Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to everyone! :D

We are enjoying our Christmas very much here.  We have Ryan's dad, step-mom, little brother, older brother and all of his family here. :)  It's a full house but so far, we're loving it. :)

Christmas Eve brought a special surprise for me!  It was 11 years ago on Christmas Eve that Ryan proposed to me.  He gave me this.  I LOVED my ring, it was PERFECT! :)  However, this year we celebrated our 10th anniversary and since we couldn't "go away" with a newborn, Ryan surprised me by upgrading my wedding ring to this:



It's almost (not quite) 3 times the size!  Plus, he opted with the round stone instead of a marquis because he knew my tastes were changing.  I still like marquis very much, but I also really like other cuts and like Ryan said, the round cut sparkles the most. ;)

Christmas Eve was a nice day with everyone here.  In the evening we had our traditional dinner where we eat simple foods and talk about the "first" Christmas.  We watched a 5 minute DVD of the Nativity.  Afterwards, the guys (and Grandma) took the kids out to look at lights while Jess and I cleaned up and got ready for breakfast the next morning.

This morning was SO MUCH FUN!  Santa brought stockings for everyone and we all loved our little goodies. :)  Then we opened all our gifts - one by one.  It took us a few hours but it was fun to see what everyone got. 

Ryan had a wonderful New England Sports themed Christmas!  He LOVED it!  He got a Patriots' Santa hat, a nice Patriots jacket, a Patriots badge holder,  a Patriots throw blanket, a Red Sox throw blanket and a Red Sox pillow!  Whew!  Like I said, he LOVES it!

Acadia had a day full of fun gifts too!  Too many to name, so I'll just mention a couple highlights... a 20" toy horse, a horse necklace, and a new bicycle!  She was speechless at times, which is a rare experience - so we knew she was thrilled. lol

Aurora got lots of fun stuff - lots of cute and fun toys.  Santa brought her first doll. :)  She just had fun watching everyone be excited and happy though. :)

I was surprised again when Ryan gave me an ipod shuffler!  I had thought the ring was my Christmas gift!  But no, that was our anniversary gift, given on the anniversary of our engagement.  So now I have an ipod to use while working out.  This will be very useful!!!  I also LOVED receiving a LOTR Sketchbook and one of the "Five Love Languages" books that I've been really interested in reading. :)  Lots of other cute little things - a bracelet, a gift card, a Red Sox shirt... fun stuff. :)

Like I said, it was a fun day! :)  I will post pics later, I haven't uploaded them yet. (Just the ring. lol)  We're busy having fun so it may be awhile.  Right now we're letting the kids play while we get ready for dinner.  And I just heard my Rori wake from her nap.... Gotta go!

I hope you all have a Merry Christmas too!

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

We have simply been BUSY! 

We had a great time in Idaho with our friends!  Good food, good laughs, good memories. :) 

Ryan's step-mom flew in on Tuesday and we've been having a lot of fun with her!  She and Acadia are nearly inseperable. lol  Here are some pics:





We made a gingerbread house! :)  It was looking really cute...



Until...




It started falling apart! lol  So naturally, Acadia asked, "Does that mean we can eat it now?"



Tomorrow the rest of the gang arrives.  That will mean even more fun! :D

We hope you are all having a wonderful holiday season! 

So much to blog, so little time.

I'm sorry! Life has been FULL!

Let me try to catch you up with the Reader's Digest condensed version...

On Tuesday, Cadi was in her first play! It was actually a musical and she had a speaking part. She did GREAT! Actually, all of the kids did really well, I was impressed especially since these were 2nd and 3rd graders. Good job Acadia!!!

This week we've had the heating/cooling guys here everyday. They finished yesterday, but this morning the system wasn't working right so there's a guy working on it right now. We are really excited to have it done and once this glitch is fixed we should be all toasty and warm. :)

Yesterday my new range, dishwasher, washing machine, and dryer were installed and they work great! The first meal cooked on the new stove was Cheeseburger Soup - YUM! :)

Simon (the dog) is fascinated by the frontload washer, lol. He sat and stared at the clothes going around for several minutes during the first load. Funny dog, lol.

I've been working hard on getting ready for all the exciting things coming up... We leave in the middle of the night tonight to go see friends in Idaho. The day after we get back, Ryan's step-mom flies in, the rest come on the 23rd, and then... Christmas! :D There are lots of things I've been wanting to get done and somehow I have! Amazing! lol

I finally finished sewing Rori's curtains and now her room is COMPLETED! (It's about time! lol) I got my dressers cleaned off. :) I finished mailing out all our Christmas cards and gifts. I finished Christmas shopping and wrapped most of them - still a few to wrap but I'm not worried about that. I helped Acadia clean her bedroom and playroom, including choosing a trash bag full of toys to donate. Plus this morning I have finally been able to really clean the house since all this construction began. It's all dusted and vacuumed. After Rori goes down for another nap I'll get to clean the bathrooms and mop. Then all I need to do is finish laundry and pack for our trip!

This could very well be the very first time we'll have left on a trip with the house clean! lol I'm so glad since, like I said, my mother-in-law comes in the day after we get back! There are still some things that I wish could be done. I really wish the front room was clean but since we have the old appliances in there at the moment, I can't do that today. Ryan will likely work on that later today or when we get back from Idaho. :)

So that is why I've been "absent" and why I won't be posting for the next couple of days. I hope you are enjoying the Holiday season and have a great weekend! :D

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing

Last night was our ward Christmas party/dinner.  We had a good time.  It was a lot less crowded than usual for the holiday dinner... I don't really know why.  It would have been nice to have more show up, but it was also nice not to be so packed!  We still almost filled the cultural hall and it was a good turnout. :)

The program was short and sweet.  Very sweet.

First there was a quartet of women's voices singing "Mary's Lullaby".  I love that song and it makes me cry everytime!  It's not the one that's in the Children's Songbook, it's this one:

Mary's Lullaby

All mine in your loveliness baby, all mine.
All mine in your holiness baby divine.
Sing on herald angels in chorus sublime;
Sing on and adore, for tonight you are mine.

The wise men are coming to worship their King,
The shepherds are kneeling their homage to bring.
Out yonder the star over Judah will keep.
No harm will befall thee, then sleep baby sleep.

O let me enfold thee, my baby tonight,
While legions are singing in joyous delight.
A new star has risen to hail thee divine,
For you are a king, but tonight you are mine.

Away spectered future of sorrow and plight,
Away to the years that must follow tonight.
The pangs of Gethsemane, let them be dim,
The red drops on Calvary, not Lord, for Him!

O let me enfold thee, my baby tonight,
While legions are singing in joyous delight.
A new star has risen to hail thee divine,
For you are a king, but tonight you are mine.

Sing on herald angels in chorus sublime;
Sing on and adore, for tonight you are mine.

I can just imagine Mary and how she might have felt as she held her newborn son, knowing he was the Savior of the world - her savior too!  Knowing he would have to suffer as he would.  But for that first little bit, he was just her baby.  The strong, tender feelings I have about my precious baby must be somewhat similar to how she felt about her's. 

After Mary's Lullaby, the primary sang The Nativity Song.  Most of the primary were part of an angel chorus and as they sang about each part of the nativity scene, other children came out in costume and took their place in the scene.  It was sweet and at the end we had a beautiful manger scene with a choir of angels. :)





Finally, there was a beautiful solo by a woman in our ward who seriously has the voice of an angel.  Just lovely. :)  (Even though the mic kept cutting out on her in the beginning. :(  She was great though!)

The kids did a craft at the end of the night but it was a tricky one.  I don't know if any of them were able to finish it there.  Cadi brought her's home and worked on it this morning.  She used a differet glue here and it worked much better. :)

Here is a pic of my two little angels:

We have gas!

Yesterday afternoon the gas company knocked on our door. They were supposed to come tomorrow, but the came early! They finished today and we now have gas piped to our house!

Then, this morning I got a call from the heating/cooling company who is putting in our central heat and air. They were scheduled to come tomorrow too, but they had an opening today so they wanted to start early. SURE!!! I woke Ryan up and he quickly got to work making room for them. It's been a busy day! But we are so excited! We are just a few short days away from having our central heat and air AND my new appliances all installed and available to use! :D

Nativities

I really enjoyed the annual Festival of the Nativities again this year!  We went Saturday night and as always, it was beautiful!  This year there was a live nativity too!  Acadia was excited because when Mary and Joseph were traveling, they used a real, live horse!  (I guess it was kind of hard to find a real, live donkey, lol.)

Here are a couple of the pics I took...





Inside, there is always a couple of rooms just for kids.  Cadi's favorite is the area where you can dress up and take pictures in a stable scene.  She wanted to be an angel first...



I wanted her to be Mary and hold Rori...





And now the festival is over so I got my nativities back. :)  And now that they are set up here, I can share a few pics of our decorations. :)









(I should have taken a pic with the candles lit in all the houses - it's so pretty and warm looking!)





Having all the decorations up just makes me happy! :D

How the heck am I supposed to choose?

Well, I couldn't!  So... (shhhh, don't tell Ryan)... I just bought the whole CD!  And it's the CD with enhancements, so I've got a ton of pictures that I officially own the copyrights for. :D  I'll post my fav's and then the link to see the rest.  (There are 52!) lol

First, I'll post the original and then the "enhanced"...






































Do you see why I had such a hard time choosing? lol  And this is just some of it!  There is more!  Check 'em all out!