Christmas time at the Roberts and Jones homestead

We had such a fun Christmas. Luckily I was feeling a bit better and we were all able to enjoy the gift giving and opening with all of our family.
It was so fun to have 2 kids that were into Christmas morning this year... Malia is quite the present opener... I wonder where she gets that from !? 
And the greatest gift of all... having a healthy, happy, really great baby boy named Eli. ;) 





MY REINDEER



A VERY RARE PHOTO OP OF MY DAD DOING.... THAT IS RIGHT.... DISHES!!!



THE CHRISTMAS EVE MAYHEM



GREAT GRANDPA TOM, AUNT MARTHA, AND UNCLE ANDY. GETTING READY TO OPEN THE GIFTS I MADE EVERYONE THIS YEAR. PERSONALIZED FAMILY HISTORY BOOKS! IT WAS WORTH ALL THE HARD WORK TO SEE HOW MUCH EVERYONE ENJOYED THEM.



THE HEADBAND SISTERS



MALIA WITH HER FAVORITE PERSON... PAPA



CHRISTMAS MORNING!! GABE GOT SOME NEW GOLF CLUBS AND AN AWESOME SKATE BOARD RAMP ( YOU CAN SEE IT BEHIND HIM)



MALIA AND ALL HER NEW BABY STUFF... CLASSIC PHOTO> THIS REALLY IS HOW MUCH SHE LOVES HER BABIES!



MALIA IN HER COOL NEW HAT AND GLASSES FROM THEIR NEW DOCTOR SET



ELI IN HIS "BOB" OUTFIT. GABE USED TO WEAR THIS TOO!



IRON MAN HELPING MOMMY MAKE PUMPKIN PANCAKES



THE GANG OVER AT THE JONES HOUSE ON CHRISTMAS MORNING



WHIT... DOING HER THANG

Getting to know our new little miracle

I know I promised to write about my birthing expirience, but I am waiting to complete the "healing process" before I dig into writing everything. SO patience... that is what I have been telling myself too! Only 2 more weeks until I should be officially back to myself, and then I will write, I promise!
For now, here are some cute photos from an early morning with the kids while Mike slept in (he took on the night shift for the first 3 weeks! What a man, I must say. I could not get through this transition without him!). Enjoy ;) 

Christmas Card out takes

Here are some out takes from our little photo shoot for our Christmas cards. We are sending out less than normal this year, but for those of you who do not get one, I will post the final product here in a couple weeks. The photo we chose turned out so cute... worth the crazy 20 minutes and about 250 shots it took to get it! 

In this first one- 
Gabe trying to keep it together (he did not want to take a picture this day) and not cry so he could get his cookie afterward. 
Malia thinking, "come on Gabe! Lets just take this picture already! How hard can it be!" 
Eli thinking, "Hey, where did that bottle go!" (I had a window of about 30 seconds before he started crying for it, to take the pics)






Our little guy with his big blue eyes.

Malia was a big helper... trying to get Eli to take his hands off of his face. She surprises us sometimes with how obedient she is! You never know what you are going to get with this little girl. ;) But, I guess if there is a baby involved, she will do anything we ask. She LOVES this little guy!

This one almost took the cake but I did not love how Eli or Gabe looked.

Eli is here!

Eli is here! I am still pretty tired, but wanted to put up a post of our little guys first picture and let you all know that it was the most amazing experience ever to birth this child! It was magical and wonderful and I can't wait to write a more detailed post, but for now, here is his photo. More to come soon! Thanks to all for your prayers and support through this little miracle pregnancy. Now we can all enjoy the blessed little boy it has brought into ours and our family and friends lives. Can't wait for you all to meet him!

GUESS WHAT!! ?? ~

To find out, watch this video ;)

MOVIE NIGHT!!

Ok, first off no, baby has not come yet. Yes, I am HUGE, but still doing great, just tired a lot. And yes, I am so ready to meet this little guy. Not to mention the cookies I made to give the hospital staff upon our arrival, that I placed in the freezer, are now almost gone. Might need to make another batch before the little one decides to come! ;) 
Here are some photos from a fun movie night we had at our place with the kiddos. 

All my PREGO friends out there!!

This is my parting gift as a fellow pregnant Mom ;) Any day now I will no long be able to share in the joys of being pregnant with ya... it is a bitter sweet thing for me to think about. But, we are of course excited to meet little Eli! 

SO.... as my parting gift and words of advice, check out this site! They have some SUPER cute maternity tops at really great prices, plus some killer deals and such coming up this week! ;) 

www.milanmaternity.com

Here is what they have going on this week: 

On Wednesday, www.GiveAwayToday.blogspot.com will be hosting a giveaway for us and one lucky winner will be awarded a $75 gift card to spend at Milan Maternity! Be sure to visit their site on Wednesday and comment to enter.

Finally, the great news; we'll be having a Black Friday sale beginning Friday, (obviously) going through Sunday. Use coupon code "BLKFRIDAY" to get 20% off your entire order. Also, be one of the first 50 people to order on Friday and recieve a FREE GIFT in your order! The best thing about this sale? You don't have to wake up crazy early, stand in long lines, or even get out of your PJ's if you don't want to.

P.S. Want to hear a secret? Our Black Friday 20% off also applies to gift cards...so maybe you could forward this on to your Mom or hubby, and give them a little hint (wink wink) at what you want for Christmas this year and save them some money at the same time!

Order your Christmas Cards today!!

We just got some awesome new Christmas card designs at Rebecca Roberts Photography! Here are just a few shown below. Place your order soon to beat the holiday rush! You can use a photograph we have taken for you, or one of your own.

We also do custom Christmas card designs if you have something specific in mind. The cost for a custom design is $50. Please contact us with any questions and Happy Holidays! becky@rrphotosite.com

Pricing:  (Price includes printed cards (photos printed on cards) and envelopes, 1 set is 25 cards)

1 set: $45.00

2-5 sets: $40.00

6-20 sets: $35.00

BABIES

I am in a baby mood... obviously. ;) Baby Eli is starting to move down (I can breathe now!) and I am starting to get some pre-birthing waves (light contractions). It all shows me that my body is preparing for the big day!

This is a bitter sweet time for me. This experience has been indescribable, amazing, a true miracle. I feel SO blessed to have experienced carrying a child. I am proud of myself for focusing on all of the positive in this and embracing how my body has changed. I have SO ENJOYED IT!! Isn't it amazing that your body just knows exactly what to do to care for this little life inside? I have been also blessed to have a pretty pleasant pregnancy, I know not all women do. I am SO excited for my birthing day, but at the same time I get emotional to know I soon will no longer be pregnant. I have so enjoyed having this little life grow inside of me.

We are pretty sure this will be our only experience being pregnant (it was a miracle after all). We feel complete as a family and I still am shocked by what life has thrown at me! Pregnant at 30 was never in my life plan ;) I always wanted to be a young mother, but Heavenly Father had a different plan for us! What a journey it has been creating our family. I look back and can now see how it was all worth it, that God had a plan for us that was better than I could have come up with... even with the ups and downs.

I also cannot describe how blessed I feel to have two Heaven sent, beautiful inside and out, adopted children. They ARE my children... forever. They are no different than this baby that I have carried. I LOVE that I have been able to experience bringing 2 children into our home also in such a unique and miraculous way. There is NO doubt in my mind that the Lord's hand guided all of us involved in having Malia and Gabe join our family. And... that he had one more special little guy waiting for us in Heaven... to be presented to us after our trials and blessings of adoption.

That said, I am SO excited for my birthing day! A day when it can be just me and Mike, that we can finally experience the birth of one of our children, that we get to be selfish this time ;) and have it be all about us! ;) I can't wait to meet Elijah, and to have all of our friends and family smother him with love and kisses as well. To be so secure that he is ours and there is no waiting period or worrying that someone could take him from us. Basically... I just wanted to share that I KNOW we are SO lucky, blessed and most of all how grateful I am for all of my babies.

the return of ... H-A-L-L-O-W-E-E-N!!

Staring....  

Malia as "Dorothy!" 

Mrs. Jones as "Pumpkin Belly"


And Gabe as "Spiderman!"

Gabe Jones action shots as Black Spiderman!"

The group shots

Mr. Jones as.. "The dog walker"


Kujo Jones as... "The albino red eyed bat!!"




   
Opening weekend profits!!





CREDITS: 
  COSTUME DESIGN: Malia's dress made by Grammy Laurie, Gabe's costume picked out by Gabe and purchased by Grammy Laurie.

HAIR DESIGN: Mrs. Jones

TRICK OR TREATING ENTOURAGE: Auntie Whitney and Grandma Melinda.

Submit YOUR reviews below (uhh ummm... the comments section ;) )