(LATE) Pictures of our TEEN Christmas party

Aspen made us laugh because she wanted to be in the center of all the presents and activities going on. The teens are sweet to her and let her help open their presents. Our living room is very tiny and I think we had 24 people in it. AHHH! It was nice and cozy. I made pizza puffs, pumpkin bread and chocolate covered pretzels! We love our teens so much and a couple of them(Lauren and Cassiana) came over early to help me go crazy making food! I love my girls! We have been very blessed to work with teenagers who try so much to be like Jesus. A few of my girls spent the night with us a while back specifically to help me make pies all night long so that we could go deliver them to people who are not able to leave their homes. These girls have such a heart to serve. Lauren was the only one available to deliver pies the next morning and she was so kind to people and was such an example of Jesus. We love all of our kids and Guy and I have a deep desire to do anything we can to help them grow into men and women who see the purpose God has for their lives. When you have a free minute pray for our teens. God has blessed us more than we could have imagined by allowing us to spend time everyday with such great kids!

MY FAVORITE GIRL

Guy took a pic of us today as we played together. What a good day. This morning I told Guy I wanted to go see the Battleship Texas which is only a few miles from where we live. We had fun driving around trying to find it without really knowing where it was. We discovered some more very beautiful areas of the Port of Houston where boats dock and people kayak. We finally found the ship and it was only one dollar to enter the park. It was fun to read about the history and the battles that were fought. Then when we got home we were able to Skype and talk to some of our best friends, Denyce and Dougle. This what not at the same time of course. Both of their spouses were busy and so we talked to each of them at different times. It is always nice to visit with friends who are as close as family and remember that we have people all over the world who love us and who we love. Guy and I have been super busy with the teens and so today we just enjoyed not having a plan. How nice! In a week and a half we have our first bit of time off since moving here 7 months ago. We get a week off and we are going to Oklahoma to see Guy's mom. She has only seen Aspen a couple of times. The last time she saw her was 7 months ago and Aspen has changed so much. We are excited for the time with family and will enjoy having someone to cook for us and love on Aspen.

Aspen loves to look at pictures and often carries them around with her. See her bottom teeth.

More pictures to look at. Most of them are of our past aimers

Pretty blue eyes

Life with Aspen

It has been so long since I have posted. One reason for this is that I love to be with Guy and Aspen and really treasure my time with both of them at night. During the day it is impossible to post because I am busy with my girl...changing diapers, feeding, playing, disciplining, putting her down for a nap....and so on. I absolutely love my evenings especially when we get to stay home as a family. About 4 nights a week we do not have a youth activity going on and we eat dinner and play with Aspen until bed time. I put her down around 8:00 and then Guy and I have a few good hours to just talk and spend time together. I really enjoy my time with my favorite people.

This is a pic of Aspen at Christmas. My pretty blue eyed girl

I have not filled anyone in on our girl's stats.

Age - 13 months
Weight 21 pounds
Teeth - 4 on top and 2 on bottom
Crawling very fast, pulling up, walking while holding onto our fingers
Words - MOMMYYYYY(she says this with a very drawn out EEEEEEEEEEE), dada, duck, BABY(again with a very long EEEEE), HI, BYE BYE, NEW(this means nose b/c she points to her nose), Nanny(my other name), MIMI(my mom), LALA(our teen named Lauren), Puppy(she affectionately calls my nephew Christian this).

She has a great sense of humor and anything she can hold she puts up to her ear and says, "YA YA). This is her talking into a phone. She plays chase with us everyday, giggles constantly, and SINGS all the time. Everything is a song and during church she moves her hand with the song leader and sings along. Very cute! She is the biggest flirt at church and all through church she makes googly eyes at people and tilts her head slightly while smiling. Every Sunday people come up to us and say, "get a hold on that girl...she is such a little flirt". :-) She is very strong willed and wants to do what she wants. We are having to discipline(no fun), but she reacts well to it and has been obeying what we encourage her to do. Mostly this is all about repetition. We don't like her near the fireplace and so we continue to discipline her and now she has stopped going near it. YAY!!!!! Other things are not so easy and so we are slowly being thrown into parenting. I am in a parenting class at church and it has really helped me to feel more confidant in what we are doing. Well, I am absolutely exhausted and am going to relax with Guy.