Aunt Ally's Visit and Other fun things...

We have been very busy around here! And, so, of course....my blogging has slipped. We're working on our new routine...and doing pretty well, I must say. Nate and I both started back on Jan. 4 (which also happens to be my birthday!). Nate to school and I to my final practicum. I am working 40 hrs/5 days per week at a local children's homeless shelter and advocacy center which also offers counseling services. It is an amazing agency, and I am getting wonderful experience as I find my niche there. However, it means that Faith is at Diana's more than she ever has been (by alot). Before this semester we were blessed to have her at Diana's only about 2 days per week, then home for breaks, summer, etc. But, she is doing so great. We have our mornings together, then she plays hard at Diana's, and we have our evenings. We cherish the time we all have together.

In the midst of this, Aunt Ally came to visit. It was a breath of fresh air for us to have family here, and of course Faith loved it :) We didn't take enough pictures, but we got some of Faith opening (more) Christmas gifts from Gigi, Pawpaw and Ally. She had a blast pulling presents out of the big bag. Here are some present-opening pics.

Faith has also been into dress up lately. She rumages through her dress up clothes (or Mommy's clothes) and parades around for awhile, then inevitably changes hats, etc. It's pretty hilarious for us to watch. While Ally was here, Nate and I got to go out on a date while she stayed with Faith. We had a BLAST seeing Avatar. Let me tell you...I'm not exactly a huge sci-fi fan (just ask Nate, who definitely is :) ), but this movie was amazing! Honestly one of the best movies I have seen, especially in the theater as it's 3D. We would absolutely recommend it! Before the date...
After the date... Here's a pic that Aunt Ally snapped while she and Faith were having dinner one night. Faith thought Ally was pretty funny!

This is the DELICIOUS and HUGE cake that Nate brought home for my birthday. So yummy! Though you may wonder how we could possibly eat all of it...somehow we managed to do it within the week (yikes!).

We have other exciting news....but I'm trying to upload a video for that one :) Most of you probably know...but we'll wait and give it a special post when we can finally get a video loaded! Until then.... :)

Bathtime ABCs

Faith has started learning her ABCs. Sometimes she'll randomly sing them on her own, but that's hard to catch on video! So, here we got her singing with me. Please excuse my singing and focus on the sweet child's voice :)

More Christmas Pictures!

Who can resist taking pictures of a sweet, happy, bathing baby?! Levi happy as ever. Look at those rolls!
The grandkids altogether Christmas Eve: Faith, Levi and Reagan (Can you tell Faith likes hugging Levi?)

Reagan and Faith riding their ponies while randomly shouting, "Yee-Haa!" Or "Gitty-Up!"

Danielle and Levi Christmas morning

Faith Christmas morning feeding her new baby doll

Weston helping Reagan with her new baby doll.

Grandma and Grandpa looking good in thier old age :)

Faith and I

Nate opening his gift from Dylan. He was SO excited to get thi professional style deep fryer. It will make frying fish even that much better!

The boys!

Grandpa Tim and Weston helping the kids open thier gifts.

Cousin Kynnedy at Van Eaton Christmas. She was so good!

Those are the pics we have! Hope you had a great Christmas as well :)

Happy Birthday Jesus!

We are finally recouperating from our Christmas travels, and it's time to catch up on blogging :) Just as a sidenote: some of you may have noticed that you didn't get a Christmas card from us this year. We didn't forget about you! We just didn't send them out this year. Things got kind of crazy, and it fell to the wayside, but next year we'll be back on track :) So even though Christmas cards didn't get sent out, we made it through the semester!!!! No more classes for me! Only a seminar and full-time practicum. The end is so near...and it is very sweet.

This Christmas was a blessing to us. We were able to go back to Iowa for a little over a week to spend time with family and celebrate Jesus' birthday. There's so much to share, so I think a quick list would be good....

• We made it through the snow storm! Even though Faith got her first ear infection since tubes on Christmas day. SO thankful that our doctor called in a prescription and Mom has 4 wheel drive :)


• In the midst of the Christmas Eve snow storm we (myself, Danielle and Mom) travelled in 3 hrs what usually takes half that time to rescue Aunt Kiki (Kristy) and deliver her safely home in time for Christmas morning. QUITE THE ADVENTURE!


• Nate got his first deer with his bow!!!!!!!!!! woo hoo!!!!!! So exciting...and even better was that he and Dan got to hunt together that day.


• Faith didn't bite Reagan! Faith has had some biting episodes throughout the past few months, so I was nervous she might bite Reagan. But, an answer to prayer is that she didn't (but, don't be fooled, they duked it out in other appropriate toddler ways :) ).


• Baby Levi (who is already 9 months!) is about ready to crawl. Such a sweet baby.


• We got to see alot of family, but still missed seeing some. Can't wait until we can get back and catch up :)


• My camera died midway through the week, and I didn't have the chance to get batteries....so not as many pictures as I would have liked :)
  

I think that about sums it up. In the midst of a busy Christmas season, we were constantly reminded of the many ways God has blessed and continues to bless our family--through each other, material provisions, safety, health, etc. But, most of all we are thankful for the birth, death and resurrection of our Savior. Happy Birthday Jesus!

Before we left, we had a little family Christmas...here are a few pics.

Faith's "big" present from Mommy and Daddy was an Elmo playset. Have we mentioned she likes Elmo?

She also got a bath set for her dolls. Here she is brushing teeth :)

More pics of Christmas in Iowa in the next entry!