Merry CHRISTmas 2008!

Yesterday, we are sitting at the kitchen table and Charley tells the kids, "You know, we don't have a lot of money for Christmas presents this year...so this is all we can afford."
He then hands the kids each a refrigerator letter magnet. He told them to put them on the table. Kristina said,"It spells God" to which Joshua replied (Joshua was across from Kristina) "It spells DOG". At this point all the kids are looking at Charley with a questioning look. "A DOG? Are you serious?" Caleb said, "You can't be serious!" Yep , we are getting a dog! Don't know when at the moment...there is one that we are interested in..but we will see what dog the Lord has for us. Needless to say the kids are ecstatic!



Today we had the Williams side Christmas. My Grandma, who is living at Bethesda for a little while, came and so did my Aunt Binky. I cooked a turkey and it turned out OK...I thought it was a little dry:(:(


The Epps kiddos with Papa, Grandma, and Auntie


The kids with Auntie Binky



The kids with Great Grand Mam

I hope that everyone had a wonderful CHRISTmas!

Small Meeting

We have "small group" at our house every Tuesday night. Right now, we are going verse by verse through the book of Philippians. Joshua asks me, quite often, "Are we having the "small meeting" tonight?" :):):)

Cookie Baking Extravaganza 2008

We had QUITE the day yesterday at our house. It was cookie baking day! What fun it was! Allie came over and helped us make and decorate our cookies. We made molasses cut out cookies, sugar (cut out) cookies, snickerdoodles, and shortbread with chocolate topping. YUM YUM!!

The kids really enjoyed decorating the cookies....although they also enjoyed being distracted by the movie Prince Caspian that was playing in the background:)


The kids did a great job in decorating the cookies.

Mommy and Kristina. As I am writing this blog, Kristina just came in and said, "It was so fun decorating the cookies. I almost want to do it again!" WOW...that is a die hard cookie fan. I must admit that I was kind of tired of decorating when we were done. There were SO MANY cut-out cookies!

Allie helped out Anna a lot (thanks Allie!) and we learned that Anna is even more of a die hard cookie decorator than Kristina. She kept going and going and going. When we were all done, she kind of got upset that we couldn't keep decorating. Last year when we did this, I had to keep Anna's cookies separate from everyone elses because she kept licking her fingers, cookies, etc. This year, I made sure to tell her that she couldn't lick anything. At one point in the night, she had a glob of icing on her arm. Allie said, "Lick it off", to which Anna replied, "No, I can't, my mommy told me not too!" She actually listened...and I know that with sugary icing in front of her that that wasn't easy:):) Good Job Anna!
Hard at work

This cookie is a masterpiece! Can't you tell?? Actually this is a "Anna got a hold of the sprinkles before anyone could stop her" cookie:):) When Allie was getting ready to leave and we were filling up her plate with cookies to take home, I asked Anna, "Are you going to give Allie one of yours?" Can you guess which one she gave her? Yep...the one with ALL the sprinkles (picture below:):) What a gift! I hope you enjoy eating that one Allie!!:):)

Here are some pictures of all of our cookies. Enjoy...I know that we are going to enjoy eating them!!

Those annoying Fireworks!

Every year, we go to the fireworks at the Oakland Coliseum via a friends workplace that is right next to the Coliseum. The following is a conversation that Anna had with my mom at one of the fireworks displays in July (a late post...but I thought it was too cute to pass up:)

Anna: "Grandma, those fireworks really annoy me!"
Grandma: "I'm so sorry Anna."
Anna: "That's OK Grandma, it's not your fault..it's the fireworks fault."
(mind you she was 3 at the time all of this was said:):):)

Happy 10th Birthday Kristina!

Today was Kristina's 10th birthday. We celebrated with 3 of her good friends, Grandpa/Grandma/Auntie, and of course her favorite siblings:):) We went to the Castro Village Bowl and had a fun time. A few of the kids ended up on the floor...some purposefully...some not:)

It was so good to have Kristina's friend Megan here for her birthday. Megan's mom Betsy was one of my brides maids and their family is serving the Lord in Nicaragua. They are currently on furlough until February.

Kristina with Dad and Mom

I looked like a pyro when I was lighting these candles. I clumped them all together (10 candles of course) and lit them. As you can see from the picture, there was quite a large flame:):)

Oops..forgot to tell you that we went to the Ice Creamery after bowling. Lunch there was fine but the the icecream was BETTER! Charley ordered a Junior Banana Split..Yeah Right! It was huge! Anna's eyes got REALLY big when Charley told her, "There you go. There's your icecream." :):):):)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HONEY!! We love you and are so thankful for you.

Thanksgiving (a little late)

Oh my...how time flies! It's almost Christmas and I haven't even posted about Thanksgiving. What I was thankful for this year was that we were able to spend Thanksgiving in Arroyo Grande with my grandparents. What a treat! We drove down Wednesday morning and arrived about 4:30 p.m.
Isn't this picture precious!? 65+ years of marriage and still holding hands.:):)

I cooked "The Bird" and it turned out pretty good...if I do say so myself:) I get nervous about it every year, but this year it dawned on me that it is actually pretty easy to cook a turkey. I might have to do it more often. Especially when said bird is $9.99!! Cheap meat!:)
Isn't it purdy?!

My dad did the honors of cutting the meat and Kristina was his sidekick.

We were able to visit, for a very short time, with Aunt Helen and Aunt Mary. It was so good to see them. Quick memory of Aunt Mary(the one with the blue necklace on)....she loves children and I can remember as a child, when all of the other adults were in the living room talking, Aunt Mary would come into the bedroom and color with me. I believe it was a Winnie the Pooh coloring book. She would always have tea parties when I would go to her house, which I loved....lots of sugar and milk. Yum Yum! And cookies...always cookies at Auntie Mary's house. I remember going to her house and doing all sorts of crafts too. We made walnut shell turtles and paper mache vases....I was little, but I still remember it. I guess as I think back, and as an adult now, I realize that it is not always easy to move away from the adult conversation to play with a child. But I still remember the time she spent with me and how special that time was to me. As a mom, I know that I need to spend that special time with my kiddos, doing fun stuff that will create memories for them of their childhood like Auntie Mary created for me. I love you Auntie Mary. You are very special!!

After Thanksgiving dinner, we went to see the Monarch butterflies at Pismo Beach. Amazing! There were SO many of them that they looked like they were a big clump of leaves instead of butterflies.

We also took a walk at Pismo Beach and saw a gorgeous sunset.

Here is the Epps family and Auntie Lindsay in front of the "almost gorgeous sunset":):)

And of course we had to take lots of pictures with Grandpa and Grandma Milburn. I so thankful that my kids have been able to know and spend time with their GGPa and GG. It has been a special blessing!

We had a wonderful time together and hope that we will be able to do it again soon. So much to be thankful for!!!

Astronauts and Eskimos

This morning, while Abby was snuggling in bed with me, she rubbed her nose against my nose.

Abby - "An astronaut kiss!"

Me - "An astronaut kiss?"

Abby - "Yeah"

Me (laughing) - "You mean an ESKIMO kiss?"

Abby - "Oh yeah...an eskimo kiss." :):):)

And speaking of Abby.....she read her first LONG/BIG book the other day..."Sarah Plain and Tall"....good job Abby!!!!

Rude Socks

The other day my mom was over to watch the kids. Anna comes down the stairs with an upset look on her face, holding a pair of socks. She asks my mom, "Grandma can you help me? My socks are being rude to me!" (translation: I can't get my socks on!) :):)

11 and 4

Well it was an exciting day in the Epps household today. Today was Charley's and my 11th anniversary! Wow...I can hardly believe we've been married that long....weren't we just in college....didn't we just graduate from high school.:):) I love you more than ever Hon! We went to Horatios for dinner tonight which was a lot of fun until I felt like I was going to get sick after eating. We did take a walk at the Marina...but that was about all I could handle. Ugghh:(

Today was also Anna's 4th Birthday. Four years ago today I had that sweet faced little girl on my anniversary...what better gift could you ask for??

This is her new silly face that she does quite a bit lately. She is such a silly girl sometimes and it's fun just watching her be funny.


We had some of her friends and their parents over and also some family members. Uncle Pat came over in his police car and let the kids get in it. That was a fun and unexpected surprise!

First, we had all the kids make their own mini pizzas.

Then..they got to decorate their own cupcakes with all sorts of yummies....gummi bears, m&m's, sprinkles, and jelly bellies. They were so creative and did a great job!

And then of course...presents...and then the group picture.

I tell the kids that if they do a nice "smiling" picture, that they can do a silly picture next.......

Happy 4th Birthday Peanut!! We are so thankful to the Lord Jesus for you. You are a special blessing to all of us!

90 years young

Yesterday we celebrated my Grandmam's 90th birthday. Wow...I hope I look just as good as she does when I hit 90! My aunt had an open house where friends and family came to celebrate my Grandmam (the Welsh way of saying Grandma).
My Uncle Doug even came from Colorado to celebrate.

Binky, Doug, Betty (Grandmam), Bryn


Stacey, Bryn, Grandmam, Carol, Lindsay


Grandmam with all the Epps Kiddos:)


My Aunt Fern (my Grandpa's sister) and Grandmam

So glad we could be there with you Grandmam and celebrate your special day! We love you!!

The Beach and Gilroy Gardens

The weekend of October 24-25 was a VERY fun-filled weekend. I told Charley that it almost felt like we were on vacation and were trying to pack as much in as we could. Charley took that Friday off and we went to the beach with Grandma Epps. We found a GREAT beach at Half Moon Bay. It had tide pools for as far as you could see. (When you reach the end of 92...I believe it would be Hwy. 1...you turn right and go down a ways and then turn left on California Ave.) There was a ranger station there with a very informative young ranger who was able to tell us a lot about the tide pools, the tides, the best place to fish, etc.
Anna and Momma


My boys had just recently been saying, "We've never gone to the beach!" which wasn't true...but they were so young that they just don't remember it. This was more of a tide pool beach...not a "get your swim suit on and get in the water" type beach. We'll have to find one of those next summer.



I LOVE this picture of Caleb. How amazing is our God and His creation!

Kristina found a crab that was dead, but almost fully intact. He became the bait for the fishing expedition that Charley led the older kids on.

My precious little Anna's hand in the ocean

She actually hated the water and would hardly go near it. She got a little more brave as the day progressed...but not much.

She REALLY didn't want to take this picture so I am amazed that I got such a cute smile out of her. It was a very low tide when we were there so we were able to go out quite a ways on the tide pools.

Here is a starfish that I found on a walk along the tide pools.

My Handsome Boys:)....and did I mention that we are A's fans??

Joshua found a dead crab and was acting silly.

The Fishing Expedition! Charley took the older kids to a recommended spot and taught them how to cast. He said that they were casting a good distance, but of course when mom showed up to see how they were doing, none of them could do it.

On Saturday, we went to Gilroy Gardens. Grandma Epps gave us some free tickets so we all went, along with some friends of ours. We had a fun, but tiring time.

The Kids in the Mini Corn Maze

At this point in the day, Anna was at her limit! She is not really taking naps anymore (maybe once a week) but with so much going on, she was E-X-H-A-U-S-T-E-D!!!

Anna with Grandma Epps.

Thank you Grandma Epps for the tickets and for spending 2 very long, fun-filled, and action-packed days with us!! We love you!

Charley, Kristina, Joshua, and Caleb on the hot air balloon ride

...and last but not least, 2 drowned rats! Caleb & Abby went under a waterfall that they have there and got drenched!!! :):) They loved every minute of it!