happy birthday Jesus

our Happy Birthday Jesus party

Christmas Morning

This is the second year in a row we have been blessed with waking up at our house on Christmas morning, just the three of us (well, the four of us - counting baby inside me this year!!) ... what a wonderful morning :)

(the pictures are in reverse order - sorry)

opening presents (thanks uncle Francis and aunt Gail!)

our little tree

he was more excited to see the tree - he didn't even notice the presents

catching up...

here's a picture from when Luke and I were getting out Christmas decorations and it started snowing outside!!

how it all came to be...

The Gospel, according to St. Luke, Chapter 1, verses 26 - 38

And in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God into a city of Galilee, called Nazareth, To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. And the angel being come in, said unto her: Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. Who having heard, was troubled at his saying, and thought with herself what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said to her: Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found grace with God.

Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt bring forth a son; and thou shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the most High; and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of David his father; and he shall reign in the house of Jacob for ever. And of his kingdom there shall be no end. And Mary said to the angel: How shall this be done, because I know not man? And the angel answering, said to her: The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the most High shall overshadow thee. And therefore also the Holy which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.

And behold thy cousin Elizabeth, she also hath conceived a son in her old age; and this is the sixth month with her that is called barren: Because no word shall be impossible with God. And Mary said: Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.


**Merry Christmas to all! We are so thankful for all that the Lord has blessed us with this year, but especially for the gift of our new baby growing inside me! We are truly grateful to have a happy and healthy little family. We will be home for Christmas Eve and Christmas Morning, just the three (well - technically four!) of us... and we are so excited to spend that time together - anticipating and celebrating the birth of our Savior! Luke has been singing "Happy Birthday to Jesus" and the birthday cake is ready to be frosted.

visit to Pleasanton

we got to visit family this last weekend - it was busy, but so much fun! here we are after Sarah's play - Luke really enjoyed "Cinderella" (it helped that it was nap time and he was pretty tired and just content to sit there watching the show!)
We made it to Luke's (and we think Greg's) first high school basketball game that night to watch cousin Jessica play great (and win!)

yummy dinner afterwards at my Aunt and Uncle's house

Luke's Hat

so, while we were at Disneyland Luke decided that his hat didn't need to be on his head when it was cold - I had a different opinion... so, we went to the Disney store and tried on hats while strolling him around the store, the hat in the picture is the one that he didn't try to take off - it has a strap around the chin and is super-cute, so it works out well for all of us! the funny thing was, I wanted to keep him warm and he didn't want to take it off, so when we were in the check-out line at the store the cashier just scanned it on his head and he even wore it through dinner ... the funnier thing is that the hat comes with matching mittens which were also attached all through dinner ... at a crowded fancy restaurant in downtown disney :) here we are waiting for the monorail right before I finally got the mittens off (of course the hat was still on while i did that!!) oh - and the reason why his sweatshirt is so big is because it was a hand-me-down and says disneyland on it, so he wore it for the trip - it was great for layering though, cause the evenings were pretty chilly...

on a side note - if you ever need tips on how to change a toddler's diaper and pants in a crowded disney store (without using the bathroom or a changing table) i may have some experience :)

Thanksgiving

photos from actual thanksgiving day...
check out the hand position on the guitar - I think he is actually playing a chord :)
Luke with his "favorite" cousin Shaun

Daddy, Mama, Nana, Luke, Aunt Naomi, Nonna, Uncle Dom, and Nonno
(wow, I look huge-pregnant in this one... I think its cause I am leaning at a strange angle)
Luke was definitely ready for bed by the time this picture was taken - he's got his pajamas on and blue elephant in hand

**snow**

we had snow at our house all day yesterday and it even stuck overnight!!
enough for snow-balls but not enough to mess up the roads - i love the sierra foothills!!

...happiest place on earth...

we spent the four days after Thanksgiving at Disneyland!!
here is our little family on Dumbo - Luke had a great time!


here is Luke on my shoulders watching a parade - I love how he points at all the floats!

On the Jungle Cruise with Daddy - clearly watching a somewhat-scary creature I am sure

the boys - notice how Luke needed to hold his sippy-cup too, as his Daddy and Nonno had their cups

Riding on Autopia with Daddy and Nana - holding the steering wheel with one hand and clutching his "driver's licsence" with the other!

cooking and cleaning with Luke

sweeping outside

yep, i am cooking dinner with two kiddos between me and the counter! (notice his need to stand on my feet as well)

riding the vacuum - pretty much one of his favorite activities

outsite with clothes line

apparently I forgot about the time change and now its dark much earlier - hence the pictures of me taking clothes and diapers off the clothesline when its already dark!! Luke obviously doesn't mind!

at the table

not quite sure what he's thinking about, but he sure is cute... thanks to the Olivia's birthday party he has a neat crayon he won't let go of!! (it was brought in bed with us, to the table, in the car, etc... you get the idea)

playing in the laundry room

where is Luke?

Hume Lake

happy fall

if you couldn't tell, Luke and I made those decorations ourselves :) pumpkins and leaves and construction paper - lots of fun!

how? why?

that big white thing he is holding used to be on the bottom of my refrigerator... how? why? hmm, maybe because he's nineteen months old...