Very Merry Christmas!!!

What a big month December was for Lucy. On the 19th she turned 2. We can hardly believe that she's no long our 1 year old baby, but is now our 2 year old little girl! She loves to sing Happy Birthday. Mostly she just says 'happy you you' over and over. Her favorite part of her birthday was definitely receiving presents. She patiently opened each card, commented on whatever was on the front of the card and then peeled off every piece of wrapping paper. It was too funny to see how calm she was while opening each present. Her brother, on the other hand, could barely contain himself. He wanted to play with her gifts the second she cracked them open.

Unfortunately Lucy was sick for the days surrounding Christmas. She perked up enough to go to GPa and NaiNai's for dinner on Christmas Eve but then felt poorly again on Christmas day. Tyson enjoyed every part of the Christmas season. This is his third one in the states and he seems to fall in love with the season more and more each year.

Almost as a surprise to everyone, we got walloped with a snow storm that started Christmas night. The final count was about 14 inches! Thanks to hand-me-downs from Lane & Angela, Lucy was outfitted in a snow suit and boots. (For our family far away- owning snow gear is not the norm for Virginia Beach residents).

It was the very merriest of Christmases for me personally. I finally have our two children home & safe for the holidays. This is the most beautiful of answer to many years of praying. I hope that the new year is a blessed one for you!

Icicles on our icicle lights.... in VB?!?!

Our candy canes on the 26th & it snowed a bit more after that! 

New use for the beach buckets

Our candy canes on the 25th

Wooden fruit anyone?

Here's a video we did for Adoption Sunday at our church.


Jacques Family Adoption from Brad Daniels on Vimeo.

Herding Halloween Cats

This was our best attempt to get a shot of all of the kids.  We were still missing two of them.  The phrase 'herding cats' was being thrown around a lot by the peanut gallery.

Lucy and Savanah couldn't even wait to get home to get in to their candy, they just stopped right in a driveway to look at their loot.

NaiNai & G-Pa dutifully gave out candy so Trav & I could  take the kids out.

Mickey & Minnie

Oooohhh, I just love being a mommy at Halloween!  We are now the proud owners of enough candy to keep all of the dentists in VA Beach very happy for a few years.  Tyson took off trick or treating with Travis as soon as we attempted the group shot.  I didn't see him again until he had exhausted the neighborhood's supply of candy.  Lucy really enjoyed going from house to house with her little candy pail.  She put it up on her arm like a purse and wouldn't let go until the end of the night.  I attempted to take some of the candy out to make room for more but she wouldn't have it!    I feel like the luckiest women in the world for having such awesome friends and family who enjoy making great memories for our kids.  I love you all!

Halloween Preview

This is such a fun time of the year for us as we get to see Lucy participate in a lot of holiday firsts.  This first, Halloween night, isn't eve upon us quite yet but she's having a blast with all of the celebrations.  Today we went to the zoo for the 'Zoo Boo' (trick or treating at the zoo) and both kids loved it.  Just like her older brother, it didn't take LuLu very long to figure out that running from table to table and muttering something close to 'trick or treat & thank you' would produce lots of candy in their bags.  

Tyson liked helping G-Pa & NaiNai with the pumpkin carving.  I'll post more pics after the big night!

Baby Bono??