Merry Christmas!!!

(12-26-07)

Our Christmas was wonderful and blessed,

we hope yours was as well!

(Due to the fact that I left my camera locked in our church Christmas Eve, I had to borrow a camera. So, the pictures are a little weird and yellow because of my inability to work it properly.)

Here is the token arm shot of Gary and I first thing Christmas morning!

Each year we do a "Happy Birthday Jesus" party with the kids. We try to do this on Christmas Eve so that it comes before the gifts. We want the children to understand that we celebrate Christmas because Christ came to earth as a helpless baby so that ultimately He would one day willingly sacrifice His sinless life so that we could be offered the most marvelous gift of forgiveness and eternal salvation if we accept it. We want them to know that we give gifts as a representation of this most wonderful gift of grace, regardless if they have been good or bad.

Justus is helping me crack the eggs, he loves to help in the kitchen!

Justus and Bella are mixing the BLUE cake mix,

they wanted to make a blue cake this year.

(After we finished, I licked the spoon and Justus said, "Mom, don't eat it all, it's for baby Jesus"! It was so cute!)

Pierce was hanging out in the walker for the event.

Now they are ready for presents!

Already with the stare down?

This is the "We are already tired of Mommy Paparazzi!" shot.

Pierce is content to watch for a bit...

Pierce's first time to open a Christmas gift!

As young as he is, he is going for it!

All smiles here...


Opening gifts was a tough workout for Piercy!

Bella on the other hand is having a Bear Grylls moment (with her fake pickle) to build up her energy for gift time!

Justus with his "Justus" puppy.

Bella so serious in her cowgirl boots...

Another break to rebuild energy, or enjoy candy from the stocking anyway. (Side note - if you look in the walker, you can see Bella's white puppy in the seat. Lately, she has been a little mommy to everything she has, even puzzle pieces. She puts things in the walker, the swing, under blankets, etc. It is so hilarious and so precious!)

On the mommy note...She received her first CP doll and was amazed that she had a real diaper on!

Guitar time!!! Now between the two of them there are four guitars, two keyboards, a saxophone, many drumsticks, drums, maracas, jingle bells, two recorders, and a harmonica! This is part of the reason it always sounds like a circus if you call!

After the event....

Yes we did pull the old "I think there is one last thing..." trickeroo.... Justus kept saying WOW, WOW, it is a basketball goal!!!

Ahhhhh -- after nap time....

Then comes Bella as soon as she wakes up....

and finally Justus too.

Is it guitar time again???

Of course.

I love this squishy pic of Pierce!

Still playing.

Finally, we get to have our Happy Jesus Party! (We Were late this year)


Bella blew out her first candle by herself! (We each blow out a candle to tell God thank you for either something He has done in our lives or thank you for the gift of Christ.)

She kept trying to get me to lick the icing off her hands -- no thanks. :)

Mommy and J.

Finally, a little basketball before bed in his whitie tighties!

A few ad-ons...

12-21-07

(This is my 51st post by the way, woowoo!)

We were all at the mall today and Justus jumped in the photo booth curious to find out what it was. I decided, why not and here are the shots...the last one is my favorite.

I forgot to add this with the pics from Morgan's birthday party. Apparently, Ashleigh was taking a "manly" shot and Justus ran in from outside, took off his shirt, and joined in. Do you see that look?

Notice the two smallest boys (Morgan and Justus) are the tacklers! We are having issues with Justus thinking he is in an eternal football game with everyone he encounters...we will get there and he will be a great team player at the end of it! :)

That is it for today -- travel safely if you are going out of town!

Merry Christmas!!!

Okay, so it has been a good two months since my last legitimate blog as opposed to my usual two weeks. Therefore, you have a TON of pics here!!! Due to my sluggish ways, I have thrown in a few video bonuses this time! One day I will have a video recorder that does not look like I am recording on Mars. I hope you enjoy! I pray that Christ blesses each of your holidays with the true spirit of Christmas!

Be sure to click on the play buttons to watch all three videos...

Justus and his "cowboy walk"

Bella & Meme on Meme's Birthday!

Don't watch if you can stand the screaming; I call this one "Dancing Fever". Watch as they both drop at the end...

Justus vs. Dr. Miller

In our October blog, we briefly noted that Justus busted up his face after he fell off his Uncle Richard's bed in Albuquerque. Roughly, a month later one of his top teeth started to die and had to be pulled. This was his first experience with the dentist and it was horrible! He thought he was in trouble; we were so sad for him and we tried to explain that this was to help his mouth and he had done nothing wrong. Anyway, here are the before, immediately after (I agreed to buy him a lollipop for this experience), and back to normal. Pray for us as we go back again for the checkup in January! He asks me everyday if he has to go see Dr. Miller "today".

Just a cutie pie shot of B...

Shopping at 4:30AM!!!

Lesley and I went to Best Buy Sunday to wait in line for Wiis. If you could see in the background, you would know that it looked like a homeless shelter there. People were sleeping on mattresses, had portable heaters, etc. -- these were PROS! Chris was absolutely wonderful to bring us hot Vanilla Cappuccinos!!! When he arrived he looked like the nice rich man coming to help the homeless...

Our efforts paid off, Chris and Lesley have a Wii in hand now and Lesley and I had a great time!!!

Sweetie B

We have been getting this look quite often this week! Sassy!

My happy baby...

So smiley...


Yes she just woke up..but she looks SO much older to me in this pic...


She loves to put on Justus clothing (hat, gloves)

Always moving at the speed of light...
Smiles for Courtney

Cracker Barrel for Meme's Birthday!!!

Here is a prime example that toddlers watch and learn from all you do, so make sure it is something great to repeat!!!

Chilly B...

We had a Christmas gathering at our house and we had a great time

(except for sweet Emma -- she got dangerously sick at the very end)

Thanks to all who came!!! I missed pics of so many of you, sorry.

Here Matt encapsulates the fun of the evening :)

Babies were part of the fun until 8

My trusted Courtney (our wonderful babysitter) was there to help out

Cutie Pie Emma -- always smiling too!

Ashleigh and Emma

Lilli and Bella, do they look like they are about to get into something or what?

Brandi and I

Bella putting a necklace on Morgan

Traci and I

Brandi

Smiley Emma again...

Sleepy Bella with her jammies inside out again...

We just finished tiling Bella's floor (thanks to Bella surprise) and we painted the room, it looks much better than before and we are so glad to be done!!!

Goodman Christmas Pic 07'

We are all looking semi-forward! WOOHOO! Standards change with three! :)

We started out here...

and ended up here.

Tickle time...
Christmas Piercey Pie! (Yes, we call him Piercey Pie)

Bella got a hold of the highlighter. She colored this, our bedroom carpet, the wall, our new baseboards, and...

herself. (We were in her room laying the last of the tile.)

Coloring is hard work.

Look at that hit!!!

Morgan turns Two!!!

We went to Morgan's second birthday party and that means Bella is not far behind..Two years have flown by!!!

Justus was SO mad when I started to take the following pics. However, he just couldn't keep from cracking up! At the end, I asked him to give me his "mad face" and there it is!

REUNITED...


This picture is very special to me... These two guys, Mickey and Pat, were my youth leaders in Lubbock when I was in Junior High and they had a great impact on my life as far as encouraging me to trust in the Lord through everything and to seek Him with any question I ever have. Through God's ways, both of these guys ended up on staff (as well as our Senior Pastor) at my current church in a completely different city and they still love the Lord and others with all their hearts.

I LOVE THIS PIC!

Thanksgiving Day at Nani's!!!

BLACK FRIDAY!!!

Through the last few years, Gary and I have grown to be die hard black friday shoppers! We left with Carrie at 4:15ish on the cold morning for store number one. Gary was the shouffer this year and the babies slept in the car while he drove. Carrie was a trooper, she agreed to divide and conquer and she was an incredible teammate! For the bah humbugs who say forget it you only save 5 here or ten there; we saved over $700 on items we planned on throughout the year! It was worth the wait! I will say this one last thing though; I have to actively decide to be a Godly shopper and do everything to put others first and consider them as more important...I am nice no matter what other people do and regardless if I get my items or not, it is only stuff! If only I could follow through with this ALL year!

Lord help me with my selfishness!

Pierce's First Food



It went as expected, but we decided to wait until after he is six months old to help prevent him from developing food allergies (according to his Pediatrician).