Happy Birthday to My Hubby :-)

Happy Birthday to the most amazing man in the world- my husband.  He is absolutely an incredible person whose compassion, faith, strength, love, and generosity continually amaze me.  There are literally times when I still stop and marvel at the fact that the Lord so graciously chose Sean for me; and how blessed I am to be his wife.  He absolutely is the leader of our family and his life is an incredible example of faith in action, always pointing to and relying on the One from whom all blessings flow.  He is literally the most unselfish, patient person I have ever know.  He would do anything for his family, and I have seen him love perfect strangers in a way that only a Christ-filled person could; meeting needs, and ministering to people with discernment and compassion.  He has been my strength and my rock through the most difficult season of my life, always encouraging me and helping me to focus on the Lord, His faithfulness, His love for me and for those I love. 

 There are no words that can adequately express how much I love Sean.  No words.  He is the love of my life, my best friend and there isn't another person in this world that I would rather travel this journey with.  Life is filled with joys and sorrows, surprises, and sometimes heart breaking circumstances, but the Lord has been gracious to me and has blessed me with this wonderful man to be my partner in this life.   Thank you Sean for being the kind of man your son can look up to and immulate; a faithful, kind, strong leader; committed to the Lord first and foremost, and also to your wife and family.  A father that your daughters can watch to see what true love looks like, how treasured you make me feel and how they also deserve to be loved and treasured someday by a man who loves and seeks the Lord.  That is a gift that goes beyond any other earthly possession or accomplishment.  And still I am also so proud of all your hard work and all you have accomplished. 

You are amazing. 

 I am forever grateful and humbled to be your wife. 

Thank you, Lord, for Sean.

Our 6th Anniversary! Dinner at Greystone's downtown

Ice Skating downtown with Daddy!

80's dress up party! 

lovehim.

Daddy took the day off to go play at Mission Bay!

Zipline at Hume. Love this pic.

We love you so much!!

Happy Birthday!!!

Happy 1st Birthday Baby Claire!

A Year of Firsts

A Year of Fun

Our little doll is turning 1!!

Last weekend we celebrated Claire's 1st Birthday! It is hard to believe that a whole year has already gone by! Even more amazing is how, in only one short year, this little person grew from the precious, helpless, tiny infant to a beautiful, walking, talking, singing and giggling love bug; so full of life and personality! She is such a blessing in our little family and we have loved every moment of her first year of life.  

 She is an amazing little girl.  She has music in her soul and a song in her heart. She will literally dance and sway and sing if she hears any music at all. She is so funny and makes faces- because she knows it's funny and adorable!  She is rapidly expanding her vocabulary and it is so fun when she says real words out of the blue! She says Dada, Mama, cheese, yesh (yes), uh oh!, baby, Bubba (for Jack), hi, bye bye, up, Bumpa (for Grampa- whom she adores!) Mimi (for my mom), cheese, bottle and many more! She is such a delicate, tiny little thing, yet she is fearless, spunky and determined. She gives love to Jack all the time, adores him really.  Her favorite thing to do is whatever he is doing. She wants to be wherever he is and even if its something to hard for her- she will try until she is doing it too.  Jack loves her to pieces too.  He of course gets annoyed with her when she messes up his line of cars, or changes the channel when he is watching Kratt Brothers, but he will out of the blue tell me, "I love ClaireBear so much!" and I know he means it. Their relationship is precious, and I pray they will always be close.

 I am excited to continue to watch her grow and blossom.  And most importantly, I pray that her sweet and tender heart will always be drawn to the One who created her so lovingly and so intricately.  She is a precious "sweet little heart" as Jack called her.

Happy 1st Birthday Claire Bear!!

She is my little doll, and I had so much fun dressing her in outfits that were mine when I was a baby! It was fitting since I planned her little party to have a 
"Vintage Baby" theme.

I made sugar cookies, lemon bars, and raspberry filled cupcakes with raspberry butter cream frosting and lemon filled cupcakes with regular butter cream frosting. It was my first time doing the filled cupcakes, but they turned out really yummy! I had so much fun collecting little vintage items like the baby planter (bottom left photo), the vintage lamb planter (bottom right photo), and the vintage rocking horse, and vintage "first year" frame (in the drink station photo)! I made all the cupcake toppers (with Sean's help...he's the graphic designer), the tissue poms, "Claire's 1st Year" banner and photo banner, the little high chair tutu, and the #1 piñata!

"Claire's 1st Year" in photos

Drink station with pink lemonade and strawberry milk for the kids (not pictured)

I think she was overwhelmed by all of the people and the attention, so she fell asleep, safe and comfy in Mimi's arms (for like 45 minutes!- which is crazy for this little one who never naps!!)

I planned two little old-fashion(ish) games for the bigger kids; Pin the Bow Tie on the Ducky, and the Pinata. Claire slept through this part, but oh well!

Finally awake! and ready for her party!

Cupcake time!

Opening presents with Mommy 

these are my people :-) can you tell we are all related?

Claire with Grandma and Grandpa!

Just in case you were wondering what the boys were doing amidst all the pink and tulle...

We had Shirley Temple music playing in the background, and this little doll couldn't help but dance! It was so cute! Don't you love those little legs? 

It was such a fun day and Claire is so blessed to have so many people that love her! Thank you to all our family and friends who came to celebrate her!

xo

Mmm D' Licious: Gingerbread Cookies!

Tis the Season to be Jolly...and bake lots of delicious Christmas treats! These Gingerbread Cookies are a favorite of mine. They are just the right consistency and oh so delicious!

Ingredients:

1 Cup butter

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp cloves

2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 C molasses

1 egg

3 1/4 C flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

Directions:

Cream together butter and brown sugar.

Add salt, cinnamon, cloves, ginger and mix.

Add the egg and mix.

Add molasses and mix until combined.

in another bowl combine flour and baking soda.

Gradually add to cream mixture.

If you want to roll out the dough and use cookie cutters, chill for an hour first. then roll it out on a lightly floured surface. Do not roll too thin.

Otherwise- scoop out dough onto cookie sheet (I placed them on parchment paper)

Bake at 325 for 9 minutes.

They may not look done, but trust me- they are sooo good as long as you don't overcook them!

Let them stand for a minute on the pan and then place them on cooling racks. Allow them to cool completely before frosting!

Frosting:

2 1/2- 3 C powdered sugar

3 Tbs milk

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp almond extract

[This frosting is kind of to-taste, and you have to make sure it is not too thick or too runny.]

Add a few drops of your desired food coloring, get your little helpers, and you are ready to frost your cookies!

Jack is my little taste-tester....quality control :-) 

Enjoy!

Thankful Times Three

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! I cannot believe the holidays are already here! Where has this year gone? I can honestly say this has been the hardest year of my life. I know that sounds horrible, but there were several huge events/circumstances that occurred this year that literally changed my life. Things that I never could have guessed or imagined would ever happen in my life or the lives of the people that I love. And yet through the trials and the storms, the faithfulness of the Lord is even more evident, and His loving hand and blessings in our lives even more precious and poignant. 

Jesus said, "In this life you will have many sorrows, but take heart I have overcome the world."

Though we may not understand the sorrows or the circumstances that come into our lives, we can always trust that the Lord will be our Wonderful Counselor, our Mighty Sovereign God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace; a peace that surpasses all understanding. This is who God is, and through the sorrows that we face, if we will draw ever closer to the One who Redeems, Restores, Rebuilds and Renews, we can still have a deep and inexplicable joy and gratitude that only the Lord can give.   We can still rejoice and thank Him through the suffering for we know that in all things God is working for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to His purposes (Rom. 8:28). 

The Lord is so gracious and loving, that even through the suffering He sprinkles incredible blessings and surprises along the way. One of the most amazing blessings this year was the birth of our precious Claire Marie!

She is my sweet little Claire Bear and the past 9 months have been priceless, precious moments of firsts with her. She is growing and changing everyday, and I have truly treasured these special times with her. 

There is no greater blessing in the world than these precious little children. I am thankful everyday that the Lord chose me to have the awesome privilege of being their mommy. Jack is so funny and so incredibly smart, he never ceases to amaze me. He literally is this bundle of joyful energy that is constantly laughing and bouncing off the sofa, the ottoman, and the walls! You just cannot help but feel joyful when these little miracles are around!

I love my sweet husband and my precious babies so much! They are such gifts from the Lord! And now....He has chosen to surprise us and bless us yet again...


with another baby!!!

We could not be more excited or more grateful this Thanksgiving for these precious children He has given  to us!! 


I am 16 weeks pregnant now and feeling pretty good! We cheated and already found out the gender of this sweet little one! hehe...

It's a GIRL!!!
Little baby girl #2 is due on May 12th, 2012.


Thank you Lord, for continuing to bless this little family, and for being so faithful to us!


Happy Thanksgiving!!

A Fairy and a Tail (Dinosaur Tail that is)

It may almost be Christmastime, but here are my two little loves on Halloween :-) 

Jack was so cute and he loved his dinosaur costume, especially his tail. He still doesn't really understand/like the idea of costumes though.  He thought people really thought he was a DINOSAUR, a real dinosaur.

He would ROAR as loud as he could, then say, 

"Its just me, Jacky."

Claire was a "Princess Fairy" according to Jack.  She is just so darling, and now that she is  standing up and cruising all over the place, she is a busy little bee. 

She is such a precious little girl. I feel like she is getting so big, so fast! I love her little feathers that stand straight up! Thats just like my hair was when I was a baby!

We had such a fun Halloween bouncing from one house to the next! We went to Sean's cousins' party first, but I was so bummed because all of my pics were blurry. Darn lense. (certainly it was not due to user error). haha 

And Jack was exhausted, and fell asleep on the way to the party...so I thought it was going to be a disaster of a night.

You can see he was not into taking these pictures. 

Then we went to my see my mom, where most of the pics were blurry again.

From there we met up with my sister and her kids at our Nana's house.  Our cousins were there with their kids too! We actually got a picture with all of the kids looking cute and smiling! Not my camera of course because I had on the wrong lense. Dope.

Jon Jon, Jack, and Jakey

Claire Bear amongst all the big(ger) kids.

Jack & Nicky

We ended up having a really fun Halloween!

xo