Aloha 2007! Or - Victory is MINE!!!

This has been a great year for our family! We've had the safe delivery of LB, spent time with our out-of-town family, watched as BB is getting a better handle on speaking (Praise Yeshua!), and just had lots of fun moments together! God has provided for all our needs! Here are Daddy and BB playing with one of BB's Christmas gifts:

And here is the VICTORY! Last night I made some frozen yogurt (I poured in an entire pound of strawberries) and put it between peanut butter cookies. I wanted to put it between graham crackers, but I'm out of those!

So here's the moment of triumph...BB is eating strawberries... and he doesn't know it!
HA HAH!

Who cares about the cookies? I have a ton of the frozen-berry-loaded stuff, and another couple ideas of how to use it (the only downside is that Micah can't have strawberries till after his birthday)!

MWAH HA HA!!!

I win, I win, I WIN (feel free to picture my victory dance)!

Mahalo 2007 - Aloha 2008

Bring on the new year!

Happy Christmas!

This is a long one - so take a walk while you wait for your computer to bring up all the pics! Okay? Ready? Here's our mini-Christmas with our box from Nana & Pappy (I wanted to do it by mail rather than at Thanksgiving, because I hate rushing through Thanksgiving just to confuse BB!)

Here's BB checking himself out in the hall mirror!

Wow! Spin a letter-animal-sound! Now that's cool!
Funky building blocks! BB's actually playing with these as I type...
LB wants to check out the Christmas box for himself...
On to Gramma & Grampa's!

Fun banging with toys and posing for the camera!

Daddy got a good shot of BB at rest time - he took some great naps!
Gloves? He is getting too big...

Anyway, getting ready to play in the snow (Mama happily waited inside with sleeping LB!)...

Gramma & BB baking a birthday cake for Jesus!

Both the boys enjoy some cream cheese frosting...

Putting twelve candles on Jesus' cake - He's with us all twelve months of the year!
Presents! Hey Grampa, did you see this?
Gramma, can I play with (translate: eat) your pretty bracelet?

Oooh... animal farm! Is this for me?

"I found it, Captain Hook! I found his ship!"
Dancing with BB and Mama.
Back home again after a GREAT time! Thanks for the slippers Granniemiss!
Merry Christmas to you all! We love you so much!

Christmas Moments

Monday was our tree trimming day with our advent activities - BB really, really enjoyed that! We got a real tree this year, and I'm really loving the smell! Plus I'd rather LB ate organic pine needles than plastic ones (as we all know he's gonna eat whatever he finds on the floor).

Last night we got dressed in our P.J.'s and brought some Hot Cocoa (which BB did not like, but was willing to try), and went in search of some Christmas lights. We had a great time, and it was so much fun to listen to the awe of a three-year-old who's rarely out after dark! Here are some quotes (the caps is him actually shouting)!

Ooooh, look at dat!

MOMMY! HEY! LOOK AT SANTA!

Ooooh, look at daddy's side.... it's boo-tiful...

Going to see Nana & Pappy the hard way...!

Our ever-changing nativity scene... yes, that's baby Jesus hiding behind the donkey.
Watching Lady & the Tramp...
We also made Monkey Bread, and just today made a star for our Christmas tree, just like the one that shown in the sky to show everyone that Jesus was born! BB was quite very proud of himself...

We also missed that big snow storm, for any of you wondering...

Activity Advent!

Here it is! The basic idea is to take all those little traditions and assign them a certain day of the month (I mean, you're doing them anyway,right?!). Then you write them on the inside of a little sheet of origami paper (all we had was animal prints - not very festive, but effective none-the-less), and fold them into little dated envelopes. I also wrote the activities in my planner so I can prepare. Ours also have the day's calendar piece enclosed to help BB with the one-a-day concept.

The last day even has birthday candles in it, for Jesus' birthday cake!

Our first activity was to set up our nativities - a big hit!

We have also baked donuts and decorated gift bags for the gingerbread cookies we're baking today!

It also snowed this week, and BB played on the porch so I didn't have to take the baby out...

Brothers being brothers...


Gotta run!

What a Trip!

Well, despite the fact that every last one of us got a cold, we had a great time! Thanks to all the prayer support of my women's group and the dear sweet Lord, we had really smooth flights and security checks at the airports (both coming and going).

It was a nice, yummy, warm Thanksgiving, and we shared it with Nana, Pappy, Uncle Kevin, Granniemiss, Gram, Grampy, Snuggles, Dixie and Easy. We really missed Daddy and Chewie! I got to do some cooking with Nana, which was really fun!

Cruisin...
Pappy!!!
Cuddles with Gram...
BB's first attempts at the tricycle, I turned around and Pappy and Kevin had rigged up a way to help him get used to steering...
Are we having fun yet? LB really thinks Grannie's hysterical!

MMMM... Corn on the cobb! I shaved off the main half of the kernals, so LB wouldn't choke, and then he chowed down! He really liked it (probably helped that it was really good corn).
My idea of the holiday season...
May your days be merry and bright - and may all your beaches, be white...

Oh, and LB is saying MAMA! Mostly when he really, really, really wants me, and yes, he knows exactly what he's saying! Pretty amazing!

Next entry: Our Activity Advent