Visiting Santa

We visited Santa this week. When I told Farrah that afternoon that we were going, she walked around the house and kept saying, "Mom! I love Santa now!!" (She has seen last years video where she clung to GG the whole time!! haha) Looking back, I'm pretty sure she was trying to talk herself INTO loving Santa; trying to pump herself up. She was great until we walked up to him. Then... we had to pry her down and beg her just to stand in front of Santa. Bella is so funny - she's holding onto Farrah, telling her that Santa is wonderful, all the while holding a perfect smile!

Bella wouldn't say what she wanted for Christmas. Claims he should already know from the note she wrote him. Farrah wouldn't say a word so Santa guessed that she loved Ariel (which she does) so now that is what she wants. 

I can't say enough great things about Santa (Rick!) at Bass Pro. Everyone loves him. He was busy even on a Tuesday night; luckily my mom went up and got a reservation at 5:30 for 7:30 on short notice. He remembered us all and our names. Then proceeded to pay for our pictures. He's amazing. He is so sweet and gentle and patient with the kids. All the "elves" there also cannot say enough good things about him. It was a great way to kick off Hallie's birthday week. 

*****************

At school Thursday, Santa came to visit the kids. Farrah was crying to me (a fake cry I might add) that she didn't want to. As soon as she got up there, she was all smiles?!?! So maybe she's good now! Bella still wouldn't say what she wanted and Farrah just smiled and nodded her head. 

I LOVE THESE TWO GIRLS SOOOO MUCH!!!

(Oh, and it was also PJ day at school!) Thank you for the pictures, Joy!!!

Zumba & 4th of July

I haven't posted pictures in a while!! I have a few to share...

First, let me say a BIG THANK YOU for all of the support for Hope From Hallie! The Zumba-thon was so much fun!! And you helped us raise $1500! Wow. Humbling.

We had a great turnout!

Cute pic of Farrah and sis-in-law, Melissa!

Looking back a couple more weeks... Forth of July

We spent the early afternoon at our pool. It was like Spring Break '98 out there... and we had the only kids. But we enjoyed it anyway! Having the pool next to us this summer has been so great, the girls are swimming like little fish now.

That afternoon, we went to a cookout/ good bye party for Kara, Jonathan and Dalton. They are moving back to Florida to be closer to family as Dalton grows. How CUTE is he?? His dimples are so adorable. 

We will miss seeing them, but I feel so blessed to have met Kara and sweet Dalton. Maybe we can visit them sometime!?! :) 

A little family photo

Silly Sisters

Those curls

They loved Dalton's baby toys

Kara even bought the girls some sparklers!

We finished off the fun day with Fireworks at Lenox. We were able to watch from a friend's office building. Thanks, Art and Katie! (I like the mom reflections in these pictures!)

It was a fun day!!

He is Risen!

I think that it is really special that Hallie was born around Christmas. I dreaded it during the pregnancy, not knowing where we would be on Christmas and how much despair we may be in. I worried that Christmas would never be the same.

Oh, and it won't be. Totally different than ever before. So much richer. God blessed us with a sweet, sweet, beautiful miracle - an early gift. Christmas was certainly hard (understatement), but it's indescribable the feeling of peace we had. I'm not sure I'll ever understand it myself, much less be able to describe it.

And as wonderful as Christmas is - Easter is where it's really at! Easter has been overshadowed big time! (Who came blame us - the old sweet man bringing presents is much better than the scary rabbit who hides eggs!!) But Easter is what our faith is based on. Without the actual death and resurrection of Jesus, we would have no hope of anything. No hope of seeing Hallie again. But we do have that hope. He is RISEN. And of course, like everything else I experience now - Easter has an even deeper meaning to me this year.

Don't get me wrong - seeing baby shoes at Target and imagining Hallie in them, matching her sisters... my stomach just tightened. It's not NATURAL that my baby isn't alive. It's just not right. I have my hours, days, weeks where I am just in a funk and I KNOW that missing her is the at the core of that. Most days, I still ask myself if this all really happened. It doesn't feel real because I didn't even get to know Hallie fully. It can be a strange feeling, knowing I met her and only had 5 days. 5 days are nothing, but they are everything to me! Those 5 days have forever changed me. But Easter was a time to reflect on hope, newness, wholeness... I focused on that!

Thank you God, for the cross.

We did about 20 Easter Egg hunts in the front yard during the last week. We started early in the week to get excited about the hunts for the weekend. It was a great activity, too! We also made resurrection rolls. Ours didn't come out as pretty! haaaaa! I tried to put 2 marshmallows in them. Stick to the recipe, Katie!!!


Saturday we went to a neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt.


But I have to say, the best part of that morning was "BubbleMan" Have you heard of him?? I had not. He comes with a big cart of all these huge bubble wands and the kids go NUTS!! It was pretty cool!



Our church had a Saturday night service and 3 Sunday services! So in between some on Sunday, we ate Easter lunch/dinner at my aunts home. I think that's been the tradition the past few years. It works well for us since she is down the street! One day, maybe they'll let me bring something other than deviled eggs and canned cranberry sauce (Or maybe not, considering my cooking skills above.)

It was beautiful weather. It's been just a wonderful spring so far! Although the pollen is terrible, I'll take it. I can't complain when we're able to get outside almost any time of day and (sneeze) enjoy it.

Random: You know 2 year olds say best best things. Farrah calls jelly beans "gummy-geens."

Anyways... here are a few cute pics from the day:



My mom, me, my Grandmother

Santa Comes to Town

(Chris writing)

Many of you now know about the amazing Santa that visited us from Bass Pro Shop to bring Christmas cheer to our family (if not, scroll down the page). Luckily, I had the presence of mind to capture most of the visit. I put a video together, so we can remember it forever.

Enjoy.

Santa

The girls' weekday director has so much pull with Santa, he came to visit us at church!

Farrah loves to talk about Santa, but was NOT so sure about him. Bella told him she needed a new cash register, because the one he gave her last year broke.








We are still here, hanging. Very ready for Monday to get here. The waiting is just terrible, honestly. Six months of wondering what is to come, and we're finally at the end of this pregnancy and the beginning of Hallie! We just love her and are ready for her to be in our arms so we can tell her how many people care for her and how proud of her we are.

Thanksgiving!

We did a Thanksgiving lunch at the Green's and dinner at the McIver's. Bunch of yummy food and family visiting!
Chris put together a video of our time at the Green's!



Here are a couple of good shots, too!

We started decorating...

We are usually a "day after Thanksgiving" decorating family. But we've started early this year to enjoy it all even longer :) The video above is the start of my "girl" Christmas tree with all pink ornaments. We'll wait to get our new tree because there is no way I could keep one alive until Christmas. (ha! plus... I'm sure they aren't out yet, right?)

We even had hot chocolate and watched Elf last night in our PJ's!

Halloween '11

We trick-or-treated in the neighborhood this year. We ate dinner as we walked (ha!) It was fun as both girls were able to walk to doors (Farrah wasn't walking this time last year) ... and we only did a few blocks before they were worn OUT!



Lots of homes on our street went ALL out decorating. Bella loved just going in and standing in front of all the scary stuff. Farrah, on the other hand, wanted very little to do with it. She liked to get her candy and immediately sit down in the driveways to check out her loot and open the candy.




We were out only about an hour then went back to hand out candy.

It was gone in about 10 minutes. IT WAS NUTS HERE! Groups come in the 20's (not kidding). Bella liked helping give the candy out!