Christmas 2012

We are blessed, 

and Christmas was just the icing on the cake of a wonderful year.

Granted, it wasn't always rainbows and smiles.

Clare, our sweet and nurturing little 4-year-old, was equally as excited about giving gifts to her teddy bear as she was about receiving them.  Here they are in matching dresses, and below is a video of Clare presenting Pinkie with a Christmas Gift.

 The whole Durham gang was together, 

and we went to Christmas Eve service together on Monday evening.

 Clare was wiped out and fell asleep right before we left for church.

 Her energy quickly returned when we opened the traditional
"one present on Christmas Eve" gift.

 She opened a really special memory book from her Aunt Marcie and Uncle Brian.

 She LOVED seeing all of the special pictures from our family vacation this summer.

 Daddy and Clare sprinkled reindeer food on the lawn 

so that Santa would know where to land.

Santa had no trouble finding us, and he gobbled up his cookies and hot chocolate.

 CHRISTMAS MORNING!

This was one of the gifts that Clare made for Mema and Papa.

Isaac, who is totally car obsessed, loved playing with his new cars.  He organized them in his new garage, and that kept him entertained throughout most of the morning.
Phil had fun with that too!

After a wonderful day, lots of family fun, and a fantastic Christmas FEAST (salmon, steak, grilled peppers, sweet potatoes, portobello mushrooms, and green beans), we finished the day with our annual BIRTHDAY CAKE FOR JESUS!

Happy Birthday, Jesus!

 

 I've been a huge Christmas fan ever since I was a little girl.  I was ALWAYS the first one out of bed, and I relentlessly tortured the rest of the family until they joined me next to the Christmas tree.  Once again, I was the first one out of bed this year (although our anxious little girl, whose apple doesn't fall far from her mother's tree, wasn't far behind).  I enjoyed spending the first few minutes of Christmas morning in reflection of how deeply blessed we are to have a Savior that was born so that we could live.  My prayer for 2013 is to begin every day with that same profound gratitude.

Just for fun...

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

Legoland

We went to Legoland last Friday, and it was a really fun day (for the most part).

 We had never been there, but Clare has asked about it ever since she saw the first commercial a couple of years ago.  Phil acquired some free tickets (what a blessing),
so we decided to make a day of it.

 The handsome guy in the middle put on a good face for being completely sick the entire time that we were there.  He had a strange case of the flu, mixed with a lingering headache and constant nausea.

Isaac, who was too small for most of the rides, 

was happiest when he was playing in the Lego Villages.

Clare was happy the entire time!

 She LOVED going on the rides...ALL OF THEM!

 She is absolutely fearless, and she rides every roller coaster with her hands in the air.

Jousting Horse Ride

 Isaac stayed entertained with tasty snacks...lip-licking good!

Clare had her first driving experience.

 As you can see, she could use some practice!

The car, behind my brood, is made entirely of Legos.

Overall, it was a really fun day.  Clare has asked to go back at least once a day.  We feel fortunate that we live in America's playground, and that we have access to world-class amusement parks all around us.  We love Florida!

Right of Passage???

Why the tears?

Why the shame?

Why, oh why, oh WHY???

Our little Rapunzel let down her golden hair this afternoon.

After noticing wispy bangs that have never been there, 

the conversation went something like this:

Me: "Why does your hair look different?"

(My Mom taught me to avoid "yes" and "no" questions in situations such as this.)

Clare: "I cut it."

Me: "WHY?"

Clare: "It was getting in my eyes, and I couldn't see my craft...so I just cut it."

Me: "Where did you put the hair?"

Clare: "Just on the floor in your room."

The picture above is what we pulled out of her ponytail...

not what we found on the floor in our bedroom.

She was very remorseful (as you can see in the video above), and she didn't want to look at the clumps of hair that I kept pulling out of her ponytail.  She cried for quite a while, and she kept saying, "I want long hair again."

Thankfully, the major damage was on just one side of her head.  It is very obvious to me, but it could have been MUCH WORSE!  Hopefully, this was a one-time learning experience...as it was for my sister, Ann/Ninnie, when she was about this age.

A Little of This and That

It is already December, and I feel like it should still be September.  The months are flying by, and we've had far more to show for them than what the blog suggests.

We are thankful for Christmas celebrations that help us feel like we're in the midst of the holiday season.  The 80 degree weather is AWESOME, but it doesn't feel like Christmas is just around the corner.

Isaac continues to be a ham!  He thought it was hilarious when he colored his lips with orange marker, and we think it will be funny when he looks at it someday and thinks we let him wear makeup.

Phil has had some fun with penguins over the past month.
 Here is a little snippet of him on the news this week. 

  He drove up to Virginia to pick up six penguins, and he's been taking care of them as part of the Christmas Town event at Busch Gardens.

You can see some pictures on the website.  Below is a snapshot from the Busch Garden's Christmas Town webpage...featuring Penguins, Jimmy Osmond, Jars of Clay, AND SnowWorld (with Clare and Phil Hillary).

In other "news"...

 My amazing husband helped me roll, cut, and decorate 72 cookies for a cookie exchange.  What took us way too long would have taken just me even longer.  We had plenty of dough and frosting to keep us hyped up, and they turned out really well.

 This was how a few of the cookies were displayed.

Here's the crew doing what they do best!

We had Jars of Clay over to our house for lunch on Sunday, and that was a really neat experience.  There is something extremely surreal about watching your 4-year-old daughter play hide-and-seek with a Grammy-winning band whose music you grew up listening to.  (I know that I just ended that sentence with a preposition...which kind of makes me skin crawl...by I didn't get enough sleep to creatively think of a way around it.)

We are looking forward to the upcoming visits (from Ninnie, Mema, Papa) for Christmas, and there are sure to be several blog worthy events during that time.

Snow in Florida

Real SNOW in Florida!

It is during this time of year that we LOVE living in Florida.  The weather is perfect, the sun shines beautifully EVERY day, and we have our windows open 24/7.  Being that we still have some Michigan blood (although I think that has pretty well thinned out completely), there's a tiny desire to see snow during the holiday season.  TINY!  TINY!

Busch Gardens, the amazing place where my husband is fortunate to work, started a new family tradition this year...Christmas Town.  The entire park sparkles with thousands of lights, and they have unique attractions that are only featured in the evening (i.e. PENGUINS that Phil drove all the way to Virgina to rent for the month).

Clare LOVED SnowWorld, and we loved the fact that we didn't have to travel outside of Florida to experience SNOW!  :)