We hope that you had a wonderful holiday season...We really enjoyed ours!

(Thanks to Kaycee for this beautiful picture.)

Happy New Year...It's going to be a great one!

Even with an ear infection (poor baby!), Ivy had a great birthday. We love our Christmas baby!

Ready for the early birthday celebration at Grandma and Grandpa Anderson's.

She definitely loved the cake...Our fastest cake devourer yet. (Definitely mommy's girl.)

She wasn't quite sure what to do with the presents, but Abby and Brynn sure loved unwrapping them!

Ivy just loves baby dolls. Here she is cuddling with her brand new baby.

Today is Ivy's birthday...I just can't believe it has been a year. I'll post birthday pictures later, but I'm in the mood to reminisce for a minute.

A year ago today, we were planning on having our baby on the 22nd, 4 days away. So, that morning I drove to the airport to pick up my little brother, Thomas. While waiting in the "park n wait" (or whatever they call it), I discovered that sitting with the heat and radio on kills the battery very quickly! Thomas called to say he had landed, I went to start the car to go pick him up, and I discovered that the battery was dead. Great. 9 months pregnant, 2 other kids in car seats, and I have to wander the airport parking lot to find someone to jump my car. Luckily, being 9 months pregnant makes you much less threatening-looking, and some very nice people helped me out. I was feeling lousy all day, but that's normal at 9 months! That evening, just after a nice dinner at my parents' house, my water broke! (Much less embarrassing in my parents' bathroom than in Barnes and Noble...I'm sure you've all heard that story!) So, we were on our way to the hospital and baby Ivy joined us that night. She was one of the most beautiful babies we had ever seen...Even the nurses were crazy about her and her curly hair. (They had fun styling her hair in the nursery and would always comment about the "baby with all that hair"!) We got snowed in at the hospital (do you remember last year's snowstorms?!), and I got some special one-on-one time with my new baby girl. And, the year just flew after that!

Ivy is still the baby with all that hair, and we love her to pieces. She is just so happy and full of smiles and we can't imagine our family without her.

I stumbled upon this on lds.org and was so moved by it (but have some kleenex close by). This is love.

In-Sickness-and-Health

Ivy has discovered her tongue lately, and this is the result.

Brynn is such a litle ham. Every family seems to have one, and we sure love ours!

Doesnt Abby look old?! Yikes!

So, I have always been a bit Christmas-obessed. I just love this time of year, and everything Christmassy that is associated with it. (One year for Halloween, I dressed as a Christmas Elf. Another year, I was a Christmas present. You get the idea.) But, sometimes I think my expectations of the season are so high (or impractical) that I find myself disappointed here and there throughout the season if things werent just perfect. (However, when Brynn pulled down the tree and broke it and most of our ornaments last year, the week before I gave birth, some disappointment was justified.)

So, this year I have vowed to just enjoy the small moments of the season and be willing to let some things go if that is what it takes. And, so far it is really working! James wasnt able to hang our Christmas lights this year before leaving for China, and Im ok with it. I just dont think Im going to get around to sending out Christmas cards this year, and I think it will be ok. I really am just enjoying the season this year...not that I havent in the past, but Im liking the more carefree approach. Its new for me!

So far the best thing we have done this year is our new advent calendar, with a special activity each day. (THanks for the idea, Michelle!) The girls have been so excited to come down to the kitchen each morning and open their envelope. (I thought they would be missing the cheap chocolate countdown that we normally do, but I was pleasantly surprised.) Some of the activities we have already done: watch a Christmas movie with popcorn, paint christmas-colored fingernails and toenails (James is glad he was in China for that one!), go to the festival of trees, look at the constellations with Daddy...I have found myself eagerly anticipating these events as well. I just love this season, and I especially love experiencing it with my sweet family.

(I think I have mentioned this before, but my apostrophe key is broken on my keyboard. I cant stand people thinking that I dont know how to punctuate!)

So, I've turned into a slacker blogger lately. Oh, well. I promise that we are here, we are happy and busy, and I won't even try to catch up on everything that I haven't blogged! But, here are some random moments from the past month...

Abby and Brynn just finished a dance class and were excited for their performance. They were adorable.

I was given a great idea for an advent calendar this year (one special activity to do each day before Christmas), and even made my own envelopes for each day...pretty impressive for me.

My cute husband. (He probably won't really appreciate having this particular picture posted, but I'm the one with the blog. So...) I am definitely one lucky girl.

With my beautiful Ivy. I'm not willing to admit that she's turning one in only 2 weeks. Where did my baby go?!

Between bouts of the stomach flu (which every member of our family eventually experienced), we had a fun Halloween! We still even have candy to prove it!

Abby marching proudly in her school costume parade.

The girls, a witch, pumpkin, and flower fairy, eagerly anticipating trick-or-treating in Grandma and Grandpa Cullimores neighborhood.

Ivy hated the hat, but we got her to keep in on long enough to snap a few pictures.

My girls. (I just love this picture...Abby and Brynn just love their baby sister.)

I wonder what Ivy is thinking...

Walking along the furniture...and growing up too fast!

Words cannot begin to describe how excited my girls were to look out the window yesterday morning and see snow covering the ground! (Mom and Dad = not so excited.) They could not wait to play, play, play in the snow! Brynn and I got some good playing in while Abby was in school (before the frigid winds kicked up!). Abby played a bit, too, after school...and then enjoyed her long-awaited hot chocolate. (Funny: she told me her favorite season is winter because she can drink hot chocolate. I guess I could make it other times of the year!)

Is it really time for snow already?! At least I got to pull out the Christmas music (snow falling outside is a good enough excuse, since that makes it not feel like October anymore).

With our snowman (I promise I am not a bad mom...Brynn did wear a coat until the very end!)

Hugging our snowman...

And kissing our snowman.

Abby is so excited to actually be in the snow!

Now, Abby is ready for hot chocolate (It certainly is much less fun when you start to get cold!)

We made our annual fall trek to Gardner Village to see the witches and feed the ducks. It was a gorgeous day and fun all around. (Not even a tantrum when I told the girls I didn't have money for a pony ride. That earned them a sucker...Guess I had money for candy!)

There was too much to see to get all of the girls to look at me at the same time!

With my cute girls.

What cute cousins!

It's nice that the girls are old enough to not be afraid of the witches anymore...

(Where Ivy spent most of her time...)

The ducks were definitely the highlight! Those must be the best-fed ducks around.

Only 3 months until our long-awaited, childless vacation! I love my girls dearly, but James and I are counting down until it's just us for a few days. Usually, our vacation plans start out big: Europe, Mexico, etc. But, eventually the plans end up significantly smaller (like Heber). So, we'll see where we end up when January rolls around. As long as it's warm outside and I can sleep in with my handsome husband, I'll be happy!

So, the exercise regime for the beach has begun...

My girls love, love, love to play dress up! Here's just one sampling of a day's ensemble. (We call this theme: "variations on a bride".)

I have a mission reunion tonight. I have been home from France for almost 11 years now (wow, am I getting old!) and haven't had a reunion for at least 8 or 9 of those. My stomach is already full of butterflies just thinking about it. (Good butterflies, mind you!) What an incredible time my mission was in my life. As I looked through my scrapbook last night, so many memories flooded my mind...details I thought I'd forgotten about places and people and events, and especially feelings: love and excitement and fear and sorrow and peace. (I'm getting teary again in remembering.) My mission really began to shape the woman that I realized I want to be. I'm still in process, but I am so grateful for what my mission gave me. (Even though I feel like all of my French has fallen out of my brain, the things that matter most are still there!)

I just wanted to show what a cute husband I have! He has adapted well to being the only boy in the house and is very willing to play barbies, dress up, tea party (as seen in the pictures), or whatever else the girls want him to do. We are lucky girls!

(I'm hoping for the day when they start holding a father-daughter campout. They'd love it!)

Our happy kindergartner on the first day of school. She was so excited to finally start, and she is loving it! It's fun to hear about school from Abby's perspective. =)

All of my girls. (Notice Brynn's new haircut! It's much easier to comb and she looks so cute, although it does make her look older. I'm not quite ready for her to grow up yet, too!)

Just waiting to line up with her class...

Just playing while we wait to pick Abby up from school. Ivy is sitting up and chewing on everything.

Brynn is pretty excited to have mommy mostly to herself!