Cousin celebrations

Papa and Noni hosted our extended family/cousin
Christmas celebration last weekend...

in typical Hannah fashion, she took a little while to come out of her shell...
clinging to those who are familiar.

(auntie wasn't complaining...either was Papa!)

but before long she and Joy were joined together and all was right in the land :)

Mommy especially takes great joy in watching the two of them
pal around together;

a friendship she was able to have with her girl cousins
growing up, and to this day remains a special thing.

Elijah also embraced having a little cousin more his size to toddle around with!

"Baby" Taryn, (now over 1 year old already!)
is absolutely delightful and had a way of capturing a room full
of 10-12 adults;
all watching her explore and interact in her little world!

Drew and I quickly exchanged giant hugs when Drew arrived,


and we were off - running, chasing, and causing much havoc!
Volume, volume, volume!

Remember that sweet, dainty, relationship
just mentioned above about Hannah and Joy?

Well, we boys have a different way of playing.
One that can turn to destruction at a moments notice!

But, I will have you know - the girls can be a little rowdy too -

(that is, if you can call dancing and singing Christmas Carols for all attending is rowdy!)

Eman still tends to "hide" in the background,
but don't be fooled... a wild one is yet to make his mark.
Just you wait!

grassy sledding :)

before the snow fell (a.k.a. dumped)...

our little hearts were set
on going sledding a couple of weekends ago,
so before the temperature climbed up to 40 degrees,
we bundled and headed over to the local hill.

Elijah has now been initiated to the world of sledding.

Well, sort of.I don't know if you can call sledding where
50% of the ground is grass is authentic, but....
he sure loved this first outing/"dry run".



all smiles~
Me, on the other hand...
didn't matter as long as I got my thrill on :)
I am born for this kind of adventure!

who better to join us than the young at heart?!


Chris and Mindy fully embraced this outing as well.

Literally less than 12 hours later the snow started to fall
(and fall, and fall....),
leaving a winter wonderland
for us to make a repeat trip to our local sledding hill.

Unfortunately, temperatures have been so frigid...
it hasn't exactly been safe to do so.

we'll be back~!

gingerbread suckers and smiles

Just a little indulgence this past week,
with gingerbread suckers we were gifted at a holiday party.

Such a little sucker...

such big smiles!

if only every day was this easy :)

Christmas anticipation

The past 2 weeks have been filled with lots of Christmas preparations.

So, as you can imagine -

with a house full of 1, 3 and 4 y.o.'s -
the smiles have been endless!

It started the Saturday after Thanksgiving, with our Christmas tree hunt.

We have been gifted with great friends whose generosity is enormous!
They invited us to their home to find the perfect Christmas tree.
And that is just what we did!

Mimi and Papa were in town and were able to join us!

Last year I studied (and practiced, a little) daddy's sawing technique...


so this year I was geared up to his assistant lumbar jack

We could hardly stand the waiting we had to do
for mommy and daddy to get all the decorations up
from the basement to get started transforming our home...

but alas, the moment finally arrived
and we got the thumbs up
to start hanging ornaments on the tree.

Elijah is really starting to insist! on being in on
everything that we big kids are doing!

including things that make mommy a little nervous,
like climbing ladders!

We are all eager for this Christmas to come;
along with all the white fluffy snow and all!

delayed Thanksgiving photos

Mommy could make lots of excuses of why her last posting was Halloween (over a month ago!!!), but instead she'll just apologize with these updated photos. Thanks for staying tuned :)

We had a blessed Thanksgiving celebration at our house this year!

Thankful for cousins to play with...

Papa's to snuggle with....

Auntie's to hug...




Yummy turkey's all golden brown!

Daddy's with wisdom to know when and how to carve it :)
(and all the other million+ reasons to be thankful for our daddy!)

Thankful for special people like great grandparents who are a part of our lives...

A special thank you for the handiwork of Gigi in making this scarf for Hannah!

Thankful for extra lap-time and snuggles with loved ones...

thankful for Auntie Teresa who rocked out with me
in the basement while the turkey was cooking.

thankful for patient doggies
that will let Elijah love on them
without even flinching.

Hannah was thankful for a never-ending 3rd birthday
that yet again was celebrated on Thanksgiving
for those that hadn't gotten to celebrate with her yet :/

and thankful for catalogs that aide in the anticipation
of the upcoming Christmas giving :)