Our Christmas Letter

Merry Christmas!

        So much has happened this past year!  We have much to be joyful for. 

        First of all thank you from the bottom of our hearts to all of our friends and family who helped us through tough times.  We love you and you mean more to us than you know.

        Brian and I married in June after a whirlwind of events that brought us together.  We are very happy and feel so blessed to have found each other.

        The boys and I moved to Amarillo in July and have been enjoying life in our new environment.  I am working at Anderson Merchandisers.  For those who do not know what this company does… we merchandise the books, music, and videos in the Best Buys and Wal-Mart’s all over the country.  I work in the Marketing Department.  I am in charge of the Book Department.  I work on the signage and the displays in the Wal-Mart stores for the book department.  I like it a lot.  It is very different than doing payroll and training, but it is a nice change of pace.  Time has really flown by since we moved here.  I guess three kids and a husband as well as a full time job will do that!  J

        Brian is working at Best Buy on the Geek Squad and has had 2 promotions in the past year!  This is their busy time of year so it has been CRAZY! J Brian plans on teaching Guitar Lessons this next year.  He hopes to start doing this in January.  Brian is a wonderful Husband and Father.  We keep him busy!   

        Caelan is doing well in school.  He played football this year and really like it.  He thinks he will play again next year when he goes to Randall High School.  He is also in Choir and enjoys that.  Caelan went hunting this year and got his first buck.  He had a great time and can’t wait to go again.  Caelan has taken on being a big brother and is doing a great job! He is great with Cody and Garrett and is such a big help. 

        Cody continues to amaze me at how fast he grows!  He loves going to his new sitter’s house.  He calls it going to school.  Mrs. Jessica takes great care of the kids.  Cody has adjusted to all of the changes this past year very well.  He is a tough little dude!  Cody got a new bike this year for his birthday (Thank You Nana and Papa)   He loves riding his bike and playing outside.  He loves football and soccer.  Cody still loves playing with cars and really anything with wheels.  He has recently discovered he really likes making forts!  He has such a vivid and amazing imagination.  It is really fun to watch him play… it’s amazing the stuff he comes up with!  Cody has so much love to give!  He is our sweet little Cody Bear.

        Garrett is getting so big!  He is walking and jabbering away.  He is very sure that he needs to keep up with his brothers and has decided he can climb up on step stools just like brothers can.  He is going to be our little dare devil!  Garrett loves playing with cars, blocks, play phones.  He is such an amazing little person.  He has a great personality and I love seeing him learn and grow.  Garrett is very independent.  He decided that he needed to start feeding himself and pretty much refused to eat baby food around 10ish months.  He has done much of the same thing with his bottle.  He only has that at nap and bed time.  We have recently made a big accomplishment! No more Binky!!! We love our little Garrett (or as Cody calls him Carrot… I call him my little Monkey) Garrett is such a sweet little boy. He loves to give hugs and kisses and is such a sweet heart.

        Yes we have much to be joyful for.  We have been very blessed.

We hope that this letter finds all of you well.

Love,

Brian, April, Caelan, Cody and Garrett

(I just wanted to share our Christmas Letter from this year... We could not afford to send out Christmas Cards to everyone we wanted to this year, but here is the letter that was included in our Christmas Cards)

Merry Christmas!!

Well Merry Christmas to you all!  I can not believe how fast time is going by.  Today is Christmas Eve, Eve... I don't know why I have always like to say that!  All the Christmas preparations are made... I think.  


This year is a little different.  Cody and Garrett will be spending Christmas with their Dad so we had our Christmas with them last weekend. So, we kind of are getting to have Christmas is spurts all spread out.  I must admit.  I am going to miss them so much! Them not being here does make me sad.  I know they will have fun at their Dad's house though.  


I will still get to watch Caelan have his Christmas morning and I think that will be really fun! (Hehe as she laughs... he thinks he isn't getting anything "cool" this year...typical 13 year old)  anyway I can't wait to see his face when he opens his gifts. 


 It has been a very nice Christmas Season for us.  We put up the tree, made cookies, and all that good stuff.  It has been fun.  Cody and Garrett had a great time last weekend opening their gifts.  They had all this week to play with them before going to their Dad's.  Caelan didn't have as much fun last weekend because he has had to wait... kinda torture! He has been counting down the days since then  :-)  

Cody got a Leapster Explorer... He is super excited!

One of Garrett's favorites... he played with this the most

Love how this captures everyone watching Garrett! :-)

He loved playing with the paper

Getting help opening the box

Ya!  Cars slippers

Cody's new scooter!  He was so excited!

just love how sweet and innocent he looks in this one... what a handsome little boy!

We wish you all a very safe and happy Christmas!  We have much to be thankful for... we are so blessed!

Love, 

April

Thankful

Happy Thanksgiving Eve!!


I am writing this today because I will not have time to do it tomorrow.  LOL :-)   I started out today trying to think of all of the things I have to be thankful for.  I realized I have so many things to be thankful for, and I want to share this with all of you!  Last year at this time my life was completely turned upside down.  I didn't know how things were going to be O.K. ever again.  I had hope for a future with good things again, but didn't see how it was possible.  I could not see past my day to day... put one foot in front of the other and survive at that point last year.  A year later... so much has happened!  I am at a completely different place!  No REALLY!!  God is so good!  My life is completely different, and yet it is not... I am still me and I am confident in who I am.  I am thankful for God's love and faithfulness, for my family (ever growing!! babies for Bobby and Shanlee, Chelsea and Pedro, and Kevin and Candace) ,my Husband (you are amazing... such a blessing to me, and I am so lucky to have you!)  for my children (all three of them...I never would have seen that one coming), for my friends (who through all of this have helped me stay strong and encouraged me... you guys have no idea how much you mean to me).  I am Thankful for my health, and my home.  I am Thankful for forgiveness and for healing.  I am Thankful for new beginnings, memories of the past, and excitement for all of what the future holds.  I am so Thankful for so many things...  I pray that you will all have a safe and happy Thanksgiving Holiday!  For those of you who I won't get to see this Thanksgiving here is a great big hug and kiss from me! 


Love, 
April

Helping out a Friend...

When all of the craziness that has happened this past year started I had no idea that in less than a year I would actually feel grateful that though it was hard and a true trial  with God’s help I have come out on top!  I am healing and have found that having gone through this allows me to be able to help others who are going through something really difficult too.  I have a good friend who is going through a rough time that is somewhat similar to what I went through.  Being able to offer support and understanding because I went through something so similar helps me feel good.  I am glad that I am able to help her.  At least since all that hard trying stuff had to happen this past year at least I am able to use those experiences to help other people.  

Inspiration from the Pioneer Woman...

Recently I found a Blog by the Pioneer Woman( http://thepioneerwoman.com) has inspired me in my photography.  I love photography, but with the craziness of life I have gotten to where I have relied on the Auto on my camera a bit too much!  See the Pioneer Woman loves photography too and she has some post about using the S, A, and M!  on your camera.  I’ve been inspired and I am working on using these functions a lot more often.  Just in case you don’t know... S allows you to adjust the Shutter Speed on Digital SLR’s.  A allows you to adjust the aperture and M allows you to go full manual!  So... thank you Pioneer Woman for inspiring me to not be lazy and to use my camera not just on auto!  

Garrett’s a Toddler

Garrett is walking all by himself!  He has even figured out the getting up with out pulling on someone or something to get there!!  He is so adorable as he waddles around.

Technology Slip up ...

I have now had two instances where I was relying on my phone as my alarm clock and things went... well, wrong!  The first time was a few weeks ago when I traveled to Santa Rosa to pick up Cody from his Dad.  When I returned it was around 8pm and I didn’t really even look at my phone.  I plugged it in as I always do and went to bed.  Well, the next day I got up with my alarm, got ready and though I was doing good.  I was on scheduled to leave on time and everything... until Caelan came out and said,” Mom, why are you still here?”  to which, I responded...”what do you mean!”  Caelan then informed me of the time and I first thought how did I loose and hour!  Then I thought well Crap!  LOL so I will make sure to check my phone when I travel to NM to make sure it changes back to TX time.  

Well, you would have thought that I had learned to maybe not put all of my trust in my phone to wake me up.  Not so!  Again, I plugged in my phone last night and noticed that the battery icon was the only thing that came up... I thought hu I didn’t realized I was that low on power... Oh well, and went to bed.  Not even thinking you know that means that my pohone isn’t actually on!  It’s just charging.  So, at 6:45 this morning I woke up and realized my phone was actually off and that it’s a good think I woke up on my own... I wasn’t even late.  Though I didn’t do my normal routine we were able to get out the door on time.  So, lesson learned... I’m moving my alarm clock/ ipod charger to my room again and setting the alarm each night.  I need backup!