Happy New Year (it's still pretty new)

Here are some pics of the kids taken on New Year's Eve. We spent the night with the J's, and thought it would be fun to take a picture of the 4 kiddos in their jammies, like we did last year. Of course, last year the littlest ones weren't going anywhere and they all lined up so nicely for the photo. This year, this is what we got. :)

Click here to see their jammies shot from last year.

Oh they've changed!

Xander and Sarah

this is a test...I'm trying to steal pictures (that were offered to me) from Lucy's Picasa page. Didn't she get a great shot of Xander with Aunt Sarah? aw. :)

Carter Rex

We were delighted to have our friends, and old housemates come for a visit over the weekend. Casey and Brian brought their little Carter Rex. He and Xander had met before, so they're old buds by now. I only got one picture, and this is it. X has his hand in his mouth, bummer, but look at C. Could he be any cuter?! He's almost 9 months old, if you're wondering the age difference between them. X is almost 15 (you should know that....). AND, Xander made cruising around the room look so fun that Carter did his first full fledged hands and knees crawling right before our very eyes. It was very exciting, but how could he not? Xander wasn't going to wait up for him, and while he already moved around the room in a super cute belly flop sort of fashion, he'll be so much more efficient on the 4s. :) Thanks for the visit, dear friends! Looking forward to your return to the big city. Maybe you can move into your dream house across the way and we'll be neighbors, unless I claim it before you get a chance... ;)

Awwwwwww. Poor little man!

So, my little man is sick. Well, he was sick, but he's almost all better. By tomorrow morning I expect him to be really, basically, totally better. But the little guy got a cold, and it presented in his eyes. They got all gooey and yucky, and while the whites of his eyes remained white, he got beet red bags under them, and his sensitive skin even got raw from the moisture and rubbing, and he was a sad, sad case. But, remarkably, kids are so incredible while sick, aren't they? Aside from crying when I tried to clean his face, you'd never know he was uncomfortable. He was the perfect patient at his doctor's visit on Monday, entertaining and impressing our stand in (Dr. K has Monday's off... timely.) and he actually giggled when the doc told us he had an ear infection (in each ear). What kind of a baby finds a doctor entertaining when he's bearing the bad news? mine. I just wanna smooch him. But I won't cause he's sleeping in bed right now. But look at him. I took some pictures Monday morning, and he even looked worse later in the day. (See our family picture taken Monday evening, it's shown a couple of posts down on this page...) He's all baggy eyed and could hardly open them up, but he's still sweet and silly and smiley. Lord, thank you for blessing our family with Alexander Elliot. What a blessing he has been to so many! And thank you for healing him of this yuckiness!

More Christmas In Review...

Okay, here are my last Christmas photos, but there are many many more out there. Particularly of Christmas celebrations, during which I'm often working in the kitchen and thankfully someone else is snapping pictures of the rest of the family. So, if you're one of those people, and you have some great shots of family Christmas, please email them to me so I can post them for the rest of us (and the world, ha) to see. And, I can just have them to enjoy too. :)

this easel was the first gift libby saw on Christmas morning.
when she came out into the den it was waiting for her, treeside, with
one of her previously painted masterpieces on display. she was thrilled!


yes, she really does love it. and so do I. (equally important.)

easily, this nalgene bottle was xander's favorite gift. when he pulled it from his stocking,
his eyes lit up and he did his characteristic xander wiggle of glee, and threw in some squeals for good measure. apparently, he has had his eye on libby's (pink one) and his very own big boy nalgene was just what he had wanted for Christmas. And yes, I was still half asleep. It was morning. Give me a break.

X's stocking also contained nutrigrain bars. So, someone was thinking practically
(breakfast) when she stuffed stockings. Unfortunately, they're one of the messiest
breakfast treats we could have offered him...

daddy and libby begin to set up xander's train set

too bad for wrappings in the foreground.
barns is enjoying his big bone in front of the fire.

my hubbs is such a cutie. i love this picture of him all messy haired
and watching his kids play so happily on Christmas morning. plus, what
a nice sweater. yowza!


libby painted her first picture on the easel.


opening gifts at grandma anna's.
i love how excited they are to find out what could be peeking out of this one.

my babe. love him.

i don't know what she was whispering to grandpa larry here,
but it sure it cute. libby is really into secrets these days.
mama, i want to tell you something as a secret. . .

zoo lights. fun idea, fun times.
we made it the night before they ended it
for the season and enjoyed seeing light displays of
alligators, polar bears, butterflies,
monkeys swinging through trees... you get the idea.
thanks, brett, for taking the pic and sacrificing having your own
cold pink nose and smiling face in this family shot!

remember Libby's painted pottery? (see November 08 Tgiving in Chicago.)
welll, Aunt Lucy and Uncle Dan came bearing gifts!
She was so excited to see it after waiting a few weeks,
and of course it looks even better than it did before it was fired and glazed!
What a treat! (the girl takes after her mama with her love for polka dots...
painted on the mug and sporting them on her shirt. love it.)

A family photo taken Monday night at our 5th and final Christmas celebration. Brian looks like he has a dream, and poor Xander looks absolutely miserable. But, I'm sure you won't be surprised to hear that despite the way he must have felt, he was as sweet as ever. I wonder how many times he heard empathetic "awwwwwww" echo around the room every time he giggled or smiled or did something sweet wearing that bruised and battered face!

Birthday Cake

Christmas is a special time for our family to celebrate the birth of Christ, and in this household, one way we celebrate birthdays, is with cake. :)

On Christmas Eve, the four of us baked a cake. We decided on chocolate (it wasn't a difficult decision) and even Xander got to participate in baking for the first time. I was surprised to find that he actually knew some of what we would be doing. For instance, he really wanted to pour things into the bowl. I didn't let him, :), but I was impressed that he'd been watching me nonetheless.

Christmas morning, after we'd opened gifts and before we had pancakes for breakfast, we decorated the cake for Jesus. A week or so beforehand, I asked Libby how she thought we should decorate the cake. What would we do to make the cake special to celebrate the birth of Jesus? She said, "show his glory." I thought that sounded perfect, and I'm so thankful for Libby's teachable heart, and that the Glory of God is what comes to mind when we think on him. And, we decided the best way we could show his glory was with lots and lots of colorful tasty beautiful candy toppings. :)

Libby takes her work very seriously.

There are several varieties of sparkly colorful sprinkles (piled on pretty thick) as well as glittery gel frosting. If I could have found more sparkly glittery shiny glorious treats to top the cake with, we probably would have.

I topped the cake with his name in white, and we were pretty excited about the outcome. No, it's nothing close to the glory of Jesus. But, we gave him all the glory for it anyway.

Finally, that evening we joined family for our fourth Christmas celebration. (there was even yet another to come.) Here, Libby and Em sit before the cake just after singing Happy Birthday to You (dear Jesus!). And, it tasted delicious. An added bonus!

End of the Year Reruns

Okay, here are some of our end of the year shots showing some of our Christmas prep and celebrations. I have to say "some" because I still have pictures on my camera... and my camera isn't at home with me, so I'm posting what I have. I need to give my faithful viewers something new, right? So, here ya go. In reverse order, from Christmas Eve to the weekend before...

As usual, we didn't remember to get everyone rounded up for a big family photo, but we did our best to photograph the kiddos with gma and gdad before they left town.

(yes, i said these were in reverse order and they are. we actually got the good one on the first try, then xander got bored and started entertaining the crowd, leaning from libby to grandad, looking for their attention.)

doug, sandy, kelsey, grandad, grandma, aunt brett, uncle mason... joining us for the weekend (and beyond) and mexican food this particular night

libby likes grandma's punch, and she likes serving it up for everyone else (who wouldn't?)

barnabas is such a good and handsome boy (and especially when he's hoping for a treat)

the kiddos are ready...

if the overturned bowl and guilty face don't clue you in to his shenanigans,
let barnabas's lowered head be the last piece of the puzzle...

libby put together quite an outfit, with a fuzzy pink sweater,
a fancy tutu, and aunt brett's new wellies

xander begins to open his first present of the season

a big box of crayons will put a big smile on a little girl's face

opening presents, and in the back left corner, typical xander.
feet on the floor is SO boring.

daddy took libby sledding. it was a fun time.

this was the "before" shot. we meant to take an "after" shot too. you know, with pink noses and snow in hair. but when they got home they stripped off the cold snowy clothes before we remembered our original plan.

2008 stockings hung by the chimney with care.
i later put the nose on the snowman on x's stocking too...

since elisabeth is an avid painter, colorer, crafter... and i prefer simple wrapping with cute details, it seemed natural to let libby paint our paper this year... she agreed.

brown paper packages tied up with strings

grandad, you didn't get to keep the paper, but here's a picture of the
masterpiece in progress. :)