All I want for Christmas!

What an incredibly fun Christmas we had! I think I counted 6 separate houses where we celebrated our Savior's birth with family! Crazy- I know! Elizabeth and Elaine did great and were their sweet pleasant selves as we house hopped.
The most fun celebration was here, at our own home Christmas morning! For the past 4 months or so, Elizabeth had been talking about wanting a "fwing," aka a "swing." When I told her maybe she could get one for Christmas, she replied, "Let's go to Christmas to get my fwing!" This prompted many explanations of what Christmas is and why we celebrate and why we give gifts. I knew we didn't have anywhere to just hang a swing in our yard, so I began my Craigslist search for a swingset. I came across one that I really liked that we were able to get for a third of the retail price, so one November night, Adam and Taber watched the girls while we went to pick it up! The many pieces in our garage were a mystery to Elizabeth for the next several weeks, and then on Christmas eve, with Adam's help, Justin put the swingset all together in the backyard! Let me just tell you, Elizabeth's reaction Christmas morning was priceless! She was so very excited, and it has been dificult to get her to come inside even for meals! If you ask her what she got for Christmas, she will respond with, "I got TWO swings, a slide, a peek-a-boo house, some steps, and a bar to swing like Nastia!" I think this was a good investment!
All Elaine wanted for Christmas was for her first teeth to pop through and to stop hurting so much! Well, she got her wish! On the 21st, her first tooth made its appearance and on Christmas eve, its partner was made visisble . So cute:) Otherwise, Elaine loved the wrapping paper, bows, and anything else that was shiny or she could get into her mouth.
Justin and I really enjoyed being in our own home this Christmas! I had fun decorating inside, and Justin humored me by putting up lights outside:) What a great blessing God has given us in our new home, close to our church family, and even with a gate that opens into some of our best friends' yard!
It was so awesome to watch Elizabeth soak up the various pieces of the Christmas story and to recall them without even being prompted. For example, when we would see an angel as a decoration, she would say, "Mommy's that's an angel. The angel said, 'I bring you good news! In Bethlehem a Savior is born- JESUS!'" Or, "Look at the Christmas lights! Jesus is the light of the world!" I hope that I am able to continue the consistent conversation about Jesus as we move into the new year and always!
We pray you had a very merry Christmas as you celebrated the birth of our Lord!
The pics that follow are in no specific order, but they show the fun of the season for our little girls!

Since I was Elizabeth's age, I have been baking Christmas cookies with Granny! How cool is it that she is now able to take part in this fun tradition!?!

Paw Paw got the girls matching outfits! Way to go PawPaw!

A peek into our home on our first Christmas on Butterfly Way.

My Christmas Village (we get a new piece from Justin's parents each year) and my snowglobes (Justin has given me one every Christmas since we began dating- this was my 7th!)

Stockings! Lizzie picked out hers and Elaine's new ones for this year.

An impromptu way to display our Christmas cards. When they come down, they will go into a basket, and we will pick one out each night and pray for that family. (A cool idea from my friend Steph)

Elizabeth with her "new friends," Jack and Marin- also her 4th cousins! She and Marin totally hit it off and had a blast together!

Our best gift of 2008!

Our precious girl!

Grammy knows how to make and fill a stocking!

Ribbons are the best!

Oh wow!!!!!

We had both sets of our parents over for breakfast buritos on Christmas morning, and the centerpieces were the homemade gifts of the year- photo trees.

The fun continues...
Where is my space?! Justin did great on the dresses he got for the girls this year (that is his "thing" each Christmas). I can't wait to see them matching!
The end result of Justin and Adam's Christmas eve labor! (You can also see the gate in the background the guys put in)
A VERY THRILLED LITTLE GIRL!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

So Big!

Just a little bit of an update on our Big Girl Lizzie Grace! She is such a joy and has been a wonderful big sis to Elaine! She is quite eloquent for a 2 year old and has incredible curiosity. She is also becoming very independent which is most of the time a good thing. The other day, after her shower, I sent her to get each article of clothes she needed. She would quickly run to her room, get the item and return to me, so I could either watch her put it on or assist. So great!!! She is also potty training:) For the most part, pooh always ends up in the potty! Tee tee is a little harder for her, but we are getting there! (I will gladly change a wet diaper vs a dirty one!)
The coolest thing about Elizabeth these days is that she is beginning to understand truths about our Awesome God! Around her birthday, I began teaching her Ephesians 2:10 (the verse on her birth announcement that we have been praying over her). She picked up on it very quickly and began talking about being God's workmanship in the aisles of Wal Mart. So, I went ahead and taught her the two preceding verses which clearly lay out salvation. After she had those down, I moved on to Colossians 3:12 and we talked about some of the qualities of a follower of Jesus (compassion ,kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience). During November, we memorized Psalm 100 and talked about how we show our thanksgiving to God (see last post for whole psalm). Now, Elizabeth has memorized Galatians 4:4-5 (But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive adoption as sons.) This has been really great as we talk through the Nativity story and God's redemptive plan. I confess that initially I bought into the lie that she was too young to "get it" with the whole scripture memory thing. However, she has proven me so wrong and it is amazing to see her taking away nuggets of truth and asking some challenging questions. Not only is she growing in her knowledge of God, but as I have to put concepts like humility, redemption and salvation into two year old language, I too am falling more in love with my Lord! It has become such a special time to open the Word each morning as we eat breakfast and talk about our good and faithful God. I encourage you to do the same if you are not already! Helpful tip- for Galatians 4:4-5, I printed out little pictures to help her remember each phrase (clock, baby, woman, stone tablets, cross, daddy with little boy). These have been awesome, and she really likes them!
Two quick stories and then a few pics.
Elizabeth loves to grab a measuring tape and have us measure her height and step on the scale to measure her weight. Our response to her is usually, "Wow Elizabeth! You are SO BIG!" The other day, she came in while I was standing on the scale. With great enthusiasm, she shouted, "Wow Mommy! You are SO BIG!" Thank you my love:)
We recently did a little photo shoot of the girls for Christmas cards. That same evening, Aunt Jenn came over to hang out. Here is the conversation.
Jenn: Lizzie, what did you do tonight?
Lizzie: Took pictures.
Jenn: Who was in the pictures?
Lizzie: Me!
Jenn: Who else was in the pictures?
Lizzie: Me and my pretty face!
Oh dear! No lacking of self confidence, huh? I guess we assure her of her beauty often:)

Books are a very important part of potty time!!
(If you have not yet had the pleasure of potty training, I would encourage you to skip the little potty!
It is a booger to clean!)

Look at all of those stickers!!!

Elizabeth wanted a turn in the moby wrap!

6 Months

Are you kidding me? My baby is getting to be a big girl! Lots of firsts this month. Elaine has mastered sitting up without support and purposefully rolling/scooting to get where she wants to be (or sometimes stuck!). She has also ventured into the world of real food! Rice cereal, green beans, sweet potatoes, bananas, and apple sauce are all we have tried so far. My crazy girl loves her veggies but is still not as thrilled about fruit. I have to mix it with rice cereal, so the taste is not so strong. She has started saying da-da-da-da which is super cute and fun. No teeth yet, but some days I wonder if there is not something trying to poke through. Still spitting, but not nearly as bad as it used to be! At her 6 month check up, she weighed 15 lb 8 oz and was 26'' long, just below the 50th percentile in weight and about the 70th percentile in length. Although she does have a few rolls, she is a pretty petite little thing! Elaine's favorites these days inclue her Lamb Chop snuggly friend, pulling Lizzie's hair, hearing herself "talk," giggling, Kyleigh, books, playing with her friends (a serious game of tug o' war broke out between her and Juliet the other night!), sitting up like a big girl, being able to see and hear Mommy and blowing raspberries.

Here is our little cutie patootie!






ps-If you have a little one, these flowers are an awesome toy! They were Lizzie's, then borrowed by another family, and now Elaine's loves them! (Thanks Martha, Matt and Mae for a great toy!) Lamaze is the maker.

Giving Thanks!

Psalm 100
Shout joyfully to the Lord all the earth;
Serve the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful singing.
Know the the Lord himself is God, it is he who has made us and not we ourselves.
We are his people and the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his courts with thanksgiving and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him; bless his name.
For the Lord is good. His lovingkindness is everlasting and his faithfulness to all generations.

Our Thanksgiving holiday was filled with lots of fun and house hopping! We began the day at the Turkey Trot (our third consecutive year- I think you can call it a tradition now!) where we were joined by Nana and Paw Paw and Aunt Jenn. We also talked our good friends the Crawfords into paying money to do a 5K early Thanksgiving morning too!
After the Trot, we headed to Nana and PawPaw's to have traditional mimosa's and watch the Macy's Parade. Elizabeth was really into it this year; of course Dora was her favorite balloon!
Lunch was at my Granny's house- so yummy! Then we went to Aunt Kim's home to be with Justin's family for awhile. After that, it was NAP TIME, so back to Granny's house. When the girls woke up, we decorated the Christmas tree. Finally, home to sleep!!!!
Friday, we headed to my Aunt's home and spent time with more family. Elaine got to play with her cousin Taylor who is a month younger but 4 pounds heavier! We left there and made the trek to Kaufman to spend the night and hang out there on Saturday. Elizabeth got to help Grammy make muffins and then go with Daddy and Pop to the barn to see all of the animals! She fed the cows and goats and climbed the hay! She was pretty proud of herself:) I will be proud of myself if the outfit she was wearing gets clean enough to ever be worn again!

Although it was a lot of driving and slightly exhausting, what a blessing that we have so much family to spend time with. We are also thankful for our precious CityView church family with whom we get to do life! Jesus, himself, is more than enough, yet he still chooses to provide us with immeasurable gifts. Thank you Jesus!

Aunts and Good Friends!

So, Elizabeth and Elaine are blessed with a wonderful Aunt Jenn! It is great to have her close by, and she is so much fun! In addition to Aunt Jenn, all of my college girl friends are "Aunts!" Elizabeth equates the word aunt with FUN! Here are are few photos with her Aunts:)

Aunt Jenn makes me smile!

Aunt Brooke came all the way from Thailand to play party blowers with me!
She even taught me to say Hello in Thai!

Aunt Brooke and Aunt Haley where are you? (Elizabeth's way of "Hiding")

High 5 to Aunt Megs!

Aunt Kristie and I both like grilled cheese and singing!!!!

Not pictured: Aunt Amanda, Aunt Sarah, Aunt Susan, and many more.

Elizabeth and Elaine are blessed also with super friends too! Yesterday was quite a lot of fun friend time! Taber and I took the girls to Southlake Town Center to play (mainly because we were bored). Of course we had our cameras handy! I also got a video of them standing on a park bench singing Jesus Loves Me at the top of their lungs!


Then Elaine's friend Sophia came over with her parents Andy and Katie for dinner. Elaine practiced sharing her toys and her new skill of sitting up! Someday these two will be hiding in the bathroom washing each other's hair with hand soap like Addie and Lizzie were recently caught doing!



Speaking of super friends and babies... My most super college friend and roomie, AKA Aunt Megs is going to have one!!!!! Praise God from whom all blessing flow! She is due at the beginning of the summer- HOORAY!

Daddy's Birthday

This post is very over due! November 12th marked Justin's 26th birthday. I counted up, and this was his 8th birthday that I got to share with him. On his 19th birthday (when we were just "friends"), I got a group of people together, and we had a little surprise birthday for him at Rumors Cafe. His big gift included a bar of soap for him to pass on to his potluck roommate who did not shower! Oh the good ol' days...
This year we celebrated a few times. On his actual birthday, the girls and I took him to McAllisters for lunch and lots of sweet tea, and then we had special date to Texas de Brazil while Nana and PawPaw kept the girls. Whoa, was that a lot of meat, but even I, who am not the biggest meat eater, really enjoyed it! We also went out with family to celebrate at PF Changs, where the waiter was rather awkward and definitely asked for a piece of the turtle cheesecake I made before we even cut into it!
Any way, I love you Justin Bassett, and I praise God for the privilege of walking beside you through life and being called your wife!

someday we'll all be looking at the camera... someday!

all dressed up!

Little Bo Peep and Her Lost Sheep

So, for Halloween, I really wanted something for the girls to dress up as together. However, in all of my searching, I came up with a lot of boy/girl pairings and even a lot of boy/boy pairings, but no good girl/girl combinations. Finally, I came across the idea of Little Bo Peep and her lost sheep- perfect! I initially planned on making both of the girls' costumes, but after coming across an $8 bunny outfit at WalMart, I decided to buy it and just make a few modifications. I did make Elizabeth's costume and learned all about the art of "gathering" in the process. Being the thrifty woman that I am, I am proud to say that everything included, Little Bo Peep's costume cost $4.50 and a lot of good learning time:)
We had a great time Halloween night. CityView again sponsored bounce houses in neighborhoods of our church members, so we hung out at one of them. What a great way to meet people and share the love of Christ. What Satan intends for evil can be redeemed!
Elizabeth also got her first taste of trick or treating. Raegan, Anna Beth, and Aidan all helped her along the way. She was very good at saying thank you, but about half way through, her candy bucket got too heavy to carry! Elaine made the rounds with us, snuggled up in Nana's arms; about the same time Lizzie's bucket got too heavy, Elaine decided she was through counting sheep and went to sleep. It was such a fun night and great to be in a community where everyone just sits out on their driveways and hangs out together!

Little Bo Peep

Has lost her sheep!

"Maybe if I ring this bell, she'll see that I'm right here!"

Hooray! I found her!
Nana and Paw Paw had her the whole time!

A nice little family pic
Hanging out at Daddy's office:) They had a super fun party for all of the kids.
Snuggly little lamb!