Holiday Greetings

We're home now and are enjoying looking through the 327(!) pictures that we took this weekend. Here are a few highlights.

We did a wonderful nativity. Ivy was a darling Mary and Luke loved being Joseph. Noah must have enjoyed his role as baby Jesus too, he just smiled and kicked through the whole thing. Luke and Ivy took their roles very seriously. Ivy rode into Bethlehem on a donkey (Nat is getting very good at being a beast of burden-- he was an Elephant at Luke's circus party) then she had baby Jesus while Joseph went looking for marshmallows (in case they got hungry while they were there, he said). The whole thing was as sweet as it could be.

I couldn't resist doing matching outfits for the boys. They both looked very cute in their argyles. Noah LOVES his big brother.
We went to the Walnut Room in what is now Macy's. It was sad to see the Macy's logo all over what used to be Marshall Field's but it didn't seem like much had changed in the restaurant. This is the best family picture we have gotten with everyone since Noah was born-- neither child is crying.
Luke loved going to see Santa at Macy's. The whole thing was very sweet. He told Santa that what he wanted for Christmas was "Cars" when Santa asked if he wanted anything else he said, "No, just Cars". His Christmas wish was granted and he even got to watch the movie Christmas day.

We had a wonderful holiday. We only wish that we could have been with all our loved ones. We're looking forward to continuing the celebration out west with the rest of our family.

Sunday Best

Here's our boy all dressed up for church. Isn't he getting big?

I sat down to nurse the baby...

I am understanding why mom hates Christmas packaging and Easter grass so much. We got a package with Christmas gifts from Nat's aunt and uncle this afternoon. Noah needed to eat right after we opened it up and Luke decided that it was going to snow in our house. He then decided that snow was not enough. He dumped the box of oatmeal squares in with the packaging and told me that it was "pepper". Then he tore apart his coloring book and added it to the mix. It is unreal how quickly that boy can mess. He has messing skills.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Hey everyone, I just wanted to tell you all a cool story. Last week I was bah-humbuging Caleb's attempt to play Christmas music. The very next evening there was a knock at my door and Emily and Aaron were standing on my welcome mat with a little Christmas tree. I have to say that it was one of the best Christmas surprises I have ever gotten. All of the sudden I was dipping pretzels in chocolate, helping Emily put the lights on, and telling Caleb to turn on that music. It was such a great opportunity for me to get into the Christmas spirit. After Emily left I put up the rest of my decorations. I love these snowflakes and hanging them in front of the mirror was a great suggestion on Emily's part. (like any of her decorating suggestions aren't brilliant.) Anyway, she wanted to see pictures when I got the lights up, and I finally have. So here you go Em. i know you probably weren't wanting me to be effusive, but oh well. It's me. What did you expect? I love you all.


p.s. you can see our cinderblock bookshelves in the reflection here. how newlywed is that? haha.