Finally enough snow to play in....

Jazmyn was so happy that she could finally play in the snow. The last several snowfalls that we have had she has not been able to go outside for various reasons. I was sick the last time it snowed and there really wasn't enough out there anyways. BUT THIS TIME....she was able to play in the snow. She only lasted about 20 minutes but had so much fun! She made snow angels, snow balls, and loved just laying in the snow all bundled up. Here are a few pictures of her day!

Overall, we have had a great week. She continues to love pre-school and is doing very well there. Nothing too exciting going on here. Looking forward to the weekend!

Our Zoo!!!!

I am starting to feel like we have a zoo in our house! We definitely need a house in the country with MORE space then what we have now. Growing up, as some of you may remember, I wanted EVERY single animal that I ever layed eyes on. I wanted cats, dogs, birds, monkeys, hamsters and any other rodent, I wanted them all. I even ended up with a few "pet" mice to my mom's dismay. She was not happy about me bringing those home. She always told me, "I hope you find a husband someday who likes animals as much as you do." ...and to that I would answer, "I wouldn't marry him if he didn't!"....well that time has come....

Now, I am in my mom's shoes....saying, "no more animals". Of course, I love every animal I see still, but something changes when you are the MOM taking care of EVERYONE else. Jeovany, likes animals as much as I do, perhaps more....and we keep ending up with MORE and MORE somehow. I protest every animal that comes our way, but somehow several of them have ended up staying despite my best efforts! Yes, I love them all. I will say on his behalf, he does take care of them exceptionally well!!. But wow, what a housefull!! We love our babies!!!

I thought this week that we would highlight our family pets. Hope you enjoy seeing them!

This is Coconut. He is 8 months old and is Jazmyn's baby. Literally,he thinks that Jazmyn bore him I believe. He follows her everywhere and cries when she is not home. She went to Grandma and Grandpa's one night last week and you would have thought he was walking around the house in pain...crying for her. It really is ridiculous. He even sucks on her shirt as if he were nursing. Perhaps we weaned him a bit too early! He also loves water unlike any other cat I have ever seen.....here he is sleeping in the bathroom sink.

...and we have fish in a beautiful 55 gallon aquarium, 7 fish actually, Goldie, Nemo, Elmo, Sharky, Ninja, Bubbles, and Sucker. They are fun to watch and believe it or not they do have personalities! I'll spare you their stories this time!

This is "Pappy" and "Montana". The Papillion we have had the longest of all of our pets. We got him when I was pregnant with Jazmyn. He is a wonderful dog, great with the kids and the other pets! The cockatiel, Montana is about a year old and we have had her about 4 months. Fun Fun!!! I told you it truly is turning into a zoo.....


And here is our newest addition, in the center...."ANGEL". She is a soon to be one year old Pure bread German Shepherd. This is my most recent "PROTEST". LOL...we certainly did not "need" a big dog. However, my husband rescued her in order to "find her a good home."...uh-huh...sure!!! Grudgently he took her to the home of one of the many people who called wanting her. But I ended up going back and getting her as I was not at all fond of her new location. Also that decision to go get her was made easier by the constant sad stares from my husband. He really missed her as they had really bonded in the 2 days we had her. Long story short.....she is our newest addition. She is such a sweet dog though and VERY well behaved. I am so glad we have her...she is a wonderful addition to our family. She knew she was ours from the minute she came home!

The Yorkie is SYMON, we have had him for 2 years, another rescued animal. He had been abused and came to us as a pup with broken ribs. Isn't his little face precious. He is so cute!! Now, if he could just control the pee!

Here is Jazmyn with her kitty again!

and last but not least is our big kitty, ASIA. This was Jazmyn's 2nd birthday present. She is a beautiful cat of gray,yellow and white with really long thick cotton like hair that gets everywhere! Good thing I LOVE cats more than anything else! It took a few months for Coconut and her to bond but they are now great friends!

Hope you have enjoyed the journey through our ZOO!!!! Have a great weekend!!!

A visit from Marilyn

We had a visit from little sweet Marilyn a couple days ago so the girls could exchange presents. It was a great visit. She has grown so much and is really turning into a little Leslie.

She is so precious!!!

Happy New Year EVERYONE!! Be safe and have fun! We will be celebrating in the comfort of our home!!

Did Santa come?........

I hope everyone had as wonderful a Christmas as we did. It was such a great time with family and friends. I have several new posts that I just wrote...so enjoy reading. There are lots of pictures, sorry if you get bored with them....I have to figure out how to get my slide show to work....Lesa....Brandon....can you help??AAHHHH!!!

This first post is of Christmas morning! Jazmyn was so excited to leave cookies and milk out for Santa!

Here is the annual note from Santa....she has kept them all!
....and he ate almost all of his cookies and milk!

Do you remember these crazy balloon bubble things we used to make as kids? Well, Santa found some for Jazzy. She loved them as much as I used to.

Her biggest bubble!

What else did Santa bring her?? O My Goodness.........It's exactly what Jazmyn had her sissy tell him that she wanted....(seeing as she refused to sit on his lap)....

......A JEEP!!!!!!! WOW ! ! !

Santa must really be real!!!! She loved it and she is looking forward to warmer weather now!!

....and he filled her stocking too....

Our first ride outside!

Our family this Christmas

Our family, Christmas Eve Night at church in front of the Hanging Christmas tree.

MEET ANGEL, our newest pet. Yes, once again, Jeovany has brought home yet another animal to our house. He was going to "find her a good home" something I have heard many times before and generally I make him stick to his word...lol! This time, however, we found her several homes, but neither of us could part with her. So, she is ours forever now. She is a purebred German Shepherd and she is just a pup at 11 months old. She is so well behaved, house broken, and so great with the other dogs, the cats, and the kids! She is really a sweetie. What is really great about her....she is Jeovany's baby for sure. She follows him everywhere and really looks forward to her daily walks with him! They have certainly bonded well!
The whole bunch!!! Glad to be together for the Holidays!

Theresa and her girls. Left to right: Hope (5), Destiny (10), Theresa and Faith (9)

Jazmyn and Aunt Theresa

Christmas Eve Night

What a great time of year it is!!! Here are the girls on Christmas Eve Night (just before going to church) sprinkling oats and sparkles for Santa's reindeer to eat. The sparkles are so they will see grandma and grandpa's house and be sure to stop. They really get into Christmas! At grandma's house, Santa has always came while we are in church on Christmas Eve.

Church service at Braursville with the whole family. It was such a nice candlelit service!
This was the first year that Jazmyn got to hold her own candle. She liked it right up until it started dripping hot wax on her, which is right when I snapped the following picture.

Santa brought Theresa's girls some stuff for their pretend "school" that they have in their basement.

He left a note for all of the kids and told Jazzy that he would be at her house late that night!!! She was so excited!!

Hope and Jazmyn opening presents.

Destiny

Jazmyn Leah and her new Singing Cheerleader. Theresa's girls have 2 that each sing one song and she fell in love with them about a year ago, however Theresa could never find another one for Jazmyn. BUT 2 days before Christmas she found one that sings 6 different songs!!!! This was ( I believe) Jazmyn's favorite gift of the year!!! Look at her face, is she excited or what?!?!?!

Playing Deal or No Deal with the family! It was Destiny, Faith's and Hope's present from Jazmyn. It was a lot of fun, and no one even won more than about $50,000. Guess we better not try to get on the game show, we didn't do too hot!

Faith

Fun-Filled Sunday

This past Sunday was a fabulous day ! It was filled from the minute we got up until the minute we went to sleep!! We first got up and went to the kid's church to see Jonathan and Elizabeth sing in their Christmas program. They did a wonderful job, singing very loudly. They each had solo parts in the program and I have to say....they were the best of the show!!!! ....and no, I'm not just being partial!!! They were REALLY good! Anna wasn't feeling well and didn't get to do her part that she had practiced so hard for.

After church we went to the Show Me Christian Youth Home to deliver our bag full of presents to the little girl that our family sponsored for Christmas. It was a great joy to get to do this. We have talked with the kids a lot this past month about giving instead of receiving. They really had fun seeing her open her presents and for her to have some visitors this Christmas season. They even got to stay and play with her for a while. She was 10 years old so she fit right in with our kids!! The lesson was a good one for my kids to learn!

It was a bit chilly that day....I think it registered around 2 degrees with a windchill of about 20 BELOW !!! We took a few VERY quick pictures anyways!!

Here are Jonathan (on the left of pic) and Elizabeth (next to last girl on the right) in their Christmas program. This was during Ellie's solo part! They did such a great job!!
Later that evening, we opened presents at our house. Grandma and Grandpa came up with their goodies too so we had a great time! Some of you know, that I have always said Jazmyn would never have Barbie's or Bratz (or like items) in our house. I just do not believe that they represent woman in a very good manner and kids grow up with the wrong impression of what looks good. I have even gone to the extent of sending toys home with someone else if it is a Barbie or such.....wellllll.......Jazmyn has asked for a "connective Barbie" for the past 6 months. It is a Diamond Castle Princess Barbie that sings songs and sings together with another one. Our kids each only received one gift this year and it was so hard knowing that Jaz really wanted this one thing so badly. I finally convinced myself that it was not a TRUE Barbie, but is was a PRINCESS doll.....so as you can see below she did get them and she was ecstatic!!! O MY...what have I done!! No more...that's for sure!!!

Jonathan was excited to get the game called "Scene It!" It is a lot of fun to play. We all set down Monday evening and played it together.

They all had a great time opening presents. It is so much fun to be all together with family this time of year.

Battleship!!! With all NEW pieces....we are no longer missing ships!!!! YAAAA!!

Here's Jazzy with her "Connective Barbie's" ....at least they are dressed appropriately! Right ?!?!?! LOL!

This is one of the games that Ellie got. It is a Dance Revolution DVD Game. It teaches dance moves. It is really good exercise and a lot of fun too. The kids got really wild with it.

Jazmyn got a little lap top computer from Grandma and Grandpa. She was on it most of the day Monday. It has all kinds of learning things on it.

More DANCING!!!! in our new P.J.'s!!!!

We have more fun stuff planned for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day! I can't wait to see Theresa and the girls tomorrow night! Christmas Eve is always a special time at my mom and dad's.

Then the big morning....what will Santa bring? I can't WAIT to post those pictures as Jazmyn is going to be soooo thrilled with SANTA this year!! We'll post those next week!

We wish each of you a very MERRY Christmas. Keep Jesus alive in your hearts! Enjoy your time with your families!!!!