A Fun Family Photo Frenzy

This Christmas all the Milburns got together (a miracle in itself) and what better way to capture the fun than a family photo!  It seems to be a necessary activity when every single Milburn is together since it doesn't happen as much as we'd all like.  We were all so thrilled that Deborah and Charles made their way out to Colorado from Seattle for Christmas.  It had been way too long since Thomas, the girls and I have seen them since our recent hiatus to California (which by the way we've been missing!  Although, sidetracking a bit, we DID have a white Christmas here.  So fun!)  Here are a couple previous family photos that we've taken.

November 2010

January 2012

And these are a few highlights from this year.  Stephen was the mastermind behind the whole thing.  He's good!

December 2012

There really is nothing better than being with family.  We are so thankful for the family we have and get to spend time with.  Katin and Aubrey have the best aunts and uncles in the whole world!  Not to mention all their amazing grandparents.  We are so blessed to have a family who desires to spend quality time together laughing, playing and joyfully dancing!

I hope you had a chance to capture some great family moments this Christmas.  Can't wait for January when we can do round two of a fun family photo frenzy with the Williams!

Baby's First Hair Cut

Hello Blog World!  Hope your Holiday Season has been wonderful!  Merry Christmas to all!  Enjoy time with family, friends and....for me lately....FUDGE!  (I think I just ate my fifth piece of the day)

I wanted to share a few pictures of Katin's very first haircut!  I know it's hard to believe that we would ever cut off that gorgeous mullet she had going.  I think when it was wet her rat tail hit her little behind.  What kind of parents are we getting that awesome thing hacked off?!?!  Katin was really nervous for her haircut.  She asked, "They use scissors for my haircut mom, will it hurt?"  So funny..but such a great question!  After a little explaining she was so excited for this adventure.

After leaving she immediately said she wanted to go back and get another haircut soon.  Soon enough child, soon enough.

Before...the shag

During

More During...still a bit skeptical

Aubrey of course wanted in on the action

After...she didn't crack a smile till the lady handed her a sucker for being such a good beauty parlor "patient"

It's all even!  And looks thicker I promise :) 

 And why not add these adorable photos to my hair cutting blog???

Ready for Christmas!

Life Lately

Did you fill a box this year?  If so, I'm sure you had a great time placing all those cute little trinkets and candies carefully into the red and green shoebox.  Not only did Thomas, the girls and I fill up a couple boxes (complete with an oversized plastic dinosaur that Katin insisted go in there) for Operation Christmas Child, but I also had the wonderful opportunity to serve at the packaging and shipping center in Denver.  A bunch of us moms (and a few lucky hubbys) went down together to work until the wee hours of the night about 11 pm sorting, taping, scanning, and packing thousands of shoeboxes.  A few things about it really warmed my heart.  One....There were thousands upon thousands of boxes to be sorted and scanned!  I couldn't believe how many boxes they send out to be shipped.  I never knew that our box was one of 100 MILLION!!!  Two....as the night went on I was thinking about all the little boys and girls playing in Tecate, Mexico, a place where Thomas and I visited a few times to build homes.  I was imagining how happy they would be to receive a box full of goodies!  And guess what!?!?!  About halfway through the night one of the head volunteers started explaining where the boxes go specifically and how we could get more involved throughout the year.  And do you know what...the exact boxes I was sorting were heading off to Mexico the next day!!!  And three....each box was completely different.  As much as I was thinking to myself in that dollar store how every kid must get a toothbrush or a candy cane or a pack of markers, I was wrong!  Every box was organized and packed and filled with very different stuff.  It was so neat to see what people thought of to send.  A few ideas I saw that I will try to remember were little lego sets, hair ties, flip flops, a small blanket, underwear, and a toothbrush holder!  Needless to say I was blessed by being at the OCC packaging site this year.  I will definitely sign up again for the years to come and hopefully my girls will want to come along when they are 13 :)

And in other news....

Thomas is a great dad (not new news)

We have a new favorite: homemade french fries

We love our advent calendar complete with an activity/idea for each day

Day one was make a Christmas Craft- from pinterest of course

The girls are probably looking bigger (and cuter) since the last time you saw them

And finally...we see quite the variety of animals on our way to church including horses, cows, sheep, pigs, chickens, an unknown animal and dogs.  But today was extra special...we saw this guy!