Christmas

Our Christmas was so much fun! We are so fortunate to be able to spend Christmas with both sets of our parents. For the last few years we have all gone to my parents house in Colorado. We all get along great... I am so thankful for this! :)
We spent our time sledding and playing. The kids had a great time... of course getting showered with tons of attention! We attended the Christmas eve service at my parents church and Claire and Luke loved hearing my Dad do the children's sermon. Fun was had by all!
I hope your Christmas was just as great as ours!
Here are a few sledding picture for now. I have a ton of pictures to sort through, so brace yourself for an onslaught of pictures in the days to come! :)

All bundled up for some sledding fun!

I love my family!
Papa Gerry (my Dad) with Claire and Luke

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Cutie

Last night we went out to dinner, made cookies, played a game, and had a dance party! It was SO much fun! Here is a cute video of Luke showing off his moves! He gets them all from Jeff! Especially the bootie shaking! :) Make sure you turn up the volume, he sure is shaking his bootie to David Archuleta's "Crush"! I think that makes it even cuter! :)

And the winner is...

Congratulations Kelli!!!! Email me at turner.ea@gmail.com . Let me know which pendant you would like, or if you would prefer a different quote! Happy Twilighting! :) Oh, and if you are at all curious, my favorite quote is the whole last page of Breaking Dawn!

Contest!!!!

OK ladies!!! It's time for a contest! My first to be exact! You all know that i HEART Twilight, the movie, the books, the everything about it actually. No shame people! So, let's have a Twilight contest!!!



Here is the deal... I am tired of having no comments to read on my blog, so what better way to remedy the situation than to give away some Twilight bling? :) To enter, you must leave a comment with your name and your favorite quote from one of the books, or the movie (gasp, if you haven't read the books!)



Your prize? Well, see below! I have made some fabulous Twilight bling! If you aren't lucky enough to win on Saturday at noon, then you can see these cuties on my etsy site! I will randomly draw a name and post it here, then I will send the luck winner one pendant and chain of there choice! If you would rather have another quote, then by all means... it will be yours! :)



I can't wait to hear all of your favorite quotes... and most of all... I can't wait to see all of you Twilight junkies come out of hiding! No shame ladies! :)
Update: There is a potential for spoilers here, so just be aware of that when you open the comments!

I am second

Have you heard of this website? Iamsecond.com. Jeff introduced it to me yesterday. It is AMAZING. You must go look at it. If you only have a few minutes, especially watch the Brian Welch video. It is powerful.
We have been discussing our own personal testimonies in small group, at church. This is so inspiring to me. These people are so honest.
Anyway, just wanted to share what had been shared with me. :)

Happy Birthday Claire!!!

I can hardly believe that Claire is 4 today! It seems like she was so little just a few months ago. Now, she is so self sufficient. She can dress herself and buckle herself into her car seat. She can color a coloring page without going out of the lines. She knows the words to whole songs. One more... she is so sweet. She is a sweet loving little girl. She loves her friends and her family so much. And for that, I am so proud of her! I am so thankful everyday that God blessed Jeff and I with Claire! Happy 4th Birthday Claire!

Last night Claire got to take her two BFF's Kaylen and Gracie Claire to Chili's and Build a Bear for her Birthday. Then, they got to come back to our house for Claire's very first sleep over. To say the least, they had F-U-N!!!! :)

Here are a few pictures. I am a little sad that they didn't turn out better, but it's hard to capture that much fun in action! :)

Claire named her bunny "Ella".

Every bunny needs a bath, right?!

Claire, Gracie Claire, and Kaylen

Let's eat cake!!!

Sundays...

Sunday's mean football at our house. Jeff likes to watch every possible game (sigh.). I can usually fill my time making something crafty! :)

I hope your having a relaxing Sunday too!

My pretty girl

Showing off their support for Daddy's game!

Even Bailey is enjoying the day!

Future fashionista...

Yesterday Claire was singing quietly in the backseat. I thought I could hear what she was saying but I thought surely not! I thought I heard hear saying "Jimmy Choo". So, I asked her to sing louder. She did. Sure enough, she was singing one of the songs from my ipod that I must play to often (oops). "Sick of this dress and these Jimmy Choo's..."
She wanted to know what Jimmy Choo's were. I explained that they were shoes. She then asked if she could have some! I laughed, HARD! I told her that when I got some, she could have some! :) Look out Jeff! We have a fashionista on our hands. I knew I kept Harper's Bazaar on every in-table for a reason! :)

Halloween

Claire and Luke had a great time dressing up this year! Claire was a fairy and Luke was a cowboy. Jeff took them up and down our cul de sac and that was just about the right amount of trick or treating for them! Bailey the beagle even wore a costume! She was a princess... and yes, I payed money for her costume! :) For some reason Jeff refused to take her with them trick or treating. So, I dressed her up anyway and stood in the yard with her! The kids loved it!


Me and my sweet girl! A fairy and a cowboy!

Nana Janis with Claire and Luke

The munchkins with their pumpkins... :)

Princess Bailey!

Did I mention?

Two posts on one day! I know, I know! Amazing!!! I think I forgot to mention that my Dad is in Seminary now! He is going to Concordia to be a Lutheran Pastor. A month ago he was inducted in as a Vicar. Pretty cool huh!? Way to go Dad! Or is it Pastor Gerry now? :)

My Dad is on the top row, second from the left.

New pictures

On Saturday our small group went shopping and bought a bunch of food for our food bank at church. Then we headed back to church and let all of the kids stock the shelves. They had a great time!
What's more fun than a rolling cart?

Big helpers!

Luke can't wait to be a big kid!

Future super model :)

Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers for me! I get my EEG results on Thursday! Pray for good news!

Funny like his Daddy...

Those of you that know Jeff know that he is pretty funny. He is always making jokes, or trying to. In the last few days, Luke has said some things that are too good not to share. I also want to document them for future use! :)

1. After dinner one night Luke came in and told me he had food in his mouth. I was some what confused. But, after more questioning I realized that he had something stuck in his tooth. He ended up yelling "Get it Mommy! I want you to get it so I can eat it!" GROSS. If your wondering if he ate it, he did. EWWW.

2. On Sunday Jeff was giving the kids a bath. When he was done I went upstairs to help put pj's on and get them ready for bed. I had Luke. As I was combing his hair I was telling him how HANDSOME he looked. He objected by saying...

"No Mommy, I NOT handsome!!! I FANCY!" While he said this he shook his little bottom and had his hands on his hips. Oh, my goodness... I almost died laughing!!!!

On another note, my parents have been in town for a few days. It has been such a fun visit! We went to the Japanese gardens today, so look out for some fun pictures of that soon. Also, this last weekend we took the kids to a business outing of sorts for Jeff's work. They had a family day at a local ranch... we even got our own REAL cowboy hats! SO FUN!

My cowboys

Claire petting the armadillo

One more thing... check out my Mom's new etsy site. I have also added a couple of new things to mine. I will be adding things frequently as we approach the holidays! I added this bag tonight...

Corduroy sunset

Cutie of the day...

Catching up with pictures...

Here are some pictures to catch you up on what we have been doing. I am having a hard time organizing these photos, so they are in somewhat of a random order.

Luke riding his big boy bike! Luke on his first day of school
Picking out backpacks for school. What a task!
Walking in to school with Papa Dale.
First day of school
Claire and Uncle Michael
Papa and Luke
Because I have had so much help with the kids lately, I have had a lot of time to create some new things for my etsy shop! Here are a few of them. I am starting to feel more like my self. My migraines seem to be spacing out. Hopefully I am moving in the right direction!

One of the many...

faces of Claire.

Absent

I have been absent lately. From lots of things really... I haven't been blogging for lots of reasons, but mostly because I haven't felt like it. The last few month have been rough for me. I have literally not gone a day without the fear of getting a migraine. There have been a few good days here and there, but most days have been tough. My typical migraine medicine of choice has stopped working. So, all this to say, I have been pretty miserable. BUT! I finally got answers today!!! I wanted to blog about it, because so many of you have been concerned about me (thank you for that!)
Last week I had an MRI and today I went in for my results... I have abnormal thickening of my Sphenoid sinus. The sphenoid sinus is buried deep in the brain. Apparently, my SS is very infected, and swollen, creating pressure in my brain. (Frightening???Yes, I think so!) So, the doctor thinks that the pressure is building making my migraines worse and worse. Sooo, I am now on some medication to remedy the problem. Hopefully, it will work. I am also going to see a Neurologist in the coming weeks to make sure that the swelling is subsiding.
So, there you go. That is why I have been absent from class, blogs, phone calls, etc. I apologize. Hopefully I will return full force soon!
Love you all.
emily.

Powerful

Please go watch this! Our church did cardboard testimonies a few weekends ago, and they are POWERFUL! GOD works in wonderful ways.
Here is the link.

Long hair and rainbows

Claire is obsessed with having long hair. She thinks that everyone with long hair is beautiful. She wants her hair as long as possible... no matter what. Even though our daily hair routine starts and stops with screaming and tears, she still wants long hair. Today we were in Walmart and she saw a woman walk by. I did not see her right away, but Claire made her VERY evident to me. Claire started jumping up and down YELLING " Mommy, I want hair like THAT!!!" "LIKE HERS!!!" As I looked up, I saw a woman with hair that would have reached the ground if it would not have been wrapped around her waist. Yes, that's right folks, it was braided, and then threaded through her belt loops like a belt. So, my response to Claire you might ask? "Maybe when your older Claire, maybe when you older." I think I might have laughed a little too! I don't know why I am always amazed by the things I see and hear at that store... you would think I would walk in there looking for a story. Is it just me, or do you have fun times in that place too?!

On a side note, Claire and Luke love to say the prayers at every meal, and bed time. It is so sweet to hear them pray for all the things and people that are special to them. They never forget to mention Mommy, Daddy, Claire and Luke (usually several times each) they sometime throw in Shelby (the cat) and Bailey (the dog). Nana and Papa's always are included, and if Claire is in charge of the Prayer she always throws in something special... She talks about God, Jesus, and "Thank you for the rain and the beauuuutiful rainbow that God created!!!" While she says this line she throws her head back and arches her hand across the sky mimicking a rainbow. It is the sweetest thing... but it always makes Jeff and I laugh. She is SO dramatic and full of life! What a blessing we have been given!

Today Claire made a drawing of "The beauuuutiful world that God created" (that's how she says it!)
(clouds at the top, a rainbow, flowers, and grass... pretty good for a 3 year old!)

The last few weeks...

I know, you expect more from me than this... but, the last few weeks have flown by. My Grandpa, Opa, went to live with Jesus almost two weeks ago. We are all missing him so much. We drove up to Colorado for the funeral, and to spend some time with my family. It was good to be there, but also very difficult. It was great to see that my Grandpa was loved by SO many people. Here are a few pictures from our Colorado trip...

Uncle Justin (my brother) with Claire and Luke

Me with my Grandma Elva (Oma)

Luke spent lots of time playing with bubbles outside! Papa Gerry taught Claire how to bounce and catch the ball!
All of the kids released balloons after the funeral. Claire said "I think Opa will catch my balloon in heaven." It was a very sweet time. (Thanks for the idea Becky!)

Since we have been back we have had lot's of great friend time. Here are a few of my favorite pictures of the kids with there best buddies...

Claire and Luke, the best of friends, most of the time! :)
Claire, Luke, and Gracie Claire
Luke holding "Baby Bake" (Translation- Blake)
Luke and his best buddy KJL... How cute are these two?
Luke and Big buddy Ezra! Ezra teaches Luke how to do all the cool, fun things that big kids do!