Uncle Aaron's Visit

One of the best gifts this Christmas was the visit of my brother Aaron and his sweetie, Nicole, all the way from freezing Seattle. There was much joy and jumping around in our family when we were finally able to give them hugs! The kids, especially, loved hanging out with their funny uncle and his pretty girlfriend. We did have to share them with her family and their friends while they were here, but the time we did get with them was full of love and lots of laughter. I've really missed his dry (as in the Sahara Desert) sense of humor. There was a lot of "Do you remember..." and family jokes. There's just something about being with the people you've known your entire life.

We were so excited they were able to come and spend Christmas with us. We're all hoping they'll be able to make it out in March for another visit and to see our new baby! Next time, maybe they will try to sneak Bubba into their suitcases and take him all the way back to Seattle with them. However, I don't think anyone would be happy about that!

Snow, Snow, Snow!

Hubby and I spent Saturday in the snow with our kids freezing our patooties off! After driving for several hours (seriously) because the rest of Phoenix had the same idea, we finally found some. Our yearly trip to the snow is a big deal around here. However, some are less excited than others. See exhibit A:

Exhibit A

Others are way more happy about this. See Exhibits B and C:

Exhibit B

Exhibit C

All in all is was a good, albeit frigid day for us Arizona kids!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

We hope your Christmas was as blessed as ours was this year and every year. Love to all!

My Irish Tenor

I have to say right here that I am a proud wife! My husband has a great voice and I love hearing him sing. He really only sings in front of others during Christmas, so that's definitely one of the highlights of my season. I had to push and prod him to do it this year because it was more of a time commitment than in previous years, but he was so glad he did it. This year, before they sang in church on Sunday, his group traveled to three nursing homes and sang for the residents there. Not only were the residents blessed, but he got the biggest piece of holiday cheer and realization of what we are blessed with. I LOVE my husband! I love seeing when he is touched by the Lord on such a personal level. The picture above is during our soup potluck on Sunday after church when they went around caroling while we ate.
On Sunday, we had our church service with the singing of Christmas carols. When his group led "Silent Night" the sanctuary was filled with the sound on God's people singing praises to their king. It was a time of intense worship with acapella singing and harmonizing (which I love, but still can't do). No wonder the angels had to split the sky open and announce Christ's birth to the shephards! They couldn't contain their joy. That's exactly how I felt when we were singing that holy song.

Christmas Cookies

My wonderful sister and I had a baking day last week and we had a blast! We made 133cookies to give out for our Dad, at least that was before the kids and hubby got them. We had a great time of sister chat, girl talk and shooing kids out of the kitchen. I am so thankful I have a sister close enough to share this Christmas time (and baking) with. By the way, in case you have us confused, she's the thin, non-pregnant one who's blessed with our dad's metabolism. I just look like I've been sampling too many cookies. :) Ah well, at least I have a reason for the chubbiness, right? RIGHT?!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

The camera has been found! (Go ahead, I know you want to sing the Hallelujah chorus for me!) Hmmm, too bad the new camera is due to be in today. I guess I'll just have to keep both of them. Oh, dear!
This was our trip to the tree lot last Friday. It was actually a little chilly and I was sorry we didn't have big jackets. It just made it seem more winter-y. We found the perfect tree pretty much right away, which is very unusual, and the kids wanted to explore the little trees. Ya-ya and Bubba found some just their size. It was Gi-Gi, though, who came home with the prize. Ever since she was a baby, people have just wanted to give her stuff for free (I wish I had that gift). I don't know why that is, but complete strangers will just give her things. Such was the case last Friday. She was admiring the little "Charlie Brown" Christmas trees and one of the workers asked her if she wanted one. She is so proud of that little tree and takes excellent care of it! It's now sitting in our kitchen where she is graciously sharing it with the whole family.
Bubba and Ya-ya were just fascinated with putting rocks in the trees' water. For some reason that's incredibly entertaining.