Sighs & Smiles

*SIGH*.......HUGE sigh....because Paw-Paw Doc's apartment is finally all packed up and moved int our garage......what a relief. Sad it was to all of a sudden realize we can't just go hang out at "Paw-Paw Doc's place" anymore.........but thankful he's getting taken care of.

*HUGE SIGH* of thankfulness to all these sweet men above sitting around our kitchen table.
They literally blessed our socks off last night by helping us with the move...IN THE FREEZING COLDNESS! Yesterday 4 of our big muscle guys called and said they were sick and my pregnant hormones caused me to panic and start "spazzing" as Jase would say ;) We needed Doc's stuff out by 31st and there was a holiday in there too.....what if we didn't have enough help???

I called his landlord and thankfully he was gracious and said just do what we can and they wouldn't penalize us. However, the Good Lord blessed us tenfold more. Mom and I made a couple calls and 4 more guys replaced the ones who got sick. Wow....God is so good like that.
So Mom and I (and a huge thank you to her for all she did.........she is now home with the flu ;(
fed all the guys afterwards and I realized how much I love doing that. Fixing it up and serving it.....so maybe someday, we'll have to get a coffeeshop/diner up and runnin!

BIG *smiles* today too.......The world's bestest babysitter gave us a certificate for Christmas for 1 whole day of babysitting!!!! Woohoo!!!! We were super excited!!! So we spent the morning finishing up at Doc's apartment, then headed out to Applebees for a late lunch (with another certificate) some shopping and watched our first 3D movie together. (Avatar.....great movie!!!)

In the midst of all that.....our babysitter texted me and said she got Ellie to poop on the potty!!!! Woohoo again!!!!(I would be sooooooooooooooo thankful if we could just get this stubborn lil girl day-time potty trained by the time monkey #3 comes along!)
This exhausted, back-hurtin', preggo monkey mama is smiling big tonite!!!!
God has blessed us abundantly in so many ways.....and as you can see above.....our kiddos are super blessed to have the best and funnest sitter ever!!! Look at all that snow!!!
We love you Karla!!!!!

Give Me Jesus

In the morning, when I rise

Give me Jesus Give me Jesus,

Give me Jesus,

You can have all this world,

But give me Jesus

When I am alone

Give me Jesus

When I come to die

Give me Jesus,

You can have all this world,

But give me Jesus

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-N3KPA9ltQE

I couldnt get this song outa my head tonite.

My whirly spinny head....

The month of December and it's endless runnin' here and there....

All the festivities and get togethers.

I love Christmas...I do I do.

But then the flu....the flu.

And packin' up all Doc's stuff....

And this cold that has been hanging on forever.

I am so looking foward to January.

And calmness....

Not so much scurrying.

And creating a warm, settled atmosphere for this new little one.

And sittin'....

And sittin' some more....

And my husband now tells me at midnight

that the nativity set's people on top of the piano are all mixed up???

And he needs help to put clean sheets on our bed.

Oh my spinny, spinny head.....

just give me Jesus.

Pictures-Christmas Stockings & Sickies

Well in between everyone getting the flu, we opened our stockings.....

Notice all the girly girl stuff?? Yeah, she's not so happy.....guess we'll stick with tractors.

Crazy story behind these penguins........I had just been lookin' at these cute little 2 babies with their mama penguin and jase had no idea! And they showed up in my stocking!!!

And the next day....we see this....poor little Gabe with his sweet lil nurse ;)

He perked up a bit last night when I brought snow into the kitchen to play with.....

And then today he woke up not doing so great again......slept until 1230 and wouldn't eat or drink a thing........and then when he did wake up, he begged and begged to play in the snow. So we bundled up and out we went for all of 15 min.....

Just enough time to take a short ride...

Then back inside again for more of this....

And this....

And we're hopin' tomorrow morning he wakes up all better and smiles tomorrow morning!

Happy 5th Anniversary!

Okay so this isn't the greatest picture of us....but it was many, many moons ago.
Our first Christmas together as husband and wife --BC: Before Children.
So the picture has some sentiment and great memories.

Today....5 years ago.....I became Mrs. Jason instead of just Laura.
And it has been one big adventure.


Jason....
You are the love of my life.
You are the bestest friend I asked God for.
You are the greatest massage therapist I asked God for ;)
You are the Godly man I prayed for from little on up.
You are the bestest listener.
You are the awesomest Daddy ever.

And even though we've had our share of valleys.....I wouldn't trade a moment with
anyone else. I only want you.

And when we are on top of the mountaintops in life....I'm so thankful it's you
that's standing there beside me.

Thank you for who you are......and for all the fireworks....I love that there will never
be a dull moment when there's both of us together ;)

And even though I'm not looking forward to getting old.....I am looking forward to
getting old with you.

I love you Babe.....Always and Forever.

Pictures-Christmas with Jason's Fam

Uncle Matt's snapping turtle....

Well we got to enjoy a couple Christmas' before Ellie got the flu and Mommy isn't feeling so great either ;( Above Uncle Matt & Whit got Gabe a gun that was more powerful than they realized!!!

The tiny little suction cup darts come out so fast and hard it actually hurts!!!

The glazed "Look at all the Christmas presents" look....

Ellie and Gabe both got the cutest lil sock monkies you ever saw!

Jason's sister Emily made awesome DVDS for the whole family.....Matt & Whit recieved one of their spring break cruise.....complete with pictures and cool music

Auntie Em recieves lotsa presents for her own home someday ;)

Jason's face when he opened up his Nintendo64

Whit made me the most precious memory/photo box......it's beautiful!

The kids help Gramma open her presents

Gramma finds the cutest lil cups for both kids.....they have used them alot already!

Aunt Jenny was able to come home and enjoy Christmas with us this year!!! (She was in the AirForce and is now in the reserves and still working on the AF Base as a civilian)

Matt & Whit got Ellie a grocery cart that she absolutley LOVES!!!

Ellie also got a new Dollhouse that Gabe was super thrilled about too ;)

And she got a new baby doll with a carrier that she was soooooooooooooo excited about!

Fun with Uncle Matt....AKA: Abe Lincoln ;)

Today Ellie and I look a little rough.......she was up all night throwing up, I was up part of it, felt yucky myself and then today we both felt yucky.....her little sad eyes have returned :(

Gabe the Babe was thankfully a happy boy today...although he wanted to wear his bibs today that are REALLY too small for him....check out them high waters!

Mee-Mee and Paw-Paw got them inflatable chairs that got played with ALL DAY LONG......

Happy Birthday Jesus

"For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. " Isaiah 9:6

Wonderful Counselor:
He is a supernatural counselor, bringing words of eternal life and perfect wisdom.


Mighty God:
He will have victory over evil.


Everlasting Father:
He is my Father: forever guarding, supplying, and caring for my needs.


Prince of Peace:
He brings peace in the fullest sense. We can know His peace now as individuals, but one day the whole world will experience it as well.


I need all of this in my life: perfect wisdom, victory over evil, someone to care for my needs, and peace in the fullest sense. He came so that I might have it. He is all these things so I can have all these things through Him. As we approach the day of celebrating His birth, may we think of who He came to be and what He came to bring to us.I pray that you all have a blessed Christmas filled with joy and surprises... and Him.

Micah 5:4, "He will stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. And they will live securely, for then his greatness will reach to the ends of the earth. And he will be their peace."

~Today's devotion found at
http://marybethwhalen.blogspot.com/2009/12/and-he-will-be-called.html

Pictures-Thankful Today For:

Crazy monkies.....being silly!

Morning couch time when they first wake up.....

That Gabe is doing okay despite some rashes/constant runny nose.....If you look close you can see his poor little nose is raw somedays and the rash under his mouth that appears randomly. SO hard to know what exactly is causing it without going back to the strict, strict diet....

Praise the Lord he is pooping okay and not throwing up!!!!

Their creative little minds that keep them occupied and keep Mommy laughing...

For Ellie Joy's giggles and grins.....

And her sweet spirit.....

For Mr. Gabester's onery little grins

For heat and warmth....because the monkies love taking their clothes off and playing!!!

For these oversized cute coffeemugs I inherited while packing up/moving all of Paw-Paw Docs stuff into our garage. There are small bits of joy amongst the sadness of this process.....

And for the picture behind it.....

Thank You Father, for sending Baby Jesus to save us and love us.

Pictures-More monkey business

We had movie night with Isaac and Chelsey the other night.....and the kids got to have their fun with them too before they went to bed.

Beware! Anyone that comes to our house, you will become a horsey that gives rides!!

I always forget how tall my brothers are until they do things like these: what a fun uncle!!

And then when he stands next to Chels, I REALLY see how tall he is ;)

Ellie is definatley feeling better........today she decided to play with powder......

And not long later, I realized it wasn't just in the kitchen....she thought her baby needed it too!

Daddy and Gabe came to the rescue and cleaned it all up....

We have the best babysitter ever!!!! Yesterday we went Christmas shopping and when we got home she told us to look in our freezer.....behold the cutest lil snowman you ever saw!!!

I told her they could bring snow in the kitchen and play and play they did......they had a snowball fight and built a new little friend ;)

And today they wanted him to eat lunch with them at the table.....until he started spinning circles on his own.....he was melting ;) SO the cute lil man with his hershey kiss hat went back into his new home in the icebox ;)

Although I hate the cold and snow for long amounts of time....I am enjoying it this week for a "White Christmas"......along with time with family and the season of giving and unexpected gifts. When we got home yesterday we had these beautiful flowers awaiting us. Thank you Uncle Bob and Aunt Jo!!! We love you both so much and appreciate you!!

And my sweet friend Ashley blessed us tonite with her homemade "cream cheese butter braid".......homemade caramels and pretzel sticks and GLORIA JEAN'S coffee!!!!! Oh my goodness.......I can't wait to get up in the morning and drink some of that deliciousness! (We already ate half the braid tonite ;) We love you Ashley and thank God for the gift of you!!!