My great friend, Mandy, and I relax by the beach. Well, if you can call holding a 1 year old who puts sand in his mouth and running after the other 4 relaxing.....
Elise seems to feel no pain....she's not cold, she's not hot, she's content to be in the water or on the sand. I've never had a child like this. She LOVES the beach!
Ella and Elise were the best of friends for the weekend.
Dillingers took us out for a seafood delight at the "Crab n", a local, very run down, but fabulous food place here in town.
A fantastic family!

A morning for Grandad

Elise loves her Rapunzel dress from her Mimi and Papa Frank!
A wonderful morning. We decided to drop Great Grandad's ashes into the ocean one morning, hoping that he could swim with the dolphins. We couldn't find the dolphins, but went ahead and spread his ashes out. Immediately, Alex noticed movement less than 50 feet away. It was a dolphin!
It was remarkable how close we were able to get to the dolphins. Breathtaking, really. Such a blessing from God.

The sunrise was gorgeous and I loved breathing the warm air with my boys on our walk by the ocean.

Letters of love

A note Tanner wrote about his sister last year. She is the "lowdis" baby in the whole world. But, read on.....I love my sister evin no shes rile lowd. I still love her.
Notes from Alex to mom and dad. He is beginning to take after his older brother and writing his own letters to us. The second ones says, "I like the cabin. The cabin is really fun. We go to the fun cabin".
Tanner tends to not worry about spelling, but just writes from the heart. His writing has really improved year.


Matt thinks this is a terrible photo, but I had to laugh as I caught her on the toilet with two beaters in hand, and mouth covered in cookie dough. Why put them down for a bathroom break???

Valentines Day was celebrated with our co-op group. Fun games, lots of candy and cards and speaking of what real love is.
Elise shows off the craft.

And Alex.... handsome man.
Mama and the chicks gathered....

Tanner is scouring his letter that Santa wrote back (to he, Alex and Elise). They couldn't believe that he knew the things he knew. Like that they had baked cookies with Nana, and that he thought he'd be at the house around 2am. Tanner read and re-read this letter to make sure he was prepared for the big night. Elise loved her big girl 'puter from her grandmimi and granpa in Texas.

Tanner got what he wanted. A super spy video watch. This was number two on his list. Number one was a 22 Cricket gun. He didn't get his number one request this year.
Alex was thrilled with the batman cave which was number one on his list. Santa knew!!
Up at 6:30am due to her brothers excitement! Elise got into the fun right away....especially after realizing that her stocking had candy. She was more interested in that than any gift this year....ah oh.

Number 15 on our Christmas list

We continued with our Christmas list tradition of trying to think of ways to make the month meaningful with an outpouring of Jesus love each day in some way. This day we are waiting for our friends at the Meridian Care Center to arrive to visit the residents. All dressed up with jingly shoes. Those were a big hit with the residents!Our friends arrive! The Weaver and Sanders family. Two families that we co-op for homeschooling with and support each other in every way. The kids had made homemade cards for the residents and were ready with Christmas carrolls.

Here is Elise "performing" at our church Christmas program. She had no words for any of the songs, but had plenty of funny faces during the performance.
Elise with her best buddies, Will and Elle. Elle is actually really happy, but loves to put on her mad face! These three are front row most Sundays hamming it up.

Our Texas Getaway Adventures

Top 10 reasons why we LOVE our Texas Vacations!
1. Sun and sleep! Elise fell fast asleep in the stroller at Sea World

2. Alex learns to drive the boat. He really was excited!

3. Tanner learns to drive the boat. Lake LBJ is fantastic in May during the weekdays!

4. A beer and a boat. Matt will kill me for putting this one out there, but hey, it is what it is.

5. Cave adventures in the hill country. Our guide was a bit long winded and Alex motioned for me and quietly asked, "is this guy making any sense?"

6. Sea World with Sami and Julia 7. Staying in a cool hotel in San Antonio so we can enjoy a full day at Sea World!8. Boating in Granpa's boat on lake LBJ. Obviously, this one makes it several times on the list since we try to get out swimming and skiing every day! 9. Spending time on the back porch with Mimi's dog, Buddy.10.Happy hour with Grandmimi and Granpa every night! Mimi and Papa Frank join us each night, but getting a picture of those two is nearly impossible.