The Nativity

Behold...it's a treasured thing of beauty that I will cherish for years. All the grownups helped to paint it and seal it. I think the camel is my favorite. I've already put in my wish list for Christmas next year - the last 3 pieces: an angel, a shepherd, and an ox.

This and That and Catching Up

My last post was about my Grandpa unexpectedly passing away. I've tried to blog since, but I've deleted everything. There are so many mixed up feelings about the issues my parents have had to deal with regarding the "step" family. After two very stressful weeks in Pensacola for the funeral and aftermath, my parents followed us back to Virginia. They had planned to come for Thanksgiving anyway. We stayed a little longer in Pensacola and they came a few days earlier. It worked out really well. Since we've been here, we've tried hard to get back into the swing of things with school and things like cooking. There's nothing like stress to make you wish you only had to deal with feeding your kids once a day :). I've have been working non-stop on a tshirt quilt for a client and my mom has been working madly on a present for Allie. I can't wait to share pictures. We also finished my nativity. It'll get its own post and managed to decorate for Christmas.

Sent from my iPhone

Double Gotcha Day

Today marks 11 years side we became a family of 4. Jaelyn and Allie are wonderful, challenging, creative, energetic, hard strong, amazing girls. I love watching the young ladies they are becoming. It exhausts me, but I love it.

Jaelyn has been working hard at controlling herself in the last year. She's been researching gerbils and saving her money. Today, she earned the right to make her dream come true. I let her buy two Chinese dwarf hamsters. The one in her hand is Catnip and the one on the wheel meeting Zac is Basil.