christmas card 2010

Snowflake Elegance Noir Christmas

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Pumpkin Carving Time!

Finn has been begging to carve pumpkins since July and convinced me to buy a couple the first of October. I remember when he was tiny and refused to have anything to do with cleaning out the pumpkin. This year he was totally into it and loved helping. He did most of the scooping, you can see how determined he is with his tongue sticking out once again.

Lucie had the same attitude Finn did when he was little about touching the pumpkin goop. She was not a fan and didn't touch it until she tried to stick a seed in her mouth and then her time of pumpkin carving was over.

The goop monster!

Lucille and her baby jack-o-lantern.

Finn and his great big monster jack-o-lantern!

This Little Light Of Mine

Finn sang in Church with his preschool class for the first time. This was his first time performing in front of any type of group. He did great! I was so proud of him that I had trouble not crying. He looked so sweet and nervous up there. He knew his songs and the movements. They sang "Rise and Shine" and "This Little Light of Mine".

Pumpkin Farm Fun

Every year since Finn was a baby we have gone to the Bloomsbury Pumpkin Farm. In fact, before Finn was born I went with my kindergarten classes on a field trip. It is a great place and every year they add more. Finn loves it and looks forward to it each year. I remember last year thinking that the next year we would have a baby with us, so it was fun to take LuLu this year.

Lucie is decked out in her pumpkin gear from head to toe. She liked sitting in the hay barn, watching Finn slide down the giant tube slide.

There is so much to do from train rides to mining for gold. The gold/rock mining was new this year and a big hit. Finn really got into it. There are also hay rack rides (of course), haunted barns, corn boxes, duck races, pig races, goat feeding, petting zoos, a huge inflatable jump on thing, and lots more. I like that it has a variety of activities for different ages. I hope this is a tradition that we can keep up for many more years.

Finn leads the way through the corn maze.

More Fall Pictures

Near our home there is a beautiful state park full of great picture taking spots but my kids were not really in the picture taking mode. I still got a few sweet ones. I love this first one of the two of them, Finn is sharing a leaf with Lucie and they are so absorbed in the moment.

Falling Leaves

When I was little, we spent hours raking leaves, jumping in leaf piles and making leaf houses. Unfortunately, where we live has very few leaves since the trees are all so young. We make sure to visit local parks so our children can experience the crunch of leaves under their feet. The colors were just gorgeous on this day and Finn had so much fun throwing the leaves to run under them. This an especially warm day so you can see the kids are in summer clothes amid the Fall leaves.

"Lets Go See Pop Pop's Tractors!"

A Few More Sunny Days

We can feel the air getting cooler and there are signs of Fall all over, so we are trying to get park visits, wagon rides and outside playing in as much as possible. In our new neighborhood we are able to walk to the grocery store, parks and places to eat so that is a lot of fun. In these pictures, Lucie is in the wagon for the first time and feeling like such a big girl. Finn was nervous she would fall over, but she did great (and was belted in). Finn enjoyed having her ride with him, I think he feels like she is finally "playing" with him.

7 Months

Another month flew by and now our pretty girl is 7 months old. We set up her new room and it is beautiful. Grandma painted a tree on the wall and we did the walls a pretty lavender, it is all very peaceful. It is so much fun to have a little girl room for her.

Home Sweet Home

Getting ready to move. I had posted the other pictures that I had taken that day, but Finn looked so sad in them I took them down. He has been so excited about moving that I was a little suprised with how sad he looked when I went back to look at these pictures. Of course he is sad though, this is the only home he has ever known. Now that time has passed, we have been here two months and he is doing really well. He enjoys playing with all the little boys in our new neighborhood and we have been making sure he still sees his friends from our old neighborhood.

Here is the last picture at our old house. You can see my flowers and lilac bush in the background.

This is the first picture in our new home. This picture was taken when we had our appraisal and I thought it would be funny to take the picture before it was actually ours. Now begins the process of making this new house our home. I look forward to making our memories and traditions here. This will be where my babies grow up.

1st Day of School

Finn started the first day of his second year of school two days before we moved. This will be the last first day of school picture on this porch, well I guess there will only be two. I wonder how many will be taken at our new home? We decided to try a different preschool this year and have been thrilled with the decision. I really struggled with what to do because I knew that between the move and new baby sister, Finn had been through so many changes. I decided that we had to try it, because I really felt this school was where he belonged. He is learning great social skills, gets to perform and is in a faith based situation, which I felt was important. After praying about this decision for many months, I feel we have been lead towards the right path. I hope the rest of his school decisions go as well as this one did.

Little Hawkeye Fans!

A Little Bit of News

We put our house for sale simply because we ran out of room. We needed 3 bedrooms on one floor so the kids could have their own rooms. I did not think now was the best time to put the house up with the terrible economy and a newborn, but Brian really wanted to so I supported him. It was really hard dealing with it all when Lucie was so young and I really did not have much hope of it selling, but I was wrong. It sold and we had to find a new home and very quickly. We have found our new home and we are thrilled with it. We will have so much more room- 4 bedrooms and a basement, unfinshed but still a basement. It has been a roller coaster of emotions, I am sad to leave the home we started our lives in, brought our babies home to, met wonderful people, but I am so excited to see what will come.

Moving boxes make excellent toys for make believe. I love how Lucie looks so thrilled to be included in the play.

Sweet Six months

Our sweet girl is 6 months old, she has been with us now for half a year. She fits into our family so perfectly. She is still such a happy baby and curious about everything. She examines everything carefully and will then reward you with a beautiful smile. She adores her brother, avocadoes, and swaddle blankets. She is now eating solids and we have finally figured out the nursing thing. Lucie is sitting up very well and playing with toys. In this picture she is wearing one of the dresses from my babyhood. I am hopeful that her hair is growing back in but it looks like it will be reddish brown like Finns not dark like mine. I am so happy that God has blessed our family with this bitty girl.

Late Summer Evening

We do not have a beautiful ocean beach and with selling out house it is just not in the budget to travel to one right now, but we made do with a lake beach. I am not usually a fan of lakes, but we had a great time. The weather was beautiful, the beach was quiet, and the sun setting over the lake was gorgeous. Lucie looked adorable in the swimsuit I wore as a baby. There is just something about babies in ruffled butts that makes my heart skip a beat. Finn had a great time building sand castles, wading and playing chase with Daddy. We had a relaxing fun time admist all the stress in our lives right now just being together.

I love how in this picture you can see how hard he is working to carry his buckets back to make a mote for his castle. His little tongue is sticking out like he always does when he is especially concentrating.

Something Special

My children have something special, a Great Grandpa. My Grandpa has 6 grandchildren and 3 (soon to be 4) great-grandchildren and was are all so very fortunate. Both of my kids adore him. I just love these pictures.