Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas

from our family

to yours.

Know that Jesus loves you.

He really, really does.

A Baptism and a Birthday

When I started this blog,

I intended it to be a journal of sorts, a family scrapbook,

a way to share some pictures of my adorable children with family & friends,

and sometimes a place to share some of my thoughts.

Lately, it's become more of a photo-essay type of thing;

I've not written many words

nor documented much of our life.

I'd like to return to more of my original purpose--

I'll work on that...

I've done this type of post many times,

and now will do so again:

in order to do a little catching up....

Cecelia was baptized on December 7th.

My mom made her gown.

 Our friends Knut and Gretchen are her godparents.

It ended up being a rainy-icy-snowy morning

but we all arrived safe and on time.

(When Ruby was baptized, a freak October blizzard made its appearance;

we went in the ditch on the way to church

and were a 1/2 hour late.)

I served dinner for our family after church with the help of my parents and siblings.

We also celebrated Elizabeth's 3rd birthday.

 My uber-talented friend Monica made this cake for me.

(I forgot to get a picture before it was cut.)

Big cake.

Little girl.

She was absolutely tickled with this cake!

 She calls this her "birs-day baby" (birthday baby)

from her godparents, Pastor Mark and Sara.

 Our Cecelia with Knut and Gretchen's daughter Silje

 Look closely--

it's Ivy Joy in the balcony!

Get it? 

(I'd like to recreate this picture, but it'd be best with a 50mm lens

which I don't have but want really bad.)

 Cece with my parents.

with Dennis' parents

Here is LittleBit on her real birthday, Dec 12th.

Turning "fee"

We had Christmas with Dennis' side of the family on Saturday

and the kids' Christmas program yesterday but I haven't loaded the pictures yet.

Maybe tonight?  Maybe.

I Get to Be Her Mama

 This baby girl...

she's growing into a deLIGHTful little baby.

The first weeks were a bit sketchy;

she barely slept, cried so often, and nursed round the clock.

She was a challenge

and shook my confidence daily.

*cue Simon and Garfunkel's song "Cecelia"

which I have sung repeatedly* 

But now?

She's happy.

She sleeps.

She smiles and is even starting to laugh.

She nurses and is satisfied.

She's just plain ol' sweet.

 This one is blurry but I still like it.

*sigh*

And I get to be her mama.

Rockin' Chairs, Rockin' Babies

These two...

They are buddies.

These pictures were taken when I found them

each rocking a dolly

in the rocking chair in my room.

Babies rocking babies.

and tickling and giggling

and smiling for the camera

so nice!

And then I stopped taking pictures

because they started to fuss and squabble over the dolls 

and the invasion of personal space.

It was very cute while it lasted.

Wordless Wednesday: Abram & Ruby

I'm Blessed: This Guy

I haven't done a post like this for quite awhile.

Gretchen usually does these

so I'm linking up with her.

I want to tell you how this guy blesses me.

 Andrew turned 12 last month.

He and Abram are best friends.

When Andrew wakes up, the first kid he looks for is Abram.

And vice versa.

 Abram is obsessed with taking Andrew's hat.

He thinks he is SO foxy when he has it on and Andrew doesn't!

It's Andrew's work hat, so it's only off of Andrew's head if he's inside--

a win-win for Abram:  Andrew and Andrew's hat.

 Andrew is very patient with little ones.

Andrew can handle Abram when he decides to "go boneless"

which is what Abram does when the world does not go his toddler way.

 Abram knows he's always got a guy

who will play ball with him, race cars, shoot imaginary guns (and react accordingly),

snuggle on the couch, or give him a drink of pop...

....oooorrrrrrrrr wrap tape on his wrists and a strip on his forehead

so he looks like a superhero after he's spilled said pop all down his shirtfront

and then bring him to Mom to make growly tough-guy sounds

while roughing around in the living room.

Yep--Andrew's the guy for that, too!

Elijah

Our big and middle kids sometimes get overlooked 

here on my blog or facebook because I don't take as many pictures of them.

I'm trying to do better with the middle kids--

my bigger ones do NOT like me to take their picture!

Elijah was given this great hat by one of our grown up friends at Awana.

He was absolutely thrilled because it looks like one Indiana Jones would wear.

His first thought was, "I can't wait to show Nathaniel!"

 Elijah turned 8 this month.

See?

He is growing so tall.

I also see so many other ways that he is growing.

I've spent a lot of time just observing him with the others,

noticing he's not so "little" anymore.

It's one of those proud-but-just-a-little-sad-about-how-quickly-time-passes 

kind of feelings.

I think we have a word for that in the English language--nostalgia.

Elijah enjoys playing cars, drawing pictures, playing spies,

writing special notes, hunting, reading books, and playing outside.

(Their first snow creations of this winter)

Elijah has a special spot in his heart for Baby Cece,

asking often if he can be the one who gets to hold her.

He is quite a deep thinker

and comes with difficult questions

or keen observations.

His quick wit makes conversation delightful.

Snow Baby

Winter came and stayed a little earlier than usual

for our neck of the woods.

My kids have not complained--

they look forward to winter.

Sledding, snowmen, sledding, snow angels, sledding, snowball fights, 

and sledding!!

Elizabeth was excited to go out and play, too.

The snow was especially swirly on the day I took these

and kept blowing in her eyes.

"Snow in mine eyes, Mama!"

She likes to lick the snow off of her gloves

and knows the rule about colored snow. ;)

The Boy Can Cook

It's important to me that my sons learn how to cook--

not just for themselves, but for a group.

Besides the obvious macaroni & cheese, ramen noodles, chicken nuggets, and frozen pizza,

the boys are branching out to being able to prepare more "real" food.

Christopher's specialty:

chocolate chip pancakes!

Wordless Wednesday::Baby

Graduation

Wasn't that funny?

That one time?

When I said I'd post pictures of Nathaniel's graduation?

Hahahaha!

Back in JUNE?

I'm the only one laughing?

And it's the fake "heh, heh" kind of laugh?

And I should quit ending all these sentences with question marks?

Done.

So our oldest son graduated from our homeschool

this spring.

We hosted an open house at our church in June to celebrate.

My super amazing friend Monica made the cakes.

One "silly" 

(Nathaniel loves Batman movies.)

And one "serious".

I was busy with food and hostessing

so I asked Linnea to "take a bunch of pictures throughout the afternoon."

She said, "Of what?"

I told her, "Of people, of Nathaniel, of the grandparents, the guests,

just...random pictures of the day."

We decorated the tables with pictures of Nathaniel

The pictures I asked Linnea to take?

These are it.

I have no picture of our oldest son with us, his parents.

No photo of our whole family.

No grandparents.

I shouldn't say these are it.

I also have about four selfies of Linnea and Abram.

note to self:  you get what you pay for.