She's getting it.

Christmas night I asked Sofia what was her favourite part of the day.  Her answer:

"Mommy, I liked opening up all my presents.  But, I love Jesus the most."

Is Santa for REAL?

There are just some things that you don't need to teach your children.  And one of those things is whether or not Santa is for REAL.  Because he is you know. 

Now Santa Claus is not a highlighted person in  our home.  When we talk about him it has always been in regards to him being St. Nick.  St. Nick who gave gifts to those he loved and to the poor.  St. Nick who gave gifts because he understood that the greatest gift was given to all mankind by God in His Son.  And that is why we give gifts to each other at Christmas.  We are Santas to each other celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ.

Well, if you read our previous blog you know that we took the girls to the mall last Friday night.  As we walked around we began to realize/remember that a certain someone hangs out at the mall during this time of year. 

And it was just then that we turned the corner and saw the Winter Wonderland and Santa's House.  Sofia stopped, looked, and then turned to me with the biggest smile and the widest eyes and said, "That's Santa, mommy!  He's for real!"

It really was magical.  The innocence, the hope, the belief of a child.  

So to Santa's lap we went. 

And while this was a special memory for us with Sofia, well, our memory with Selah is a little different.  Check out the pic.  

Merry Christmas!!! 

The letter "F".

Today was FRIDAY.  And we always have FUN with our FAMILY on FRIDAYS.  Today we had a FESTIVE day with our FRIENDS and one our FRIENDS is from FRANCE.

Okay, no more "F"s.  But here is the day.

A winter storm that began last night and continued until mid-morning added 8 inches of snow to the already 5 inches on the ground from Tuesday's storm.  This made for such a great Christmas atmosphere as Chef Sofia and mommy went about some Christmas baking.

Here's Sofia as we got started on making Red Velvet Cake Balls.

We also made a batch of Rice Krispy Candy.  We thought green balls placed on top of each other might look like Christmas trees.

Sofia took a story time break with our new friend, Audrey.  Audrey is from France.  She stayed with us for a few days while she visits her boyfriend, Jason.

This is Jason.  Jason is a seminary student and serves with us in the college group that will be meeting at our home on Sunday nights.  Selah thought she would try to help him get lunch.

Playtime after lunch found daddy being the girls' horsey.

After dinner we loaded up the girls in the car and headed out for a drive.  
We drove by beautiful sights such as the town center display in Libertyville.

And ended up at the mall where we let the girls enjoy the indoor playground.

Something else happened at the mall.  Something only magical to a child.  I'll share in my next blog.  But wow!  We do love our Fridays.

The girl scares me.

I love this little girl.  She makes me laugh.  She makes me smile.  But she also scares me.

She scares me when I catch her doing this....
That's right.  Climbing on top of the table.  Last night I came out of the bathroom to find her on the chair making her way onto the table.  She has figured out how to pull the chair out, climb up on it, then make her way to higher ground.
As her mommy I ask, "Where's the fear?"  I know, I know.  It's a good thing.  And it's a good thing I'm a praying momma.  Praying that we don't make any trips to the emergency room.

She said the "D" word!

That's right.  Selah said the "D" word.  The word one man in particular has been waiting to hear for a long, long time.  This past week as Kevin was leaving for work she said, "Bye bye Daddy".

Yeah!!!!  She does know who her daddy is...it just took her 15 months to let him know.

Friday Family Festivities

We love our Fridays with daddy.  Today's outing, however, was limited to being indoors.  The temperatures read 14 degrees but the wind chill made it closer to 0 degrees.  Yes, a very cold day.

Here is our day in pics.

We took a drive up into Wisconsin.  

Enjoyed lunch at Culver's.  Sofia loved sitting as close as possible to daddy during lunch.  She said it was, "Cozy!".
And yes, Amy H., I was there.  I should have smiled but this pic is for you.
We enjoyed seeing many of God's Christmas trees.
Then we went home and decorated our own Christmas tree.
Selah loved the lights and balls.
After dinner Sofia and mommy baked sugar cookies.

Ahhhh...we love family fridays.

15 month check up.

Once Selah turned one year old I stopped doing the monthly updates on her.  I thought, however, I would continue to do so whenever she had a doctor's appointment.  And that would be today.

Next week on the 10th Selah will be 15 months old.  So amazing.  She is a physically active little girl.  She continues to follow her big sis around and whatever Sofia is doing she wants to do.  I guess this is just the beginning of how it is pretty much going to be from here on out.

Selah is a climber.  If she can get her knee or foot up on something that elevates her she will take advantage of it.  We have to keep a close eye on her but do allow for her to explore.  Her greatest climbing achievement would have to be climbing from the step stool, to the chair, to the top of the desk.  She was pretty proud of herself.  She also loves to dance and tries so hard to jump but can't quite get her feet off the ground.  

Verbally she continues to learn new words, is more of a parrot than anything else but with a big sis who will talk for her, she doesn't see much necessity in having to talk herself.    She manages, however, to get what she wants.:)

Today Selah weighed in at 20 lbs. 7 oz. and is now standing 30  1/2 inches tall.  Her sandy blonde hair is beginning to grow and her blue eyes continue to draw attention.

We are so thankful for our second baby daughter.  She brings us much joy and laughter.

P.S.  Don't let the pictures fool you.  The pretty bow in her hair lasted all of about 5 minutes.

Looking like Christmas!

Today is the first of December no doubt.  This morning we woke up to a winter wonderland.  The Thanksgiving holiday weekend has officially ended and now we turn to the Christmas season.

This is what I saw out the loft window upon waking this morning.

The view out our backdoor.

The dusting of snow added to the Christmas decor on our front step.

After lunch I bundled up the girls for a short few minutes of snow play.  It was Selah's first time playing in the snow.  She LOVED it!

This morning we talked about Mary and how she was chosen by God to be Jesus'  mommy here on earth.  These are pics of the girls dressing like Mary.

Thanksgiving 2008.

We spent the Thanksgiving holiday in Sparta, MI with the Sheckler side of the family.  This year's gathering was quite a bit smaller than past years but there were still 19 people ranging from 14 months to 94 years old.  

A special moment for us not captured on camera was the dinner prayer.  Kevin was asked to say the blessing but just as he was about to begin, Sofia shouted out, "I want to pray".  And pray she did.    She thanked the Lord for having a safe trip, for being able to play with cousin Stella, for seeing Grandpa Sheck, and for the food.  Her blessing of the gathering was a blessing to her mommy and daddy.

Here are some scenes from the day.

25 lbs. of turkey.

Football.  This is Grandpa Sheck w/cousins Ben and Aaron watching the Lions get "stuffed".

Aunt Patti, Aaron, and Uncle Tom enjoying the yummy food.

Cousin Erica, 2nd cousin Quinn, Sofia and cousin Stella sat at the "kids" breakfast bar.

The adult table.  Uncle Jim, Aunt Sunde, Uncle Bruce, Uncle Glen, Ben, Grandpa, Uncle Paul, Great uncle Bob and Great Aunt Dorothy, Aunt Sunde's mom, Daddy and Selah.

Then there is nap time.  Sofia, Quinn and Stella thought Uncle Tom made a nice pillow.

Uncle Bruce and Selah checking out the Thanksgiving sales.

Lots of game playing.  Apples to Apples and ADversity were this year's favourites.

And finally, reading time before heading night-night.

Kevin at work.

Many of our friends and family don't have the opportunity to see Kevin at "work". So here is a glimpse of what he does. This is Kevin a couple of Sundays ago teaching the 3 yr. old children's church class. From the pic of the kids you can tell that most of them are engaged in what he is sharing...except for the "posing p.k.".

1975 was a good year.

So were you alive in 1975?  It was a great year for me.  We had recently moved to Redlands, CA, my brother was born and I started Kindergarten.

I recently came across this picture that was taken around March/April 1975.  

I miss my sister Kelli and my brother Kirk.

The Gift FROM friends.

Last minute get-aways are always great.  Get-aways that only take 10 minutes to get to are even better.  But the best part of get-aways are when you do so with dear people who love you and encourage you.

Monday evening we loaded up the car to head out.  The temperatures read 25 degrees with a windchill factor of 19 degrees.  We drove the 5 miles to Key Lime Cove Waterpark Resort and met up with our friends the Erlandsons and the Gudemans.

We spent the evening and the next morning in the water park area lounging in swimsuits and shorts.  The kids played and the adults talked.   It was just a wonderful time of sharing life with friends.

We are especially thankful to the Erlandsons who gave us the gift of a hotel room.  But again, the greatest gift was spending time them.

This is Suzanne and Scott Erlandson.

Sofia took time out to colour in the art center.

Daddy had play time with Selah.

Sofia loved the water so much she jumped for joy.

The moms.  (Suzanne, Tracey Gudeman, and Keri)

Matthew Gudeman with Caleb and Eli.

Krista E. with Sofia on the Lazy River.

Someone had quite a bit of fun.

P.S.  We also hung out with Samuel, Tyler and Kyle.  :)

Suh-FEE-uh!

This weekend Selah began to call her sister by name.  It is so cute.  

Throughout the day we hear, "Suh-FEE-uh!"

Now if she would only say daddy.

The Gift of Friends.

Sofia truly loves people. She loves her family and she loves her friends. Her third birthday was when the whole birthday thing began to click for her. That day, as family members called to say "Happy Birthday", she would ask every single one of them if they were going to come over to her house for her birthday. Since most of them were calling from CA, OK, and MI it just wasn't possible. It broke our heart as parents to see how disappointed she was.

So, needless to say, this year we thought we would host a party for her 4th birthday with friends. Sofia loved it! We played the Dr. Seuss game, "I Can Do That", danced to her current favourite CD, They Might Be Giants, and ate cake.

We were blessed as parents to give our daughter the gift of prayer and the gift of friendship.

Here are some pics of Sofia's friends.

Brooke (one of her regular playdate friends)

Maggie (another of her regular playdate friends)
Anna (church buddies since their nursery days)
Audrey (one of her Sunday School friends)
Joy (another Sunday School friend)

Miss Sarah (her most favourite person in world, her S.S. teacher and choir teacher)

And of course, her sister, Selah