Kids and Christmas!

As usual, life just continues to speed up. Landry is 4 months old today! I can't imagine life without her. She is my favorite girl. She is starting to get tickled and giggly.. It's so cute! She laughs when we hold her and swing her down towards Luke... When she gets to laughing hard, it always turns into the hiccups (Luke calls them pea-cups). Above her changing table in her room, I have a sign hanging with a verse from Psalms that says "He shall give His angels charge over you." Call me crazy, but I swear her guardian angel hangs out over there. Since the day we brought her home, that table has been a happy place for her. She's really got me thinking that little ones can see into the spiritual realm in ways we adults can't. She always smiles and coos while she's laying there. Makes me wonder, any way!

The holidays go way too fast when kids are in the picture. We barely had enough time to get Luke into the swing of things for the holidays. Heath and I discussed almost daily about where to draw the line in teaching Luke about Christmas festivities. It's not easy to conclude! I think I want to make Christmas fun for him and don't want him missing out on stuff, but lies tend to snowball at Christmas time. I struggle with the guilt associated with all of that.

When my brother and sister-in-law were in town, we got to talking about it, and she shared with me how she had read a blog where the family buys their kids "something you want, something you need, something to wear, and something to read." I liked that! I still have gifts wrapped for our kids they never opened, and they aren't missing them! After all they got from family, I decided to hold them back for later.

So this year, we got to participate in our church's dinner theater. Heath, Landry, and I were part of the live manger scene and stood in as Joseph, Mary, and Jesus. Landry did awesome both nights! It was a humbling experience for me because I had the comfort of knowing that the real baby Jesus was born to die... So, my babies already have a Savior!

The dinner theater kicked the holidays off for us... And then during the week of Christmas, we met up with friends and family for 6 nights in a row! We were super busy. Here's what I mean..

We started out at the Roses.... John Brandon with Landry.

And Baby Courtney with Baby Norah. :)

The kids all opened presents... This looks like a "(Gasp) What'd you get!?!" look. :)

Luke with his little gator. His first present! He was pretty excited about it.

Jeremy and Landry.... He got some daddy-to-be practice.

Then we had Christmas at my parents' house. I love being home with both of my brothers and their families. It just warms my heart for all those little cousins to play together just like we did with our Rose cousins!

Luke, Jaxon, and Miley decided to join Norah for her bath.