Friday, January 22, 2016

first snow day 2016

the snow is already melting this afternoon, but we woke up to beautiful inches of white snow

i was telling the kids how much i loved looking our the window at all the snow around our house, and charlie says 'i know why you like it so much'. i asked why. he said 'because white is your favorite color!'
he is probably right. 
another funny from charlie....
after tasting the snow today, he told isaac 'doesn't taste as good as last year' 
we laughed and laughed 







set lasted ab 15 mins. didn't even get a pic of him in the snow



spent most of my time inside with the toddlers, but got out to watch a bit of the fun















perfect snowballs  












so thankful for our fun neighbors. for electricity. snow. and God who shows Himself to me in nature and friendships.

Friday, January 1, 2016

Christmas 2015

A merry Christmas for the Smiths. Thinking back to last year, we ended up in the ER with newborn Jane Lauren. So thankful we were all healthy this year. 

Charlie wouldn't sit in Santa's lap after begging to go see him. JL screamed. 


We had christmas eve lunch with my dad's side of the family at our house this year. The weather was amazing. Almost hot! 





charlie is sad here bc he had to put on 'fancy' clothes. stinker.








We went to the Christmas Eve service, and met uncle Thad there. Set and JL lasted 10 minutes. 









Isaac read the story of Jesus' birth for us, we tucked them in bed, and then we were up past 1 am building things. Funny how enjoyable we find the night before Christmas. Anticipating the kid's excitement.... fun memories

Christmas morning was of course lots of chaos and fun. 

JL thinks the American doll house is a baby size house just for her. She even sat on one of the bunk beds and I had to rebuild it. 




The boys loved the hot wheels toys

If you look on the floor in that pic above, you can see the thoughtful gift Isaac gave me. The first volumes of my blog in beautiful printed books. They are like yearbooks. Amazing gift. He also gave me a new camera and lens! I ended up needing to exchange for another lens, so I didn't get to take very many holiday pics with new camera. I'm so excited about being able to use it in the future.



The candy grabbing claw game 


charlie was super excited about the basketball goal 





my parent's house for lunch 


New skates and skip it were a hit with Annette. 

We put the doll house in the closet under the stairs for a fun little nook 

JL wants to eat every piece of candy off the gingerbread houses 

Nonnie's house the day after Christmas 

JL loves sitting on the wooden benches handmade by Isaac's uncle Tim. 







I could just follow her around all day, snapping pictures. That's about right, actually. 


Nonnie played piano, doc led us in song, and Rango played the violin. Beautiful moment to remember and sing of Jesus' birth. Thankful this tradition has been revived,