SIXTEEN

It seemed on the day we got married that we couldn't love each other more.

We were so wrong! 

Happy Anniversary to my very best friend.

I love you more today than yesterday... but not as much as tomorrow.

You are amazing!!

Adventures in Advent

We've had many Advent Activities so far this Season, but I think perhaps this has been my favorite so far...  Watching "The Nativity Story".  Have you seen it?  We watched it last year with the kids and thought it was so excellent we decided to make it an Advent Tradition.  Last year, I was so speechless over watching Joseph race through the streets of Bethlehem searching for a room for his soon-to-be-delivered wife.  He's so frantic and desperate and I just think that HAS to be the way he felt!  THIS year, I was overwhelmed by the Shepherds.  I love how God chose someone so humble to celebrate his Son's birth FIRST.  Just regular, working class guys.  Anyways, the movie is really well done, and my kids LOVED watching it again.  We did too!

Other activities that have made their way into our schedule.... Dinner at Chipotle, who sponsors the kids swim team.  Making a Christmas craft (yeah, no photo of that, but they were cute jingle bell necklaces), the Christmas Concert our church choir performed (oh yes, Mama's in the choir again!!), Happy Hour at Sonic, Munchkin donuts hiding in the microwave for breakfast...

Of course, we HAD to have a night of watching the Charlie Brown Christmas Specials... Who doesn't love Sally telling her brother, "I'm supposed to say, 'HARK!', and then Harold Angel sings."  and she ends up saying, "Hockey Sticks!"  Love it!! We warned Carly not to make that same mistake when she did her part in their Christmas Show!!

Visiting "The Lights" at Disney's Hollywood Studios.  They are so impressive and we stepped back in a RARE quiet corner and watched them dance to the music QUIETLY, taking a moment to SLOW DOWN.  That was really nice for us!

The performance of Back to the Manger... perhaps I should insert the video's here... Ben and Carly did GREAT!  Well, truth be told, ALL the kids did GREAT!  Ryan got them all singing GREAT, and our friend Debbie did a fantastic job with the drama part.

Carly had a pretty big part in the show with lots of lines and her solo.  She really did great remembering all her parts (and everyone else's too!!) She worked really hard, practicing every day!

(RATS!  Can't get Ben's to upload... it's too long!!)

It's on my facebook page, though!

Anyone who knows Ben, knows how very impressive it is that he was willing and able to get up in front of everyone and sing and dance!  We were so proud of him, we know it's a little harder for him than for Carly.  Imagine that, both our kids are little singers!  HA!

We attended the Christmas program at my parents church and loved it!  It was so nice to spend time with them.... we have been so busy with the kids being older and in school and our busy schedules that we haven't seen them as much as I would like.  I do miss the days of Ben and Carly being too little for school and the time we spent hanging out at Grammy and Papoo's house! 
We also had dinner with Aunt Rochel and Uncle Edgar and small children...

HELLO LEAH!  Welcome to Auntie's Blog!  I thought this picture was funny... ask Ryan to hold the baby and when he's done playing with her she gets to sit BESIDE him.  Funny.  The flash on my cell phone make her close her eyes:)  She's actually really smiley with the cutest Circle Head.  (Thanks, Carly!) Anyways, while we were there, there were funny moments that involved the newly written "J song".  Apparently Eli think's candy canes are "J's" and his cousins were happy to oblige him with silly dancing and singing "J" over and over.  Who says 11, 9 and 2 year olds can't play together and have a fantastic time?!?!

Let's see... Tree trimming, Christmas Party with our friends, Game Night, Driving around and looking at Christmas Lights... We've had a fun, not-so-busy-BUSY Advent Season.... so far! 

The Main Attraction of the Advent Season arrives tomorrow.   Oh, you'll be hearing PLENTY about her, I'm sure!!

Header...

It's that time of year again... Advent (not "new blog header").   I love it.  Mostly because I need to SLOW DOWN more than any person I know!  Today, it occurred to me that I was RUSHING through the activity I was doing TO RELAX.  (ok, if you must know, crotcheting.  All right, an afghan for Carly.)  Ryan was teasing me for the text I sent him a few months ago:  "The girl doing my pedicure is taking ENTIRELY too long and it's driving me nuts!!!!".  The reality speaks volumes.

So, waiting.  I'm very very bad at it, but aware enough to see the need.  And December is the one month I guess I allow myself to anticipate and savor something.   Which is kind of ironic since our calendar is seriously the FULLEST in December!! 

Our kids LOVE our Advent Calendar.  Ryan and I love it for what it teaches them... anticipating Christ's birth, spending time with family, and being patient!  Most of our activities will be repeats of last year, and a few new ones for good measure.  It's a tradition we've all come to love and I know that even when our kids are grown, Ryan and I will continue to plan activities and probably even "hide" the plan in the countdown calendar!!

I originally made a DIFFERENT header...

... a fine close up of our Advent Calendar.  I didn't love it, but I did love the verse.  It emulates the Season for us perfectly.  I love how the punctuation falls in this particular verse... "Wait for the Lord"  "Be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord".  Particularly the "Be strong and take heart AND WAIT" part.  I spent the whole year waiting.  For my job to change.  From Night Shift to Day Shift.  I needed to sleep.  My family needed me to NOT be so cranky.  I needed to not be so bored with my job.  So I prayed for a change of heart, since I didn't think a job change was likely.  I figured that if I delighted myself in the Lord, he would give me the desires of my heart (Psalm 37:4)... I quickly learned that that means He will give me the desires of my heart, as in, making me want what HE wants.  His plan.  He made me happy in my then current situation... and when I completely least expected it, I found myself getting up at 5:30am.  For work.  I love what I am doing now, but to be honest? Just before He moved me, I honestly loved what I was doing then.  Funny how that worked out. 

The new picture:

So, we started our Advent Activities.  You know, on December 1st.  By the 4th day, we finally got to our Tree Trimming Party.  We got the tree up, all the decorations out... I decided I needed to photograph our ornaments because they are all so sentimental to me!  So I was on this level of our tree, getting refocussed to snap a picture and I saw our calendar in the background... the chest with the pictures of Ryan's grandparents... soft lighting, the "Love" ornament on our tree... and well, I don't think that was a Random view since it made me stop.  Catch my breath.  And wait.

Nine

Well, Carly is NINE today! 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEET GIRL!

You've brought us SO MUCH joy with your sweet smile, laugh, and sweet attitude! 

We had a great couple of days of celebrating with our girl...  she had her first "Non-Family-Sleep-Over" and had her BFF Olivia over.  We went to see Tangled, which was very cute (Lucky for Ben, he was over the Warren's house!) made home made pizza's... and seriously, she talked Olivia into watching "The Best Movie Ever... Back to the Future 3!!!!"  Ryan was so proud!!!  Very funny!  This morning we cheered Ryan on while he ran 22 miles... then went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast while he was still running.  Yes, I felt very bad about doing that:)  TONIGHT, we went to the Olive Garden (Carly's favorite!!!) for dinner with my parents, Uncle Steve, and Rochel and Edgar and the cousins.

Here are a few of her gifts from her party... she's saving money for an iPod Touch, and she got an amazon gift card from Amazon fans Uncle Dean and Auntie Tracy... iTunes GC from Torrey... the Little Big Planet dolls from Grandma and Grandpa (she about lost her mind!!!  they are from a video game she plays with Ryan)... there's more on the way from them, too...  we are all about extending the birthday!

Peace Bath Products from Ben... she's already to travel in Peace now!

Money for her iPod from Uncle Steve... and Aunt Rochel and family...

a Peace watch from Grammy and Papoo... and they already got her the American Girl Doll that she loves!

Earrings from Auntie Laurie and Uncle Tim and the cousins...

as well as puppets... we are eagerly awaiting a show, but must make sure Eli is over for it!  He loves puppets!

And my favorite part of the night, Eli blowing out the candles!  It was so funny that i re-lit them for him about 3 times.  He was all practiced up since his bday was about 2 weeks ago.  Can't believe I didn't take a picture of his darling sister, but I was slightly distracted by the cake and coffee:)

And one last gift... Auntie Laurie made the kids pillow cases and fleecy blankets!  I think my Hippie Girl was pretty happy with her day!

Thanks to everyone who called and were able to come out for her big day!  And to Aunt Rochel for making a very yummy cake!  Mmmmmmmm.... and thanks for the leftovers!

Happy Birthday Carly!  I'm so thankful God picked us to be your parents... When I remember the day you were born, I can't block out the fact that your little heart stopped beating and God guided  Dr. Q to safely deliver you ANYWAYS, and that you are FINE.  I'm thankful for every sweet minute we've had with you... I make myself remember those scary minutes, so that I don't take a single minute with you for granted! 

WE LOVE YOU!!!

Happy Birthday!

Favorite Song of All...

I just had to share this. Yesterday in our church, several of the members who are deaf, or who sign for the deaf led us in worship during the offeratory. Now granted, I'm a total emotional sucker for this kind of stuff, but seriously??? Stop and think about how much this totally honored God and how beautiful it must have sounded to Him. And then think about how cool it was for these people to get to praise God in such a very cool way. Their way. Love it.

(video clip is just partial... and not mine, but someone who attends with us)

Random Picture #4

In case you ever wanted to see McGregor Children with black hair...

Random Picture #3

Carly... on the beach in Panama City... at sunset.  It's a cell phone picture, but I still love it.  GREAT weekend watching our brother-in-law complete an Ironman competition.  So proud of you, Josh!!!