As always, we were extremely blessed this Christmas...but not only with gifts. God has blessed us with large, happy families and wonderful friends.
Christmas Crafts
Tuesday, Abbie and Max came over for lunch and craft time. In the past, we have always bought gifts for each other and the kids. We decided this year, it would be more fun to spend quality time together and let the kids make cookies...but then I decided a craft would be fun too. So, the kids first made snowmen that held a little heart saying, "Jesus loves you snow much!" Then we let them make reindeer out of their handprints and footprint. Max decided he didn't want to get in the messy paint though!
Abbie helped Brynna with her snowman.
Braylee & Max
Their finished reindeer.
Wednesday, we celebrated Christmas at my parents' house. I think I've mentioned it before, but my mom totally outdoes herself at Christmas! :) Drives my dad crazy, but we all enjoy it! We nibbled on the enormous amount of goodies she prepared and opened gifts together. It's been a tradition my entire life for our grandparents and my uncle Tom (dad's brother) to join us, so it was a pretty full house. Braylee and Brynna spent a lot of time playing upstairs with our old toys...makes you wonder why we keep buying new, huh?! :) I can't even begin to list all of the fabulous gifts we have received this past week, but I'm sure you'll see some of them in the pictures. After gifts, we filled our bellies with a traditional holiday meal and then played Pictionary. As bedtime was closing in, we headed home to get ready for Santa!
Egnew Grandkids- Emilee-12, Ely-9, Braylee-4, and Brynna-2
Braylee with Granny & Pa
The girls with Grammy.
The girls gave Aunt Trista a photo book.
My girls with my sisters.
Christmas Eve
Once we arrived home, the girls put the last sticker on their Advent Calendar and changed into their Christmas jammies. They were so fired up! It was easy to snap some fun pictures of them in front of the tree. We also sat out cookies and milk for Santa and left him a note. Brynna was instructing Leila not to eat Santa's cookies. She kept saying, "No, no, Leila. These cookies are for Santa." When the girls were singing Happy Birthday to Jesus, I noticed Brynna went into prayer-mode! ;) Surprisingly, they went to bed pretty easily!
Putting on the final Advent sticker.
Braylee says, "Where's the reindeer food?!" So dramatic. :)
Brynna tells Leila the cookies are for Santa.
Christmas Morning
Christmas morning arrived! Gramma had to work, so the girls called to wish her Merry Christmas. While on the phone, Brynna had to read Santa's letter to her...so cute! Once the grandparents, aunts, and uncles arrived, we began opening gifts. We started in the front room with stockings and gifts from Santa. I love how Braylee told Brynna that Santa only leaves gifts for kids, so mom and dad have to fill their own stockings. :) One of my favorite gifts was inside mine...season passes to Holiday World! After the girls opened their gifts from us, Mamaw and I made our big traditional Christmas breakfast while the others put together the gifts. Then we relaxed and played games.
Christmas Evening
Later that day, we went to the Swartzentruber Christmas (Alex's mom's side). Each year, someone in the family hosts since grandma's house isn't big enough for everybody. We are starting to outgrow others' homes too. This year, we celebrated in our church's fellowship hall. Instead of a regular gift exchange this year, the younger kids had a scavenger hunt to find a bag of goodies put together by Great Aunt Sue. Then, they put together a little penguin with a thermometer on it. :) The older kids and adults played Dirty Santa as usual, which is always fun.
Christmas at Gramma & Pappy's
The day after Christmas, I went ahead into the office to see OB patients...women are still having babies whether it's the holidays or not! :) Just ask Abby and Mandi! :) Then, we went to Alex's parents' house for lunch. After a scrumptious (as Pappy would say) meal, we headed down to the basement to open gifts. Gabe and the girls went first so the little ones could take naps. By this point in the week, Brynna was posing for every single thing it seemed! Gramma and Pappy got us a digital video camera!! We were excited since our old one is 6 years old...amazing how much technology changes in 6 years! While Brynna was cheering and dancing to the ABCs, I noticed something about how she does it...of course it's not perfect and she mumbles some letters, but I noticed she says "coo" instead of Q (something Braylee used to do) and says B again at the end instead of Z. She must think Bs are special. ;)
Christmas at Grammy & Gramps'
The next morning was somewhat stressful for me. I was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Mandi was in labor, but she wasn't progressing quickly. Our Clifford family Christmas was supposed to start at 1pm. I wanted desperately to be at the hospital when Ella entered the world, yet we really couldn't miss Christmas at Grammy and Gramps' either. We had family in from Maryland, South Carolina, and Texas...and it was the first time in FIVE years we would ALL be together! So, after talking to Andre' and Mandi, we decided to go to our family Christmas, while getting frequent updates on Mandi's progress. Braylee was especially happy to see her cousin Taryn. Taryn is only 4 months younger than Braylee, but since they live in Maryland, it had been quite awhile since they had seen each other!
When we do all get together, the names can get confusing after awhile. We have Tarry, Tera, Taryn, and Terri Ann (what my grandparents call my mom...everyone else calls her Teresa), Lacey and Tracee, Brynne and Brynna, and Tom and Tomi. :) Besides all of this...it seems everyone's names start with either a B, T, or L!Indiana weather for you...it snowed on Easter and was 70 degrees on Saturday?! Crazy, but the kids enjoyed spending a little time outside. Then we played games. My SIL Heather dominated the first round of Last Word (Fun game!), but then they had to leave. When we played the next time, my cousin Tomi won, but we weren't ready to be done. So, we moved her back to the start and kept playing. When we had to quit (time to leave for Baby Ella), Tomi was back in the lead again!!
Aunt Beth, Gramps, Grammy, my mom, and Uncle Tom
Aunt Beth, Gramps, Grammy, my mom, and Uncle Tom
My mom's family.
The whole family!
God's perfect timing allowed things to work out quite well for us (although I'm sure Mandi wishes things would have went a little quicker!). We were able to spend the entire afternoon and early evening with my family and then be at the hospital just a few minutes after baby Ella arrived.
Baby Ella's Arrival
Our newest little niece has arrived!! Ella Nyah-Marie weighed 6-14 and was a short little 18 inches! She looks a lot like her big brother Gabe did when he was born and appears to be just as healthy as can be. Our girls couldn't wait to hold her! We watched the nurses clean her up and assess her while she was in the nursery and Mandi was still in recovery. By the time Mandi was moved to a regular room, it was getting late and the baby was nursing. So, after a quick peek at her preciousness, we headed home. Braylee's Sunday School teacher said the next morning that Braylee could barely sit still due to the anticipation of going to hold Baby Ella after church! :) I've been quite content with my little family of 4 for the past two years, but I must admit...seeing my girls hold Ella...makes me dream about them holding their very own little brother or sister. Not that it's going to change our "plans" (knowing God's plan is truly our plan), but it does make me excited to think about adding to our family again!
Our House Update
We received our preliminary house plans on the 22nd!! I probably spent at least two hours that evening analyzing all of the details...just to spend another couple of hours discussing them with friends the next day! It's very exciting, yet intimidating and daunting at the same time!
Other good news...As you might have noticed in the pictures, I either have a ridiculous smile or no smile at all since I dislike my gap-toothed look. Today, the orthodontist put on a "power chain" to start closing the gap! Woohoo! Pray for the pain though...not fun.
