Happy New Year - 2008!!!

The holidays always get so busy and I truly wanted to get these pictures posted before now!!! I have put together some of the highlights from our holidays. We had two awesome Christmases with both sides of the family. I truly believe that that is my favorite part about Christmas. Everybody slowing down and just taking time to spend together! We are truly blessed that both our families live so close and that we are able to spend time with all of them not only during the holidays but throughout the year!

Special thanks go to our parents for all that they do to make the holidays special! We also appreciate all that they do throughout the year, especially all the free babysitting!!!!

We also welcomed a new member into our family. His name is Finnigan or Finn for short. After getting some medical issues straightened out, (he was a barn cat) he has fit into our family quite nicely! The kids love him (maybe a little too much some times!!!) and he and Mr. Bill have become buddies!

It is crazy to think that another year has gone past! I know that I say it every year but for some reason this one REALLY seemed to fly by! I am looking forward to seeing what this year has in store and to watching our kids continue to grow.

We wish you all a very Happy New Year! We hope that it will be a good year full of good things for each one of you!

Merry Christmas!!!

As the holiday quickly approaches, I wanted to get one more post in!!! The kids finished up school this week with parties and a visit with Santa. It made for a very busy week but it was a lot of fun. They will be off now until after New Years.

This year we will be celebrating Christmas with my family on Christmas Eve and then we will spend Christmas Day with Jon's family. The kids are very excited about Santa coming and are equally excited that they will get to open some presents a day early! They keep reminding me of that when I tell them how many days are left until Christmas!

I have to admit that this holiday has been a lot of fun with them. They are getting to the point where they are old enough to really know what is going on besides just presents. They have been busy making me crafts at school to decorate with and they even went shopping for each other this year. So far, I don't think that they have told each other what they picked out but who knows what happens when we aren't around. I am glad that I took the presents and hide them or else they would both have them by know!!!!

We wish you all the very best during this holiday season! I pray that you will all be surrounded by the love of family and friends and that your hearts will be filled with happiness. We are thankful to have all of you to share our lives with! Merry Christmas!!!

"O Christmas Tree!"

We couldn't have asked for a more perfect afternoon to put ornaments on the tree! There is a light snow falling outside and I had two very eager helpers! It was really neat to watch the kids this year. They are both older and they actually are able to put the ornaments on the tree on their own. This was a real stretch for me, though. I kept wanting to move their ornaments from where they had put them because they were too "bunchy". I had to keep reminding myself that it was okay, they are having fun. But you can be sure that Mommy will be doing a little rearranging once nap time comes!!!!

Doing this kind of thing with the kids is what Christmas is all about. Watching the kids decorate the tree and talk to one another about their different ornaments. We are truly blessed to have two healthy kids and to be able to help them make these memories that they can hopefully carry with them throughout their lives.

We will complete the decorating tonight with Daddy. Emma has asked to put the star on top of the tree this year and we need him to help with that!

We hope that you are all experiencing the joy of the holidays in your house as we are in ours!