Bath Time

Ella just loves her bath time! As soon as she hears the water running she runs to the tub yelling "BATH"!!!!!

Just too cute!

Snow Day

Ella got to play in the snow for the first time last week. She wasn't sure what to think. She didn't want me to put her down. Poor girl was so torn, she didn't really like it but she also wanted to be outside where Daddy was shoveling snow.

She did like the snow when it got on her mittens.

Oh man, do I ever love this little girlie! She is just too precious.

And she's done! She lasted a whole 10 minutes.

Christmas With Our Families Part Two

The day after Christmas was spent with my family. Again, we had a fantastic time. It was the last time we would be with my parents (and Kevin) before they went to Florida. Not to worry though, we all get to send a week with them the end of January. It will be our first entire family vacation since Kirk and I were married so it should be fun. You can all pray for a happy baby on all flights and good weather as we have a connecting flight in Detroit.









Opening gifts from Uncle Kevin... he gives great gifts! She is in love with her Little people farm and Noah's Ark animals, as well as her big pink truck.

Grandpa and Grandma gave her lots of fun things too... a phone, play food, clothes, John Deere stuff.... she got so spoiled that I can't even remember everything she got!

Now she's gettin the hang of it! Rip that paper offa there! So cute to watch!

Ella got really upset that the toys weren't open so we had to open everything or she would just go up to it and whine.

The presents just kept coming. Literally, we kept finding more after we thought they were all open.

Christmas With Our Families Part One

We spent Christmas Day with Kirk's side of the family. It was a super fun day and somewhat chaotic with the little kids and the "big kids" (Kirk, Dave, and Clint)










D and Ella playing in D's new Thomas the Train tent. It's not going well as you can see.

My sweet sister in law, Tara helping L open her gift from us... clothes and a toy bag made by yours truely.

Ella's big gift from Grandpa and Grandma was a Cozy Coupe! She was super excited about it and immediately climbed in and started driving. (I'll post a video soon)

Dave playing with one of the toys we got D. I think Dave liked it more than D did.

Ella playing with her purse from Uncle Clint. She also got some fun wooden food for her kitchen and a tea set from Dave & Tara.

Our Little Family Christmas

I'm finally getting around to posting about Christmas! Christmas Eve we had our little family Christmas. For our Christmas I always make a turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, and stuffing since we don't do anything for Thanksgiving.







Ella likes to sit on the counter and watch us cook. Kirk takes pride in carving the turkey. She looks a little nervous though!

Kirk opens his present from Ella... a new Illinois t shirt.

Ella's present from us was a rocking chair. She loves loves it. She also got an Illini sweatshirt from Daddy and lots of fun stuff in her stocking that we are saving to play with on the way to Florida in a few weeks.

I Can't Shake This Feeling

Welcome to 2010, sweet friends! Are you excited? I can't seem to shake this feeling that 2010 is going to be a big year... a great year! I have a growing excitement for this year full of new days. I wonder what God will do and where He will take us. You see, 2009 was a stressful year for us. Oh it had plenty of good points. God proved His faithfulness to us time and time again. He called us to trust Him in new ways as a couple and as individuals. He used events and circumstances to strengthen our marriage and our committment to Him. He broke our pride in humbling ways. The Lord was good, but it was still a challenging year. Maybe that's why I look forward to this new year so much... I hope it's far less stressful. I know that this year will have a new set of challenges and areas of growth but I can't deny this peace I feel about it. So that is my prayer for you, dear friends. I pray that whatever you will face this year, where ever the Father chooses to take you, that He will send you a downpour of peace.