Life with our little family of 3...

Hanging out on New Year's Eve... Playing Star Wars and "watching" football... Only a face a mother could love...

"but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." Isaiah 40:31 We spent the afternoon at the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge with some friends today. It was a beautiful sunny day. What a great way to spend it!! Ok so I didn't get a great picture of the eagles soaring but they were soaring alright! Dozens of them! It was awesome! But I was able to get a picture of this beauty!

I'm finally posting some of our Christmas pictures! It's taken me a few days to recuperate and put everything away! Every Christmas Eve Robert's Dad and Step-Mom come down for dinner, church, presents and dessert. It's always a relaxing and fun evening. Here Robert is modeling Emma's new apron and crown... kind of freaky... So Grandpa decided he needed to model Elly... what kind of family did I marry into?!? She loves opening presents... This may be one of the last pictures like this. Emma is starting to question whether the big man really does visit all the millions of children around the world...

We are not gift buyers just to buy gifts. When we buy gifts we want them to mean something which sometimes means lots of time and thinking. This year was a great year... it seems like everything was just right! Let the war begin... Emma picked out this Nerf Gun for Robert. The funny thing is Santa (Robert) bought her the exact same one! It's amazing that out of the 30 or so models, they bought each other the same one! I guess great minds think alike? Pure excitement! I wish I could have gotten the little dance she did on video when she opened this one! Ok not too much joy here. Maybe he was so overjoyed by the new red collar that he passed out from the excitement... High joy here...

Here is our budding photographer taking pictures of herself opening her gift from Grammie... More excitement! More Littlest Pet Shop! YEAH! (Not for Mom though who sometimes vacuums up the pieces!) :-) Grammie and Emma building her new Toy Story 3 Lego Set! Tah Dah!

Oh Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree... This is a song that Emma has been singing lately. So I thought I would post it with our Christmas tree picture!

We finally were able to go shopping for our Christmas tree this weekend! Though we picked the worst weekend... we received over 3" inches of rain! Last year we had cold, cold weather. We had to bundle up so that we wouldn't freeze. This year we had to dress so that we wouldn't drown! There was a break in the weather so we quickly went to the tree farm to find the perfect tree! Growing up these are the kind of trees we always got.... Then I moved to the Pacific Northwest where these are the types of trees people have... After 12 years of Nobles, I think I have finally gotten used to them. Even Emma insists on Nobles. We walked by a fir and she asked "How do you even put ornaments on that?!?" So Nobles it is...