~Roby is singing with Jesus now~

YouTube - Roby Duke - Right On Time


My dear friend Roby Duke went to be with Jesus suddenly. It was very unexpected (by us here on Earth) I will miss him terribly! Check out his amazing talent...perspective...and Joy in the Lord...thanks for sharing your life with the world Roby! ~ jenny

Happy Birthday Jesus..and Merry Christmas to all!!

We started the celebration of Christmas with a "happy birthday Jesus" party at Makayla's school. we had a ton of fun!
I think the sweetest thing was that Mak included Hana in everything they did as a class...and she was really proud of her little sister.

Here below is Makayla and her close buddies Ainlsy and Natalie! Cute.

The kids stockings at the Barber Christmas!
Makayla had a ton of fun just playing with the toys that sing Christmas songs.....(like the kind you get at hallmark if you buy a thousand cards! )
Mak and Hana at home opening their stockings. They were so excited for each other...it was adorable.

Close your eyes...daddy's bringing something around the corner!!

We got the girls a big dry erase board to share...they both love to draw and mak goes through paper like it's going out of style...it was fun to see their reaction.

Shortly after company arrived Mak started complaining that she didn't feel good...she never threw up thank goodness...but she went to her room to read a book and fell asleep..she slept straight through dinner and dessert..from noon till about 5:30!


Two of the girls favorite toys are this race track and the kitchen below! They are little girls who love a sense of adventure :)

Here is Hana conked out in her new Cinderella sleeping bag. "It's just what I've always wanted....I asked Santa for a sleeping bag and I got it...isn't that amazing?" Hana was thrilled to have her very own sleeping bag.

Sorry there are no pictures of dinner or of my wonderful family who came to join us...I was pretty busy chatting..making yams and such and tending to a little sick one! We had a Fabulous time! One of my favorite parts of the whole day was that it snowed! Wonderful big flakes of snow falling on the ground as we prepared and ate our Christmas feast! It was too good to be true. And although missed having my parents here in a terrible way....it made me feel closer to home having it snow on Christmas day! We ate entirely too much food...used my Christmas dishes...and are now recovering. The girls are watching Little mermaid..Dj is asleep on the couch...and here I am...updating you all....and especially those of you (Becky) who said..."hey...why no Christmas blog yet?" Love you beck. Oh...another cute detail...Hana woke up first thing in the morning..put a new princess dress on and wore it clear through the day till bedtime! What a little Darling....and we all slept till 10 the next day! Hallelujah :)

Hope your Christmas was Wonderful!

~Blessings and Merry Christmas~

Merry Christmas! We love you!

Deck The Halls!!

We have been getting ready for Christmas around here! We finally got our tree about a week 1/2 ago. Nothing amazing or fun about getting it....we just went down to Fred Meyer and picked one out. After getting home...and re-arranging our entire house..only to put it where we had originally though (a place that didn't require an re-arranging) we propped up the tree! The girls got to pick out one ornament that night and put it on ...it was getting a bit late! Hana managed to break several of the ornaments we got as wedding presents while looking for the perfect one to hang on the tree! Mommy took a little bit of the Christmas spirit out of that moment with my Crankiness! Oops ;)

The picture above is before bed...and the picture below is the next morning when they finished decorating the tree! There aren't many decorations at the top...and there are a few branches that had 5 ornaments on them...I did my best to even things out :) It was really fun watching the girls pick the 'just the right' place for the ornaments!Yay! All Done!!
There is our tree with a bit of Mak's artwork on the window.



Above are two of my favorite ornaments on the tree. I have many 'favorites'...but these two are special. Last year Micah and Becky sent us some wonderful mugs from London...I think it was for a house warming present...not Christmas. Anyway...Becky, being the crafty and thoughtful lady that she is, made the cards on the Left...I believe there are 4 of them. Each one is different and has a different hope for our family with a scripture on it! I knew the moment I saw them that I wanted them on my Christmas tree. I saved them and now there they are! A sweet reminder of sweet friendship! The ornament on the right was given to us after we had a Hana...it's 4 little faces that say "DJ, jenny, makayla, and Hana....Hana's first Christmas 2004" I love it. We also have one for Mak's first Christmas! Not that I don't like neatly ornamented..color coded trees...but my favorite kinds are the ones filled with family tradition and memories!

Did someone say Gingerbread????
My friend Angie brought this gingerbread set over for the girls to decorate! They had an absolute blast! I helped put the frosting on and that was about it....Take it away girls...and don't eat the candy!! It was almost bedtime...not very smart on my part!
I think this says...."Gingerbread...like...Totally"

Makayla was very focused....on getting stuff on her fingers so that she would have to lick it off!!

This is the tree in the girls room. It is a little fiber optic tree that served as mine and Dj's first Christmas tree! The tree is decorated with dress up necklaces and an angel that mak made at School. She had another ornament up there but she lost her privilege! bummer.

Next on the horizon??? Gads and Gads of Carmel corn, Almond Rocha, and sugar cookies! A good reminder to always brush your teeth!!!

Makayla's very First Musical: A Cup of Christmas Cheer!!

Every year EFC (our church) puts on a Children's production/musical. Makayla has never been old enough to do it until this year. She was very excited to be able to participate...at first...it was a lot of hard work..more than most of our family anticipated...but the end result was so much fun!Here is Makayla at church...pre-show in her angle costume!
She was a little bit of a 'riot' during the show. She did the motions most of the time..but she really enjoyed looking around...and trying to be seen. She kicked one little boy who accidentally bonked her with one of the motions...and she fell off the stage trying to make her way to the front. The show did go on..and she finished without crying!!

Here is another picture of mak not doing the motions...I swear she did them...I just don't have proof! This is what she was waiting for....her opportunity to be an Angel.. She loved flapping her Angel wings.
I'm sure you know...but Mak is farthest on the left front.
Post show rose! She was so excited to get her very own rose! I was really proud of her that she made it all the way through.I asked her yesterday if it's something she wants to do again...she replied, " it was fun..but I never want to do it again." So there you have it! We'll see if next year she changes her mind! Till then...we will always have the memories of cup of Christmas Cheer 2007 and the adventure of it all!

During the show Hana sang all the songs very loudly from our seats! It was pretty funny..and fun!

Winter Wonder-pond??

On Saturday ...out of the blue..it started to snow like crazy! I was so excited! The girls and I immediatly got bundled up!Hana really enjoyed eating it...this was before the snow really came down.


Mak and Hana played in the house more with the snow then they did all summer!!! It was their 'cabin.'
One of my favorite parts of our backyard is our huge trees! This is our Great Leaning Apple Tree!!!This is the Huge Evergreen...I think it might be a Spruce tree..I'm not really sure..but it is really Amazing and Big and Beautiful!!
Cheese!!! In the Backgound you can see the wonderful new fence that George (our neighbor) and Dj almost have finished. They worked on it all morning before the snow hit!!

So Srange that my roses were still blooming out in the backyard...I cut this guy...figured it was prettier inside..and I didn't want to let it get Frozen!!So the snow came on Saturday...by Sunday morning it was raining and it rained all day Sunday..through the night..and all day Monday...the temp went from about 29 degrees to a record 59 degrees in less than 24 hrs. As a result we had major flooding in our area. I tried to go to Safeway for some milk and almost coudln't make it home because we litteraly had a river going accross our road! It as a scary Day!!!

This is a picture (thanks King5news.com) of Totem lake area..where are girls go to their doctor...totally flooded!

I wanted to take some pictures of the nearby apt. complex...but I was busy trying to get home safe! They had completely roped it off...there was water..worse than the picture above...of water up to peoples car windows!!! We suffered little damage. My back hurts from digging trenches to try to keep the water away from our house...and we have some warping on our hardwoods do to some water seeping in! Our garage had a little water in it too...not even sure where it came from..but all in all we are in good shape compared to most! We have several friends who spent the day pumping out basements and who are now currently cleaning up the aftermath of this storm!!

Dj and I always make fun of the news because here in Seattle ..anything can and does happen weather wise. When the news breaks in saying 'storm watch 2007!' we rarely take it seriously! I think we might take it a little more seriously next time!

Spreading some Elf-ish Cheer!

Check us out!!! We thought it would be fun to be elves for the day!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1141771368

getting shots update!

Maybe the girls have good reason not to like getting shots, other than the obvious poking! Makayla's arm swelled up like crazy....the next day it was worse...I called the nurse and I had to take her to Children's. She had a mild allergic reaction to one of her shots...hives...swelling...severe redness..and it was really hot! I would provide pictures..but I don't have time..must go paint!!! maybe I'll have time for pictures tomorrow. So..if your kid gets a shot..and they complain and complain about it itching really bad....take a min. to look at it..don't wait 24 hrs. like I did and tell them to "suck it up." Oops! My mommy skills were not honed in very well apparently! lesson learned....Crisis averted!

deep thoughts...by Hana Vick

After going to the Doctor Yesterday I over heard my girls having quite the conversation...it goes as fallows.

Hana: Makayla...I don't think I liked that trip to the doctor. They have poky sharp things!
Makayla: Ya...that's just what they do sometimes. Mine hurt worse because I got 6 and you only got two.
Hana: ya...mine hurt worser too! Well I don't think it's nice to get shot and I don't like getting shot at by the doctor!
Makayla: Hana...you got shots....not SHOT!
Hana: Well I don't think I want to do that again! Let's never go back!
Makayla: Ya...let's never go back. Mom, do we ever have to go back?

I looked in the rear view mirror and the girls were holding hands...looking at each other very sympathetically..and I thought to myself..."I've got my very own version of preschool Thelma and Louise." I could just imagine them holding hands...riding their tricycles off into the sunset...vowing to never go back! That is...after their wounds have healed.

P.S. They are both doing better today...Mak has one swollen arm and she is milking it for all it's worth! Hana is officially 2 oz lighter than her sister, and only 2 inches shorter. I thought they weighed the same...but I didn't think it was as close as 40.2 and 40.4 lbs. Amazing how different..and the same kids can be :)

Wonderfully infuriating afternoon!

We went to the park for pictures! My friend Kerri is a really great photographer and we had a lot of fun. As you can see we picked a really sunny day! oops :) Kerri can do pretty amazing things with her program though..so she can make ANYTHING look not sunny...or more sunny...or even...A little Alien-like! She took a little liberty with this one!

Silly poses (while Dj is on the phone)


"I said smile...if you don't stop being silly we aren't going to play at the play area"....cheese! I was the perfect Jeckle and Hyde of a mother this day ;) Now everyone pretend like we are having fun!!

Sweet Makayla up a tree!

Hana. She liked the 'up the tree thing' for about two seconds. After two shots, " I want down now."

Now hold hands and pretend your going on a slow walk!

I wish I could say this was a spontaneous loving moment shared between sisters....but it would be a lie! But it is sweet :)

We ended up playing at the park after we were all done with pictures! Kerri was amazingly patient and we had a great time. And I am not showing you the best pictures of all..the ones that we chose for our Christmas card...

those will remain a secret!

Thanks Kerri for a great Day!

Merry Pre-Christmas 'To Do' list season!!!