A white Christmas

Christmas was wonderful and WHITE! Filled with a ton of gifts and a surprise visit (brought by Santa of course) from Grandma Carol and Papa Barker!

I love that Christmas falls at the end of the year. There is so much to celebrate always, but having Christmas at the very end of the year makes you reflect on not only why we have Christmas -the Birth of our Savior Jesus Christ-, but it also gives us time to draw near family. The sentimental stimuli are always on alert and super sensitive for me during the holidays. Time goes by so quickly that I think it is important to have these special Holidays to stop and reminisce, while eating like Kings and Queens, opening gifts that mean so much, and looking at the new fallen snow.
It get's said, and heard over and over... but how do they grow so fast? How does this happen so quickly? I just want to press "pause." They are little still, but it is feeling like the little is slipping away ever so quickly. I don't want them to know that "Charlie," ( our special Santa's helper Elf) doesn't really have magic and can't talk. I wanted to do so many things this season. I told Ben while packaging Charlie ( short for Charleston or Charlie-West) up on Christmas eve night after he had made sure they were dreaming of "sugar plums dancing in their heads"- that I am going to have to start writing these little traditions down, so we can remember them from year to year!
I wanted to go caroling, I wanted to re-enact the Birth Story, I wanted to let them go give gifts to needy ones, I wanted to make more handmade gifts like doll clothes and wooden tool boxes! There are so many things that I wanted to do, but didn't. How do you fit it all in?

We did accomplish alot this Christmas season and it was all wonderful and sentimental. But I guess I will start pre-planning for next year and fill my calendar with daily activities to fit it all that I want to in!I am looking forward to the new year! This new year will bring many changes, good ones of course and a milestone birthday- 30 for me! We plan to accomplish a lot of things this year, a few of the items on the list include:

Lucy
-no more night-time Pull-ups
-learning to throw- cause it's sad right now!
-turning *gasp* 4 years old!
-reading
-learning to confidently swim
-loving her Brother always!

Peter
-potty training
-giving up the Binka (binky/pacifier)
-throwing and catching a ball
-riding a trike
-turning *double gasp* 2 years old!
-trying to swim
-getting rid of the banging his head when mad
-in other words... using his WORDS!

Ben
-major career move into the Q-400 (still as a Captain!)
-re-committing to push-ups and crunches
-keeping his lovely, dear wife sane while moving (hopefully!)
-cheering on his lovely, dear, fantastic wife on as she attemps a marathon!


Kristen
-saying goodbye to my twenties- (it's going to hurt my ego BIG time)
-that whole marathon thing at about the 30year mark.... OH DEAR!!!! ( might just be a 1/2?)
-cheering on her dashing, fabulous hubs as he transitions into the "Q"- that's a 6 week process!
-going to the Bahamas for a little "me" time before the "Q"
-finding balance in all that I do, keeping my priorities in line with what I know is good and right.

We have had a wonderful year here in Twenty-Ten, and look forward to Twenty-eleven!
May the new year bring you love and happiness, good health and determination.

In Omnia Paratus

Christmas Pictures

Thanks to the lovely and talented Shalece... we had a successful outing downtown Charleston yesterday for some good old fashioned Chrismas/Family pictures.
Here are some favorites!They do love one another!
The sun held out with some mild warmth for most of the day... thankfully!
The forecast has changed today and tomorrow will be much like last week.
Cold. Cold. COLD.

Thisandthat

I have written/typed a thousand things so far and keep hitting delete!
I guess we've been pretty busy. But "busy" seems to be a relative term.
I like the Holiday season, but I sometimes liked it a lot better when I reminisce about past years.
Like the year Ben and I were dating... I found some old picts of us when we visited his family and went out to Gig Harbor.

I just realized that I am still wearing those jeans... Yikes! and Sweeet!
I feel like we look so young then? It wasn't that long ago?

Then I came across picts of us that same year for "New Year's"
Who did I let cut my hair? NOT my sister... Wow! That was bad. But Ben looks GQ.

Hopefully my memory will pick this one up in the future too. Without a camera makes things tricky, but it's coming.. Santa spilled the beans! Wahhoooooooo!!!!!!!
We all had the "flu" this past weekend, and it seems as though I had it worse than anyone else. ?

I caught Lucy sleeping the other night and it is hitting me more and more that she doesn't look like this anymore, she does to me still, she is still so tiny, my baby. Even though she insists on the fact, sadly it is a "fact" that she is NOT a baby. I tell her she is my baby and always will be, but she says, No mom. I am not.
She still sleeps like this and that inFACT does make her my baby!
I have a thousand things on my list, and that's before Christmas begins. Hallelujah!
I 'll try to get some more up soon!