Just several pics from Christmas. It actually snowed Christmas Eve so we had a white Christmas!! Papa even spent the night because he went to Christmas Eve services with us. It was just raining when we left. We ate chili and looked outside and it was snowing. Snowing hard. The wind was blowing it everywhere. So Papa slept on the spare bed in Garrett's room and was here for Christmas morning! The kids opened presents then went outside. Sean is from Minnesota so the fact that we did not have a sled was just odd for him, but he used the lid to our recycle can and they had a blast. He then pulled out his ice skates and tried to ice skate on our street. It sorta worked! Ha! He also had a goal of staying in his PJ's for Christmas so he did all of this in his PJ pants! Ha! So all in all it was a great Christmas. I would be lying if I did not say I had a few "I wish" moments, but I really do have so much to be thankful for. Yes, I wish, but I also have to trust.

Snuggie Christmas

Hope you all had a snuggie Christmas! I will post more pics of our white Christmas soon! (Seriously, that NEVER happens in Arkansas!)

Wordless Wednesday - Guard Dog

Evan's Tree

Several months ago Children's had a ceremony for the children who had passed away at the hospital. Becca made an ornament for me with Evan's name and date of birth and death on the back. So I had her make a few more with the intention of having a tree just for Evan this year. G&G have trees in their rooms so I thought it might be nice for Evan to have his own. The tree is just an extra tree I already had. When I went to get one for him, it was too late. I want a white tree with white lights and everywhere I went, they were out. So next year... Anyway, I had Becca paint a passage from Psalms 139 on the ornaments. That passage is very important to me because of Evan's trisomy 13. It is very important for me to remember that God created him that way. I have no idea the reason why, and I probably will not know why until I am on my knees before God one day, but He created Evan this way. The photos do not do justice to the beautiful ornaments. I am just not that great at indoor pictures. They are brown and blue, like his room and the side are painted with stripes to match his name ornament. The Willow Tree ornament was sent to us from another family who had a child with Trisomy 13. There are also some plain brown balls with blue ribbon.

She is 12

Really, she should not be 12 yet. She was just a little girl yesterday, I promise. Now we are a year away from teenager. In 6 years we will be getting her ready to go to college? Really? Time needs to stop. I love watching her grow, but she needs to grow a little more slowly. (in the top pic she was 5. That was 7 years ago. Seven. years.)

Church Christmas Program

Two years ago Gracie had a solo at the school Christmas program. The last verse to Silent Night. I posted it about it here. She looks so little there! Anyway. She had a really hard time, but when it came time to actually sing, she nailed it. She did not attempt to sing in public again until we started to plan Evan's service. Sean wanted her to sing. She sings at home all. the. time. We have all the "Sing It" Wii games and it is very common to hear Gracie singing Disney songs. I was very hesitant because she had such a hard time at the school program and I thought her brothers funeral would just be too hard. He asked her, she agreed. She worked with our music leader and sang "How Great is Our God" for Evan. She sang beautifully, without the slightest hint of anxiety.

So, it was really fun to see her sing with the band in "big" church this Sunday. So many people have told me how comfortable she looked and how much fun she looked like she was having. What a difference two years make! Ha! She really loved it! Anyway, I am very proud of my girl. My boy did great also! He did more posing for me and my camera than actually singing, but he was cute in his reindeer tie.

One Year and One Day

It has been one year and one day since I wrote this post about Faith (poor little boy, we REALLY thought he was a girl!). One year since we first found out that there could be a problem. At the time we were told hypoplastic left heart, we later found out it was Double Outlet Right Ventricle with a Ventricle Septal Defect. Trisomy 13 trumped it all though. Evan also would have been 9 months old yesterday. I don't really know why I am posting all this except it seems significant somehow. We started this journey one year and one day ago. We went to the doc very excited about our ultrasound and seeing our baby. We came home crawled in bed, held each other and cried. I am so not the person I was a year ago. When your world is rocked to its core it changes you in so many ways. Just thought I would share.

Wordless Wednesday - Gingerbread House

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

I did not take one picture on Thanksgiving. I know, I know, Bad mom. I was cooking though and it just got crazy!! The day after we went to the Christmas tree farm and I made up for lost pictures. A friend told me about a different Christmas tree farm so we decided to try it out. We LOVED it!! There were animals and hot chocolate and hay rides! Above all BEAUTIFUL trees!
On the hunt!

Gracie liked this one, but it was just not big enough!

On the hay ride! We actually saw the tree we picked from the hay ride, great way to see a lot of trees quickly!

Sean was not that amused. I may have been a little obnoxious with the camera while on the hay ride.

So lets put him in the spirit!

Back on the hunt (with hot chocolate!)

We found the tree. Sean and GW had fun with the pole while waiting for them to cut our tree. Here they were bending it and then letting it go.

The kids played chase through the trees while they were cutting it down and loading it.

All loaded up and ready to take home!

It is decorated now, but I still have several things to do today so the final product will be in a later post!
Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Wordless Wednesday

*Photos by Julie Jones :)

Fall Pics

Julie did an amazing job! I am having trouble picking which to print off for frames and which one I want to use for Christmas cards, even which to put on my blog!

Julie - Thank you so much! You have captured some of my most treasured family pictures!

He is Eight

I just snuggled him and told him eight years ago right now he was still in my tummy. It just does not seem possible. He is eight. I love you my sweet red haired, freckle faced, cartoon loving, little man!

*photo taken by the amazing Julie Amber!

Viking Sunday

Little Man is not looking at the camera, but I thought they were so cute in their matching Farve jerseys playing football at half time!

Joy

Meet Baby Bum. We did not find out of Baby Bum is a girl or a boy, even though S/he tried really hard to show us! We did find out that Baby Bum does not have rocker bottom feet. Baby Bum does not have a cleft lip or palette. Baby Bum does not have anything that would cause the doctor to be concerned or think that Baby Bum is anything but a normal, growing baby. The ultrasound tech even got some amazing shots of the heart and those images ruled out 98% of all heart defects. To say Sean and I walked out of the doc's office with a huge weight off our shoulders would be an understatement. The US Tech spent all the time we needed looking at anything we asked her to. She said that God was with us because the baby was in the perfect position to get the images we needed. Sean told her 21 weeks of anxiety was just lifted. I think for the first time in a long time I felt just pure joy. Thankful. Blessed. Joyful.

Cute Boots

at least I think so. Sean bought them for me a while back and I thought they would look cute with the skirt I wore today. The problem is I am 20 weeks pregnant. I am so swollen (I always swell bad and early on) and these cute boots were not made for 20 week pregnant, swollen legs.



Sorry, maybe I should have posted a warning of gross feet pictures! They looked fine this morning when I left for the school ( I was subbing today), but when I got home my legs were spilling out over the top of the boots (not cute) and there were huge indentations where my ankles usually are. So, no more cute boots for me this year. I will be wearing tennis shoe or something comfy!

One Word

My friend Michelle tagged me. This was harder than you would think!

**The Rules~ Use only one word, pass along to six favorite bloggers, and tell them you did so.
1. Where is your cell phone?computer table
2. Your hair? dirty
3. Your mother? in heaven
4. Your father? amazing
5. Your favorite food? Mexican
6. Your dream last night? anxiety
7. Your favorite drink? water
8. Your dream/goal? organization
9. What room are you in? office
10. Your hobby? crafts
11. Your fear? rejection
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? here
13. Where were you last night? home
14. Something that you aren’t? complete
15. Muffins? blueberry
16. Wish list item? books
17. Where did you grow up? Arkansas
18. Last thing you did? eat
19. What are you wearing? PJs
20. Your TV? on
21. Your pets? Barbie Belle B. (the big black lab)
22. Friends? many
23. Your life? blessed
24. Your mood? happy
25. Missing someone? always
26. Vehicle? dirty
27. Something you’re not wearing? shoes
28. Your favorite store? Target
29. Your favorite color? pink (today)
30. When was the last time you laughed? last night
31. Last time you cried? yesterday
32. Your best friend? husband
33. One place that I go to over and over? target
34. One person who emails me regularly? facebook
35. Favorite place to eat? home
So now it's your turn!
I really don't know who to tag. So if you want to do this then I tag you! :P
Please let me know if you do it, I would like to read it!

Trick or Treat!

The kids had a blast! I love our neighborhood! We invited some friends to go with us and all 5 kids names start with "G" ! I think I was tongue tied all night. They got a lot of candy and had a lot of fun playing afterward and Sean played with his car so all in all, it was a good night!