Merry Christmas!

It's 7:15am, Christmas Eve, and I'm enjoying a nice cup of tea in front of the Christmas tree, in the quiet and stillness that comes while my two favorite boys are sleeping. There has been hustle and bustle the past couple days ...well-weeks, preparing for this wonderful holiday. Today, however, as we really begin to celebrate Christmas, I am determined to sit back and really enjoy it all. I will think upon our Savior's birth and meditate on how His birth in a manger, over 2000 years ago, has changed my life forever. And today, although I am celebrating His birth, I cannot help but remember His death and resurrection...the two events that have given me LIFE. Yes, it's fun to spend time with family, exchanging gifts, laughing, eating and making memories. But may we not forget the greatest gift that we were given, in the form of a sweet baby, Jesus.

I'm pretty certain I won't be online tomorrow to wish you all a very Merry Christmas. So, from my family, to yours...Merry Christmas. And, if you haven't taken the time to think upon the birth of our Savior, make sure you don't let this holiday pass by without taking time to meditate on the real significance of Christmas.

Let it snow!

We're so used to warm weather, even in December, that this weeks cold weather has been a very welcomed surprise. On Wednesday we took a quick drive up to Oak Glen where it was snowing and watched Noah as he experienced snow for the first time. Not only was everything white with snow, it was actually snowing. How fun! Here are a few pics of our little snow adventure. :)

Getting bundled up to go:

Noah with his snow bibs on:

Our little brown marshmallow:

Getting ready to go in the snow:
He didn't want to turn around for the pictures:

Updated picture

My new header is the latest picture of Noah in front of our Christmas Tree. I had a very limited amount of time to get this snapshot (it was right before bed) and although it's not the brightest of pics, I thought it was a fun one. Enjoy a couple of the others snapshots I got...he's was such a good sport. :) As you can see I was desperately flipping through the settings to find the right one...I really need to get to know my camera better. :) Enjoy!

Celebrations Galore

This my first night home since last Wednesday, and truth be told, if Hylke and I hadn't agreed that we would make no plans tonight, we might be out. Although it's exhausting at times, we've had so much fun at all of our Christmas events enjoying this wonderful time of year. We leave tomorrow for a little 2 day trip to Disneyland. We thought it'd be fun to stay over night this time so that we could take our time enjoying D-land at Christmas. I know Noah will just love all the decorations. He gets so excited to see our Christmas tree and the "yights" outside.

I start seeing the doctor every other week this month! WOW! I can hardly believe how quickly the time is going by. Here's my most recent prego picture:

I'm back....

I've been really bad at updating my blog, sorry. We had a great Thanksgiving; visiting both sides of the family on the same day wasn't as overwhelming as I anticipated it being. Noah did a great job and slept the whole time we were on the road! We truly have much to be thankful for! While we were at my parents house we attempted a family picture. We ATTEMPTED. Here's some of what we got:

I'm thinking this one is probably our best one:

At least Hylke and I were able to look at the camera and smile at the same time! :)

I guess naptime isn't the best "let's take a family picture" time! :)

Trying to get a cute picture of Noah in his Thanksgiving "outfit" (can you use that word for boys too??) wasn't easy either. Like I said, naptime is not a good "smile for the camera" time. :)

Finally, one where he is looking at the camera!

This past week has been a full week. We were gone Sunday-Monday morning saying goodbye to some of our closest friends, Mark and Amber Poncy. Our friendship with the Poncy's has grown over the past 5 1/2 years. The first time I met Amber was at our wedding (she was Mark's girlfriend at the time, and his guest to our wedding). Hylke and I were both in their wedding, have served in ministry with them, have boys that are 2 1/2 weeks apart and are expecting girls 6 weeks apart. Mark recently accepted a position as a high school youth pastor in Littleton, Colorado, so they packed up and moved out this week. We are glad we got some time with them before they left. And, to all my CO friends, it looks like we'll finally be making the trip to visit everyone! We've been intending on making a trip, but we actually have something on the calendar now!!

Tuesday was a day of recovery for me and Noah: unpacking, laundry, cleaning....all the fun stuff. :) Wednesday Noah and I went to an open play time at My Gym. We (Noah) had a blast climbing, jumping, spining and figuring out how best to make mommy run all around. :) I'm realizing that being pregnant, and chasing an 18 month old (tomorrow) all around My Gym is, well....exhausting! We both took a great nap afterward.

This coming week is even more full than this one has been! We have a JH service project, 2 Christmas parties, an overnight trip to Disneyland and dr.'s appointments! WOW! I'm less than 3 months away from having sweet Elliana. With December already flying by, I know it won't be long. Here are a couple little prego pictures (26 1/2 weeks):