The after Christmas post!

Christmas this year was truly THE BEST CHRISTMAS EVER!!!! Every year gets better and better! This year we got to enjoy so much fun family time. I am so impressed that my two munchkins cherish their family already! Just an example, Jaryse was complaining the other day about being cold when getting out of the bathtub and I told him "that's what we get for moving to this crazy cold state!" He looked at me, stopped his little body from shaking and said " I don't care about the cold Momma, I just want grandma's and grandpa's". That makes my heart melt. If I've learned nothing from the last 5-6 years of my life (which I've learned a ton, but this is a big one!), I've learned that it's people and family that matter. It's our relationship with others that will make a difference in our lives and in the lives of others and make an impact on the world. I'm grateful that my kids got to experience this wonderful season with so many different family members!!!!!

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Christmas Eve at my Grandma's is a HUGE tradition! I loved having my babies there, hanging with the family and opening presents! It was awesome!

Jaryse is my Love Bug who gives away all of Momma's Suga!!!!! He is always so happy to see Grandma's and Grandpa's!

Ecrissa has matured and grown and become such a fun little girl! In the picture above, she is picking on Grandpa and she thinks it's hilarious!!!!! She has really become more social and is able to communicate with people using various signs, gestures, and using her voice to get their attention and make her point (with sounds and jargon). She hasn't said her first word yet, but she is constantly making noises. She will imitate a dog barking and a cow mooing. These are very typical of what we would expect at her level and hearing experience. I am very encouraged for this upcoming year!

Again, my Love Bug, so happy to see cousin Hannah! He loves his cousin and he loves people. The look on his face and the hugs that he gives are so heart warming! Gotta love it!

Ecrissa was such a ham and loved all of her presents so much! She played with each one of them and had us all laughing!

Christmas morning was full of anticipation! The kids were very excited! This for me was the most fun! I loved sharing in their giggles, anticipation, and pure Joy when they opened their gifts!

Jaryse is a HUGE Scooby Doo fan, as you can see by his eyes, He was in awe of his Scooby Doo coloring book! He got quite a few Scooby Doo items and was fully thrilled!

Both kids had a blast ripping into the paper and discovering what was inside! I'm blessed! Spoiled actually. I know I don't deserve the wonderful life I have been given and I do not take one second of it for granted!

For now, this season is over. But the love of Christ continues and I'm looking forward to celebrating Christ's birthday with Him, my babies, and our entire family again next year!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from my little munchkins and me! We are so blessed! We have had the last few days off of school (and I off of work!) and we are loving our family time together!

As I look back over this past year SO much has happened! We are now living in Michigan near my family (kids are loving the Grandma's and Grandpa's!), I have a new full time job with the blessings of full insurance for all of us, a school work day with school vacations, doing exactly what I love doing, Ecrissa has been hearing via the cochlear implant for 10.5 months and is using her voice, responding to her name and is progressing with pure AWESOMENESS, Jaryse has lost a WHOLE BUNCH of teeth, they are both doing awesome in school---what could I possibly be lacking???? The Answer........NOTHING! God has blessed us so much! He amazes me daily with His love for us.

Merry Christmas to you all!!!!!

Luvs and Hugs from Michigan!

All I want for Christmas is..............

MY TWO FRONT TEETH!!!!!! Yep, little man is losing teeth left and right!!!! He looks so cute with both top teeth gone!!!!!

We have had a busy yet AWESOME month! The kids are doing awesome! School is going so great and both kids are advancing and learning faster and more than I ever knew they would! Of course, I sorta had it in my head that they would always be my BABIES!!!!!! WHY OH WHY WOULD THEY NEED TO LEARN TO DO ALL THIS STUFF BY THEMSELVES, THEY WILL ALWAYS NEED ME RIGHT????!!!!! Just kidding! I knew that my kids would grow and develop and become the awesome 6 and 7 year olds that they are and I know that they will continue to grow and become awesome adults too!

We decorated Thanksgiving sugar cookies and had a blast!!!! We made all sorts of funny colors and had purple turkeys and yellow pilgrims and blue pumpkins! It was tons of fun!!!

Ecrissa has had a sorta rough week this week, choosing to be a bit defiant, but I've learned with her that when she goes through these rough patches, we are going to see some AWESOME developmental skills come out of it! She is already learned so much this school year and is now communicating in full sentences and full stories with her sign language. She is not just using one sign to communicate (for example "more", or "all done" or "spider"). Now she is saying, I want more, I am all done with coloring, I went to the haunted house and saw a spider, it scared me and I ducked! Yes, she says all of that in sign language!!!!!! IT"S AWESOME!!!!! She is even starting to use her voice more and more! She responds to her name about 95% of the time now! I think the other 5% is pretending she didn't hear me!!!! :) She also has learned that a dog barks. If I ask her "what does a dog say?" She will use her voice and bark!!!! She is starting to "moo" when I ask her what a cow says too, but she's not as consistent with that yet! So exciting to see her grow and mature and learn!

My crazy munchkins LOVE the snow!!!! I, on the other hand, was not thrilled to be welcomed into December with a snow storm and about an inch of snow!!!! Oh well, I am sure I'll live through it!

On November 1st, the kids started their first extra curricular activities here in Michigan. Ecrissa has joined a dance group called Hearts In Step. It is a christian dance studio and it's awesome! She does not have an interpreter with her and so she is having to use her lip reading, the hearing that she does have and understands and her ability to follow others to learn! She is doing great, the other girls in the class love her and they are all learning a few signs here and there. So far, it's been a wonderful experience and my little ballerina is happy to be back in dance class. Jaryse has begun Karate! Let me tell you, this is SO SO SO SO cute!!!! He is doing so well and I can already see improvements after only his first month of classes! He loves it!

Well, we have our tree up, we have fires in our fire place every day, have been enjoying some hot chocolate and just enjoying our new busy lives here in Michigan! Family time has been awesome and we just have so much to be thankful for! I am daily reminded of God's love for me through this amazing life journey that he has blessed me with.