merry christmas.

well, december 25th has come and gone once again. i hope that everyone had a wonderful day, enjoying time with family and friends and remembering why we are celebrating in the first place.
we had a great time today...our own special christmas morning, just the three of us. a video phone call to mike's family in austin, which totally made their day! and a really nice time with my family, including scrabble and virtually allergy free (a big victory! yay for claritin!)

we had so much fun that we didn't take ANY pictures. seriously. ANY. how retarded! my mom has some and i will try to post them when i can. meanwhile, we are still working on our family picture for our christmas, i mean new year cards..and hopefully i'll be able to get that up soon.

so, once again, merry christmas everyone. enjoy your loved ones, where ever they are, and rememeber jesus, who left perfection to come to earth to die for our sins so we could be with him in perfection. talk about the best christmas gift EVER.

adventures with uncle josh.

last week, we got to spend the day hanging out with uncle josh (my brother). we had lunch with nana at her classroom (it was her last day of school before christmas break) and then went for a looooooonng walk. we did some shopping and stopped off at the coolest park we have ever been to. it had a mini playground, just hannah's size! she had so much fun, climbing the stairs herself and tackling the ladder with only the tiniest bit of help from uncle josh. it was so hard to drag her away, i wish this park was within walking distance of our house, instead of nana's...but it just makes visiting there so much more fun...

toys and fire trucks.

so, this afternoon we were on our way to mike's optomitrist and noticed the ksgn tent.

"let's stop by after you look at your lenses and see if we can get some stickers or something."

"ok."

so we get there and it turns out that they are having a toy drive for the firefighters "spark of love" (i think that's what it was called...). we just happened to have some toys that we had purchased for christmas presents in the car and were excited at the chance to share. the radio-station-woman took some photos of us and we got to give our toys. (we also got some stickers! and hannah got a water bottle.) anyway, the firefighters were coming in their truck to pick up the toys. so, we decided to come back so that hannah could see the truck. she loved it. she got to sit in the cab and run around it and play on the back. it was really cute...but when is something she does not?...

...it got me thinking. how thankful i am for what God has done and is doing in my life. (i tend to get rather introspective this time of year, as opposed to the thanksgiving season...) we are not wealthy by financial standards, we are not successful by society's standards and yet, i feel like we have far exceeded any movie star, politician, professional athlete. God has brought together two best friends to become one. He gave them a part of themselves and Him to take care of. He prepared both of our hearts with the same desires for caring for our family. He provided a job that allows mike to provide financially for us so that i can stay with hannah full-time. He brought us to a church that has welcomed us and shared with us and taught us and blessed us and allowed us to be a part of blessing others. we live in a country where we can go to that church without fear of emprisonment or death. He has blessed us with family that loves Him as passionately as we do, who will help to pass that love on to our daughter. we have a house to live in, a car to drive, a washer and dryer to do our own laundry, money to buy food and pay our bills...it seems like the list goes on and on, but everything really just continues to point not to what we have done but what God has done. i tend to ponder during this time of year, when we are remembering Christ's arrival on earth, not only the fact that He humbled Himself to become man, but what He did as that man. that He left perfection to be yelled at and called names, to be tempted and tired, to be thought of as a lunatic and liar, to heal, to be a teacher, to bring forgiveness, to suffer, to be a savior, to be my savior. not just a baby, but so much more. i am so thankful. i pray that i can continue to look to Him as my anchor, my foundation, my guide. that i will remember that His grace is sufficent for me. for everything.

it rained on saturday night, which made some snow in the nearby mountains, which made the daddy a little bit excited...

see, he loves...loves...LOVES...to go sledding. we took hannah last year and had so much fun, we couldn't wait for the next sledding season...

so, since it is getting a bit colder down here and that means nearby snow, i started looking for some winter duds for the boog. i found these snow bibs at the osh kosh outlet store today. for nine dollars. did i mention they were NINE dollars!! they're navy blue, so they can be passed on to whoever the next sibling might be, not that any sibling is coming any time soon...but anyway...

we are now on the look out for a good snow coat and some boots for stomping around in. can't wait!!!

fun at home depot.

so, these are from a few weeks ago (which is a lot better than i have been doing!). we went to home depot to look for some wood and stuff. hannah went nuts! all of the little things, hanging on hooks right at eye level, just asking to be plucked off the shelf and ran away with! it was so much fun. she looked at christmas decorations with daddy and scoped out the lamp selection.

making dinner.

so, she's helped make smoothies and waffels (she's a pro witht the toaster!), but tonight was her first "real"cooking experience...if you can call microwaving macaroni "real"cooking. but anyway, we had so much fun. she loved stirring the noodles and adding the milk, butter, and cheese. mostly, i think her favorite part was eating it.

i can't believe how much she's grown. the baby is gone. and the little girl is constantly evolving before me. as she gave me a hug tonight before bedtime, i stole a few extra moments of snuggling. with my eyes closed, holding my gigantic, wonderful monster, i remembered those moments from oh-so-long ago when i was so exausted from holding the skinny little baby that she was all day long. but the moment i sat down to rock her to sleep, my strength was renewed and i could have held her all night long...or at least until i fell asleep...but it was amazing. and it is one of those moments i really do miss now that my little booger isn't really all that little anymore. i wouldn't go back. i soo look forward to each new day with her...today she recognised herself in a picture and said "hannah" instead of "baby" like she usually does. instead of just saying "juice" when refering to her cup, she said "hannah juice". i am having a really hard time keeping up. it's awesome.