Coming Home

Coming home from Christmas, we stopped at the DeLorme Map Store in Yarmouth which has the world's largest globe. So cool! You can go to the second and third floor to view the globe, which spins slowly on a huge axis. The boys were very impressed, as were Logan and I.

Abigail was happy to be home, where she naps most of her day away:

We got home Sunday afternoon, and the snow started to fall that evening. I think we got somewhere around 10 inches. The next morning, this is what our home looked like:

A Wonderful Christmas

This year, my 'little' brother Jon hosted the family down in MA. He provided the space and decorations, Mom furnished the food (with contributions from Aunt Linda and myself), and we brought the children to be spoiled. It was a really wonderful day with family!

The host:

The tree:

The feast:

For appetizers, there was nachos and dip, shrimp, and cheese and crackers. For dinner, Mom made a 14 lb rib roast (SO GOOD), her homemade potato rolls, ambrosia salad, mashed potatos, Aunt Linda made a big green bean casserole, and I made a sweet potato casserole. Yum! Then there was cheesecake, pecan pie, and all kinds of cookies. I'm sure we all gained a couple pounds that day!

The kiddos got lots of attention from their doting family:

And the boys LOVED all of their new toys!

It's becoming a family tradition to watch the movie "Elf" together on Christmas day. Here's Mom introducing Abigail to our favorite holiday movie. :)

Group shot:

Standing: Logan w/ Josiah, Aunt Linda, Uncle Jim, Danny and April, me w/Frankie, Jonathan

Sitting: Mom w/ Abigail, Nana, Papa w/Benjamin

Christmas Dinner Video

Here's a little video of the family digging into Christmas dinner at Jon's.

Christmas Eve and Morning

Christmas celebrations began Christmas Eve, with a dinner at our house with Mom and Dad and Uncle Jim and Aunt Linda. Then we headed out the door for our church's Christmas Eve service, where our family lit the Christ Candle on the Advent wreath. Very exciting! It was a beautiful service, tainted only by our boys' disruptive behavior in the pew. They were so wound up about Christmas! We were all a little worried that they would set the church on fire during the candlelit part of the service at the end. Abigail looked lovely in her red Christmas dress:

When we got home, we put the boys in their Christmas pajamas and put out cookies and milk for Santa, then the boys wanted me to read in our Storybook Bible about when Jesus died on the cross. When they finally crashed, Logan and I cleaned up the house and got ready for Christmas morning, which struck early at 6:30 with Benjamin being the first up. I was able to keep Benjamin in bed with us until Josiah woke up by singing to him every single Christmas song I could think of. When Josiah woke up and went into the living room, he grabbed the empty plate the cookies had been on and yelped, "He came! Santa really came!!!" We staged these pictures, then started opening presents:

We were done opening presents in 15 minutes flat, then Logan made cheese biscuits and sausage while I cleaned up all the wrapping paper and packaging. Breakfast was yummy!

After breakfast, we reminded the boys they had forgotten their stockings, so they got to open more gifts:

While the boys played and Daddy and Abigail napped on the couch, I made a sweet potato casserole and two pecan pies to bring to Uncle Johnny's.

Then I packed all our clothes and dressed everyone, and we were ready to go! The boys got ice skates from Santa, so we were going to stop by the ice rink in town on our way to MA, but it wasn't open. We still haven't brought the boys, and they are anxious to try their skates out. Hopefully they'll take to it better than their mommy and daddy every did. :)

Here are the boys in their antlers from Papa and Grandma in NC, down on hands and knees pretending to be Santa's reindeer:

Abigail got this cute outfit from Mom and Dad for Christmas. It's for a 9 month old, but this 3 month old rocked it. :)

Abigail Giggling

Abigail giggled for the first time last night! I missed the initial squeal, which was absolutely adorable, but these were the giggles that followed. :)

p.s. Christmas posts are coming!

Big News and an Overdue Update

- i started this post last week and saved it for later, so now it's way overdue! sorry!!!


Logan got a job yesterday [last Wednesday]! Praise the Lord!!! It was the last weekend in January, just 20 minutes after we found out I was pregnant with Abigail, that Logan's boss called to let him go. So Logan has been working hard all year to keep us afloat with painting and carpentry jobs whiel also changing career paths, starting his Masters in Accounting online and job searching. What a relief to start the winter with a job in the accounting field! Logan is excited about the firm and we're all grateful for God's provision and perfect timing!

Last week, Logan and the boys had a sleepover in the living room under the Christmas tree. Abigail only joined them for this photo:

She is more beautiful every day!

Mom, Nana and I brought Abigail to the Picture People for her 10 week portrait. It was her first time to the mall as well, and she had fun with the girls. :)

We got a few inches of snow Thursday, so Daddy gave them one of their gifts early. He told them Santa asked him to help out and pick up the shovels for the boys. :)

Abbey ventured out to watch the boys sled, but she wasn't too impressed with the cold wind.

Laura brought Emma over to sled with the boys. Wheeeeee!!!!!!

Christmas 2010

Colorful Ornaments Christmas

Shutterfly Christmas cards

View the entire collection of cards.

1,000 Words

As the old addage goes, "A picture says a thousand words." That's why I always post a lot of pictures rather than take time to write, because I just don't have enough time to capture the memories better than a photo can. When people ask me what my hobbies are, photography is at the top of the list because it fulfills the pull of my inner-historian. I love photo products and subscribe to four different online photo sites for deal alerts. You can't go wrong with pictures! So I was very excited to hear about Shutterfly's new promotion: bloggers who dedicate a special post to their products can receive 50 free Christmas cards! That's spot-on with our budget this year! :)


I have always been pleased with my Shutterfly purchases. You can't go wrong! My favorite photo gift is the calendar, which I have made a couple of times, and may have done again this year.......we'll just have to wait and see! I feel like it is 'my thing' now. I also like to make small snapbooks with the best pictures from a vacation or special event. What has impressed me the most from Shutterfly, though, is their selection of Christmas cards! I've browsed a lot of photo sites, and this one seems to offer the most options. They are beautifully designed and full of charm. Here is the one I am thinking about ordering, because Abigail's middle name is Joy and she is certainly filling our hearts with joy:

If you have a blog, you too could receive 50 free cards! Just go to http://www.bit.ly/sfly2010

Thank you, Shutterfly! I can't wait to see my cards! :)

Santa! and other news...

Saturday was the Harbor Lights Festival, so the kiddos got to sit on Santa's lap and take a horse-drawn wagon ride. The weather was much milder than the past few years, which made the festivities much more enjoyable. When Santa asked Benjamin what he wanted for Christmas, he said, "A candy cane." After he heard Josiah asking for an excavator, however, he amended his request with, "And a train!" :)

Sunday, we joined our church! There were seventeen new members, which was very exciting for everyone. Several little old ladies were teary eyed when they shook our hands after the service. Our church has been so good to us, blessing us in so many ways. We are especially thankful to have a church family that enjoys our children so much! Especially when the boys are so 'enthusiastic' on Sunday mornings. I know some churches that would frown at their antics!

Monday, we brought Abigail in for her 2 month check-up. She is doing just great, as you can see from her growth percentiles! She even managed to smile throughout her checkup and impress her doctor with her easy going personality. Of course, the visit ended with vaccines and both Abigail and myself in tears. It's so hard to see a baby getting shots.

Abigail showing off her strong muscles!

Advent

This year for Advent, we're reading through The Jesus Storybook Bible with the boys. We love how the author has weaved the stories of the Bible into a cohesive story of God's love for his children and his plan to rescue them from the broken world. It is written very well and the illustrations are riveting for the boys. We read a new chapter every night, after a short quiz to make sure they're remembering the previous chapters and are following the build-up to Christ's birth. The boys enjoy our Advent celebrations and it is very meaningful for Logan and me as well. This simple book is reminding me in a profound way of God's great love for us, that he would send his only Son to suffer and die for our sakes, adopting us into his family and giving us an incredible inheritance.

Advent also has me thinking of God's great plan of redemption. How God is working to redeem his creation to its former perfection, and man's broken relationship to him. What peace it brings to know that God is working to mend everything that is not what it should be. In each painful situation in our lives, we can trust him to restore things - without our help, without our input or control. We can let go and trust him to work things out for the good of those who love him. We can trust that when bad things do happen, in the greater scheme of things, God has only allowed them for our good and for his purposes which are perfect. We cannot understand what God has in store for us when bad things happen, just as Joseph could not have pictured himself as a prince of Egypt when his brothers threw him in the well and then sold him into slavery. They meant it for evil, but God meant it for good, to save his people from a terrible famine and protect Christ's geneology. As we celebrate Christ's birth on Christmas morning, we can also celebrate God's great plan of redemption, that he loves us and is working on our behalf. Praise his holy name!

Traveling South

We left for NC the Friday before Thanksgiving, and had a very smooth trip south! We broke it up with stops along the way, which helped, but Josiah was perturbed that we weren't just driving straight down through the night like we usually did. He wanted to get to Papa's farm A.S.A.P.! Here are the boys waiting to go, excited for their trip:
We spent the night with Josh and Sarah in Jersey City! It was so nice to see these dear friends again since we helped them move from MA in May. We love their apartment, but the ogre downstairs was a little scary!

The boys were very impressed with the G.W. bridge, which we drove under on our way into the city, and the Statue of Liberty, which we drove by on our way to the NJ turnpike. Saturday, we left at 8 a.m. and got to Clay and Larissa's in VA by noon. It was so wonderful to catch up with these two! Clay even showed off his police car to the boys, startling the neighborhood with his siren. :)

What a blessing to see friends along the way! It's too bad we can't see them more often.

Carolina Fun

Our week in NC went by too fast! It was full of fun outside, showing Abigail off, good food, and lots of quality family time. Here are some pictures:

Abigail always wakes up with a smile on her face:
Papa put a lawn mower battery in this Jeep, making it the fastest toy car I've ever seen!

This was everyone's chance to meet Abigail for the first time, except for Grandma who had come for 2 1/2 weeks around Abigail's birth.

Great Grandma:

Aunt Emily:

Aunt Madeline:

Logan's cousin Bryant:

Dale and Amber:

Josiah and Benjamin were very impressed with Barret and Chandler's costume collection:

The kiddos loved having time with their cousins:

And especially loved having time with their Papa on the farm!

Here's a picture of the whole family out to eat at Captain Bob's: