Christmas Everything

There were just not enough hours in the last 2 weeks, as a kid it felt like Christmas break was F-O-R-E-V-E-R, but not as an adult. I wish we still had another week.  I've missed the heck out of Shane, and Liv too.  Over break my Noodle was my sidekick, my little mama, helping me so much.  It's the end of the week, and back to reality, and the 3 ring circus of L-i-f-e.

Here's what we've up to the last handful of weeks.  We celebrated bIrThDaY's with friends/family.  Liv had her Christmas program and Nolan's followed a few days later.  Both were so cute, always get emotional when they are up on stage singing.  We spent Christmas at home, relaxing.  Celebrated Christmas with Shane's side of the family a few days after Christmas.  The kids thought Christmas lasted for days and days ;)  Gam makes an Enchilada dinner each year, and uses a recipe that was Shane's Dads favorite, so it's special to Shawna, Shane, & Dianne.  One of the best gifts she gave Shane this year was home videos. She transferred tons of VHS videos onto DVDs for him! We have been enjoying watching videos.  Some of his closest childhood friends are in the videos, and they start when he was around 11 years old. A priceless gift indeed. He was such a cutie pie! We have laughed and laughed watching them, especially at the clothes, and hairstyles!

We enjoyed our family time so much over the last couple of weeks, especially not having a schedule and just letting the day flow. We played lots of games, worked on puzzles, colored, played the wii(our family Christmas gift,) stayed in our pj's til noon =), read books, ENJOYED the simple things in life. My only complaint, no snow, and our winters in the Pacific Northwest don't feel the same without it.  Can't believe we're in 2012, the holidays came and went too fast this year!  *OK I know there are loads of pictures, some of my favorites since November.  A bit of a random collaboration from this winter.

I LOVE my family!

Life is SwEeT!

Christmas tree farm.

No snow this year =(

Liv is losing all of her teeth.

Leo hanging his 1st ornament.

Night of Olivia's Christmas program.

2nd Grade Cuties!

Kennadi, Liv, & Ali

So ya these boys were the only ones out of the entire preschool class to keep their faces covered during the song, they love to be silly!

Jingle Bell Fun~so cute!

These two little goofballs, Rocky & Nolan

Liv's gift to us.  She made this cute sock snowman at school.

Kites, this is perfect.  Thank you Santa, we will use these at the beach this summer!

Santa brought Leo a Glow Worm

Sleepy eyes on Christmas morning~My baby's 1st Christmas!

Nolan's favorite gift from Santa, his GI Joe Jet.  I'm sure his Papa Jerry is smiling down at him.

Shane had this same toy 30 years ago!

Nolan is really into transformers right now

Leo is looking at his food supplier ;)

He really loves just hanging out in the Bjorn

I didn't have my camera.  Gam tried to take this something obviously went wrong with her camera, bummer! 

Reflections~

As 2011 came to a close I reflected back on a wonderful year full of family, friends, LIFE in general.  My favorite new life of 2011 was Leo of course =)  Hands down the BEST part of my 2011 was LEO, everything about him!  I am forever grateful to have gotten pregnant with him,  that he lived inside of me for 10 months, something that is the most incredible gift a mother is given.  I LOVE BEING PREGNANT(through the good & bad days!)  I have realized I would do it over and over again...  And the BEST moment of all, July 28th when I brought him into this world, when my doctor laid him on my chest, and I wrapped him in my arms!  I say this all of the time, but he is truly one of the sweetest things I have ever known, I would have 5 more if they were like him...well maybe not 5 ;) 

Just a handful of hours before I met my Leo!

While there was so much JoY in 2011, there was also sadness. One of the hardest chapters of 2011 for me was when my friend, one of the most incredible souls I've ever known, was taken way too early. The absence of Michael in my life has made me very sad. I miss my dear friend so much! There truly aren't many days since he's passed(last memorial day,) that I don't think of him. I miss his laugh, his hugs, our talks, my hair appointments with him, eating salad and carrot cake at Mizuna, sharing our new favorite music(both junkies,) just him, he was such an AWESOME SOUL!!! 

As I write I also think of a friend, a mother, who is losing her only child.  Her 11 year old son has had the fight of his life, battling cancer for 7 years, and sadly is losing, his days are numbered.  DARN YOU CANCER, especially when it comes to a child, I will never understand this!  As a mom, I cannot even imagine, it is truly a mothers worst nightmare, just unimaginable, and I CANNOT fathom.  It has consumed me for weeks now.  I want to take it away for her, I(along with hundreds,) have prayed for a miracle, and each day am realizing it's just not going to happen and I wish I could understand why not!?  Even though I am not Brandon's mother, I carry this with Jo Lynn and pray that the holy spirit has filled Brandon, as well as her, and will take away this unimaginable pain.  It is one of the saddest situations I have ever heard of!  There are just no words.  Life is too short and these situations always make me think a little harder!  To appreciate everything I have, not to take life/people granted, to live peacefully,  to be GRATEFUL, and trust our loving God every day!  Now I realize it is not always that easy, and I fail at these things miserably at times.  As I write the Serenity Prayer pops into my mind, so I guess it's a good time to share it since it's on my heart.
The Serenity Prayer~

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen. 
--Reinhold Niebuhr

ChEeRs to an incredible 2012!  May you have health, happiness, love and joy! 

Holiday...this & that~

What a busy couple of weeks its been!!! *Christmas, school Christmas parties/programs, church, life, school auction stuff,  shopping, wrapping, cooking, baking, nursing, more nursing ;), delivering gifts, praying...LiFe!  In time I will post more, but still having a hard time carving out time to sit here and type away.  Especially when the 5 of us are home together, one of my favorite things in the world, our family time, I CHERISH it!!!

My side of the family celebrated Christmas last week before my brother and Tabitha headed East, and Jeff & Tara are so busy with their work schedules(both in medical field, so their jobs don't stop during Christmas time.) Tara set it up so that Santa knocked at my parents front door and then on the porch were personalized stockings & balloons. It was very cute. She also had Santa hats and mustaches for the kids. So this is us...trying to get a group shot of the Hennessy & Lofstedt kidlets. Poor baby Reegan was so over it, and you can see that she was wanting that stinken mustache OFF! These pictures are so funny & cute!

Santa Baby!

As you can see, Leo is a well fed little munchkin ;) It pains me that he will be 5 months old at the end of this month. He is such a sweet little fellow. We are having a lot of fun with him! He loves to babble, smiles all of the time, and is so interactive now. I love to watch him with his older sissy and brother, he just loves them! I would have a houseful of babies if they were all wired like him. One word I often use with him is that he is "predictable" making my transition from 2-3 a lot easier than I would have imagined. I haven't been posting many pictures, or what we've been up to lately. I plan to get caught up on that soon. For now, here are some fun pictures of my roly poly baby boy!

Ha ha, he was trying to eat the Santa hat, and it didn't taste that good...like fake fur ;)

Look at that little bod!

Yum!

Always looking for food

I would like to eat him!