Christmas..... I'm gonna give you my HEART

This was Cooper's first REAL school performance and we were so proud of him. I thought he was the cutest little present ever! I can't wait to see many more performances from our children. Hope everyone had a great Christmas!

They're Coming Your Way

We had to start packing some of the tubs because the team was graciously going to take some stuff back for us! Avery was so excited that she started dancing on the table when we would try something on her to see if it fit or not.

We will have to work on the modeling poses later.

This is one of my favorite pics. She looks so sweet and innocent ;)

But hope you are ready Baga and Nana because we are sending them to you. They are in the tubs and ready to go. As Cooper always says, "I wanna go to Tennessee."

They really thought we were going to let this happen. Can you tell how excited they were? They seriously DID NOT want to get out of there.

They might not be coming back with the team but we will see you all in about 7 months!

Girls Can Get Dirty Too

Well.......... I don't know if Peanut gets dirty but she can EAT dirt!

After the dirt it was time for a "bath". Bathtubs are not very common here in Mexico so the majority of houses do not have them. Don't worry, we do have showers ;) But Peanut's "bath" is taken in the sink!

She LOVES it. She could sit and splash for at least an hour.

Coo and Tink also enjoy coming over to watch her and ask over and over if they can also get in there. I think Coo might be a little too big though. He is really looking forward to TN so he can get in a big tub.

Peanut is just like her Baga. Notice her sippy cup is close by? Her and Baga can't go long without some nice cold beverage. Baga is one up on her though when she has two cups. One for coffee and one for water!

So Peanut, how did the dirt taste?

I LOVE capturing the sweet moments like this that you can so easily just forget about later in life. We love you little Peanut even when you eat dirt :-)

The New Love........

.......... for PURSES!

Nana bought Avery a little Hello Kitty purse and a cute little purse with an A on it for "Avery" as she always says.

Every time we leave the house she has to hurry and grab one of her purses and stick as many little toys as she can in it.

Can you tell she loves it so much she is trying to hug her purse?

She is definitely turning in to our girlie girl. Thanks Nana for giving her a NEW love ;)

I am sure Avery will be asking Avery for more purses down the road to fulfill her new love of girlie things!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A Day of Play

One Saturday morning Darin decided to get the jump ropes out for the kids. It seriously is a favorite for all the kids here. At ministry we always try to play games but the kids are always just looking forward to jumping rope. So we wanted to try and show Cooper how to do it. The girls were trying to cheer him on!

Cute little Peanut!

Our sweet little Tinker Binker!

Just one of the many faces of Tink.

As you can tell the jumping rope turned into a tug of war.

You know Darin can't let him win though. :)

After the tug of war Darin decided to just tie the kids up. We enjoyed a nice lunch out while they were tied up. Just kidding!

Is she not the cutest little Peanut?

Sorry, I know these two are a lot alike but I just LOVED both of them. Her eyes are so beautiful.

I wanted some ice cream so me and the kids decided to tie Daddy up so we could go and get some :)

Darin doesn't pass up ice cream though so he broke free and then tied the kids in the chair.

Pretty Tink didn't mind being tied up at all.

Another face of Tinker Binker! She was using swim goggles as her purse, crazy girl!

Finally, Cooper started trying to jumprope. He even DID IT!

Not sure if he got his leg high enough on this one though :) What do you think?

Peanut couldn't handle all the excitement so she decided to go in, read a book and take a little cat nap.

One of my favorite things is having "Family Time"

Thank you LORD for my sweet family you have blessed me with!

Our Life

Our kids have a favorite night of the week. It is ministry night! They love getting to go and see their friends, help pass out the drinks and snack and listen to the story and color.

Cooper was trying to do the 'I love you' sign.

Even Peanut gets excited. The kids just carry her around like their baby doll.

Daddy trying to get a picture with his princesses.

These two are the best of buds. Cooper is always there to help her when she is tired of the kids carrying her around. Then he likes to try and show her off by him carrying her around everywhere. He always makes sure to share his drink and snack with her as well.

Can you tell they love each other?

Oh how we look forward to our ministry night! Thank you LORD for blessing us with such sweet kids that are always willing to go! We love our kids so much and love our kids at the ministry.

Thank you LORD for such a special night for our family to be a part of!

Last Day of Retreat

We had an AMAZING retreat. We were able to worship in our native tongue, meet other missionaries that deal with our same struggles, had tons of encouragement all week and may I add....... the kids had a blast.

Before the kids big performance of the night we let them play on the playground to get rid of some nerves!

Tink doing her favorite thing at the park, swing!

Saddle Ridge Ranch was the VBS theme. A team from the states came and watched the kids the entire week doing VBS with them while we attended our meetings.

I was so proud of how well they picked up on the songs and were not scared one bit to perform them in front of EVERYONE! I was so impressed. If you haven't seen the video of them singing of facebook then lucky you........... you get a chance to see it now. RIGHT NOW. Just go to the bottom of this page and it will make your day so much better!

After all the performances and handing out bibles to the graduates we all enjoyed a little bonfire. It was the first time for Tink to ever see a REAL fire.

She was a little cautious.

Coo Coo got right in there and roasted him some marshmallows!

Daddy and his princess!

I took Peanut back to the room because the smoke was too strong and she was getting tired. I had to take a picture though because the team even made her a little onesie that matched all the kids shirts. It was so adorable.

Is she not the cutest Peanut you have ever seen?

Seriously........... try to get a picture of these two?

I mean, REALLY? What was I thinking. Especially them just getting back from a bonfire where they were all hyped up on roasted marshmallows.

Had to get one of Tink in her traditional pose. Which her daddy is the one that taught her this.

Thank you for such an amazing week!