Is it Christmas Yet????

If you have little ones I am sure you keep hearing, "Is it Christmas yet?" Grayson and Ella have been so stinkin' excited about Christmas this year. Last year, we started giving them only three gifts (a want, a need, and a spiritual gift such as a donation to a ministry or Christian book). We will definitely continue that this year because we hope it will take the focus off of presents and direct their attention on Christ...the best gift ever!!!! They have definitely had a case of the "I wants" so it may be time to read The Berenstain Bears Get the Gimmes...again!

 

Our house is definitely coming along and looking more like a house! Last time, I posted about it, the foundation wasn't even there. Now it looks like a house. 

Today we drove by and they had put all the shingles on the roof. I couldn't get a good picture because it was dark. We are getting so excited!!! It will be nice to have our own home again but I will say it has been a blessing with my in-laws.

Baby Jansen was sick this past week and spent some time in the hospital. It was quite scary but he is home and doing great! He is such a cutie. One positive is that we were able to spend a lot of time with our niece Sawyer which was wonderful!!! For those of you who don't know, these are my sweet sister in law's kids (Joey's sister).

Speaking of nieces and nephews, Megan (my sister) is expecting in February and me and my bff Amanda have been planning her shower. We are so excited and I can't wait to meet adorable Liam. For those who don't know, Liam will be born with a bilateral cleft lip and possibly palette. Megan and her hubby have been researching away on what to expect and feel peace with it all. They know it's something that can be fixed with surgery. Please keep them in your prayers for a smooth delivery and that Liam will be able to eat okay.

Last week we attended the Mrs. Philippines pageant. My mom was a contestant. It was a neat experience and she was first runner up and raised over $14,000 for Bantay Bata, an organization that provides assistance for victims of abuse. We are so proud of her and are glad she will have some free time now.

As always, in our spare time, we have been spending time with family and enjoying every minute.

I am heading out to a conference this week, please keep me in your prayers for a safe trip. Hope y'all have a great week!!!

 

So long October....

I can't believe October came and is already gone!!! We did not even notice we have been so busy! We enjoyed all of the traditional fall activities....pumpkin patches, fall festivals, and dressing up!!!

The rest of the weekends, we have kept busy...shopping! Surprising, I know! But we have also enjoyed being with family and friends!!!

Joey has kept busy helping with our wonderful church and doing evangelism with some of his friends. We are so happy to see him so passionate about God's work...and yes, sometimes he wears a storm trooper suit!!

As for our housing situation...it's going great. I do miss the kids being able to go to their room and all of us having our own space but for the most part it has been workin' out! We are gone most of the time with our schedules. Our house is progressing although it didn't seem like it for awhile because of all the rain we had. Here is a picture from a week or so ago but today when we drove by they had poured the foundation and delivered all of the wood to frame....we were pretty excited!!! I will have to update the blog with pictures in a couple of weeks!

Grayson is loving Kindergarten and his teachers. We are so blessed he is at such an amazing school and we could not be any more proud!!  He is doing well and is loving the Spanish aspect of dual language which I was initially a bit worried about. He absolutely loves math and writing. Here is a little sample of a picture he drew for us the other night....precious, right????

Red Ribbon Week

Ella is doing good. She is learning new things everyday and amazes us with the stuff that comes out of her mouth. Her personality just may be bigger than her!!!

We are getting ready for all of the fun holidays!! The kids have already been thinking about what they are thankful for. Here they are reading what they are thankful for at church to their friends.

Then we enjoyed a little Christmas browsing and shopping today!! I know it is only November 2nd but I stayed up late last night watching Christmas movies....I am SOOOO excited!!!

I will leave you with something exciting!!! Our sweet nephew has made his debut!!! Jansen is absolutely perfect. Ella is so interested in him and it's obvious why...because he is such a cutie!!!

Y'all have a great week full of blessings and thanks!!

Getting Settled

It has been an intense, emotional three weeks with birthdays, a big move, a baby shower, and getting settled into a new place all rolled into one!!

In September, we celebrated Grayson's birthday which I blogged about, and enjoyed eating lunch with him at school.

Then we had a shower for my sweet sis in law. I can't wait for baby Jansen to arrive. I will be throwing another shower for my little sister and baby Liam soon, too! I can't wait for my nephews to get here. I absolute being an aunt, it is so special to have the unique relationship with them. I am blessed with two nieces, a nephew, and soon to be 2 more!!

We also celebrated (kind of) Joey's birthday! He is finally 29 which makes me feel better since I am 30...haha! He doesn't like doing much for his birthday but we had a nice little family dinner. That Joey is such an amazing, selfless, handsome, sweet husband and daddy. We are so blessed to have him even though we drive each other crazy sometimes with our firstborn personalities...haha!

Then we feverishly packed up our house we have called home for 7 years. The house we brought our babies home to and celebrated birthdays and holidays. If you know me, you know that I always wanted to move but when it came down to it...I cried. When I saw our empty house and the moving truck in our driveway...my heart sank. The new owners came by as we finished moving the last couple of things and she had to give me a hug. I feel so happy knowing that a sweet little, growing family will be making their own memories in that home. I know a house is just a house and memories make it a home. I will always love that little home (even though it drove me crazy when I lived there) but I know we will make a lot of memories in our new home.

So empty : (

See our new home...haha..it is just the wood of the frame for the foundation.

Now we are just getting back into the swing of things and getting a new routine at a new place. We are at Joey's parents which is great and they are so sweet and helpful, we are just trying to make our own little system with two kiddos. We are keeping busy and having fun!

Ella is back in gymnastics and loving it!!

Lauren and I went to the Groovy's pink party and had fun shopping and got an amazing goodie bag. I also won a raffle for a Belfiore spa gift basket yesterday...I so can't wait for a spa day!!!

We had a super fun Fall playdate with Amanda!

Ella was able to have a Mommy and Me day on my fair day!

This is a glimpse of a day in my life at work. I LOVE my job!!

Two things that make me happy....Starbucks and Nordstrom.

Decorating pumpkins in our jammies. These two are my world.

I know October holds a lot of fun things for our family. We have our church outreach at the Harbor, pumpkin patches, festivals...I just love FALL!!! Today is supposed to be cold so I am so wearing boots and a scarf today!!! I hope you all get to enjoy this gorgeous weather, too!! Have a great weekend, y'all!!