Monday, December 24, 2012

Merry Christmas 2012...

~Merry Christmas~
What a year this has been for us!
We started this year as a
family of 4...
praying that our family would continue to grow...
so we feel so blessed to be
ending this year as a family of 5!




 {these photos were all taken 1 week before baby was born}
 Big brother and Big sister...
these two are full of
spunk and personality...
Our days would be so boring without
these two...
they certainly bring plenty of
zest for life into our
home!

 Little Miss Angelina...
our growing girl...
already 9 weeks old!
 I cannot even begin to
describe how full our heart are...
we are blessed beyond measure!

 2012 has been a very full and exciting year for us...
we can't wait to see what
2013 has in store for us!

Friday, December 21, 2012

Random Christmas with the Phone...

Lately I have been taking more random
photos with the phone,
simply because it is way easier to take a
pix one handed while cuddling the baby!
~
If someone comes over and asks to see James
little Christmas tree,
he happily shows them...
by dragging the whole tree to them!
I never know where I will find his little tree at!
 Sometimes I will walk around the house wearing
these fancy reindeer antlers...
and the kids don't even bat an eye at me...
can't decide if they blend in quite well
or if the kids are just so used to seeing me do crazy things they
don't notice...
 We have done plenty of baby cuddling
by the glow of the Christmas tree...
and James and Elsie have had to sleep under the
Christmas tree almost every night since setting it up!
 We get into the Holiday Spirit quite well around here!
James loves his new little blinky
reindeer nose!
 We have kept busy with lots of
Holiday crafting projects!
 We have been doing our best to eat by
the candle light of the
Advent wreath...
the kids love this!
Except James is greatly bothered because we can't
light all the candles on the wreath!
 One evening for our
"girl time"
after James was sleeping,
I taught Elsie how to make paper snowflakes...
{while nursing the baby!}
Yesterday I found lots of cute little
paper snowflakes she
made all by herself...
I later found all the paper clippings on the carpet!
 I managed to find some extra time to make an
adorable little
Holiday outfit for the baby...
And James has been wearing his Holiday shirt for at
least a week strait now...
Elsie said she was too old for a
Holiday shirt...
so she settled for a
Holiday sweater and wears it almost daily!
 And I am happy to say we are done shopping...
and I only had to go
shopping 1 time...
on a Saturday, with the baby...
it was crazy in town.
It re-established my love for
Online shopping!
Next year I will be doing all my shopping
online again!

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Gingerbread...

Every year, one of our little
traditions
is that Jon and the kids make a
gingerbread house on the
weekend closest to
St. Lucia Day.
We always plan ahead and buy a
gingerbread kit on the 75% off After Christmas sales...
Because James is a little
over bearing at times
{or maybe all the time!}
Jon and Elsie waited until he was in bed before
decorating the little house.
The first few year of gingerbread making,
Jon got very frustrated
with the house building part...
He now uses hot glue...
it keeps the house together much better than the frosting!
Elsie was very excited to stay up
super late and have
alone time with just mommy and daddy!
Elsie carefully decorated and got everything just right...

The 2 gingerbread house makers...
This cute little
gingerbread house now sits up on the
counter...
and maybe I have found James laying on
the counter more than once
attempting to pick
the little candies off the house and eat them!

St. Nicholas Day

Every year we celebrate
St Nicholas Day
on December 6th.
The kids leave a shoe out on the counter
and they wake up to find
some little candies that
St. Nicholas left in the shoe!
This year,
Daddy was working close by and was
able to stay at home...
So he even found a yummy
treat in his work boot!
This year the kids
found some little Reindeer Peeps
and a giant peppermint stick
in their shoes...
and Angelina found some
new hairbows!
Elsie is SO not a morning person,
but seeing candy treats in her
shoe sure did put a smile on her face
and give her a good attitude!
I love that Elsie is old enough to remember
celebrating these special
little days...
and I love hearing her tell her brother
all about past celebrations...
It makes it seem well worth my effort
to know that I am creating warm fuzzies for them,
forever.
And someday they will continue
these little celebrations with their own families...

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Little Elves...

Less than a week until
Christmas...
I think we are ready!
This week I brought Elsie to town
so she could finish up her shopping...
and today we started on
cookie making...
All the gifts are wrapped and under the tree...
 Last weekend we celebrated
Christmas with Jon's dad...
this weekend we celebrate with his mom...
and my family over New Years...
we love all the celebrating!
 This weekend we also
will be doing some bell ringing
for the
Salvation Army...
this is something we have done almost ever year...
it's our little family tradition...
and the kids get so excited
and just cant wait!
 I may or may not send out those darn
Christmas cards!
They have been sitting on the desk
since Thanksgiving!
I ordered super early this year
with the intention of getting them out on time...
what can I say,
going to the post office ranks right up
there with going to the dentist!
 And we have pretty much failed when it comes
to our Advent readings
and count down stuff...
we open a new magnet image
for our Advent nativity about once a week...
and we read in the Advent book
about once a week,too...
I guess throwing a newborn with no
sleeping schedule in the mix
makes some things a little tough!
Oh well,
next year...
yes, I think we are ready for
Christmas...

Friday, December 14, 2012

Angelina's Baptism Day...

A few weeks ago we had
little Miss Angelina baptized.
She was 5 weeks old...
Angelina was a perfect little baby throughout the whole
service...she slept the entire time!
Each of the kids have a
special way to remember their baptism by...
Elsie was baptized 2 days before Christmas
James was baptized on my mom's 50th birthday
and Angelina was baptized 3 days after
thanksgiving.
Kinda a fun little way of remembering.
Baptism is such a special event...

We asked Ted and Ceara to
be the sponsors...

Angelina with my grandparents...
Angelina wore a beautiful gown...
I love all the lace...
the whole arm leave is lace...
so beautiful!
I searched online for days
before I found the perfect one.
It is our hope that someday
Angelina will
dress her own babies in this
dress for their baptism...
Angelina was a perfect little baby the whole day...
After the service we hosted a little dinner at our house...
a chili buffet with
all the fixings...
so yummy!
I love having a full house...
Of course certain little people
are not fans of chili...
so they got hotdogs!
For dessert we had
Apple Pie!
Double yum...
~
The day was pretty perfect...
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