Overheard

Ellie is such a "little Mommy". She's always taking care of the little ones. Yesterday I overheard this conversation and it just made me laugh. So sweet!

Ellie: No, Vance, you can't have grape juice in that cup. It's too stainy juice and you might spill it. I'll help you get a kid cup. 

Vance: Okay. 

(they traverse into the kitchen to retrieve said kid cup)

Vance (in a tone of adoration): Ellie- you're SOO smart! 

Well, I did want a White Christmas but.......

We are officially snowed in. At least until the snow plows come plow our road and I'm thinking that will be a while. We got 22 inches of snow- in ONE day. It's so beautiful! Jerry and Jessica got in last night (Thanks to Tricia and her dad for picking them up in the all wheel drive!) and now the Airport is shut down so they made it just in time. At some point I do need to get to the grocery store today because of course, we are out of milk and water- but once again, we'll have to wait until we're plowed out. 



This is our sliding glass door! Needless to say, we won't be opening it any time soon. 

And this is after opening the garage door. Poor Brady is out attempting to shovel the driveway right now. I am about to go relieve him- he's already been out for about an hour. 

She's.....

.....Sweetly adorable,

she loves to play,
  

 It's amazing how much she has grown!

She can sniff out pie from a mile away, 
      

And look, she can stand on her own!

Sweetie Pies

All about Vance

Cute pictures of my cute boy! 

All about Ellie

I love this picture of Ellie. She's turning into such a beautiful, grown up girlie. 

Bath Time!

I couldn't decide which of these was the cutest....... Is it this one?

Or this one?

Or this one?

Or this one?

---- so I decided to post them all! 

She loves to do this tongue-out-the-side-of-her-mouth look- she's pretty much the most adorable baby girl! What a sweetie.

And So It Begins

The day after Thanksgiving is our official beginning to the Advent Festivities. Because while we don't do an Advent Calendar (not yet, at least) Christmas is to us a month-long celebration of the birth of our Lord and Savior! I love Christmas. It is a bitter-sweet holiday for many reasons. I love celebrating with my family and friends,  I love watching our children's excitement and remembering what it was like to be a kid. 

So last Friday we pulled out the Christmas decorations and put up the tree. 

One of our traditions is that our Christmas tree ornaments are all homemade, with the exception of a few nice ones given to us. Each year I make a new ornament. I don't put all of them up every year- that would be a little overwhelming! But we choose our favorites. This year I started early and crocheted delicate snowflakes to hang from the branches. They turned out beautifully, and I think I'll have to make more for next year.

Here are some of my favorite ones. 

Here are some of my favorites decorations from years past- all on the tree this year. 

The Ladies Dancing.....

The Lords a-leaping.....

I made these houses years ago, they are probably my all time favorites....

.

And the snowflakes....

My mom and Bill got the kids each a creche carved out of an Olive tree branch when they went to Israel. We didn't really have a nice place to display them so we nestled them in the tree branches. I think it looks beautiful! 

Now, here I sit, enjoying our tree with homemade fudge, a good book (appropriately, Ben-Hur) and a glass of good wine.... if only a contented sigh translated over the internet.....

My Baby's Growing so big....

Time flies. Today our Little Guy turned 3. Wasn't he just born yesterday? Seems like it.

I do remember vividly the day he was born. I was 38 weeks pregnant. I had been in early labor all night and I had spent hours pacing the bathroom floor, trying not to wake Brady up- but too uncomfortable to sleep. Finally the contractions lessoned enough for me to get a couple of hours of sleep. I had a doctor's appointment that morning and was so relieved when Dr. Peters said to meet him at the hospital! The only problem was.... it had snowed about 6 inches the night before and it was still coming down like crazy. We called Jess and Tricia and they raced over to watch Jax and Ellie, then we made our way to the hospital. The normally 10 minute drive probably took 2o or 30 minutes because of the snow- but we finally made it! He was born not many hours later- and what an amazing blessing he has been to us ever since!

He's our sweet little guy, such a ham, a little snuggle bug, so incredibly loving and cute and adorable all wrapped up together. When I asked him tonight if he had a fun birthday he said "it wath awethome! It wath my betht birthday of my whole life!"

Here he is showing you all how old he is!!


And blowing out his candles.... the cake is supposed to be a bulldog.... it looks more like an angry beaver- but Vance liked it!! Rich, Mimi, Alicia and Savannah came over to help us celebrate. 

And after the day was through.... just a little tuckered out.... with his new toys in his hands.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We have so very much to be thankful for! 

It's amazing how much God has blessed our family. 

He has blessed me with an amazing husband who loves his family more than anything, who always does what's best for us, who works so hard to provide for us so that I can stay home and raise our children, who is a Godly man, a leader and on whom I can always count.

He has blessed us both with four beautiful, amazing, phenomenal children who give us so much joy! It's so great to watch them grow into such wonderful little people and to watch them grow in the Lord. 

I'm also Thankful for:

A cup of hot coffee in the morning

A hot shower

A comfy bed

Mandy and George (thank you so much, guys!)

Good books!!!!!

24 (finished season 6, now what do we do until Jan?)

sloppy kisses from my 2 year old

Happy Thanksgiving!

Let's share some pie!

I love this picture of Lilah and the grandparents. We had them over for pie and coffee before they left for California, and Lilah saw the perfect opportunity to beg some crumbs. It was so cute! We miss you already, GG and Papa!

Peace and quiet

The lengths a girl has to go to for a nap around here! 

Boys....

.......are great. 

Today Vance ran pell mell into the kitchen right after I finished mopping the floors. He fell on the slick floor with a huge crash. As I was bracing myself for the howl I looked over at him and he got this big smile on his face. "That wath AWETHOME, Mom!" he grinned. He then proceeded to reenact his fall......in slow motion......complete with sound effects. Boys are great. 

     (PS. Actually, Girls are pretty great too!) 

I feel.....

Like the Visigoths just sacked Rome.......

Harvest Party Fun

Yesterday was, of course, October 31--- time to dress up for Harvest Party Fun at our church! The kids were adorable in their funny costumes and they came home with more candy than they needed! So I decided it was a good time for a Social Studies lesson. I've imposed "Obama-nomics" on them-- redistribution of wealth-- which means I take all the candy and redistribute it as I see fit. And of course, since you can't have socialism without totalitarianism, I am the Totalitarian. Which means I get to choose the best candy for myself! Would you like more chocolate, Comrade Lani? Why thank you, I believe I will..... :-P


Here are the cuties! 

Vance, the NBA star.....

Jaxson, the Paparazzi........

And Ellie, the woodland faerie! (She kept referring to herself as a "wooden faerie".)