Christmas Morning Glimpse

Twas the morning (6am) of Christmas and all through the house,

just a few creatures were stirring including this little mouse.......who was having her breakfast with the eerie alien cat guarding the gifts Closer to 7am we heard the pitter patter of little feet, and some really big feet too And due to tradition they were made to wait on the steps until we got a good picture

And then the shouts and screams and laughter for the Dolphin pillow pet that she asked Santa for....

the hockey skates that he didn't even know he wanted.....

and the 50 flavor pack of Jelly Belly's that rocked his world!

And here is the Xbox Kinect that they just coincidentally had been planning on pooling their money together to buy(but were nowhere close!). They had no idea there was one already under the tree!

Lil' Lady got the hang of opening gifts right away, and then proceeded to open everyone else's as well

No surprise, she preferred sitting on the box rather than on the Sit & Spin waiting inside.

And since they've missed going to Hershey Park back home, hidden in their stockings were season passes to ValleyFair. This summer they can wear themselves out riding roller coasters everyday. Oh wait...that's my gift:)

It was all so fun and fantastic, but to stop and think about how much God has provided for us since last Christmas....it's literally mind boggling!In this economy, the sale of a house, the purchase of a house, and a 987 mile relocation might seem near impossible. But then when you add in being able to bring home our little girl all in the same year than you know there's only One who can make that all possible.

God is Good!

Merry Christmas 2010

The snow is falling outside and the anticipation inside is mounting! On this bright and beautiful Christmas Eve morning we wish all of our family and friends a blessed Christmas. We miss you and wish we could give our hugs in person, but since we can't....we will sing for you.

{Be sure to pause the music to the left so you can listen for your name!}

That was the best we had after almost 16 takes!

Songbird

The First Lady had a little solo in the church play. She was nervous for days and I was nervous for her. I mean, we're talkin' about a girl who's still afraid to sleep in her own bed at night. How's she supposed to get up in front of the church to sing??? She did it once before, in her kindergarten class talent show, but that was only for a few parents.

{Be sure to pause the music to the left!}

She did a wonderful job and you can almost see how relieved she was that it was over!

Her brothers were waiting for her at the end. They won't admit it, but they were proud of her too:)

We are so blessed to be able to attend such an awesome church. They had been working on this program for quite a while and the end result was quite spectacular. Thank you Jeff and Becky, Justin and Sarah and more I'm sure I've forgotten to mention. Our whole family enjoyed the production so much that we are still talking about it!

The Blizzard

So during one of Minnesota's worst, we holed up inside and revved up the holiday spirit. We decorated trees, 3 in all

And I told the story how when we were little, my brother and I used to lay under the Christmas tree and look up to see the lights and ornaments. Lil' Lady saw them wedged under there and had togive it a try too

Our oldest got up early that morning and helped me make the ice candles. Knowing it would hit minus ten by evening, it was a good day to get'em in the garage to freeze.

Apparently he thought it was cold enough in the kitchen for those
ear muffs

Then after some movies,a long nap and 17 more inches of snow, we made our Christmas cookies. If you recall, last year's endeavor was a disaster.

This year, with our new oven and our good cookie sheets we got the job done

even though some couldn't help sampling the decorations

The kids counted 96 cookies total, and so far we've made a pretty good dent in them!

However, since then we've had four more inches during the week with 5 more in the forecast for this Tuesday. Me thinks we're going to run out of cookies.

Stay Tuned.....

...for another post soon. Back to work for only a week and I feel like I'm months behind at home! We're right in the middle of a pretty hefty blizzard right now so it's been easy to play catch up this weekend. In the mean time, here's a glimpse of the Lil' Lady during her first experience at daycare. Today marks four months home. Geesh, where did the time go?

Keep in mind, we've not met other children our age before!

The Hanbok

The Hanbok is the traditional Korean dress.

Lil' Lady was given a Hanbok by her foster mother when we traveled to South Korea to bring her home. It was a bit big on her the first time we attempted to put it on her. She also let us know that under no circumstance were we to put it on her again, especially the head piece.

That was about a two months ago. Yesterday I thought we'd try again before she grew too big to wear it. This time? Well, this time, I believe she thought it was quite awesome!
{Be sure to pause the music to the left!}

But enough was enough after mom's hour 45minute photo shoot!

The Appointment Part 3~ Sunday Snapshot

So this guy knew it was coming. For almost three weeks he waited knowing it was his turn next. You see, I scheduled him last for a reason- he loves the anticipation almost as much as the actual thing he's waiting for.

So I felt some pressure in planning his day. It would have to be centered around eating, since that's his thing you know.

Now these aren't pics from his day because like his big brother, he's not into mom "filming" the event so I rounded up some unseen pics from the last few months that I happen to adore.
Yeah, I know. They capture his two favorite things- phyical activity and food.
And since creativity is definitely not his thing I had to throw this one in.

I really enjoyed planning and spending some one on one time with these three. They really have been great siblings to the lil' lady~ I'm so proud of them. And speaking of the lil' lady, well, I was blessed to have been able to spend her first three months here at home with her before going back to work in a week. It'll be hard to go back- I've really loved being home to see her blossom and to see the others off to school and to be there when they get home...maybe someday it can be permanent! Either way, God is Good