Happy New Year!!!

Wow...what a year it has been!!  

As the year began I was adjusting to being a mommy of 2.  

I LOVE these little girls and am so thankful for them.  

February brought lots of SNOW.

In March we celebrated the completion of Aaron's last horrible rotation (woohoo!) 

and his 30th birthday.

 We were able to travel to visit our AZ friends in April 

(and Papa came too which was an added bonus)

And...M turned 3!!!!!

(How did that happen??)

 The girls met their cousin for the first time in May.  

And Aaron and I escaped to Seattle for a few days in June.

We did not go anywhere in July.  

Just enjoyed the beautiful summer.

In August some good friends from Japan visited us. 

Such a special treat! 

And....my baby turned ONE!!!

 With September and October came the start of M's first dance class and FALL (my favorite).

We visited the apple orchards, enjoyed the leaves, and took a trip up North with Gramma and Papa.

 Visited family for Thanksgiving

 (and I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of another nephew any day!!!)

And spent our Christmas with family in beautiful CO

We have been blessed beyond measure.  

Happy New Year! 

On the Eve of Christmas

Read this quote on this blog:  http://jodyrlanders.com a few days ago and it touched me.  Thought I'd share!  Hope everyone is enjoying their Christmas Eve, but also remembering the true reason we celebrate.

Lord Jesus, Master of both the light & the darkness, send your Holy Spirit upon our preparations for Christmas.

We who have so much to do seek quiet spaces to hear your voice each day.

We who are anxious over many things look forward to your coming among us.

We who are blessed in so many ways long for the complete joy of your kingdom.

We whose hearts are heavy seek the joy of your presence.

We are your people, walking in darkness, yet seeking the light. To you we say, 
“Come Lord Jesus!”

(Nouwen)

Quote of the day

We stopped to fill up the car today and this was our conversation.

M:  Mommy, gas and ass rhyme!
Me:  Yes baby they do.

She was SO proud of her rhyme.  She's getting it!  Haha!  :)

They are definitely our kids

Anyone who knows me knows that I'm not a big Santa fan.  We don't make a big deal about him at our house and when I was younger I was scared of hats and beards, which pretty much meant that I wouldn't be sitting on Santa's lap anytime soon.  Aaron just "loves" the holidays (insert sarcasm here) and says that growing up he never really sat on Santa's lap.  So we are not the parents that are dying to get that one pic of our kids with Santa each year.  We could care less, but....

M is a bit excited about Santa coming to fill her stocking this year, so when I heard many of my friends talking about how beautiful this area farm is decorated and that your kids can get their pic with Santa and the money would go to a Christian organization, I figured it would be a fun Christmas activity for the kiddos.  On the way M said that she would love to tell Santa, "Merry Christmas!" and if he asked her she'd tell him she wanted a Belle for Christmas.  We were on for a pic with Santa.

And...we tried, but as soon as we got up to Santa and Mrs. Claus she was terrified, clinging to me and screaming that she didn't want to do it (And let's be honest, I would have done the EXACT same thing at her age. Stranger + beard + hat = hysterics).  G was not too sure either so since we had already paid we figured it would be a fun family pic.

I laugh every time I look at this.  I think I will pack it away with the Christmas decorations so that each year I can look at it and laugh.  And besides.  We won't be trying this again because M and G are definitely our kids.  

This just in...

As I'm helping M finish brushing HER teeth.

M:  Mommy, G's toothbrush fell in the toilet today, but don't worry I washed it off.

Well, fantastic since I put your sister to bed 2 hours ago and brushed her teeth already.  Glad to know it was washed off!

Hahahaha!!!  Laugh is never boring anymore.  Guess we need to go to Target tomorrow.

I love her!

San Fran

We spent Thanksgiving with these wonderful people

(in a little over a month there will be 8 of us :))

On the way to Jonathan and Katie's house we stopped to let M get a good look at this 

(we read the book, Pop's Bridge by Eve Bunting, before our trip and she couldn't wait to see it)

Daddy thought this pic would be fun

but only for about a second :)

We ate a free turkey courtesy of this person

(not something I can say each year & the bird took FOREVER to cook)

Did a little hiking in Muir Woods

Spent an evening in prison

Checking out the accommodations

The hallways (avenues) were eerie

Some of us went to an isolation cell

Who knew?!

Hung out with some fish 

(at the Science Museum)

G LOVED the aquarium.

She kept signing fish, grinning, and then screaming 

when we'd make her leave each tank to go to a new one.

Mostly, we just had a really great time hanging out with family. 

It was such a blessing getting to go!

Thankful thoughts from M

We counted up until the day that we left to visit family for Thanksgiving by making a thankful chain.  Each day M added a link and on that link was written one thing she was thankful for.  She was very excited to share these with everyone on Thanksgiving.  Very precious!  This may become a tradition for us.  (Meant to post this on Thanksgiving, but forgot.  :))

I’m thankful for...

clothes because I wear them in the morning

necklaces

my bed & Jesus

my family (Daddy, Mommy, Gillian, and Melanie)

TV because I like to watch TV

cups because I like to drink out of them

God because I pray to Him

shoes because I wear them when I go places

the park

Hanaka

Pooh Bear...he’s special to me

my crayons

flowers

my house

my pinano (music table) because it sings for us

bibs because they protect my food from going down to the floor

Ms. Kathy, one of our nice neighbors

the Bible because it tells us how God died on the cross for us

books because I read them until I go to bed

Aunt Lyndsey and Aunt Katie

food

snack after naptime

that I can play and scream and shout

My little dancer

M LOVES music.  She always has.  I knew she loved it before she was even born.  The girl can NOT sit still if a song with a good beat is on (well actually she has so much energy these days that she NEVER sits still and it makes me exhausted just to watch her, but...).  She must dance.  She is very much her Daddy's girl in that way.  She is really enjoying her dance class and it is fun to watch her learning new things.

We've got a walker!

For the past month G has been a walker/crawler.  She would walk a few steps, fall, and decide that crawling was still faster, but by Halloween she had decided that she was ready to be a WALKER!!!  I'm loving her new found skill although it is much trickier keeping track of both girls at the park or zoo now.

That's Better

I finally decided (and convinced Daddy) that it was time to cut G's hair.  She was starting to look very shaggy and like maybe nobody loved her.  Bye-bye mullet!  Hello cute little girl hair!  Now that it is done, I wish that we had done it earlier.  It looks SO much better.

I thought we'd be in for lots of screaming.  

Except for needing to switch parents near the end, she did great.