Christmas with the Paynes

My camera is still broken, but thankfully we got to spend Christmas with people who love my family and like taking pictures of my kids!  Ryan's parents graciously brought us to Tulsa to spend Christmas with them and we have thoroughly enjoyed our stay!

Rooke discovered that Grammy Deb's Christmas village is a great place for his cars to roam.

Uncle Sean is popular for lots of things, least of which are the games on his iPhone.

Grammy Deb gave the kids new pajamas to open and wear on Christmas Eve.  Here is our attempt at getting a picture of them wearing their new pjs, sitting by the tree . . .

Rooke helped Grammy Deb set up the nativity scene she used to play with when she was a little girl!

A quick cuddle on Christmas day before we took off to play with his new little cars.

Gretchen loves her new baby!

The Traditional Cupcake

We were traveling on Gretchen's actual first birthday, so we celebrated her first year with family the next day!  She properly entertained the crowd with her first chocolate cupcake. 

She was just playing with the frosting at first, so I was trying to encourage her to "dig in"!

She loves her daddy so much, she was willing to share her birthday cupcake with him!

She ate it up and was a happy birthday girl!  I still can't believe she's one.

It was so fun to have my brother and his wife join us for the party fun.  Thanks for driving Konnor & Tana!

Gretchen and Aunt Jess enjoying some pop-up fun!

Merry Christmas!

From Luke 2 . . . the greatest gift given:

And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.  And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear.  And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.  And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”  And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

“Glory to God in the highest, 

and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.”  And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger.  And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child.  And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them.  But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.  And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

Great Gifts

We're traveling this Christmas, but before we left Seattle, we were given one of the best Christmas presents ever!  It started with a special Doughnut Day with Daddy!  Rooke filled up his good behavior chart and chose to get a doughnut with Daddy.  

The kid behind Rooke is wondering how he can snag a doughnut that big!

After gobbling their doughnuts, we cashed in on our amazing overnight date gift!  My dear friend, Jessie, and her husband offered to keep the kids overnight!!  We've only had the pleasure of doing that one other time (before Gretchen was born), so we were completely blown away by the offer and thrilled at the opportunity to have an extra long date!  We did several of our favorite things that aren't as kid-friendly: saw a movie, ate pho for dinner, walked a lot, slept in, slept in, SLEPT IN! and went out for a relaxing breakfast.  Rooke and Gretchen did great and had fun playing with their buddies, James and Saisha.  Thank you, Heavilands!

The best french toast I've ever had!  This is now in both of our top three breakfast spots in Seattle!

Together again, we did a little family present-opening at home before we left for our trip.


Rooke scored some new cars from Auby and Scott . . .

His own computer from KayeK and Big Daddy . . .

and Nana gave both kids a fantastic set of blocks!

Happy Birthday, Gretchen!

Truly, where has this year gone?!  I'm just sure I was bringing Gretchen home from the hospital last week, but today she turns ONE!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Gretchen Ruth!

Gretchen is our happy-go-lucky, funny, outgoing, smiley, on-the-go, aggressive, dramatic little girl.  She enjoys being around people, gets super excited when she hears the front door open and knows that "Da da" is home, wants to do whatever her big brother is doing, and hams it up when she knows she's being cute or throws a mini-fit if she doesn't get what she wants!  She was young to roll over, crawl and walk, which doesn't surprise us now that we know - the girl isn't interested in sitting for very long.  She'll give her fair share of cuddles, but would rather be knocking down blocks than reading books!  God has blessed us with a rich dose of joy through our daughter.  We can only hope and pray we are more fortunate to spend another wonderful year with her.  

December 22, 2009 after just 70 minutes of labor - we got off to a great start!

 

 

Happy Birthday to our favorite one-year-old!  We love you, Gretch!