Holly, Jolly Christmas!

After church on a beautiful November Sunday

Our real Christmas tree

Gabriel laying underneath one of our Christmas trees

Chase posing by the gingerbread house he made with Grammie Pam Breeden

Gabriel playing with toys

Talk about a close-up!

Holiday decorations have been on display for several weeks.  Christmas shopping is done.  Presents are wrapped. Wish lists have been told to Santa (well, at least by Chase; Gabe remains terrified of the man in the red suit). Cookie tins are filled with baked goodies.  Rudolph, Elf, Christmas Vacation, the Grinch, etc. have been watched more than once. The Elf on the Shelf (Chase named him "Mack Paul Breeden") has made his rounds to many locations in the house keeping close eye on the boys.  The drive down the VA Beach boardwalk was made to see the holiday lights at the beach. You get the picture...we're ready for Christmas! This has perhaps been the best build-up to Christmas I've ever experienced now that Chase is old enough to really understand Christmas traditions and Gabe is so vivacious.  

All of the above things certainly add to the excitement of Christmas every year, but they come nowhere close to illuminating the true reason for this season: JESUS!  "She [Mary] will give birth to a Son and you are to give him the name Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins." (Matthew 1:21) Although Tim, Chase, Gabriel, and I have had fun anticipating Christmas and doing all of the normal seasonal preparations over the past month, I don't ever want to lose sight that the whole reason for all of this hustle and bustle is to celebrate our Savior's birthday.  I pray you and your families will keep Christ as the focal point of your Christmas this year and throughout the new year. As always, I appreciate all who follow along with this blog.  It's hard to believe I've had this going for about six years!  I plan to still keep it going in 2015 so please check in every couple of months or so for updates on our family and pictures of our growing boys.

Speaking of our growing boys, Chase concluded this year with a certificate for making the A-B Honor Roll and a perfect attendance award at school.  We're so proud of him!  All of the students at Faith Outreach Education Center put on an adorable Christmas presentation on the 18th and wrapped up the year with classroom parties on the 19th.  Chase still enjoys playing his drums during his spare time at home; we hope to set up lessons for our little drummer boy in the new year with an older boy from his school who is willing to teach him.  Aside from drumming, Chase likes to play with his LeapPad, play with friends, and ride his bike.  He's asking Santa for a new, bigger bike for Christmas.  He recently got to enjoy a sleepover with his cousins at Aunt Laurie's house. He continues to love being with family and we wouldn't trade his gentile, outgoing, loving spirit for anything! 

On the other hand, Gabriel is the more rambunctious one of the two boys. His facial expressions are very animated and hilarious at times.  He is speaking a few more words since my last posting.  We're still a long way from fluent speech, but I rejoice in the small victories with him as I know he has a more stubborn personality than Chase did at this age.  I had to break down and trim his hair in November because the cooler, drier air was relaxing his curls too much and making it look like he had a mullet. The latest development is him climbing out of his crib; truthfully, I'm surprised he lasted as long as he did in his crib because he's been capable of climbing out for a long time. He's been fighting us on bed time the past few nights and climbing out of the crib to wake me up in the mornings.  Beforehand, he'd always wait for me to come and get him in the mornings.  I guess our little guy is growing up and ready for a big boy bed.  He has been testing the waters of independence ever since the day he was born.  Although he wants to do big boy things, he still has his baby tendencies: sucking his thumb and snuggling with me on the couch when he's tired, wanting to be picked up and toted around (not an easy feat since he's getting heavy) and carrying around his little blankets.  Aside from the many temper tantrums, I'm trying to soak up these cute, little baby moments because they'll be over in a blink of an eye.

I took off from work yesterday and today since Chase was already out of school for the year and I had plenty of vacation hours to spare. In addition to my days off this week, I have all of next week off assuming I don't get called into work to resolve any emergent issues.  I'm thankful for the extra time off to spend with family over the holidays.  The boys and I spent the past few days watching Christmas movies and baking goodies to hand out to our neighbors.  I'm trying to teach the boys to care for others and to do nice things. Small gestures like handing out cookies to our neighbors can go a long way as we never know what they may be going through since we normally only see them in passing.

Another small gesture of kindness for us was going to visit Tim's grandparents in Scottsville for his grandmother's 80th birthday on December 5th.  That was the first time his grandparents had seen Gabriel in person so we were long overdue for a visit.  Fortunately, the boys did wonderfully with so much travel crammed into one day.  So many of us take for granted our health, which often deteriorates as we age; it was a blessing to get to visit Tim's grandparents as they can no longer make long trips to see us.

Tim is still working today and tomorrow morning, but he'll get a mini-vacation from 1:00 tomorrow afternoon through Sunday.  We plan to kick his time off from work by attending the Christmas Eve service at church tomorrow afternoon followed by horderves at my grandmother's house. We're hosting Christmas Day with my family at our house and spending the 26th with Tim's family. We have several days of Christmas celebrations that await us.  Moreover, we're looking forward to another year of spiritual growing as a family. Each new year is full of opportunities to grow stronger in Christ regardless of our circumstances--so let's take on the new year challenge to make 2015 the best one yet by staying in tune to God!  Shana Tova ("Happy New Year" in Hebrew)!

Isaiah 33:2

O LORD, be gracious to us; we long for you. Be our strength every morning, our salvation in time of distress. 

In Awe of Autumn

Gabriel in his pajamas after trick-or-treating

Sporting my fancy witch hat

Tim's costume in line with current events

Chase as Raphael the Ninja Turtle, Bella as a witch, and Gabe as a dragonsaurus

Ken as a cop, Laurie as a prisoner, and Baby Caroline as a lady bug

Gabriel during one of his happier dragonsaurus moments

Our pumpkin art (most of the credit goes to Tim for the carving)

Here we are a couple days into November and I’m in awe of how quickly autumn is flying by! Since my last posting, we’ve been slam busy enjoying the season.




Chase is two months into Kindergarten and I couldn’t be any prouder of him. He has adjusted fantastically to being in school for full days. His teacher has reported several times that he’s doing extremely well with writing, math, and phonics. Academically, he’s excelling, but his only downfall is the occasional day he has when he’s overly talkative during class. Hey, you can’t expect perfection out of a 5-year old. Fortunately, his teacher Mrs. Parker (along with the rest of the staff at FOEC) is very kindhearted, patient, and understanding. I was able to chaperone the Kindergarten field trip to Disney’s “Frozen on Ice” in September and witness firsthand that Chase isn’t the only talkative child in his class.



Aside from school, Chase was very busy playing his first season of soccer during September and October on the Isle of Wight league team called “the Thunder.” It was so much fun watching Chase and the rest of his teammates improve with each game. By the end of the season, Chase was scoring goals every game and was definitely one of the MVPs! Meanwhile, Gabriel would play on the playground at the park or kick a ball around on the sidelines of the soccer field. We endured many temper tantrums from Gabe during practices and games, but we survived.



Gabriel is definitely living out the “terrible 2’s.” He’s very independent and can be extremely stubborn at times. I sure hope his persistent attitude will serve him well later in life because it sure is giving Tim and me a good run as parents. Nonetheless, we love our little guy and wouldn’t trade him for anything. He still has his sweet moments when he likes to cuddle on the couch and watch TV with us. He’s slowly coming around with his speech; we’re sure his lack of being able to communicate well with us intensifies his frustration and temper tantrums, but we know the day will come when he’ll speak fluently.



The month of September kicked off the fall with soccer games and a picnic with some of my co-workers. October consisted of four different family birthday celebrations (with the commonality of pizza, cake, and bounce-houses): Emily (13), Bella (5), Jaycee (4), and Kenden (9). We concluded October by spending Halloween with Laurie, Ken, Bella, and Caroline. They came over our house for trick-or-treating. Laurie and Ken stayed home with Caroline to hand out the candy while Tim and I took the kids around the block. The kids were adorable in their costumes and even we adults dressed up to join in on the fun. Bella and Chase were well behaved, but Gabe was over trick or treating about an hour into the ordeal, so we had to head home a little early. However, Chase, Bella, and Gabe had more than enough candy even with us not stretching out trick-or-treating any longer.



Now that Halloween is over, we can focus on the impending holidays. I especially like the month of November because it encompasses the theme of being thankful. First Thessalonians 5:18 instructs us to “give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” My prayer is for this verse to be our focal point this month and throughout the years to come. Happy Thanksgiving Month!

Sayonara Summer of 2014!

Nothing like eating popsicles on a hot summer day

Posing by the sunflowers we planted by seeds...one is finally blooming!

Sweet Baby Caroline at just 1 week old

Great Grandma Anderson and Cousin Chase admiring Caroline

We didn't see pirates this cute at the Blackbeard Pirate Exhibit

Just like his shirt says, "Monkey See, Monkey Do"

Crazy how my last blog posting was over Memorial Day weekend and here I am posting again Labor Day weekend.  Summer of 2014 zipped by faster than any summer I’ve experienced; this truly must be a sign of getting older.  Speaking of getting older, Tim and I both had birthdays over the summer to celebrate: my 33^rd and his 35^th.  We also had our 13^th wedding anniversary on August 25^th.  We celebrated our anniversary earlier in the month of August by taking a trip down to our favorite vacation spot: OBX.  Although it rained the entire weekend we were there, we still enjoyed exploring all of Hatteras Island and Ocracoke Island.  Tim’s parents (Grammie Pam and Papa) watched Chase and Gabe for us as it’s a rarity we get time to ourselves with our busy work schedules.  As crazy as it sounds, we were almost happy it rained while we were in OBX as it forced us to do things we normally wouldn’t do, like spend more time sight-seeing while driving on the island, shopping, trying out different restaurants, and even attending a Jars of Clay concert (it just so happened they were playing in Manteo the Sunday night we were on vacation).  Time is fleeting, so I’m thankful Tim and I were able to see past the dark clouds during our vacation and still make the most of it.

Unfortunately, that August 3-day vacation is long gone and we’ve been back to the grind for a month now.  Work has been unusually hectic for us ever since we returned from vacation with Tim and me both working long hours.  I’m thankful we’re both off from work today to enjoy the Labor Day holiday.  We had one last day at Smithfield Swim Club; it was a bittersweet day as the pool emptied its freezer to give out free ice pops knowing that kids wouldn’t be there to eat anymore until next summer.  However, I can breathe a sigh of relief knowing that we survived another summer season. 

Chase reached so many awesome milestones this summer! He can now ride his bike without training wheels.  He can also somewhat swim; he’s surely not an Olympic swimmer, but he’s leaps and bounds better than last year.  We enrolled him swim lessons in early June and it helped him get over his fear of being under water.  He can now swim under water and go down slides.  We still need to work on his surface swimming, but again, we’re proud of him for as far as he’s come in one summer.  He’s also learning how to play soccer on the Isle of Wight Parks and Recreation League (I believe his team is the called the “Thunder”). His first game is next Saturday.  Go #5! He starts Kindergarten (K5) at Faith Outreach Education Center (FOEC) tomorrow.  This isn’t a huge shock for him since he’s been attending FOEC since he was 3 years old.  We’re excited to keep him at FOEC for another school year.  I’ve had many people ask me if we’re going to put him public schools eventually.  My current response to that is we’re going to pray about it and let God pave the way one year at a time. 

Since my last posting, Gabriel is still not blooming as much as I had hoped with his speech.  I had his speech evaluated at CHKD and it was confirmed that he is a little behind in his development; however, insurance wouldn’t cover speech therapy sessions for him since there is no medical reason to attribute his speech delay.  In other words, Gabe’s hearing is fine and he is on target with all other developmental skills for his age, so there is no medical disability involved—in which case, I’m beyond thankful!  So, I’ve taken the more laid back approach in not stressing over it and trusting that he’ll start talking when he’s ready.  He recognizes various objects, points frequently and can understand most commands.  In the meantime, Chase still does enough talking for the entire family to make up for whatever Gabe isn’t saying. 

On a sad note, we had to say goodbye to our almost 14 year-old yellow lab Dexter back in July.  Age had taken its toll on our beloved pet with several health problems continuing to compile and erode at his quality of life, so we knew we had to do the right thing and send him to Doggy Heaven.  Although it was painful to say goodbye, we’re relieved to know he’s no longer suffering.  Tim and I had Dexter cremated and spread his ashes at sea while we were on Ocracoke Island.  It was a peaceful and symbolic way to have our final goodbye since we used to take Dexter down to OBX with us all of the time when we were younger.  We’re nowhere near ready for another furry pet anytime soon, but we did get 3 low maintenance goldfish to brighten Chase’s spirits.

On a happy, happy, happy note (because I can’t end this blog on a sad note), many congrats to my sister Laurie and her husband Ken as they welcomed their sweet baby girl into the world on August 22^nd: Caroline Rae Stephens!  She’s healthy and beautiful.  I was able to hold her for the first time on Saturday.  What a blessing it is to have a newborn baby in the family again.  Although we let one family member go in July (because in my family, pets are considered family members), we were blessed with a new one in August.  “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” Job 1:21

Memorial Day 2014

Spring has sprung on by us since my last blog posting and here we are marking the unofficial beginning to summer with Memorial Day. Chase and Gabe are a year older now and we survived their birthday bash at Chuck E. Cheese’s. Thanks to our family and close friends for making that a special event for us! Gabe wasn’t too thrilled about Chuck E. Cheese himself, but Chase was in Chuck E. Cheese’s face the entire time trying to talk to him—so funny to see the difference in their personalities!

Obviously, for anyone who knows Chase, it’s easy to point out he’s the outgoing, talkative child. He concluded his K4 school year and is already enrolled for Kindergarten (K5) at FOEC for the fall. In the meantime, he’ll have summer camp to keep him busy June-August. I’m amazed at how much he learned in K4. He knows the entire alphabet and can write upper/lower case letters and sound each letter out. He can sound out some short words, which means reading is just around the corner for his next milestone. He’s also showing a lot of interest in music, particularly the drums. Grammie Pam and Papa got him a real drum-set for his birthday (I still secretly believe it’s payback for all that Tim put them through with the drum-set he had growing up). Believe it or not, I’m still sane with all of the drumming that goes on under my roof. I really think with good instruction, Chase could have some talent. There’s nothing sweeter than hearing a 5 year-old banging the tar out of drums while singing, “I really love Jesus, I really love Jesus.” I can’t tell him to stop because he’s making a “joyful noise” to the Lord!

Another funny Chase moment was just the other day when I was at Wal-Mart. Those “people of Wal-Mart” emails/pictures are no exaggeration! We saw a man playing the air guitar in the hair-care isle to whatever classic rock music that was playing over the intercom. He was dressed like a normal man, but his hair was hot pink and pulled back in a pony tail with matching eyebrows drawn on his face. He also had on make-up and very dainty earrings. It took every ounce of energy I had to act normal when he walked past me and not laugh. Chase, on the other hand, came right out and asked me, “Mom, is that a boy or a girl? It looks like a boy, but his hair and make-up look like a girl.” Fortunately, the man-woman-whatever didn’t hear Chase’s remark. During the same Wal-Mart trip, the cashier who rang us up was a dwarf and Chase said, “Look Mom! That man is little like me! How come he didn’t grow any bigger?” My reply was that God makes people in different shapes and sizes. Thankfully, the dwarf just smiled and didn’t take any offense to Chase’s comment. Children are so sweet and innocent, but yet painfully blunt at times!

As for Gabriel Lee, I’m thinking I should have named him “Chase” too because I sure do have to chase him around frequently. Gabe also has quite the personality. He’s giggly just like Chase and starting to develop an awesome sense of humor. I love the deep, belly laughs that come out of young children—especially when it’s something so simple making them laugh like that. Gabe is very strong for his age and in the 95th percentile for height. He’s slightly below average for weight since his most recent growth spurt made him much taller and slowed down his appetite. He still eats much better than Chase, but he’s gotten pickier over the past few months. He’s slightly behind the benchmark for talking at his age. I personally don’t think there’s anything to worry about because he’s as smart as a whip and I know he understands way more than he can communicate. However, his pediatrician still recommended a speech evaluation and a few therapy sessions to jump-start him with talking so I’m going to entertain it to see if it helps. I truly feel the main reason Gabe isn’t talking is because he has Chase and everyone else to do all of the talking for him. He can still say “Mom, hi, bye, uh-oh” and a few other words. I have a feeling all of a sudden he’ll just take off with talking and then I’ll miss these quieter days.

As for Tim and I, we haven’t had much time to unwind lately. We had our niece Bella all weekend since my sister Laurie was out of town for a wedding. Needless to say, the boys keep us busy enough without adding an extra child to the picture, but we made the most of the weekend with having Bella. The kids played in their sandbox and on the swingset, rode bikes and the Gater, went for wagon rides, got in the hot tub, played in the sprinkler, watched a few movies, and even went to a mud bog for the first time yesterday. Tim has been working overtime (12-hour days at times) and trying to keep up with yardwork, keeping the cars washed and running, and tending to whatever other home projects that arise. Then, there are the normal household chores that I do, like laundry, cooking, cleaning, packing lunches, etc. I’m just now slowing down enough to update this blog and download some pictures that were taken of the children on Good Friday (courtesy of JJ Faulkner Photography). I’m certainly not complaining because we’re blessed to have the health and means to maintain what we have and keep our family going with our full schedules. I foresee a busy summer ahead of us, but hopefully an exciting one to build memories.

In conclusion, I owe a special thanks to those who have sacrificed their very own lives for the sake of our country. My gratitude continues for those who are still serving our country today. “Greater love has no one than this, than someone lay down his life for his friends.” –John 15:13 Happy Memorial Day to All!

Put a Little Spring in Your Step!

Chase and our "Snowman" (or pile of snow with a smiley face)

An icy walk around the block

Valentine Day Flowers from Tim

Gabriel trying on Tim's shoes

Snow angels

Just retired this balloon yesterday and made Chase laugh by sucking in the remaining helium and talking funny




Gabe all bundled up

 Finally, spring is here! I’m hoping winter storms are a thing of the past this year. We definitely had our snow fix over the past few months. I took off from work a few days to enjoy snuggling at home indoors with the boys and to avoid having to drive on the icy roads. Tim took Chase sledding on one of the snow days and I made an attempt at building a snowman with Chase on another snow day. Both times, Chase had to be forced to come inside so he wouldn’t get too cold or frostbitten. On the other hand, Gabriel wasn’t a fan of the snow this year. He just fussed the entire time he was outside and looked like Randy from the movie “A Christmas Story.”


Needless to say, we’re looking forward to warmer days ahead of us. The boys and I have already spent countless hours outside on the warm days we had tucked in between the frigid ones. They both (Chase as the driver, of course) like to ride the Gater together around the yard and the neighbor’s swingset is still a big hit. If not playing outside, they’re big on watching cartoons: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Last Avatar Airbender, Peppa Pig, Popeye, and Scooby Doo. It can be a struggle to get Chase pried away from playing outside or watching TV long enough to do his homework, but he’s gotten better at it. He continues to do well in school, with just a little over two months left of K4.

Gabriel isn’t talking much yet, which surprises me since he has his older brother chattering nonstop. However, he’s gotten his motor skills mastered a bit too much. He’s a climber, runner, jumper, etc. His main speeds are on and off, but I thoroughly enjoy the rare times he still wants to snuggle in my lap. His hair is really sprouting and it’s just as blonde as it can be. I’m not sure how much he weighs, but he’s definitely a lot heavier since my last blog post. He’s outgrown 18-months and even some 24-months clothing. Fortunately, we have all of Chase’s hand-me-downs for him to wear. He has slowed down some with his eating (which is normal at this age) and has shown a few picky traits, but not to the extreme that Chase does.

In contrast, Chase is still my string bean and as picky as ever when it comes to food. I still keep hoping the day will come when he’ll venture out and try new foods, but until then, I’m thankful he’s healthy. I can’t believe he’ll be 5 years old in just a month! And, my baby isn’t a baby anymore as he’ll be turning 2! It looks like we’re in for another Chuck-E-Cheese’s birthday party (yay for the kids, but “aaaah” for the adults). Before then, we have Easter to celebrate. Just as I always do, I’ll leave you with positive thoughts and a Bible verse:

As flowers come in bloom this spring, look at their beauty and reflect on Matthew 6:28-29: “And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.”

“Hoppy” Easter! (corny, I know!)


Winter 2014

We did a smaller Christmas tree this year, but that didn't stop Santa from coming! 

My little Christmas Rabbid...love those two front teeth!  

These boys love this John Deere!

Christmas stocking with goodies

Our photogenic Chase

Pop and Gabriel on Thanksgiving Day

Happy 2014 to all of my family and friends!  Time sure is not stalling as we’re already two weeks into this new year.  We ended 2013 with a peaceful Christmas spent with family.  When I say “peaceful,” I don’t mean that it wasn’t noisy and a little hectic at times with the typical hustle and bustle you get with a 4 year-old and 20 month-old.  However, it was just nice to spend time with family, to veg out a little, and to have some time away from the daily grind of work (and school for Chase).  Most of all, it was nice to reflect on all of the blessings another year brought. 

Chase and Gabe are by far two of the biggest blessings in my life.  Spending time with them is one of the greatest gifts life has to offer.  Although I tried not to spoil them and shower them with too many toys over Christmas, the rest of the family made up for whatever I didn’t get them.  They have more toys than I know what to do with and they have no excuse to be bored.  It still blows my mind how Gabe would rather play with all of my Tupperware containers than the many toys he has scattered throughout the house.  I recall my sisters and I doing the same when we were kids.  Now that we’re in the dead of winter, the days are too short and cold most of the time for us to spend much time outdoors, so all of these toys (and Tupperware) come in handy to break up the monotony of being indoors.

So far, this winter has been unpredictable with the fluctuating weather.  We’ve already had a 70 degree-day in January with temperatures in the teens and 20’s less than a week prior to that.  We’ve all had minor colds, but no major illnesses (praise God) in spite of the varying temperatures.  Both boys are still healthy and growing.  The only doctor visit we have scheduled for the future is Gabriel’s 2-year check-up (not until April), and hopefully we can steer clear of doctors otherwise.

Along those lines, I wish all of you a healthy conclusion to this winter.  The next time I type a blog update, I hope we’ll be getting ready to kick off springtime!  Chase is already planning his birthday party.  He doesn’t realize that April is still a few months away.  No sooner did Christmas end did he begin asking about Easter and his birthday.  He continues to do well in school and has the best handwriting in his class.  He’ll soon enough grasp the concept of time. J

Some highlights from the holidays:

-         Chase’s school play at FOEC was amazing!  Chase and his classmates dressed up as Christmas toys (Chase was a Power Ranger), and the whole point of the play was to emphasize that Christmas isn’t about anything materialistic—that it’s about celebrating the birth of our Savior.  The music was so cute and the kids did a fantastic job.

-         Tim and I got to go to the range with my dad and try out Tim’s new Christmas gift (a Beretta).  Afterwards, we had a few hours to ourselves at Wal-Mart and ChickFilA…yep, we sure know how to have a romantic day to ourselves!

-         Gabriel is starting to say “Mom,” but the way he says it is hilarious.  He sounds like Cartman from South Park saying “Mom.”

-         Tim fixed Chase’s John Deere Gator that had been out of order for quite some time.

-         Laurie and Ken got married on December 29^th—Congrats to the newlywed Stephens!  Gabriel was a total mess at their reception and kept running back into the kitchen area of the restaurant.

-         Chase and Bella had many fun outings, including ChickFilA, Christmastown at Busch Gardens, Chuck E. Cheese’s, and the Bouncehouse.

Of course, there will be more highlights in 2014 to share in the future.  In the meantime, whether your new year has started out good or bad, make the most of the new beginnings God gives you.

“Great is His faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.” –Lamentations 3:23