New Year's Eve

Vito is at the church tonight ringing in the New Year with the teens. So the kids and I decided to make gingerbread men. Well, more like gingerbread men, women, bears, and snowmen. Olivia had a blast helping roll out the dough, cut the shapes, and decorate! Eli enjoyed eating the dough, making a mess, and eating the cookies!















Hard at work decorating.
















The finished products! Minus the one Eli ate instead of decorating.


I asked Olivia earlier today what she thought would happen in the New Year. Her response . . . "Maybe Santa will come again?" I bet she's right!

Happy New Year! I hope your 2010 brings more than just another visit from Santa. :-) May you experience health and true happiness this year.

Christmas 2009

We had a great Christmas in Oklahoma City with Jenni's family. We usually go to Amarillo, but due to the birth of little Noah, we all met in OKC this year.

Thanks to the blizzard on Christmas Eve, we were all snowed in at different homes. Scott had to spend the night at the hospital where he works. We were all quite happy to be together on Christmas day when we all finally made it to Sara/Ryan's house around noon. We spent some time with Uncle Rick and his family, too. And everyone packed an over-night bag for Christmas night. No one wanted to be stranded so we all camped out on floors and couches at Sara/Ryan's house. It definitely was different this year, but we were all together. I can't ask for anything more than that.

Olivia and Eli were both so much fun this Christmas. Last year, Eli was just 10 months old. But this year both kids were able to get into the spirit of Christmas. Olivia can tell you the Christmas story nearly word for word. In fact, she gets pretty upset when Daddy elaborates and doesn't get straight to the point of the story! Yes, we do Santa and all of that fun, but the real reason of the season is the birth of Jesus Christ. And its so exciting to hear our little 3.5 year old tell the story and get excited about baby Jesus' birthday!

Olivia (3.5 yrs) happily playing at Aunt Sara/Uncle Ryan's house.

Eli (22 months) just being himself!

New Cousin!

It's been so long since I've blogged. I've gotten used to relying on facebook only, but its so hard to tell the "stories" of life on facebook. Maybe it will be my 2010 resolution to blog more. :-) We'll see how I do.

We were privileged to spend Christmas in Oklahoma City where both of my sisters and their husbands live. My youngest sister, Sara, and her husband, Ryan, just welcomed their brand new baby boy, Noah, into the world just days before Christmas. After a week in NICU with antibiotics, he was able to come home on Christmas Day! Despite a blizzard, little Noah was able to join us all for Christmas. Yay!

Olivia had anxiously been awaiting Noah's arrival. She knew that first Noah was coming, then Santa was coming, and then it was Baby Jesus' birthday. This was an exciting time in the life of a three year old! Olivia couldn't wait to finally see Noah and hold him. In her words, "I'll hold him gentle on his head and his bottom. Maybe he'll fall asleep in my arms."

Well, she finally got to hold him. And to her delight, he did fall asleep in her arms!

Eli was pleased with his new little cousin, too. We were even successful at our attempt for a cousins picture! Here they are . . . Olivia (3.5 years), Noah (10 days), Eli (22 months).

Welcome to the family, little Noah!