1 year baby!

I can't believe I have actually kept up with this blogging thing for a year.  I wasn't sure how it would go or if I would like it.  I have loved it!  It has given me a chance to document these precious days with my babies.  It has given me a outlet for my thoughts.  It has given me connections with new and amazing people.  It really has! 

I have looked back at some of my older posts.  My favorites are the individual post about my kids. Nature  Asher  Zaddie Poo-poo  And Finally   I also love to look at the spring posts.  It is good to see, in the middle of winter, the freshness of starting the gardening season.  Spring garden 4  I also found that I would like to do more cooking posts.  It is something that I love to do.  I usually think of taking the pictures after we have already eaten the results.  Second-annual Mullins women canning day

So thank you all for joining me on my journey.  I plan on continuing!  After all, I am getting older so writing things down helps a lot.  Also, maybe it will inspire me to try some new and amazing things.  For now, I will be working on making a printed book of this year's blogs as a keepsake for my family.  I am hoping to do this every year.  It would be great to have this picture journal to keep forever.  So if there are no posts for awhile, I hope you will understand.  I will be busy on this project.  But I will be back in full force as soon as I can. 

I pray blessing on you in this new year.
 May the Lord bless you and keep you.  May he make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you.  May the Lord grant you peace. 

Mi familia

We had a grand time this weekend with all of the family.  Well, some of us had a good time.  Others stayed home for four days with a cycle of puking children.  I will say that my children were all very good sick kids.  They all had to miss out on some of the fun but didn't complain.  That is one of the pitfalls with having so many kiddos.  When sickness comes into the home, it usually takes awhile to get it out.  And, you know how we don't like to pass anything up. 

When the bug finally had it's fill of our children, we were able to really enjoy our time with our family.  Here are the pics to prove it.

Asher got a Green Machine!  Awesome- abounds!

Zaddok got a Rip Rider 360.  That is the name of the toy.  No exaggeration.  It spins like a Tilt-a-Whirl. 

Jolie got a big girl toy. It's an electric scooter.  She was happy it was red and not pink.  She always gets pink stuff, being the only girl.   

Levi got a really cool car thingy.  Looks like what he needed was some clothes. 

These are part of the cousins playing army guys. 

It got heated. 

We had a late birthday party for Zaddok, with all the cousins, at a pizza joint.

I can't stand the segregation!

Asher and Cody taking a rough ride. 

My bro and sis-in-law Brad and Sara having a cuddly moment. 

Peaky-poo

Jolie and Levi on a rad mini-carousel



This frog ride blew his mind. 



Oh the mountains of trinkets he can acquire!

Brad and my other sis-in-law Amanda wondering where their groove went.  It was classic.  And comical.  The end. 

The mini-nutcracker!

Jolie is in a dance program at the university here in town.  It is a small program but it is run by the dance students from the university's Fine Arts program.  They are great teachers and the girls have so much fun together.  This year they had a holiday party for the academy which included some of the big girls putting on a performance of The Nutcracker.  It was a mini-version. 

The night started with games, crafts and food!  These are just some of the girls.

This is Jolie and McKenzie dancing as friends of Clara.

Here they are as soldiers fighting with the mice!

This is the moment where they save the Nutcracker and return him to Clara.

This is the group of Chinese Sweet Oranges dancing in the land of sweets.





Miss Chelsea is Jolie's teacher and the director of the program.  She danced in the real Nutcraker in Amarillo this year.  She and our sweet friend Merik were the Sugar Plum Fairy and Sugar Plum Little Fairy.

This is the whole group of dancers.  It was a sweet time. 

Program time continues.

Asher and Jolie both had school programs this last week. While they can be stressful with the crowds and our crazy schedules, they are always sweet. The kids enjoy having something special to be a part of.  Jolie, along with the whole 3rd and 4th grade, did a great job with the patriotic and fanciful presentation.  It was neat to see so many kids come together for a common purpose.  They all knew their spots and jobs.  It was great.  

My child is the very very white one with a red shirt.  She is to the top of the center of the crowd. 

Awwww, it makes me want to chant USA, USA, USA!

I loved this.  It is obviously the shape of our great country.  What makes it even more wonderful is that Texas is outlined within the country.  That is very Texan of us.   

Beautiful.  The kids paid tribute to every branch of our military.  Man, I always cry at these things!

Jolie, Cole (my nephew) and Isaac (a family friend) stole the show!



Asher had his winter production of Dot the Penguin.  Doesn't the set look like the most perfect kid's play.  It' s like a movie set or something.  Our music teacher Ms. Shippy does a great job!



These were the tigers.  They were great.  Very wild and scary. 

Zoe was the cutest little penguin.  She memorized a lot of lines! 

These are our biggest fans.  Aunt Halie and Kaitlyn.  They are college girls, therefore, they had just rolled out of bed right before the performance started.  Such dedication.

There is absolutely no explanation for what is going on here.  I apologize. 

Zaddok's concert debut!

Zaddok is in Pre-K at the Baptist church here in town.  It is a wonderful and sweet program with teachers who love the kids like their own.  Our teacher is Ms. Monique and she is awesome!  Every year the school does a holiday concert with the kids 3 and up.  It is really cute and often hilarious.  This year was no exception.  I knew it would be good when I took this picture of Zaddok pre-show.

I did manage to get a normal pic this time by asking him to stand like he has to stand on stage. 

This is how he walked out to the stage.

This is how he sat on the stage.

Here is another Zaddok/Cooper pic.  They always manage to get together. 

It was a sweet time.  Dad had to miss it because he was at work.  So of course we filmed it for him.  As a bonus, Aunt Halie and Kaitlyn showed up at the last minute!  It was great.  These times are precious. 

My little Earth-child

Asher's 1st grade had been studying how to take care of the Earth.  Reduce, reuse and recycle!  They had created a compost pile to use in the spring.  They had also learned about how things are recycled and how we can make an impact with very little effort.  Then, a few weeks ago, Asher came home with an assignment.  He had to make something useful out of material he could find here in our home.  No buying stuff. 
He immediately had the idea to make a car out of a milk jug.  We had a brainstorm about what materials we could use for wheels and how we could make the car go faster.  Asher had his plan and was waiting for his daddy to have a day off of work to help him make the car. 
In the process of waiting, Asher came up with a new plan.  He wanted to make flip-flops.  Don't know why he ditched the car idea but he did.  (He is the middle child so we stopped trying to figure him out long ago!)  The flip-flop idea took off!  He began experimenting with different things he had found.  He first decided to use some old composite edging that we had from a flower-bed we put in this summer.  He figured out that he could twist plastic bags together to make straps for the shoes.  He and his daddy tried out the idea and it failed.  The edging was just too hard to cut.
Round two was just genius in my mind! Asher and his daddy found an old tire in the back of Matt's pick-up. So they, with much trouble, cut out a sole for the shoe. (Those steel-belts are not easy to cut!) They Asher and I came up with the idea to use strips of his old shirt to make the straps. We had a lesson in braiding so Asher could make the braided straps. Then they put it all together and this is what we had...

He was so proud of his hard work!

Classmates checking things out.

The close-up

Some of the other inventions we pretty ingenious!

Cute piggy bank

I've done this!

Brilliant!

Sometimes we just need a little beauty!

One of the administrators who came to see the display commented that Asher could probably sell the flip-flops as a business.  Then the expert that they had come talk to the kids said that people in other countries make the same thing except they use the tubing inside the tire for straps!  So cool.  We are proud of our little boy and know that this type of learning is right up his alley!