Hatched

So much love

 Jared really does love his little sister.  I worried that he wouldn't quite a bit before she was born.  But he loves her with all of his toddler enthusiasm.  She mostly doesn't mind...

Darling girl

Family photo

Blessed day

On Christmas day, we blessed Rosalie Ann. 

Four generations: My grandma, Ida, my mom, Kristen, me and Rosalie

The men and the baby

The cutest shot of my Grandpa and Jared

Christmas

Christmas was, once again, pretty amazing.
The best part about this year was being reunited with all my siblings and their families.  Now, the first 4 grandchildren are boys and they are all old enough to play together.  So this is what I was really  excited for:

Here Lincoln (the little blonde) walked into a sword fight on accident!  It was a beautiful boy moment!

Christmas Eve morning, we all went and took family pictures.  This is the whole gang.  I really wish I'd held Rosie so she wasn't so tipsy.

This year, for the first time ever, we opened presents Christmas eve on account of early church.  And no one wanted to make the little ones wait until afterwards.

Ruth literally stealing the limelite in her new safety running vest.

Rosie's first Christmas present!

  

 

Ken's joy over receiving dried peppers.

The next morning we took the traditional children-on-the-stairs photo before church.

 Merry Christmas to all!

Grandma's visit

It was so wonderful to have my mother-in-law here!  Here are some pictures from her stay:

Doing what grandma's ought to do- Giving chocolate chips to toddlers!!!

From out of a cardboard fortess...

into civilization!!!
We are almost done unpacking boxes after a big push last night.  I am loving that I now know where (most of) my possessions are.  But I don't want to move for a long time.  It is certainly unpleasant on both ends.  (Except the part before you move when you try to eat all your food- I loved that.)
Since I am nearing the end of this period, I will let myself complain just a little bit.  Here is why I hate unpacking boxes:

• Chaos- every time you open one it feels like you are back at square one.  This means no table or bed or walking space.
• Decisions- Being the head woman of the family, it has fallen upon me to decide where just about everything goes.  This decision-making often spawns more decisions because of required rearranging, streamlining or additional purchasing.
• Children-  I truly love mine, but having one arm for unpacking (fortunately only for the later boxes- Thank you Marcy!) or keeping a toddler away from breakables makes me want to just leave those boxes packed forever.
• Space- I am now certain I will never have enough of it.