Way behind...

I am so far behind on blogging!!! In order to catch up I am going to do wordless pictures... it has been an eventful and busy few months:

happenings in our home ~

We have been having lots of family time together and time with friends and family and sadly the camera has rarely found it's way off the counter. The days are flying by before us, but here are a few things that have happened in our days that are fun to share:

Sadie has been keeping up her love for art. She drew this picture and then painted it for her Great-Grandma Connie. Her inspiration:

This picture was drawn and painted by Sadie's Great-Grandfather when she was 4 (he was 68 when he made all seven dwarfs for her). I loved seeing these pictures together. I also love that although Grandpa isn't here to see her talent grow, we know that part of his talent lives on through her.

Earlier this week we were able to have breakfast with our dearest friends the Caceres. Why breakfast out (which is such a fun treat!) - to celebreate our amazing friend Katrina. What a blessing she is to each one our lives!

Syrah has been busy too! She started stitching (maybe she will love cross-stitching as much as I do). This was the very beginning stages of this project.

Here it is completed and can you see the proud look on her little face. With the last stitch she said "I did it! All by myself, I did it". I love it!

On a last note with Valentine's Day behind us: I hope you all got lots of kisses!

The girls each got big kisses from Great-Grandma Connie

Sometimes the best kisses are the messy ones!

Happy Birthday Billy

Happy Birthday!!!

I feel so blessed to celebrate you each year! Thank you for grabbing hold of my heart and for loving me through all! Your patience, care, grace and love are bigger than life and I thank you for guiding our family and leading our home! I hope you have a wonderful birthday and you know how loved you are each day!

Weekend fun

This last weekend we had such a great time enjoying the company of great people!

Saturday morning Sadie and I were invited to have breakfast with two of the most amazing teachers. Miss Black (3rd grade teacher) and Mrs. Klein (5th grade teacher). It was a totally special morning and we are so grateful for the time we had with them both!

Saturday afternoon we got to celebrate my sister-in-law, Lauren, birthday.

Here is Sadie with Eric and Lauren's dog Watson!

Watson gave Syrah a bath... Syrah loved it!!!

Happy Birthday Lauren, we are so glad that we had the opportunity to celebrate you!!


Saturday afternoon we went to Glazed and Amazed where you paint pottery. The girls both received gift cards for their birthday and were SUPER excited to go make a project.

"Should I do this one? Samuel would love it!" (Samuel is our dear friend who loves all things bugs, you can go to his site bugs blog and learn tons!)

Sadie truly had NO clue what to pick the options are endless!

Once they both found the perfect piece they started working away.

Sadie drawing out her design.

Syrah on her second coat!

Sunday we had a great day; after church we had some friends over for some good talks, good food and always laughs.

Today (Monday) Syrah celebrated the end of another soccer season. This is the last year with Coach Sheala and we will miss her. She has an amazing way with these kids and we are sad that next year Syrah won't be under her tutelage. Thank you Sheala!

Come back soon to see how the Glazed and Amazed projects turned out.

Happy Birthday little Brother

Sunday we got to celebrate my little brother's birthday (as you can see he is 4!). Actually Lauren put four candles on the cake because growing up they always did 4 candles

One for past

One for the present

One for the future and...

One to grow on!

Happy Birthday Eric ~ We love you!!

I can take a joke, but really??

I am staring out my window and it is SNOWING.... come on all ready!!

Just a few pictures to share, not many words to speak!

Billy & Sadie took a weekend trip to celebrate Jeremiah's birthday (only pictures that came home were from the drive down!)

Donuts and friends - a great combination!!

Happy Birthday Grandma!!! We love you!!

Watson meets Syrah with love!

New member of the Jansson Family - Watson!

Catching up

We have had a busy week since Ava arrived, but she is adjusting well, the cat is adjusting and everyone is settling into a routine!

So, lets get through last week first and then go from there. Wednesday Sadie started a second session of Art class; due to some of the medical stuff going on she missed a few weeks in the last session, but she is excited that she was invited to attend again. I wanted to share one of her pieces from last session.

This is a still life and was drawn with chalk.

Last Thursday was Syrah's first Kindergarten concert. I took a good balance of pictures to video, but picking one song to share it hard.

Syrah on stage before the performance started.

Do I post the video of one of the cutest songs or the one where when we watched it we realized Syrah and her friend Lexi kept holding hands (which we didn't notice during the concert).

In the end I choose the one where Syrah and Lexi kept holding hands... it is a super cute song too. The kids sang about 9 songs which was a lot to remember for those little ones and they all did a great job!

Of course with the addition of Ava to the family we have to share a picture of her week here:

Ava all tuckered out. No pictures of Ava and Molly together just yet, but we are approaching the days of them having a lifelong friendship.

We have had some questions on details about Ava. Ava was in a home situation where their dynamic changed and they could no longer care for her. She we be a year old on March 15th and she is part mini-pincher, schnauzer and chihuahua. The only chihuahua is her ears... she has a very spunky personality and is very well trained (all ready house broken, can sit, stay and sometimes lay-down). Billy has been working hard on getting her more lease trained - she pulls pretty good for such a tiny one, but all ready she is doing much better on the leash then when we first got her. Being that she is approaching her first birthday we must say she still has quite a bit of puppy in her, but it is fun that we get some puppy with the perks of a year old dog. The girls love her! Ava sleeps in Sadie's room and greets both girls with exuberant joy in the mornings. Ava and Molly have even been playing a bit here and there and are almost always in each others company (at a distance, Molly requests her space).

On Sunday Billy's Aunt Tracy came over with her family for dinner as payment to cut our hair (and it is super fun to catch up with her and her family!). The big surprise was that Syrah really wanted to cut her hair short... so we said sure.



Look at all the hair she is holding!


Syrah with her new hair cut!

And this only gets us through Sunday of last week. Since that time I celebrated a birthday, had a great lunch with my Dad, Kelly and my Grandma. Enjoyed a super fun, full of laughter dinner with my family, Mom, brother and Lauren.

We also had the opportunity to celebrate the birthday of our dear friends and amazing young man Micah.

Micah blowing out the candle!!! Happy Birthday Micah, we love you!

It has been a full few weeks! Thanks for letting us catch up!!

Happy Birthday Billy!!!

Happy Birthday!!!!

Happy Birthday Billy – you have touched my heart in bigger ways then I even thought someone could. I thank God for the gift he has given me in you! I appreciate the love and effort you give for our family each day, for taking each step on this path with us and for us. We love you!!!

Family Birthday Party

Sunday evening we had a family party to celebrate the girl’s birthdays. We had a nice spaghetti dinner and the girls opened some gifts and then we had dessert!!! It was nice to be able to have family all together and able to catch up a bit with everyone. The girls had a great time and as always it brings me joy to celebrate them!

We had fun decorating the table!!

Syrah thought it was too funny that she opened a present that had the same sweatshirt she was wearing!!!

Of course there was singing... you can't tell Sadie was having fun!

Happy Birthday to our other "baby" girl

It's hard to believe that 11 years ago Sadie came into this world and since has been a joy each day. Sadie was the sweetest baby, she had a smile for everyone and loved people (sound familiar).

She has always been one that loved the cuddles and hugs! (Sadie at 8 months)

This was in those learning to use her leg days. She loved to take walks, to run and play!

(Sadie at 1 year)

Sadie loves to read, she has since she was little. This pictures she sat in the hallway and "read" this book out loud. (Sadie at 2)

I just love this picture; Sadie has always had a calming and caring spirit about her. She truly has a gift of giving love and touching peoples hearts. (Sadie at 4)


Sadie is a great big sister; she adores her sister and has since the day we welcomed her into the world. (Sadie at 8)

Sadie today, now 11!!!

First thing this morning; with a birthday call from her dearest friends!!!!

Sadie is a complete gift from God... she has blessed our lives!! Sadie has a huge heart that continually seeks the best in each person. Sadie loves to read, write and create (she is one of the most creative people I know and I love exploring the world through her eyes). Sadie enjoys art, music and playing games. We feel so grateful to be able to celebrate Sadie's life today - Happy Birthday to our beautiful young lady (aka baby).