Grace and Hope

Grace and Hope
Wait for God. Wait with hope. Hope now; hope always! Pslam 131:3

Monday, January 9, 2017

November - December 2016

     November and December--maybe the best two months of the year!! One of the things I love most abou these months is that it typically means more family time. We are in such a good place with both our jobs right now, having more family time than we have ever had in the past two years. It is a beautiful thing when we are all together. The girls tells us that their favorite days are "mommy, daddy, Aubrey, Avery days." I will cherish that as long as possible.
     We had another great visit with Nana and Grandpa in November and one with Poppy in December to celebrate Christmas. The girls are very spoiled by all the grandparent time they get on both sides of the family. Gramma is very much missed during the visits, but the girls often talk about their memories with Gramma and at times make things to send to Heaven.
      This year we entered our first race, the Pearland Turkey Trot. I did my first 6 mile race and had a really fun time. Daddy was such a sport taking the girls to cheer me on at the end of my race. The girls both completed a 1K race and got a medal. It was a lot of and we look forward to our next race in March. For that race, Aubrey and Jason will complete a race and Avery and I will complete a different race. It will be good to have that time individually. We celebrated Thanksgiving with Aimee, Israel and Tessa. The girls just love playing together. It really is very special. We also celebrated daddy's birthday. We went on a special date night and then had a family date day. It was a great celebration.
      December was tons of fun. We had so much fun and excitement preparing for Christmas. The girls are at the best age for holidays! We had so much going on in December, it will best be portrayed through pictures. I took plenty (no shocker!). We celebrated Christmas three times over between Poppy, Aunt Aimee and Uncle Israel (and of course Tessa), our family Christmas, and then one with Nana and Grandpa. We are very loved and spoiled!

November 2016

Pre-K 4 Advanced Mrs. Brassell School Pictures 2016:



November fun: It is Christmas cooking baking time at our house! Also we were able to enjoy a bunch of family date days with Jay and I both having off overlapping time near the holiday. What a treat.





Thanksgiving 2016: Thanksgiving day started off with the Turkey Trot. While it was my first race ever, it is something I always imagined doing with the family. I want us all to live healthy lifestyles together. Avery had a blast and Aubrey tolerated it! Overall, everyone had a bunch of fun. More races to come. Daddy then made a special treat: homemade donuts. They were yummy! In the afternoon we enjoyed eating with Aimee, Israel and Tessa. It was a very relaxing and enjoyable holiday.







Jason Bday Celebration: We celebrated big this year and went to Jay's number 1 bucket list restaurant, Oxheart. It was delicious. Aimee and Israel watched the girls so we could have the night on the town.




December 2016: 



Avery making bags of beans, serving in her community.
Aubrey making bags of rice, serving in her community
Annual Christmas Train: As a tradition, we visit the Alvin Christmas train every year. The girls seem to really look forward to it. We make a picture to mail to Santa, we hear the Christmas story from Mrs. Claus, we marvel at this very intricate and large train town, and ride a train around with lots of Christmas lights and hearing the Christmas story. It is always a special time.









More fun memories in December:
Christmas visit with Poppy 2016: The girls are very spoiled by Poppy. He is able to visit on a regular basis and spoils them with love. At Christmas, he comes with lots of gifts. The girls had a blast. We also got to have Christmas dinner with Aimee, Israel, and Tessa. We had lots of good times. During Poppy's visit, we went to the Bayou Wildlife Park and got to see lots of animals and feed them food. It was a lot of fun for all.









Celebrating Gramma's Birthday with Gingerbread House Making: Gramma made gingerbread houses with the girls each year and it was one of their favorite memories. Growing up, we made them with my mom's best friend and Aimee's best friend's family. It always made for great memories. In her memory, we will be making gingerbread houses each year.




Bayou Wildlife Park:





Christmas 2016: This year was an exciting year in our house. Not only did the girls truly understand that Christmas resolves around the birth of Jesus and that he came into the world to save us from our sins, but it was a year that the kids were ever so excited about Santa and all the activities surrounding Christmas that make it so magical. We continued with our annual Christmas Eve Eve service, making cookies for Santa, laying out reindeer food and this year they made a note for Santa and Santa wrote a note back. We also had a wonderful trip to Galveston Moody Gardens for an overnight with lots of activities. We definitely enjoyed this getaway right before Christmas.  All in all, everything was perfect. My favorites presents don't come wrapped under a tree, they are the things that I hold close to my heart every day.

























Christmas with Nana and Grandpa:Christmas number 3 was another hit!!! It is no doubt that these girls are very loved and spoiled by all!! Nana and Grandpa enjoyed their visit and are looking forward to their next one! They spoiled the girls with lots of goodies, but their biggest gifts were One Generation dolls and a horse for the dolls. The girls are having a good time pretending and doing lots of outfit changes with the dolls. We are very lucky to have so much love!


These dresses were from Aunt Maria and Uncle Jim for their birthday. They are so pretty.