Christmas Morning

We spent Christmas morning at home with my parents. We read the Christmas story from the book of Luke and discovered the goodies in our stockings before Mamaw and Papaw Faith arrived.

We ate a delicious brunch (I'll post new recipes I tried on another day) with Mamaw and Papaw before opening gifts. Ruby is at an age where she really gets into the gifts and has lots of fun not only opening her own but helping everyone else. She was very happy with every gift she received and everything her sister got too.

Waiting for Mamaw and Papaw

Look at my new ornament!

Ezekiel Brian (that is our baby boys name) even got some gifts

Telia helping Mamaw open her gifts

Of course they had tons of fun playing in this big bag

My parents brought us one of their trees on Christmas Eve Eve (the 23rd) to put up while Ruby was asleep. It was so fun seeing her excitement when she woke up to a "booo-ti-ful tree with boo-ti-ful things on it" on Christmas Eve.

Thanks Mamaw and Papaw for the new table!

Got our dresses on and ready to go visit all the Faiths and Bentons for dinner.

Kidisms or Ruby-isms

I have been trying to write down the funny/cute/witty things that my three year old says. Some times we are cracking up at her. Here are a few for your enjoyment:


July 2010
When asked what did you learn in church Ruby said "about God and Peter" when asked what about Peter she said "he got into Mr. McGregors garden" that's for you Peter Rabbit fans

August 2010
A friend asked Ruby what does she want to be when she grows up and Ruby said "I'm going to be a mommy"

Aug. 18, 2010
Ruby looked in our friends ears and told her that she had some of Telia's babyfood in there


Aug. 21, 2010
It was raining outside and Ruby said that it will stop raining when we throw somebody outside. She was referring to the story of Jonah in the bible.

Oct. 2010
When we picked Brian up from the airport Ruby asked him where he parked his airplane

December 2010
Ruby told me that Daddy lover her with "his arms AND his heart"

Updates

Here are a few highlights of our life lately:

Pregnancy: I really haven't written anything about this. I am 18 weeks pregnant and added a ticker at the bottom of the page so you could follow along. I am feeling much better (most days) than I was in the first trimester. Actually, I am feeling better than I have in my 2 previous pregnancies and am very grateful for God's grace in this area. Things are going great but since Ruby was early the doctor's are watching me closely and I get to go to a specialist. We will find out the sex on Dec. 21st so stay tuned. What do you think? Boy or Girl?

The Girls: They are really starting to play together with blocks, chasing one another, or peek a boo and hide and seek. It is fun to hear Ruby telling Telia to come play with her.

Our 3 year old: She never ceases to amaze me...how fast she grows physically and cognitively. She is quite a talker...you have no idea. I have noticed lately that her coloring is getting better. She is really focused on coloring specific things instead of just scribbling. She loves to read books and will sit to hear stories for long periods of time. We are blessed with a very happy girl in Ruby. She is a great big sister and although she is very challenging these days as far as behavior goes (she may be our strong willed child), we know that God is refining us and her through the process. I started "homeschooling" Ruby this year...well, started and then when I got pregnant I stopped. So, recently I have tried to start again and have slowly added more structure to our day. She loves it and I am really enjoying it. We are also involved in a home school co-op with friends once a week from our church.

The 1 year old: Telia is a happy happy baby, just like her sister was. She is walking everywhere and gets very excited to see her sister after nap time and her Daddy after work. She is mimicking a lot of things that Ruby does such as coloring, dancing, and playing peek a boo. She gabs a lot but not too many understandable words yet (Dada, Mama, and Cracker (Caa-Caa). She is currently teething and in the last week about 4 or 5 have popped through.

Brian works hard all day and then comes home and works hard (helping clean and cook since I really haven't been cooking much b/c of food aversions) and plays hard with the girls. I am very thankful for a husband who serves our family so well. He just finished up teaching a class to men at our church on doctrine called "Foundations" and we just finished up another year of leading a community group.

Other random things: We have lots of friends who are pregnant right now and due April/May/June. We are slowly working on our house to get it ready to sell. We gave our dog to a wonderful family from our church...this was bittersweet. Our recent netflix indulgences have been what I like to call "The Duggers" (18 kids and counting, I think) and "Cake Boss"! Brian works right by the "Cake Boss" bakery when he is in NJ! Maybe one day he will bring me home a surprise!
We are actually taking a break from being community group leaders. We are looking forward to joining a new group in January and being active and supportive members of that group.

That is all for now...

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to Grandpa Laffin!
Here are a few pictures from the fall of a trip we took to Mike Linnig's restaurant

Cookie Makers

We made some cookies last week (mint chocolate chip to be exact) and the girls enjoyed helping. Telia didn't really help but as you can see she found a chocolate chip on the floor that she enjoyed very much.

Ruby's favorite part of helping is getting to lick the beaters.

Ruby asked me to take her picture like this and yes, she is pants less. It is hard to keep pants on her even though it is so cold...oh, and please excuse all the mess and laundry in the background. A messy home shows signs of life right? We are definitely livin.

Happy Birthday Kate!

Happy Birthday to Ruby and Telia's Aunt Kate! We hope you have a great day and we are so thankful that our girls have such a great aunt like you!

O Come O Come Emmanuel

"Advent should be dark and tense. The world desperately needs a Savior, and in advent we should feel the weight of that longing."
One of my wise pastors, Mike Cosper, wrote this on facebook and it has made me think a lot over the past 2 weeks of Advent about how we celebrate and what we focus on.




Advent Season is upon us and this year we have been a little more diligent about starting more traditions surrounding Advent. We really want our children (and ourselves) to be reminded of the birth of Christ and also the longing that we still have for Christ to return.

We have been doing a little combo Advent Calender/Jesse Tree thing with the girls. We put the Jesse Tree Ornament inside the calender (and sometimes a special treat). Ruby pulls it out and colors it as we read the corresponding story and sing a Christmas song/hymn. So far she likes O Come O Come Emmanuel and Angels We Have Heard On High. Not sure what I am talking about when I say "Jesse Tree"? Check out this link from Passionate Homemaking blog.

Ruby coloring one of her ornaments

I have also been reading the Christmas story to Ruby almost daily (they say repetition is good for little ones). We mostly read from the Jesus Storybook Bible but sometimes we have read from a little book my mom gave us called (i think) The Story of Jesus. I pick different parts from the story and find coloring pages online to color. So, the first day we colored a picture of the Angel Gabriel talking to Mary...one day we colored a picture of Joseph and Mary when they arrived in Bethlehem. This has been great to help Ruby remember more details of the story.
This is an old picture of Brian reading to the girls.
Also, here is a more recent picture of the girls. There will be more to come hopefully this week.