Christmas Day 2008!

Kara running to her wagon with mega blocks that Santa left for her!

Kara in her 'princess' chair!

Kara with her xylophone and Elmo Live!

Samantha with her new Canon digital camera!

Samantha received perfume from Aerie. She also received a new ipod nano and was loading videos and songs during the picture-taking. :-)

The finished product--not a pretty picture, in my opinion, but tasted so darn good!


We had a wonderful day celebrating Christmas! It started at 7 am with opening presents & stockings--which only took an hour! Then we had a yummy breakfast...eggs, home-made waffles, and ghutta (family recipe). Afterwards, Kara went down for a nap and the rest of us showered and got dressed for the day. Then we started cooking Christmas dinner. We prepared the turkey with a delicious rub my dad passed down to us. It is a mixture of olive oil, freshly chopped rosemary, freshly chopped basil, minced garlic, Italian seasoning and pepper. Tim followed in his older brother's footsteps and took a picture of the finished product above. Along with the turkey, we had sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce and rolls. It was incredibly delicious, and we loved having our friend, Connie, join us for dinner.

Christmas 2008 has been one to remember!

Christmas Eve 2008

Tim and Kathy have decided to keep the tradition of opening up one gift on Christmas Eve...at least for the children in the family. Kara didn't have to open hers, because there was no way to wrap it! Kara loves her little pink pony from mommy and daddy! When you press its' ears, it neighs and sings a song. :-) It's just the right size for our little Kara. Samantha was dying (and I'm not exaggerating) to open up the 4th book in the Twilight saga! She finished the 3rd book about a month ago, and wasn't too happy about having to wait this long to start the last book. Samantha has been reading every minute since she opened the book (I was barely able to take her picture!), except while eating dinner and during the Christmas Eve service at church. The service was terrific, especially the wonderful music performed by many talented singers. Our family is very blessed and we're so thankful for everything, especially our two beautiful daughters!

Visiting with Grandparents and Great-Grandparents!

Samantha and Kara's grandparents, Nana and Papa, brought Grand Mimi and Grand Bob to our house today! We had a great time visiting before, during, and after dinner. :-) Kara was in rare form, as usual these days, and the center of attention! Samantha was a good, big sister and very helpful...especially during the picture taking!

Celebrating Sean's Birthday!

Our nephew, Sean, celebrated his 4th birthday with family and friends on Saturday! Isn't that smile adorable? We all had a great time eating the yummy food and socializing with the adults while the kiddos played. Sean seemed to really enjoy his cupcake and all of the cool gifts he received. :-) Kara also showed off her beautiful smile and her good walking skills!

Kara's First Fast Food Experience

Last Thursday night Tim, Kathy & Kara went to Chick-fil-A for the Make-A-Wish fundraiser. Samantha was cheering at the basketball games, so she couldn't make it. Kara ate chicken nuggets and waffle fries for the first time--and she liked it! Kara also enjoyed playing on the indoor playground--another first. :-)

Tim's Birthday Present

To celebrate Tim's birthday, we went to the Casting Crowns Christmas concert in Reading, PA. It was absolutely wonderful! Tim has been to a lot of concerts in his lifetime, and he said that he believes this one was the best ever~that is saying a lot! Natalie Grant, Avalon, Michael English, Pure NRG and Denver and The Mile High Orchestra performed for the concert also. Kathy's parents came up to watch the girls for us overnight. We were gone a little over 26 hours, and we enjoyed every bit of our time together!

Happy Birthday Tim!

Today is Tim's 34th birthday! We had a nice steak dinner, and for dessert...an ice cream cake! Tim loves M & M's, so it was the perfect cake for him. :-)

Our Christmas Card

Merry Christmas!!

We wanted to post our card on the blog, because we didn't purchase enough (unfortunately) to send to everyone.

We hope you all have a wonderful Christmas celebration with your families, and we wish you a glorious New Year!

Samantha's Handi-work

Nana & Papa brought our family a gingerbread house kit on Thanksgiving. Samantha immediately offered to tackle the project. She enjoyed the process, but realized it was much harder than she thought it would be initially. We think she did a great job for her first attempt!

Kara loves Elmo!

Kara, like most children her age, loves Elmo! We found Elmo slippers for her while we were out finishing our Christmas shopping today. Kara usually takes her shoes and socks off shortly after we get home, and in these winter temperatures, her feet get so cold. She was very proud of her slippers, and didn't pull them off!

Our Child-Proof Christmas Tree

Keeping Kara out of the Christmas decorations, especially the tree, has been quite challenging this year! Purchasing the gate to put around the tree was a great idea. Kara can still enjoy the tree, but not pull it down on herself!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration with Samantha and Kara's Nana & Papa! Good food and great company! We only wish that Tim's parents could have been here to celebrate with us also.

Too cute!

Kara has been walking so much more--on her own, without any encouragement from us! She's also flat-footed 90% of the time. :-) We are enjoying this stage in Kara's life and looking forward to the next. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

Kara is 16 months old today!!

Our beautiful, sweet Kara was born exactly 16 months ago! We wanted to share some videos of Kara's walking attempts with everyone. She still likes to walk & stand on her tippytoes, which makes her a little unstable. Even though...Kara looks likes she's having fun~as usual!

Visiting with family (cousins)!

Last Sunday Samantha, Kara and I headed to my sister Karen's home to visit with some of the family. Tim was sick, so he stayed home to rest...and Charlie, my brother-in-law, and Krista's husband was sick at home too. So, it was all women, except for Kevin, and the kiddos. My dad, Papa to the five grandkids, was out of town. The pictures of Kara (16 months old) and Hunter (14 months old) on Karen's deck are great! The older kids decorated sugar cookies, raked leaves and jumped in the piles and had a good time outside after we all ate lunch together.

Halloween Pumpkins & Decorations

Samantha and Tim carved our pumkins this year, and both did a good job. Interestingly enough, Samantha's pumpkin looks like a Wal-Mart smiley face! Don't you agree?!