New Year's Eve, 2012

Wow, what a year!  2012 was an amazing year for us, and one we will always remember.  We have loved watching our girls grow this year.  Lily started to Kindergarten and turned 6 in October.  I love watching her learn (she's starting to read now!) and grow in her love of the Lord.  She is so smart and creative; I'm always amazed at her.  Mia turned 4 in November and returned to Bethany Church's Parent Morning Out program two mornings a week.  She loves it there.  Mia is such a happy and precious child.  She makes me laugh every single day.  Both girls started to play soccer this year which was fun to watch.  I can't get over how much I love these girls!

We were fortunate to take several memorable vacations.  We started out the year celebrating our 10 year anniversary on a cruise to Belize and Cozumel; cruises are always a blast!  We took two trips that we have been dreaming about for awhile now.  In August, Ryan and I went to California (Mendocino, Napa Valley and Sausalito) with my parents.  In November, the four of us took Liz on an early 60th birthday trip to Disney World and on the Disney cruise.  We also had a great time visiting Ryan's family in Chicago this summer; that was the girls' first plane ride, and they loved it!  Our family took two annual beach trips as well; the first with my family in July to New Smyrna Beach and the second with our best friends to Gulf Shores in October.  Ryan took three mission trips to Alaska which he always loves.  He has developed some great friendships and ministries there, so we are always grateful for the opportunity for him to return there.  We love to travel, so this was definitely a big year for us!

In addition to the girls and our travels, we were pretty busy at work and other cool opportunities.  Ryan has become very involved with the global missions department of our church.  He helped direct one of their Sunday School classes each week, and he takes part in their weekly prayer meetings.  In March, I joined the Board of Lily's school which I have loved.  The Lord's hands have been all over this school recently, and it's been fascinating to watch "from the inside."  Truly amazing things are going on at that school!  Additionally, I volunteer each week to help with the financial administration of the school.  I love getting to be at the school and see the kids each week; it's so much fun!  Other than that, I also volunteer for the Care Committee at our church.  This committee helps our church meet the financial needs of those in our community.  We may assist with rent or mortgage payments, utilities or health care costs for those within and without our church.  We also offer financial guidance and suggestions to help these individuals or families get back on track.  All of these are very rewarding tasks for us.

This has been such an amazing year for us, and we can't wait to see what God has in store for our family in 2013.  We are both very excited that Ryan will begin to seminary in late February.  We aren't exactly sure where this will lead him or our family, but we're looking forward to finding out in the future!  We have lots of goals set before us for the coming year.  I'm sure we'll keep you updated through this blog on how that is going.  We hope you and your family are doing well also.  May God bless you in 2013!

Christmas Evening

On Christmas evening, our family and Wayne's family headed over to Mom and Dad's house.  This year was a little different for us.  A couple of weeks earlier, Mom had a full hip replacement and femur repair surgery in Tennessee; she had been there for 10 days in the hospital and starting rehab.  She had only come home on the Saturday before Christmas.  We all wanted to get together, but we made her promise that she wouldn't do anything to get the house ready or while we were there.  It only took a little bit of convincing!  So, to make it as easy as possible, we brought hamburgers and hot dogs to grill, chips, pretzels and ranch dip, and some premade sides from Publix like fruit, baked beans, coleslaw and potato salad.  I also brought the cranberry crumb bars that Mia and I had made a few days earlier.  While it wasn't our usual huge, delicious, brunch food that we all enjoy, it was a yummy dinner that allowed our family time together which is what was most important.

 

After dinner, Lily stood in front of everyone to play "Jingle Bells" (or her version of it) on her new harmonica.  Mia also played a little song and explained to everyone that "Christmas is not just about receiving presents.  It's about Jesus' birthday."  I was so proud of both of them! 

 

Molly, Lily and Mia split the Santa duties of handing out gifts.

 Molly and Lily patiently waited their turns for gift opening.

 Mia started us off by opening a gift from Mom and Dad.  It is a cute table and chair set for dolls.

 After Zac's turn, Lily opened her gift from Mom and Dad.  She was excited to see the American Girl box!  She loved the tea party set that was inside that included plates, napkins, cups, silverware and food.  The next morning, she and Mia set up the table and chair set for a tea party, and they have had a blast with it since.

 After everyone had opened a round of gifts, the kids opened their gifts from Granny; unfortunately, Mom's family wasn't able to come down from Tennessee this year.  The girls were thrilled with their new princess play sets.  Lily received a Sleeping Beauty set while Mia received an Ariel one.  Again, they have had a lot of fun playing with these over the last few days.

  Lily was so happy to receive this 3D Spin Art set from Wayne's family.  We did almost all of the pages the day after Christmas.  I'll admit that I have always loved spin art, so I was pretty excited about this gift too!  It was so much fun!

 Mia said her dreams had come true when she received this Doc McStuffins doctor kit from Wayne's family.  She has been going around taking care of all of her toys and us since receiving it.  I have to say, she makes a pretty cute little doctor!

 Once the presents were opened, the kids starting playing with everything while the adults enjoyed dessert and chatting.  Soon though it was time to go.  We snapped this picture of mom and dad with their granddaughters.  Zac wasn't feeling well at all and didn't want to be in the picture.  Poor little guy; we found out the next day from the urgent clinic that he had the flu.

Even though this evening didn't have the traditional food, we had made lots of great memories, and we were so glad Mom was home so we could all celebrate together!

Christmas Morning

The girls were pretty excited about sleeping in their sleeping bags on our bedroom floor on Christmas Eve.  They feel asleep easily that evening.  At one point, we heard Mia, so we checked on her, and she looked so confused and disoriented.  We hugged on her, and she immediately laid back down and went back to sleep.  At about 1:45 in the morning though, I heard her jump up, run into the bathroom and then she just looked around; again, she seemed so confused.  I called out to her and motioned for her to climb into our bed.  She gladly joined me.  Around 3:45, Ryan had enough of her rolling around and stretching out, so he headed out to finish the night in Mia's bed.  Lily got up at one point to use the bathroom, but then she thankfully laid back down in her sleeping bag and went back to sleep.  At 7:15, Lily woke up and asked me if it was okay to wake up for the morning.  I told her we would wait a few minutes for Mia to wake up; she must have heard her name because she promptly woke up then.  The girls were so excited, so we went into Mia's room to wake Ryan up.  After just a couple of minutes, we headed out to start the fun.

 

The girls seemed very happy with their gifts from Santa.  They were thrilled with their new Dream Lites, and they liked their books (though Mia did say "I wanted a TOY thing-a-ma-jigger; not a book!").  They liked the new table and chairs too.  Even though we moved it into their playroom later in the day, the chairs have been removed ever since as they have taken them to their rooms to build forts.

 After enjoying Santa's gifts for a few minutes, we moved on to stockings.  Mia was super excited about her new Cars toothbrush!

 Lily was determined to get every single item out of her stocking.

 The girls really enjoyed their stockings this year.  They each received toothbrushes, boo-boo buddy ice pack, Candyland band aides, Rapunzel hairbrush, new socks, 2 packs of crayons (Glitterati and Bejeweled for Lily; Superhero and Pirate Treasure for Mia), pack of M&Ms, hair rubber bands, Scotch tape (seriously, a big hit!) and a gift card that each calls a credit card.  Lily's is to Stevie B's pizza and Mia's is to Sub Zero ice cream shop.

 After we all emptied our stockings, the girls opened their books from Great-Grandpa and Lois.  We read them later in the day, and both books are super-cute.  Lily received "A Call for a New Alphabet" while Mia received "Lots of Dots."

 After those gifts, the girls opened their gifts from Ryan and me which was lots of fun to watch.  They got so excited about each gift.

 So I can remember in the future, Lily received a harmonica, I Spy leappad game, Barbie's Princess and the Pop Star DVD, a Rapunzel wedding figure set and a Crayola Digitools set to use with our iPads.  Mia received an Olivia leappad game, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse book with movie camera, League of Incredible Vegetables Veggitales DVD, lacing cards and Jake and the Neverland Pirates figures.  Once the girls opened those gifts, Ryan and I opened our gifts.  Then we gave Lily one last "big" present: a keyboard that connects to our iPad to teach her how to play piano.  We asked Mia to get her "big" present too.  She was checking out the last two but realized neither had her name on them.  She seemed a little confused as she checked the tags again and again.

 As she checked the tags, Ryan brought out her big gift: a new bike!  Mia was beyond excited about this.  She had actually just a day or two before seen a commercial for this particular bike, and immediately got excited about it; obviously, she didn't know then we already had it for her!  She loves that it is blue and has Cinderella on it.  She can't wait to get outside and ride!

It was a wonderfully fun morning for all of us as we celebrated Jesus' birthday.  The girls had a great time all morning playing with their new gifts.  We just had fun together.  6 and 4 are great ages for "the magic" of Christmas!

Cracks Me Up

Mia absolutely cracks me up everyday.  Just a few minutes ago, she was sitting on the couch across from me playing a game on Ryan's iPad.  She paused her game, looked up and said "Mommy will you be a dear and get me some water please?"  I can't help but say yes to that!

She has also asked me "Mommy do you know what 'quatinces' are?"  When I said "no, can you tell me?" she replied, "they are like friends but not your best friends."  Acquaintances is what she was going for, but where in the world did that come from?

I love this 4 year old!

Christmas Countdown

For the third year, we enjoyed our Christmas countdown starting on December 1.  I absolutely love this tradition.  The girls looked forward to seeing our activity each day as well.  Some days were low key and some took a little more effort, but each day held something fun for our family.  Here's a snapshot from each day.

 

Day 1: We had front row seats to see the newest Cirque show: Totem.  We all loved the Cirque show in Orlando, but I think we all liked this one even more.  Most of the costumes were made to look like animals, so the girls thought that was awesome.  Mia still talks about "the frogs" and how much she enjoyed them.  If you have the chance to see this show, please do; it's awesome.

 Day 2: We went to see Beauty and the Beast at The Fox Theatre.  I love any opportunity to go to the Fox, and I couldn't wait to take the girls since this would be their first time to go.  What we didn't know is that the show is almost 3 hours long...whoops.  That was asking a lot.  Lily did great and loved the whole show.  Mia did awesome in the first half; her eyes were glued to the stage and she sat on the edge of her seat.  She was pretty antsy and tired for the second half though, so she was moving around a lot.  In the end, she said she enjoyed it though.  They both loved that Ryan bought them a rose like the Beast has in his castle!

 Day 3: The girls and I had lunch at Swan House with my mom.  We all love this restaurant!

 Day 4: Foam gingerbread houses!  After last year's debacle with making a gingerbread house, we took the easy route this year.

 Day 5: A visit to the Pink Pig and Santa is always a fun tradition.

 Day 6: Sticker nativity scenes; very cute.

 Day 7: We wrote the North Pole Express and met Santa on the train.

 Day 8: A morning at the Children's Museum in Chattanooga was tons of fun.  We also loved our afternoon and evening with our friends, the Sepulveda and Graffius.

 Day 9: We always love a play date with the Hendersons.

 Day 10: New books!  Hark the Harold Angels Sing for Lily and Silent Night for Mia.  Both play the song as you read.

Day 11:  Since Lily's school had their Christmas program the night before, they had a late start time this morning.  We had planned on "a special breakfast" meaning either a trip to J Christopher's or homemade pancakes.  However, we were the ones surprised when we got up and Lily had made us a special breakfast without even knowing that was the day's activity!  She set up a restaurant in our living room, and then prepared the breakfast pictured below for each of us: a banana, yogurt and peanut butter crackers.  What a fun treat!

 Day 12: This was a charity day.  We plan to expand this day when the kids are older, but for now, it means picking out a couple of items from the World Vision Christmas catalog.  Lily wanted to order a calf while Mia selected ordering a piglet to help those in need around the world.

 Day 13: Ryan took the girls on a daddy-daughter date to Stevie B's and Sub Zero.  I think they all enjoyed this time together.

 Day 14: The girls received Christmas paint books.

 Day 15: The girls decorated these huge snowmen cookies.

 Day 16: The girls made Christmas cards for their grandparents and great-grandparents.

 Day 17: Coloring Christmas velvet posters.

 Day 18: S'mores!

 Day 19: Movie Theatre day which the girls always love.  We went to see Monsters Inc which has just been re-released.  We didn't see it in 3D even though this sign advertised it that way.

 Day 20: Another gingerbread house.  I had forgotten that I had the foam gingerbread house kit when I bought this sticker kit.  They didn't seem to mind though.

 Day 21: Movie night at home.  We watched Arthur Christmas, enjoyed breakfast for dinner and then some yummy apple cider.

 Day 22: Meme's Christmas Party which was lots of fun.

 Day 23: We made Christmas cookies.  Mia and I made the peanut butter cookies, and then Lily, Mia and I decorated them to look like reindeer.  They were super cute!

 Day 24: Christmas Eve!  Our main item today was delivering cookies to our local fire station.  We appreciate the public servants who work on the holidays, and this is just a small way to say thank you.

 The girls always like getting new pajamas on Christmas Eve.

 The girls put out reindeer food mix, carrots and water so Rudolph and his friends would have a snack.

 Of course, we had to leave out milk and a cookie for Santa!

 We decided to let the girls camp out in our room for the evening.  They have a habit of getting up really early, and we didn't want them sneaking into the living room before we were awake on Christmas morning!  By 6:30, they were dressed and begging to go to bed, so we let them set up camp and watch How To Train Your Dragon on tv which they love.  When it was over at 8, they spread out and fell asleep quickly.

The presents were put under the tree.

 At some point, Santa came and delivered his gifts for the girls.  They will receive a new table and chair set for their playroom which is badly needed.  Lily will receive a butterfly dream lite that she has been asking for since last Christmas, and Mia will receive a dog dream lite that she has been wanting.  Santa didn't know Mia would receive a butterfly one at Meme's party a few days prior.  He was pretty sure she wouldn't mind having two!  Each girl also received a book.  Since Santa couldn't quite deliver on their main requests (a thing-a-ma-jigger for Mia and a baby Rainbow Dash My Little Pony that eats and walks for Lily), he brought books about both of those things.  He was sure they would be excited!

 Santa also took some time to stuff the stockings before moving to the next house. 

 Bring on Christmas morning!