It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

...and here are just a few of the reasons:



The twinkle in the eye!


Christmas Dresses


PRESENTS (and the look that accompanies)


A complete family


Santa Clause and the wonder of the season!

to be continued...

All in a week!

Whew! As I think back to the last week, I can't believe all that took place.

First of all, Lilly started school and had 2 complete days, in which she did fabulous. I say that meaning she did not seem the least bit anxious, scared, or intimidated. On the other hand, she does have a little way to go as far as sitting during carpet time, sharing during center time and learning the different voice levels to use at different times.
Thursday was quite an emotional roller coaster. That morning we received a call that a very dear friend of ours had passed away. Words cannot express what my friend has meant to me and what her whole family has (and continues) to mean to us. But, she was ready to go and be completely healed. Maybe at a later time I will be able to put into words all that I have learned from her as a mother, friend, and as someone who really handled her illness with great dignity and faith.
Later that day, my friends at the school that I work at gave our family a "Meet Lilly" shower. It was a lot of fun and soooo appreciated! Lilly received many cute hair bows, toys, outfits, and some of the most amazing books. I really love books, but usually prefer to just check them out from the library. After receiving some of the most thoughtful, beautiful books for Lilly about children, adoption, China and even an Aggie book; I must say that I have a new appreciation of children's books! Look out friends, that will be what everyone receives from now on!
Then, on Friday she had dental surgery. Again she amazed us! I had no idea of what to expect, as this was our first experience with surgery for ALL of our family! We have certainly been blessed in that regard. The dental procedure took about 2 hours, recovery an hour, and within an hour after that she was back to full speed. WOW! So, because of our inability at times to just slow down, we decided to go to the local museum's annual Christmas Open House.
I LOVE this open house and we try to attend every year. It has children's crafts, but my favorite is the Pioneer Town with local people dressed in period costumes. I hope my family will continue to indulge me even though I can tell that they are not near as excited about going as in years past.
Well, the rest of the weekend was still a whirlwind. Volleyball games, Sunday school Christams party, and a beautiful funeral service for Rachel.
Now, at 10:45 Sunday night all are nestled in their beds, the Christmas lights on, and I catch a few minutes to update the blog. I did get to catch a Christmas movie on the Hallm*rk channel and clean the bathrooms during commercial breaks. I love my life!

YIPPEEE!!!!

Lilly has officially had her first day of school! Monday and Tuesday, she went for about half a day, much of which I kept going by to sit with her or to check on her. Well, today she made it the WHOLE day! I think she probably could have made it all day on Monday, but I had already decided to try it this way. Then, on Tuesday she went in the morning, 2 hour dentist appointment around lunch, then back the rest of the day. I really think she has done fabulous and will progress socially and academically by leaps in bounds in no time! (I am a little bias though.) A VERY special thank you to her kindergarten teacher, Mrs. A for being so flexible and so patient. Lilly will be our 2nd daughter to have her and all I can say is she is a VERY patient lady!
BTW- I do have pictures from the first day, but with keeping with "tradition" they are stuck on my camera as I forgot the memory card AGAIN! Jay does know how to fix that, so when he gets home, I should be able to have them recovered.


She is such a comedian! I bent down to take her picture while she was watching the Nutcracker dancer in this book, and she pretended to be asleep. She really makes us laugh, but she makes herself laugh too!


I finally relaxed a little and let them help decorate the tree with me. Needless to say we only broke 3 ornaments and that was by me and the 2 oldest girls!
And- as I type this and look at the tree, I have to laugh. It is tied to the front door until Jay gets home because it was leaning A LOT and I didn't trust the adjustment that I made to it...

She loves riding her tricycle!

About the 2 hour dentist appt.- Well, we knew she had REALLY bad tooth decay, but just did not realize how bad. So, this Friday she will have to have dental surgery to remove 2 teeth and do a "baby" root canal. Please keep us in your prayers!