christmas morning..

Happy New Year! I hope to be back to "normal" with blogging. These last few months have been a little busy:) 

I'm catching up on Christmas...We had a great Christmas. It really was so neat to see Annie Rice enjoy her presents this year, but also see her really want to know and learn about Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus. I really tried hard for that to be my main focus throughout December but I failed miserably most days. It was very hard in New York and the days leading up to Christmas not to want to buy Annie Rice everything I saw. I can only imagine that it will get harder each year. BUT I tried and repented over and over. Over December, the Lord kept laying the star of Bethlehem on my heart. I can only imagine how bright that star was. Oh the importance of it. It was a beautiful reminder that the Lord kept laying on my heart. 

Christmas was so fun. It was so nice being back at home and spending time with family. We decided that we would let Annie Rice sleep in the bed with us Christmas Eve. Between being over tired and excited, it took this little girl a long time to settle down and then finally a little over midnight, Annie woke up and we had to put her back in her crib:) Maybe next year will go better! 

Her big toy this year was a doll house and mini van. She LOVED it. From the first picture, we woke her up and she was a little mad[which isn't my Annie Rice in the mornings, but she was still tired and didn't understand what was happening]. She was so excited and loved all of her toys. The best part of Christmas was seeing Annie Rice yell, "Merry Christ-chris" to everyone she saw. It brought so many smiles to peoples faces, including mine. 

Here are a few pictures from Christmas morning. NOTE: There aren't a lot of pictures of Maggie from Christmas morning because she couldn't open presents yet:) BUT there are a few...AND the last picture is funny. Sweet baby girl didn't know what she was doing:)