A Night of Stars

Andrea hosted a formal dinner party/"prom" night for her 17th birthday and even invited us old people!
I relished the change to use the new camera I had gotten hours before and didn't take two pictures with the same setting. As a result some of them turned out...well...yellow or weird. Bear with me and hopefully the pictures will improve as I get to know the camera and all its capabilities.

An unsuspecting Joy.

An unsuspecting Bella (zoom works great!)

Mom and Dad

Inside joke

Cindy's toes! This is how off I had the settings...her toes were actually pink!

Me and my hot date. This dress from my senior year in high school was a little snug, but being 15 weeks pregnant I'll cut myself some slack.

Katy and Gilbert

Three generations

Thumb war!
Last two kiddos standing

And guess who won whole thing. ;) Kudos to her for giving it the college try though. If there are thumb war competitions with prize money we need to find them!

Mom and daughters

Cedillos

Don Juan Cedillo

Dad scratching one up real quick. Nothing like being put on the spot! He did a great job.

Micaiah serenading everyone

Bella = bella!

This is how Joy and I looked all night.

Dad, Andrea, and Mom

Limbo! Ok, she has a small advantage here.

Mac letting loose

Play time!

Old friends

Pretty dresses

We had a great time, Andrea! Happy, happy birthday!

First Ultrasound

We had our first ultrasound today and everything looks great. The baby is measuring between 14 and 15 weeks (8.5cm) and was very active with a strong heartbeat. So....

Admire our black and white blob like it's the greatest thing you've ever seen! We know it's really not, but we're crazy expectant parents so just humor us.

This top one's our favorite because you can see a hand/fingers and eye sockets as it's turned toward us. The hollow part on the body is the heart which was beating a mile a minute.
Shout-outs to family members. Smart kid. ;) Dave likes the bottom one because he/she is standing on its head.

Guess there's really a baby in there! It sure doesn't feel like it most days and I'm not showing at all yet, but praise the Lord for a healthy little one!

Snowy Morning

We didn't have time to play in it since we had an appointment to get to, but it sure was pretty while it lasted.

Apples 2 Apples

This is what Katy and Aran associate with "worthless." Maybe we'll just play at our house next time.

Aran didn't want to part with his cookie long enough to clean up a spill.

Cards will stick to your head if you get bored enough waiting for a judge to make a decision.

30 Years

Happy Groundhog Day! Dad jokes that they if they wake up on their anniversary and see their shadow that their marriage will last 6 more weeks. Guess they've been looking for it all these years!

I was feeling a tad domestic and made homemade butter and bread both from scratch and took it over as an anniversary gift. Both were fun to make, but messy!

Happy 15th Birthday, Brandon!

First things first: All the great food.

Presents!

Here comes the big one...

Niiiiice! Alabama boys get BB guns at their baby showers and MAK 90s before they can vote. ;)

Famous last words: Hold my caramel popcorn and watch this! :p

Thanking God for His Provision and Guidance

Most of you know that we sold our home in August ago due to neighbor problems. We were surrounded by family on all sides who were constantly fighting with each other while we were stuck in the middle. Our realtor guessed that our home would be on the market for 7-9 months so we were unprepared when we had a contract within 6 days of placing it up for sale!

We've been living in an apartment at our church for the past 5 months and often wonder if we made the right decision in leaving our home without another one to move into, if we got enough money in the sale, what God's purpose was for letting it sell so quickly, and if maybe we just got caught up in the "grass is always greener" mentality. Our minds were put to rest today after a phone call from my mom who saw this story on the news.
Our next-door neighbor to the west shot our next door neighbor on the east then shot himself in the head. All over what the neighbors to the southwest of us decided to do with a trailer that probably isn't worth $3,000. This is what they have been fighting over for years with multiple calls to the police and knock-down-drag-outs in their yards while we lived there.

Thank you, Lord that while we were constantly praying for wisdom in our decision-making and it seemed like you were letting us fly blind that You were guiding us the entire time.
I cannot imagine how much our old property has now decreased in value (at least temporarily), having to deal with the stress of police interviews and possible courtroom involvement, or what it would be like to know we were stuck raising a child there! Romans 8:28 came into play today and we really are "living the dream" here at church. :) Praise God!

We are set to close on our new home at the end of this month. Please pray that all goes smoothly.

Happy Early Birthday, Katy!

We had a little celebration for Katy after church Wednesday. She's celebrating number wouldn't you like to know!
This is the H1N1 season version of blowing out your birthday candles. Hold it in your hand away from the cake. Of course Dad had to lead the Happy Birthday song as slooooowly as humanly possibly in order to try to burn her fingers. It would seem big brothers never outgrow torturing their little sisters. At least he doesn't make her hold his BB gun targets anymore.

Presents and help from Bella. :)

Funny Sunday

Buck, Sheena, Jacob, and Josh were with us this Sunday. Buckshot preached up a storm that had us both deeply convicted and highly entertained.

Dad and Mom each made him and expectant "uncle" badge to go with Dad's expectant grandpa pin. I couldn't refrain from pointing out that he's actually an expectant great "uncle." That didn't go over too well. Old people are sensitive. *wink*

Chewie takes lazy Sunday to a whole new level.

Roll Tide!

Mom hosted a BSC National Football Championship party for the family. Dad had to come to the church to pick us up since we couldn't get out of the icy church driveway. The Cedillos managed to arrive using some back roads and wound up staying the night rather than trying to get back.Homemade cheese football

Roll Tide Roll!

Aran wasn't taking any chances on the game's outcome. Roll Tide...

Go Longhorns! Little stinker.

Dave being irritated that I was having camera issues.

Those of us who showed our team spirit. We probably should have left Aran out. :)

Roll Tide! National Champs! 37 - 21