Last Hike of 2010

We celebrated the ending of 2010 with a hike.



Then rang in the new year with some sparkling grape juice.

2010, you were a fantastic year! Praying for more of the same in 2011!

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. Ephesians 1:3

Handmade With Love

Annabelle now has her first handmade top from Nana and Mommy. My mom picked out this fabric. I think it turned out adorable, considering we didn't use a pattern. It's like a dress now, but can be a top later when she grows.

It was so fun to make. I can't believe it took 6 months before I made something for her. It feels good to finally have something finished. Now, I'm motivated to work on some of the other ideas I have for her.

End of December

I am way behind on posting. But, I am trying to make sure I don't miss major events, because I got the coolest gift for Christmas from Andy's parents, a gift certificate to blog 2 print! Now, I can print out each year of blog posts and keep as our family album. Hopefully that will motivate me to document more.

So, in case you're curious, I will be back-dating all of the 2010 posts, so that they will stay in the right year when I print them.


Sam went and made a Build a Bear with Nana and Poppy. He named him 'Sam Bear'


Samuel got a camera for Christmas. He's in love.

Grandma and Grandpa Bubb stopped by on their way to Florida for the winter.

Christmas Day

Christmas afternoon, Poppy and Nana arrived!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Celebrations

December was full of family and friends. Here are a few highlights:
In the work shop with Papa Bear making some binoculars.
Cindy Lou Who with her Aunt Juju

Some great friends of ours drove to Williamsburg to visit with us.

Annabelle's first Fife and Drum Corps experience

Getting the hang of the present opening

Andy's mom sewed all of these stocking for the kids. She made one for Andy when he was born and one for me the first year we were married. I love them so much!

Gingerbread making with Gigi

Snuggling with Nana

Poppy finally able to snuggle his grand daughter. Last time he came to visit her, he missed her being born by a few hours!

Reading with Great Gram

The Perfect Christmas

Being such a young family, we are still forming our traditions. This Christmas season has found me reflecting on what I want our family to cherish and what we will want to make as staples during our celebrations. There are some traditions I'd love to keep, but others that are just filled with a keeping-up-with-the-Jonses mentality.

Unlike other years, this year, the food is not all bought, the presents not wrapped, the house not cleaned, the birthday cake not made... and I am totally okay with that. I'm coming to the realization that this holiday is not about me. It's not about how many handmade gifts I can make, how nicely I decorated our home, or how tasty our feast is.

This year I am keeping it extremely simple and instead of using the time running around trying to make for a perfect Christmas, I am desperately trying to not let the things yet to be done consume my focus.

What is important, is what's already been accomplished!

God sent his Son into the world, born of a virgin, to save the world. We are to be resting and celebrating in that truth. The creator of the universe is pursuing our hearts. He is calling us to himself.

So, we'll be shooting for a perfect Christmas this year of a different nature. A Christmas where we gather those little treasures pictured above, snuggle them up, and as a family answer the call of Christ to come and rest at the Father's feet. We will reflect on how his birth should impact our lives and how we will teach that to these precious children he has loaned to us.

And how could it not be a perfect Christmas, when we have this little cherubim to celebrate it with?

The World of Solid Foods

Six months ago today our sweet little girl made her grand entry into the world. We celebrated by introducing her to solid foods. She was thrilled.

Undecided

Her faithful brothers reassured her that avacado is their favorite snack and that even if she didn't like it today, she will grow to love it. She was just glad to have them by her side through it all.

And yet another milestone reached... wish I could stop time.

A Splash of Color

It's apparent in all corners of our (once dull) house that we have a little girl.

Let It Snow!

If you know anything about our Samuel, you know that this kid is obsessed with snow! Last year he prayed for it fervently at least once a day. He prays big, and God answers this kid's prayers, we are certain of that. Last year Charlottesville had the most snow in history!

As soon as the temperature started dropping this fall, he was already dreaming of his days in the snow.

Earlier this month we were on our way to get our Christmas tree and it started to snow. What a magical time it was for the kids. It wasn't very much, but it was enough to get them fully fixed on praying for more.

Catching snow

Annabelle experiencing her first snow.

Well today, his prayers were answered, again! We got about 3 inches. Samuel has groomed Joseph now to pray for snow so they are quite the little tag team sending their prayers up. Today was a great day enjoying their answer to prayer.




We had a great day in the snow, sledding, making snow angels, and catching snow in our mouths, but of course they had to go out with Daddy after work and do manly things in the snow, like wrestle and have a snowball fight. Best of both worlds, I suppose.


Take Samuel's word for it, there is no prayer too big or too small for God. He cares about them all and loves to hear his children pray, the big ones and the small ones.

A Boys Life

I absolutely love how they can be so silly and wild together one minute:



And then snuggle up with their sister the next:


Having both boys and a girl is proving to be such an awesome experience.