GRANDMA WEAVER AND THE WHOLE CREW

We have really taken advantage of having family around. We had everyone here for Thanksgiving, several family members here for Christmas, and then the whole crew on my side was here to celebrate the New Year. This is the first time in over a year that all of the grandkids have been together, so we took advantage of it, and took a picture with Grandma and all the grandkids.

Here is a picture with Grandpa and all the grandkids in the summer of 2003. The picture with Grandma is December 2007. Amazing what a few years can do; and we aren't done yet....

Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas 2007!

Christmas this year was pretty grand. We were able to have Wesley with us, which was very nice, and Aynsli always loves. This is the first year we have lived close to family, and we were lucky enough to have Grandma Weaver with us for Christmas as well.

Wesley and Aynsli both had quite the haul on Christmas morning. this is a picture of them in front of the tree before opening presents. It doesn't give the whole scene justice, but it was pretty exciting for both of them.

Aynsli got a pretty new purple church dress, and she got dress up shoes and necklace and earrings from Grandma. You can't see them too well, but she looked so cute all dressed up.

Wesley got several things he has "always wanted". He got some great presents from Grandpa and Grandma Hillier, and aunt Jenny and uncle Keith as well.

Chris got a great big Bronco pillow from Grandma. I don't know that he has had much time to enjoy it, as one of the kids always seems to be laying on it.

How grateful we are for this Christmas time of year, for the blessings of family and bounty, and for the birth of our Savior, which we celebrate. May we keep that feeling with us all year round.

Gingerbread House Fun

Last year we started a tradition of making a gingerbread house for the Christmas season. We actually continued that one this year. Some of the cousins were down for a family Christmas party, so we spent an afternoon making Gingerbread houses. I was actually very impressed with how they turned out. Last year our frosting wasn't very good, but we found a great recipe that worked wonders this year. We didn't use actual gingerbread, just graham crackers, but the kids had great fun doing it.

80% chance of.....

A little miracle!

We went to the doctor again today, for our second ultrasound. Something we have been waiting 4 weeks for. And I guess today of all days, should be one where we expect the unexpected. It was 2 years ago today that my Dad passed away, and now on this day, we find that "there is an

80% chance of this baby being....." a girl.

That alone is a miracle, at least in my family. Maybe Dad is trying to help even up the odds in the family! : )

We will go back in 4 weeks to see if we can get 100% confirmation, and to see if she will cooperate and give us a profile shot to check on her lips and chin. So far everything looks great. It is also a miracle that I am still up and around. It was this week in my pregnancy with Aynsli I went on bedrest for the next 16 weeks, and I am doing well. My blood pressure was better than it has been in months (thanks to being well medicated and lots of prayers) and no proteins showing up. So far, so good, and we are grateful for that!!!!

What is it with little kids and new snow boots?

While we were out getting our Christmas Tree, we decided we'd better stop and find Aynsli some snow boots. She has this penchant for finding ice and snow where ever it is, which I guess is typical for a little girl. She must be normal!!! The only ones we could find are about a size too big, but that isn't stopping her. We got home and the first thing she wanted to do was dance around in her new boots. But that wasn't good enough, she had to put her coat on too. Which coat, I might add, she has received many compliments on~probably because she looks so darn adorable in it!
So here is Miss Aynsli in her new boots and coat, ready for whatever winter may throw at her. (And for those of you who just might be wondering where she got that coat, yes, it was her mama's. I know I have a picture of me in it somewhere, I really ought to see if I can find it).

Christmas Trees and Christmas Noodles....

In our family it is a tradition to go and get our Christmas tree on the first Saturday in December. When we lived in Michigan, we tried to go and cut our own down, but the year I was on bed rest that didn't work, because I couldn't tromp around the forest looking for the perfect tree. So we had to come up with an alternative--Home Depot. That is certainly not as exciting as going and finding your perfect tree, but we have had really good success with their trees. We have had Douglas firs, Fraser firs, and this year we got a Noble firs. We love the firs because their needles are soft, and the trees are just so pretty. We weren't sure if this year we would be able to continue that tradition....the season's first snow storm hit fast and furious yesterday, and we didn't know if we would go anywhere. Finally about 5pm the snow let up, and we were able to go out and find our perfect tree. We love this tree, and think it is the best one we have had yet.

We got it in the house and set up, and then had a whole trail of needles to clean up. As Chris got out the vacuum and started cleaning up, Aynsli asked what dad was doing. I told her that he was cleaning up the needles that had dropped off the tree. She then went around pointing out all of the "noodles" that dad needed to clean up. I guess she had no vocabulary reference point for needle, but knows the word noodle, so needles became noodles. Kind of like how when she prays, gospel is bicycle. Sounds the same to her, and she has no idea what gospel is. Anyway, so here is our tree, so pretty and so much fun to do!