Merry Christmas from us to you!

A Very Merry Christmas from our Family to yours.
We hope that you take the time to sit at the Lord's feet
this season and this coming year.
Jesus came to demonstrate amazing love and
bring amazing joy
to all who will receive Him.
Find out what that means today.

Anzo the Christmas Man!

We have been going to see this same Santa for the past five years. We usually found him at Prudential where I used to work. However, that office was closed and I wasn't sure if we were going to be able to find 'the' Santa. Fortunately I did my research early and remembered that he usually came to the South Kitsap extravaganza. Even thought the extravaganza was canceled... they still did the pictures. All in all, I thought the fact that we found him was pretty amazing! In the future... to those of you who like this Santa too, his website is www.kitsapsanta.com

The day we saw Santa happened to be the first day that I had show Cecily a Shirley Temple song and dance movie. When she saw Santa she burst into a full out tap dance for him.

Before we saw 'our Santa' Cecily ran into Santa at the mall. She was the only kid in the mall at the time so he said hello, and called her princess (she loved that). At home while we were getting ready for bed we were talking about what she had done that day. I asked her if she saw anyone who had a white beard and sat in a green chair. "Yes I did," she replied, "I think his name is Anzo the Christmas Man." And so he shall forever be called.

Thanksging 2009

Thanksgiving Eve was a day that was filled with amazing joy and thanksgiving. We held our first service in our new church building. It was a great time of worship, celebration, visiting and delicious amazing desserts. And-- the parking lot was filled! There are lots of glitches and still quite a bit of moving in to do... but it is so great to be there!

Due to lighting constraints and being completely distracted I did not get very many pictures of the event. But here our a few to give you a flavor of the look, color and feel.

Pretty Megan next to our colorful walls!

The nursery.

The Kitchen.

The amazing desserts I told you about!

Thanksgiving day we spent the day with Rory's mom and step-dad and Grandparents. We had a delicious meal and enjoyed a day of relaxing and visiting. In the top picture we have our Turkey Vision at Rory's parent's house. Here is Grandma Bear with her girls.

Christmas is Coming!

Dance! Dance! Christmas is Coming!

Okay, So I'll admit it... I broke the "Wait 'til after Thanksgiving rule" This year I ascribed to the "Any month ending in 'ber' means you can listen to Christmas music and watch Christmas movies- rule". For me November is cram time. I try to get as much done for Christmas as possible, that way we can just enjoy the whole month of December, and attend all those fun holiday events. I don't want to worry about Christmas cards, or presents in December. So I feel like if I am doing all this Christmas related work, I might as well enjoy some of the finer parts of the season. Don't get me wrong, Rory and I LOVE Thanksgiving, it is the day we got engaged. I just like to mingle the two a little bit!

Well, since I was in the mood, I dug out all the Christmas related hand-me-downs that we had. The girls were eager to try them on. So we popped the Enya Christmas album in and let them have at it. We are extra excited for Christmas to come, because my sister and brother in law (Cara and Phil) are coming!

The Christmas mood was contagious... next thing I knew Cecily was running around the house shouting "Christmas is Coming." Then we had to back track a bit, because in a two-year-old's world... a month and a half is practically forever!

Sunny November Moment

This was a momentous November day. We experienced a brief break from the storms (later that day we lost power due to the unruly weather.) So the girls and I made a break for it, and decided to get some out door playing time. It was momentous for another reason... I finally was able to get some actually shoes on Rosemary! That little girl makes it impossible to get shoes on her. She curls up her toes, and I have tried every trick in the book to make her cooperate. Robeez are the only kinds of shoes I can get on her. Well, I was able to get her in size 4 tennis shoes-- so she could go out in the cold and play. She could hardly walk in them, but they did the trick! She had lots of fun playing outside with her Sissy!

Sleeping Artist

Cecily was coloring a picture for her Auntie Cara and Uncle Phil after a long day playing outside. Sometimes she likes to color in Rosemary's high chair so that Rosemary won't ransack her pictures.

Pretty sweet!

Rory Face

There is much discussion over who Rosemary looks like. Rosemary and Cecily are looking more and more alike. However, I think Cecily looks a bit more like Rory and his sister Genesis-- I think she takes after the Adams' side. In this picture I think Rosemary looks just like her daddy. Until this picture Rory didn't believe that she looked like him at all. I think that Rosemary favors the Cannon side and looks like her Grandma Bear (Rory's mom). However, truth be told she also looks a great deal like me when I was little. Our baby pictures are very similar. And from her side profile she really looks like my mom. All this to say that Rosemary has a look all her own, and depending on who is holding her, really influences who she looks like at the time.