So Much to Celebrate!

Christmas has always been my favorite time of year, but now we have yet another reason to celebrate. A year ago we had our best Christmas present ever, Anya Noelle! She has added so much joy to our home. We just adore our little Anya. Christmas day Anya turned 1. It is amazing how much a baby can learn and develop in a year, to go from a tiny little baby in your arms to such a darling little firecracker is so fun. When Anya was born I thought she was going to be my petite child, but I sure was wrong. She is our big girl and we love every roll! To go along with that, she is a great eater. She will eat pretty much anything I put in front of her. She is also a lot taller than Isabelle was. Anya isn't walking yet, but that doesn't stop her from getting around where she wants to go. Right on her birthday Anya had a handful words in her vocabulary, but within a week of her birthday all of her jabbering started turning into real words. She has become our little parrot. Anya is a great sleeper, which she must get from me. My favorite is seeing her in the morning when she wakes up. She always wakes up happy and talking and when we go in her room she gets so excited. We just love and adore her to pieces.

We had such a wonderful Christmas season. It was so nice to have Charles home with us, unlike last year where he was in India for most of the Christmas season, returning just days before Anya was born. The girls' main present this year was big beanbag chairs from Pottery Barn Kids with their names on them. It was quite the task to get them, but we finally got what we wanted and they are a hit. The girls opened all of their presents Christmas morning while sitting in their new beanbags.

As tradition goes, we went over to my mom's house after spending Christmas morning at our house. Since we already had lots of pies for Christmas I decided against making a birthday cake for Anya and stuck a candle in one of the pies. I'm still trying to figure out how I'm going to make sure she feels special on her birthday as she grows up. Isabelle loved that it was Anya's birthday. To her, Christmas this year was "Anya's birthday." Throughout the whole Christmas season Isabelle thought everything was for Anya's birthday and she loved it. When I put the Christmas tree up she asked if Anya was going to blow out all the lights on the tree for her birthday. Anya loved the tree too and would do the sign for lights everyday to have me turn the lights on.

Enjoying her birthday pie!

Decorating Christmas cookies on Christmas Eve. This is one of Isabelle's favorite traditions.

The day after Christmas we went down to Vero for Ma's Christmas party. I was so glad to be able to go, since I had missed it last year. It was wonderful like always.

Thanksgiving Holiday with Family

The family coming together makes the Holidays my favorite time of the year. Thanksgiving is just the beginning of that joyful time.

We started off Thanksgiving with a big dinner at my mom's. Carol and her family came down from Atlanta, Erin came in town from Tampa, and Ma came up from Vero. We started a new tradition this year of writing things we were thankful for each day on a piece of paper and then we put them in a gratitude jar. On Thanksgiving day we read all the slips of paper and really reflected on all of our many blessings. God has truly blessed us in every aspect of our lives.

Little Addison is such a doll!

The next day we headed down to Vero Beach for my Aunt Carol's surprise 50th birthday party, where we got to visit with even more family.

The three youngsters sure like to play together.

What kind of animal are you?

A random dinner conversation (I've translated it to English for all non-French speakers).

Isabelle: Papa, what kind of animal are you?

Papa: A monkey. What kind of animal are you?

Isabelle: A monkey.

Papa: What kind of animal is Mama?

Isabelle: A fish.

Papa: What kind of animal is Anya?

Isabelle: A monster!

Parade of Princesses

Our Halloween was full of fun festivities. It was fun to see Isabelle really get into Halloween this year. Last year we were in France for Halloween, so the only time she really ever celebrated it was when she was 11 months old. She loved having day after day full of activities. Of course we started out with pumpkin carving with our friends the Cupits. Then there was the infamous Trunk or Treat and chili cook-off at the church. Isabelle thought trunk or treating was the best thing ever. She would run up to a car and say "trick or treat" and then "thank you." Then she would start running to the next car saying "we have to go to the next car." Now every time we go to the church Isabelle tells me she needs her costume and "we have to say trick or treat." She has had a hard time accepting that Halloween is over and still wants to put on her costume and go trick or treating. It must be confusing for a child to do something all week long and then we say we can't do it again for a year.

Isabelle decided she wanted to be Belle for Halloween, it probably has something to do with her watching the movie every day. I had actually bought her the Belle dress last year and planned on her wearing it for Halloween, but we ended up being in France. She wears it all the time and fortunately the dress still fits so she was able to wear it this year. Anya was our chubby little Cougar cheerleader. Charles and I dressed up in some outfits Charles got us when he was in India last year. So I guess we were Indians.

My mom loves getting into the trunk or treating too.

Princesses are definitely the popular costume choice among the little girls.

My little Cougarette

Pumpkin carving at the Cupit's.

"Papa is silly."

On Saturday night we went to the Waters' house for their annual Halloween celebration. Every year they make homemade donuts and show the Charlie Brown Halloween movie on a big screen outside. When the movie was over they put on some music and the dancing began.

On Halloween, Isabelle decided she wanted to change her costume and be Sleeping Beauty, aka Aurora. Fortunately, she has lots of dress ups, so we were able to pull the dress and all the accessories out of her dress-up basket. Anya also changed costumes and wore a Cinderella dress that my mom picked up for her. We didn't want her to miss out on the princess action. We went trick or treating with the Cupits in my mom's neighborhood. The first few houses Isabelle was right up front with the kids yelling "trick or treat" and always saying thank you. Then we came to a house that had a dog outside. Isabelle is terrified of dogs, so the dog coming right up to her barking, didn't help the situation at all. After that she waited on the street while the other kids went up to the door and said "trick or treat." Once they verified there was no dog at the house Isabelle would go running up to the house, screaming "trick or treat" as she ran, to make sure they knew she was coming too and didn't get left out. Every time after she got candy she came up and showed me the candy, she was so proud and kept assuring me that she wasn't scared. Anya just loved watching everything going on and seeing all the kids running around. By the end of the night Isabelle crashed in the stroller. It was quite an eventful day for my little princesses.

Our little Cinderella

Our Sleeping Beauty!

Puzzle time

Isabelle has a new passion for puzzles. She has always loved puzzles, but when we were in NY we bought her a Melissa & Doug 48 piece jigsaw puzzle. We thought it was time to challenge her a bit. Within a couple days she had it down. I'm amazed at how quickly she has learned. We pulled out a 63 piece Tinkerbell puzzle my aunt had given her last year and with a little assistance she put it all together. Charles then went and got her a 150 piece Princess and the Frog puzzle. Some parts of this puzzle are still tough for her, but she can do most of it. This little girl amazes me. Whenever she finishes the puzzle she says "I'm so strong," and "I'm so smart." Too cute!

The other day my family was over and Isabelle and Roland decided to have a race to see who could finish their puzzle first. Here is a little glimpse at how it went.

You can see how after about a minute Isabelle had a good solid lead.

Not much was done on Roland's puzzle when Isabelle finished hers.

"Don't worry Papa Ro Ro. I can help you."

Oh, the Luv Shack!

A couple weeks ago I went to Houston, TX for our third annual Luv Shack Reunion. The Luv Shack was the house I lived in my sophomore year at BYU, over 10 years ago. There were six of us girls who had all met freshman year and decided to live together. That was a wild and fun year. Now we are all a little more mature and married with children. Two years ago we decided to all meet up and have a reunion. The tradition stuck and now we meet every year. Last year the reunion was while I was in France so I didn't get to go, but I was sure not to miss it this year. We all flew in Thursday night and stayed till Monday morning. Kristen was an incredible host for all of us. She was 37 weeks pregnant and had just moved into her new home the weekend before we all got there. Her house looked perfect, like they had lived there for years. I don't think I could do all that at 37 weeks pregnant. We had a fabulous time shopping, eating, getting pedicures, going to the temple and staying up till all hours of the night. We have a new tradition we started where everyone brought something to share with the group that has helped them as a mom or wife. I learn so much from all of these gals, they are all such wonderful and strong moms and wives. I am so grateful for friendships that can pick right where we left off, even when so much time has passed. I can't wait for our reunion next year.

Houston Temple- Carrie, Amy, Kristen, me, Michele, and Erin

Erin and Kristen

Pedicures

The first year I had Isabelle with me and this year I had Anya. It felt a little like deja vu. Last year three of the girls had babies with them. Three of the girls were pregnant this year, so I imagine there will be some babies at the reunion next year. I think I am a little off on the baby schedule. Kristen's husband Danny and her parents, who also live in Houston, were so kind as to watch Anya for me all Saturday so that I could enjoy the day a little more.

Doing a little shopping.

I tried to make sure Anya had fun too.

A Little Get Away

Charles took a few more days off and we went with his mom up to Atlanta to visit Carol and her family. We spent about 5 days there and had a great time full of games, tennis, yummy food, etc. I absolutely love seeing the girls all play together.

We took one day and went up to Helen, in the Georgia mountains. We had a picnic in the park there and walked around the little village.

Cousins!

The girls loved having matching car seats.

Our last day in Atlanta we took the girls to the Children's Museum. The girls loved it of course. They especially loved playing in the water and painting.

Isabelle and Addison showing a little bit of their artistic side.