Our little family Christmas

We left on Tuesday evening for a week of vacation to visit both of our families for Christmas. We wanted to celebrate our family Christmas first, so we woke up on Monday morning to celebrate. We started out by reading the Christmas story in the book of Luke, Hannah put the characters in the nativity as we read.
Then we enjoyed our family gift exchange. Hannah was very excited about opening gifts, she was so much fun to watch! This year we stared a new tradition of giving 3 gifts, just like the wise men brought Jesus 3 gifts. We want to keep the focus on Jesus during the Christmas season and not go crazy with gifts, so we gave Hannah 3 gifts plus her stocking which including books and dvd's.

sportin' new Christmas jammies



















starting with her stocking...so excited about the Elmo paper














a little people school bus!














cardboard building blocks



















trying them out



















a sit and spin!



















She jumped right on for some spinning fun





and some gifts for Daddy too. Hannah got Daddy a "Hannah" mug to drink his coffee in














I got him a new coat..he needed a dressy one: doesn't he look handsome?!



















Seth got me Season One of Little House on the Prairie. Without cable, we don't have a lot of good/clean tv to watch in the evenings, this will keep us busy for a while...thanks babe!

Coming Soon

We had a wonderful Christmas with our families...pictures coming soon.

Happy Birthday Papa!

Happy Birthday Papa! Hope that you had a wonderful day! We love you! :)

Make a Smilebox greeting

Hannah sings "Away in a Manger"

We've been practicing "Away in a Manger" through this advent season. She's been shy about singing it for other people..so I was really excited to be able to get her singing on video. We hope and pray that even at such a young age that Hannah sees that Christmas is all about the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

May you and your family have a wonderful Christmas as you celebrate the birth of our Savior who came to the world as a humble baby. Merry Christmas!

Hashbrown Casserole

I'm posting this recipe because I'm typing it up for my sister anyway...so I thought I would share it with anyone else who might like to try it with ham this Christmas. This is a good 'ol tried and true church cookbook recipe. :)

1-2# pkg. cubed, frozen hashbrowns
1/2 c. butter
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 pint sour cream
2 c. cheddar cheese
1/2 c. onion, diced

Thaw potatoes, add melted butter and mix, add salt, pepper, onion, grated cheese, sour cream. Mix well, pour in well greased casserole dish (I just mix mine up in the casserole dish to save on dishes). Top with 1 1/4 c. crushed corn flakes mixed with 1/4 c. melted butter (I've done it without the topping before and still delish). Bake at 350 for 45 minutes. Enjoy

I love my back rubs

Mommy always puts lotion all over me after my bath to keep my skin soft and smelling good. I always tell her that it feels good and love to roll over on my tummy for a back rub. Life isn't too bad being a little girl ;)

Hannah Jumps!

Hannah has been working on this for a long time. She's finally getting pretty good at it if she stops to think about what she's doing. She loves to jump (and dance) around the house. She learned "slide, slide, slide" from Sesame Street...and goes crazy with that dance when she really gets into it.

Hannah's first Christmas cookies

We made Christmas cookies this weekend...and I got to help!!

I climbed up on the top step of the stepping stool and went to work. Mommy gave me the very important job of rolling the cookies in the sugar. She rolled the ball, I rolled it in sugar then passed it to Daddy and he put it on the cookie sheet. We made a very good team! I had so much fun helping and loved watching the cookies bake while they were in the oven...but of course...my favorite part is eating them!

Caught red handed

Into Mommy's makeup already! See how my finger is in the tube of lipstick!

Go Frank!

Last week Mom, Jeff, & Amber and I went to see Frank play basketball at one of his last home games. I had so much fun! I watched him play the whole time and shouted "Go Frank" many times. I had fun sharing water with Ms. Amber and jumping on the basketball court with William after the game.

William is my buddy

Here we are jumping!

full of cuteness

Hi it's me Hannah. One of my new things lately is this cute little face that I've been making at dinner. I put my hands on my cheeks and just stare at mom and dad...I'm pretty sure it melts their hearts right onto the floor. Am I melting your heart too?!

Marshmellow Treat Ornaments

I tried this new pc recipe for my Christmas open house a few weeks ago. These ornament cookies turned out so cute. You have to work kinda fast to get the twizzlers into the rice crispies before the harden...but if you can work fast they turn out cute. Go here for the original recipe :)

mine didn't turn out anything like the picture on the recipe...but still pretty cute and my hubby loved them!

blessings

The Lord has blessed me with so many wonderful friends. It's neat to see how He provides just what we need at exactly the time that we need it. I'm thankful that the Lord put the Cripe family in our lives. They have blessed us in so many ways, and this week...blessed us once again. Our Christmas present from them was a date night out for dinner and Christmas shopping? Like I said in this Homemaker Monday post, the gift of time really is such a great gift! We went to Applebees for dinner and were able to pick up a few things for Christmas. We both have been super busy, and sometimes it feels like we are running in different directions. It was nice to slow down for an evening and enjoy time together!

Tuesday evening was also a gift to our little Hannah too, because she got some playtime with one of her favorite little friends, Joshua. They play together so well and enjoy each others company. When she got in the car, her heart was pounding from so much excitement. She LOVES Joshua, Ms. Rachel and Mr. Randy! Here are some pics that Rachel took of their evening together:

Things I love Thursday: Online Shopping

I'm a big fan of online shopping, this year especially. I love being able to shop from the comfort of couch at 11pm at night. It sure beats standing in line at store after store trying to find just the right thing (although I did some of this too :)). I can do it while my busy toddler is sleeping, instead of dragging her in and out of stores in the midst of the frigid winter weather. I don't think that I paid for shipping on anything that I bought this year online. I always google the store name plus coupon code and usually get a code for free shipping. Sometimes I can even double up on codes...it's been great! In one case it was even cheaper for me to buy the item online than it was for me to go to the store! Still have some last minute shopping to do? Did you know that today is free shipping day? Head over to Mom for Him to find out more details.
For more things to love head over to The Diaper Diaries!

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday: The Many Faces of Hannah Grace

There is never a dull moment in our house! Just this one little girl always keeps us entertained :) Lately, she has loved showing us her different (feeling) faces. Enjoy!

Can't resist the happy face!

We call this "the angry eyes" I can't help but laugh every time she makes this face.

Hannah likes to say "I sad" and put out those lips. I think this is her favorite.

surprised!

which is your favorite?!

For more Wordless Wednesday, visit Dee at Two of a Kind Working on a Full House!

Happy Homemaker Monday

The weather in my neck of the woods: Cold, cold, cold. I know that it is December...it's just hard to believe that winter is here already. We had a few snowflakes today, but nothing stuck to the ground...does that count as our first snow?

One of my simple pleasures: listening to my baby girl sing

On my beside table: Still working on "For Women Only"...it's a tiny, easy read...I should be done by now...I think I spend too much time on the computer :)

On my tv: it's off...and it's even the evening.

On the menu tonight: grab 'n go. I had a missions meeting and Seth had an elders meeting..we both ate late and grabbed whatever we could find.

On my to-do list: finish the Christmas decorations, finish online orders for Christmas, dishes, fold laundry.

New recipe I tried last week: sweet potato chips (a healthy snack that Hannah loved, next time I'll use less salt and make them a bit more crispy..but still good), baked garlic parmesan chicken, quick crescent taco bake and pudding poke cake (for mom f's bday...it was yummy)

In the craft basket: I started this cardboard wreath this weekend, can't wait to finish, knitting projects, and Christmas projects

Looking forward to: A playdate with our church friends

Favorite blog post this week: I appreciated these family ministry ideas for children and children's books for Christmas.

Kristi wrote another great post this week: Tough questions and an age-old lie

Favorite Photo from last week:

lesson learned the past few days: give the gift of time ;)

On my prayer list: church friends, family friends

Devotional, Scripture reading, key verses: Micah 5:2 "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from old, from ancient times."

Christ was born in Bethlehem as a human baby in a specific place and time in history and remains the Son of Man and Son of God, who loves and understands us.

Thanks to Sandra at Diary or a Stay at Home Mom for hosting Happy Homemaker Monday each week!

Surprise!!! Happy Birthday Grandma

We had a lot of fun surprising Grandma this weekend. She didn't think that she was going to get to see us until Christmas...but we couldn't resist making a trip to surprise her for her birthday. We enjoyed birthday dinner at the Chinese buffet.

Then a day with Cody and Erica on Saturday. We went to Bob Evans for breakfast and spent the rest of the day relaxing and playing with Hannah at home. It was a great time! Happy Birthday Mom Finnegan!

My Christmas Tree

Hannah is really excited about our Christmas tree this year. She comes out of her room every morning, looks at the tree and says "wow!" She loves to get to flip the switch that turns it on. She wasn't super interested in helping put it up, but did help a little.

She enjoyed handing Daddy branches while he put it together

we put the tree up with the lights one night and decorated it another. Here's Hannah just looking at the lights and the angel at the top before bed. She loved that there is an angel on top (I guess I should have taken a pic of the angel too).

Here she is talking about the angel

Hannah helped put up some of the ornaments...she always hung them on the lights instead of the tree branches.

she was particularly fond of the star ornaments and of this spot on the Christmas tree.

this picture is for our church friends...just wanted you to see a happy Seth decorating the tree :) If you're interested in hearing the story behind the picture...go here to hear his sermon. :)

(this was the picture from our first Christmas that Seth talked about in his sermon. He wasn't too happy with me...but we've worked things out..and love decorating the tree together now :)).

Great Grandpa meets baby Ethan

We love our Grandpa! One of the great things about my Grandpa is that he is a faithful prayer warrior. He has been praying for his Hannah Grace since she was in my belly, and the same goes for little Ethan. He prayed and prayed for Ethan while Beth was pregnant. It was really neat to see Grandpa meet Ethan for the first time. He was so proud and thankful for the gift of this new life. He's so excited to see his family growing. It was so sweet to see Grandpa just stare and him, and completely adore him. These pics still bring tears to my eyes.

Grandpa with his great-grandchildren

He was nervous at first to hold him, but did a great job!


new life and old...

Richfield Christmas Tree Lighting

We started the evening outside with lanterns and the lighting of the tree in the middle of town.

then enjoyed yummy cookies

and a visit from Santa. I was watching him, and asking if I could go see him, but when Daddy tooke me up there...I got too nervous, so Santa held Ethan. :)

Happy Thanksgiving

I'm catching up on all the pictures from last week. It's sad to say good-bye to fall...such a wonderful season. We had a great time celebrating all that we have to be thankful for with my family. This year was a little bit different, for the past 7 Thanksgivings, we have traveled to see both sides of family in on weekend. It's a lot of driving. We enjoyed doing it, and were happy to so that we could be with both families. This year we decided that we would start taking turns with our families. Although we missed our other family, it did make for a much more relaxing holiday.

my mom hosted the dinner this year. She made a delicious meal!

our family

Hannah enjoyed the meal too!

Ethans first Thanksgiving

now relaxing with our laptops :)