18 months old!

Our sweet Ann Evelyn is 18 months old - actually closer to 19 months now! The Lord has blessed us with a beautiful daughter who is full of life and love. She is such a joy to all of our lives! She's a full-fledged toddler and never ceases to amaze us with all she can do.

Whether playing airplanes, trains, or painting, Ann Evelyn loves being with her brothers. They are very patient with her and usually let her join right in with whatever they are doing. She's one tough little girl even joining in an occasional 'wrestling match'. :) How blessed we are by these precious little ones!

Ann Evelyn loves to be right in the middle of all that is going on. She loves school and her friends, calling several of them by name. I love this picture of her with roller skates on from a recent birthday party. She sure isn't afraid to try new things!

She's a sweetheart and gives a lot of sweet hugs and kisses! She is quite a talker, too, and I love hearing her say, "I love you, Torrest" & "I love you, Dadrew". She has actually been talking quite a bit for the past few months. She is talking in sentences, using new words everyday, and making connections with what she sees and knows. Just the other day when we were driving and passed by a lake she said, "I see lake. Bubby lake." It was fun to hear her make the connection between seeing a random lake and how Bubby and May-May live on a lake. She loves music and to sing. Some of her favorites are "Baa, Baa Black Sheep", "Row, Row, Row Your Boat", "Jesus Loves Me", "ABC Song", and "You are My Sunshine".

What a personality she has! We have so much fun with our Ann Evelyn and love her very much!

Christmas Morning

Christmas Morning! Even though Andrew has a smile on his face in several of these pictures, this poor boy had the stomach bug. :( When he came into our room around 6 am, crawled into bed with us and said nothing about Christmas or Santa, we knew it seemed strange. Well, a few minutes later, we figured out why... stomach bug... yuck!!

He perked up just enough to look at gifts, but I think the only smiles on his face were the ones that he graciously gave me as I took pictures. He did not feel good at all!!

Waiting to go look at what Santa brought!

A new trumpet for Andrew!

Buzz Lightyear for Forrest!

A baby for Ann Evelyn! She walked around all morning holding her and saying "Baby". I love my sweet Baby Girl!!

Andrew's guitar

He and Daddy played a little...

then Andrew finally gave in to the way he felt and just wanted to be held. How sad for us all to see him sick on Christmas morning!

Forrest got a guitar, too!

Sissy loved her tea set

Forrest enjoyed playing with his new toys for a little while, but he, too, got sick. :(

The boys found a spot on the couch and this is about where they stayed the rest of the day.

It was a memorable Christmas day but certainly not fun and not the kind we would want to have again. Because of our sickness, we didn't get to see any of our family on Christmas Day, and we really missed not being able to visit with everyone.

But, the one positive thing about a stomach bug is that it is short! The next morning there was...

game playing,

wrestling :),

and smiles!! Yay!!

We even bundled up to see some snow flurries! :)

December 23rd and 24th

On the 23rd, Mom had us over for a delicious "Christmas dinner". We enjoyed dinner and a fun time with my family.

Andrew and May-May cutting the cake

Ann Evelyn with her aunts. :) She is puckering up to give "Becca" a kiss!

On Christmas Eve morning, everyone came to our house for brunch. This year we also had fun singing Christmas carols and playing games.

The kiddos are enjoying hearing some Christmas stories.

Andrew and Forrest decorating cookies for Santa

After a fun morning and an afternoon nap, we enjoyed our church's candlelight service that evening.

Singing "Happy Birthday Jesus"

Reindeer food!

Thanks, Izzy, for sending the reindeer food to us!

Ending our night with the real meaning of Christmas... the story of Jesus' birth

More Christmas Fun!

What I love most about the holidays is doing special things with my babies!!

Our annual trip to the Canton Square is always fun-filled with train, firetruck and carousel rides, seeing Christmas decorations, and a yummy snack afterwards! :)

It was Ann Evelyn's first carousel ride and she loved it!

They love each other!

Doesn't she look so sweet?!

Andrew and Forrest picked out a Gingerbread Train to make and decorate (instead of a gingerbread house). It was an afternoon project for one day, and Ann Evelyn sat right on the table with them and helped in her own way - tasting all the candy!

She definitely has a sweet tooth. This was a little cup of marshmallow creme that we had used to "glue" marshmallows together to make a snowman.

We made our own gingerbread cookies for the first time this year! We read Jan Brett's "Gingerbread Baby" a lot this Christmas, and it inspired us to try our own cookies... they were sooo good! I was surprised by how much Forrest and Ann Evelyn liked them.

I love going to watch Andrew and his friends sing during their "Gather Together Time" at school. How precious those little voices are singing and they had sweet Christmas songs to share, too.

Andrew's class eating their special Christmas snack

Christmas treats at the Mustard Seed Open House with Aunt Becca!!

Playing outside on nice days!

Matching Santa Cowboy pjs!

How precious to see a little one discovering "baby" Jesus...

Christmas kisses for Sissy from her big brothers!!

December Fun!

The boys loved decorating for Christmas. Wilson, Andrew, and Forrest decorated the outside first. And the boys picked out these lighted candy-canes to add to the decor this year. :) They were pretty proud.

I also am posting this picture as an example of how Forrest would choose to dress himself these days. :) He's grown to love t-shirts - and of course his favorites are my least favorites. Add in those fireman rain boots (or his new Buzz lightyear cowboy boots) and he's ready to go! What a funny boy!

Having a "show"... he was probably singing his Christmas favorite, Jingle Bells!

Fun with hats!

Ann Evelyn loves this Santa headband!

Hugs from "Mimi" (Ann Evelyn's name for my mom)

One morning, I came in the kitchen to find Andrew stringing white lights all around!

Here are my boys enjoying the Christmas parade, and I love that the little Christmas village is in the background. It was one of my family's Christmas traditions to go and see it, and I love that it's right down the street for my kids to see!

Santa on the firetruck!

And she may have had the best seat....

or maybe this was? :)