Daraja Comes to BPF

The Daraja children's choir from Africa came back to Brazos Pointe this week! We have loved hosting this choir over the last several years and were looking forward to meeting the new kids on this tour. This year there are kids in the choir from Uganda and from Kenya. We weren't able to host any groups at our house, but several friends had us over to their houses for dinner so we could hang out with the kids. We were so thankful to get to meet them, share a meal, and learn more about their lives. The girls made friends easily and we loved watching them.

We made gingerbread houses at Mary's at the end of the week and everyone loved that. It was a fun week and we are thankful for the opportunities we had to make new friends!

December Fun!

We've had a lot of fun this month already! December has so many fun activities and we have been enjoying all of them!

I love putting the girls in their matching Christmas clothes! These are their dresses from last year that still look great and Gigi and Peeps got new dresses for them for this year. Christmas is my favorite!

Earlier this month I got the opportunity to go hear one of my most favorite authors live! Ann Voskamp came to Houston and some girlfriends and I went up to see her, Ellie Holcomb, and Amena Brown. It was such a wonderful night of preparing our hearts for Christmas.

Cooper and I still love having our time together each afternoon while Calli takes her nap. Sometimes we play games, sometimes we read books, sometimes we rest, but we always enjoy being together. I am going to miss this sweet girl when she goes to Kindergarten next year!

Holly and Baby Evan came to visit one afternoon! Cooper is so tender with babies and loves them so much. She sat next to Evan and read him a Christmas book by the tree. Precious.

Lisa had us start this fun craft while we were in FW for Thanksgiving, and we finished it up once we got home. Such a fun keepsake for this year!

Randy's church Christmas party was on the 12th. It is for real one of my most favorite nights of the year and we always laugh so much with our friends.

In the middle of this busy season, we had to have surgery for Calli. Earlier in December we went for her 6 month ENT appointment and found out her tubes in her ears had fallen out. The doctor said to schedule the surgery pretty soon, so I asked him if we could do it before the end of the month, since we had already met our deductible for the year. He was able to squeeze us in, so we were thankful for that. Calli and I had to be in Houston early early on the 16th, and Randy stayed to get the big girls to school that day. The surgery lasted about 15 minutes, but the hard part was helping her as she came out from the anesthesia. She was pretty upset, but eventually fell asleep on the drive home and when she woke up when we pulled in the garage, it was like none of it ever happened! She's such a trooper.

Our friends the Hintzes got a new puppy - a dachshund! Jenny brought it over one night so Molly could meet him and we all loved him so much! He's adorable. Chuy.

Randy had some errands to run one afternoon so he took Cooper with him, and in the middle they stopped for a Cherry Berry date. This girl was happy!

We're having a great time celebrating Christmas all month and are looking forward to all the celebrations this week!

Kendall's Christmas Party

Friday was Kendall's last day of school before Christmas break and it was also her Christmas party! Randy was able to stay home with the girls that morning so I could go volunteer in her classroom. Sweet girl was so excited all week that I was coming to help with her party. I don't get to volunteer as much as I would like to because I've got the little girls at home, so it was fun to get to be in her class and see her with her friends.

They made a reindeer ornament, ate lunch and sweets, decorated a cookie, and then we played some games. I planned and organized all the games, so Kendall loved helping me lead those with her class.

We played a few Minute to Win it games. One was the cookie drop, where they put an Oreo on their head and had to get it down into their mouth without using their hands. It was so funny watching them all try it!

We also played a marshmallow toss game that was fun but made a crazy mess! I didn't really think that one through...

It was a fun morning and now we are so glad Kendall is home for two whole weeks!

Wee Place Christmas!

Cooper and Calli had their Christmas show and parties this week and they were so much fun! They were both so cute in the program. Calli even did all the motions and we could see them both singing the words to the songs. So sweet!

Posing for pictures with Jake and Luke. Luke is in Cooper's class and they are buddies. Gigi and Peeps got the girls these Christmas dresses and they are so adorable.

After the show, Randy went with Cooper to her class party and I went with Calli to hers. They ate cake to celebrate Jesus' birthday and exchanged gifts.

Cooper's friend Tristan gave her a "Do you wanna build a snowman" kit and it was the first thing she wanted to do when she got home. So cute!

We love a good Christmas show and party and we especially love watching these girls learn about Christmas and experience all the fun things of the season.

Anniversary Trip! 11 Years!

We got to go to Seattle this year for our 11th anniversary! Randy needed to make a trip there for work, so we tacked an extra day on and went early to celebrate our anniversary! This was his third time to go, but it was my first and I loved it! Seattle is such a cool city and I love that we are partnering with some churches there. I had so much fun exploring the area and learning about the city.

My most favorite thing we got to do was take a food tour of the famous Pike Place Market. It was a 3 hour tour and we sampled food from 12 different restaurants and vendors. Plus we heard tons of history of the market and the city and got to see so much of it! It was very awesome and something we recommend anyone do that visits Seattle.

This is Randy's favorite place in the city - Kerry Park. It has a great view of the city and we were able to go right at sunset. It was beautiful! We could even see Mount Rainer that day - so cool!

We went on Friday the 5th, our anniversary was Saturday, we met with both our church planting partners on Sunday, I left on Monday and then Randy stayed until Wednesday. We were so thankful for Gigi and Peeps, who came and stayed with the girls in LJ while we were there. They had a lot of fun and so did we! Thanks Gigi and Peeps!

Thanksgiving Week 2014!

We had a great week in Ft. Worth for Thanksgiving! This year, we are trying something new for our holiday plans. We stayed with my family at Thanksgiving, and we will stay with Randy's family at Christmas. So we spent two nights at Mom and David's and two nights at Dad and Lisa's this week. Helped us to not have to move around as much, and we got to spend a little more concentrated time at each place. We think we liked it!

We drove straight to Alden's Monday night and saw Baby Stephen, then had dinner in Decatur and saw Mom and David's new house. It is close to being finished and they should move in sometime next week! Yay! After dinner we drove back to NRH to their apartment and put some sleepy girls to bed.

Tuesday morning we woke up and played for a little bit before going to Grapevine to the Gaylord to see Ice! It was such a good show and almost all the girls loved it. It was 7 degrees in there, so Calli cried the whole time that she wanted to go home!

We had Molly with us and were nervous about leaving her in the apartment all day, so we took her to Doggie Day Camp. We have never boarded her before, so we weren't sure how it would go, but she did well!

The Gaylord brings in 40-something ice carvers from China to create the exhibit. At the end, some of them were working and you could watch them and get your picture taken with them. Pretty cool!

It was also fun to walk around the lobby of the Gaylord and take pictures with all the pretty Christmas decorations. Such a fun day!

 

 

 

 

That night, Calli fixed Coopy's hair while she rested. I love how chill she looks!

Wednesday morning we woke up and played around the apartment, and then got all our things loaded up. We had lunch with Gigi, Peeps, Val, Jeff, and the cousins before heading over to Pops and Kiki's that afternoon. We had a great lunch with them but I didn't get any pictures!

Wednesday night we went out to eat at Chili's for dinner with Pops and Kiki. Then we came home and put the girls to bed - Calli sleeps in the same room as us, so we got this sweet picture of her sleeping with her baby.

 

Thursday morning, we got up and got ready for Thanksgiving lunch. Dad and Lisa hosted this year, and Kevin, Jan, and their family were all in town as well to see Baby Stephen, so they came too! We had a great lunch. Calli helped make the mashed potatoes.

 

We spent lots of time holding Stephen! He was wearing his Thanksgiving outfit we bought him for his shower - it says "I am stuffed" and his hat has cute little turkey feathers on it!

We went to Aunt Brenda's to have Thanksgiving dinner with Mike's family this year. We missed having Grandma there, but it was good to be with everyone and it was a beautiful day for the kids to run around outside and play. Kendall and Cooper love playing with Maelie, Lorelai, Gracie and Evy. Calli carried this guitar around all evening, and even sang a little "Let it Go" with Peeps on the couch!

 

We headed back over to Dad and Lisa's after dinner to watch the Aggies play LSU. The game wasn't so great, but it was nice to sit by the fire!

 

Friday morning, Calli woke up early and went downstairs by herself. She sat with Pops for awhile, and then she helped Kiki make pancakes for everyone!

 

The girls played mailman with Kiki for awhile, and then went on a walk around the property with Pops while Randy and I packed up and loaded the van. They love taking pictures in the "W" tree!

We had a great drive home, and it was so nice to walk into a clean, decorated house when we finally got here. Granny had ordered the girls some pjs for Christmas, and they had come in the mail while we were gone. They were excited to wear them to bed, and we got a few pictures before we put them to bed.

 

It was a great week spending time with our families, and we are always so thankful for how they love and spoil us when we are there for vacation. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with lots to be thankful for!