Christmas...Christ's birth, family, friends, gifts....

Okay, I lied. I've made time in the midst of the holiday craziness to tell about our Christmas. Thursday, the 20th, we took Brooklyn, Camden, and our friend Annabelle to Christmas at the Zoo. The kids sat on Santa's lap...and no crying! They also decorated a cookie...and ate it, and then we saw some of the animals and the dolphin show. This was a great way to kick off a fun week of Christmas! Then, we spent Fri., the 21st- Sat. 22nd with Cade's family. All of us had a great time opening gifts and visiting. Cade's mom always prepares a great meal and delicious cookies! Sat. evening we ventured home to spend time with my mom, Rich, and my sisters. We stayed up late Sat. night opening gifts and playing games...and laughing, lots of laughing! Sunday after church was more time hanging out (and eating!) and then everyone went home. Monday morning was kind of our "Santa" time with the kids. Brooklyn really enjoyed her gifts and actually Camden liked eating and pulling on the paper too! Next we headed to Ft. Wayne to spend Christmas Eve with my dad's side of the family. Afterwards we put the kids to bed and opened our gifts and played more games and laughed, and laughed, and laughed!! The next day Brooklyn knew it was Jesus' birthday. We did have a cupcake with a candle and we sang happy birthday to Jesus...Brooklyn loves to sing, and loves cake! We're finally home now and enjoying sleeping in our own beds and putting the kids down for the night early. We were so grateful to all our family this Christmas and their generosity. We have plenty of new toys, clothes, and Cade and I are looking forward to going out on a few dates with gift cards!
Last night we met up with Cade's family again and went to Chuck E. Cheese. Brooklyn loves Chuck, the games, and being with her cousin, Avery. The funniest thing when we were there was the classic picture of the kid picking her nose while on a ride that takes a picture....it's hilarious!
The most precious moments we have been enjoying lately with Brooklyn have been her prayers. It's amazing how much and who she remembers. She thanks God every night for Mommy, Daddy, Camden, Papa, Dawn, doggies, Papa, Gigi, GoGo, Rich, Amy, Molly, and whoever else she might have seen that day. She even thanks Him for pancakes, Barney, or whatever else she enjoyed for a meal or playtime. It's too cute and moments we never want to end. Today I had a lot of good Mommy/daughter time with Brooklyn when we went to paint pottery. Brooklyn wanted to paint a candycane ornament. If anyone knows me well enough, you would understand that it took all I had in me to actually just let her paint a candycane red, yellow, black, and green...very camo. It was good for me to just let go and let her express herself and have fun...even if it meant making a mess! Then, we went to Chic-fil-A and had a yummy lunch and Icone (as Brooklyn calls it).
Well, we're looking forward to the new year and everything it will bring. Obviously we have new resolutions, but more things we just hope to permanently change in our lives. We pray all of you are able to make the changes you need to grown spiritually, physically, and emotionally as well. Happy New Year!

It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas!

Well, knowing the way I blog, I can confidently say this will be the last blog of the year! We are definitely feeling the hustle and bustle of the season. Things are going well as we are almost finished shopping (just a few last gift cards) and cleaning up the house for family and friends. Brooklyn has really loved our couple days of good snows as she has bundled up and went out to play...she loves to throw it and loves to eat it! Camden usually sits by the door and watches her. Speaking of Camden, I think he's going to get his "two front (bottom) teeth" for Christmas. He's been madly chewing and drooling this last week, so hopefully they come in. I'm also hoping Camden gets this crawling thing down soon (well, kind of). It kills me to watch him lift himself of high with his arms, but he can't seem to coordinate that with lifting his bottom up in the air as he's on his knees...he just needs to put it together so he can go! He's getting around well though and in his walker he can pretty much get into everything and around everywhere, so maybe the whole crawling and walking thing can wait!?

We are really looking forward to our time with family this year, and we can't wait to see Brooklyn open her gifts. She hasn't totally grasped this whole concept yet, but I think after this weekend she will. However, it has been so precious to be sharing the real reason for the season with her. We've been doing an interactive Nativity with her all week and she does know most of the people. She really loves Baby Jesus and we hope to keep that our focus. On the flip side of Christmas, she has really liked seeing Santa (even though she doesn't know what he does) and all the snowmen. Also, we've probably watched the movie Elf every day!

Cade and I did purchase ourselves quite a Christmas gift this year. For over a year we have been saving for a Minivan and one crossed our path recently that we too good of a deal to allow to slip through our hands. We're pretty happy to have it and it worked out perfectly that we will have it to travel over the holidays! It's so sad that I'm so excited to have a Minivan, but yeah, it makes a mom's life easier.

We pray that everyone be happy and safe over the next couple of weeks. We can't begin to thank so many of our family and friends for supporting us as I stay home with our kids. It is an amazing gift to watch them grow each day...closer to us, to each other, and to the Lord. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!