Fun in the Saturday Sun

It's too sunny and too beautiful to stay indoors...

so we put our little guy to work..

he scrubbed and scrubbed...

and my car turned out better than a professional car wash...

(yes, his daddy was there to scrub too:)

Simon finished off the hot day with

a little run in our make-shift sprinkler...

(otherwise known as the garden hose)...

even daddy joined in the fun!

Gotta take advantage of the
weekend family fun!

This is January???

YES!!!
Love it!!

Keeping the Boys Busy...

The ground was covered with leaves from our big tree outside...
after an hour of raking...
no gardner is needed
thanks to Simon and his cousin, Ryan.
Thanks, Boys!

Sweet Friend

The other day we picked up Cade

who JUST became a big brother!

Cade is Simon's little buddy...

whenever we have them out together,

people think they are twins

(must be the blondish hair & cute smile:)

As a treat to the New Big Bro,

we took him on a boat ride around the lake...

Yes, Simon IS steering!

Look out!!

Good buddies....
many memories...
lots of love for Caders.


We loved every minute that we spent with you that day.
Such precious memories for Simon
as he grows up and remembers the
little buddy days...
from fishing...
to Jingle concerts...
to playdates at the park...
to making brownies...
to Sunday School...
to Kids Club...
to rockin' out with the drums...
We love you, Cade!


We'll see you real soon,
sweet friend!

7 Years...

Seven Years...

ups...

downs...

twists...

turns...

joy...

sorrow...

valleys...

mountain tops...

Through it all,

we had the Lord at every point...

He never left us,

and always sustained us.

Happy Anniversary, my sweet beloved Dave!

Thank you for walking out this life with me...

And thank you Lord,

for blessing me with my

husband and friend!

'Tis the (BUSY) Season...

Well....

as most of you are experiencing,

this has been a C-R-A-Z-Y couple of weeks!

From birthday celebrations, to playdates,

to preschool parties, to volunteering,

to Christmas Extravaganzas....

everybody is in the same boat-

the BUSY boat!

But all is good...

Here's a re-cap of Family Fun...

Little Sime celebrated his 5th birthday on Wednesday.

We had a couple buddies over for some

ice cream sundaes

and some Christmas Light touring to the winners

around our beautiful city.

Started with a little prayer for my boy...

Saw some Clark Griswold Christmas Lights

(AMAZING)...

and enjoyed a sweet bithday time with
two great buddies...
Thank you for making Simon's birthday so special and memorable!

The next day,
he was blessed by his teacher and Principal...
what a treasured memory to celebrate with his first
Preschool class (ever)...


His teacher, Mrs. Summers,
has been absolutely remarkable!
Hats off to ALL Preschool Teachers
around the world!
They do SOOOOO much for our children...
and we thank you!

Simon performed in his first Christmas Play EVER...

He was SO excited to be a Wiseman,

with his cousin, Ryan!!

They both did a great job saying their first line (in public)!!

He's come a LONG way since the

days of screeching in public,

to speaking a line in a play.

Good Job, buddy!

Excited...

just minutes before the big moment!

Thank you to Grammy & Pops for coming

and supporting little Sime!

We love you!

And a few seconds to pose...

Isn't it true....

Moms barely get in any pictures with their kids!?!

They're always behind the camera, aren't they?!

And we ended our week

with 15 beautiful kids from church

at our house...

no damage done...

no spills...

no one hurt...

lots of giggles...

lots of sqealing...

lots of smiles...

LOTS of memories for these little cutie-pies!

Tomorrow is the big day...

Introducing...

The 'Lil Jingles!

They may look tired,

but this was after three practices of their Christmas songs...

Can't wait to hear them on their big day!

Gotta Love every second of this

B-U-S-Y,

CRAZY,

Season!

Advent Quilt

My mom handmade this beautiful Advent Christmas Quilt

for Simon.

It hangs in our diningroom on a quilt rack. Inside a special pouch,

there are 25 fabric ornaments that Simon

gets to put on the quilted Christmas tree.

This ornament marks December 1st...

and every single morning...

the first thing Simon does...

is RUN to his Advent Quilt

and puts the ornament on

as a countdown till Christmas.

THANK YOU, Grammy,

for this precious Christmas gift for lil Sime!

Home Grown...

Tah-Dah!

This is our first Christmas Tree that we've had since

we had our little boy

(5 years ago)!

Our little one bedroom was way too small

to jam a tree in there the past five years,

so we always got a table-topper tree from

Trader Joes...

the one that is about 8 inches high?....

you know the ones...

Well...

This is the one we got when Simon was a baby!

This is Pops, Simon's grandpa.

He planted it in his yard...

and boy, did it grow!!

Soooo...

my manly hubby took an electric saw and cut it down last night!

Our first Christmas tree as a family!

He pruned it and...

trimmed it...
then we took it home....

and decorated it...
We love it!
It's SUPER spindly-looking,
and is missing the back half
(the tree was growing against a wall, so it's literally half of a tree-
there are no branches on the other side!)
It works just fine...

Simon said, "Mom, this doesn't look like a real Christmas tree!"

Well, I beg to differ...

It IS a real Christmas tree...

and we're proud of it!

However...

next year we'll be going to Home Depot

and buying one of theirs:)

Spontaneous Santa Visit

Got a call after dinner to run over to

Julie & Jason's house for a special treat...
Christmas decorations
GALORE...
including fake snow that was falling!



A chance to take a picture with Santa...
but Simon wouldn't go by himself...
he asked his protector, Lucy, to go with him:)

And a little bit of family time that we squeezed in there.

Loved this last minute Santa encounter...

and the sweet memories with the fam & friends.

November at a glance...

Oh, how I MISSED my computer!

Sorry for the delay, my fellow bloggers.

So much happened in November...

so here's a brief recap...

Thanksgiving with the cousins... Best football game EVER

cuz watching it with a friend makes anything more fun...
Daddy's birthday...
I love you so much, Dave!

Birthday dinner at Ruby's

and a quick (and chilly) ride on the merry-go-round...

simple..

sweet...

perfect night!

Lighthouse Thanksgiving...

most amazing group of Special Needs adults

and their parents...

makes you walk away

humbled and grateful...

These parents and kids are our heroes

for their attitude & strength.

Little Simon making an Indian drawing for his Thanksgiving feast...

Man...those preschool teachers make it look so easy!

Hats off to all the teachers and helpers

that made our Thanksgiving

SO special and memorable for the kids!

he ate on this homemade placemat...

(is this picture the cutest, or what?!)

Actually this is a cute picture too...

gotta love little kids praying to Jesus...

Home Group Thanksgiving...

Love you, homies!

Decorating for Christmas...

Simon is peeking in the village to see if anyone's in there...

Daddy makes decorating more fun!

Sister, Jodi, and the kids came for a visit...

YEAH!

Precious memories

with the cousins...

Love you and miss you all!

Saw Santa arrive on a firetruck...

the look on Simon's face was priceless...

He came home and said he wanted to move the garlend

off the fireplace,

so that Santa can come out of the chimney

without bumping into it.

Christmas time is here!!!

Wow!

November flew by...

LOTS to be grateful for!

Trick-Or-Treat

Simon's hand-me-down SpiderMan costume

sure got its use this year for Halloween!

He wore it for five straight days...

even after Halloween!

He tricked-and treated...
along with about 25 other cuties!!
Thank you to the Spinellos
for making a VERY fun Halloween for all these
kiddoes!
He already is thinking about what he wants to be
next year!!