candles

today

Blessed.

Fulfilled.

Happy.

Lucky.

These are the words I would use to describe how I feel.

When I wake up in the morning to the sound of Anna singing in her bedroom, and the fast patter of her feet as she sprints into our room with a cheery "Good morning Mommy! Good morning Daddy! How was your sleep?" I thank God for the blessing of this beautiful little girl who spices up our every day.

When I hear Emmett's sweet voice calling "come 'ere onces, peas" wanting to hold my hand, sit on my lap, or just snuggle, I thank God for our son and his soft, sweet ways.

When I witness Anna and Emmett playing together in the living room "OK, sweetie, now put this one here..." (Anna). "OK, Anna!" (Emmett), and giving one another unprompted hugs and kisses, I am overwhelmed.

And when I look at my husband who works so hard and yet makes time for ALL of us in our family and makes us each feel special and appreciated, there is no other word to describe how I feel other than just plain good.

If this is indeed a "season" in my life, I would call it my happiest thus far.

As we are stuck in the house for more hours than I care for due to unending snow and plummeting temperatures, I have more time to witness the small, every day gifts of love from our children. Anna is blossoming from preschooler into little girl. The sophisticated conversations and questions baffle me from day to day. I look at her in her 4T jeans that are starting to look like capris, her sparkly "Twinkle toes" shoes that light up, and can't help but mourn a little bit over the end of yet another stage. She now has opinions on her hair (she's growing it out), her clothes (she likes PINK, and sparkly, or twirly, or fun), her accessories (oh! the accessories!), and more. She reminds even ME of the rules, and well, keeps a good handle on the goings-on in and around our home. She makes me laugh, pull my hair out, bite my tongue, giggle incessantly, and so much more.

Each morning I awake to a new phrase uttered out of our little boy's mouth. A month ago he was stringing 2 words together...now he's uttering full sentences and singing full songs - like Jingle Bells, Twinkle Twinkle and Happy Birthday. He has opinions on snacks, clothes (yes, clothes), his shoes (ONLY the light up pumas for him), what to play, who will play with him and more. He will sit and snuggle for extended periods of time - and let me tell you, this is a joy! He loves music, to sing and dance, art, painting, play doh, and of course...all things CARS and dinosaurs and trains. Oh, and balls. Basically anything he can zoom or throw. He's polite and uses his "peas" and "tank yous" religiously (how that happened I will never know!) and sports a WILD TEMPER to go with his red hair. He runs everywhere. He falls over. He climbs, pushes chairs up to counters and sits on the counters. He hides quietly and won't answer when I want to find him. He laughs and kisses and hugs with wild abandon. The changes in this little guy are witnessed daily...sometimes even hourly.

On the eve of Emmett's 2nd birthday I cannot believe how quickly this past year has flown by. I am grateful for these days, for this season. Yesterday Emmett was having trouble sleeping and I held him and rocked him in my arms for quite a long time - even well after he was fast asleep. I couldn't bring myself to put him down...I know too well that these days in the rocking chair will soon be in the rear view mirror. I know that what lies ahead will be just as sweet in many new ways, but I find myself saying goodbye to the baby stage in our lives a little more each day.

in with the new...(year)

As we look back on 2010, Steve and I are overwhelmed with gratitude at all we have been blessed with. The new year has begun and in its wake we leave behind a wonderful year filled with so much love and laughter, good health, good friends and family, and so much more. Celebrating the holidays with our loved ones was a perfect way to end the year and kick off the one to come.

Christmas Eve was spent just the 4 of us - relaxing at home, attending our church service, opening gifts and enjoying a delicious lasagna dinner. Christmas Day after reveling in all that Santa left under the tree, we headed to Grandma Mary's house for a fun day filled with laughter, and the day after that to Granka and Grandma Penny's for another day of fun. A few days later our home was filled with the sounds of Nana and Papa and the children's giggles as they joined us for a late Christmas and happy new year celebration (no, sadly none of us made it to midnight!). We had a wonderful time with everyone!

And now we are well into the first week of January - back to schedules and preschool and birthday parties, work and more. In just a few weeks we'll celebrate Emmett's 2nd birthday. I can hardly believe it's already here!

But, before that arrives and my picture warehouse fills up completely, I thought I better post at least a few of the pictures from our wonderful December.