Merry Christmas!

We have enjoyed a wonderful day. Ella awoke at 6:45, and the fun began! She was enamored with both her rocking horse from Momma and Daddy and her wagon from Mee-Maw and PaPa! We opened other gifts from family and played the morning away. We took a break for some french toast and got back to playing. Evan took Ella for her inaugural wagon ride. It is pretty chilly today, so they couldn't stay out for long. There were many tears when she had to come back in! We are spending the afternoon watching "The Muppet Christmas Carol." What a great day we have spent together!

Christmas Eve

Here's a smattering of photos we took right before church Christmas Eve. (I know there are a lot of them, but the grandparents never tire of them!)

We went to the candlelight service at cjurch and then came home for a lovely dinner. After we got the kiddos to bed, we enjoyed pecan pir while setting out the gifts. We went to bed very excited for morning to come!

Christmas Eve morning pancake breakfast

Where does this thing go again?




















Oh yeah ...

Oh forget it. My hands are faster.




















Mmmm ... chocolate chip pancakes are SO good. Thanks, Daddy!

Daily life in the jungle

Just some shots of daily life around here...

The final shot warrants some explanation. Ella never went to sleep yesterday during naptime, so after an hour and a half of listening to her alternate between chattering and whining in the monitor, Evan surrendered his own nap and got her up. I was still napping, but Evan's version of ths tory goes like this: he was laying on Ella's bed and slipping in and out consciousness; he must have fallen asleep for a few minutes because he awoke to find Ella at the end of emptying an entire box Kleenex on to the floor. Uh - oh!

"Boo" Hayden

Evan's brother Hayden came to visit for Christmas all the way from Cambodia. We are so excited to have him with us. Obviously, we don't get to see him very often! The kids are loving him -- he jumped right in upon arrival in spite of serious jetlag.

"Uncle" in kumer is "Boo" -- I think Ella still thinks we mean the game!

God's handiwork

God had some fun here in Albany last Wednesday night. We woke up Thursday morning to a beautiful winter wonderland. There wasn't a huge snowfall -- we already had about 13 inches on the ground. But it was a few inches of fluffy snow that stuck to the trees like powdered sugar through a sifter. It outlined each tree branch, and in the early morning twilight, it was stunning. It was one of the few mornings I was grateful that our kids get us up so early. It was gone by noon, but what a treat!

Ella got her first taste of snow that morning. The shot with our car in the background isn't a hill. That is what 13 inches of plowed up snow looks like!

Sibling playtime

Easton is finally getting big enough that he and Ella can really interact. It is so much fun to watch them develop a relationship of their own. One of the new favorite times in "couch time" in the evening. Ella insists on sitting with Easton. (Ironically, I started putting him up there so she wouldn't be able to bother him -- so much for that plan!) Ella also loves "reading" to him and bringing him toys. As you can see, Easton loves every minute of it!