Uncle Bud and Auntie Irene come to visit

We had such a wonderful afternoon with my aunt and uncle last week. Unfortunately we don't see them as often as we would like. It seems like life is just always so busy and before you know it months and months has past and we haven't seen them. Such was the case this time, although I was blessed to get to see my aunt and cousin Tim while Paisley was still in the hospital. They came out after church on sunday and we had such a nice visit. The kids were thrilled to tell them all about school and what they have been learning about. They also read books, played legos, and played some games. We are hoping that it won't be quite so long before our next visit. Please keep my uncle Bud in your prayers as Tuesday morning he had chest pain and is being evaluated for a heart attack.

Visitors

Paisley and I had lots of visitors today. I am completely wiped out from it, but was so thankful to the people that came and loved on my girl. Unfortunately didn't get pictures of everybody, but we got some. This outfit that she is wearing I think is my FAVORITE! It is from her Auntie Chantal. She wanted her to have "wild girl" clothes since she is so feisty. My auntie Irene, cousin Tim and wonderful friend Stephanie all came but I got no pictures :-(

Christmas Eve

My favorite day/holiday has always been Christmas Eve at my mom's house. Since I was a little kid, Christmas Eve we have always had a birthday party for Jesus. And all kinds of people usually file through my mom's house. Families of kids that she has been a nurse for, aunts/uncles/cousins, friends etc etc. It is just such a wonderful tradition for me. Since we have gotten married this tradition has become a little bit harder, in trying to be fair to Matt some years we don't get to have Christmas Eve at my parents. And we go to his grandmothers instead. But this year was the day to have it at my parents. It was smaller this year than in the past, since half of my siblings have moved away. But it was still wonderful. And listen to this beautiful story... About twelve or so years ago my parents took 17month old twins for an emergency foster care placement for the weekend (YEAH RIGHT!). Well that emergency placement led to my parents having Seth and Sydney for the next year and a half almost. We loved these two so so much and were devestated when they were put up for adoption and my parents didnt feel led by God to keep them. But praise God a couple in our church adopted them so we have always stayed involved. They were even the flower girl and ring bearer in Matt and my wedding....

We have continued to stay close to Seth and Sydney and their adoptive family through the years. Recently Sydney has expressed some interest in knowing her birth family. So thanks to good old facebook we were able to find their older sibling. And that led to them getting together! It has been wonderful to see the four kids developing a relationship over the past couple of months. Well we had all four siblings over on Christmas Eve! Courtney and Tyler are just the sweetest most polite teenagers I have ever met. What an amazing story of God's restoration to this family :-)

My aunt Irene and Uncle Bud also celebrated Jesus' birthday with us along with their children. My sister Deanna and her husband TJ, and Darius were there as well.

I love the tradition that my parents started in singing happy birthday to Jesus. I love that it is such a visual part of our Christmas celebration. The birthday cake I made for Jesus. ..

After dinner we all go to church for our Christmas Eve service. This year a woman in our church had just given birth three days prior so we had a newborn baby as Jesus this year. It was beautiful. His parents were Mary and Joseph and his siblings were an angel and a sheperd. And our Pastor had on a cowboy hat...

And then a few pictures of the kiddos at church with family...

PT, swimming and recuperating

So I went to PT today and the therapist said "I was a mess" So not what I wanted to hear but I kind of expected it. But we are workign on getting better, so I am praising God that we have a plan and that He is sovereign and the healing WILL COME. My wonderful aunt Irene and Uncle Bud were close to here visiting and invited us down to visit and we had a wonderful visit at the pool with them. I actually got to soak my back which felt very healing. The kids just love spending time with them, and they are amazing, wonderful Godly people who I so enjoy being around. And a wonderful friend Sue brought us dinner today. Again I am feeling so blessed. Not loving the amount of pain I am in. But constantly reminded of how much God loves us no matter what. Will post pics of the weekend adventures tomorrow.

Happy Thanksgiving

To be perfectly honest I was having a really tough time thinking about thanksgiving this year. I knew that this year would be the last that my parents were up here, and I was really sad knowing that I wasn't going to be spending it with them. Due to Preston's prematurity we decided that we would stay home this year, in order to avoid exposing him to lots of people. So this year was my first year hosting thanksgiving. We origionally invited my aunt and uncle but they turned us down as they had already made plans. However yesterday those plans fell through....so they called and asked if they could come along with my three cousins. So they did. It was a really nice time, and the food came out really well. My aunt brought several dishes, and I had made several so we had a huge amount of food. My mom was so cute, and got Soph and I matching aprons and hats:-) Both of my older two kiddos had a blast helping me make the food. We made everything from scratch! I made dressing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, squash, broccoli casserole, cranberry apple pie, and of coures a GIANT turkey! The cranberry sauce came out so well, I was nervous about it but it came out good. My aunt brought several dishes too so we had tons of food.

My aunt and uncle brought a game and a toy that I used to play with as a kid at their house! When we were young children my cousins and I used to have sleep overs all the time. I very clearly remember playing this game with my cousins. It is so fun to see my kiddos playing with things I enjoyed so much as a child! The game is by Milton Bradley, and is called "Guess Who?" I don't even know if they make it anymore, but if they do I highly recommend it for your kids.

My aunt and uncle are so wonderful with kids. My kids couldn't wait for them to get here. They did lots of playing and then everyone got tired....

All three of my kiddos got to wear this little outfit for Thanksgiving. Sam and Preston were born in July and August, so I can see them fitting into it, but Sophia was born in March, and she fit into it too!!! The front says "Thankful as can be" and the back is a turkey...I love this outfit:-)