? what are we doing next? where are we going? who with?

Last night as I was putting her to bed, she glanced at her light up digital clock (as she does every night to tell me the time and ask when she wakes up) and realized that her new clock did not shine in the dark. She said...Mommy I can't see my new clock. I let her know that seeing one clock at night is plenty for her!

Rest time and wakeup time all revolve around what time it is on her clock. And then sometimes just for fun, she will run back and forth between the digital clocks in my room and in the kitchen to see if they match. If they do, she gets so excited...Mommy, look it matches. Though I find this interest in time pretty funny at times, mostly I just am amazed at how much she is like me. Give her a plan and she is peaceful and happy. Change of plans or unexpected things throw her off...sound familiar? She wants a schedule and wants to be on time. Seems like she may look like her Daddy but her brain is all Mommy!

Our Summer Travels

Anna Kate with some friends at our conference in Colorado



Eating her first snow cone...even her tummy was stained blue!



Anna and Nana playing the piano together



An artsy photo Anna took of our feet at the airport...she also took some video I was surprised to see (anyone else think it's wild that your preschooler knows more about an iPhone than you do?)



Anna getting some hugs from Abba



Happy 4th of July!



The girls at a 4th of July pancake breakfast



Sparklers!



My sister with the girls at North Park Mall (shopping is what we do best...as well as riding up and down all the escalators)



Loving her Pokey-Os ice cream!



My parents enjoying Pokey-Os too!



Daddy's fireworks



Mommy and Jenna (both still dairy free...but not for long!)



Waiting for a shuttle in Colorado



Playing in a little pool at a carnival in Colorado

You're still here...thanks!

Thanks so much to you faithful bloggers who have stuck with us through the past several months of few posts! Yes, we are still around and busy as ever. We spent one week in Amarillo with Jonathan's family and attended his 10 year high school reunion. Then we flew down to Dallas to spend a week with my fam. We saw so many good friends and I got to have many breaks with lots of eager babysitters around. We spent one night in Austin and got to see my grandmother, aunt, and two cousins. Meanwhile, Jonathan flew back for a quick weekend in San Diego for work. This meant that the girls and I flew solo to Colorado! My first flight alone with both and they did fabulous! I was so proud of them...and me! We had lots of snacks, many movies, and plenty of random airplane items turned toys. (How many things can you do with a little plastic cup and a straw?) We met up with Jonathan and spent a week in Colorado with our sending church's conference. This was refreshing on so many levels. We loved every minute with friends and great teaching and a chance for our girls to get loved on all day in kids camp. Now we have been home for a week and for the most part caught up on life (does it count if your laundry is clean but still in baskets all around the house?) Since we are home for a while, we are tackling two main missions: getting Jenna going on the sippy cup (she is 5 weeks away from turning 1!) and lots of table food and saying bye-bye to Anna Kate's pacifier. Both of these are tough but it is time to do it...think of us as we spent a couple of wakeful nights!

Mommy, i need my toolbox

Eating lunch today...

AK: (looking at the wall) Mommy, I need my toolbox.

M: OK, (handing her a small wadded up napkin)

AK: I need my hammer (hammers the wall) I need my screwdriver (screws into the wall) and my paintbrush (paints the wall)

M: Good construction work!

AK: Tank you mommy (turns back to her grilled cheese)

Other funnies...while praying for her at night i look up to see AK with one hand in the air saying :Yes GOd Yes Lord. Been on a mission trip lately?

AK using her baby doll's toes to do this little piggy went to market

Costa Rica

We just took our family on our church's mission trip to Costa Rica. What a journey! The girls did great with all the traveling and sleeping in new places. It was such a stretch for me to break from our daily routine and schedule and go with the flow a little bit. But so worth it! Many people got saved and changed by the Holy Spirit. Praise God! Plus I feel like my Spanish is definitely getting better. I knew Anna Kate was a pro traveler when we went through security at one airport...she walked up to the conveyor belt, put her paci on the belt, walked through the screener, then waited for her paci on the other side. Hilarious! She developed a new found love for orange juice (I think they put sugar in it there) and Jenna Grace had her first taste of crackers. They ate a lot of rice and beans and lots of fresh tropical fruit. Our first house had a pool so both clocked their fare share of swim time. They love the water! We are so glad to be home! Pictures coming soon...once I finish the laundry :)

Our learning little girl!

As Anna Kate grows, I am more aware of her developing mind. Here are some examples of things that amaze me...

A month and a half ago, my parents came to visit us for a week. My dad was wearing some brown Sperry topsiders for most of the time. The other day, Anna Kate was playing in our closet and pulled Jonathan's topsider shoes that look very similar. She brought them to me and said "Papa's shoes?" I cannot believe she picked up on that small detail and remembered for so long!

Jonathan just put a new antennae on the house so we can get the basic channels on TV. Apparently it is very powerful because we pick up all sorts of Spanish channels that we did not have before, so we are getting signals from Tijuana. One of the channels has Dora the Explorer on it...in Spanish. I turned it on for Anna Kate and thought she would probably lose interest pretty quickly because she did not understand what they were saying. She is still glued to it now! Maybe my little girl knows more Spanish than I think :) Or just picks up on all the context clues!

What a sweet developing mind!

Our comings and goings

Last weekend, Nana and Abba and Aunt Robin came for a visit. We had lots of fun playing and exploring new places. We went strawberry picking in Carlsbad. There is nothing like a strawberry fresh off the vine and warm from the sun!



Jenna watched the action from her baby carrier because she would definitely be into those strawberries if we let her down in the field.



Anna Kate gobbled up as many as she could find. She calls them "strawbebebbbies"









Jenna Grace posing for her passport picture. When we point the camera at her, she smiles...we have trained her well!





Jenna thinks Anna Kate is the funniest thing she ever saw. So sweet!

News from our girls

Why are these girls so smiley? Well, Jenna Grace just had a tooth surface on the bottom. And Anna Kate spent a week potty training and is doing fabulous! What big girls we have!

Happy Birthday Lauren!

We love you and hope you have a great day!

Happy Easter!

I thought our Easter picture would be a sweet picture of the girls in matching outfits and Jonathan and I dressed to the nines. Instead, we have me in pjs and the girls in whatever we could find around. On Saturday before Easter, I got the flu so I stayed home from all the Easter festivities. A sweet friend took Anna Kate to the Easter egg hunt at church and Jenna stayed home with Mommy. I managed to put our ham in the oven to warm so our Easter dinner became a very simple affair. Maybe next year we will get the pic we wanted!

Our lifegroup multiplication

This past Tuesday, our lifegroup celebrated a multiplication! We grew so big that our one turned into two. What a great picture of what God is doing among us!

Vacation

We recently got to take a family vacation to Palm Springs and stay at a fabulous resort! Anna Kate loved the pool and playing in the hotel room. Jenna Grace sat in her little float in the water and enjoyed floating around like a little water baby! Jonathan and I got some good relaxing time away from phone and email with our two precious gals.

Daddy Dates

Anna Kate and Daddy have gotten to spend some great time together recently. They love going to the zoo and getting frozen yogurt. Anna also loves coming along with her Dad to Home Depot...what a great little helper!

Trip to Mexico

We enjoyed our mission trip to Tijuana, Mexico! Jonathan worked closely with Marco (pictured below), a pastor at a local church. The girls loved the hotel room and Anna fell in love with a big green froggie (person dressed up) who made some cameos at our outreaches to attract the local children. We saw many people come to Christ and encounter God's presence in a new way. What a powerful time south of the border!

March Madness

Wow, the month of March is almost over...where have we been? Well we started out with Jenna Grace turning 6 months and a visit from my sister. Pioneer Woman's cinnamon rolls, shopping at Old Navy, and watching the Olympics. No better way to spend a weekend. After that, we began to prepare for our church's mission trip to Tijuana. We got a visit from my parents (better known as GranJan and Papa) which meant a vacation for me as they cleaned the house and loved on our girls. Jonathan and I even got an afternoon away to relive our newly married days with several hours on the beach (with no sandy sippy cups or chasing the birds) and a segway tour of Coronado Island (so fun...you should try it). We loved getting to see them! Now we are settling in to get ready for April and a little bit of a slower pace. Still to come...update on our church's mission trip to Tijuana and pictures of the girls. Until then, enjoy your day!

Our adventures

Jenna is now on cereal and is teething like crazy! i thought the cereal would help her sleep longer but now she is up 4 times a night with teething. yikes! hope this passes quickly. but she sures loves that cereal. and anna kate loves jenna's bumbo seat. somehow she thinks it is her seat :)

The Olympics

I am loving the winter Olympics. Yes, I have only skiied twice in my life but I could watch those gals fly down the mountain for hours. And don't get me start on the short track speed skating. Yes, this is my idea of good TV.

Anna Kate loves it too. This is a bit of our conversation last night while watching the two man bobsled.

AK: Oh, football (she noticed the guys with helmets on)

me: Well it is sort of like football but this is the bobsled

AK: Blue

me: Yes their bobsled is blue. Good job.

AK: WEEEEE! (watching them fly down the track)

me: Yes, that looks like they are having fun.

AK: Football (said very confidently)

me: Yes, sort of like football

Or this conversation while watching some skiiers crash

AK: Oh no!

me: Yes, she fell down, but she's ok.

AK: Ok

me: Yes, she's standing up so she's ok now

AK: OK!

Now she says OK? then OK! after every skier does their run

Yes, we love the Olympics. Think you will catch me in 2014 on the halfpipe?

Lovin the exersaucer!

I have been wanting to put Jenna Grace in the exersaucer for a while now and today was her first day. Anna helped me clean it (that girl loves her some Clorox wipes) and then we put Jenna in. You can see she loves it!

Pretty in pink

Welcome to our Pretty in Pink photo shoot! Enjoy!