Camping with Uncle Chris

This fall, Jeremy asked his brother to take the girls on their first camping trip with him. This mama (and her anxiety) stayed home and promised I'd go next Spring! The girls had a blast, they LOVE being outside, LOVE being with their Uncle & Daddy and can't wait for their next trip.

Pictures say it all!

Nature walk

Playing in the stream

They loved playing in the tent before dark

Sisters take a rest from the hike

With Uncle Chris at one of the lookout towers

Lilly, loving the woods

and the s'mores

Addy on a sugar high!

Blessed Beyond Measure-Christmas 2010

I'm procrastinating putting the decorations away and still eating leftovers, not quite ready to kiss the holiday good-bye. It was a good one. Magical, to say the least. A & L's excitement and anticipation had me awake at 5:30 on Christmas Day. I lived my best holiday through them. A great benefit of being a mom, I guess. We had visitors and gifts and I'll surely rank their favorites on a later blog when I see which span the test of some time. I'll get to my thank-you notes, clean the fridge and edit some pictures, slowly ticking off the to-do list. However, my biggest hope is that the feelings revisit my heart and theirs again before next December.

The tree-taken at about 6:30 a.m.--just before the girls walked down!
Letter to Santa--written verbatim--gotta love the potty reminder!

Evidence that he had come and gone and taken that silly Elf on the Shelf with him!

Bedtime stories with dad!

Holiday walk in the snow with Uncle Joe

Christmas Eve before church--Daddy post-lasik! It's still weird seeing him without glasses! (Lilly, on the other hand looks like she might need them :-)

Picture from the Ash grandparents holiday card!

Picture from the Sadler holiday card (yes, A & L graced 3 holiday cards in 2010-we are really trying NOT to let the popularity get to their heads!)

Humbled to host this crew at our home for dinner every year! We feel the love!

7 Blogs in 7 Days....Day 2

I wrote about Addy & Lilly's flower girl debut here, so I'll hold back on writing again how cute the girls were, how well the gummi bears worked for bribery, and how lucky we were to be a part of this special day (shoot....I did it again!) But I had to share some of the pictures that have been shared since my first post. Enjoy the pictures....

Addy & Lilly hanging out with the bride & groom (Mike & Heather)
Daddy and his princess Addy

Lilly, showing our gummi bear trick to all who could see...

The girls and some of the men who love them!

(R-L: Daddy Jeremy, Groom Mike, Uncle Chris & Uncle Joe)

Addy

Lilly dancing with Grandma Linda

Easter 2009

Jeremy is privileged to work for a company that continues to put family first. During a time when most companies have cut these gatherings from their budgets a long time ago, they host a variety of family-friendly gathering over the year and Easter is no exception. We went to the Easter party a few weeks ago. The girls got baskets and as it turns out, Addy and Lilly like the bunny as much as they liked SANTA. Maybe this distaste for people in costumes may save us in the long run, making us avoid Disney until they have kids of their own?

As for Easter day, we've been busy!

Opening Easter baskets this morning and getting a surprise from Auntie Joyce & Uncle Norman in England--the girls got little backpacks! They are so darn cute and will use them to pack up toys to take with them on day trips and to Grandma & Grandpa's house! Thank you!

Getting all dressed up for the Easter service at church and realizing why we go so infrequently...the girls were certainly not well-behaved and after bribing with snacks and toys, we ended up leaving early....

Gathering for brunch at the location where Jeremy and I had our hometown reception almost 4 years ago (to the day!). Above we have 3 uncles, 2 girlfriends, 2 grandmas, 2 grandpas, a great-grandma, a great-grandpa and us. Nothing like Easter to realize how blessed we are!

We hunted for eggs in the backyard!

And got lots of special Easter goodies!

Phew...what a day! Thankfully it's almost bedtime!