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!

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!

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...

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...

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...