The shot in the arm that I needed!

As I'm sitting here finishing up some work on the computer Olivia approaches me and says "Are you pregnant Mama?" I quickly pull my shirt down over my belly(which is not in the best shape at the moment,) and say "NO!" Olivia-"O, you look pregnant." Shane hears her and says "Olivia, that's not nice!" I say to Shane, "actually, that's just the motivation I've needed to get back in to my workout routine!" Yes, I've fallen off the excersice wagon, but today, I officially start back up--Thanks for the encouragement Liv :")

More Christmas to come

We hope you all had a blessed Christmas. One thing that I really missed this year was our Christmas Eve service at church. We left thinking we had plenty of time to get to church, however it took us over an hour to get halfway there. Unfortunately, we never made it. So, we stopped by my parents and had my Dad's famous BBQ burgers.

Christmas Day was lovely, spent with my family at our house. We had lots of yummy treats, drinks, dinner, and the best part was just lounging around and being together. We have more Christmas fun to come. We were supposed to spend Christmas Eve with Shane's side of the family. However, my poor sister-in-law got really sick on Christmas Eve :( So, next week we'll have our extended Christmas with the Lofstedt/Walker/Sander Family.

This is the first year that Olivia was excited about Santa--well, I shouldn't say excited because she still doesn't really want to think about him. Nolan isn't a big fan quite yet, he bawled when we took him to get his picture with Santa. On Christmas eve Liv asked Shane and I "Is Santa coming right now?" I need to get to bed, I don't want to see him!" She loves the thought of him though. We left out cookies and milk and the next morning she was thrilled that he'd been to the house and had a treat. I love the magic of Christmas through a child. Olivia couldn't believe that Santa remembered some of the things she'd asked him for, and that he actually brought gifts to her house. Watching Liv this year brought back so many memories of those sleepless Christmas Eve nights when I was a child. I remember being so excited that I couldn't sleep a wink. My brothers and I would get up around 5AM and try to drag my poor sleep deprived parents out of their bed. Something that I'll be experiencing with my own children in the years to come. I hope you all experienced the joy of Christmas and celebrating Jesus in your home & hearts as well! Lots of pictures to come later!

A Christmas Celebration-Ballet Style

Last Thursday Olivia had her first ballet performance. It was so cute! There were quite a few dances, and songs celebrating Christ and that was pretty awesome too. We enjoyed the entire program from watching the advanced, and beginner ballerinas. I didn't realize how emotional I'd get over watching my baby girl dance. I felt a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes. I can't believe how grown up she's getting, and that she actually got up on stage and performed. The Lord has continued to move mountains for her as she's finally growing out of being away, or separated from Shane and I. There is no way she would have gotten up on that stage last year, she would have been terrified. Here's a short video(because I took it with my camera,) and some pictures. Liv, we loved watching you dance, and are so happy that you've found something that you enjoy. Bravo sweetheart!

O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree, Thy candles shine so brightly!

Our walk into the woods to find our "silver shamrock."
Yay, we found it, and it's a beautiful shade of greenish/silver, & has very soft needles so the kids won't get poked :)
It's HUGE, Shane had to cut like 3 more ft. off when we got home.
The boys staying warm by the fire in the cabin.

We were so excited to join our friends(who are more like our second family, sadly we missed the other half of our group,) on a Christmas tree adventure. We packed all the kids into our car, and Shane and Richie drove big red so they could hall the trees. The Wells have been going to the same tree farm for a few decades and this year they asked us to join them. It was so much fun, and a totally different experience from all the other years we've gone. The only thing that would have topped it off was if there would have been snow on the ground. I always love cutting our tree down when we're surrounded by white, white, white! Nonetheless, it was wonderful. Ted, the tree farm owner, heated up his little cabin for us so that we could go in and get warm and relax for a bit after we got our tree. So sweet! The cabin was amazing, completely restored. The kids sipped on cocoa(thanks auntie D,) and we visited for a bit until we headed home with our trees(which were like 15 feet long!) It was a very memorable day, and we learned & made new tree hunting/cutting traditions. Thanks you Wells Family for inviting us, great memories!