highlights of the season

Yeah...two months later and I finally get around to blogging again.  I hate to say that this is going to be a regular occurrence, but I've had a good excuse for the long pause this time :) :) :)...

Baby #3 due July 15, 2013!

As excited as we are about this little baby (and we are REALLY excited!!)...the past three months have  been a mix of emotions.  With the holidays, events, traveling...I've just felt exhausted and nauseous through it all.  Not fun.  And with those wonderful pregnancy symptoms, along has come all kinds of emotions I don't need to mention.  

God has been gracious though.  First, by giving me Chad...who often would come home from work, jump in to help with the girls, and make supper too (without him we would have been living on frozen pizza and eggs for awhile)...yuck.  Second, by allowing me to get a lot of Christmas stuff done in early November (before pregnancy symptoms set in).  I think that Andrea was "nesting" at that time and her urgency to get things done spurred me on too ;).  SO nice.  And third, to give me such a love for these two that in spite of how I was feeling, I still was able to enjoy, love, and take care of them!

Okay, well some days it was a little harder ;)....

Here are our Christmas pictures...taken by me in the backyard :)...I have a great appreciation for professional photographers after trying to capture some decent shots.  Merry Christmas 2013!

Still feeling pretty good mid November.  Notice not only my smile :), but my coffee as well!  Livie stole my camera for this picture :). 

Daddy lovin'...

 Cousins playing on the stairs at Grandma Neukomm's...

We always knew Emma was a snuggler, but the older she is getting it seems the more and more she just snuggles up to anyone and everyone...she can be sooo sweet.  And so ornery too!  Don't let these sweet pictures fool you.  This little girl has a mind of her own and thinks she knows how to get what she wants ;).  There's been many teachable moments the past few months (to put it nicely) :).  

And Livie has started to love to "create" things.  With toys, coloring, crafts, play-doh...you name it.  And all the while, she's just in her own little girly world.  Love to watch her imagine and play...

When they are together...there's almost always laughter.  And with the laughter there's almost always crying too.  Oh, they have a lot to learn, but I'm so glad they have each other as sisters :).

Moving on.  Chad celebrated his 34th birthday in November.  He's the first to say that he's getting old ;).  To celebrate, I told him I would go hunting with him during shot gun season.  Afterwards I just had to laugh at how different we are!!  He had the time of his life...sitting in a blind for 4 hours watching nature with me ;).  Haha.  I, on the other hand, was so antsy the whole time!  But it was good to go with him, get in his world a bit, and see what he gets so excited about with hunting.  Okay, honestly, I still don't see it :(...but I'm glad I got to go.

Here he is getting all set up for a big hunt.  And no, he did not pose for this shot!  So serious...haha.

 Our homemade blind for the afternoon.  I know, I know...he's so talented :).

To celebrate his birthday with his family, we went to Osaka grill on a Sunday afternoon.  And when we went in...Santa from Grand Prairie just followed our group in.  It must have been the 15 kids we had with us :).  He wanted to know what we were there for, and we told him it was Chad's birthday.  So naturally, he wanted Chad to sit on his lap while we all sang him "happy birthday" :).  Haha...it was so funny!  It ended up being more like a "half-kneel" on Santa's lap :).  Livie just kind of stared at him like, "who are you and are you trying to do with my dad?".  Yeah, haven't told her a lot about Santa...

 She wasn't too excited to sit on his lap either :).

This year, we decided to go get a real tree for Christmas.  Alex came with us to get one for his place too.  Turned out to be really fun!

Our tree choppers...

When we got in the car to go home, Livie asked, "Alex got a tree and I got a tree, but where is yours, Daddy's, and Emma's?".  So cute ;).

Every year mom always makes Christmas cookies...it was fun to be a part of it this year with our "big" girls.  

Livie and Adalai loved decorating the gingerbread men and eating leftover sprinkles and candies :).

At the end of November/beginning of December, Chad and I left our girls with my sister and took a trip out west to LA with some friends to visit Chad's cousin, Jon.  While we LOVED who we were with, LA was quite a disappointment :(.  Rain, cloudy days, 50'-60' weather.  Ugh.  And the worse part was we kept hearing it hadn't rained in like 10 months!!

Jon, who lives there, made the most of it by surfing the big waves :).  They were bigger than this picture lets on...

We did see Stevie Wonder!!  

Jon always says that he was Chad's "first wife" (as they were roommates for awhile).  So this is a picture of Chad with his two wives :)...me and Jon.

 After 3 days in rainy LA, we decided to head south to Palm Springs to at least experience some warm weather.  Got to visit Joshua Tree National Park.  Awesome place. Even more awesome if you rock climb (which, of course, Jon does too!).

The Joshua trees were like something out of a Dr. Suess book...

After 5 days away, it was good to get back home to the girls...

In December, Livie celebrated her 3rd birthday!!  We had a "pink" birthday party for her...everyone was supposed to wear pink and all the decor was pink.  She LOVED it.  

 Even Neiko showed up wearing a sparkly pink dress!!  Awesome...  Yes, he is a boy...but wouldn't he be a really cute girl??  ;)

She came away with quite the stash of gifts...

The morning of her actual birthday, she asked for pancakes for breakfast...and ate with her new horse and purse (which she did not let out of her sight for days!).  Per her request, we also had pancakes for supper that night :).  The life of a 3 year-old...love it.

She's become quite the little bike rider with her "big girl" bike.  I love that she can ride it in the basement for now...this summer should be fun though.

Birthday girls Livie and Aunt Michelle :).

The first big snow of the year...the girls were in awe as it came down.

Emma was not as excited to get all bundled up :).  She kept spreading her legs apart so she could just stand!  Haha.

 But as soon as they got out and went sledding with Chad, they LOVED it.  So fun!

And while we had 9 Christmas events/parties/family things...Christmas morning was pretty calm.  

While we had a lot going on during this advent season, I probably enjoyed it this year more than any other year.  It wasn't everything that went on...or even or blessed news of being pregnant.

Instead, it was the reality of what God did in giving us Jesus...and it was just VERY REAL to me this year.   And such a reason to celebrate!!!

I'm so GRATEFUL for Him and how He has worked and is working in our hearts and lives.  May He continue to grow us this year, 2013, for His glory as we seek to serve Him!