snow fun

The girls and I ventured out into the beautiful snowy morning...cotton ball like snowflakes! We had fun in the sled and making snow angels! This was Eden's first time in the snow...she seemed to have fun, but getting the snow gear on was torture! I love the sound of the snow falling! We came in and warmed up the cocoa and Christmas music!

a special visitor

Ezri meeting baby Maya (sorry the picture's a bit blurry)
(Molly, Tyler, and the girls)

This past weekend our friends Ty and Molly came up from Oregon for a visit! It was so good to see them...in August they welcomed a precious baby girl to their family - Maya! We have been waiting to meet her, just looking at pictures wasn't cutting it! Maya, of course, is beautiful and soooo sweet! She looks just like her Daddy!

Ezri loves seeing Ty and Molly and often asks about them! This was their first time meeting Eden and she followed in her sisters suit...and has a special place for Ty and Molly in her heart! Ty and Molly have a special way of making the girls feel so important...it's neat to have friends that love your kids that way! Maya was a true hit and Ezri hasn't stopped talking about her!

I love watching Tyler and Levi together...the minute the see each other it's like time takes a step backward and we are in high school again! Their conversations are mostly in sound effects and Ace Ventura and Dumb and Dumber quotes! No one makes Levi laugh like Ty!

Thanks for trekking through the snow friends, we had a sweet time!

christmas pictures

I attempted to get in touch with my photography skills and took the girls outside in hopes of at least one good Christmas card picture! I was surprisingly pleased...the girls wore hats my Baba knitted...I love them!

gingerbread men and christmas trees

This weekend we pulled out all of the Christmas decorations, put lights up outside, decorated our Christmas tree, and made gingerbread cookies! And, of course my favorite, pulled out the Christmas music! We had a great time...especially when the gingerbread men escaped the oven-they left a trail of notes saying "Run, run as fast as you can! You can't catch me I'm the Gingerbread man!" along with a clue of where to go next!

We only put a few ornaments on the tree this year because of our little Eden, but Ezri used most of our others to decorate a small tree in her room! I've loved watching Ezri get into the holiday spirit! Her favorite thing to play right now is Mary and Joseph - she either plays with her nativity or comes out dressed like Mary and pretends Eden is baby Jesus, Levi or I get to be Joseph! It's really fun talking with her about why we celebrate Christmas because she can grasp the concept better this year!Oh, and our tree couldn't be any more girlie...it has pink lights!

mickey mouse clubhouse

Last Friday Ezri had some friends over to play for her birthday! Everything was Mickey Mouse themed! We had Mickey cupcakes, made Mickey and Minnie ears and Mousekaspotters, and played Mickey-Mickey-Donald! The kids seemed to have a great time...so did Levi and I!

happy birthday sunshine!

Ezri turns 4 years old today...all Levi and I keep saying is we can't believe she's 4 already! The time is going to fast! Our sweet little sunshine has had a fun birthday celebration, excluding the fact we already celebrated early with family! Yesterday, she spent the evening with Nanz and got to have her first real pedicure and manicure...she can't stop talking about it! Today she was able to celebrate at preschool; she made a birthday crown which she has had on all day, got to bring in Mickey Mouse cookies, and her class sang "happy birthday." We enjoyed the afternoon together and went to the Ware Fair at the college with our friend Melissa and tonight she's going on a date with Daddy to see a movie...so fun!

Ezri is our little ball of sunshine! She has a strong, yet sweet personality and is always surprising us by the things she says, does, and remembers! She loves playing anything make-believe and usually narrates her play by a made up song! Ezri is a true snuggler and is always hanging onto one of us and saying "I love you." We hope that never changes! She's a super big sister and is really into teaching and showing Eden things! She's still loving preschool and is really starting to recognize letters and numbers...I love it!

Ezri we pray that over this next year you would continue to grow in your love for the Lord! That He would guide your heart and continue to bless you in all that you are doing and learning! We pray that you would be confident in who you are and who God has made you to be, that no one or thing would cause you to doubt the young lady that you are! We pray over your relationship with Sister that is would always be a special, strong bond that you two hold because she will forever be yours! We ask Lord that you would protect Ezri physically and bless her health. Lord that you would continue cultivating in her a kind heart that desires things of You! Thank you for our beautiful baby girl and the true gift she is to us- thank you Lord that you love her even more than we do and you know the plans you have for her! Amen

Looking back 4 years:

We were living in Packwood, Washington the year Ezri was born and commuting over White Pass during the winter anticipating her arrival! The Lord truly had His hand in the weather because He held off the snow until after Ezri was born!

I was such a nervous Mama, wanting to make sure I paid attention to all the right labor signs! Ezri was born on a Saturday and the Wednesday night before I thought maybe my water broke. After consulting Dr. Larson, we decided to head to Eburg Thursday morning. My water hadn't broke (which is very obvious to me now) so I was sent home to rest. He gave me a sleeping pill that night, which made me sleep incredibly and I woke the next morning having contractions.

We labored all day at my parents house (which was special because we had family there with us) and then around 5pm we headed into the hospital! I labored for a long time, spent some time in the tub, walked, and finally needed an epidural! Once some of the pain was eased I could rest a little more and by 3am started pushing! I pushed and pushed, but we weren't making much progress. By 6am Dr. Larson started saying we might look into other options and I just knew I didn't want anything other than an natural delivery. Maybe it was motivation, but I really think the Lord heard my prayers and after 4 hours of pushing we met our baby girl at 7:01am. Ezri Shannon weighed 7lbs 7oz and was 19 1/2 inches long. She came out as curious as she is now, and just looked around...she laid on my tummy and just looked at Levi and I! Neither one of us will forget the first time we saw those big eyes! She had a head of dark hair that we were surprised by and deep blue eyes (which are now green)!

We are so thankful and proud of our precious Ezri...we love you sweet girl! Happy Day!

thankful

Thankful is the only way to describe the way we walked away from our Thanksgiving weekend! We had such a special time as a family and with extended family...we are truly blessed! In spite of feeling so thankful for all wonderful people we were with, we spent most of the time eating (or so it seemed). We started off our long weekend preparing for Thanksgiving dinner at Nanz and Pops house, making all the dishes we could the night before! Thursday we woke up and watched the Thanksgiving day parade...Ezri was so into it and kept yelling for us to "look, look, Mama, and Daddy." I don't know what we were thinking but we had waffles for breakfast then headed to Jamma's for dinner-round 1 and then to Nanz and Pops after the Seahawks game for dinner-round 2! We had so much fun seeing cousins and played a few fun games- quarters (which Eden was super entertained by) and battle of the sexes (the boys won)!

(Eden playing "quarters")

Friday we celebrated Matty's 25th birthday with more eating at the Pasta Co. and then went downtown for Moments to Remember! The girls loved walking through the live nativity and Ezri kept yelling "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus...we're going to see Jesus!" We watched the lighting of downtown and the local ballet studio perform...Eden tried kept licking the window we were watching them through...yuck!

(Ezri and Daddy waiting in line to see "Jesus, Jesus!")

(All Eden wanted to do was walk...you go little sister)

(Ezri and Eden watching the ballerina's, Eden was cleaning the window)


Saturday we escaped for a movie date with Nolan and Morgan and then celebrated Nolan's 25th birthday with again more eating at the Yellow Church cafe!

All in all we had a great weekend and loved the concentrated time with our fam's!