It's the most wonderful time of the year

I hope everyone is enjoying this festive time of year. I just love the holidays...family, friends, foooooooood and gift-giving. How blessed we are to live in a country that gives us the freedom to rejoice in the birth of our Lord Jesus!

on our way out to shop!

scanning the aisles at toys 'r us

a co-worker of jason's hosted a party that included a hayride around their fully decorated neighborhood! this one house was amazing...
mmmmm...doughnuts......
frag-eeee-lay

jason and his co-worker vicki
jason's co-workers, laurie and ray-ray

mamacita poses for a quick pic before going out to shop!

lady pico feeling the feliz navidadness
we have visitors!
jenny and trey hung out with us for a nice afternoon. they're practicing the baby thing...YEEEEEAAAAAAAAA JENNY AND TREY ARE EXPECTING A BABY IN JUNE!

papa is being a bad influence
no shame in my game to bust out the camera at GAP!

i'm so bummed this photo is fuzzy...please take note in the sad ball at the end of her hat. pico attacked it! and no, it wasn't when isabella was wearing it!

hee-hee

she just wanted y'all to know how to spell her name...
jason with the girls...they're growing up so fast!

chris, you have the wrong baby!

shopping for a cause :)

More FCC Fun

Mary and I hosted a table at our church's 2nd Annual Ladies Christmas Luncheon. We participated last year and enjoyed it so much that we decided to give it a whirl this year. We decorated a table with a festive theme of the birth of Jesus...birthday party hats and all ;)

telisa, amanda and some chick
juliana, jennifer and one foxy lady...mary's mom!
our festive table!
rollin was our waiter!

Slacker

So, it's almost been a month since I've blogged...hola! Things have been great here at the Burkhalter household. Isabella is 3 months and growing, growing, growing. Her smiles, laughter and chattiness keeps increasing as well as the amount of hours she sleeps at night! WOO-HOO! She is sleeping through the night and sleeping in her new crib in the repaired nursery! We had a wonderful Thanksgiving spent with both sides of the family, and I celebrated turning 29. Let the countdown to 30 begin...

Here are some pics of the last few weeks...in no particular order (it's too late and I'm too tired).

hangin' with her friend brody...she's too sweet for him to resist!
don't they look like a cute ol' couple...grumpy man and little miss priss clutching her hands uncle arno
busy daddy still makes time for his little girl
hee-hee
what a cutie! peter likes her fuzzy outfit.
mommies and their babies
cotton candy

FCC Fun

Our church held a huge celebration Sunday for our efforts in helping others. Our small group will be taking part in what is called a Compassion Day on Saturday as we're going to the End Hunger facility in Houston. It should be a great experience...

It was a great day to fellowship and enjoy the beautiful weather. There was tons of yummy food, rides and games. Jason and I are so happy to be part of such a great church. Friendswood Community Church is all about outreach and it is so wonderful to be a part of that. We are so blessed to have found this church soon after we moved into our house four years ago!

peri and i are gearing up for the water balloon toss...

stretching for the big game!

my partner, familiarizing himself w/ the balloon

strategizing...

way to keep my eye on the prize!

yikes!

rollin, what are you looking at?

rollin's technique is flawless!

amanda is a pro!

rollin, not so much...

action shot!

more action...

does she have it?

yes!

jason and jay explaining where things went wrong...

peri w/ her sassyness!

mary and peri enjoying the slide...

jay!

rolando!

oh, rolando.

the burks

my tough man.

jay workin' it!

Runner up

Birth announcements have been ordered...yes, I know...it's about time! I wanted the picture to be perfect for her official debut and was hoping for a smile photo. We chose a simplistic and natural shot...meaning no hair accesories. So, it came down to two...isn't she lovely?

Parents Night Out!

Yea! The Newlyrents had a night on the town Friday. Dinner and drinks, friendly conversation and plenty of photo ops!

While we were out I overheard someone calling us "marrieds." The L-O-V-E must be obvious ;)

baby and baby are with grandma and grandma!

yummy margaritas and even yummier comida at cyclone anaya's

i think chris is trying out a new pose...

chris is admiring jason's new look

mommies

realizing my new gun

good times, good times...

Calling in sick...

is not an option!!! I woke up Monday morning feeling like the flu was taking over my body. My initial thought is that I want to stay in bed and not move, but oh...no, no, my sweet baby girl is depending on me! I wasn't sure I was going to make it and thought Jason needs to come hooooome, but we made it and thankfully whatever took up rent in my body decided to die by Tuesday afternoon. It actually wasn't too bad as Isabella and I made a little home out of the guest bedroom and we just had cable installed :) That is a good thing and a bad thing. A marathn of a show called Real Housewives of Orange County was airing...oh my!

I just want to say thank you, thank you to my mom who raised 4...four...CUATRO!...children and am sure there were many days she wanted to "call in sick" but was the strong woman she is and clocked in and never clocked out!