Houle House

the tillman diaries

2012-01-28T13:05:00.000-07:00

one of the first blogs i ever started reading on a consistent basis was that of a high school and college soccer teammate, former roommate and friend raleigh tillman. she is captivating with her words.

she wrote yesterday about the very act of blogging and i loved what she had to say. you probably will too.
read it here.

my little annie

2012-01-27T13:45:00.000-07:00

"gway and wonewy" love.

i love how she say "what's that? who's he?" and the way she says "smidge"

side note: that movie? it's kinda bad.

happy new year

2012-01-26T17:07:00.001-07:00

2011 began and, truly, we had no idea what was in store for us.

2011 was hard.

but i stand here today not focused (well, at least i try not to be focused) on the hard, but on the beautiful.

"when life is sweet, say thank you and celebrate. and when life is bitter, say thank you and grow."
-shauna niequest

family picture december 2010

this time last year, we had no idea that HTE would close it's doors (dave's old investment firm) and that Dave would begin a new journey, a new firm, a new season. (season's the name of the new firm, ya like how i threw that in there?)

january 2011

little kickers winter 2011

school at home

there is always pain in brokenness. and this was most definitely true during the process of shutting down HTE and parting ways with partners we had grown to love. there were lots of days when sending dave to work felt much like sending him into a warzone. i would cry when he left and beg God to be real to him, to sustain him with joy and peace and hope.

ian eats solids! march 2011

ash turns 2! march 24, 2011

easter 2011

and in the middle of all of it, all of the muck, God was making things new. that's what He does, you know, in death, there is always, always, new life.

dave and i turn 30! april/may 2011

aves turns 4! may 19, 2011

God (and dave and elliott) birthed Season Investments. it's been a dream for a long time now, but, really, you don't realize how impossibly hard it is to follow a dream until you are there, in the middle of it, doing it and kind of wishing that you weren't. but God has been faithful to give glimpses and whispers of "yes, keep going, this is the way." He has spoken louder than doubt and fear and the enemies lies of "maybe we should go back".

4th of july 2011

ian turns 1! september 13th, 2011

we know now, that we are not sustained by what we can do for ourselves.
we are sustained by Him.

we know now that you don't get peace and hope and joy when life is awesome.
you get them when life is hard.

we have more courage looking into 2012 than we did looking into 2011. i know this for certain.
more faith.
more intimacy with each other
more intimacy with the Lord.
we rely less on ourselves and more on Him.

and those things, my friends, are dreams far too big for us to dream for ourselves.
but i'm so thankful that He dreamed them for us.

happy new year.
-the houles

fairy tales

2012-01-25T15:54:00.001-07:00

we went to a very creative fairy party at focus on the family.

the girls got to chase indians throughout whit's end and sprinkle them with fairy dust in order to win prizes.

plus the cupcakes were delish.

happy birthday eliana!

for caroline

2012-01-24T21:02:00.002-07:00

jack and james jumped up and down to raise a little cash

for babies like their sister caroline.

american heart association

is fighting for babies across the nation

and making sure their hearts all beat just fine.

the twins baby sister was diagnosed with a rare heart disease while in utero. just days after being born, sweet caroline underwent heart surgery. caroline has beat every single odds she's been up against and i absolutely cannot wait to meet her (hopefully this summer down at the lake)! the boys have started their own fundrasing page to help other babies like their sister! check it out here oh and in case you were wondering, james, jack and caroline's mommy is my beloved cousin sarah.

when you chase a sea of ducks

2012-01-23T16:06:00.000-07:00

this january has been so very warm. this day that i took the kids to nancy lewis park had to be darn close to 70 degrees.

ash

i let the girls chase a sea of ducks across the big grassy field.

what fun.

aves

and then i wondered if this was frowned upon park behavior, like i was going to get a lecture from someone about animal cruelty and such.

ash

but i just kept letting them, because it was so darn fun and cute and there is just something about seeing your child run across a field in the fresh air on a sunny day.

aves
it's so easy to love snow in colorado, because we always get these sneak peeks of spring in between storms.

the girls have been playing outside almost daily for the last two weeks. i love getting fresh air in their lungs and vitamin d soaked into their skin.

it makes me feel like a good mom when they play outside.
weird but true. :)

avery's first family portrait

2012-01-23T15:29:00.001-07:00

i absolutely love the arms coming out of the heads.
and how she sounded out "luv". so awesome. :)

blogging is awesome

2012-01-20T15:00:00.001-07:00

we had a rough handful of days at the beginning of the week. ian's teething made whining the background noise for 3 days straight. those 12 month molars are killer.

we've been reevaluating parenting strategies to kick some disrespect in the booty. that's always fun.

and parenting from 12 - 2 a.m. just shouldn't be part of the job description.

i was dragging on wednesday. going through the motions of my day. getting some school done, laundry, counting the minutes until i could put everyone in their beds. and when it was finally nap time, i microwaved my coffee and then sat down in our hallway with our crazy computer set up (long story).

now, i'm always a fan of checking out blogs at naptime and peeking into others lives, but on this day, blogging refueled me, it motivated me, it lifted me out of my loneliness as a mom in a very unique way.

i read about how jody was all snowed in with her crew.
and read about holly's beautiful daughters.
and got caught up of all of the awesomeness at the cassada house.
and who doesn't love reading kelle hampton and that video for nella's birthday is both inspiring and a shot of perspective right in the arm.

i was so thankful to be in my cramped hallway with my little internet connection. it's such a blessing to instantly be lifted from loneliness and look past the four walls around avery, ashton, ian and i. i mean, perspective is powerful and i needed a heavy dose on wednesday afternoon.

so to all of you who share honestly and candidly about your life, thank you.

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i, unfortunately, am very lame and am still sorting through all of my christmas pictures. sorry.

gg elaine is a hit. this is what happened minutes after the girls greeted her the day after she arrived from iowa.

my mom and dad always take us to the cheyenne mountain conference resort around christmas time. yummo.

making candy cane cookies and cornflake wreaths.

avery snapped this one.

we had our "Christmas" with my mom and dad on new years day.

look at those amazing great grandmas

ashtons new ballerina outfit.

and you wouldn't believe what is happening tonight.

we have a p f changs gift card (thanks ben)
and overnight babysitters.

we'll be making plans, writing goals and trying to be intentional with our schedules.

and i've been dreaming of mongolian beef all week long. :)

yep, still christmas pictures

2012-01-17T15:40:00.000-07:00

these are from before christmas. like, the day after dave got the keys to season's new office.

we had a little christmas party. and when i say little, i mean pizza and proper wine.

here, eliana, preslie, avery and ashton are waiting on some random guy that we got to put on a santa suit.

ian loved this part

and when i say "some random guy", i mean my dad. and i truly think the girls had no idea.

yes, these are pictures from christmas

2012-01-16T15:39:00.000-07:00

finally finishing up documenting our time with don, erin and the kids....

kady reads to ash

ian and toby need to stick together

our candy cane pizza. my hair is long. for real.

our christmas eve nativity

jammies!

grandma cattani (dave's dad's mom) and her great grandkids.

kady, avery, and baby braelynn

kady and ian at the penny arcade

about a birth

2012-01-14T16:08:00.001-07:00

i experienced my first ever home birth yesterday. well, you know, my first ever home birth when i wasn't the one actually birthing.

incredible.

my heart could barely take hannah experiencing those late contractions, the ones right before pushing.
the ones that convince you that your body is being ripped in half. my mind raced back to the three times i've experienced the same thing and words can't describe the compassion and emotion i felt as i put all of my weight into counter pressuring her lower back.

if you're friends with hannah, i want her to get to tell you the whole story. but just let me tell you this: she was great. calm, wildly tenacious, she dug down deep inside of her and it was beautiful witnessing the strength the Lord gave her.

she walked through some hard, dark moments....

and God gave her this...

photography by heidi leigh hesla

oh, and guess who was her midwife? my merrie. or rather, our merrie. there are so many of us who claim her as ours, because, well, once she's worked her merrie magic and delivered your baby...you become kinda possessive of her.

it was a blessing to see her, chat with her, show her pics of mr. ian and watch her do what she does without being blinded by pain. :)

thanks hannah, thanks andrew.
what an honor.

my spark

2012-01-12T16:16:00.001-07:00

that's vivian.

and that's her stove.

and here's an email i recieved from theadventureproject...

Sometimes things work. Really well. That’s the case with the stove program. We hoped the women vendors could sell two per day – earning a good commission. But we never expected it would come to this. Where we hoped for two sales– they are selling 20 per day, calling the office and frantically saying, “I need 100 more, I have a waiting list!”

Your donations have made the stoves affordable, and ignited a fire of entrepreneurship.

So now we need you, plus two.

Today’s the second anniversary of the quake in Haiti. We want to turn it into a day of record-breaking impact and need your help.

HOW IT WORKS:

From tomorrow until the end of January, we’re asking you to share the story online and inspire two friends to each sponsor one stove. Then ask them to share with two of their friends, and keep the ripple growing wider.

if you are part of the vanguard community, i think this would be a great opportunity to honor David Hames life. sponsor a stove and then let renee know how you've honored and passed on his legacy.

if you sponsor a stove on David's behalf and would like for me to let her know for you, my email is mandyhoule@gmail.com

go here to sponsor a stove. and don't forget to ask 2 friends to do the same.

it only takes a spark people.....

the best snowman

2012-01-11T22:32:00.000-07:00

Slowly but surely i will get pictures and stories up here from all of our holiday adventures.We are doing good this week. Getting back into our school routine and scrubbing toilets. I had the neatest experience today touring two different cottage programs for avery's kindergarten year. More on that later, this tablet is way too hard to type on...Back to cousin time. We got loads of snow right after they got here and a lot of the days we would send the kids out to play for awhile. It was great packing snow too, at one point i think there were 4 different snowmen on ed and nancy's lawn. I absolutely LOVE watching my girls play with their older cousins. They learn how to play!
Okay that took far too long, but it sure feels good to have something new on here:-)

christmas eve

2012-01-08T16:08:00.000-07:00

i'm sitting at my in laws watching this amazing bronco game :) they are ahead and it's not even the 4th quarter!! and nancy's letting me borrow her computer to upload some pictures. i snagged one of our crew on christmas eve. man, do we miss those people.

a christmas miracle.....for real

2012-01-04T14:55:00.000-07:00

i`m trying my hand at posting from season`s(dave's new business) tablet thing. it`s slow going and a bit rough but i sure am thankful for it.

i wanted to share a really cool story from the past week. nancy took erin and i out for a very nice dinner and then we spent almost an hour chatting in the car before heading back into the full house. we ended up talking about our cousins (they are missionaries in china) and their little boy weston, who is 4. Weston was in the hospital with an obstructed bowel. things were very serious and they were sending him on a helicopter to a different hospital in case he needed surgery. we decided to pray together for him in that moment....all three of us prayed and i loved hearing my sis n law and mom n law pray with such power. the next morning we got an email saying that a miracle happened in the night and his little bowel untwisted itself. he would no longer need surgery and would be released the next day. say what?!? i know some might say it was coincidence, but i fully believe that erin, nancy and i played a part in westons healing amazing! i'm in aweof our God who desires us to join Him in bringing heaven to earth. What a neat way to end 2011.I want more of that for sure.

christmas

2012-01-03T14:04:00.000-07:00

unfortunately the wireless card in my computer has gone out. ugh.

i'm currently at my mom's uploading pictures on her mac. not sure how many posts i'll be able to get up these days. they'll probably be few and far between for awhile. i know, i know...i'm trying not to think about it. :(

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christmas eve morning we had a little family breakfast and caught up on jesse tree. the kids jesse tree present was their ornament for the year. a laminated, glittered, and cut out family picture. i did them and they totally look like a sunday school craft. funny.

this was from christmas morning, after stockings, while i was making omelets. so sweet.

we gave the kids their three gifts again this year.

frankincense- growing in wisdom

-they both got new abeka preschool books

myrrh- growing in their relationship with God

- i found some neat bible stories and devotionals on cd for them to listen to at bedtime

gold- they followed a rope out to the garage to find a doll house

and then we packed up and headed up to dave's mom and dads where we discovered that nancy had taken ed into the er because he nearly cut the tip of his finger off opening a package earlier that morning . merry christmas to him. :)

when we finally did have our christmas together it was nearly five o clock. but it sure was fun. at one point the guys were helping toby with his new race track and ian was banging on his new drum and avery was singing "away in the manger" in her new microphone and i was just taking in all of the joyful chaos. it was both loud and peaceful at the same time. :) love that.

and this was from christmas night. i started reading to my two and slowly 3 or 4 extra kiddos joined us. fun!

much more soon.
or much more later.

we'll see.

happy new year to all.

our cousins

2011-12-27T14:52:00.000-07:00

we love these people.

erin's girls are so great with my kids. they are giving and play games they wouldn't normally play and give up their seats for little cousins and i'm convinced that they have more patience than i do. more often than not ashton can be heard calling for "cousin wibby" and pleading with me "i want to sit by wibby!"

we are having lots of crazy, messy, silly fun.

one of my favorites

2011-12-27T14:31:00.001-07:00

this is from christmas morning.
avery found a batman coloring page that she wanted to color for daddy and ian. she worked hard. wrote to: daddy and ian love: avery very meticulously and then we laminated it and taped it all up with grinch wrapping paper.

she was beyond thrilled to have him open it.

from our december

2011-12-21T15:08:00.000-07:00

as i type this, erin, don, libby, kady, ally, toby and chloe are driving to the springs from the denver airport. the cousin craziness is about to begin and i'm uber excited.

december flys by, just like always, but thankfully we've done a lot of our traditions, melting christmas memories into little hearts.

we deorated our tall, skinny tree.

we put these guys to bed (at like 6:30) and then got them up and told them we were going to see christmas lights!

and rapunzels long hair has morphed into mary, joseph and occasionally a shepherd.

they play "live nativity" all the time.

i still have some things to get checked off of the list, but am hoping that peace and joy and enjoying our family will be the main focus these next few days.

joy to the world!

drink some wine; save a life.

2011-12-19T08:50:00.000-07:00

5 years ago, through a chain of random events, dave and his buddy conor bought an 8 acre cherry orchard nestled in the hills of walla walla, washington.

the first order of business was to tear down all those pesky cherry trees and plant some grapes.

that's baby avery, 2007

fall of 2009

supposedly, after you plant a vineyard, you can't even use the grapes it produces for the first 3 years. say what?

the first year that we had "usable" grapes we sold them to different wine makers in the walla walla valley, secretly wishing we could use our own grapes to make our own wine.

after 4 years of waiting and wondering what to do with this little vineyard, the boys decided to go for it. they hired one of the best wine makers in the valley and took a little harvesting trip a couple years ago.

of course, after you harvest, the stuff has to sit in barrels for forever before it's ready to be used for toasts and swirled and sniffed at parties.

after years (literally!) of waiting, look what came in the mail a few weeks ago.

ooooh syrah

my fav, the rose

proper wines is here. and we've been told it's pretty darn good.

we think it's pretty crazy and unique that we have our own wine. it's a blessing and we don't want the blessed to bless concept to be lost on us even for a second.

whenever you order our 2010 rose and type "stoves" in the special notes box, 20 percent of your purchase will go directly to the adventure project. we can't say enough how much we believe in what they are doing and believe that we can use everything (even our little vineyard) to make sure heaven is happening right now.

here's to drinking wine and saving lives.
cheers!

christmas date

2011-12-16T15:04:00.002-07:00

7 years ago, when i was the elementary pastor at vanguard, i took two 7 year olds, two 5 year olds and one four year old on a Ms. Mandy Christmas Date.

fast forward to wednesday, december 14th 2011. the 7 year olds are now 14.
check them out.

and they say that they'll never tire of our Christmastime date and that even when they're in college, they will come home and expect me to take them. i sure hope they're right :)

this year there were 11 girls.
this year i watched as a hypothetical baton was being passed. sydney and anastasha are now very much leaders of this date. they are leaving a legacy with the little girls that have come behind them. one of them, being my avery.

this was the first year that she was old enough to join us in the traditional fargos, starbucks, broadmoor trio.
and it was surreal and emotional to have her there.

ellen had to start coming with me a few years back when we needed another driver. here was my crew...

fargos

the oldest girls were a huge help, i was glad they got a little chance to chat for a bit in starbucks.

here was the other table.

we had to be a bit inventive getting the girls to the gingerbread houses at the broadmoor this year. we ended up ALL piling in my van for half a block to avoid walking forever in the cold and paying valet :)

those are some precious girls, right there.
and when i uploaded the very first picture of this post....i started crying. those two are growing into such Godly women. it's amazing to watch.

the last hurrah

2011-12-16T14:43:00.001-07:00

we finished up our traditions class on wednesday.

we made color books

and acted out the nativity

and made a "baby Jesus in a manger" snack and then ate baby Jesus. He was yummo.

they were very proud of their marshmallow Jesus.

manger and Jesus snack
graham crackers (three of the small rectangles)
frosting
coconut with yellow food coloring
and they actually have mini gingerbread man marshmallows. they were perfect for this!

while shepherds watched their flocks by night

2011-12-14T15:49:00.002-07:00

from our live nativity this morning. asher was a stellar shepherd.

how bout that

2011-12-12T22:13:00.000-07:00

we had a memorable time at g and e's last night.

it was very festive in there. great lighting and little details.

elaina made a killer 4 course meal. thankfully, she only wore this christmas sweater for about two seconds. i look way too "christmas happy" in this pic. oh my.

here, garrett explains his question cup. there were some great questions in there. we had lots of spirited discussions!

oh look, rick and andrew are smiling for me.

elaina made all of us prints using words from our favorite worship songs.
how awesome is she? how awesome is this song?

and we decided to forgo the classic ornament and gift card exchange and collectively we bought 12 stoves. how bout that?

have yourself a merry little christmas

2011-12-11T14:51:00.001-07:00

our weekend's been full of holiday cheer. friday we went to the annual live nativity at mountain view wesleyan church. we get bundled up, sit on hay and watch a neat performance of luke chapter 2. they do a great job and the girls love it. they hand out free cookies and hot cocoa too!

avery is especially serious about this little tradition of our families. she's been talking about this for weeks, no joke. this was her third time and on the way there she kept saying "this is my most favorite year of the day..."

little bundled ian and crazy daddy.

on saturday, we went to find our tree. the girls loved weaving in and out of the tree maze. we

ended up finding a tall skinny tree that we all agreed on. this is a blurry picture, but i had to include our fondue night with our neighbors kim and jon. we had a blast and opened two bottles of dave's wine!

this morning was very special. avery participated in her first christmas play. she was a little sheep and was adorable.

mom and dad took us to starbucks after church and ash was in love with this sign! she wanted me to take her picture with it.

and tonight we have our life group christmas party. mom and dad are keeping all three overnight! merry christmas to us :)

sugar cookies

2011-12-09T15:35:00.001-07:00

our holiday class has gone so well. we have one more left! i need to steal some pictures from my mom's camera, because with 6 4 year olds needing help with glitter and glue and scissors, there just isn't much time for me to snap any pictures. :)

wednesday was st. nicholaus day and we mades stockings and sugar cookies and acted out the story of the real st. nick. it's very fun for me to be able to attach all of these crazy traditions around christmas to their origin. most of them truly do begin with Christ's love.

we had extra cookies and sprinkles so the girls helped me decorate more after class.

i gave them both the same amount of frosting and sprinkles, but ashton's cookies were pretty bare compared to aves. hmmmm, wonder why? :)

we wish you a merry christmas

2011-12-09T15:27:00.001-07:00

there are a couple of neat light displays at the end of our street and so last night i bundled the kids up and we went for a walk to go see them. once we got down to the "snoopy" house, (they have a light up snoopy) avery says "mom, can we go caroling at that house?" and we did. we sang loud and the little family came to the door and listened to us and then we chatted for a bit, told them "thanks for your lights" and "merry christmas" and then avery wanted to do it again and again. we caroled to 2 more houses and then when we got home, the girls wanted me to go inside so that they could carol to me. i videotaped the cuteness...

my little carolers. avery does not know a stranger.

their little faces were so cute all pink and cold. we had hot chocolate and cookies to warm up.

here are some "i spies" about the last picture.

-ashton's silhouette in the window

-my crooked baby pics of ash

-a dirty table. gross!

blessed to bless

2011-12-06T15:30:00.000-07:00

we are slowly climbing out of a long year of waiting on the Lord.

though words truly cannot express the gratitude that i feel for this season we've been in, i'm not gonna lie, it's been a bit rough.

and though waiting on God to provide all you need is a glorious and miraculous experience, it still puts you in a position where you need stuff and you are unable to control the way those needs are met.

out of the ashes of this past season is rising a theme on which we want to build the rest of our lives.

it's pretty simple in thought, but dramatically profound in action.

the idea is this:

we are gifted so that we can give, we are blessed so that we can bless, we are comforted so that we can comfort.

dave's been keeping a list this year. it's a list that includes several times the Lord has come through for us over the past 12 months. it's a list of gifts, of blessings, of ways that we've been comforted.

it's a list of miracles.

what a gift to be able to have a list like that. we should probably frame that sucker. it's ironic because, there is no way we would have had that list had this year been an "easy" and "successful" year.

christmas, as usual, makes me all contemplative and emotional as i dwell on that distinct moment that Christ came.

to make us new!
to give us joy!
to give us hope!

and more than ever this year, i am struck to my knees when i think about the countless times He's whispered to me "I am faithful". "I have plans." "Do not fear."

He has gifted.
He has blessed.
He has comforted.

and really, it would be ridiculous for us not to turn around and give and bless and comfort.

it's what we were made for.

and do you know how good it feels to actually be doing what you were created to do? unspeakable joy.

and so, for christmas this year, we will be giving 2 things. first up, a picture of us.

when i look at this picture, (thank you laura) the hard, yucky parts of this past year grow pale and fade. i mean, geez, look at this picture. i see a God who comes through. i see a God who has given much. i see a God who has called us to and given us a deeper joy. this picture shouts "God has been faithful to the Houles!" and if you get this picture, i pray that you'll stick it on your fridge and every time you look at it, you'll know in your heart that, yes, it's true...God is faithful.

the second thing we are giving is stoves.

i went here and purchased my 20 dollar stoves that will be given to families in haiti that are still living in the tent camps. i love being able to give a gift to someone and say "hey, instead of giving you a starbucks cards, i decided to save a life. merry christmas!"

and because some people in our life will be getting a stove and a picture of us, i went ahead and made some cards on shutterfly informing them of their awesome, life-giving christmas present and i'll be able to tuck our family picture in the envelope as well.

here's the front.

Rainbow Greetings Christmas Card

Visit Shutterfly.com for Christmas cards this holiday.

View the entire collection of cards.

and here's what's on the back.

i'm not sure which part is my favorite. the whole saving a life part by providing a way to safely cook meals, or the whole giving hope and dignity part by providing jobs.

it's extraordinary is what it is.

i love joining the adventure project in their world changing, poverty squashing efforts and then giving it as a present. powerful.

i need a handful of these cards to give to my friends and family informing them of their life-changing christmas present, but i also ordered a few more, so if you buy a stove and want to give a card too, let me know, i'd be happy to pass a few along... (i can mail them or drop them off if you're in the springs)

we are blessed so that we can bless.

all about ian

2011-12-04T21:04:00.001-07:00

jonathan betz did a blog post with a bunch of pictures of ian's first year of life. that baby boy is pretty cute :)

http://jonathanbetz.com/blog/2011/12/04/ian-my-first-year-baby-photography/comment-page-1/#comment-2873

just some stuff

2011-12-04T19:58:00.001-07:00

while we were in kansas for thanksgiving, my aunt sharon let the girls open their christmas present from her before we left.

she gave them the movie, charlie brown's christmas, along with their very own charlie brown tree. avery is very proud of that little thing. what a cute idea :)

and this evening, the kids were all playing together with this ball maze thing. this rarely happens, so i had to document it. :)

jesse tree

2011-12-02T16:15:00.001-07:00

ian sat still watching his dad crumble paper and stack wood. he had his little hand right on dave almost the whole time.

we built a fire and opened the first envelope of advent. there were 3 paper ornaments to go along with our jesse tree devotionals.

and then we opened our nativity and set all the pieces out.

whenever avery sees a nativity set, she says "oh look mom, there's a live nativity." it's hilarious.

and we read the crippled lamb by max lucado and so she has chosen one of the sheep to be "joshua", because if you didn't know, God does indeed have a special place for those who feel left out. great book!

it's been too long

2011-12-01T16:48:00.001-07:00

-it's cold today. perfect for the first day of december.

-i scrounged around my parents back yard and ended up with a crate full of firewood.

-our nativity will be set up and the first jesse tree ornament will be hung tonight.

i can't even beging to express what this time of year does to my soul. such thankfulness for the JOY that is ours because Christ came. and i do believe that if you let them, the traditions and lights and carols and giving, they all SHOUT the name of Jesus.

thanksgiving was good. lots of family. good trips there and back. avery got her fill of cuddling with bubba....if we didn't know where she was, this is how we found her.

ellen and i got to celebrate laura's bday on sunday.

and then i took mom up to ikea for her birthday on monday. we forgot to take any pictures because we were too mezmerized in there. oh my.

wow. it's after 5.
i gotta go make spaghetti :)

it's beginning to look a lot like.....

2011-11-18T15:28:00.001-07:00

yes, those are santa hats and red ribbon and christmas books and nativities strewn about our living room. i know it's not thanksgiving yet, but when you go out of town for thanksgiving, it then becomes legal to decorate for christmas before you leave. right?

holiday traditions preschool class

2011-11-16T14:37:00.001-07:00

did i mention that the girls and i are hosting a holiday traditions class? well, we are, and today was the very first day.

here's my little class just after they arrived. we were working on turkey puzzles. and look at that cute little turkey in his highchair!

we didn't quite have time to finish up our puzzles so we moved on to our paper plate ocean. they loved this part. blue paint and glitter was a success! they made little puppets to act out the thanksgiving story. their little mayflower puppet "sails" across the ocean from england to america. fun, fun.

while our paint and glitter were drying we read "mary's first thanksgiving" it is such a great book! dave's mom gave it to the girls.

then we acted out the story.
here, the pilgrim hunter asks king asher if he can worship God. king asher says "no! not in my country!"

and then the pilgrim had to go home and pray and my face is like that because you should have seen his little face when he was praying his pilgrim prayer asking God what to do. it was precious!

we made pilgrim hats for our families right before the mommies came back. these are so easy and the kids really were able to do them on their own.

one fudge striped cookie
one mini peanut butter cup
white frosting with just a tad bit of yellow food coloring
an orange tic tac (when asking for another tic tac for one of their pilgrim hats, most of the kids would ask for another "tic tac toe" so cute!)
and in case you were wondering who was taking all of the pictures, it was my wonderful mom. she took care of ian and helped kids with glitter and cleaned up frosting when the class was over. thank you mom.
i had a fabulous time this morning and am so glad that we have 3 more classes. i felt like i was working at vanguard again. next up, the legend of the christmas tree. :)

light burdens

2011-11-15T15:04:00.001-07:00

i read this today from the pursuit of God. tozer is talking about Jesus' yoke being easy and His burden, light.

this is what he says about our burden.....

"first, there is the burden of pride. the labor of self-love is a heavy one indeed. think for yourself whether much of your sorrow has not arisen from someone speaking slightingly of you. the heart's fierce effort to protect itself from every slight, to shield its touchy honor from the bad opionion of friend and enemy, will never let the mind have rest. yet, the sons of earth are carrying this burden continually, challenging every word spoken against them, cringing under every criticism, smarting under each fancied slight, tossing sleepless if another is preferred before them."

but when we take on His burden of meekness. here's what we get.....

"the meek man cares not at all who is greater than he, for he has long ago decided that the esteem of the world is not worth the effort. he has stopped being fooled about himself. he has accepted God's estimate of his own life. he knows he is as weak and helpless as God declared him to be, but paradoxically, he knows at the same time that is in himself, nothing; in God, everything. in the meantime, he will have attained a place of soul rest. as he walks on in meekness he will be happy to let God defend him. the old struggle to defend himself is over. he has found the peace which meekness brings."

this is where i am. i am fighting to let go of this burden of pride. i hate it. only God can strip it away and i'm begging Him to do it.

i want to fully function in the reality that the esteem of the world is not worth the effort.
i do not want to continue to struggle to defend.
i want meekness.
in myself, nothing. in God, everything.

from soccer to awana

2011-11-14T21:52:00.001-07:00

avery had her end-of-the-season soccer party yesterday.
we couldn't go.
not because we were sick again, it's just that...well actually it was because we were sick again.

this time the sickness involved avery and it involved throwing up every couple of hours on saturday night.

i had never seen one of my children dry heave before. it made me cry.

moving on.

soccer is over. but i did want to remember what a typical wednesday night looked like for us this past fall.

i would wait until the very last minute to wake everyone up from their naps and scramble to make sure we had cleats and snacks and shinguards and sippy cups and our awana's vest and shoes to wear after soccer to awana and coats and mittens (cuz soccer got COLD right at 5) and dinner packed and our awana book and ect. ect.

here avery puts money from her piggy bank into her awana bag to give as offering.

after we rushed to practice, avery's team was usually already running a lap around the field or in their cute little stretching huddle. "oh look, there's avery" they'd say :)

"eat your peanut butter sandwich and do you remember what 2 Timothy 3:16 says?"

soccer cleats off, awana backpack on. "daddy'll pick you up babe, have fun!"

wednesday nights just got a bit calmer around here.

Who I Am #4

2011-11-14T21:30:00.000-07:00

the dave and mandy story: part one

i was mr. bouchers teachers aid for his freshman civics class. i was a sophmore and so, of course, i paid hardly any attention to the younger "kids" coming in and out of his classroom each day. that is until us sophmores had our midevil festival and had to come dressed in costume. i was a bit embarrassed to be a t. a. on this day, walking into a room full of kids dressed in normal clothes, while i was in full "fair maiden" garb. i walk in and mr. boucher asks loudly "well, what have we have here?". i try to sound confident and respond with "i'm supposed to be a fair maiden". the words haven't even finished coming out of my mouth when some blonde kid stands up in a knight costume and says "i rescue fair maidens".

Those were the first words David Houle ever said to me (he just happened to be a sophomore taking a freshman class because he was a transfer student and needed the credit).

I noticed him more after that. At lunch, in chapel (oh look, that blonde kid’s a drummer!), wait a sec, he’s in my Bible class!?!
He was magnetic in school, people were drawn to him, he had a big heart and was so friendly. You instantly liked him and felt comfortable around him.

We became fast friends when we started attending a weekly Bible study at Curtis Shockey’s house. We both signed up for the trip to go build a house in mexico the summer before our junior year.

Emotions run high on missions trips. He led us in worship with his guitar, we talked freely about our evening’s devotions and took pictures of each other with the adorable kids who played with us as we mixed cement and hammered nails. We left Juarez close friends.

Our junior year was spent leading prayse rallies, wasting time at pikes perk and convincing him to take me to soccer practice every afternoon the fall before I got my license.

I was actually “dating” another guy at the time and it took me awhile to realize that david houle was morphing into more than just my friend.

I’ll never forget the night he asked me to be his girlfriend. It was march of 98 and we were on spring break. He was in iowa with his sister and I was at my grandparents house. I snuck into my grandpas office and crouched underneath his desk and we talked for nearly 2 hours. From that night until we graduated from high school we were inseparable.

Banquets and ball hawking (dave lived on a golf course and in the evenings, we would walk out to the ponds on the course and throw this metal basket into the water hoping to catch lost balls. Dave would then clean them and sell them in his backyard to golfers as they passed by. Ha!)

he came to golden bell and up to the mountains with my family, I went to his sister’s wedding.

We skied together. He came to all my soccer games. i went to all of his track meets. I was 17 years old and couldn’t imagine being with anyone else.

i left for college the fall of 99 and we began our 4 year long long distance relationship. ugh...

MI to LA

2011-11-10T15:15:00.001-07:00

my sister-in-law is taking her 5 kids on a road trip from michigan to l.a.

no, she's not crazy. well, maybe just a tad bit.

but she did start a blog to document their journey. she's doing school in the car, bribing them with swim time at the hotel and having fun trying to figure out her gps system.

it's fun to read. and my nieces have such big hearts.

go check it out HERE.

the scary and sacred

2011-11-09T15:06:00.001-07:00

God came through for us in a big way this week.

we've been on a journey these past two years, one that is unknown, exciting, scary, uncomfortable. it's been somewhat like walking in a blizzard. there's no way to be sure of what's in front of you; the only way you know that the next step is safe is to just take it and see.

there have been a dozen hidden jewels on this journey. hidden jewels that dave and i have uncovered together, proving that it really is true. there really is sweetness to be found in the middle of even the most bitter of seasons.

this week the storm has cleared for us a bit, enough to see that we are, indeed, walking on solid ground. what a thrill to feel confirmation in following the path we believe God has us on.

we are praying together, that what God has done for us, what He's done in us during this scary and yet sacred season, would not be lost on us. that it would never be lost on us.

O God, be Thou exalted over my possessions. Nothing of earth's treasures shall seem dear unto me if only Thou art glorified in my life. Be Thou exalted over my friendships. I am determined that Thou shalt be above all, though I must stand deserted and alone in the midst of the earth. Be Thou exalted above my comforts. Though it mean the loss of bodily comforts and the carrying of heavy crosses, I shall keep my vow made this day before Thee. Be Thou exalted over my reputation. Make me ambitious to please Thee even if as a result I must sink into obscurity and my name be forgotten as a dream. Rise, O Lord, into Thy proper place of honor, above my ambitions, above my likes and dislikes, above my family, my health and even my life itself. Let me sink that Thou mayest ride into Jerusalem mounted upon the humble little beast, a colt, and let me hear the children cry to Thee, "Hosanna in the highest."

Amen

-A.W. Tozer

cute little ian and torn little meniscus

2011-11-07T15:28:00.000-07:00

these are from ian's 12 month photo shoot.

this video is too cute. little drummer boy.

i had an appoinment with the infamous dr. pak today and the mri did show that my medial meniscus is torn. we're going to do some investigating and see if we should do the surgery before the end of the year or wait until january. knee surgery again (sigh)

found

2011-11-05T22:34:00.001-06:00

"people tend to think their circumstances determine the quality of their lives. they pour their energy into trying to control those situations. they feel happy when things are going well, and sad or frustrated when things don't turn out as they'd hoped. they rarely question this correlation between their circumstances and their feelings. yet it is possible to be content in any and every situation."

-sarah young (from today's Jesus Calling)

Jesus is the only person that defines us.
His joy is the only joy that does not depend on circumstance.
His peace is not found in tidy homes, bank statements, or perfect relationships.
it's only found in His presence.

that's good news, friends, because His presence is waiting for us in each moment.

everything may be falling or failing or fading,
but never peace.

peace can always be found.

family photos

2011-11-04T15:54:00.000-06:00

how awesome is laura moffat?

i love all of these.

classic ash right there.

i can't believe how many great ones she got in less than half an hour.

this one's my favorite of the kids.

i like it in black and white too.

this one's my favorite of all of us. i LOVE it. it's just such an interesting shot. love it soooo much. the background, ian sitting, the way aves is hanging over dave's leg, the random boards on the ground. i want a BIG one of this in my house.

he's a loved little guy. they both call him "buddy boy".

had to include this one again. such a great shot!

thanks laura! we LOVE these. if you are a family member, you will probably get a framed one of these for christmas! let me know which one is your fav :)

the costumes

2011-11-03T16:24:00.000-06:00

we've been living with dorothy and cinderalla for so long, i'm not quite sure what my daughters real names are any more.:)

tinkerbell decided, last minute, that she was no longer tinkerbell, but cinderella instead. and the way she says "dinderwewa" is perhaps the cutest thing i've ever heard, so i'm glad she changed her little mind.

saturday, i escorted dorothy and cinderella to amiah's 4th birthday party.

they had a parade of costumes.

she stuck pretty close to micah fowler the whole time. she was a happy girl.

they roasted hotdogs.

they played little games and had a "craft" station. it was like a miniture vbb. so fun!

sunday night, my mom threw a little fall party and ian was quite the ferocious lion.

on monday, we ended up dressing him in his old bear costume and took all the kids to rocky mountain calvary.

dorothy's favorite part was most definitely using her 50 cents to buy cotton candy. the orsillos were there too and eliana was the cutest little strawberry shortcake.

i'm glad it's november.

today, i sipped coffee from my first red starbucks cup of the season.

80's Prom Gone Wrong

2011-11-01T15:06:00.003-06:00

maverick took me to a costume party on saturday night. (he ended up being crowned "homecoming king", what a stud)

check out the smurfs! crazy dedication right there!

and here we have the homecoming queen, a my little pony and the homecoming queen's wife. yep, you read that right. :)

sweet hannah looked stellar eight months pregnant.

and this picture freaks me out, but i have to include it. garrett and elaina were "prombies". man, they never dissappoint with their costumes.

their basement was the "arcade" and was plastered, under black light, with the all star video games from the 80's.

garrett even bought an old atari system off of ebay. i played qbert and then laura c and i played some intense rounds of donkey kong.

speaking of laura

and me with my frizzed out hair and the hungry hostess.

so fun. it is every year.
totally worth the layer of hairspray i had to wipe off of my bathroom walls. :)

oh the weather outside is frightful

2011-10-26T15:44:00.000-06:00

another sick week at the houle house.

croup this time. i was telling my friend, danielle, that the houle kids don't just get colds and flus, they get hand, foot, and mouth disease, and strep throat and croup. what is with us!?!

both monday and tuesday were rough on aves and ash. both of them asked for their nap on both days. that's something.

oh look! it's ashton kate....i mean TINKERBELL :)

we got steroids on monday and have managed to sleep at least a little bit the past few nights. we have one more dose of steroids and it will go to whoever wakes us up first with that unmistakable barking cough.

everyone seems to be better today. there have been no fevers and yes, i did let them play in the snow for a bit. cold air helps those little restricted lungs, they say.

today has been marvelous. coffee and christmas music and that snow just keeps falling! it's not sticking, but it sure has been fun to watch it fall.

even ian got to play in the snow for the first time today! he was in shock i think.

i have my mri tomorrow. i'm not really sure what i'm hoping for. answers without surgery i guess....wouldn't that be nice?

sisters

2011-10-23T21:46:00.000-06:00

daves at life group. sweet ash has had a fever on and off all weekend, so i decided to stay home with her. speaking of ash, she's been wearing her tinkerbell costume, continuously it seems, and girl knows how to stay in character. i mean, she's got a high fever, she's complaining that she's sick, she's laying on the couch and i'm all "you want a drink of water ash?" to which she immediately responds "i'm tinkerbell". or today, the girls are in the play room and avery calls up that ashton was drawing on her paper and i say in my stern mommy voice "ashton kate" and she doesn't even hesitate "i'm tinkerbell".

it's so matter of fact and absolutely hysterical. and she doesn't say "tinkerbell" exactly right and that just adds to the cuteness.

this is from a couple weeks ago when we went to pottery barn kids. ashton couldn't resist playing with big sister's long hair during story time. it was heart melting. they have a big, crazy, loud love.

it so fun to watch a sister relationship unfold.

and we'll all carve out a pumpkin

2011-10-21T15:11:00.000-06:00

we had our fall extravaganza family night last night.

the girls were pros at unwrapping caramel for the apples

avery was not quite sure about that goopy mess in the pumpkin

getting braver. in this one, her hand is on my wrist.

she finally did it on her own!

tinkerbell didn't want to get any where close to the stringy mess.

we cleaned and roasted these

dave read the little jack o lantern devotion and then we put the candle inside and avery gave him a name.

introducing our jack o lantern, sanna.

a week in the life

2011-10-19T22:01:00.001-06:00

"what are you coloring ash?"
"dakness"
"oh, right. of course."

avery copied a cousin's artwork

gg elaine gave us TONS of felt for our felt board

my knee does feel better than it did on monday, thankfully.

dr. pak seems to think it's a miniscus tear, said it felt like my acl was still in good shape. won't really know anything until the mri.

a no good very bad ending

2011-10-17T16:02:00.001-06:00

we had a great weekend

friday i let the girls paint a little something for dear grandma nancy's birthday.

they were very proud that their art work was in a frame.

saturday we did a bon fire with the kids and roasted mallows.

and then sunday i got the privilege of playing soccer with some friends. i was having a ball the first 20 minutes or so and then i felt something in my knee and immediately i knew it was not good. i tried to keep playing but my knee kept giving out. i ended up playing in the goal. and we all know how awesome i am at that. :)

today my knee has been getting bigger every hour it seems.

now that's attractive.

i have an appointment in the morning. oh my stars, please pray for my knee. can't imagine how any kind of surgery would fit into my life right now.

more iowa

2011-10-13T14:39:00.000-06:00

gg took us on a little nature hike at a beautiful reserve close to her home.

there was an indoor education area for kids and we were entertained for close to an hour in there.

ian found a turtle

and there was an old bath tub set up as a home for two toads.
i couldn't believe how much avery loved those things. she was holding 'em two at a time, as if they weren't slimy and dirty and hopping and alive. i was watching her and she was asking me to hold one and i just couldn't do it.

libby lou would have been proud of these two.
ashton was a little more reserved when it came to this frog holding business.

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and this morning i had some time to crawl through our crawl space in search of old highschool and college paraphernailia. i sat sprawled out on our red rug and took pictures of old pictures. which was the first step in writing who i am #4. i will write it. i will.

she can read

2011-10-11T13:46:00.001-06:00

the day we went to an amish auction

2011-10-10T20:27:00.000-06:00

one of the most memorable parts of our trip was the day we went to an amish auction

it was a produce auction

boxes of potatoes, raspberries, squash, kale, pumpkins and more were being auctioned off to anyone who wanted to register for a number.

someone gave ashton her very own little gourd

she was pretty mesmerized by that quick talking auctioneer

dad gave us a ride on one of these thing a ma jigs.

sweet gg elaine had herself a number and she was hilarious bidding on all sorts of stuff.
here is some of the goodness she scored.

and then mom took us out to the side of the auction barn

so that we could see the amish horses and their buggies

we had borrowed a sweet little amish book from the library that we read before we went out to "amish country" and avery was precious and embarrassing as she exclaimed, rather loudly, LOTS of times "look mom, there are the amish's"

a neat experience for sure.

sleep and snow and why we went to iowa

2011-10-09T14:34:00.000-06:00

the last two nights of our trip were rough on all of us houles; there was very little sleep involved.
putting kids to bed on friday night, after we made it safe and sound, was delicious and exhausting simultaneously. dave finally made it home from the rehearsal dinner and graciously promised to get up with any waking child and i fell asleep and stayed in the exact same position (i'm sure of it) for nearly 10 hours.

i woke up to coffee and SNOW. very excited that we made it back for the first snow fall.

our first batch of snow cream of the season.

and then we headed up to woodland park for a beautiful wedding in a cozy barn. it was cold. but amazing. i love weddings. i cried when rachel cried dancing with her dad. oh my.

and she claims that she, in fact, did not notice my earring mishap. i do like her a lot.

there are more iowa pictures to come. but this one is, by far, my favorite.

the whole reason why we trekked 14 hours in the odyessy with 3 small children, all tied up in one little photo.

home

2011-10-07T20:29:00.001-06:00

we are home from our many adventures on the road. gg elaine is a treasure and we are beyond blessed to have spent some time at her little iowa house before she sells the place.

everyone is exhausted and i was thrilled to tuck the kids in their own little beds tonight. avery was asleep before the lights were out. that's a big deal.

i'm waiting for dave to get home from a rehearsal dinner and i can't stand it any longer. i've missed him a ridiculous amount this week. 7 days felt like forever.

desperate housewife

2011-09-28T14:12:00.001-06:00

we skyped my brother and rocio yesterday morning.

(this picture is of us skyping them on ian's birthday)

it was his birthday. we lit a candle and sang to him. we showed him the pictures we painted and cut and taped back together for him.

skype is kind of annoying. it's staticy and gets "frozen" and the sound goes out at random times, making conversations a little tricky.

but i sure am thankful for it. pretty amazing that we can see and talk to matt and rocio for FREE when they're hanging out halfway around the world.

happy birthday big bro. love you much!
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and here is a side story for your enjoyment:

last night we had some friends over for dinner. we don't see them a ton. in fact, they are getting married in a week and a half, the guy has been a friend of ours for years and we wanted to get to know the beautiful, funny, laid back chick that he is marrying. so i made enchilladas and cleaned the house. dave made it home a handful of minutes before they came, so i was able to run upstairs, change clothes and do a little bit of beautifying before i whipped up the guacamole.

fast forward to the end of the night.

after wine outside by the fire pit, we rinse glasses and say "goodbye". i run upstairs to the bathroom and start laughing at myself when i look in the mirror.

dave comes in and i say, "can you guess why i am so embarrassed right now?"

he studies me for a split second and says with a smirk,

"um, maybe because you have two completely different earrings on?"

oh my.

a white dangly one and a silver hoop.

what in the world is wrong with me?!?

ha.

monday joy

2011-09-26T09:08:00.001-06:00

Why do I allow creeping annoyance to sabotage my own happiness? Is anything worth sacrificing joy?
-ann voskamp

this post is worth every second of the 5 minutes it'll take you to read it.

p.s. how empowering is it on this monday morning to know and believe that we can always choose joy?

good riddance

2011-09-25T15:31:00.000-06:00

we've had two good days and i'm grateful that this week is behind us. ian seems to be chugging along fine. (i'm only nursing him once a day now, but i think it's been enough to keep his immune system strong. hooray!)

we got a fabulous box in the mail last week from michigan.

a new truck for ian and some curriculum for me to browse. we love the harms crew and are so excited that they will be here for christmas!

ian says "thank you libby, kady, ally, chloe, toby, uncle don and aunt erin"

rollin'

2011-09-23T14:50:00.000-06:00

last night was better. it's sad that getting up every two hours to spray her little tongue is considered "better", but i am thankful that she would calm down and go back to sleep as soon as that stuff numbed her up.

we found a park today that had a perfect grassy rolling hill.

they laughed and i prayed that they were rolling this little sickness away.

everyone's fine unless we're trying to eat or trying to sleep.

tonight is sure to be better.

everyone loves phil

2011-09-22T20:57:00.000-06:00

i've had two close companions this week.

one's a hot mug of emergen-c, the other's a neti pot filled with warm water, salt and apple cider vinegar.

ashton is almost completely "symptom free", but aves has developed painful sores on her little tongue. last night was awful.

i went to walmart today and scoured the pharmacy for SOMETHING. i came home with a topical numbing mouth spray. i'm putting a lot of hope into that little bottle. we need sleep tonight.

and here's the most exciting news of my week: dave's about to get home and modern family is ready and waiting on hulu.

getting to joy

2011-09-20T15:23:00.000-06:00

avery and ashton have hand, foot and mouth disease. i'm disgusted just typing that. doesn't it sound horribly gross? i'm battling a sinus infection and have a son who is determined to fall down the stairs.

you can’t get to joy by making everything perfect. You can only get there by seeing in every imperfection all that’s joy.

-ann voskamp

choosing joy has been hard the last two days. really hard. painfully hard.

but here it is:

we have a grandma who could care less about our diseases and still wants us to come over.

we did have another box of emergen-c.

i'm pretty sure we have mild cases around here. they sure aren't acting very sick.

everyone slept great last night.

everyone is napping now.

i just got a text from dave saying i could bow out tonight if i needed some time to myself. um. yes, please.

saturday morning soccer and other ramblings

2011-09-18T20:26:00.003-06:00

avery had her very first soccer game at 9 am at cottonwood creek park on saturday.

do you know how many games i played at cottonwood growing up? tons.

i took lots of deep breaths while avery compared pig tails with her teammates, watched the white team dribble right passed her and claimed her favorite part of the game was "taking a break" to drink water and eat grapes.

(sorry these pics are so small. my dad sent them to me from his phone)

she's only four, she's only four, she's only four. i kept telling myself.

i majorly need to relax.

this weekend has been a good combination of going and staying.

today we continued our pursuit of a clean and organized garage and crawlspace. so we did things like, unload boxes of memorabilia, laugh our way down memory lane, and then chuck everything we felt good about parting with.

dave found his old awana "cubbie" (a little bear donning a tiny blue vest) avery was shocked and in HEAVEN. adorable.

i found my old players i.d. for pride soccer. the same club avery's playing for now.

we found journals, yearbooks, old pictures of dave passing out spam during lunch in highschool and it was fun to see and be reminded of all of the life we have lived together. wow.

my mother-in-law reminded me just a few weeks ago that 15 years ago, this fall, dave made his first appearance in the halls of cscs. we met in Bible class or maybe civics, but as of this month, i have known the man half of my life.

it's sort of crazy and super fun that we met when we were 15. this post is getting me in the mood to finally write who i am #4....the one all about "us".

ian's birthday party

2011-09-16T14:15:00.004-06:00

we headed over to good 'ol nancy luis park for ian's bday party.

this is kind of a weird picture, but avery had just prayed for our picnic and i wanted to remember it.

avery had her birthday party here when she turned one and when she turned two. she sat in that same little clip on high chair.

he just sort of played with his cupcake.

kayla and luis got him this amazing hat! it is ADORABLE :) luis has one just like it.

the one with all the stripes

2011-09-14T21:24:00.002-06:00

picture taken by the fabulous laura moffat.

laura did a fundraiser for this adoption.

we were honored to be a part of it. (and we got a great family picture!)

ian david

2011-09-13T14:21:00.003-06:00

what i was doing a year ago today. ian's birth story.

God was gracious when He gave us Ian. I am filled with thankfulness today.

he's here!

first car trip

first hoodie

first picture with sisters

first smiles

first halloween party

first halloween

dedication

first thanksgiving

first christmas

3 months

5 months

6 months

7 months

first easter

8 months

9 months

10 months

11 months

and today, my big 1 year old, eating his pumpkin pancake :)

happy birthday sweet baby boy!

welcome fall

2011-09-12T21:46:00.003-06:00

fall came to our house today.

and with it, loads of renditions of the "welcome fall" song, bins filled with apple pie and pumpkin spice candles and to top it all off i let the girls paint the pumpkins grandma and grandpa bought them at happy apple farm.

and tomorrow ian is one.

happy apple

2011-09-12T21:39:00.002-06:00

avery mandrea

2011-09-10T20:52:00.003-06:00

one on one time with avery is a riot.

this girl. she slays me.

the same girl that has dave and i running up to each other giddily saying "did you hear what she just said? she is hilarious! did you see that? did you hear her song? how does she know that?" is the same girl that we run up to each other and say "i am out of patience...please take over."

she is so worth every ounce of discipline and nurturing she requires. this girl single handedly propels me toward Jesus more than anyone or anything in my life.

i want to love her well. i want to discipline her well. and the plain and simple, brutal reality is:

i can't do it. i am not equipped. i don't have what it takes.

my only chance at leading her to Him, is clinging to Him myself.

when i stop and think about how God is leading me as i parent her, it makes me wonder if i really believe that.

because if i really believed that God is leading me as i parent her, there would be relief, hope, my fears dissolved instantly. how i want to believe that in my soul.

she is loving ian and ashton well these days. she is a rock star in her early reading program. the girl could let me read books to her for hours. she makes up songs all day long. they almost always include phrases like "thank you for dying" "glory in the highest" "thank you for loving me". she is serious about her coloring. she sits with paper and a pen and asks me how to spell words and then she writes them all out. her latest word that she asks to spell at least once a day is "microwave". she was a rock star at our family photo shoot today, obedient and smily.

latest and greatest avery story:

on the way to chick fil a she was writing out words in her car seat. right when we park, she says "mom, i think i'll give this to someone at chick fil a so they'll know that i can spell." "okay baby, you do that." as i'm getting everyone out of the car, a young kid comes out of the back of the building carrying trash to the trash can. avery sees her target. "hey! hey!." she yells walking toward the dumpster. "you can have this and i can spell". the kid looks at me, grabs the paper and walks back inside chick fil a. avery turns around beaming.

so many things to love about that girl. too many to count.

freebie friday

2011-09-09T14:15:00.005-06:00

these pictures are from a family hike through red rocks canyon a couple of weeks ago.

today, we skipped through colorado springs loading up on free stuff.

first stop chic-fil-a. FREE breakfast.

next up: King Soopers. FREE cookies!

cost co provided a filling lunch of great kid friendly samples. hummus. pbj. turkey bacon. granola bars. fruit leather. filet mignon :)

and then we hit up a new little coffee place called kangaroo coffee. it's close to I-25 on fillmore. they are giving away free drinks ALL DAY.

avery got a strawberry smoothie.
ashton got a strawberry lemonade.
momma got a blended white mocha.

thankful. and FULL. :)

a busy wednesday

2011-09-07T19:53:00.005-06:00

welp, there were two things i wanted avery to do outside of our house this fall:
awana and soccer.

we had a race with straws and feathers

after the race, avery puts her feather inside of her straw, leaving just a small piece of feather sticking out. "this is like a paint brush" she says, "can we paint with them?"

sure thing, girly.

so both awana and soccer fall on the same night. 4:30-5:30 and 6:00-8:00.

we had our first taste of that tonight and i'm exhausted.

i suppose the silver lining is that wednesday afternoons/evenings are busy, but then all of our other evenings are free.

besides, peanut butter sandwiches taste better in the car :)

(i published this and then came back to say that i now feel a bit whiny. i have many friends who take many children to many places on any given night during the week. hats off to you! )

glow

2011-09-04T15:21:00.003-06:00

we took the kids down to see the balloon glow last night.

their sweet faces were adorable. and it was beautiful!

it was fun to head down there with sweatshirts on. the fall in the air is invigorating.

i'm about to take the girls to grandma and grandpa's house for a sleep over. they'll wake them up early tomorrow morning and hope to see the balloons take off down at memorial park.

a treat for them.
a treat for us.

apparently, we're going to clean out our crawl space.
watch out. exciting stuff happens when we get a night off :)

more royal gorge

2011-09-02T13:37:00.004-06:00

we rode a carousel

and a train

and then made the trek across the bridge

gg and avery got a ride from a sweet couple that was from wichita, kansas.

once we got across the bridge, avery was solicited to help get a little show set up.

the girls were GLUED to this chick

so were dad and i :)

and then we took the incline train down to the bottom of the gorge. we saw kayakers and rafters.

it was a great day.

it's pretty expensive, unless you own a gold c book and bring grandma and grandpa with you :)

(we skyped with matt and rocio this morning and avery read "cat" and "bat" and "tad" to them.....soooo cool)

royal gorge

2011-08-30T21:44:00.003-06:00

these beautiful people took us to the royal gorge today.

i hadn't been there since i was a kid and i have lots of cousin memories there from the summer grandma got a season pass. kayla and i wanted to walk across the bridge more times then the boys did. i think we failed.

the cute train conductor wanted to make sure they all got to get their picture taken in the drivers seat.

fun day. thanks mom and dad (and gg!)

fading to fall

2011-08-28T21:45:00.007-06:00

the last weekend in august feels significant somehow. summer is about to pass the baton.

fall is always welcome at our house. the changing of seasons is such a fun time with young kiddos. last fall ian was just a newborn! last fall ashton was barely talking!

it's a ball to get to see them experience each new season as an older, wiser version of who they were the previous year. i've already been talking with avery about what we'll do on the very first day that it snows (ya know, cuz i'm a little nuts like that) and it's amazing to see her mind working behind those dancing brown eyes. she definitely remembers snow, but it's far off, an eternity ago for her. her eyes say "i can't believe it's actually going to do that again!"

fall is close, with it's traditions and hooded sweatshirts. it's crisp air and pumpkin spice latte's.

but our last weekend of "summer" was pretty darn good to us.

state fair

cheyenne canyon with micah (gasp!)

the boys hiked WAY up there. see 'em?

"wapunzel"

2011-08-26T15:10:00.003-06:00

"hey ashton, you look soooooo pretty. can i take your picture?"

"i not a'ton, i wapunzel"

around here, blankets are worn as flowing long hair.

thank you ann

2011-08-26T15:07:00.002-06:00

from here today:

contentment is the way you drink all the grace out of every moment.

little learners

2011-08-24T18:57:00.003-06:00

another FULL day around here. God's showing up in my weak moments and reminding me why i want to do intentional teaching at home during this season. i need all the reminders i can get. :)

this weeks theme was "colorado" and today avery made a collage of several cool things about our state.

and we blew ping pong balls across water to make wind! science projects for preschoolers are fun!

the best cake on the block

2011-08-23T15:43:00.002-06:00

a frisbee makes the perfect platter.

mix a yummy sandy batter.

candles made of sidewalk chalk.

it's the best cake on the block.

avery came running in the house yelling "mommy! mommy! i have to show you your birthday cake!"

when i got out there, she sang, had me blow out the "candles" and then scooped a piece of "cake" for me onto a plate.

imaginations are so much fun!

p is for pre-school

2011-08-22T21:37:00.002-06:00

well it feels good to get the first day under our belt.

here the girls are checking out all of our "preschool" stuff i set up on the table for them this morning.

plans work more perfectly in my mind then they do in reality.

during "couch time" avery helps me teach ash shapes and colors

discipline, arguing, hungry baby, "please do your best aves", ya know, all of that doesn't exactly fit neatly into our day. :)

workpages

ash is bonkers for do-a-dot, she just kept asking for "one more page".

these crowns were in their work page boxes.

but we did it! we finished our monday goals and i even cleaned my bathrooms!

here the girls are decoupaging their work page boxes for our art project.

my favorite parts from today:
-cuddling on the couch reading from our Bible books.

-doing avery's school while ashton slept.

ian david

2011-08-21T16:37:00.003-06:00

these are ian's 9 month pictures by jonathan betz

it's amazing that he'll be a year next month.

his two latest tricks:

standing on his feet with his head on the ground

crawling up stairs

such a precious little guy.

we love him so.

ashton kate

2011-08-21T16:13:00.003-06:00

i got to take this spicy red head on a date!

she was so cute. i don't think she really knew what to do with herself.

when we left the house, she was crying and asking for avery to come with us.

chic fil a and king soopers. we went all out.

i seriously can't remember the last time i was alone with this girl.

she's a riot :)

it's friday

2011-08-19T08:52:00.003-06:00

go ahead and join us here in the campaign for HEALTH.

ugandan entrepenuers are getting the chance to be trained and provide affordable health care for their community. i can't get over how cool these projects are.

these stories are beautiful and unique and life changing and hope giving.
when you join, they become your story too.

heaven on earth.

let me know if you did and this bag will more than likely be yours :)

i really, really hope i get to give it away

fall 2011

2011-08-17T09:35:00.021-06:00

after many hours spent on the wonderful web, loads of emails sent to a precious sis n law, and a few trips to dollar stores and mardels, i do believe we've got our fall preschool all planned out.

like it always is with me, i absolutely love creating the program, filling in with curriculum, adding sticker charts and theme ideas and plugging them all neatly into our 5 day week, but making sure we stick to the day in and day out set up of my intricate plan is an entirely different story.

i love to have the plan, none the less. it gives me something to shoot for and helps guide me into doing the things i most want to be doing.

i sure did try to make it less intricate than it could have been, as i know that the less there is on the plan, the more likely we are to actually do it. there really are no time restraints, mostly just on each day there are certain things we try to get done and we have the whole day to do it.

writing it all out here is fun and also a bit scary.

Monday

Morning:

during breakfast i hope to go over our rules and their verses.

couch time.

-one story from jesus storybook bible

-one devotional from Bible Prayers for Bedtime

-read alouds from What Your Preschooler Needs to Know

-dry erase board with color markers (colors, shapes, letters, numbers)

independent worksheet time.

this should hopefully give me a chance to get ready for theme time and art project. avery will be working in A Beka's ABC-123 ashton will be doing "do a dot"

theme time.

i have an on going list of "themes" i want to at least touch on with the girls. i hope this gives us a structured time to talk about, read books, ect. all relating to our "theme of the week" themes on my list: colorado, occupations, farm, children of the world, Indonesian, senses.

art project. SIMPLE ART.

afternoon:

after ian and ashton go down for a nap. avery will get to do some one on one school time with me. this is a super BIG deal! she's been consistently napping in the afternoons and just recently she's been staying awake too late when she naps. i didn't want her to give up naps completely, so she'll be napping every other day during our "school" week. we will be working our way through these three books.

Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons

Get Set for School- Handwriting Without Tears

What Your Preschooler Needs to Know Activity books 1-2

i found this neat website that has all sorts of character stories. after we finish in her workbooks, i'm hoping to read one of these stories and have her narrate it back to me.

hopefully she'll have a little bit of free time before the others wake up and i'll be able to get some cleaning in during this time. i'm going to let them watch an educational movie when ash gets up to give me more time to finish my cleaning.

Tuesday

morning:

every other week, ashton, ian and i will go to mops, and avery will do a special cooking class with my mom. when we're not doing mops and the cooking class, hopefully we can have a play date or go on a little morning adventure.

afternoon:

every one will nap on this day and i hope to do all of my preschool prep for the next week on this afternoon/evening.

Wednesday

wednesdays will be exactly like mondays, except during breakfast we'll go over letters and phonics and we'll do a simple science project instead of an art project.

Thursday

morning:

kids will either go to grandma sandi's or grandma nancy's. i'll do grocery shopping and sometimes meet with ellen and laura.

afternoon:

everyone naps! and hopefully i can get the food put away, the fridge cleaned up and do some food prep for the next week.

Friday

morning: FREE!

afternoon: avery and i go through her afternoon work books.

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wow! we shall see!

it's happening again

2011-08-15T15:23:00.007-06:00

i bought this bag today.

i love it.

i love that it represents a lot of what i'm trying to be a part of through theadventureproject.

to me, this bag says "hello, i want heaven to happen NOW"

ya see, tap is at it again with all of their partnering-with-incredible-small-businesses-to-eliminate-poverty awesome selves.

this time, Living Goods is training medical saleswomen to go door to door in their communities selling affordable medicines that could, get this, SAVE LIVES. when i bought that bag today, another bag was given to a Living Goods sales rep, allowing her to start her job.

creating jobs.

saving lives.

it's happening again.

jody landers, co-founder of tap, feels especially tied to this HEALTH campaign because of a promise she made a couple years ago when she brought her son Zeke and her daughter Kora home from Sierra Leone. Zeke and Kora's birth mom died during labor and delivery. Jody believes that it is very possible to live in a world where that kind of stuff DOES NOT HAPPEN.

she's started a campaign here to raise 1 dollar for every mother that died during child birth in africa last year. that number would be 170,000. it's a crazy goal, that's what makes it awesome.

i would really love for a bunch of us to help her reach her goal and so i'm giving away the bag i just bought. they are 48 bucks on the tap website, but you could win one here for just 10 and bragging rights to being a part of bringing heaven to earth.

all you have to do, is donate 10 bucks here.

and then tell me about in a comment.

on friday, i'll randomly draw a number out of a hat or something....i'm real official.

join the fight to bring heaven to earth. (the really awesome life giving part)

and maybe score yourself a cool bag (the extra side bonus part)

the bag says "my other bag is on an adventure in africa keeping 700 people healthy."

summer is winding down

2011-08-14T14:32:00.005-06:00

we're still trying to squeeze more summer out of august.

dave has a remote control on our sprinklers and the fun this week is to lure the girls in the middle of the yard only to surprise them by turning the sprinklers on.

ian stays high and dry on the deck and watches his sisters shriek while they run to safety across the yard.

we did reward their bravery with popsicles, so we're not that mean.

noticed after they popped a squat on the deck that they had managed to both be sitting in a hula hoop. that's actually a nice little parenting tool....thanks for the idea aves.

ashton kate's 2 year old summer face.

avery mandrea's 4 year old summer face.

you should see the emails that are flying back and forth between erin and i. i'm asking her like 3 homeschooling questions a day and excitedly working on our fall schedule. i will likely share it soon. next monday is the first day of school at our house!

the last of michigan

2011-08-12T15:16:00.003-06:00

a week ago today we were gearing up for our last fun filled family day in michigan.

don and erin took us to the henry ford museum.

libby holds ash

tobin pushes ian (these two need to stick together)

with all of the cousins around, i pretty much sit back and let them take care of my kids. :)

waiting for the carousel

waiting for the train

on the train

there are two areas of the henry ford museum; the actual museum with all sorts of old automobiles and trains and planes. it's fascinating. and then there's a little town with all sorts of old shops, model t's driving around and horses and buggy's. adorable.

here the kids are in the airplane part of the museum practicing paper airplane flight.

this is next to the original wiener mobile. "oh i wish i were an oscar meyer weiner, that is what i truly wish to be, and if i were an oscar meyer weiner, everyone would be in love with me."

those are some cute hot dogs.

ash passed out in the car with pink rock candy happily stuck to her cheeks and chin.

we love michigan! thanks again don and erin, libby, kady, ally, chloe, toby, and grandma and grandpa houle! it was FABULOUS!

thank you laura!

2011-08-11T15:50:00.003-06:00

my friend, laura moffat, is a stellar photographer and she captured some great moments of soccer camp.

she wrote a post about it here and made me cry!

thanks laura! love you (and precious hunter) sooo much!

for matt

2011-08-11T15:14:00.002-06:00

last thursday was another "day off" from our big michigan adventures. we lounged in the morning, grandpa took big kids to cars 2, grandma stayed home with the little ones while they napped and don, erin, dave and i went to see transformers. after the movie we helped get dinner ready and all the kids to the table, before the four of us went out again. don gave us a mini tour of downtown detroit. there is some fascinating and sad history down there. i snapped this picture where the old tigers stadium used to be for my brother. he saw his first mlb game here when he was 4 years old.

they took us to a very yummy deep dish pizza place in greek town and then headed back to tuck in babies.

the beach

2011-08-10T21:40:00.003-06:00

today was our LAST session of soccer camp! i really was proud of the kids; they all said their verse today! colossians 3:23 whatever you do, work at it with all of your heart. just like you are working for God!

i cannot believe it's the middle of august. there is definitely the excitement of fall and routine in the air. i spent a lot of yesterday afternoon planning out what our schedule will look like starting in september. i love making schedules. that makes me feel kind of nerdy, but it's true :)

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here are some more pictures from last weeks vacation. wednesday we loaded everyone up and headed to lake michigan.

dave and i were super impressed with the white sands and real waves. i can't believe how much it felt like the ocean!

grandpa had a nice spot for viewing grandkids and snoozing on the beach.

the daddy's took big girls out one at a time.

dave and i got to go out together to play in the waves and we had a blast. as we were floating and diving and bobbing out there, i just kept thinking "i could do this for hours". i loved it and definitely want to go back.

we stayed til sunset and then loaded everyone up to make the 3 hour trek back to don and erin's. erin and i were in the back of one of the mini-vans just chatting away with a little sleeping chloe grace in between us. memory treasures.

what are the odds

2011-08-09T22:12:00.003-06:00

tuesday was a down day for the kids. the trampoline and amazing-keeps-7-kids-entertained-all-at-once-craigslist-find play set made our girls think we were at a theme park. they loved every second.

i got my three down for MUCH needed naps and headed an hour south, or north, not sure really, to ann arbor. and you would never in a million years believe who i was able to grab lunch with.

if you're not familiar. that would be melissa hayward and merilee newsham. i live in colorado, merilee lives in michigan, mel lives in india. and the fact that we were all within a couple hours of each other on tuesday, august 2nd is not just coincidence.

what are the odds? name that soccer season....

we were able to share small bits and pieces of our hearts with each other and i don't think 2 hours has ever gone more quickly.

i made it "home" in time for a chicken nugget picnic/movie combo. daddy's were gone to a baseball game; us girls ate salad at the table.

this was also the night we attempted to let avery and ashton sleep in the same room with libby, kady and ally.

bet you can guess how that turned out.

more MI

2011-08-09T21:09:00.004-06:00

we arrived saturday night to several little people giving hugs, handing out signs and showing us around their michigan home. they made us a guest basket in our room, filled with snacks, bottled water and frappuccinos. there were even mints on our laid out towels. how fun to see where they live. their homeschool room, their plush carpet in the family room and the many, many labeled laundry baskets filled with toys in the basement.

sunday, we took all the kids to church while the boys went to a golf tournament. don't worry, they made up for it later. after the water park on monday, we left the boys feeding the multitudes grilled hot dogs and annies mac n cheese.

nancy took us to the melting pot where we enjoyed nearly 4 hours of uninterrupted food and conversation.

dave sure has an amazing mom and sister.

by day two, all of my expectations for this trip had been met. boo yah.

post vacation blues

2011-08-08T16:21:00.005-06:00

last monday we were at a water park with our family

today i scrubbed my tub and toilets.

last monday libby played with ashton in the very cool spash zone at said water park.

today we went over our alphabet flash cards.

last monday grandpa bought everyone yummy ice cream treats after we lazed in the lazy river, zoomed down slides and floated in the wave pool.

my nieces are gorgeous. don't ya think?

today i put away loads and loads of laundry.

did i say we had a fabulous time yet? cause we did.

we're back

2011-08-07T09:21:00.006-06:00

well, i seriously thought i'd be blogging real time throughout our adventures in michigan.

but after full days of beach going, water parks and cousin time, we'd pile all of our kiddos in bed late and then spend time chatting til even later. chatting with erin trumped blogging every night :) love her.

here was our first night eating ice cream on their deck. too bad ian was too sleepy to make it into the picture.

if you have kids and need a vacation. you should go visit erin and don.

they were ultra prepared for us.

car seats strapped securely in a rented mini van waiting for us at the airport.

a crib set up in our room.

and for as many breakfasts, lunches, and dinners we ate and for as many mouths as we had to feed, erin just kept bringing out the food. i don't even know where it all came from, but we never even had to go to the store while we were there. impressive.

lots more later.

rainbow dream

2011-07-28T14:53:00.003-06:00

last night, thanks to danielle's insider info, we got two scoops of rainbow dream for 99 cents at tcby.

the colors in this thing were very neon and a little bit scary (we saw them again this afternoon at chic fil a)

ian even scored a few bites.

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our house is a busy place today.

i'm doing a serious amount of laundry and packing for our trip to michigan. we leave on saturday! and we're also gearing up for a little bbque at our house tonight.

that being said, i probably better roll.

the nords

2011-07-27T22:16:00.004-06:00

we had the privilege of spending time with the nordgrens during their 6 hour layover in denver sunday night.

they are living in a little town nestled in the valleys of central cali.

he trains athletes.
she does bike tours of vineyards and teaches yoga.

they are way too cool to be our friends.

we took them to sweet action. have you heard of this place? crazy ice cream flavors. christy's order: whiskey brittle and colorado sweet corn.

it's sad to not really know when we'll see them next.

praying a trip to california is in our near future.

more soccer faces

2011-07-27T16:04:00.002-06:00

(couldn't pick between these two of j dana)

4 down, 1 to go!

2011-07-27T13:18:00.003-06:00

we've had a blast!

today was picture day! i got some great ones of some adorable kiddos!

(couldn't decide which one i liked better heidi)

the time when ashton diarrhea'd on pottery barn kids floor

2011-07-26T22:07:00.002-06:00

yep.

that happened.

spoiled rotten

2011-07-26T21:38:00.004-06:00

there is something remarkable about living in the same town as both dave's parents and my parents. both are eager to spend time with our kids, to bless us with date nights and create memories with their grand-kids. it's neat to see them actively building legacy into avery, ashton and ian.

these kids don't even know how rare it is that their cups are continuously filled up with grandma and grandpa love.

this past weekend, their cups were overflowing...

north pole with grandma and grandpa houle

campout with grandma and grandpa elsberry (check that schedule out!)

and if grandparents weren't enough, the kids (and i) are blessed with a cousin who loves and serves and wants to create memories and traditions too.

here we are at our all girl pool party on saturday.

and i can't help but smile and sigh as i look through these picture.

all is grace.

a date with daddy

2011-07-25T19:25:00.003-06:00

last thursday, dave took avery on a date. when she woke up from her nap, she was giddily picking out her little outfit. since it was a rainy night, she chose a sweater and boots. and then she put on a hat and then a head band on top of that. she looked brutally hot for a mid-july night, but she was very proud of her outfit and even more proud to be going out with her daddy. she wanted to wait on the step until he got home.

i stayed home with this little peanut

we did puzzles

and went for a walk

and then she wanted to brush my hair. she can do this for a half hour straight.

i tried to capture how cute and serious she is with that brush in her hand.

ashton missed avery.

she asked where she was about every 5 minutes and when they finally got home, the sister reunion was adorable. hugs and giggles and "i missed you"'s. hilarious!

we should do that again

2011-07-24T12:19:00.001-06:00

p.f. changs

question cup

these women

precious conversation

and a lota laughs