Today we celebrate a year with our little miracle!

I can not believe that a whole year has passed since Mason was born. Wow, I am so thankful that it is now this time this year instead of this time last year. Mason has come so far this year. He is the funniest, most loving little man I have ever seen! I was so proud of him when he two a step two different times after his birthday party!

For his party, we invited close friends and family for a get together at the house. We had it all decorated in fireman stuff and the cutest fire truck cake ever! We ended up having about 35 people over to celebrate with us! He got some really neat gifts and really loved his cake. It was all over his body and in his hair, as well as mine! As I looked through all the pictures displayed around the house of Mason's first year, I was brought to tears. He has truly come through so much! I will never forget seeing him for the first time in the NICU hooked up to tubes and so small and fragile. And then in a few short weeks being admitted into Cook's with meningitis. Seeing your tiny little baby get a spinal tab is simply horrifying and I cringe thinking about what that looked like and what his scream sounded like. Then, having the nurses administer i.v. after i.v. because he kept kicking and pulling his out. He is such a little fighter!

I remember after his 6 month appointment, Eric and I walked out of the docor's office and I told him how great it was that this was finally the first appointment we have left with good news instead of bad news. From that point on, Mason has continued to amaze me at all the things he can do. He has done far more than I expected and doesn't seem to have any problems from all the went through. Praise God for that!

The newest member of our family...Meet Kylie Brooke

Introducing Kyli Brooke

The newest member of our family was born on January 7 this year. She weighed 5 pounds, 8 ounces and she is just a little doll! I feel like Mason was NEVER that small. When I hold her, it just feels like nothing. Big things really do come in small packages and she is definately small. I love her so much and cant believe how much I love another kid that isn't even my own!!!

Fire station photo shoot

My grandpa was a Ft. Worth fire fighter for over 30 years, so growing up, that was a part of my life. I had birthday paries at the fire station, would go for visits and would always hear stories about his life at the fire hall. I always just knew that when I had a little boy of my own, I would make the coolest fireman room for him and he would always have fire trucks to play with and fire man outfits. For some reason to me boy=fireman. So, after Mason was born, I really wanted to take some pictures with my grandpa's fire gear. I finally got around to doing it in January this year. My grandpa's birhtday is on January 1st, so I went and got his gear and took all three kids down to fire station #1 in down town Ft. Worth. My grandpa had started his fire fighting carreer at that station, so there was meaning in having the kid's pictures taken there. However, when we got there, I realized that the museum they had turned the old fire station into, had nothing to do with fire fighting history. I was a little bummed, but went ahead and took some pictures anyways, then headed down to Central Fire station a few blocks away. When I got there, the firemen were so helpful and friendly. They let me take pictures inside, on the firetruck and even on the gold pole! The kids loved it and we all had a great time. Some of them even still knew my Papa. This was a great birthday present for him. He loved seeing the kids all dressed up in his old bunker jacket, hat and boots at his old fire station!

Snow day or dayS!!!!

Our neighborhood island is covered!

My three little icecycles

I woke Miley up at midnight to make her play in the snow with me.

Okay, well I dont know if Mason brought the snow to Texas when he was born or what!!! But, this is insane for Texas! For the second year in a row, we have had an amazing amount of snow!!!! It is beautiful, yes, but for Texans, we really aren't equipped to handle this amount of the cold white stuff! Macye's school, and all the schools in the metroplex for that matter, had to close for FOUR days!!! The first day was like, "Yes!! No school! Snowmen, sledding and sleeping in! Hooray!". The second day. "Ok, well no school again, thats cool. Lets build a friend for our lonely snowman." Day three, "Dear Lord, what in the world is going on? Snow is great, but lets seriously take a break from it." And by day four, "H..E..L..P.. ME! IM STUCK IN THE HOUSE WITH 3 BORED KIDS AND I CANT GET OUT!!!! SOMEONE OPEN A SCHOOL, SOMEWHERE!" No, really, unlike many other parents, I totally enjoyed my mini vacation with my precious kiddos. We took turns with our neighbors letting the kids play at each other's houses and making dinner, so really it was kinda fun. I have to say though, I was ready to get back out. My trip to Walgreens after being in the house for four days seemed like paradise! We did have fun though and got some great pictures. It just reminds me of this time last year when I was laying in a hospital bed looking out the window at the crazy amount of snow. Yes, this time last year, I was preparing to welcome my little man into the world!

Tis the Season!

Our family

sweet girls

Mason & Nathan

Macye & Isaac

Miley & Sahra

My mom's side of the family

May performing

May and her principal, Mr. Dukes

The class gift to Miss Baxter

Miley's gift exchange

Me and my little Rudolph

Miley's class Christmas show

Polar Express Day at Snow Heights

Daddy the snowman

Making gingerbread cookies with Daddy

Reading Elf on the Shelf

The 2-9-10 babies

Well, Christmas this year was a little different. I was so nervous about the time I would not have with the girls. It is amazing how God works things out for those that truly pray and seek his will. s was suppose to get the girls from the day they got out for Christmas break until the 28th (except for Christmas morning from 9-1). I could not bear the thought of being without my girls for almost two weeks. But, a couple weeks before Christmas, he called and we worked out that I would have the girls until the 24th, and he would let me have Christmas morning with them and would pick them up and bring them back the 26th. I was overjoyed that instead of them being gone 10 days, it would be reduced to two days! We had a great Thanksgiving and Christmas! Mason was histerical opening his presents. Of course he cared more about the paper and boxes, but really seemed to enjoy it! Santa brought him a ball pit (which he loves!) and just some other things to hopefully keep him occupied! Macye got "Kit," the oh so famous American Girl doll. She also got her wardrobe and other accessories that any American Girl mommy might need. And Miley got a puppy that walks on a leash. This is what she wanted sooo bad, so of course Santa did right by her. Eric and I enjoyed the time with our little M's! As I looked around the room on Christmas morning after the chaos of ripping through gifts was over, I was taken back to see right in front of me all the blessings of my life. So many people go through life with no joy or hope and I have several doses of each every day. My family is healthy, we have a comfortable home and we are serving a faithful and mighty Lord that is protecting, healing and directing our lives in the way he wants them to go. For this, I am truly thankful!

Finally, MY OWN family pictures

I know this is a ton of pictures, but hey, when mommy is a photographer, what do you expect?




I love how close these three are!

My precious angels

This says it all:)

Back off girls, he's mine!

I was thrilled after taking so many pictures of other families, to have some done of my own family. We went to the stock yards with the R family and took pictures of each other. I was so glad to have some pictures with my family! They turned out great, and A did an awesome job taking them. We can finally have something to put on Christmas cards!!!!!!