christmas 2012

We had a wonderful Christmas! In order, here is what we were up to!

On Christmas Eve we went to my sister's house. We ate lunch, opened gifts and the cousins had a cookie decorating contest!

Elijah won "Best Gingerbread Man". He and Jonathan are best buds/cousins!

Judah won "Best Overall". That's the treatment you get when you're the youngest. :)

 On Christmas morning, it was just the 4 of us at our house. We had a big breakfast, opened stockings and gifts and played until it was time to head to Nana & Grangoat's house.

Below are the boys' favorite gifts of the year. Judah has been asking for this rocket ship for almost 2 years! I thought he would give it up because it's BIG and he has a lot of large Imaginext toys but he was very persistent and very patient, so he got it and he LOVES it!
They got a trampoline from grandparents for the backyard and they also LOVE it!

 

 Here is our Advent tree on Christmas morning after we finished it. It has become a favorite tradition around our home for the last few years.

I thought it was funny that the boys both picked out the same thing for each other from our church's Christmas store. They save their Bible Bucks all year to buy gifts for their family.

Then we headed to Gainesville for the Cox family Christmas. It's always a lot of fun with this crazy group! Notice Evangeline's stocking in the middle. :) Can't wait until she's here next year to join in on the fun!

See what I mean about crazy? :)

We were holding her picture but have to white it out...for now.

Nana & Grangoat with their grandsons (and holding a picture of Evie).

And oh my, the miraculous Christmas Day snow! It was bitterly cold and these pictures crack me up!

Judah reminds me of Home Alone here. :)

We were completely unprepared for the blizzard and so Judah has on Grangoat's jacket. Let's just say that I don't completely trust these Texas weathermen and I just didn't believe it!

Fun! However, the usual hour drive home turned into 3 hours. That was not fun.

And lastly, we said goodbye to my mom this morning for 3 months! We took her to the airport to travel to Romania where she will help the missionaries in Transylvania set up a camp for the street children there, much like Camp of the Hills where she works. She will also work in an orphanage and serve the poor there. We are so proud of her but will miss her! When she returns, she'll have a new grandbaby. I know it was hard for her to give up being here when all the excitement happens with Evie, but I'm so glad she puts God first!

January 15th is our first court date (not the travel one). Please say a prayer for us that day that everything will go smoothly and we'll get our travel date soon after.