Christmas #1

Morgan's Baby's First Christmas Ornament

Last night we celebrated Christmas with just our family. Kevin and I have been talking about new traditions we can start as a family. Things our kids will look forward to every year. We started what we hope will become some new traditions tonight. We had a "picnic" on the family room floor for dinner, we read the Christmas story from Luke 2 and then we opened presents. Ethan was beyond excited. I don't think I have ever seen him so giddy about something. It was so fun to watch him anticipate Christmas and really "get it" this year. Little does he know he gets to do this 2 more times!



Loving the picnic on the family room floor.



Total anticipation and happiness.


Morgan got two small presents from us. I know she has no clue, but we didn't want her brother thinking it was all about him!


Ethan helped us all open our presents. He knew who each present under the tree was for.


Daddy and Ethan excited about daddy's gift...Guitar Hero. Can you say spoiled?


Here is Ethan practicing Guitar Hero with the game Kevin borrowed from one of his students a couple nights before. What a little rocker!


Ethan opening his big gift from us. A tee ball set.


Ethan helping mommy open her nice fuzzy blanket.


We had to try the tee ball out in the hallway. Kevin and Ethan made it outside this morning before church to play outside. Good thing they went out this morning because it's pouring now. Ethan has been wanting a bat and ball for a LONG time. I think it was the only piece of sporting equipment he didn't have. We will have hours of fun with this one.


We are again reminded of how blessed and spoiled we all are. We are thankful to God for sending Jesus to this earth to live among us so he knows what life is like for us. It is our hope and our prayer that our kids model that behavior every day and especially during the Christmas Season.


Stay tuned for Christmas #2 and #3!

Random Bits of Life

It is hard to believe Christmas is 8 days away. I finally got some gifts wrapped and under the tree. We're having our Christmas early since we are headed to Canada next week. Here are some random pictures of our life the last week or so.

Our little girl is getting more and more smiley every day. She is starting to love to laugh and chat with us too. I feel bad that she doesn't get as much "talk" time with us that Ethan did at her age...but she is patient to wait until she does.

After we take Morgan's weekly picture Ethan usually wants a picture with her too. It will be fun to look back at see Morgan grow next to her bear and her brother.

Ethan set up this "train" in the family room the other day and had to take Morgan for a ride. It is so fun to see his imagination taking shape.

Morgan can now spend about 5 minutes in her Bumbo seat, getting her abs and neck strong enough to sit on her own.

This past weekend our friends John, Brenda and Joel came to visit. They were here Sunday afternoon and evening. The ladies had a great time chatting and the guys made a visit to Bass Pro Shop (but don't tell Ethan) and watched a lot of football. After a yummy meal of Elk steak we played a rousing game of Loaded Questions. We learned all sorts of info about each other that doesn't need to be repeated:) Joel stayed the night and hung out with us the next day. Ethan had him outside playing hockey by 9:30. He and Joel became good buddies this time. Thanks for coming out friends!

A Christmas Card Picture

There's nothing too exciting happening over here these days. The kids are finally healthy, after having colds off and on for 3 weeks. Having colds means staying home....a lot. The one good thing that happened with being home so much is Ethan getting potty trained. I am pleased to say that other than nap and bedtime Ethan is more or less potty trained! I am pleasantly surprised with how well it has all gone. Hopefully we can keep making progress despite traveling during the holidays.

We took our Christmas picture on Sunday. Here are a few of the several that we took. You'll have to wait to see the final product arriving in your mailboxes ....or appearing on this blog soon.

Thanksgiving

We had a fairly quiet Thanksgiving this year. No trips to the Midwest this time. We had our traditional Thanksgiving dinner on Friday when Kara and Eric could join us. Kevin and I have much to be thankful for. The biggest one this year being the healthy birth of our baby girl. Morgan has such a sweet, easy-going disposition we can't imagine our life without her. Here are a few pictures from our weekend.

Sibbling pic.

The boys playing PS2...they graciously gave Ethan a remote so he thought he was playing with the "boys."

Getting Morgan to smile at us.

Sweet smiles:)

Ethan likes to climb in bed with Morgan in the morning and talk with her. Its pretty cute...until he forgets how big he is an how small she is.

Pebble Beach Getaway

This past weekend we headed out for a much needed family getaway. After 3 trips to Pebble Beach in July we haven't been there since. We were really missing it so my parents let us have the house for a long weekend. It is just so nice to get out the house, be together and do something out of the norm. We invited our friends Zach and Macaire to join us, the were only able to stay one night, but it was great to reconnect with them again-for more than 2 hours- and to see their boys again. Ethan and Ben had a great time wrestling, throwing rocks, making up words and just being boys.

Ben and Ethan, in their PJs but ready to go outside. Climbing trees.

Ben and Morgan.

We of course made several trips down to the beach to throw rocks. We also headed over to the Monterey Bay Aquarium on Monday. We decided Ethan was old enough now to enjoy it and understand what he was looking at. We had a great time and hope to head back there more in the future.

Morgan's bundled up for her first trip to the ocean.

Checking out hermit crabs.

At the aquarium. It was tricky to take pictures in the aquarium, but we got a few that turned out.

In the splash zone watching "Dory" swim around.

Touching a starfish in the touch pond.

Family photo outside the aquarium.

Bundled up for one last walk down to the beach.

Morgan wasn't too impressed, she slept the whole time in the stroller.

Self portraits

Monday night was absolutely gorgeous. So calm and a beautiful moon rise and sunset. God is amazing.

Halloween 2008

Our Halloween this year was pretty low key. The kiddos dressed up, mostly for pictures and the "ahh" factor from the few people that saw them. Ethan isn't quite old enough to go trick or treating around a whole neighborhood and neither he nor I need all the candy he would recieve. The plan was to go to our neighbor's and my parents and then go to our Church's event they were hosting. We made it to our neighbor's and my parents' but that was it. Ethan had fun handing out candy to a few kids, Kevin enjoyed a beer and I was just too comfy to head outside. So it was pretty uneventful for us all, but we did get a couple cute pictures out of the evening.

My little pumpkin.

My big lion, with evidence on his face that he was enjoying some M&Ms.

Trick or Treat

Four Generations

My Grandma on my mom's side is turning 89 next week Thursday. The last several months have been hard for her. She's fallen a couple times and been in and out of a rehab facility, as well as getting used to living with a caregiver in her home. She is no longer able to be completely independent, which has been challenging for her and those closest to her. She is back in a rehab center for a while now. I wanted to be sure to get a picture of her and Morgan, as well as a generations picture with her, my mom, Morgan and me. We did that today.

It is amazing the joy that little children can bring to elderly people. As we walked through the halls we left a wake of smiles behind us.

Pumpkin Patch

This morning we headed out to the pumpkin patch to pick out a pumpkin to carve. When we were talking with Ethan about what to carve into the pumpkin we suggested a happy face, but he said, "No, sad face." I'll post pictures later of what he and daddy decide to do. It certainly didn't feel like pumpkin patch weather this morning. We were all in shorts and sweating by the time we left. Is it really the end of October? Enjoy a few pictures from our morning.

More "aminals" to feed!

Click here to see last year's pumpkin patch picture. Ethan sure has grown up!

Two months old.