A Heavenly Gift

This was a precious gift sent from my Mom's best friend, a.k.a Aunt Denie, to Chesney for her birthday. Words can't describe the emotions this brought to me. It was as if Mom shipped a present straight from heaven to my little girl for her 7th birthday. My girl is really in to jewelry right now, so she loved it. However, I cherish it. She has no idea of how meaningful this gift is. I pray she will one day grasp the meaning, but for now it was just as much a gift for me. A gift picked out by my Mom for her best friend and handed down to my daughter. Totally unexpected. Completely loved. One I will never forget. Thank you Aunt Denie for unselfishly giving us this very special gift! I love you and praise the Lord for giving my Mom such a precious friend and sister through her lifetime here on earth. 

I love you!

A 7th Birthday to remember!

My baby is 7! Its just so hard to believe. The time just goes by so very quickly.
WE decided to celebrate with a day of surprises. Chesney LOVES surprises. She awoke at 8am to her first surprise of a room filled with balloons and paper streamers blocking her doorway. She absolutely loved this! She even ask if we could keep the paper streamers and balloons up everyday from now on!

She then met her next surprise at the breakfast table. All of her very favorite things were there for a sugar-filled breakfast. A rainbow of fruit, a bowl full of skittles, a bag of dove chocolate, powdered doughnuts, pink lemonade, eggs and bacon. 

 After we all chowed down of breakfast, she dove into the presents, happily. The boys gave her some orange tic tacs and a beyblade launcher, which she was very pleased with :)  Daddy and I gave her a sewing machine. She wasn't sure what to think about that, but gave a big WOW. Then she received a bag of fresh baby carrots, a leash/harness for small pets, stuffed rabbit with a leash on and a rabbit brochure. She was quite puzzled with each of these presents, until Daddy said, "so, why do you think you were given all of those things? Why might you need carrots and a leash?" With a puzzled look on her face she said, "Im getting a bunny?"

As the words came out of her mouth the puzzled look completely disappeared, her face lit up the entire room while she began processing that she was going to be the proud new owner of a BUNNY rabbit.  It was such a precious beautiful moment to witness. We then explained that we had a sweet friend with some baby bunny rabbits for sale and that she was going to pick out which one she wanted to be her pet! She immediately hopped up from the table and  was dressed and ready to go quicker than I could say "Jimny Crickets!"

We jumped in the van and rode out to Springville talking about bunnies and what her responsibilities would be as a bunny Momma. She was beyond excited! No other present, no other plans, no other surprises mattered anymore. My animal loving girl was finally getting a pet! And she gets to pick it out! It was and will be the best surprise ever. No other present will probably ever top this for her, and it was worth it!! We went to Melissa's house and played with baby bunnies for 2 hours. Chesney was in heaven. She picked out a precious white bunny and decided to name her Lulu, which also happens to be Laine's pet bunny's name (her American Girl doll :) Lulu is only 3 weeks old and still nursing from her Momma, so we had to leave her behind for another month. This also gives us time to read about bunny care and prepare a proper home for the new pet. We plan on making a couple of bunny visits while the sweet baby continues growing.

  AFter leaving the new baby, we went for chickfila and mani/pedi. We ended the day at Yogurt Mountain. At the end of the day, she said, " Momma, we were supposed to go to Chuck E Cheese today." Then she stopped herself and said, " never mind Momma who needs Chuck E Cheese, when you've got a bunny! "  It truly was a wonderful day of celebrating life. The life of Chesney.  I'll never understand why He found me worthy of such a blessing, but I am so very thankful for this gift which He has entrusted me.

We ended the day reminiscing  about her 6th year of life and all she'd accomplished this past year:
from 6 to 7:

Learned to ride a bike
Found a love for soccer and learned the sport well
Learned to play piano
Learned to count to 100, tie her shoes, skip count 2's, 3's, 4's, 5's, 6's, 7's, 8', 9's, and 10's.
Memorized all her states and capitals as well as the U.S. Presidents.

Then we talked about what she wanted to accomplish this next year.
Her personal goals for 7yo:

Learn how to take care of a bunny :)
Swim better on top of the water..
Learn how to play Basketball
Learn how to sew and crochet
Read a Junie B. Jones chapter book ( this one is a Mom directed goal - b/c her sweet cousin gave her a whole stash of Junie B Jones books today).

It was a beautiful day and celebration of her life. She totally soaks up all the attention and loves being lavished with love. The gifts are great, but in the end she really doesn't care how much the gift cost. She just loves receiving love. I love that about her :) The smallest and cheapest surprises were just as good as   the bigger ones in her eyes :) A wonderful, wonderful day. A seventh birthday to remember!!

The Best's Play Ball :)

Our first year with 3 ball players in the house!!! Yep, that's 3 exclamation points!!!

It was a little crazy around here.

Many hours spent at the ballpark.

Great memories were made.

Character and skills built.

3 very, very happy kids.

10U Tournament Champions!!

This pic wraps up how he feels about baseball!!

 Britton started out as catcher and ended up as center fielder. He's such a great center fielder!  It's just where he needs to be. He made some awesome outs and his hitting picked up and became consistently better with each game!

He LOVES it!! 

The smile never left his face while on the field playing.
His first day of soccer, he was so very proud to put on his uniform. He said over
and over, " Im big now, like Britton!"  When the season ended and he was given
a medal, he said, "Look Momma, my first trophy! I got my first trophy!"
He was so much fun to watch!

The Determined Player
She's the exact opposite of the boys. Not much smiles just sheer determination!
She grew tremendously in the game this year! She became a great defensive player and scored her 1st goal this year.
She really loved it every second of the game and worked hard to do better every second she played.
I never dreamed I'd have a ball - playing girl, but a ball-playing girl is what I've got!
 Next up on the list to try is basketball :)

Getting ready for the big game!


I couldn't be prouder of each of them!  It was an
awesome season of  ball!

It's A .......

 Science Project ....

 We began hearing little "cheep, cheeps" around noon on Thursday. Our first egg cracked that evening. It started with a small hole or "pip"at 7pm on Thursday night and was fully hatched by 1:05am... #2 and #3 followed at 7:15am and 10ish on Friday. The kids affectionately named them
Sparky, Black Knight, and Snow Ball. We have no idea if they were hens or roosters.  You apparently have to get them sexed by an expert or wait til they grow up some more.
Overall, the science project totally rocked. Our best one to date!! It was truly amazing to watch the process from beginning to end. The kids were in love with our 3 hatchlings! The only kink in the plan is that we had to return them to the farm, because Momma is a city gal. Im totally not ready for chickens. Maybe one day. So my sweet animal loving girl cried herself to sleep the night before we returned them and all the way to the farm. She tacked a love note on their box for the trip. She's fully recovered now and thinks the project was worth it even though we couldn't keep them.

Here Chicky Chicky ...

This week I decided to step outside my comfort zone and try to rack up some cool Momma points. A sweet lady in our cover school posted an offering for fertilized chicken eggs  in our school newsletter . The offer was for Mom's to take fertilized eggs from her farm home so their kids could observe the hatching of baby chicks. She said you could keep the chicks or bring them back to her once hatched. So, I called her asked a few city girl type questions and decided that I could handle this! We went today and picked up 4 eggs. While on her farm the kids observed freshly hatched baby birds along with animals everywhere you looked!  It was such a fun environment.  You know, the kind that make you long for a farm even though you don't have a clue on how to run one.. The kids oozed with excitement, which made this whole experiment worth the time and effort we're putting into it.  We carefully transported our chick eggs home and placed them in a box that's been heated to 100 degrees. Our babies are due on Friday. For now we anxiously await their arrival! Hopefully my next post will be with LIVE baby chicks! Again, this city girl isn't so sure these chickadees will really hatch :) I pray that they will! Please Lord let at least one baby chick hatch :D

Why yes I do love the weeds!

Every spring as the seemingly ugly weeds begin bursting through the soil, precious little hands pick them and give them to me with much pride and love. As my 4 yo walks in the house with a handful of freshly grown weeds he proclaims his love for me in a way like no other time. His eyes sparkle as he proudly gives me his gift and sheepishly says," I love you mommy". Oh how I treasure such tender moments! Thank you for the weeds today Lord!

Tis the Season

The season began with the picking of the trees :)
The Cowgirl showed up today to lasso our picks for the season! 

Chesney's Santa hat goes on the minute the
decorations come down from the attic. The hat
remains on her head pretty much til Christmas
is over :) I love her!

One of my favorite parts of Christmas is decorating my Momma's tree. The ornaments on her tree are more like toys!  My kids sit around the table transfixed in awe and delight as I pull each one out to hang on the tree. Cade collects all the cars, trains and planes.  Chesney, the Barbies. Britton, all the baseball and football stars. Each of her ornaments are a beautiful memory of who she was and what she loved most. Jesus, kids, shopping, reading, sewing and baking.  Its the perfect way to keep her memory alive and teach my kids all about their Gram.



This year, Chesney and Britton played piano for one of  Daddy's hospice patient's.She was a 103 year old piano teacher. This was such a neat family moment and wonderful Christmas memory for us all.

On this day a dear friend took these adorable pics of the kids and helped me create a very memorable family Christmas card! (Thank you precious friend!!!) Then we turned the dough into ornaments and painted together with several sweet friends. Such a fun day!

We spent lots of time baking, ornament creating, gift making and ginger bread house building.

Of course we had to see Santa!!

And celebrate the reason for the season, King Jesus! 

Santa's cookies and milk complete with a love letter from Chesney!

Christmas PJ's and pillow pets :)

He loved every moment, every present, everything!
His joy was so very precious.

Christmas day with our family.
We spent the morning worshiping Jesus together, then pigging
out on lunch and enjoying one another.
A perfect day celebrating our savior!

Our last Christmas shebang landed us at the zoo light safari. We captured a few
animals to add to our collection :)



It was another beautiful Christmas complete with our most cherished traditions and a few new ones. Our absolute    
"must do" traditions include picking out live christmas trees, Mommy-Daughter date to see the Nutcracker, and new ornaments from the Hallmark store for each child. We picked out our tree and ornaments on the same night.
 Cade picked out a Lionel train. Chesney chose Tom and Jerry and Britton a cool Tron Legacy ornament. Our family ornament, picked out by Chesney, created a new tradition for us. The ornament was a beautiful silver ball that opens up with a special key to reveal a surprise for whomever the key was given. We each took turns placing special gifts to one another inside the ornament. You knew you had a gift awaiting you on the tree when the silver key was placed where you would find it. We had so much fun surprising one another. Our second new tradition was a trip to the $1 store. Each child was given $4. They were to walk around and pick out a gift for their siblings and parents. We then went home and let each child wrap their presents. On Christmas Eve we opened each others gifts. The kids loved giving their gifts to each other. Though the gifts were cheap and likely want last, the moment was worth way more than the $12 that was spent. It was so enjoyable to watch the children learn the joy of giving. Here's a run down of what each child picked out for the rest of us:
Cade bought:
Green tea for Daddy :D
A cool "to go" coffee mug for Mommy
Stickers and pencils for Chesney
A sticky hand for Britton

Chesney bought:
A tire pressure checker for Daddy
Baskin Robbins Chocolate mint candy for Mommy
Ear buds for Britton
Monster truck for Cade

Britton bought:
An air horn for Daddy
A coffee cup for Mommy
Silly string for Chesney
Ninja men for Cade

That wraps up another Best family Christmas! One full of wonderful memories
 and much joy celebrating the birth of Jesus.