A Letter to Santa

Santa,

I would like you to see my Christmas wish list on our family blog. This is what I hope for this year:

scooter
pretend sewing machine
dora backpack with games

"I use to have a dora backpack and now I loosed it. I want another one, can you please give me another one?"

1 barbie

"A candy cane, not for my tree, but for my stocking - for me to eat!"

"I want 1 bunny if you have one on your sleigh, cause Kelsey has 2 Ellies and I want 2 bunnies."

"Thank you for the book you gave me at the mall."

Love,

Melissa

S'more Please!

Tonight we got to indulge in one of our favorite treats... S'MORES!

Oh, but first Melissa did a photo shoot with her new Build-a-Bear, Emma. She actually put up a red blanket as a backdrop then set up Emma, a Santa hat, and a pretend present in front and took this picture:

Now prepping for the s'mores Daddy taught M'liss how to transform a hanger into the perfect "Marshmallow Rod"... it even looked like a fishing rod Lissy said.

Now to our marshmallows. Melissa was so nervous to burn hers that she stayed away from the flames. Mommy finally convinced her that getting them in the heat would make them much more mushy and yummier too!

Here are Kelsey and Daddy about to chow down! Once Kels took her first bit she realized how messy this treat was... she thought twice about it after that, but decided it was worth the sticky fingers.

M'liss and Mommy enjoying our yummski, dummski treats. After Melissa was halfway through she decided she liked s'mores without the chocolate, so she dissected it and took the Hershey's bar off of hers... yes, Mommy finished that part off for her with no problem! YUM!

Giving Thanks Today

We had a fun filled day surrounded with lots of love.

The girls and I made turkey cookies using our hands as the "cookie cutters". Here is our family of turkeys.

Cousin Elliot seemed to be a natural at caring for baby Aubrey.

The Kelster was cruisin' around Grandpa's backyard in her jeep.

Syvette and Matthew had a little baby time... practicing for their special delivery due in June.

Happy Thanksgiving!

"Give Thanks in all circumstances..." 1 Thes 5:18

After receiving my daily devotional from Proverbs 31 Ministries today, I began counting my blessings. It is something I fail to do as often as I would like. God has blessed my life in many, many ways, but here are a few that I would love to share:

* God forgives me when I make mistakes - How great is He?
* God gave me Mikey who is not only my best friend and hubby, but a constant reminder for me to "spray some Rain-Ex on" (let the little glitches in life slide off, stop worrying, everything will be A-Okay).
* God blessed me with a large and wonderful family - I love it!
* God sent 3 precious baby girls for Mike & I to raise - I always say He thinks highly of us since He knows we can handle 3 girls. :)
* God gave me a special guardian angel to constantly light the way for me.
* God surrounds me with friends who strengthen me as a person by encouraging me and teaching me everyday.

I hope you have many blessings this Thanksgiving. Thank you for being part of my life.

Takin' One for the Team

Yesterday I became the proud owner of a Honda Odyseey.

Yes, a minivan... which is why the title of this is "Takin' One for the Team". My entire life I pledged that I would never own a minivan. However I feel that as the Mommy of 3 precious girls it is more important to have smooth transitions in and out of the car than to ride in true style.

I had 2 major criteria for this purchase...

1. It had to be an Odyseey

2. It had to be SILVER

Mike did lots of research and worked with several dealers and my brother, David, to find the best deal. He decided to go for the deal on a 2008 which was a challenge... most of the silver 08s were gone. Chris at Gillman Honda, San Antonio finally found one in Schertz, TX. YAHOO! So the whole family loaded up in the MDX (which the girls and I will miss) and headed to San Anton to pick up our new ride.

During dinner at Oakridge Barbeque off I-10 we discussed the name we would give to our new Odyseey. Kelsey and I voted Olivia, Melissa brought up Jan - it rhymes, and Mike said what about Stan (he really felt it should have a boy name to make him feel less out numbered). So that is how Stan the Man, Minivan joined our family.

One Big Grin

It's amazing how one big grin can make your day. She is just too precious!

THE Emily

This weekend I got to see one of my most special friends, Emily. This is THE Emily who talked me into starting this lovely blog. I know I am not entertaining her enough right now since I am rarely adding new posts, so this one is for her!

Emily holding Aubrey:

Our first borns being silly. They were friends even before they were born. Emily and I took several belly pictures together of them. Molly is 3 months older than M'liss.






The next go around I was 3 months ahead of Emily, so Kelsey is older than Ally. No belly pics for this one though, Mike and I had moved away by then.

Our Trick-or-Treaters

The girls all had a great Halloween!

Melissa, the "witch butterfly" was such a sweet big sister... she took 2 baskets trick-or-treating with her, one for her and one for her little sis, Aubrey! What a trickster she is.

Kelsey, the "just a butterfly", prefered riding in the stroller over begging for candy. I guess that's why her trickester big sister thought she wouldn't mind trading all the chocolate for the not so tasty candy at the end of the night.

Aubrey, our "little monkey", of course, enjoyed trick-or-treating in the sling. She was quiet and content... I guess she knew her oldest sister was hooking her up with the good stuff.