This one's for you, Michele!

As part of the Wolfe family. I know that we all believe in the Lord's mighty hand and how He moves purposely and decidedly in all of our lives. And with that truth in our hearts we know that my SIL in Atlanta is exactly where the Lord wants her to be. But we still miss her, and I know she misses us all especially at this time of year.

So Michele, here is a video of the chaos of Christmas Eve. :) I hope you feel like you were part of it all. You were in so many ways!! Gifts, traditions, old stories and new ones.

We Love You!!!

This one's for you, Mom!

My mother made these outfits for Ruthie! Aren't they wonderful. Sofie was so overjoyed to see all the clothes for Ruthie. The shoes were the icing on the cake. I love the last pictures where Sofie insisted that Ruthie ride her new scooter with her slippers on, in a loungewear outfit. It only makes sense when your 6, I guess. :)Even the dolls ride motorcycles in this family. :)Thanks Mom!!!

Christmas Day

Christmas Morning!!! We woke up to Sofie saying, "Mom, Dad? We're just going to play with our toys from last night, when you wake up we can open presents." What? I was never that nice to my parents when I was growing up! Amazing.

We did commence in the gift opening soon after that. :) And LAAAA!!!! Ruthie was finally opened.John got ice skates. I'm sure that they will be going skating some time soon today.
And Lilia now has enought Calico Critters to last awhile. :) I knew she would love them. She is definetily my roll-playing, tiny treasures child.

Between last night and this morning, the girls are completely outfitted with new dolls (Ruthie and to-be-named Bitty Baby) and matching pajamas for them and dolls. I think they are set!

I bought Mike a indoor, remote-control, helicopter. I just revel in the moments when I get him something that he REALLY likes and he's COMPLETELY surprised with. They are few and far between, he's so hard to buy gifts for, but when I find a good gift, it's all worth it!

Christmas 2008 - The Eve at Mel's

Last night was Christmas Eve and we celebrated at my SIL house. We had a WONDERFUL time. We ate Beef Tenderloin, Pomegranate Salad, and twice baked potatoes. SO YUM!!! Then we had the gift opening extravaganza. The kids were so excited with all their new treasures, and so were the adults! Another Christmas Eve well celebrated.

Here are some pictures from the night:

Lilia and Isabelle were just little pictures sitting in the middle of all of the presents.

John became hard of hearing very early in the night... (The device doesn't let itself get to loud, hearing "friendly")

Sofie continued to be thrilled with the accoutrements for her American Girl doll, even though the doll itself has not made an appearance yet...

John had received a sword and shield from his Aunty Shel last year, and over the course of being played with almost every day, it broke this year. So Aunty replaced the sword for Christmas this year. John was VERY excited.

Lilia got a "whissle". Thanks Aunty Shel... She love's it...

Oldest Cousin, meet youngest cousin. :) Such a sweet moment. I have to say, I'm so impressed with my nephew. How many 14 year old teen boys are excited to see and hold their newest cousin. I think it takes great self-confidance and a loving heart.

The night would never be complete without knife-wielding Uncle John. This knife makes an appearance at every gift giving extravaganza. I don't know what he used to use it for in his younger years. But now it's used to open his daughter's dolly presents and kids toys in general. :)

Winter Days are Here Again

I think that the kids and I are slowly getting used to being a family with four kids. Caleb is starting to let other things pacify him other than being nursed. He actually let me give him a Nuk today and was sweet enough to go to sleep in the newborn Papasan chair.

Lilia is starting to realize that she has to entertain herself when I am nursing. So today she decided to read to her Santa's about the little reindeer Bob.
At one point she had her arm around one of the Santa's as she was reading him the story. But she put the book down when I asked to take her picture.
Yes, I think we are slowly starting to find a new equilibrium in our home... Let see if it lasts. :)

Sofie's Christmas Concert

I know I'm a little late getting this post up. Ya know, been busy. :) 2 weekends ago Sofie's church choir put on a Christmas Show. It was very cute. The directors did a wonderful job of having a performance that was short, not too choreographed, and every child had a special part. Sofie got to be a cow in the Nativity. The Nativity just consisted of kids dressed in costume, standing in their spots, and it was very cute.

So here's Sofie, being an oh-so-cute cow right before the performance was about to begin. (Sofie's the shorter, dark haired girl).

Also, listen to our conversation in the background. The couple that was sitting beside us was making over newborn Caleb and asking if all FIVE (cousin Isabelle was in attendance) were ours. To which we replied that NO WAY that would be just crazy to have FIVE! :)

Blogging, plus 4...

Having a newborn in the house has been eye-opening! Taking care of a newborn isn't hard (in the traditional sense of the word), but it is time consuming. Mike just took Caleb from me right now so that I could have both hands to type and finally get a blog post up!

The kids are all adjusting so well to having Caleb in the house. Even Lilia shows absolutely no jealousy issues and is only excited about "my brudder!" and worries when she doesn't know where he is.

Caleb is almost 3 weeks old and is having longer awake periods everyday and is opening his eyes bigger and bigger each day. I just know this 1st year is going to go by so quickly!!
Sofie's favorite past time is to hold her new baby brother.
Just because I haven't been posting doesn't mean that there isn't anything to post about! We have had some great things to do this Christmas season and have been enjoying this holiday.

This weekend my family battled the snow and the blistering cold and drove up hear for our family Christmas. Thank you so much, all of you. It meant so much to see all my family sitting in MY living room and enjoying each other's company.

We opened presents and ate lots of food. It snowed a lot here on Saturday and you could hear at least one person singing at all times, "Oh the weather outside is frightful, but inside it's so delightful..."

We had a house full of babies this year! My nephew Eli was here. It was so special to finally hold the little (I mean BIG) guy and see how beautiful he is. This is my brother, Joe, babysitting two of his nephews. He was quite good at it!

Lilia was enthralled with her presents! She is at the age where everything she does is cute. Opening presents, modeling her new hat, and yes, even....

having a meltdown when it was her nap time. :)

Sofie got a horse for her American Girl doll that she is going to get for Christmas. This is the least surprised anyone has ever been for Christmas. She's known that she was going to get this doll since this summer. I guess what her doll lacts in surprise, it makes up for in patience.

John scored with two things he can never have too much of. Thomas the Train sets and Lego's.

The only toy I've seen boys and grown men consistently bond over is Lego's. You never outgrow them.
Eli, in true 5 1/2 mo. form, wanted to eat the wrapping paper. He caught sight of that camouflage wrapping paper and thought it looked like the yummiest thing he'd ever seen. He didn't react to any other wrapping paper like that, just the camo paper.