Merry Christmas from the Anibals!

May your days be merry and bright!

 

Aching

Last Friday at 9:30am, my husband and I were sitting in our 6 year-old daughter's 1st grade classroom. 
We all know what was happening in another first grade classroom at the exact same time.

This hit close to home and directly to my heart.
 I can't seem to wrap my head around it all.
I've been crying a lot the past week.
Crying for the beautiful babies and selfless teachers that were taken that day.
Crying for their families
Crying for their community
Crying for my own children
Crying for our country
Crying for our society

I have lots and lots of thoughts to process......please bear with me, as I need to get them out....not today though.
Today's not the day.
Today, be PRESENT with your children, your spouse, your parents, your family.
Be Present, as our Lord does not guarantee us tomorrow.
Be prayerful.
Pray and then pray more.
Pray for those with aching hearts
Pray for those leading our country
Pray for God's guidance
Pray for His love and understanding

Writing about this and talking about this is not enough.
I must do something.
What?? I don't know quite yet.

Please pray for me.
Pray that I open my ears and heart to listen to God's direction.

Two!

It's hard to believe that two years have passed since 9:12am on December 13, 2010

Two years full of

joy,

love,

fear,

anxiety,

amazement,

worry,

wonder,

happiness,

uncertainty,

angst,

pride,

and pure AWESOMENESS!

EIV, our little heart miracle, you are the toughest, most amazing little boy

We love you so very much!

7 Days of October....In December...the finale

Day Seven!

We celebrated Halloween with my two nephews this year.
Five kids ages, 8, 6, 1, 1 and 6 weeks.
we had our hands full....so not many pictures of the evening.
A puppy, a monkey, a bag of popcorn and a soda made for a fun night!

 

 

7 days of October...in December

Day Six!

We snuck in our 2nd visit to a pumpkin patch just 2 days before Halloween.

Any takers?

We got to meet a camel and some very aggressive (and hungry) goats!

 

There were fun slides too!

 

EIV was LOVING the kettlecorn!

Don't even THINK about taking it away from him!!

We received quite the scolding from him!  Ha!

 

It was a cold day, but we sure did have fun! And captured some beautiful fall pictures along the way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7 days of October...in December....

Day Five.

E turned the big 8 in October.  Remember this post and this post.

We started her birthday in the BEST way possible:

And you don't exactly have to  be awake to enjoy your birthday breakfast

 

 

That evening, we celebrated with family.

E loved, loved her cake. 

That always makes me feel good!

 

 

It was such a fantastic and simple evening!

E, we thank God for you each and every day!



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



7 days of October........in December

Day four!

We're half way done with October!! ha!
Can you believe 2012 is almost done.....seems unbelievable to me. 
Literally WHERE did this year go??

Ok, ok...back to the October posts!

Nothing says fall, like a good ole pumpkin patch!
We were one lucky family, as we hit TWO pumpkin patches this year.
The first was in Norfolk after celebrating S's b-day.

It was an incredibly windy day.....it took it's toll on our crew, but we sure did have a great time together.

I love small, quaint little pumpkin patches so much better than the big, money-driven ones.
This pumpkin patch was PERFECT in my book!

H took a lesson in mounting a saddle.

We all got to feed and pet goats!

 

We met Lilly the llama and some friendly reindeer

 

 

With all this excitement, our crew pooped out pretty quickly and needed to have a seat:

 

 

We had such a fantastic time with our cousins!

Can't wait til next year!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

7 days of October.....in December.....

Day Three!


Our sweet nephew turned the BIG ONE in October!
I had the honor of making his cake.
It was so much fun!

And my sister-in-law had these fantastic cookies made:

 

 

Aren't they so adorable!  And they were super tasty too!!

 

Then it was time for the real fun!!

 

 

 

We were so blessed to share in this special celebration!

Happy 1st Birthday sweet S! 

We love you!!

 

 

 

 



7 days of October.......in December....

Day Two!

Another adventure we had during our Vegas Vacation (no, there was no Clark and no cousin Eddie!) was a trip to the famous (OK...maybe NOT SO famous) Bonnie Springs, old Nevada Western town and petting zoo.

Just Ed and I and three lovely Anibal ladies:

 

 

With so much to see and do at Bonnie Springs, I'm going to let the pictures do all the talking:

 

 

You can disagree all you want....but I'd take a trip to Bonnie Springs, especially with this group of beautiful ladies any day over the Strip!