BLOG CATCH UP #5

The kids are all in co-op this year and Addie's class made a cook book of cookie recipes. She also had to have a picture to go with it. The sad thing is ... we got snowed out of our Christmas parties. So this batch of cookies we made didn't even make it to the party.

Avery had her sweet little friend, Kylee spend the night during all the cold weather. She found a recipe in an American Girl Doll magazine that she asked me if we could make. It was SO GOOD. It was for hot chocolate. It had sprinkles and ice cream in it. HOW FUN!

Here's Aidan w his :-)

and Abel ....

and the girls :-)

CHRISTMAS - CATCH UP BLOG #4

Here are some pictures from Christmas this year...
(these posts are OUT OF ORDER) but that's ok :-) (right??!!)

Here's Abel in his sweet outfit the Melissa sent him for his birthday.

Avery read a verse at our Christmas service. Abel was up there for support - haha.

Here I am playing Guitar Hero at the Hornes. I found out I STINK AT GUITAR HERO!!!! BAD.

Me and my boy Aidan. He has the sweetest heart! Love this kid! (love them all!)

This is Angela, myself, Angela's mom, Peggy and her aunt. They were so sweet to have us over to celebrate Christmas Eve. What a fun night. AND GREAT FOOD. We brought appetizers to share and it was ONE AMAZING FEAST!

all of the kids ... getting ready to open their gifts. Haruka is also with us. She is a foreign exchange student from Japan that is living w the Hornes this year. OUR KIDS LOVE HARUKA!

Here are all the gifts... ready to be opened on Christmas morning.

Our tree 2010

Getting everything ready for Christmas morning...

We took video Christmas morning... No pictures. It was a sweet morning as a family. The Randalls came over for Christmas dinner and we had steak and lots of yummy sides. We have done our steak dinner for SEVERAL YEARS w the Randalls. We had so much fun playing Just Dance and hanging out. WHAT A GREAT CHRISTMAS.
WE HAD SNOW on Christmas this year and so Bruce (Christy's husband) and I ran through the snow barefoot w our kids following barefoot - WE ARE CRAZY! It was so much fun!

My dear friend, Melissa.... CATCH UP BLOG #3

These kids belong to my best friend, Melissa. Melissa and Chris live in Texas and we got to spend time w them as well when we made our trip. Melissa is dear to my heart. She was such a good friend to me when my parents were ill. So was Chris. Chris would go and cut my parents grass. Melissa would go and check on them and even go grocery shopping for them. She would also take my dad to the store. JUST PRECIOUS. I can never say what a gift she was to me during that difficult time. I lived 6 hours away from my parents at the time and it was heart breaking to know they were in need. Melissa has such a servants heart...

These are her kids... I got to do a photo shoot of them while I was in Texas. SO FUN!


This is Chloe. She is the oldest :-) PRETTY PRETTY GIRL!

This is Zoe... Isn't she beautiful?

And Mr. Zane.. I have a kid crush on him.

and this is baby Hope. The name is so fitting. Chris and Melissa have gone through several miscarriages and then came baby Hope. What a precious gift!

and all 4 of them together :-)

TRIP TO TEXAS - CATCH UP BLOG #2

One of my sweetest surprises while on our trip to Texas was seeing a few old friends from High School. Vanessa and I have known each other since middle school. We were cheerleaders together for several years. She has three children (two were not with her). This is her husband Derrick. It was so fun to get to meet him. We ate at Casa Ole'.... Which brings back SO MANY MEMORIES. It was great catching up w Vanessa.

I also got to see my friend, Paula. Paula and I were the best of friends in middle school. I have so many memories of Paula. We would spend the night at her house all the time. She also was a fellow cheerleader ... Love me some Paula! She is married to one of my best guy friends from High School. Brett... he was working on this day so I didn't get to see him.

Here is Abel... They got to meet Abel for the first time. The other three kids were with their aunts having a FUN DAY. Actually they were at the movies seeing Narnia. So Abel stayed back w mom and dad :-)

My kids are CRAZY about their nanny Beck and nanny Gwen. They have so much fun w them. They cry when we leave and ask about them SO OFTEN. Thanks Becky & Gwen for always making their time w you guys so memorable.

Nanny Beck lives on a lot of property and the kids had a blast driving the golf cart around. Nanny Gwen is BRAVE because she is riding on the back of the golf cart as Addie is driving. BRAVE IS AN UNDERSTATEMENT!

Nanny Beck also has lots of farm animals. The kids got to feed the chickens and go and get eggs in the morning as well. HOW FUN!

Here is Avery throwing feed to the chickens :-)

Sweet siblings!

Texas OH Texas... We will always be TEXANS!

This woman is LOVED!

Ted with his two sisters. What a sweet picture!

We also went and visited my aunt and uncle. I grew up going to their house and spending the night. Sometimes I would spend SEVERAL NIGHTS in a row w them. We spent just about every holiday at this house as well. It was fun to have my kids step into what is such a family memory for me. They had never met Abel so they got to meet him as well. Abel had never made the trip to Texas. I'm sad to say it has been over 3 years since we have been there.

This is my aunt and uncle. My uncle is my mom's brother. My cousin, Dana and I spent LOTS of time together as kids. They have two other children as well but they both live out of town. Dana's girls are the two in the picture above. Our kids had so much fun playing w them. Of course, Abel had to jump in the picture!

My GREAT Nephews - CATCH UP BLOG #1

We went to Louisiana and Texas after Christmas and got to meet our GREAT NEPHEWS. Yes, Ted and I are aunts and uncles to "kids" old enough to have their own babies. How precious are these little ones?

This is Hayden...



and this is Sean and Hayden. SO CUTE!

Long time... no post.

Where have I been? One thing I realize is that I am not the GREAT BLOGGER I once was. I stink at it. I use to love to put pictures up of what we had going on over here. Haven't done that really at all. SAD. Even more sad... I hardly ever take pictures! Yes, I do it as a profession... but I never take pictures of my own kids.

Dec 12th was the last time I posted...

And before that, in the Fall.

ALL 4 OF OUR KIDS HAVE HAD BIRTHDAYS. We've gone to Louisiana... to Texas... and to Disney World. I think I am better about posting stuff on Facebook... Is facebook the new blog? I guess so.

This year for our kids birthdays we made them an offer. They could have a party OR they could get a nice present. THEY ALL CHOSE THE NICE PRESENT. My kids LOVE to have parties... I really thought it was a shot in the dark. THEY BOUGHT IT and it was HAPPINESS for ALL :-) The small catch was they got to have a friend spend the night.
ABEL WAS NOT INVOLVED IN THIS DEAL. He had a party - which I didn't post pictures from...
OK... so here's what I am going to do. I am going to look through some pictures and get them UP.

So... I'll be back. SOON :-)

Close to the broken hearted...

http://anceletphotography.blogspot.com/2011/01/close-to-broken-hearted.html

Baby Elijah UPDATE

Elijah is doing really well - PRAISE JESUS! It is a day by day journey for this family... Please continue to pray. This is the shoot I did of him the day he was born. I was planning on going back to today to visit w him and his mommy. We are SNOWED IN OVER HERE... Hopefully I will be able to post pictures of him soon.

Click on the link or cut and paste it to see baby ELI :-)

http://anceletphotography.blogspot.com/2010/12/baby-elijah.html

Please Pray...

I'm not even sure who reads my family blog but if you come across this... can you please pray for this sweet family...

I had the honor today of being at the hospital while the precious baby boy (pictured in her belly) was born.

Let me give you a little back story... I met this family this summer when a mutual friend called me and bought a photo shoot for them. The friend wanted her best friend to have maternity pictures done because she found out when she was pregnant that her baby boy had spina bifida (severely) and was not expected to live. The doctors said 100% fatal.
This precious mom asked me if I would come to the hospital today and take a family pictures after the baby was born. I was honored that she asked me. I went this morning... w a heavy heart for this precious family... knowing that this would be a day that would forever be marked for them.
The doctors expected that the baby would need a breathing tube once he was born and they said they would give him one so that the family could meet him. They only expected him to live a few hours (w help from a ventilator).
He was born at 11:14am this morning.
After being delivered by C-Section, he cried... HE. CRIED. What a precious sound. He was breathing... on his own... He is absolutely BEAUTIFUL. They bandaged his spinal wound and I saw him as they opened the door for his big sister to see him (she is 7) and a few family members. I was able to take a picture of him ... They were taking him to the NICU.

I felt like I was in such a sacred place. I felt like I witnessed a miracle. What man said was IMPOSSIBLE... right before me... IT WAS POSSIBLE. This baby was breathing on his own. He was sucking a passie. He was crying and responsive. WOW.

I watched the family gather in a circle before the baby was born and pray... asking God for a miracle in Jesus name. Then after hearing the news... no breathing tube... they gathered again and THANKED THE LORD that he was breathing on his own. They also began to pray about what would happen next...

Now I am asking you to pray... This baby has a LONG road ahead of him.

The doctors have not been optimistic ... since the very beginning. They told her the best thing to do was terminate her pregnancy. She said "no way".
They again, are not very optimistic about what they can do for him. Tomorrow the neuro surgeon and a plastic surgeon will talk about how they can close his spine and IF they can close his spine. It is very severe. I don't get the medical part of it all... but I know it's a serious surgery. A questionable surgery.

I feel like I witnessed a miracle take place today. A baby was born. He is alive and they said he would not be.
Will you pray w me for him to continue to live.
This mom is absolutely precious. Her prayers are so touching... Here is what she posted on her facebook today before she went in for surgery.

----
I cry out to the Abba Father to have mercy on me today. I pray for the love of my son. I pray for peace in my family. I'm begging for strength & wisdom. When I am weak He is strong. Please Father give me your eyes to see, give me your heart of love & understanding. Let me make you proud even when I feel I can't take another step. Give me the grace to understand your will.

Please pray for baby Elijah and his beautiful family. Thank you!

MONKEY SEE MONKEY DO MONKEY GET FROZEN TOO

IT HAS BEEN COLD HERE... VERY VERY COLD. The kids love to see snow falling from the sky! It means NO SCHOOL (well, we homeschool .. so they didnt' go to co-op but we had to do work at home), it means hot chocolate, movies, Christmas is close... THEY LOVE IT. Hey, I do too! Just wanted to share a few pics from the fun they had.

LONG TIME NO BLOG...

I have wanted to write more on the blog but I am trying to find out how to manage all the other things I have to do in life... The blog seems to fall to the bottom of the list.
THIS WEEK... we are doing home study week. We are on "fall break" but we don't get a break. We get to study a subject... and guess what we have decided to study? No, not space... No, not the weather system... No, not the rain forest...

HORSES!!!!


Today we learned the different types of horses and how to groom them. The kids got to brush the horses and Avery even got to clean his feet. Below is Sam. Sam is the horse that we all got to ride. What a gentle horse! Thank you to the SMITH family that let us come out and learn about horses.






We had such a great time! What a fun morning!