yummy and educational!

My husband rocks! I say this for many, many reasons, but today I am going to focus on his culinary skills. Almost every Saturday morning, for as long as I can remember, Rusty makes breakfast for the five of us. It's almost always pancakes and bacon....and a fried egg for me. Believe it or not, he will throw the eggs away, one by one, until he feels like he's made the "perfect" one just for me! I'm not sure he has any idea how special that makes me feel! He is amazing! I love these Saturday mornings:-) I know this is a memory the kids will treasure and it means so much to me that he has kept up this tradition. A few weeks ago, he went above and beyond and made all the planets out of pancakes.... Carter thought this was the coolest thing ever!

Here's a pic of our planetary pancakes!!

I miss this....

Sofie making a castle

Rusty and Carter working on their volcano

Gaby Rose prancing in the sunset:)

the cousins

awww.... heaven

Abby building her "Aloha resort"

It has been raining pretty much non-stop since 4:30 Sunday morning and I'm about to have a meltdown....(check out here and here to see how the storms impacted Ridge Church) I'm not a big fan of rain, especially the cold, continuous, soaking the bottom of my jeans, kind of rain. My feeling is that rain is really only good for 1 thing ~ staying in bed in my jammers with a good book (Twilight:-). Since that option wasn't available this morning, I'll have to admit that I'm a tad bit cranky:) I miss this........ This was one of our family's favorite places to go when we lived in Florida. The day after Christmas we spent the entire day there. Lunch at "The Cottage" with my dad on Ft Myers Beach and then on to Bonita to Lovers Key. It was a gorgeous 75 degrees! We spent the day making sandcastles, walking the dunes and ended with a perfect sunset stroll. I am counting the days until summer break!

pot of turtles

This is one of things I miss most.... She was like my own personal iPod.
Here is Gaby's rendition of Feliz Navidad.
Enjoy:)

could she get any cuter??

Here's my little cover girl! Gabriela was so excited about seeing herself on the cover of this months Parent & Child Magazine:) So were we... we raided all the copies of the magazine we could find!!

blogging break

I took a break..... It wasn't something I had planned on, but that's what ended up happening these past few weeks. Life has seemed to be in running on fast forward the month of December. I am still in shock that there are less than 2 hours left of this year!! Where has the time gone?!? We had a marvelous Christmas vacation in Florida and were able to spend a lot of time with our amazing family and friends. I have so much to share, but for tonight, I'm going to enjoy ringing in 2009 with the love of my life and three of the most precious "Christmas overloaded, non stop DS playing, been riding in a car for 12 hours and think they're stayin' up till midnight" children!

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Merry Christmas

I wanted to share with you this video that Rusty put together for our Christmas service at Ridge Church.
Enjoy=)

I hope everyone had a very merry, Christ filled Christmas.

morning surprise

I have struggled the past few months with trying to determine how I would know if I was making an impact on my oldest daughter.... 13 is a tough age... I remember 13, and I would not do it again if I had the choice. Rusty and I constantly pray that we will never lose influence with her. That she will choose to make the right decisions, not out of fear because we are "older, wiser, have control of the $ and her phone", but because she loves and respects us and knows the expectations that Christ has for her. This morning she was on the computer before school. I thought she was putting the finishing touches on an assignment. After she left for the bus, I came in to check my emails and this letter is what I found. Made me cry.... made her daddy melt. I love that kid!! I am so blessed:)

Dear Mom,

Thanks. Thank you for being there through everything. I love you so much. Thanks for catching me when I fall, like the time when I got sick in the hospital. I am sorry you had to miss your trip to New York City. Thanks for cheering me up, like when we had to move from Florida to North Carolina. I was sad about leaving my friends, but now I think it was the best decision ever! Thanks for buying me things, like my new cell phone. I love it is it so cool! Thanks for being the best mom ever! I know a lot of people say their mom is the best, but you are the real deal! Thanks for helping me learn. (Even though I go to Dad for help with school:) I love you so much!!!!!!!!!

One more time Thanks!!!

Your crazy monkey,

Paigey