Christmas 2009

This was our first Christmas away from family, which at first didn't sound too bad. Not that we didn't want to be with them, but we thought that so many other people spend their Christmases that way, so we figured we could handle it too. And first thing in the morning, we were fine. But as the day wore on, we definitely realized it was kinda sad to not be able to spend the day with all of our loved ones. It really sunk in when we called Aron's mom and heard all the people in the background talking and laughing together....sigh. But, we made the day our own and I'm grateful to have been able to spend the day with my awesome husband and kids.

Here are our traditional "Christmas Eve" pajamas....that's been our tradition, to each open one gift on Christmas Eve which are a somewhat matching set of pajamas. This year I decided to make all of us girls matching pajama pants and the boys matching ones, Dora for us girls and Transformers for the boys. It was a nice idea, but because I was trying to keep them a secret, there were no "fittings" and so they don't fit quite the way they should. Yeah, I'll be buying them next year!

Waiting to open presents Christmas morning.

Libbie with her new toy...she really liked it.

Anna with her new Dora and Boots loofahs from Grandma.

Caleb with his Bakugan toys from Grandma.

Nathan cheesin' it up with his new Star Wars Legos toy. He's not typically the most determined of kids, but I was so proud of him when he decided to put the set together....he kept at it, even through some frustration, until it was built.

The aftermath!

Christmas morning breakfast....homemade cinnamon rolls! I've never made them before, but recipes like this, that require many minutes of kneading, are SO much easier and more appealing now that I get to use my Christmas present, a Kitchenaid mixer from my wonderful husband, to make them! And oh man, they were goooood!

Here we are walking in to the nursing home in our town. Our small group decided to do an extra little outreach besides the one our church was doing....we made bags with goodies like a mug, hot chocolate, cookies, an ornament, bookmark, etc. and delivered them to people who had to work on Christmas Eve or Day. Well, we wanted to take them to either the fire or police station, but neither were open to visitors, so we changed the plan a little and took them to the local nursing home. Instead of giving them out to the ones having to work on Christmas Day, we asked which residents wouldn't be getting any visitors and gave the presents to them instead. It was such a blessing to us and I'm very proud of my children. Very elderly people who are very weak and confined to their beds is definitely not something my children are used to seeing, but they didn't say anything about it and though they were quiet (except for Nathan of course), they easily and cheerfully wished everyone a "Merry Christmas." Aron prayed for each of the people we visited and we've already decided that we will definitely do this again next year, but with more presents next time.

And finally, Christmas dinner. Definitely not traditional....oxtail stew over rice with a salad. Aron has greatly missed all the yummy spanish food available in Florida, especially the Cuban food. Apparently he talks about it on a very regular basis at work, so much so that at his work Christmas party, his boss, who'd picked his name for the gift exchange, gave him a Cuban cookbook! Hence, our Cuban Christmas dinner. I never thought I'd eat the tail of something, but it was actually very good. I still would prefer dinner with all of our family and I missed all the traditional Christmas food, but this was really good too. All in all, it was a really good day, just us. Hope you all had a Merry Christmas!

Nathan's Football Party

For Nathan's 7th birthday, he decided he wanted to have a sleepover and then a party with a theme of , go figure, football. Since he was born on December 20th, we chose to have his party on the 19th since it was a Saturday, and because it just-so-happened to be the date of our town's Christmas Parade which would be the grand finale to our party. Nathan chose to have his good buddy, Colin, spend the night on Friday night. It was Nathan's, Caleb's, and Colin's first sleepover and they had so much fun.

Here are the three boys hanging out in the boys' room.

All three boys in Nathan's bed...too cute!

Caleb playing in the Paper Football Championship. Aron had all kinds of outdoor football games to play with the kids, but it unfortunately rained the whole time, which also cancelled the parade. Thank goodness Aron is good at improvising, hence the paper football games instead!

Here's Nathan being a ham while Aron keeps track of the tournament.




Time to open gifts!

Excited about his new book sent all the way from Florida from Grandma!

His favorite present of all....a Panther's jersey!

Nathan's birthday cake....it's not the best one I've made, but Nathan was happy with it.

Happy Birthday Nate!

The Face of Libbie

Isn't she cute?! The unfortunate thing about taking pictures of my beautiful girl is that my camera puts off this really annoying red light and so even if she was smiling seconds before I push the button, as soon as she sees the light, her blue eyes get big and wide and the smile goes away. :( But here you go, anyway....enjoy!



She's mostly sitting up without support, but we use the boppy pillow just in case.




Here she is with big brother Caleb, both in their adorable footie jammies.




Those silly boys put their soldier hat on their baby sister!




Eating some of Mama's sweet potato...and loving it!



Cutie pie!

Seven!!!

On December 19th, 2002, while at work finishing up report cards with my team, my water broke. I carefully drove home, called Aron and then my midwife, took a shower and when Aron got home from work, headed to the hospital. I was planning on having an all-natural birth, but after about 10 hours of labor, decided an epidural sounded really nice and it allowed me to rest on and off for the next 5 hours. Then it was time and about an hour later, our lives were forever changed with the words, "It's a boy!" Nathaniel Aron Rice was born on December 20th, 2002 and has blessed our lives every day since.

He's such a great son and he's constantly reminding us that he is definitely his father's son. He is so much like Aron, it's crazy! In fact, he even told me the other day, "Daddy's really crazy, but I'm catching up!" He loves to goof-off, gets easily unfocused, but also well understands what needs to be done and is proud of himself when he does it. He LOVES football and is quite obsessed actually. He's very athletic, naturally it seems, and loves playing outside, even if he has to do it alone.

He has an amazing memory and already has his life planned out, although some of the details change on a regular basis, such as where he's going to live. However, some of the details, such as who his wife is going to be and how many kids he's going to have, have stayed the same, no matter how many times we ask him about it (by the way, he's going to marry McCayla and have 5 kids, 2 of whom will for sure be named Jack and Jake :)).

He is a great big brother and is fine with the added responsibilities we've given him as the oldest, such as making sure Anna's buckled when we get into the car. He has a very tender heart and often tears up when thinking about sad things or when watching shows with me, like "Extreme Home Makeover."

We are so very proud to be his parents and our family is blessed to have Nathan a part of it. It is no question that our family is great, but not because of us parents but because our firstborn 'gets it' and sets the stage for the rest of his siblings. We love you NATHANIEL ARON RICE!