Happy 10th Birthday Kaelyn!

I really wanted to get this posted earlier, but better late than never! Kaelyn celebrated her 10th Birthday on December 23rd. Yikes! 10! We had a friend party for her early in December so friends who travel for the holidays can come. She had 17 girls come to her party and we made scarfs first and then got our hot chocolate travel cups and went caroling. I made each girl a song book and we walked the Keizer lights route singing. Most of the girls had never gone caroling before and everyone really enjoyed it...first we were knocking on the doors of each house and asking if we can sing for them. But as we kept walking it became easier to just sing and see if anyone came out of the house to see us. It was cold, but not raining until we were halfway through...so once the freezing rain started we decided to head (run) home. I was lame and didn't bring my camera outside with us, and I actually didn't take a group picture either (ugh) but here are a few pictures from that party anyway....So then we had a family party for Kaelyn on her actual birthday! Here are a few pics from that night...
It is so hard to believe that my middle child is 10..double digits. My sweet baby that came home Christmas eve 10 years ago...in the snow! She is such an easy girl, which surprises some since she was kind of a difficult baby. But Kaelyn is a pleaser, always making sure everyone around her is happy. She is a giver, would gladly give all her possessions to others if we'd let her. She loves Jesus with all her heart and is so mindful of God's presence in her life. She loves all animals and hurts for animals in need. She is sensitive. Not only can her feelings be easily hurt, but she truly cares about the feelings of those around. Discipline is very simple with her because she is so much harder on herself than we could be on her. She has Kyle wrapped around her finger...her big beautiful blue eyes well up with tears and Kyle is done. She is blonde. haha! Kaelyn can be a little spacey, some will laugh when I say "a little". She will set something down and 5 minutes later be wandering around looking for it. She prefers her room to be unorganized, to her its perfect when everything is laying on the floor. I think she prefers the chaos and clutter. She is goofy and likes to giggle. Her laugh is infectous. She is motherly and likes to look after her younger cousins...but remember the spacey thing, we are close by to monitor. haha! She is athletic. She is a soccer star and is always working to become better. It is such a joy to watch her play soccer, she can run and run and we aren't sure yet if she gets tired. Above all she is Kaelyn, she is wonderfully made by our Creator and we adore every second with her. We love you Kaelyn! Love, Mom & Dad

Happy Birthday Kyle!

Thank you for being such a wonderful husband and father! I am very blessed to be able to share your birthday with you. We are all better because you are in our lives. You daily demonstrate to our son what honor is, and that is showing faithfulness in the difficult and hard times as well as the joyous times. You are daily showing our girls that true love and great men are out there by being one yourself. They have such a great example in you. You are so loved and I hope we continually show you just how much! Happy Birthday! All our love...

Merry Christmas!

Today in the town of David a Savior
has been born to you;
He is Christ the Lord.
Luke 2:11

Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace
to men on whom his favor rests.
Luke 2:14

Did Santa leave anything for me?

I can't keep the cat away from the tree. He knows the very second I fix the tree skirt and he's back under there in a flash messing it up. Now he's taking to napping under there. But I guess I can't complain, the tree is after all still standing and no ornaments have been harmed in his playful antics. Yet.

Brynlee's first competition!

What a fun day today was! (Aside from 'SC stomping those lame Bruins! Wahoo!) Brynlee had her first cheer competition today. We had to get up super early, "before the sun came up" as Kaelyn noted, and head to McMinnville. We were worried about being late and thought we gave ourselves enough time, but we under-estimated just how far McMinnville is...go figure. But we got there, and we weren't last. So in my book that is just as good as on time. Bryn was a little nervous, but she shook it pretty fast once she was with her team. There were 3 other teams in her bracket competing. They performed pretty early and did awesome! After she came and sat with us and watched the rest of the teams compete. She was on such a rush when she got over to us, she was so excited. There were some amazing stunts and powerful tumbling going on in the older teams. Gosh, I don't remember doing half of what they can do now. It was very cool. Awards ceremony was at the end and her team got a FIRST place trophy! Oh my, she was over the top excited. We celebrated with a lunch at Burger King after. haha. So this was a great first competition to get their feet wet...from what i'm hearing this next one is WAY bigger.

Glory days!

So Kyle played a little flag football the night before Thanksgiving and we went out to watch the fun. It was fun to watch the "68" on the field again! Brought back many wonderful memories. I figured since tomorrow is a big game (*U. C. L. A. Sucks!*) i'd go ahead and post some pics of the awesome #68 in action...hmmm, maybe I should find some college pics to post and compare! I'll look around. Kyle did survive the game, his knee is still, however, swollen! But don't ask him if he's in pain, he'll never fess up!

Watch this!