three years old

she requested an esther cake (from veggie tales).  so after we iced it, she wanted to play with the leftover icing...

our girl is three.  there aren't words to describe how much we love her, how quickly the time has gone, what a privilege it is to watch her grow and learn, how much i love being with her, how much i cherish her sweet laugh, inquisitive nature, and caring spirit.  i can't wait to see what the Lord has in store for you sweet girl.

yeah...that's a "1" and a "2" candle...i forgot to buy the "3" this year, so we did a quick math lesson on 2+1=3 

she has just learned how to do "i love you" in sign language and it's so stinkin sweet!

isaac has become so attached to daddy these days.  here he is in daddy's sweatshirt, going outside with him to warm up the van.  love it!

merry christmas

the story of our tree

so the saturday after we got home from the hospital, justin bundled up elise and isaac and took them to a local tree farm to get our christmas tree...

then isaac "helped" daddy and papa set it up...

 while maurice had a christmas photo shoot...

and there the tree sat...

it's been up for a week now, and on friday, mary and mom put the lights on for us...

while elise made funny faces for the camera...

(thanks you two!)...

this evidently wore elise out...

and maurice...

but not isaac (no surprise there)...

then last night, we finally decorated the tree with our gazillion ornaments...

isaac was more interested in the boxes and paper the ornaments came in...

justin was the ornament hander-outer...

elise was adorable and did a great job...

the kids stopped to read the Cat in the Hat book ornament (it's actually the entire book!)...

while morgan decided to take a nap on the bed elise made for her baby...

elise putting one more ornament on the tree...

all finished (so we thought)...

justin got the kids ready for bed...

and not long after, the tree took a tumble, crashing to the ground, smashing who knows how many ornaments...i admit, i cried...

so back up it went...with justin tying it in two spots...

and somehow, we still have a ton of ornaments (who am i kidding, thank you aunt ruth!!)

merry christmas!