Merry Christmas!

We've had a very blessed year. We've been given another year to watch Allie grow and we've welcomed another beautiful daughter in to our family. We are SO thankful for the countless blessings God has given us. The greatest of which is our salvation through a Savior whose birth we celebrate this season.

Thank you God for sending your Son. Since becoming a mom, I've had a little different view of The Father's role in giving His Son. I love my family. I love them more than I can say. But, I wouldn't give my child's life for theirs. I just couldn't. I'm so thankful that even though I am so unlovable, God chose to love me enough that He gave His Son for me. I'm humbled and so blessed to be given such a gift. Don't forget why we celebrate the season of Christmas.

Merry Christmas from Tim, Laura, Alyssa, and Sydney!

Sisters

Revival, Harvest Party, and Super Night

This past week we had a great week of revival meetings with Rich Tozour. On Friday night after the service, we had a mini harvest party and then went with the teens to their all night activity--Super Night. After pumpkin and costume contests, games, and ice cream, we joined the teens at Chuck E Cheese. Allie enjoyed all the games and "rides" at Chuck E Cheese. Next was mini golf and then roller skating. I think it was around midnight by the time we went skating. Allie went strong until she finally collapsed in the car on the way home around 1:30am. The teens went back to church for Fear Factor but we all went home and straight to bed. We had a date with the carpet guy bright and early at 7:30, so we needed our beauty sleep.

Pumpkin Farm Fun

We took the kids to the pumpkin farm on Tuesday. Allie had a blast and she was a perfect angel the whole time. She loved everything! Her favorite activity was the big blue slide. She would have ridden that 100 more times if I'd let her. We had lunch and treats there, fed the goats, jumped on the hay bales, rode the three slides, panned for marbles, picked a sunflower, rode the train, rode the hay ride, and of course picked a pumpkin.

Grandma and Madolyn

Allie and the pumpkin of choice

Me and My Girl

Allie loved the marbles!

Sarah and my adorable niece and nephews

Isn't Maddie adorable with her little pigtails? :)

I love the way she's feeding this goat. Check out the hand on the goat's jaw. lol!

3 Weeks

Sydney had a check up today at 3 weeks. She now weighs 9lbs 5oz. I can't believe she's gained that much in just 3 weeks!

Here's Sydney's birth announcement:

Sydney @ 2 weeks

I can't believe our littlest princess is already 2 weeks old. She is growing and changing. At times, it seems like she's always been here and yet I can't believe she's 1/2 way to a month old. In my biased opinion, I think she's beautiful. She continues to be a pretty easy-going baby so far. She's sleeping from about 10:30 to 8:30 only waking up twice to eat.

Big sister is adjusting better this 2nd week than the first week. She loves her little sister but tends to be a bit rough and overwhelming at times. Since she's usually trying to lavish her with affection, we don't want to discourage it. We are just trying to remind her to be gentle. Easier said than done.

Blog Stalking....

I have been stalking a couple of photographers blogs and websites for about a year. One of the ones I am really inspired by is Amy-Rose King Photography. I love her colorful fun photos. Looking at her photos makes me eager to learn as much as I can about photography and Photoshop. Right now, she's running a contest on her website for some of her Photoshop actions. I know my photos could really benefit from them. I love these pictures of Allie but I know they'd look so much better after using her Taste the Rainbow actions. :)

Introducing....

Alyssa became a big sister on Sunday. Sydney Joy joined our family at 9:08am September 27th. She weighed 7lbs 10 oz and is 19 1/2 inches long. She has a head of dark hair and looks very much like her big sister did when she was born. So far, she's been an angel baby. Hardly a peep out of her. She sleeps pretty well at night and is content to be held or even placed in her swing while big sister Allie gets her cuddle time too. At her first appointment, Sydney was already back to her birth weight, so she's growing well.

Allie seems to love her baby sister but there has been some jealousy. Allie is not quite her normal self. She's been pushing her limits a bit and has been more sensitive than normal. This is certainly a big adjustment for her, but for the most part, she's handling it ok. We'll see what the next few weeks/months bring.

We'd like you to meet Sydney:

And Counting

So, 6 days and counting. Well, it's more like 2 weeks and counting. I don't expect this baby to be early or even on time, but because of my diabetes the midwife won't let me go more than a week passed due. So, we'll be meeting this little one in the next 2 weeks for sure.

I can't wait to meet this little person. I'm excited for Allie to meet her little brother or sister and see how she responds. I'm not nervous about labor but a little anxious to put it behind me. And, boy could I use a chocolate covered donut....or a rich chocolate blended mocha....yum. :)

As much as I would love to go in to labor right this minute, there are a few things that stop me from chugging down castor oil. Ok, besides the MAIN reason that I'm not even due yet and really don't think that's the best choice now anyway. 1. Our room has 2 huge holes in it. 6 foot holes. I can walk right from the bedroom to the garage. And if I had a ladder, climb into the attic too. So, it would be nice to finish that up before the baby is born. But, if not I'll get over it. :) And, I have orders for work coming out my ears. I was so proud of myself for being completely caught up and staying on top of work things so I could take it easy the last week, but we had a huge sale last week and another good one this week. Now I'm drowning in work. I just want to get as much done before I hand it off to my poor co-worker as possible.

So, next post will probably be after the baby is born. Can't wait!

New Room

Allie moved in to her new room tonight. She's been so excited to get in there. She asked if she could sleep in there last night, but the carpet wasn't laid and her furniture was in the garage. We still need to finish the closet, organize, and decorate but the furniture is in. Right now, she's sleeping soundly in her big girl bed after much excitement from finally moving in!

It's hard to tell from these pictures, but the walls are a light green. Pistachio Ice Cream. Yum! :)