December Recap

So here is a brief recap of our Christmas festivities. God blessed us immensely this year. We were able to buy gifts for a few less fortunate kids, deliver gifts to sweet children whose parents sadly are in prison, spend a couple of days with Jeremy's family and squeeze in a short visit with my sister. It was truly a perfect Christmas.

(You can read this post how ever you wish, but it will make the most sense if you scroll to the bottom to start. Sorry my brain can't think backwards, and moving images around always locks down blogger.)

And we ended the Christmas celebrating with a warm fire, pizza and a movie.

On our way home from Cloudcroft we stopped by Abilene to spend Christmas with Sara, Conner, Jackson and Harrison. It was an extremely short visit but so fun to get to see them.

Christmas morning came bright and EARLY as all of the kids were still on TX time. We were all up checking out what Santa brought by 4:45am! (yes that is correct) Needless to say all of us adults had about 8 cups of coffee to find our smiles for the camera. Santa brought our sweet girls a train set, blocks, books, puzzles, games and clothes. It was so fun to see their faces when they realized Santa brought exactly what they asked for.

It snowed a little the night we got there. Thankfully there was an area on the golf course completely shaded. The snow melted everywhere else but this little bitty section, which was just enough to go sledding down. The girls loved it, but I have to admit I loved it more!


We got the chance to spend Christmas in Cloudcroft, NM with Jeremy's family. Jeremy's Aunt Nita has a cabin on the golf course. It was so much fun! We picked out a Christmas tree from the forest (with a permit of course), decorated it with fruit loop garland and lights.


Jeremy helped the girls make a Trix house and decorate it with candy. Not totally convinced we could keep Mallory from eating regular gingerbread and not wanting to spend a small fortune making GF gingerbread only to throw it away we went with Trix and marshmallows. The weight of the icing proved to be to much as it collapsed fairly quickly despite structural enhancements by the our resident civil engineer.

From Dec 12th until we left to see Gran & Grandad we made a craft (ha! or "crap" as Mallory says. She is still learning her "ft" sound) or did something Christmas-y. The all time favorite was snowmen.

Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year everyone!! I can't believe how fast the last year went by. 2010 was a wonderful year for us and God provided so many sweet moments with our girls and wonderful memories that I hope I can always recall.

Mallory and Kelby were the silliest two year olds around. Watching them learn, discover and share everything they were figuring out was priceless! So far having two three year olds in the house is proving a bit challenging only because they stepped up their "A Game" faster than Momma did. It is hilarious to hear them talking as they play, plotting their next move and discussing the days events.

Mallory is definitely our comedian and little ham. She instantly can pull a funny stunt when the mood gets too serious or the car is too quiet. Kelby is still the prankster and her laugh gives her away every time she realizes she got you.

One thing we did not do enough of in 2010 is blog and for that I am so sorry! I promise to be better at carving out time to update the blog.

Hugs

&

Kisses,

Jeremy, Jennifer Mallory & Kelby

Cheatham Family Summer Summary

We had a great summer that as always went by way to quickly! If we had to pick the highlights they would have to be:

* Had an awesome Father's Day celebrating Jeremy.
* Jeremy became an official licensed Professional Engineer.
* Luxury of hanging out with Morgan and Brenlee for a week.
* Fabulous Fourth complete with fireworks
* BYBC and Summer Fest at HCBC Pflugerville
* Mallory finally got her tonsils and adenoids out (trust me this was a blessing)
* We meet some wonderful (future life long friends) when we joined the best Real Life Group ever.
* Celebrated 4 years of marriage to my wonderful husband.
* Watched God move mountains for us and in our heart which increased our faith in him.

And well... I think that about catches everyone up on our Summer.

To-doodle-do!

Catch Up & Kerrie's Wedding

Once again this summer brought another family Wedding. Jeremy's cousin Kerrie got married at the end of July to Tyler DeHay. It was the most beautiful wedding and Kerrie looked gorgeous! It was great to see all of Jeremy's extended family and celebrate with Tyler and Kerrie on their special day. The girls loved dancing and playing with their cousins.

A few pics below:

Catch Up & BYBC

Oh my goodness! Has it really been almost four months since our last post? WOW! so sorry to any fans we still have left out there in blog-ville. Sadly once the craziness of this summer slowed down I was totally out of the habit of blogging that it got pushed further and further down the to-do list. I am currently monitoring nap time, and after checking email, figured I would blog a bit.

Where to begin?

July:
We hosted a backyard bible club (BYBC) for out church this summer and had a BLAST!! BYBC is our church's version of vacation bible school with a twist, instead of meeting at church the meet in neighborhoods around the city. Kids from our high school youth group volunteer to come around to each house and teach the elementary kids about God. Going into it I knew it would be fun, but was not at all prepared to be blown away by how much these high school kids truly love Jesus and their ability to get the younger kids on fire for him every evening in the 100+ degree weather. It was absolutely amazing!!! We can't wait to host another BYBC next summer!

4th Pics. (in reverse order)

Sorry these are in reverse order.

A little sugar helps fight off Mr Sandman

3 out of 4 with eyes open and 2 out of 4 smiling = success!

Another attempt to try and get all eyes open with smiles failed miserably!

Momma's Kelby-Elby~

"Look! A helicopter!"

Almost time.....

Eating popcorn and waiting on the sun to set

Checking out the candy~

Kurly Sue

Notice the little boy eying their candy.

Picnic before the parade started.

Gotta clean the glasses

Are they not the cutest????

Fourth of July 2010

Oh my goodness this day could not have been more perfect for this patriotic passionate American! I LOVE the 4th!! Normally I get all festive with cookies and decorations but this year the weeks prior were a little chaotic. We improvised with Starbuck's vanilla fraps and popcorn as our festive food. The three day weekend made it even better. I love when the holiday falls on the weekend so that Jeremy can have a three day weekend home with us.

The day itself kicked with a great church service. After which rushed home packed a picnic then went to the Round Rock parade. The girls loved it despite the extreme heat and humidity. It was a first for us as parents to see how much you have to help your kids grab the candy tossed to them. Unfortunately we were surrounded by quick aggressive kids and parents that saw the candy tossed by parade floats as a contest. The girls loved the parade though and the horses were the biggest hit as always. Afterward, we came home for naps and ice cream followed by pizza and fireworks.

With all of the rain lately several cities and organizations had to reschedule their firework displays. Thankfully the city of Pflugerville did not have too and we were able to see a great show Sunday night. Our subdivision is less than a mile from Lake Pflugerville where the fireworks took place, so we were able to walk over with out having to mess with parking and shuttle buses. Waiting for sun down proved tricky as their is only so much to do, but once the show began the girls LOVED it!!

Summer Fun

Princess Brenlee! Lovable and cute as ever!

Morgan- she is gorgeous even fresh out of bed and her hair all a mess. Lucky sweet girl!
The next Vana White! haha!

Mallory & Brenlee

Mallory & Kelby's first time inside a McDondald's!

Crazy, I know but I honestly am grossed out by the interior of any fast food restaurant. Factor being a parent to a child with Celiac and that pretty much limits any trips to fast food establishments for these girlies. I do however love McDonald's fries (I am American!) and thankfully they are one of the few places that does not fry their fries in the same fryer as other food; therefore they are Gluten Free. Our nieces came to stay for a week and the trade off spot was supposed to be Starbuck's. However, Eastland's Starbucks is no longer open so McDonald's was second on the list. ~~Hey a road trip with four girls REQUIRES coffee!~~~

Father's Day

Father's Day was a complete day of celebrating the wonderful Daddy that Jeremy is to the girls. It kicked off with Cinnamon Ice Cream French Toast served with Ham and Eggs followed by play time, late church service, long afternoon of naps and golf, then ended with a BBQ with our neighbors.


I am so thankful for the screams of joy and giggles that fill our house every evening when Jeremy comes home from work. For the hours he spends playing with them and the love they have for him. Every girl needs an amazing Daddy to love on her and shower her with hugs and kisses. So glad my girls have Jeremy as their Daddy.

Slumber party aftermath

This is the first of many, we are certain. After putting the girls to bed at 8ish, going in twice to silence the giggle fest we finally headed to bed at 11. Jeremy checked on the girls and they were sleeping peacefully in their own beds. However Saturday morning when we went in to get them, they were snuggled up on Mallory's bed. They had already run off to play by the time I found the camera to take a picture. We have no idea when Kelby climbed in bed with Mallory. They have not slept together in the same bed in two years. I love the bond they have. Nothing is sweeter.

Play time

Mallory in deep concentration!



Mallory is the best little Mommy to her baby dolls. She constantly is taking care of their every need.

A new bath time ritual..

At first glance it might appear that the bath tub toys are nicely put away. However, that is not the case. These bath tub toys are in line to "go potty". Their potty is at the other end of the bath tub, this is merely the line. Kelby makes sure every night during the bath that each and every toy has a chance to "go potty". She is very insistent in her directions to the toys that they "Go potty, right now, OK! Right now, go potty." Thankfully, she is not playing with the real potty or even her real potty. Mallory is the cheerleader for the bath tub toys. When they have finished she energetically claps and says "Yeah! Good job, you did it!"

Cripple Creek Ranch

This picture pretty much says it all! We had a wonderful opportunity to go to a friends family ranch for the weekend a while back. Araceli and Hunt Hellums are dear friends of ours and when the offered we could not say no. Their family ranch is in Medina, TX and truly sits on the most beautiful piece of property either of us have ever seen. Hunt's parents host camps and hunting trips for orphans all across the state. The ranch consists of 5 or 6 cabins, a main house, lodge, several ponds to fish in, horse back riding, canoeing, swimming pool, tons of hiking trails and a peaceful creek to listen too.

We had so much fun getting to visit with some great friends we hadn't seen in a while and enjoying every bit of the ranch. Heidi came along too for the adventures and honestly had more fun than anyone there! She completely checked her "spoiled lap dog" attitude at the gate and became Heidi the ranch dog. She out ran the ranch dogs, swam in the lake and river every chance she got, bailed out of the jeep while it was moving, chased the roosters and quickly treed the ranch cat in mere seconds. By the end of the weekend she had earned the name White Lighten'.

Mallory's turn.

Araceli helping Kelby hit the pinata.

Alex clearly had some experience hitting pinatas.

Heidi was really hopping Luke would whack it open. Then the roosters caught her attention and she was off!

Heidi was gone before we could snap a pic. She chased them in and out of the chicken coup. They finally gave up and flew into the tree. All of us city folk were shocked to know roosters could actually fly that high.

Mallory, Alex and Luke eating their loot! Alex is actually 6mths younger than the girls. She and Kelby could pass for sisters. Many times we all got the two of them confused.


Hunter riding the horse.
Mallory and Kelby crashed Saturday afternoon. Sadly they missed the pony rides.


More pics of the ranch.


The main house and the edge of one of the cabins. Scarlet, a friends dog, was scoping out the place.

The girls first boat ride! This does not look safe, but I promise it was completely safe. The whole boat ride lasted maybe three minutes. The girls giggled the whole time.