MERRY CHRISTMAS!

If you are reading this for the first time, or first time in a few days, and are looking for Baby news, then I must apologize. I know we said we'd share the gender news after Christmas, but we decided not to make everyone wait(including ourselves!!). In case you haven't gathered it yet, we're having a GIRL!!!! YAY!! These were opened this morning and will sure come in handy (Thanks Grandma!!).

Scroll down past the Christmas videos to see the original announcement post for pics and details!


We just had a Wonderful Christmas! It has not been fun to be without any family for any of the holidays, but we've had a great season in spite of that. It was sort of nice to do things however we wanted and just be the four of us! Christmas sort of reminds me of Prom or your wedding in that there is so much to anticipate and so many preparations to make and then it is over so quick. We may start celebrating Hanukkah style, just to make it last longer! ;-)


It's been a fun, full season and this has been a good finale! Last night we went to a Christmas Eve service at the huge church next to our house and then came home for a big, Ham dinner. We had company join us and had a nice evening. We decided to do our big meal yesterday so that we could both share it with a friend and not have to do any cooking/dishes today. It was a great plan and one we may use again (or every year!). We turned down invitations to join other families in lieu of being at home together with no agenda and NO stress. It was nice to not prepare any food or have any time lines. I had wondered if it would be sort of lonely or weird to just be the 4 of us, but it was nothing of the sort! We had a blast together, playing ALL DAY! What a treat to just get to play with our boys without a single other care! That was a gift in itself! The boys slept until the usual 7am ( or should I say, Owen did and then woke up Caden) and then we headed downstairs! What fun to do Christmas with kids! We emptied stockings, played, opened a few presents, played, had cinnamon rolls and fruit salad, played and played and played the rest of the day! Somewhere in there we ate leftovers and ham sandwiches and took a walk down the street (with beautiful weather!) to the open area by the park so we could play with all the fun, new boy toys (Brad's AND Caden's)! Fun gifts!! We walked home, played some more and then did our secret Saint Nicholas tradition, which was almost a flop since Caden couldn't stop laughing (as we were hiding) which made me start laughing! Owen also chimed in with the noise making, so we were anything but quiet. Well, Brad was I guess! Maybe we'll just send him to deliver next year! ;-) We finished the day with the boys by reading new books curled up on our bed (well, just Caden-Owen doesn't last long enough yet and ends up reading with daddy in his room). Brad and I are going to try to stay awake to watch the Nativity Story before heading to bed! What a day!


And what a reason to Celebrate! God sending Jesus into this sinful, human world to die on a cross so that we could be saved and once again have a restored relationship with him. Every time I think about this I am overwhelmed and words seem so inadequate. Now that is a gift! Not deserved. Not earned. Just a gift. THE greatest gift EVER!

Hope you've unwrapped it!

Merry Christmas!!

p.s. My brother just sent me the link for this funny song, which is SO appropriate for parents with young children. We got off easy today with only one toy like this, but the other day I was about to go CRAZY opening Caden's party gifts...gotta love Toy Packaging !!!! (Scroll down on the page a bit and then you'll see a place to click on "play". It is a bit tricky to hear the words so you may have to turn up the volume a bit. Enjoy!)