July 26th in Tahoe

It has been 7 years this day that we said, " Goodbye" to our son, Nathan. Every year on July 26th we have made it a tradition to leave town & do something together as a family. This year we went to Tahoe. God provided a wonderful place for us to stay & activities for us & it was so nice & relaxing. This was the view from our cabin:

Attempting Archery

 Ehrman Mansion, Sugar Pine Point State Park

 Fun at the Beach

 A momma duck & her babies walked right up to the girls. The girls were so excited:)

500 Pound bear my husband saw crossing Donner Pass Rd! So bummed I missed it!

It was a fun & relaxing trip. I feel blessed & refreshed. Of course there were some hard times too. My husband & I thinking about our son, crying & missing him. He will forever be our son & we will forever miss him.
But one really neat thing that I feel was a gift was the butterflies that were around our family during this trip. Butterflies have a special meaning to us because they symbolize new life. So everytime we see a butterfly it reminds us of Nathan. Outside the balcony everyday were butterflies flying around in circles at the sliding glass door. Then when went to the beach, One flew right up to my face & grazed my face. It was so neat. I think it was a kiss from Nathan (or maybe God:). Just a sign that He loves us & is here with us. Then I opened up my Jesus Calling devotional later that day & this is what it said:

"As you listen to birds calling to one another, hear also My love-call to you. I speak to you continually; through sights, sounds, thoughts, impressions, Scripture. There is no limit to the variety of ways I can communicate with you. Your part is to be attentive to my messages in whatever form they come. When you set out to find Me in  a day, you discover that the world is vibrantly alive with My Presence. You can find me not only in beauty & birdcalls (& butterflies) but also in tragedy & faces filled with grief. I can take the deepest sorrow & weave it into a pattern for good."

So encouraging! Just what I needed that day!:)

 

N's first 2-wheel ride!:)

Look-no training wheels! I am SO excited for my girl!:)

Lil' Samurais- HiYa!

The girls are LOVING their new karate class! As you can probably tell by the BIG smiles:) Everyday they talk about it & practice (NOT on eachother;) what they have learned. They are learning a lot of great life skills & physical skills:
Life Skills
Focus, teamwork, self discipline, self control, basic child safety concepts, respect,
confidence, and listening skills
Physical Skills
Balance, hand-eye coordination, foundational self defense concepts, stamina, flexibility

If you are at all interested in checking it out for your child I highly recommend trying it.
http://www.kovars.com/

Dec 2010

Fun in the snow

Little American girls-
The girls are really into American girls right now. We read the books, watch the movies. Our favorite is Felicity. It was really special when we got a call on Nathan's birthday saying the girls had won an American Girl doll from a drawing!
It was hard for the 2 girls to share the one doll though, so for Christmas C raised money (by helping me bake treats & selling them) to help buy her sister a doll too. She raised $65!

So we were able to get N a doll & present it to her on her birthday.

Thanks to my Grandpa, for getting me my very own sewing machine, and to my wonderful Aunt P for showing me how to sew. I was able to make this AG doll dress out of a shirt the girls had. I think it turned out pretty good. :)
Unfortunately, right after finishing, my needle broke:(
So, I took up a new hobby, crochet. Below is a picture of my newest hat. I only had to pull it out 5 times before getting it right! Thanks to my friend M for helping me over texts:)

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

I can't believe it's already Christmastime again!
We started off the holiday festivities with a play my girls were involved in. It was such a cute production & they were such cute little sheep:) We decorated soon after Thanksgiving-the girls & I LOVE this season, but for me, it came a little faster this year than usual, so I don't feel completely prepared & on my game as usual.
I found some pine branches right outside our house & made this wreath-hint-I would not recommend doing this unless you know what you are doing or unless you have a wreath frame of some kind. I think I channeled the pioneer in me back when there was only branches & twine- & that is exactly what I used. I would also recommend wearing gloves as your hands get pretty scratched up.
We celebrated a special little girl's 6th birthday-our youngest daughter-wow they grow up so fast! She wanted a Wizard of Oz party & it turned out really cute & fun:) Now both girls have An American Girl doll all her own:)

We also went as a family on The Polar Express Train ride-it was so much fun-I recommend going at least once if you can:) Everyone wears PJs & you ride in a real train to the "North Pole". You are served hot chocolate & cookies, greeted by santa & all kinds of other special touches from the movie & book. Our whole family really enjoyed it:)
I wish you all love, peace & joy this holiday season, Merry Christmas!

Toothfairies& Teaparties!

N was so happy to discover that, after a couple years of watching her big sissy have visits from the toothfairy, it was finally her turn!
She asked everyday if she could pull her tooth out. I (not wanting my youngest baby to grow up) said, " No, let's just wait."
But I finally came around, I just couldn't be the one to pull, so I enlisted the help of my eager husband who was more than willing to take over & do the pulling.
He did & she was brave & we all got through it (including me). Now I have the cutest little toothless kid!:)
Above are the before & after pics & some treats we left for the toothfairy & what the toothfairy left for her.
Below is a picture of Princess C's Royal Tea Party for her birthday.
And the iron-ons we put onto old shirts to spice them up a bit. I think they turned out cute:)

July 26th

Every year we have decided to get out of town on the anniversary of Nathan's death & do something he would've enjoyed doing together as a family.
This year we went to Point Reyes National Park. We climbed stairs equivalent to a 30-story building to get to a cool old lighthouse. Then we went to the beach & each wrote letters to Nathan & rolled them up & put them in a bottle & buried it in the sand.
We had a nice day together, we were just missing one member of our family:(

The Good Old Summertime...

It has been a great summer so far. We went on a trip to Maui & snorkeled with the sea turtles (kid free). It was an amazing experience, & I can't wait to snorkel again. Our very first vegetable garden is finally growing veggies-green beans, cherry tomatoes & peppers. C learned how to ride her 2 wheel bike without training wheels! N is also learning how to read with an amazing program & she loves it! Looking forward to nice summer days by the pool with my family. I would even like to try camping...We'll see:)

Christmas 2009

Our family picture. It is so painful to talk about or even think about what our family goes through every year. The huge hole in our family. Our precious son would be 9 now. I wonder what he'd look like, how tall he'd be. I picture his face sitting next the his sisters in every picture we take & indescribable emotions well up inside. While others are celebrating with their entire families, it takes every ounce of strength to hold it together & make wonderful memories for our girls, when the pain of not having our son is so present...
Enjoy EVERY moment with your family. Especially your kids. We never know when it will be our last...

The most wonderful time of the year...

Have had a very busy Holiday season so far this year. Our HS Christmas party was fun, singing carols, eating yummy food & making ornaments that will be taken to a retirement community & given. Had fun putting up our tree, Christmas village & decorating the rest of the house. Enjoyed our annual trip to Apple Hill & brought back lots of apples which were made into pies, muffins, applesauce, & other apple flavored food...
We are making some of our own Christmas traditions to do every year. Including caroling, charity, gingerbread decorating, nativity, advent, & reading different Christmas stories...etc.
Above are some pictures of the gingerbread decorating fun:)

Defying gravity & Christmas decorating

Thanksgiving

We had a nice holiday with lots of yummy food. Before our break, C did a Thanksgiving lapbook. Of which I will post pics soon. She learned all about the Pilgrims, Indians & the reason for Thanksgiving. Both girls had fun learning-so did I :) We made Pilgrim popscicle stick puppets & put on a little skit. We also made a Mayflower board game. Who knew school could be so fun? If my schools were this fun, I would've paid a lot more attention in class!
Reading an amazing book called Redeeming Love-Can't put it down! Thank you for the loaner L :)
Made homemade pot pie for the first time-even made the filling totally from scratch ( no canned soup)It came out really great. Email me if you would like the recipe :)
Planning a special little girl's 5th birthday & my favorite favorite time of year-Christmas! N loves Christmas too. She was born in Dec so maybe that has something to do with it. The girls wanted to decorate for Christmas early this year. They decorated a small Xmas tree & we put it in their room. They have been wrapping their toys & sticking them under their little tree :)
N asked me if we could keep the Christmas tree & all the decorations up ALL year. lol:)
I hope the holidays bring you & your family joy this year:)

Halloween '09