Some of my favorite...

moments of the day are the most simple.

Letter J continued...

Letter J might be my favorite memory, so far, of our cousin letter days. I realize you have heard me say that before about almost all the other letters, but the memories just get sweeter and sweeter. And the reason to press on becomes more and more evident. They are learning. They are remembering. They are having fun. We are having fun. Aubrey Rose and Christopher are becoming such adorable friends. And Andrea and I are loving our time together. We make a wonderful team!

To continue with the Letter J, we knew we wanted to focus on JESUS!!! We shared stories about Jesus. We talked about Jesus. And we prayed to Jesus.
We finally had our first new attendee of our cousin day. JEDIDIAH!! Perfect timing Jed! J is for Jedidiah!
For lunch we had Jelly and PB sandwiches and apples, both cut in the shape of a J.
And JUICE!
After lunch, we jammed to JINGLE BELLS...

We should really have video taped this. They loved dancing and jamming...
and singing.
We sang and rocked out Jingle Bells, Joy to the World, Jesus Loves Me, and Jingle Bell Rock. Oh, they were loving life.
JOY to the world....what a fun day.
Jungle, Jesus, Jedidiah, jelly, jingle, jump, juice, jeans, jam, jacket, jello, jeep, and a lot of JOY!!!

J is for...

To start our letter J day, we began with an adventure, actually because we are working on the letter J, let's call it a JOURNEY. A journey that has turned out to be one of my favorite memories so far.

We first had to create the necessary gear for our journey. (Sorry no step by step pictures. I have confidence in you that you can figure it out without the tutorial though.)

Binoculars...check. Vest...check. Can you figure out where they are going yet???? Remember, we are working on the letter J!

JUMP on their JEEP! They will take you on their JOURNEY...

This might not look like much. It might not be obvious to you, but back behind this tall tree is something remarkable. It is like a whole different world. Have you figured out what it might be???

Keep looking...

Oh, there it is!!!! There it is!!!!

As they got closer, it became more and more evident. (And it brought more and more JOY to them!)

It is over there. No, it is over there!! It is everywhere!

The terrain got tougher and the Jeep could not take them any further, so on foot they went. They came around the bend and what did they see????

A JUNGLE!!!!!! They instantly had JUNGLE fever!!

There were animals hanging from the vines...

Elephants on the ground...

Giraffes...

Tigers...

Even frogs crawling on the trees!

Monkeys were hanging in the trees and bananas growing everywhere...

Wow!!! Even koalas were swinging on the jungle vines!
They had never been to a jungle like this before! Absolute amazement!!!
It was as if the animals were talking to them. It was so adorable.

The animals in this jungle were sooooooo friendly.


We even got to try the jungle bananas.
Christopher's daddy got to visit the jungle too.
These three are so cute together!
And so are we four. :)
There is more to come from the Letter J!

Can you guess???

Any ideas of where these two JOURNEYED to for the Letter J?

More details to come soon!

New Year

Pictures keep coming out of hiding and these are some of them. We had New Year's plans to go up the mountain for some fun in the snow with sweet friends. However, power outages did not allow that to happen. We didn't let that stop our fun though!

LOVE these girls!

And the guys! Guaranteed laughs (and ski talk) when these guys get together.We had to add the little men too. :) And the princesses. :) This is what we see at every playdate. Princesses everywhere. Oh, and non-stop outfit changes. ADORABLE! This is Blake's cousin and her family. We are sooooooo blessed to be friends too! Dear friends of ours from the high school days. Love you Josh, Meg and Jett. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Okay...confession...we celebrated East Coast New Years. :) With tired kids (and adults) it was the perfect plan. We even think it is a GREAT plan for next year! HA!

The Patricio's...love, love, love your family too!

Can't wait to experience the new memories and blessings 2011 will bring!

New Year. Fresh Start. Feels good.