Family Photo 2011

One of my love/hates is family photos. I LOVE to have them, but I HATE taking them. It always seems so crazy while its happening, Judah is usually never cooperative, and Dave is not much better. Wish I had remembered to take out the Merry Christmas for some of them. Oh well. Anyways here are some of the ones we took this year...

We had given up.

Look at those chunky fingers!!!

These next few are my fave!

Thanks to Karis for always taking fabulous pictures!

The big 2.

Cannot believe it, but Judah is another year older. It is funny how even when it is happening before your eyes you still cannot believe it. It is going by so fast, just as you all said it would. He is changing so much, just as you all said he would. He definitely is getting even better with age. When I think he can't get any cuter he does. He definitely has his moments of non-cuteness but over all he is pretty much a love muffin. In just the past couple of days I feel like his personality has changed. He got a hair cut yesterday and it is like when she cut his hair he all the sudden felt free. Or maybe he just hit the terrible twos right on cue. He is not being terrible just crazy. Like just a little while ago before we put him to bed he was head banging and singing (as much as he can) "another one bites the dust". He is definitely Dave's child. Anyways this year with him has been fabulous. When I think I can't love him anymore I do. He has taught us a lot, and hopefully we have taught him a thing or two. He really is for the most part a very sweet, tenderhearted kid and I am so thankful I get to be his mommy. By the way he stopped calling me mama and is calling me mommy. Don't like that one bit. Some of the things he learned or memorable moments of the year were... Starting to ask questions and answering our questions, laughing at silly things, becoming a major trickster, learning to play alone, learning every ones names and repeating them constantly, saying little prayers, singing and dancing to music, saying I love you, giving hugs and kisses.

Here are some of the festivities from his birthday...

Went and saw Santa

Spent time with Daddy

Had a little party with the family

Some of the guest

Got lots of awesome gifts from everyone

That he spent hours playing with later

Had some cake (made by Dave)

Had an incident with a candle

But got over it very quickly

Ended with a family photo:)

This is him before the haircut.

I guess he always had a little crazy in him!

Sweet Judah

I pray for you

everyday

that you will grow

into a man that loves

the Lord

and seeks His will

That in trials and tribulations

you will always turn to Him

That you will be kind, strong,

and show grace to all those around you

That God will give us wisdom in guiding you

That you will always feel loved

and always know that we are here

for you

Love you like crazy,

Mommy and Daddy

Hot pocket.

In a momentary lapse of judgment I bought Judah a fish. What? why? what was I thinking? I know, I know. It is much better than the kitten, chicken, or bunny I have been eyeing. I have a lot of faults, but this is one of the ones that annoys me the most. I LOVE to buy animals. It is really stupid because I don't really like animals. I like the idea of them, and I like to look at them in cages, and I love baby animals, but once they are mine they just annoy me. Especially now that I have Judah. They are not nearly as cute, they smell, they shed, you have to give them tons of attention, and when you don't give them said attention you feel like the bad owner that you are, and lets be honest they don't really give much back in return. But when he saw that fish and his eyes lit up and and he squealed and kept repeating fish over and over, I just couldn't say no. At least it was under $5 and doesn't have a very long life span. I think Judah has the same problem as me because after about 3 minutes of being excited he hasn't noticed it again. or maybe he is a two year old:) He did adorn it's bowl with his prized possession. His bubble bottle. He carried the bubble bottle around and used it for everything before the fish. to eat, to drink, to put his other prized possession in (his car). He probably was just trying to get a drink and it fell into the bowl, but it will stay there now. No more drinking out of it now that it has fish goo all over it. Wow I am really just talking about nothing now. Hopefully none of y'all will think less of me now that you know my true feelings about my pets. By the way I like other people's pets because I can leave them. I hope no one that is into peta reads this, if so I am going to get some nasty comments. ok, I'm done. stopping now. by the way his name is Hot Pocket.

Thanksgiving...A week late!

I have several things to blog about including cutting a tree down, trying to take a family photo, and Judah's new pet "hot pocket", but rarely have the time or energy lately. And no I am not pregnant. Just tired for no good reason at all. I will try to get on the ball this weekend.

But while I had a minute before I pass out while Judah naps, I thought I would give you a look into our Thanksgiving.

We spent a lot of time with family.

All the family that is left at home.

Wonderful parents.

Jenna's Family.

Karis's Family.

My family.

Keighley's family. (More of these to come in a later post)

It is fun to see all the branches growing from the tree:)

Cousins

and more cousins.

The whole fam except for Micah, Cole, and Garrison (who was napping).

After eating and taking family photos

we moved on to our new family tradition...

The boys sat around and played with media devices

While the girls and a couple guys, including my hubby,

made gingerbread houses.

She was definitely one of the cutest gingerbread makers.

In all the craziness Judah took a moment to pray,

I know he is such a sweet kid.

Just kidding I have no idea what he is doing.

We also got to see Grandpa Dan.

(We saw mimi and papa too, but mimi asked for no pics:)

We have a lot to be thankful for as you can tell.

Family, friends, food.

Laughter and love.

but non of this would be in existence with

out an amazing Father who loved us so much

that He sent His Son to die for us.

We are very blessed and undeserving!

We love you all!

Here is a little preview of us trying to take Christmas card pictures.