~

"You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up."

Deuteronomy 6:5-7

Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Top 13 of 2013

This year was filled with so many precious memories, some good and some bad, but all given to us by His grace and mercy! It has been a year of challenges and victories, but all given under His good and loving care. There were tears and lots of laughter, but our perfect Father ordained all gifts. These were 13 of my favorite snapshots of some of those moments.

#13: Warm snuggly moments, reading by the fire.

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#12: Our new family member, Tejas the kitty.

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#11: Victories for 2 new triathlon competitors.

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#10: Lots of dates for this couple married almost 14 years.

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#9: Celebrations and family time with cousins.

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#8:These 4 handsome, sweet and adorable boys.

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#7: Celebrating our oldest becoming a preteen, gasp!

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#6: Book lovers.

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#5: Lovely moments with our baby.

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#4:Enjoying the beach and learning how to surf with friends.

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#3: The best baby and baby costume.

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#2: The most amazing vacation, EVER!

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#1: Our crazy, loving, happy, and thankful family.

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Happy New Year!

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Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Merry Christmas

From our crazy family, to yours, we wish you a blessed day celebrating today, and everyday, that our Creator came to live with us for one purpose. That He sent a Savoir to be born in a manager who would set us free from our slavery to sin. That through Him, we would have peace and hope, not just today, but everyday for those who believe.

Merry Christmas.

(This was our almost-Christmas card)

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Thursday, December 12, 2013

My First Baby Turns 11! (am I that old already?)

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Forgive me, this post is a few days late (his birthday is on the 9th). Happy birthday my dear Jacob. We love you so much and can’t believe you are already 11!

11 Year Old Favorites

Favorite Color: Blue

Favorite Drink: Sonic Lemonade (Large please)

Favorite Fruit: Pomegranate

Favorite Activity: Playing video games

Favorite Book: Keeping Holiday (it’s what we’re currently reading as a family)

Favorite Food: Mashed Potatoes

Favorite Thing To Do Outside: Wrestling on the trampoline with his brothers

Favorite Scripture: “I can do anything through Him who gives me strength” Philippians 4:13

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Monday, December 2, 2013

Baby Boy Turns 2 (does that mean I shouldn’t call him baby anymore?)

Our sweet Evan turns 2 today. 2 years ago today, God gave us the blessing of another son to add to our family. Little did we know, what joy and love would fill our hearts when Evan came into our family.

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This curly haired, chubby baby is also known as “Golden Baby”. People are always commenting on how adorable he is, how sweet his chubby cheeks and curly hair are.

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He is a gentle natured little guy but he also loves running around with his brothers. He’s a fun loving boy but also gives some killer snuggles.

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He loves playing with cars, puzzles and his play castles. The only show he ever asks to watch is Finding Nemo. We can all recite that movie line for line now. Ever since we came back from the Disney cruise, he’s had a love for Mickey Mouse.

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Happy birthday sweet Evan, we love you so much!

Thursday, November 7, 2013

Medieval History in Texas

 

We’ve been studying medieval history this year. My boys have been fascinated with stories of Vikings, battles and the knights. A friend told us about a medieval style castle built right here in Texas, and not too far from us. With some friends, we took the day off of school to visit this place and boy was I glad we did.

Newman’s Castle was built by Mr. Newman in Bellville Texas. The castle is his personal residence but he regularly gives tours and allows for special events on his beautiful property. In fact, while we were there, a couple was arranging the final details for their wedding to be held at the castle in just a few days.

The boys had a blast on this trip. Mr. Newman dubbed them all knights and made them swear to protect the castle as he gave them all wooden swords ( much to their mothers dismay). He guided us around his creation which included a working catapult, draw bridge and dungeon!

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It was a beautiful day to roam around the castle. After our tour, we were served lunch and the most delicious cookies from the bakery. Mr. Newman let a few of the boys fish off the drawbridge in the moat. What little boy wouldn’t be proud to say he did that?

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If you’re in Texas and want to see a little bit of medieval life, check out Newman's Castle. You won’t regret it!

Friday, October 18, 2013

Where Everything is Magical

The Jorgensen family went on the most amazing vacation in September. We live several states away from our extended family and most of our vacation time is usually spent visiting them. We were just home for Christmas last year so we decided to plan an all out family vacation.

What better way to go than a Disney cruise? We left straight from Galveston, a daunting 45 minute drive from our house. We had all been excited for months and the day had finally come. This vacation did not disappoint!

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We love cruises because they are so relaxing. Ian and I are planners. We like to plan our time to the max, even on vacation but on a cruise, you have to relax! Even little Austin found a good resting place.

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We celebrated Ian’s birthday on the cruise and formal night made it even more special. The boys look so handsome in this photo but if only I had a video for the waterworks that came on when they had to button up shirts and put ties on!

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For our first port adventure, we stopped at Key West. While it was fun to get off the boat for the day, Key West was not the most family friendly of places. Still, we enjoyed the day together and took the walking tour. Nathan and Austin wanted to take this silly picture (on the right) and title it “Crushed by Love”.

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Our second stop was by far our favorite destination, EVER! Castaway Cay is Disney’s private island. The whole place was reserved for us and it was amazing. Even the sand seemed magical. The water was perfect and we found ourselves a nice shady spot under a palm tree to park all day.

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We introduced the boys to snorkeling here and it was AMAZING! The water was so clear and the beach was setup and marked with buoys that located buried treasure hidden beneath. We found sunken submarines and ships and even a Mickey Mouse statue. The boys loved the schools of fish that swam around us.

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There was so much to do, we didn’t want to leave. There were water playgrounds built into the shallow beach water, food, water sports and so much more! Ian, Jacob and Austin rested and Nathan and I took off for a bicycle ride around the island. It was so fun to explore with him on bike. I wish I had brought my camera with me for the ride.

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Even though we were exhausted from such a fun day, we got back on board and dressed for pirate night! The boys loved seeing all the costumes and being able to say “Rrrrr” so much.

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Our third and final stop was at Nassau in the Bahamas. We were excited as we had planned another snorkeling excursion but this one would be in the open water having been transported there by catamaran. This too was an awesome experience with the boys. Jacob was so lost in exploring, we had to keep looking for him because he would get lost in all the beauty he was finding.

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Aside from the fun excursions, the onboard activities were out of this world. We saw movies that were still in the theatre, productions that were as good as you’d expect from Disney, super-fun kids club activities and special late night adults activities.

Let me just say out loud, this was hands down the best vacation a family with multiple age groups like our could plan. I would look across the faces of my husband, 10 year old, 7 year old and 4 year old and see them beaming from ear to ear with smiles. Each of us, so perfectly enjoying our time even though we enjoy different things. Disney had nailed the idea of a perfect family getaway with its cruise line.

 

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Our last day onboard was sad, only because we knew it was coming to an end. The character meet and greets were so much fun and I have some many pictures of all the characters my boys enjoyed meeting. One of the more special moments was the character breakfast when the favorites would come and visit with you at breakfast. Jacob and Nathan were most excited to meet Stitch, Chip and Dale but Austin was all about Mickey!

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It was amazing. We left our little one at home with his fabulous Grammy who loved and spoiled him while we were gone, but we look forward to our next Disney cruise when we bring him with us. I have my eye on the European Disney cruise, but that might be a little out of our price range Winking smile