Our North Pole visitors have ARRIVED!

Welcome Noel, Joy and Jingles the Reindeer

This afternoon when we got home from the bus stop we discoverd that our elves had arrived! Noel came back this year and brought her elf friend Joy and a reindeer named Jingles. The girls were SO excited. Sarah actually discovered they were here and soon the house was filled with very loud squeals. Ansley won that contest HANDS DOWN!!! She could actually give Mariah Carey a run for her money :) We figured they must have come while we were at the bus stop because they definitely weren't here before. They also brought us a magnet for our car and some delicious peppermint kisses. Sarah said she just saw like 18 wrappers in the garbage can. Those funny little elves, they must have gotten hungry while waiting for us. Trust me, there was no where near 18 wrappers...more like maybe 8 ;) We are so excited they are here and looking forward to an exciting month with them!

a new magnet for our van 'Holly'

Peppermint kisses, and they each brought their own drinking cup

Noel on Jingles the Reindeer

Ansley's new elf friend Joy

Discovery of the elves

The looks on their faces is absolutely PRICELESS. I am so excited that the elves are back this year. I think we've all been on the countdown since last Christmas morning. We had so much fun with them last year and the girls have both been eagerly waiting for them to arrive this year. Let the season officially BEGIN!!!

Gingerbread Party 2010

Sarah and Ansley's Gingerbread house

Over Thanksgiving week we had our annual decorating of the gingerbread houses with the cousins. As usual we had a lot of fun and Ansley only limited herself to about 5 pieces of candy instead of the usual 50.

The finished houses

(Campbell girls, Samples, Bittner girls, Hidalgo girls)

Ready for the end of October!

My two little Leopard Kittys

We've had such a busy weekend and I think we may all be burned out on candy. Shocking isn't it? This entire month has been non-stop but this weekend tops it. I think we're on event #6 as I write this blog and every single event has been a candy free-for-all. I am looking forward to staying home tonight and passing out candy with the girls. We may all be in a sugar coma by tomorrow. Say a prayer. ;)

Our new little Daisy Scout

Girl Scout Promise

On my honor I will try,

to serve God and my country,

to help people at all times,

and to live by the Girl Scout law.

This week Sarah became and official Daisy Scout. There are 7 other girls in her troop and they all go to our school. We have fantastic troop leaders so we are looking forward to a very exciting year as a Daisy Scout.

Girl Scout Law

I will do my best to be honest and fair,

friendly and helpful,

considerate and caring,

courageous and strong,

and responsible for what I say and do,

and to respect myself and others,

respect authority,

use resources wisely,

make the world a better place,

and to be a sister to every Girl Scout

Blue no more

Here is a picture of the house before painting. Blue, blue, blue. Happily we are blue no more and we are so pleased with how everything turned out.

We had the nicest group of painters. They actually were not supossed to come until the following week (or so we thought) but I got a call that they were coming to test a couple of paint colors and an hour later they were starting the project. It's hard to tell by these pictures but we went with a cream color accented with an off white trim and black shutters. It only took them a couple of days and we are very happy with the end result. I've had several neighbors comment on how much better the house looks now and I couldn't aggree more. Next project, landscaping.

P.S. It's SO nice to be able to say we have projects to work on....finally!

Bible Presentation Sunday

Sarah receiving her Bible from Pastor Wright

Recently our church presented Bibles to all the first graders. They had a ceremony after church and Pastor Bryant Wright presented Sarah with her very first Adventure Bible. If you have young kids, this is an awesome Bible because it's geared down to their level and very easy for them to read. In usual fashion, I boo hooed but this time it was different because as each child proudly walked across the stage it was one more seed being planted for God's kingdom. It truly was a great day!

Hi there.....I'm sort of back :)

We've been MIA from the blog for a couple of months. Actually I feel like we've lost the last 3 months of our lives but I am hopeful that we are heading out of the fog and getting back on track to a "normal" life. I have definitely learned to live by faith daily and hope I've reached the expert level in this department. The most important things in life to me are my family, friends, and faith in God and even though walking it out may be tough, the end result will be WELL WORTH IT!

Both girls are in school and thriving, despite feeling at times like Holly (our van) is a RV. There is so much to catch up on but not having a computer to upload pictures to means it might be a little longer before I can chronicle everything here on the blog.

Sarah is taking baton and will be marching in the parade in a couple of weeks (that should be fun!), she is also looking forward to being a Daisy Scout with a troop from school. Between those activities and church choir, we stay very busy during the week which is good because it takes our minds off the fact that all of our belongings are in storage. BUT, despite all the trouble, we are very blessed and every day I thank God for this opportunity to lean on him fully.

I hope to share great news soon!

xoxo