If we missed you...

...here's the picture from our Christmas card this year, plus a couple extras.

Homemade Wrapping Paper

House Update

Hi everyone! The excitement is growing. It's been a busy couple of weeks over at the house. The stone guys are getting ready to do their thing on the outside of the house. They have to wait for a couple "warm" days (warm = above freezing).
We've got a gravel driveway now.

Drywall has been delivered and installed.

Here is a picture of our living/dining room with a peek into our kitchen.

The kids did a "Happy Dance" (which greatly resembles running around in circles) in every bedroom. This will be Josie and AJ's room.

This is Josie and Josh finding more things to run around. This is our guest room closets.

Here is the garage partially drywalled.

And the basement, which was drywalled before Christmas.

Merry Christmas!

And the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you

have found favor with God. And behold you will conceive in

your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.

He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High..."

- Luke 1:30-32

And Mary said, "Behold, I am the servant of the Lord;

let it be to me according to your word."

- Luke 1:38

"Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife,
for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus,
for he will save his people from their sins."
- Matthew 1:20-21

And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him

in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger...

- Luke 2:7

And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field,

keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel appeared

... and said to them, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news

of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born

this day in the city of David (Bethlehem) a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

And this will be a sign for you; you will find him wrapped in

swaddling cloths and lying in a manger."

- Luke 2:9-12
...the shepherds said to one another, "Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us." And the went with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in the manger.

- Luke 2:15-16

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem..., wise men from

the east came to Jerusalem, saying, "Where is he who has

been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when

it rose and have come to worship him."

- Matthew 2:1-2

And behold the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was... Then opening their treasures, the offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.

- Matthew 2:9-11

Paper Chain

These are the looks of concentration and consternation in the face of a four year old dealing with little pieces of tape and strips of paper.

I think she did enjoy herself a little bit too!

O Christmas Tree!

Ok folks. Here is our Christmas tree. We decided to go with a live potted tree that we can plant in our new yard next year. (The only problem with this is the fact that it weighs about 200 lbs. and G-Pa is all the way over in Ireland and couldn't help get this thing in the house!)

We're keeping it simple. A few lights and a homemade paper chain.

Josie and Josh got their own little trees to decorate too!

C is for Cookie

Josh was a big helper for Grammy when she was making her fantastic cookies.

Unfortunately, we ate all the cookies before we got a picture of them.

Mommy's Little Helper

Josie has become quite the little helper for Mommy.
She can peel carrots all by herself.
She helps with other dinner prep.

And she even helped get the Christmas cards ready this year.

I didn't make her lick all the envelopes. I think that might be considered child abuse.

First Snow

It doesn't take much (snow) to make a kid happy.

Pomegranates

Mommy loves it when pomegranates are in season. We kids have learned to love them too! Although we need a little more practice with our picking technique. It gets quite messy!

AJ - 2 Month Update

AJ here. I'm two months old now. I went to the doc earlier this week. I got two shots and a clean bill of health.


Height: 24.5 inches (off the chart)
Weight: 11lbs. 14oz. (75%)
I've shot up like a weed over the past month, so now I'm off the charts just like my brother and sister. In fact, my stats are almost exactly what Josie's were at this age.



Fun facts about me:

1. I'm a very easy baby, as long as you just put me down when I'm tired (which Grammy and G-Pa have a hard time doing :).


2. I love watching my brother and sister. And I'm always flashing them nice smiles. (They like watching me too!)
   
   
3. Josie and Josh love holding me and helping Mommy attend to me.


4. I don't do pacifiers, but I like to make fists and nibble on my knuckles, and the fatty part between the knuckles of my pointer fingers and thumbs.


5. I've been sleeping through the night for a couple weeks now, with the occasional "off-night" when I get up in the middle of the night. Bedtime is usually around 8pm, and wake-up is about 6am.


6. I'm a good napper too. I can sleep just about anywhere, and my sibs could be screaming and running around me and I don't care.
   
7. I've managed to dodge the cold germs of Josie and Josh (so far), which is nothing short of a miracle.


8. I absolutely HATE hoodies and hats. Here is me trying to gnaw the hood off my Patagonia bunting.

9. I'm not liking the bottle so much either, but Mommy and Daddy did manage to have two date nights without me (How dare they!). How could they leave a cutie like me?


10. I still have my blue eyes.
11. My hair is growing back.

Now stop taking my picture, the flash hurts my eyes.