A Girl's Best Friend!

So the cliche term of Mans Best Friend refers to a dog. I am sorry but the dog can be adored and loved by a woman as well. In my daughter situation it is a chicken that fancy's her. They love her and follow her everywhere and she loves them back. I never thought I would be the owner of chickens in my little suburb life. I love it, I love my eggs, and I know what my hens are eating. They are such little characters; they just keep my days interesting.

Open Hole!

My Jaker's lost a tooth today!!!  Used this  picture in the Paint the Moon Project 52 for week 2 in the open theme. Hence the hole in the mouth. :)

Anzia is in town!!!!

The three cousins are so happy to be together. I love the fact that they pick up right where they left off every time they get back together. They have a love for each other that never seems to get lost in the distance from one another. 

I was so sad to see how big  my niece has gotten. Time flies by so fast; before you know it she will be all grown up. This picture is one of my favorites from her visit. The kiddos decided to play light-sabers in the back yard in the dark; I love how Jakob's face is illuminated. He looks like a true Jedi. I did not enhance the shot at all it was a SOOC (straight out of the camera). So fun!

Here is another from the morning she left; Jakob is still not yet wake. The kids all love each other so much!  I love them all and I miss Anzia so much already!

When your tree gives you lemoms!

So my sweet daughter woke up and desired to make a lemon meringue pie. I was not in the mood, nor did I want to put the time, plus I am still working out my caffeine free life and still experiencing the head aches. I told her if you find a recipe that includes every thing we have in house and I don't need to go to the store we can do it.

She found a recipe! OYE! So we had everything she needed! NO, screamed in my head! We had the lemons on the tree, we had the eggs from our hens, and we had all the other ingredients. She was in heaven, then she realized how tedious the recipe was, yes I  made her follow through.

Here are the pictures:

 Here is my baby getting the home grown lemon juice.

 Ok,our lemon curd took 1 hour longer than the recipe called for, I think because we used raw unbleached sugar, so worth it.

 You missed the egg shots because the fingers were a mess!!!

 The finished product!

...and it was yummy!

Christmas

Christmas Eve was so fun the kids got to open all their gifts from Oma and Opa, and Papa Don. Lots of clothes and Lego’s quickly filled our small family room. It was such a treat to have Oma and Opa here for Christmas. 

Christmas morning we were woke by two extremely excited kiddos at 5:30 AM. Next year we will better plan for this. Everyone started their day off early, the kids had a ball. They had their gifts opened so fast. Jakob was so excited about his skateboard ramp and gun, and Mikayla fell fast in love with her new doll and roller-blades. 

The kids got to rest a bit and it was time for Nana and Papa to come to dinner. We all had such a wonderful time. There is always so much prep involved with Christmas, I wish it lasted as long as it took to prepare. It all breezes by way too fast. I just hope next year I am not so tired from playing Santa and then being woken up so early. :) That is all part of the fun right?

A Magical Crowd

So every year we go to fight the December Disneyland crowds. This year we had a blast, we got to ride many rides, see the shows; all on a sold out day. We had a blast! While sipping hot coco and coffee we camped out on the cold cement to see the holiday firework show. There is just something about Disneyland that puts a smile on my face, even though we go all the time to me doesn't seem to get old. I love it! Can't wait to go back on a non-holiday Wednesday when it is empty!

New Slippers...

So today I came home to a package at the door. It was a gift for me; from my sister. They are the cutest handmade all vegan slippers. I love them!

Thank you Steffi, Flippy, and Izzy!

Knotts Read to Ride

I thought I would challenge the kiddos with a reading earnings program to earn a trip to Knotts Berry Farm. Mikayla had to read 300 pages from chapter books in 30 days; she read 309. Jakob had to read 30 books and that is all he read. I was so proud of the both of them, they did such a good job. Mikayla was so eager to get it done, I caught her reading everywhere.

We had a blast; the park was empty, we walked onto every ride. The place was so cute all decorated for Christmas, and Christmas music blared throughout the whole park. The kids were so excited to meet Snoopy; this was a big deal because they are afraid of all dressed up characters. They said because I wanted to marry snoopy when I was little that they would take a picture with him, and they did, and I did. David told him that he was my first love and snoopy planted a big fuzzy kiss on me. What fun it was. This will be a December tradition for us from here on out.

36 Scarves

36 handmade tags..

36 handmade sheets of wrapping paper...

36 handmade scarves...

All made by the sweetest 6 little 9 year old girls I know.

My Keepers group has worked so hard to make these gifts beautiful. I love all the hard work they have put into this project; they have such big hearts.  We will be donating them to the Simi Valley Care Center.

Caroling we go!

Tonight we were all supposed to go caroling at  my friend Laurie's. It was such a bummer, Jake ended up sick so it was just Mikayla and I so caroling we went. We had a great time. Along the way one of the neighbors had the cutest reindeer's in the the front yard. Had to have a photo op with the phone. Had lots of yummies and a good time.

Occupy Simi

So the kiddos had asked me what occupy L.A. was; I tried to tell them so they would get it. Moments later they were in the yard making their own tent in the backyard. It was so cold they both had their robes on and demanded hot coco and then they would leave. They had me laughing so hard, I love them! They not only got hot coco, they got cookies too. :)

Keepers at Childrens Hunger Fund

Today was the toy wrap for the Childrens Hunger Fund. The goal was to wrap 75,000 gifts. It was so rewarding knowing we were there to help and serve the Lord in this way. The girls honestly got so much out of this expeience. I cannot wait to do it again next year! Next year I will drag the boys with us.

Invasion of green army men.

So today I get in the shower and come out to a bedroom filled with green army men hiding out in every nook and cranny of my room.Jakob propped every drawer and door open, on the headboard and in the lampshades. As I exited my bathroom in towel all I hear from the other side of the room was, "This is an ambush, get down mom!" at first I didn't see them; once I figured it out I was so happy to see my little boy so happy.

Hurray for the Lego Advent Calendar

So today we surprised the kiddos with a Lego advent calendar. Each day they will get to build and add to the city scene. Tonight cant with a Lego dude equipped with hand cuffs and a snowball; not sure how this ties into Christmas. We shall see how this progresses.

Jakob's Nativity

Today Jakob said he would do something to decorate the classroom. I love how he truely get the meaning of Christmas. He could have drawn a Santa, snowman, or christmas tree; he decided to draw a nativity scene. Love it!

Our tree is up!

Today was a busy day of decorating and all things Christmas around the house. We got the tree up and the kiddos are so excieted they can barely stand it. This feels like it is going to be a rushed Christmas already, I really hope not. I am all done shopping and all ready, I can't wait for all the happiness of the season to kick in.

Thankful Day 24

Today I am thankful for God's creation, without it all the things I love would not surround me. Also thankful for my daddy, today is his 60th birthday. Happy Birthday Dad!

Thankful day 23

Thankful we made it to our campground safely and stress free. I am so excited for the next 4 days of river front camping. The kids are so pooped they were in bed by 7:20. They can't wait to cruise the campground on bike tomorrow. I love my family time so much, so blessed!

Thankful day 22

So thankful  a long day is over and I get to go to be. Oye!

Thankful day 21

Many things to be thankful for today!
I am so thankful that today was such a beautiful day.
I am thankful that the girl that backed into the kids and I didn't cause any damage.
I am thankful for the joy and laughter the kids and I shared at lunch.
I am thankful for Kelly taking Mikayla with them to the park on a bike ride. I heart you!
I am thankful Jake had a great time with his buddy Tom. He love's him, so sweet!
I am thankful to have Beth Ann as a friend. <3
I am thankful I now have my turkey. Gobble Gobble
I am thankful Lisa picked up a present for Mikayla for me. Love you Lisa!
I am thankful that I didn't have to cook dinner tonight, and on top of that it ended up being free because of crazy slow business.
I am thankful that God heals our hearts! I love him!

Thankful day 20

I am so thankful for my mom knowing she needed to call me today when she did.

I love her so much!

Thankful day 19

A day late but meant to post it last night.

I am so thankful that Jakob got play a season of flag football. The last game of the season and he did great!

He was so happy to have trophies, a medal to wear around his neck, and beautiful book ends from his coach.

Thank you Tim and Laurie for giving this to him.

Thankful day 18

I am so thankful that both of my children love and trust int the Lord along with David and I.

I just saw the mother from Illinois interveiwed on the today show. Last friday night her 10 year old daughter commited sucide by hanging herself in her closet. 10 years old. That is just sad. Mikayla is 9 I could not imagine. Her mother was saying that she was being teased and taunted at school for years. She even asked her parents to home school her on several occasions because of her struggles.  :(

I hope parents across the nation along with teachers wake up from this tragic event. The poor mom carries so much regret right now, I feel bad for her. She now wants tell her story to help other kids. It  is so sad that she is seeing this after the fact. So heartbreaking.

It really saddens me because she was one of may children who are lost inside and they are too young and not capable of voicing how they feel. Also maybe lacking the proper guidance and self esteem to overcome. My heart hurts for them.

Thankful day 17

Today I am thankful that the kids are improving by leaps and bounds with their reading skills.They have both struggled with this. At this moment Mikayla is addicted to reading and Jakob is being retrained because of mild dyslexia issues. I am so happy to have Reading Horizons program in our life! Since they have both been doing good I started my own read to ride program for Knotts Berry Farm.  It is great to see them excited about reading.

Matthew West- Heart of Christmas

I found the new video for the movie. If you look hard enough at second 1:47-1:52 Mikayla's little head is in the bottom left of the screen. Click on the link below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASJktrBObrI&feature=share