We're cookin'

My mom and Mike totally shocked us with a wonderful Christmas gift of a new stove...our good friend Terry came and helped finish the gas installation stuff...isn't it beautiful!!!!?????!!!! We are so thankful...I will be even more thanful when I cook my first meal and the burner doesn't turn off in the middle of the meal or when it doesn't decide on it's own to cook on high even when the knob says low :) Thanks Again!!!

what a month!!

So the month of December has been a wonderful and tiring month! Lots of photo shoots, basketball season beginning for Brian and our Jada bug on the go! Through the craziness, we have been blessed with a new family in out lives, the Stanleys. Emily (the Stanley's youngest daughter) is one of Jada's all time favorite people...I thought I would post a pic of them and of course please notice their sweet matching outfits :) Their family has really encouraged us and brought about sweet "community" in our lives.

Also, The Smithers were able to come visit us! We have missed them so much and we were SO happy to spend sweet time together. They always show us more of Christ and when they leave we have so much to "chew on". We really feel loved by them! Cherish (the Smither's youngest daughter) is precious and she quickly won many smiles and excited squeels from our Jada! We gave Cherish a dance costume and she and Jada played and danced...well, Cherish danced while Jada watched and played the music :).

While the Smither's were in town, we were able to connect the Stanley's and the Smithers which was a lot of fun for Evan and Cherish too...they got to play paintball and climb on hay along with lots of other fun things out at the Stanley's property. I thought I would include some cute pics of them :)

We are off to MiMi & Papa's house and then we'll return Christmas eve to celebrate Christmas here...then off to Grammy & Grumpy's after Christmas. It should be a fun week of Jada being spoiled, catching up with family and some much needed rest!

Merry Christmas! -

Visit to MiMi & PaPa's

This past weekend Brian and I went to Boerne to photograph a wedding...meanwhile Jada went to my mom and Mike's to be TOTALLY spoiled. Mike built Jada her own personal swingset with all of her favorites (a puppy dog flag, 2 sets of chimes, and her name written across the top :)) She had a blast!

Brian and I got to spend some time with our good friends, Shane and Steph Menn. I added some pics of our time as well!

Walking and Playing...

Brian and I like to take Jada to the park near our house...here are some pics of the fun. As you can see, she loves the slide! :)

Jada is everywhere these days...she is walking all over the house and loves to play outside! It has been so much fun to chase her around as she has learned to walk :)

The greatness of the Puppy Pillow

Here is the pic to go along with "why we love puppy pillows" Isn't it great?!

Madyson's birthday & Why we love puppy pillows, elephants and baseball

It has been a while since I've updated our blog, so there are a few fun things that I must include today...

Last weekend we all traveled to New Braunfels for Jada's cousin Madyson's 4th birthday party. It was so much fun. Madyson (aka: Cinderella) had a great time playing with lots of friends and lots of bubbles! Jada had a blast as well...she received a princess hat from Madyson that she thought was pretty fun to wear backwards :).

Jada was given one of the greatest gifts a true puppy loving toddler could ask for: a giant pillow, PaPa's idea hand made by MiMi, out of puppy dog fabric! It has caused endless delightful squeels and it has given Jada a soft place to land while trying to learn how to walk! She will get brave enough to take a few leaning steps into the pillow. I don't have a picture of it yet...but it will come! We love puppy pillows!

Karli is a sweet friend of ours that I taught dance to almost 10 years ago, stayed close with her sweet family and now she is a college student here at A&M. Karli, who is amazing with kids and seems to always give amazing gifts, gave Jada a giant elephant yesterday! Her name is Ellie and when Jada first met Ellie squeels, giggles and smiles were immediate! Jada snuggles with Ellie, pokes Ellie's eyes, and really likes it when we set her on top of Ellie to ride her. Most importantly, turns out Ellie was Jada's motivation to walk confidently half way across the room! Without hesitation, Jada stood up from my lap, walked to Ellie and just layed her head on Ellie's back (without falling :)), celebrated about her great walking success, then returned to me (falling into my lap). It was an exciting day. We love Ellie the elephant!

And finally, tonight Brian, Jada and I joined the beloved Borchgardt family at Blaine's last baseball game of the season. Blaine was great! He hit the ball well, slid into base (with or without an incoming throw:) and most of all had fun doing it. Jada had a blast pushing her stroller around the ball park and playing with Sara. We all had a great time and were thankful to see Blaine in his element!

It was a Happy First Birthday!

Jada turned one on Wednesday and we had her first birthday party on Saturday! Time has flown by! I thought I would post her "One Year" pics and a few from her party. The friends and family that came were truly such a blessing to us and we enjoyed celebrating Jada's first year of life together with you. Enjoy the pics!!!

Why Japanese Techno is the Greatest...

So we are very grateful for Blair, a dancer friend of mine that lives in Colorado, for many reasons...but particularly grateful because Blair sent me a fun cd with a variety of different music on it. Track #1 on it is a Japanese Techno song that is full of crazy beats and a girl that is speaking/singing. Recently we have discovered that while we are in the car and Jada gets bothered, fussy or bored we turn it to track #1 and she immediately turns from crying to a HUGE smile. She even begins to dance a little with her arms up in the air! It is a crack up...if any of you moms want to try it out, let me know :)

A fun Grammy visit!

This weekend Brian's mom "Grammy" came to visit and jada had a great time with her...enjoy the pics :)

Freedom Dance Center!!!

A really great opportunity has opened up for me to teach dance this fall to older high school & college age/adult dancers!! It is really amazing how the Lord truly opened up this opportunity. Aerofit fitness center offered for me to teach two classes of "Hip Hop Abs" for their club members and in exchange I can use their dance room facility to run my own dance studio! Crazy and fun. I really believe God has some great things in store! So, here is the blog for the studio: freedomdance.blogspot.com Check it out and pass it on to any dancers that you may know!

family camp...

We all just returned from our church's annual family camp. It was great. Jada played hard and slept well and we had a genuine time with the folks from our church. Brian and I both agreed that the men and women that make up our church are truly unique and really cool in the Lord! We have a lot to learn from so many people and it is fun to know that we get to live our lives together with them.

Now Brian is back in the swing of things with the students back in school and we are gearing up to begin our Monday evening prayer and worship times with some really great college students. We meet in our house...if any of you know of any students that may be interested in a small group time with other college students, send them our way!

the goose

Hey all...well, Jada's nickname has evolved into "Goose" from "silly goose" Anyway, this is one of those "goose" moments...she is so busy these days crawling, climbing, and knocking on windows. She thinks that every window that she knocks on has puppies that come running...pretty fun.

Jada's Aunt Dawn gave her these little bloomers recently and they are great!

Seriously...

Thought you guys might enjoy viewing the seriously sweet kiddos and families that we spent the weekend with.

Reunion Fun...

We just finished a 3 day weekend with some close friends of ours from the house church. It was so much fun. There was a moment as I was standing in my kitchen that the reality hit me...we are all living in a place that we dreamed, talked, hoped and prayed for...God is so good to us. It was one of those visual images of some kids chasing each other, others crawling behind, others being swaddled and the adults carrying on conversation that seemed to be illuminated in a uniquely spiritual way and my heart truly praised God for His goodness towards us all! It was a great weekend!

Ballerina Baby

We are back in the groove of "normal" life again after some fun travels. This coming week we are having a reunion with our home church friends and we are very excited to meet new babies, celebrate a new marriage and pregnancy and to simply catch up. In the mean time, Jada and Brian are spending some quality time together while I am setting up more photography groundworks.

Well, I couldn't resist the temptation to snap some sweet ballet pics of Jada after a recent photo shoot of some dancers. Thought you might enjoy.

Home Again!!

We are back home after a wonderful trip around Texas. We were glad to get back home and back into a normal swing of things. Jada had a great time experiencing the beach for the first time!

I also enjoyed time photographing some friends in Boerne...I snuck Jada in for a few 4th of July pics with her Daddy.

Brian is done with school for the next few weeks which is a nice break for all of us.