Photos | For my children

SNOW! 1/18/13

In spite of the fact that we immediately lost power due to the heavy wet stuff, happy to announce…finally…SNOW! Wintertime has visited us and we couldn’t be more excited!

Just like the burst of snow, they had a sudden burst of energy chasing each other in the quickly falling snow. The peaceful sound of unleashed energy!!!

Not a sled, but a wave rider, compliments of Aunt Amy, left over from the lake days!

You’re supposed to hang on little buddy!

Abigail was a graceful glider

Isabela wasn’t too sure about the snow while it was falling, but she enjoyed the sound her boots made walking over it!

Happy Sisters!

Super fun moments

After much snow angel practicing in the beds and floor, finally a real snow angel!

The snow melted quickly the next morning, but we still found fun in what was left

Our snowman’s head became a great big snowball!

Isabela enjoyed sliding on the green grass rather than the grass covered with snow.

Happy Birthday Daddy! We are glad you had snow for your birthday weekend!

Finally, to comment on a posting made on December 31, 2011, “First Snow Days,” Isabela, this was your first big snow! We look forward to your sledding days with Jackson and Abigail in the years ahead. We love snow! We love the enthusiasm each of you bring to our life!

January 20, 2013
Categories: Memories, Moments of Joy, Photos . . Author: Julie M Hall . Comments: Leave a comment

Your Awesome Nana! 1/18/2013

I think you know this fact without a reminder from me. However, for future references, these photos reflect how much fun Nana always has with each of you. It also is a testament as to why she always appears youthful, healthy, and joyful…she plays…she laughs…and she lives!

Making perfectly round snowballs with Jayden(photo by Brooke)

One of the three snowman Nana had a hand in creating, and one of the three times she played outside in the frigid temperatures

Nana and Abigail

Disc in hand, climbing the slope with Gracie, Jayden, and Elijah for a quick ride(photo by Brooke)

Check out the thrill on her face and Gracie, of course, close by(photo by Brooke)

LOVE the changing expressions! Check out Nana

Loyal to each of her FIVE grandbabies, always caring for you, always playing, always showing joy in all she does! We are thankful for her love and fun!
During each season I have taken tons of pictures of Nana joyfully living her life with us all. Hide and seek, ball kicking, hitting, or shooting, car and baby doll playing…she just enjoys being with you. The sledding photos for me show her bravery, and show how she doesn’t want to miss one ounce of fun with you all! Love that she is healthy and love that she takes care of each us!
WE LOVE YOU NANA! You will always be our guiding inspiration!

January 19, 2013
Categories: Memories, Moments of Joy, Photos . . Author: Julie M Hall . Comments: Leave a comment

Freezing the Moments…and Expressions! 1/2013

There are many moments in a day when my mind wishes time would freeze the ages of my three. The sweet fun, love, friendship, and innocence makes my heart smile and causes me to feel forever grateful for our adventure.

The stories I could tell! This series of photos took place over several minutes but their changing emotions were so real. As I looked back I remembered the goal of trying to get the perfect shot, captured the perfect story in my heart.

This cracks me up! Tears from the baby, Abigail scolding her brother, and Jackson’s reaction!

Oh, so sweet!

Tickle tickle big brother

Opposite expressions on Jackson and Abigail!

Tickle tickle big sissy

Tender true love!

Nose to nose, what a moment

On to the silly blowing

Then she freezes to their reaction

A moment of not so sure

Abigail’s turn

The excitement in Abigail’s laughter

This was so fun for me to watch! Their enthusiasm for one another and for the moments they self create make me a very humble mother. In spite of the sometimes not so great moments, times like these with my three little birds, cause me to push my eyes toward the sun and thank God for all that has filled my life and soul.

My wish is that these precious eyes will always find happiness, will look to each other for their forever true friends, and that they will someday reflect on tiny moments like these and forever live with joy!

January 17, 2013
Categories: Memories, Moments of Joy, Photos . . Author: Julie M Hall . Comments: Leave a comment

Weekend Warmth

Almost seventy degrees in January is not supposed to happen, at least to a little boy trying to understand the seasonal differences! However, when it does, the only option is to get out in the fresh air and soak up some much needed Vitamin D!

We took advantage of the warm air to start pruning our vines.

Sweet big sister was happy to tag along with her “vineyard baby and puppy”

Baby sissy is completely mobile this season for the fun of keeping up with her brother and sister.

We quickly discovered our need for two baby strollers to push in the vineyard, one for each doll, one for each sister…notice the look on Isabela.

We also spent much of our time this weekend loading and hauling wood from the property line of our vineyard and our dear neighbors, Ras and Janice.

Complete with his gloves and wheel barrow (a birthday gift from Aunt Amy that he loves and uses for everything) he worked the whole time, never tiring or complaining. I complained some that he was trying to move the too big pieces of wood!

Morning break for the girls, compliments of Ras…suckers, Isabela’s first!

Love to be in the empty lake bottoms

All three enjoyed climbing on the split wood

Jackson and Ras. Ras always brings a sucker and Jackson likes his John Deere.

Finally after all these years, a photo of my three with a very special person. Janice has prayed for my children and our family since the beginning. We see the power!!

Even in a dark photo, I love her smile and her enthusiasm for everything around her.

This girl’s sweetness rubs off on everyone. My good partner in the field!

Always in control, always going, always determined. Yes that’s me with a look of disapproval of carrying a piece of wood to heavy for these hands!

Joy in a fun weekend

January 15, 2013
Categories: Jackson's Work, Moments of Joy, Photos, Vineyard . . Author: Julie M Hall . Comments: Leave a comment

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

We are searching for a fantastic 2013! The number 13 has always been our lucky number so we are looking for an amazing blessed year full of joy, love, health, spiritual growth, and success!

January 13, 2013
Categories: Memories, Photos . . Author: Julie M Hall . Comments: Leave a comment

Christmas 2012

We love this season of gifts and giving!

Love to capture a moment of screaming excitement, especially from the baby that turns her head and bolts at the sight of a camera!.

Abigail with her new Butterscotch Pony. Before seven I heard Jackson and her saying good morning to each other. We could hear the excitement in their voices. She was afraid Santa had forgotten to bring this pony because he didn’t leave it on her special rug by her bed. Their conversation back and forth about Santa in the wee hours of the dark and cold morning was priceless!

Jackson with the trailer loaded with new trucks. He enjoys hauling his things. I especially like to see him haul his sisters.

Isabela loves her new Little Tikes coupe…especially being hauled around in the trailer. I love that this gift was a hit for all three littles! Way to go Santa!

Welcome to our home long neck giraffe!

Your daddy and I are truly blessed!

Abigail has carried her ballerina jewelry box all over the house cramming it with her tiny treasures.

Meet the new conductor. He isn’t too sure about the smoke. After playing with the train most of the day, he said, he knew he would love it from the first moment he saw the engine in the box. (I have to admit, they still LOVE his Thomas trains, and that makes mommy real happy.)

Countless hours spent being towed in the trailer with her baby doll.

Love the pj’s

A knight and a princess at their castles

Our first rocky horse. She rocks it so hard I’m afraid she is going to be bucked forward!

LOVE MY THREE!

January 1, 2013
Categories: Memories, Photos . . Author: Julie M Hall . Comments: Leave a comment

Barn Party! 12/21/12

We enjoyed a Christmas “Barn Party” with some of our friends, full of live music and fun. The significance of the destination of this party was Jackson and Abigail’s feelings of where we were at. From our study and stories of the birth of Baby Jesus, we have learned about the barn where Mary and Joseph came on that special night. This barn, Jackson said, where he “ate two hotdogs, is where Baby Jesus was born!”

Thanks Debbie for taking and sharing these special holiday pictures. We always like seeing you!

December 30, 2012
Categories: Memories, Photos . . Author: Julie M Hall . Comments: Leave a comment

Christmas Projects

Sharing some things we’ve been doing for the past few days getting ready for the Big Guy in Red to make his visit.

Feet and hands making a reindeer. We couldn’t find our googlie eyes so we made do with stickers.

Three Santa handprints from a five, a four, and a one year old hand!

We’ve added a few new titles to our Christmas book collections. “Charlie and the Christmas Kitty” by Ree Drummond is the book each of them received from Santa at the Bush’s Christmas party. Charlie is a sweet basset hound living on a ranch, feeling like he is “King of the Ranch!” In the story Charlie gets a gift he did not have on his list or expect…a kitty! He quickly learns to accept, appreciate, and even enjoy his new friend! The illustrations are beautiful and bright of this ranch family and there is even a cookie recipe at the end of the story.

We also added these two titles. I loved the title “J is for Jesus,” by Crystal Bowman. This is a great story about the candy cane tradition and it’s meaning and reminds us all that the candy cane represents Jesus’ birth. The kids and I also enjoyed pointing out that each of us have a letter J in our names… Jackson, James Steven, Abigail Julienne, Isabela Jolie, and Julie.
The last title we added was “Who Is Coming To Our House,” by Joseph Slate. This story was my favorite! The children loved the animals on each page getting their house(barn) cleaned and ready for a visitor. I asked them to predict throughout the story who the visitor could be. At the end, they learn this is a nativity story and that the visitors are Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus!

The true meaning of Christmas!

Love and candy canes.

Early stages of our tree. A couple feet shorter than years past, but at least we haven’t had the issue of a falling tree and broken ornaments!

We also cut down several little pines from behind our house for our flower beds and boxes. This little tree we decided to bring indoors to our sunroom for our handmade crafts. Probably our favorite Charlie Brown tree, and it was free! Our tiny silver star, on loan from Abigail, made from one of her fairy wands.

This is an example of our nutter butter snowmen we created. We also made peanut butter blossoms, mint pretzel hugs, cut out sugar cookies, and other bars and brownies. The hit was our reindeer munch with M&M’s!

Yummy, we have not gone hungry!

We have been filled with fun!

Decorating our gingerbread Christmas village.

We have loved all the sweets, present wrapping, and Santa prepping.

Another cozy fire and “the stockings hung by the chimney with care in hopes that St. Nick would soon be there!”

This was the start of what Jackson and Abigail put together for Santa’s snack.

One last photo and off for another bedtime story. Baby sissy is already tucked in bed! They are so excited. It has been my goal to not make it about one day or one event. I have wanted them to happily experience all of the moments for a long Christmas season. For weeks we have tried to be full of joy in all we have done. My wish is a special holiday filled with many fond memories and traditions we can build on each year. Keep the spirit of Christmas little babies!

December 26, 2012
Categories: Literature Favorites, Memories, Moments of Joy, Photos . . Author: Julie M Hall . Comments: 1 Comment

Sharing the Joy of Christmas Fun!

Christmas is here and we are filling our moments with fun and wonder!

Meet our Buddy the Elf, he is reporting nightly to Santa!

Trying to capture a perfect shot for Nana’s Christmas cards of five little faces…not too easy!

Sweet smiles and attitudes, but always one wanting OUT of the picture…usually Isabela!

All said and done, silly fun memories for these precious little cousins! What’s funny, they just go along with what we ask of them!

Crafting and coloring with my little man!

Sweet girl making a bell necklace.

Posing at the tree in Market Square with Nana

Above our table, Jackson was thrilled to see his name as well as the word vine!

Isabela found her finger in the dip…yummy.

Abigail caught eye of this sweet puppy, but she loved the pet stroller it was sitting in. She has asked Santa for a pet stroller!

My countdown to Christmas man, he is so excited!

December 18, 2012
Categories: Memories, Moments of Joy, Photos . . Author: Julie M Hall . Comments: Leave a comment

Pre-Christmas Fun! 12/14/12

The time of year to celebrate the joy in our little people’s eyes!

Finally our anticipated meeting with Santa! They were really excited and a little unsure(Isabela) at being with the man in red! Abigail always looking to her big brother for comfort or to see his reaction.