Pre-Christmas

We have been in full swing Christmas mode now for a few weeks.....  This means lots of fun and lots of happenings - Christmas truly is a fun, but busy time of year for our family and our ministry!

I was very pre-occupied this month with our annual Women's Christmas dinner for church.  It was a super fun and amazing evening, and worth all of our hard work - we had 100 women attend, more than double our previous years!  I have to be honest that it remains uncomfortable for me to step up for many reasons to lead in women's ministry and particularly these large events, but God continually burdens my heart for the necessity of it.  I am continually grateful for the leadership of our executive pastor's wife, Bethany (who also is a dear childhood friend) in this ministry - I could not, and would not, do it without her expertise and wisdom!

We also were blessed with a great team of women to help us pull off all the details, and I can truly say it was an honor to be a part of the event.  God gave us a last minute inspiration to write a monologue from the perspective of Mary that I can't believe we pulled off.  It was so crazy, but something I will always remember about that night.  

Anyway, back to the main focus of this blog.... Those two cute kids of mine....

Here is Aaron with his friend, Eli (Bethany's son), on one of the many mornings we were at church working....

Thank goodness our kids get along so well and entertain each other!!!  I wish so badly I had video of Mikayla, Bethany's 6 year old daughter, patiently teaching Noel ballet that same day.  It was soooo cute!

Anyway, some video of the live entertainment I am blessed with on a daily basis....

Big news also - Aaron lost his first tooth last week!

It was hilarious, because we had noticed that it was slightly loose, and I figured it would be awhile.  We were driving to school and Aaron asked me calmly and nonchalantly if something was wrong with his mouth.  I was driving, so I took a quick glance back and noticed some blood on his lip.  He told me that there was something bugging him so he pulled it out - turned out it was his tooth!  I was proud he was so brave!

I have enjoyed what Aaron is grasping and understanding about the theology of God, especially at Christmas....  We are praying that he continues to grow in the knowledge of Him!

And Noel is as sweet and sassy as ever....

Also, I wanted to put in some video of our house.  So here is a quick walk through for those of you that haven't seen it yet.....

 Also I have to brag about our bargain hunting and my husband's restoration skills.  Craigslists and garage sales have become our best friends these days as we try to make our house truly ours.  Here are the before and after pictures of a secretary desk Lee fixed up for me.

Before:

After:

Also, he refinished our dining room table and chairs....  I do not have a before picture, but it was just a  plain honey color with lots of dings and blemishes.  Now....

I love it!  It was like getting a new set for $100 worth of materials to fix it up! 

One of my garage sale favorite items - bar stools for a total of $20....

And one of my craigslist favorite items - cubby shelf with storage baskets, DELIVERED, for $30....

Next post I predict will be of our Christmas adventures! =)

Halloween and Noel's bday

We are settling into our new house and glad to be done unpacking boxes.  Lots of work still left to be done, but we are trying to live life in the midst of it, and not work all the time!

I will try to post some pics/video of the place sometime soon so those of you faraway can catch a glimpse!

Let's see, besides moving.....  Pretty much I will blog around what pictures I managed to remember to capture this month.  We celebrated Lee's 34th birthday and Halloween.....  Here is our little Cinderella and Captain America.....

All the cousins....  So glad they can be together - I have great memories of trick or treating with my cousins each year!

Ah yes, right after Halloween, Noel turned two!  Her biggest request was a Cinderella cake....

I wish I had video of Noel when I showed it to her - She was jumping up and down in uncontrollable excitement!  =)  This party was extra special, being the first one in which we could actually host our whole extended family in our own house.  Before, it was just too small.  It was such a blessing to have our family near and under our own roof!  And it was also special because our cousin Lincoln turned two also, so we got to celebrate he and Noel together....

Here is video of Noel on one of her presents.  Thank you craigslist - this is a nice solution to a dirt backyard....

Somehow, with just dirt back there, my kids find a way to entertain themselves....

We are so blessed to have such a wonderful home.  It feels just right for our family!  The pictures and videos I happened to get this past month barely capture our joy and thankful hearts!

Disney/Florida 2012

Aaron and Noel have some pretty awesome grandparents that took us all to Disney in Orlando, Florida last week.  It was such a fun time!  It was the first time Lee and I got to experience Disney with our own kids, and it was so fun to see it all through their eyes...

From Noel's perspective, it was all about seeing and meeting the princesses....  I don't know how, but she knows them all by name already.  Wow.  Good job on your marketing, Disney....  

 Her favorite princess remains to be Cinderella.  It was the first thing out of her mouth the morning we got up - "See Rella, Mommy?" She begged to meet her all day until we finally made our way to the castle.  It was so hilarious....  When we finally got to meet her, she was a bit starstruck and speechless. 

She still is talking about her....  So this almost two year old will definitely be having a very "Rella" focused birthday and Halloween costume.  

 For Aaron, it was all about getting a face painting....

....and the rides.  He rode on everything he could and never was intimidated.  We would ask him what he wanted to do next, and it was always, "I want to go on a ride!"  The one good thing that has come of Lee's bad knee was a fast pass to the front of lines as he sported a wheel chair for the weekend.

Small World - Aaron wasn't so thrilled with that....

It was so great for us and the kids to get to see Auntie Heidi and Uncle Spencer....

And Uncle Chad as well....

A few more random pictures of our two days (Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom)...

After Disney, we got to spend the rest of the week hanging out with Gi Gi and Papa in Fort Myers, Florida.  It was nice to have that extra time with them.  We got to go out on the Gulf with some of their friends and their speedboat....

We got to see some dolphins swim up really close to the boat that afternoon.....  It was amazing!

We made it to the beach too...  The weather was perfect and the kids enjoyed the sand and water...

It was a really fun trip for all of us, and something we will always look back on with great memories. 

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I felt a sense of urgency to get these pictures up - We are going to be very busy these next few weeks, as tomorrow, we close on our new house and begin moving in!