Samuel & Colette

Cute little video of Colette (17 1/2 months old) doing her ABC's and Numbers & stuff... (Sorry my voice is so much louder than hers! But if you can hear her - I just love her sweet and pretty voice!) :)

Here is our all-grown-up Sam who traced his name all by himself for the first time this week!! He was so proud of himself... :)

Brielle's First Day of Preschool

Well, Brielle has been asking when she gets to go to school for years now, and we kept telling her when she's five. Luckily, we decided to sign her up for preschool now (kind of for an easier transition into all-day kindergarten when that comes in the fall), and her first week starting preschool just so happened to be this week after her fifth birthday! So that worked out kind of perfect, and she has been SO excited about "going to school" now, as she calls it... :)


Her first day was this past Tuesday, and she absolutely LOVES it!! On our way home that day, she looked over at Samuel, and said, "Sam, you would just love school. School is so fun!"
Samuel, by the way, was so worried about her that first day -- he kept asking why we had left Brielle and where she was and if she was coming home again... :) He was very relieved to see her, once we went back to get her!

Sunday Best

The kids looked so cute yesterday for church, and that's always a momentous occassion in and of itself!! :) (And of course another picture of our all-grown-up five-year-old)...

Brielle Ruth Ray -- Our Beautiful 5-Year-Old

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Walk down memory lane here... What fun adventures this little girl has filled our life with so far!! We can't wait to see what the rest of our years with her will hold! This family would not be the same without her! :)

Brielle's 5th Birthday!

We CANNOT believe we have a five-year-old now!! Brielle just had her 5th birthday this past Friday, and we spent it together at home, doing different activities, making her favorite meals, going to McDonald's (which she requested even amongst other options given), opening presents (which our parents got to see on this awesome WebCam Mom & Dad Ray gave to us for Christmas -- thank you!!); and also of course the birthday cake (Brielle chose a flower one out of this neat cake decorating book I have from my Mom) and the kids' first experience with a pinata, which was pretty amusing and which the video is of... Too many pictures, I know, but what can I say -- that's just what I love! :) Poor girl has been sick and had her first cold soar for her birthday, but hopefully she had a fun day for her 5th birthday!

These are some little video clips of the kids trying out the pinata -- the end is the funniest, when Jared breaks it open, and Samuel completely ditches his post as the pinata-holder at first sight of candy! :) Brielle blowing out her candles is at the end of this video as well...

Ray Family Visit

Again, we are so glad you guys got to come and visit us -- we love all the memories, and the kids just LOVE getting to spend time with you! What a fun month December was! :)

Albuquerque Temple

Jared's family came to visit us right after Christmas, and again we had such a good time with our awesome family!! The kids have so much fun! We all went over to the Albuquerque Temple while they were here to walk around and let the kids see it, and it was tons of fun! (It ended in a little snow/ice fight that they found out front)... :)

More Snow...

The day after Christmas, it snowed really good here again, and we were so excited that it finally did on a day that Jared was home with us, and he got the chance to play with the kids in the snow for the first time! They had their first snowball fight, of course, with Dad! :) We've been having so much fun with our first time living in a place that it snows this year...

The Aftermath...

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Showing and playing with all their new things... Such a fun day! :)

Favorite Presents

Here's some pictures of the kids' favorite presents they opened this year -- so fun to see how excited they get!