Katie is here!

Congratulations to Cristina, Daniel, & Big Brother Ben! Katie was born this morning at 7:27 a.m. She is 9 lb 4 oz & 21 1/2 inches. I hear she has a head full of brown hair!

Katie,

God has blessed you with a wonderful mommy, daddy, & brother. We all love you & have been praying for you for a very long time. I can't wait to see you!!

Love,
Aunt Sara Jo

Raising the Roof

Earlier this week we came home to a notice from our home owners' association letting us know of a meeting coming up to discuss replacement of the roof on the townhomes and the financing of the replacement. Following is the comments made after I told Matt about the notice.

Matt:"Who's going to pay for that?"

Cole:"Obama!"

(Much laughter followed!)

Oh we are raising a political genius!!

Cole's Prayer - Morning of April 27, 2009

"Dear God, thank you for Mommy, Daddy, and Savannah. Thank you for my cousins. Thank you for all the trees that God made for us. Thank you for the horsies and the fences, and the cars. Thank you our houses. Thank you for our bodies. Thank you for Jesus' blood and Jesus' body. Thank you for Jesus rose from the grave and the disciples. Thank you for all of my friends at school today. Thank you for when we get home tonight that I can get some gum. Thank you for all the people that we love. Thank you for all of the animals at our zoo. In Jesus Name, AMEN. Mommy I said a long prayer!" (I am sure I did not document every "thank you" from the prayer. It was much longer than this and oh so much sweeter to hear it said by my sweet 3 year old boy!)

Matthew 18:3 NIV
And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

happy birthday uncle daniel!

ta da

Prayer Request

Please pray for Matt, Patrice, & Jonah Williams. Patrice gave birth to baby Jonah yesterday. He has a skin condition for which diagnosis is yet to be finalized. Last April, Jonah's big brother Gabe was taken to heaven during the 37th week of pregnancy. This family has been through so much this year and continued to praise our LORD through it all. Please pray for them. Updates can be found at their blog below.

http://patriceandmattwilliams.blogspot.com/

Happy Birthday Papa G

Wish we could be there to celebrate it with you!

Christmas 2008 Part 2

We left Nana & Pawpaw's & headed to Gram Gram & Papa G's house. It was a busy & exciting week. All of the "Bradshaw kids" were home for Christmas for longer than 24 hours. It had been quite a few years since that had happened. We had a lot of fun along with the usual travel illness & bumps on the head. We got there on Sat. night & by Sunday afternoon Cole had pink eye & a nice size knot on his forehead. Gotta love traveling....

They just couldn't be serious for a nice photo. Not even for a couple of seconds!

Gram Gram reading to ALL of her grandkids!

Cole's awesome photography take 1.

Cole's awesome photography take 2.

He has such a gift with the camera!

Aunt Cristina, Uncle Daniel, & Ben got Savannah this neat tent for her birthday. Doesn't Papa G look good in pink!

He used to be wrapped around my little finger....

Gram Gram took her turn in the tent too!

All of the grandkids riding on Papa G's back.

Cristina's face says it all - we were afraid that they would break his back!

And nobody even fell off!

Cole's awesome photography take 3. This is Cole's favorite Christmas toy at Gram Gram's house. It plays "Jingle Bells".

Great Uncle Chris & cousin Taylor with Cole, Ben, & Savannah

Playing the "Jingle Bells" AGAIN!

Snacking on Snickerdoodles & milk on Christmas Eve

Leaving Snickerdoodles & milk for Santa

Papa G & Gram Gram with the kiddos on Christmas Eve

Santa Claus came to town!

Santa brought Cole a firetruck & a full fireman's suit.

Santa brought Savannah an easel with all of the art supplies she could think of and a Minnie Mouse dress.

Santa brought Ben a kitchen.

Check out the fireman!

Definately the cutest Minnie Mouse I have ever seen!

Cousins sharing a moment with Gram Gram's old fashioned sugar cookies. Yummy!

Ellen came to play!

Poppi with all of the grandkids in town!

top row - Cristina, Daniel, Poppi, Matt, me

big bottom row - Forrest, Dalton, Rachel, Taylor

little bottom row - Savannah, Ben, Cole

She just couldn't take any more....

Hanging out with Papa G.

Artists hard at work.

"I can spell my name!"

These are the letters that came with one of Cole's Christmas gifts.

We had such a nice week. By the time the week came to a close, it was definately time to get the kids back home & on a schedule, but we wouldn't trade a minute of the chaos for anything.

Happy New Year!

Christmas 2008 Part 1

We left home on the Friday night before Christmas at 7:00 p.m. Way too late to leave, but it took me that long to get everything done & together to travel. We stopped at Nana & Pawpaw's to spend the night & have some Christmas time with them. Of course it was late when we got in, but that didn't make the kids sleep in the next morning. After breakfast & showers we opened gifts.

Cole's favorite was his racetrack.

Cole likes to help others open their gifts.

Daddy & Pawpaw working hard on putting the racetrack together.

Pawpaw was such a good sport!

I don't think I will exchange this one.

Savannah had so much fun playing with Nana's broom!

Finally! Success!

Can you see the excitement on that face?

Whose racetrack is this anyway?

Savannah helping Daddy make chicken enchiladas!

Nana & Cole decorating cookies!

A three year old with a can of sprinkles = Dangerous

Gotta love those smiling faces!

"Nana I think we need more sprinkles!"

The cookie artists hard at work!

No sooner were they iced & sprinkled than Savannah was popping them in her mouth. Nana couldn't keep up production fast enough for this cookie monster.

A happy bunch!

We had a great time with Nana & Pawpaw for Christmas. It was just too short of a trip!

A Taste of Christmas Spirit

My dad, aka Papa G & Granddaddy, HATES to have his hair touched by anything other than his comb & his hands. Over the years it has become a practice to try to mess with Daddy's hair & then run as if your life depended on it. What a beautiful change a granddaughter can make...hehehe! We love you Dad!!

Most of December 2008...

As is true for most families, December was a very busy month for us! I am guilty of "over committing" our time, which is both fun & stressful. We managed to have a few Kodak moments along the way.

As we enter 2009 Matt & I feel truly blessed to have children who love each other so much. This picture can not even come close to capturing the sweetness this moment held between Cole & Savannah and the joy it brought to Matt & me.

Our first Friday Family Game Night. I hope to make this more of a habit in 2009. We had lots of fund playing Chutes & Ladders.

Look at those fierce competitors!

Cole won!

Those faces say it all! Matt & I thought it would be fun to take the kids to the Grinch ice sculpture display. It really was a truly amazing sight, but the kids were not quite as impressed as we were. It was miserably cold (six-nine degrees F) and I suppose the Grinch can appear a little scary.

We found someone kind enough to take a family photo for us. This was the only part of the whole thing that Cole liked. "The part where they had their hands up." - at the end of the story!

Goofing off at home on our snow day!

My little purple princess!

Gotta love this face!

"Mommy! It is too bright out here!"

The snow melted rather quickly, so we went Christmas shopping...right after we documented that there really was snow!

After about 6 months of trying to plan a time to get together, we finally were able to have an Allen/Miller/Moss dinner night. The kids had a great time playing. I am not sure who enjoyed the play-doh more....Cole & Clark or Matt & Jeremy...

mmmmmm....looks like it was really Jaxon who loved it the most! Yummy play-doh!

We attended our first ever Breakfast with Santa. Santa's workshop was full of activities to enjoy. Cole & Savannah each created a winter scene with stickers and a couple of ornaments.

I am so glad to have several Cole & Savannah creations on our Christmas tree now!

The big moment finally arrived to sit with Santa & Mrs. Claus. At that moment Cole & Savannah decided Mommy & Daddy should join in the fun too!

Cole took a picture of Savannah...

...and then one of himself. He found the zoom button after he took this picture. It was a little too close!

Finally asleep...but something's not quite right here...

Though quite busy, pre Christmas 2008 holds alot of dear memories that we will treasure.