Happy 6!

Six years ago I walked down the aisle to my version of Prince Charming. A lot has changed since then. We've experienced better and worse, richer and poorer, sickness and health, good times and bad, joy and sorrow. Through it all, God has blessed us beyond measure. Justin, I'm so glad He gave me you (for the ups and downs). I love you to the moon and back. Happy 6!

A walk down memory lane...

Luke: 15 Months

Luke, you are fifteen months old!

Here's what you're up to these days...

• You weigh 25lbs.
• You are 33 inches long.
• You are wearing 12 and 18 month clothes and size 5 diapers.
• You are a great nighttime sleeper. I usually lay you down around 6:30PM on school nights and you sleep until 6:30AM. You are getting better about staying up a little later on weekends and sleeping in. We've been out of school for the last week and you've been going to bed between 7 and 8 and sleeping until 8 or 9:)
• You still don't nap great at daycare, but you are taking decent naps at home.
• You LOVE milk, tolerate juice, and like to drink anything out of Mommy or Daddy's cup (or Maz's or anybody who will let you).
• You'll eat just about anything. I wouldn't even venture to say what your favorite foods are...you just love to eat:)
• Your new favorite snack is the squeeze pouches...Santa just happened to fill your stocking with a bunch of them. You will go get one off the shelf and bring it to us.
• You are a full blown walker...you took off on your 14 month birthday, and you haven't slowed down since.
• You. are. into. EVERYTHING.
• You are SO smart...we can tell you just about anything and you know exactly what we're talking about. If we say "go to your room", "take this to the trash can", "put this away", "go get your milk", etc. you do it. It amazes me how you can respond to directions long before your spoken vocabulary is expanded.
• You are saying more and more words - this month "papa", "thank-you" (which sounds more like "k-ku"), "cup", "this" (dis), and "that" (dat) have been added to your vocabulary. There may be more, but that's all I can think of at the moment. :)
• You have twelve teeth - four top, four bottom, two top molars and two bottom molars.
• You had your first haircut this month.
• You are still the most precious boy in the world! We love you!

Sleepovers & Sore Losers

Last night I had the bright idea that Emma and I would have a sleepover in the living room. Justin blew up an air mattress, we ate junk food, watched movies, played games, etc. Sounds great, right?

The thing I seemed to have forgotten about sleepovers is that you wake up the next morning feeling exhausted from the lack of...oh, sleep? Somewhere around 12AM the girl finally gave it up.

I mentioned games...well, I pulled out the dominoes and decided Emma was big enough to play. What I underestimated was her competitiveness...why I underestimated it, I have no idea. She is just.like.her.daddy.! If she thought she wasn't going to win the round, she would get up and leave (and may or may not have thrown a domino or two under the table so she would be "out"). Oh my...

A little tidbit about her daddy...when we first got married we played cards a lot at night (you know, B.K. - Before Kids:). We would stay up all hours of the just so he could regain a lead before going to bed. Another fun fact...we used to play putt putt golf when we went to the beach. We rarely do that anymore unless we are with friends who are competitive. He gets mad at me because I (*gasp*) play for fun! I love that man! :)

A Few More Christmases

Monday we had Christmas with the Grabens and today we had Christmas with my dad. Several photo shoots were attempted...

Luke read a book, while we got ready:)

Miss Priss got lots of lipstick and this neat little

brush/mirror from MawMaw...she's a pro already.

Playing at MawMaw Nell's...

Attempt at a picture of MawMaw, Justin, Emma & Luke...

A few of my dad, Emma, Luke & me...

Happy Birthday Jesus!

Emma was SO excited about Santa coming that she had a very hard time going to sleep last night. She pretend slept for over an hour before exhaustion finally won over excitement. At some point after that Santa delivered a few things (three to be exact...and a few goodies in the stockings:).

After much contemplation, we decided to give the big guy in the red suit a call and tell him that if three gifts was fit for a King, then three would be plenty for our wee ones. The most precious gift, after all, can be found in Luke 2.

*Side story - You may (or may not) have noticed that the lights on my tree haven't been lit in pictures posted in the last week or so. I was sitting in the recliner last Saturday and they went out...all of them...just like that. Broke.my.heart. I tried everything short of deconstructing the tree and starting over. I finally decided to to turn off my OCD tendency and live with it. In the grand scheme of things a few lights seems so minute.

Emma got a Nintendo DSI (pink, of course:), a desk,

and a baby doll. Luke got a chair, legos, and a truck.

When she first came into the living room she didn't see the video

game - the only thing she asked for. She had a look of confusion

on her face until she got to the desk. Love this look on her face!

Daddy and Emma figured it out...

...while I made homemade donuts!

Luke finally woke up around 8AM (I'm a firm believer in never

waking a sleeping baby...not even on Christmas morning:).

We finally got around to the stockings...

*That is grown-up lipstick...what was Santa thinking?!?!

Luke watched while Emma unwrapped (his and hers:).

Then Emma pitched a fit when we tried to let Luke open his own

things, so he took HIS present to her...such a sweet little guy!

Santa even left Daddy a movie he's been wanting;)

In true fashion, Luke discovered the crumbs

Santa left behind and decided to take care of them:)

My favorite part of Christmas is our 10AM church service. The kids

 come in their pjs and the adults come casual. Bro. John reads the

Christmas story as told by Luke (the doctor, not the baby:), the kids

 sing Happy Birthday to Jesus, and they share one of their gifts.

After church we headed to Nana and Papa's to

celebrate and, of course, open more presents.

We lit candles and sang once again to the baby who

made everything possible. Happy Birthday Jesus!