Merry Christmas 2010

Hello there! It's been a while.:o) I think facebook has officially taken over as my "go-to" place for posting pictures and information. My poor, sad little blog has been very lonely.:o) Well, we are finally settling back in to our routine now that Robert's 3 week Christmas break is over. We had a wonderful Christmas and loved that he got to be home with us for so long. This was a sad week for us...we miss daddy! But, we have been keeping very busy with pre-school! I have begun the homeschooling journey with Lily and we are having so much fun! There was a point in time when I wanted to be a teacher...and now I am! And to my own daughter no less. What a blessing! Here are some of our Christmas pictures as well as Lily's first week of school. Maybe I'll be back sooner next time.:o)

Our tree on Christmas morning. Santa was good to us.;o)

Lily got an art desk. This is actually the desk I was able to get a deal on last Christmas. Now it is finally out from hiding in the garage and full of markers, paints, paper, coloring books and all sorts of things for Lily to unleash her creativity!

Lily LOVES princesses and Toy Story. She says when she turns 5 she wants to make her room a princess room. Now we have some great pictures for her walls.

Daddy and Lily on Christmas morning...so sweet! Look at the haul she took in...sheesh!

Have I mentioned that she loves M&M's too??

The day after Christmas we got a surprise visit from the Ferns! They are dear friends who moved to Texas at the same time we were in China getting Lily. We miss them very much and are so happy they were able to stop by for a visit!

Lily and Reagan. Reagan was Lily's age (4) the last time we saw her when we went to visit them in Texas. Now she is 7. What a beautiful young lady she is becoming...it happens so fast! Lily also got a Cinderella dress-up set for Christmas from our friends Martin, Valerie and Hannah. Did I mention she LOVES princesses???

The Ferns!!

New Years weekend was pretty wet here...actually the whole Christmas season was pretty wet! But New Years weekend was wet and cold. It didn't snow here, but there was snow on the hills around us. It made for a gorgeous view. We decided to take an adventure and find some snow to go play in. Lily and I loved it! Robert...well, he is more of a warm weather kind of guy.:o) But he was a good sport!

Daddy with his camera...and Lily loving the snow.

Brrrrr! The wind that whips on your face when you are swinging makes you REALLY cold!

Following daddy's footsteps.

We have officially begun the journey into homeschooling! Well, it won't be "official" until we start kindergarten in September, but I found this great pre-k curriculum so we decided to start that now to help us get into the routine of school. Lily loves it and is having so much fun! She loves to do the craft projects and is so excited when she is able to figure something out on her own. She loves learning and I hope she stays that way.

Week 1...letter A. We'll be focusing on one letter of the alphabet each week.
"A" is for angel.:o)

Trying really hard to figure out "astronaut".

Her first mini lapbook completed. She'll have one for each letter of the alphabet which will be such a great resource later...and such a special keepsake.

This was day 3. We got to combine a fun project with the book "Ten Apples Up On Top". We've read that book many times before so she had a lot of fun with it.

Gluing apples on her "head".

I love how she drew her head! Great job baby girl!!

Easter 2010

Lily dressed in her Easter best looking for those candy-filled eggs!

Counting her loot after the hunt...

I had to take a picture of our delicious raspberry lemon cake from Susina Bakery. Yum!

Matthew 28: 1-7
Jesus Is Risen!
Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave. And behold, a severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it. And his appearance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. The guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men. The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid; for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified. "He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said. Come, see the place where He was lying. "Go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead; and behold, He is going ahead of you into Galilee, there you will see Him; behold, I have told you."

Merry Christmas!

Yes, it's a little late, but better late than never, right?;o) We had a wonderful Christmas celebrating the birth of Jesus and trying so hard to teach Lily the real reason for the season. It is so important to us, and because she knows how important it is to us, we hope it will become important to her. Now of course we did our fare share of "helping the economy" this year as well. How could we not when we get smiles like this??:o)

Mommy went a little overboard this year with the stockings...we needed 2 of them to hold all of her stuff!

She was so excited to see this feather boa! Every time we go to Michael's she wants to go see the "feathers". And to think she used to be afraid of them.


Her favorite show now is "Super Why". She absolutely loves it, and it's educational too!:o) Princess Presto is her favorite and daddy found this great dress up outfit for her.

Lily loves all things kitchen related. She got some new Kitchen Littles this year...many thanks to Mantha and Jenny.:o)

These "Fur Real" toys are amazing! They move and make noises and are just adorable! Lily named hers "Effie Flower Panda" and caries her around like a real baby. She is a very good Mommy to Effie.

And the "piece de resistance" (said with a perfect French accent of course)...

I only wish I had captured the actual look on her face when she saw this, but my little point and shoot camera was a little slow. Let's just say she was VERY excited...and that is a big understatement.

This face made it all worth it.:o)

We have had many delicious meals made by Lily in her kitchen. It is so nice, I told her it's even nicer than mommy's kitchen...to which she responded, "Yes but my kitchen doesn't have a dishwasher...or a toaster!".

We had a lovely Christmas celebrated with our family and a great friend (who makes amazing rolls by the way!) After the holidays were over, it came time to "clean up Christmas". When I mentioned this to Lily, she kept asking about her kitchen and if we could give it to her again next year. I didn't understand at first, but finally figured out what was going on in her head. She thought that by "cleaning up Christmas" it meant we were going to put all of her new presents away until next year! Poor sweet thing. She just loves that kitchen so much and even though she thought we were going to put it away, she didn't get upset, but simply asked if she could get it again next year. Boy...what a sweet and precious girl we have. To this day she still says, "Thank you for my kitchen mommy. ILOVE it!". We are so blessed.

United for Easter

This post title has a double meaning:
1...Robert and I were blessed to be able to go see the Steven Curtis Chapman/Michael W. Smith "United" tour on Saturday in Long Beach. It was an amazing show, needless to say. It was the first time seeing Steven in concert since he lost his daughter, Maria, last May. I know I spent pretty much Steven's entire set list in tears. I won't speak for Robert, but let's just say I did hear a sniffle or two come from his direction.:o) Steven is one amazing man of God and I just can't put into words how moving it was to see him up there praising God after going through such a trial. He was so open and honest about how he and his family have been struggling and how they had to decide if they really believed what he had been singing about for so many years. Believe me...they do! It was a blessed night.
2...and even more importantly, Robert and I celebrated our 12th anniversary being "united" in marriage on Easter Sunday! It was kind of neat that our anniversary fell on Easter this year. We went to church in the morning and heard a great message about why we believe what we believe is true. The Christian faith means nothing without the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We learned about the 3 witnesses, Mary, Peter and John, who saw that He was no longer in the tomb. We learned about the hundreds of witnesses who saw and touched Him after He rose from the dead. And we learned how blessed we are because we believe, even though we have not seen.

'I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come." Ephesians 1:18-21

After the service we came home to get ready for a luncheon with the family. (First though, Robert had a brief meeting with a couple who is getting married this Friday who's wedding he is shooting. Whoohoo!) We had a great time with them and some wonderful food too. Lily had a blast coloring eggs and searching for them later. Here are some pictures of our day.

Lily and Auntie Ellen coloring and decorating eggs.

The most beautiful eggs I've ever seen!

Lily hunting for eggs. We hid plastic ones though. I didn't want to risk a real one getting left out in the yard...peeeyew!

An adorable picture of Lily by our hydreangea bush.

Showing off her prize.

There were eggs hidden in the cala lillies too.

Another find...so proud!

After the hunting was over, of course she wanted to find out what was inside. So exciting!

Of course there was some candy...

And what good would it be if she didn't get to eat some!?!?

She also got some fun Curious George stamps. Her favortie cartoon and one of her favorite things to do...stamp with mommy!

The raspberry lemon cake I made for dessert. It was more raspberry than lemon, but it was very yummy!

Lily and Nai Nai.