Christmas

Christmas Eve/Day flew by. What fun we had with the kids! Gretel said it perfectly at night prayers, "Thank you God for Jesus being born!"

Ready for Christmas Eve Mass

 Pierce kept creeping down the stairs and peaking around the corner at the tree, "Has St. Nick came yet?" No kid....now go to bed so he can come!!!

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas!

I love Christmas! The music, the lights, the cookies, the eggnog, the smell of pine, but mostly the waiting during Advent.....preparing our hearts for the arrival of Baby Jesus. Each year it gets better and better with the kids. They really 'get' it this year. At prayers it warms my heart to hear their little voices, "Come Baby Jesus, hurry and come!" I am particularly proud of Pierce. He somehow adopted the habit of biting his nails. At the beginning of Advent I told him that in order for St. Nicholas to bring the forest fire Dusty movie he had to stop biting his nails. He quit cold turkey!!! I thought that was pretty impressive self control for a little guy. So....Jana....thank you for playing St. Nick!

I was hell bent to re-create some florentines we had in Chamonix. While making the candied orange peel for them I got a little side tracked. Yep....these little morsels are a delicacy! 

Breakfast with the Grizzlies. 

A Brilliant Fall

I can't get enough of the leaves this year. They are sooooooo beautiful! The trees almost look on fire.

Hansel and Gretel

Our almost daily bike rides.

My toot-bug!

Scarlett

Scarlett has been nothing but my sweet joy since she was born! I am not much of a 'baby' person, but she has stolen my heart completely. I was so distraught when we found out we were expecting, but now I dread the thought of life without her.

Meeting Scarlett

AJ gets a snuggle.

The initiation.

Receive the light of Christ!

She's a bean pole....with huge feet!

But......chubbin up quick. 

A most adorable sweater a dear friend made.

The first smiles.

Getting chubbier yet.....(this picture cracks me up!)

There's her smile.

She is enamored by Pierce. Heaven knows why! He is well intentioned but sometimes a little rough. However, she coos and smiles at all his antics. 

AJ's Triathlon

AJ participated in his first triathlon. He did awesome.......and I am so glad he is the type of guy that is always up for trying new things. I simply love that about him!

No....AJ is not in the pic! He didn't have a wet suit....brrrr...I told him I didn't have one for my first, so he didn't need one for is first! Ha!

He did the swim in 16 minutes....which is not a bad time. There must have been some ridiculously fast swimmers because 16 min. put him in the last third of competitors. I was a little surprised. 

The ground was really muddy. Hence, why he is carrying his bike through the transition. 

A sweet run time......I don't know how he is so fast. 5k sub 7! Go AJ!

Whew....its over!

The "Kite Runners"

I love flying kites.....because windy, jumbo cloud days are my favorite! The breezy fresh air, the feeling of change, the depth to the sky.......yes....those days are my very favorite. 

Berchtesgaden

     Alex and I thoroughly enjoy looking back through the blog.....hence I want to start jotting down memories again. I was extremely unmotivated during pregnancy, but a new found energy has washed over me since Scarlett was born. So here goes!!!!

     This past week we headed down to Berchtesgaden. I was there in high school but wanted to go back since my memories were a bit foggy.

The first day we took a boat ride up the Konigsee.  

The kids did so well.....I actually felt like a calm, collected parent the whole time!

Just the ladies!

Scarletty Hot Chocolate

     The next day we hiked the Almbachklamm. It is a ravine with a series of waterfalls and pools that the creek has carved out over time. The trail was a little hairy with Pierce because the it was no wider than 3 feet in most places, one side hugged the rock wall and the other shot down to the creek. He did awesome minding! A little mountain goat.

We crossed 19 bridges and then turned around.

     We hung around our apartment for the rest of the day and took a walk down the road to a hillside shrine. There are so many of them over here. Too bad they are only for show anymore. However, Alex and I decided that someday we are going to build one if we ever own the property to do it. 

Alex and I said the rosary at the shrine while the kids played around us. Mid-rosary Gretel knelt down and started singing the Hail Mary.......without any prompting! Oh....it just melted our hearts!

The typical attire....although usually Pierce strips down to his undies.

     The last morning we made it to the Eagles Nest. Pretty impressive!

And the bus ride down. When we got home we asked Pierce what his favorite part of the trip was. He said, "The school bus ride." Hmmm.........next time we will just catch a bus to K-town!

The goober!

"Yeah.....(I) got lucky babe...when I found you!"