To Be Honest...

I recently heard a pastor on the radio speaking about having a right perspective versus having a right picture. A right perspective is fixing our eyes on eternity, seeing things as God sees them and not getting hung up on the temporary. A right picture is like a photograph, a snapshot. It may look great, but it doesn't tell the whole story. Just because we can put on a smile and take a beautiful picture, doesn't mean we have the perfect life. None of us have that. I've been confronted with this lately as I look at so many wonderful pictures friends have posted on blogs or fb. Of course we want to put our best foot forward and share the happy moments of our lives, I'm no different. You'd probably rather see a picture of my smiling, happy daughter instead of how she looks when she's super cranky and it's way past bed time. Or (gasp!) me when I first wake up. So in light of all this, here are my pictures for this post.

The first ones are of our living room before we moved in.

And here is a picture of what it looks like now, the snapshot. (I had to wait until naptime so I could straighten up before taking the picture.)

However this is the reality. Frumpy pillows, a coffee table covered with preschooler accessories and things strewn on the couch. Although it's not as picture perfect as above, I still feel so blessed to call this my home.

"O Lord, you are the portion of my inheritance and my cup; you maintain my lot. The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; yes I have a good inheritance."
Psalm 16:5,6

Bonding

Chris had to go in to work last night so Hannah and I got some girl time. So what did we do? Paint her toes for the first time. She had seen her friend Hope's painted toes and had been asking to paint hers for a while. So we snuggled up on the couch, put on Lady and the Tramp, and painted toes.

It's fun to get to do these girly things with Hannah, and to watch her personality come out. She's not one to always ask to wear dresses, and hasn't shown any interest in playing with makeup (probably because I don't wear that much). But every now and then she gets those urges and I'm happy to indulge.

December 2010

I think this is my last post to be caught up on our family happenings. December, as usual, was a busy month. It was a really fun time though. Hannah was very excited about Christmas, and watching her excitement over every little thing (like Christmas lights in a store window) made me smile. We made an effort to impress upon her the significance of Christmas as a time to celebrate Jesus' birthday. She got the idea (I think), and along with it the idea of Santa as well. We didn't give her any gifts from Santa, or even teach her about him at home, but through school, store displays and TV she got her fill of info on him. So I'm not sure how to approach the issue for next Christmas. I'm sure Chris and I will discuss it again come December.

After Thanksgiving, Chris went duck hunting with his dad and grandpa. He brought home several ducks and tested out some recipes. Tucker was very anxious to try some.

Here is Hannah with a duck dinner. My picky eater wouldn't try any of it.

With all the rain in December we had to move our Saturday coffee date from Starbucks to our house. It's always fun to watch these girls play together and dress up.

The finished Christmas Tree. Both Hannah and Tucker wanted the ornaments this year.

Showing off her face painting.

This is Hannah in her preschool Christmas Program. The kids sang a bunch of songs, most of which we couldn't understand the lyrics, but it was still cute!

In all the December rain Hannah got to try out her new umbrella and raincoat that she got for her birthday.

On one of those rainy weekends we made a gingerbread house together.

Showing off one of her Christmas presents.

After Christmas, we had a lot of family come to visit. It was lots of fun, especially meeting Hannah's cousin Emily for the first time. Hannah followed my sister-in-law everywhere so she could keep tabs on the baby.

Hannah also got some quality time with Aunt Megan, playing the Wii dance game.

As I was going through all these pictures, I realized I didn't take any of our family together. Something I'll have to make a point of doing next Christmas.

Thanksgiving 2010

Yes, I know I'm rather late with this one, but better late than never, right? We traveled to Soledad for Thanksgiving with the Vanoli family. As usual, the food was amazing and the time with family was too short. On the way up, these two were our backseat drivers.This was the Tucker's first trip with us and he did great. He was great in the car, and loved running around the property at my in-laws house, chasing birds and barking at the cows.

Hannah loves to see her cousins. It's a sweet time to watch them play, especially since our visits are few and far between. While we were up there, we gave the kids their Christmas presents, which were matching pj's (except for Preston, he got his own set). This is as good of a picture you can get of 5 kids under 4 years old.

The day after Thanksgiving the moms and Nona took the kids to the Dennis the Menace park in Monterey. I had never been there and they all had a lot of fun. Of course, Hannah had to copy the big kids and go down the giant slide head first.

At the park is a full size steam engine car to climb on. Hannah and Stellan climbed up to look for Nona. This is how they looked when they finally spotted her. Priceless.

Just for Fun

These are just a few random photos I came across recently. And if you don't mind, I could use a little reader feedback, if indeed there are readers. Since I don't get many comments, I'm curious if anyone actually reads this. So, if you don't mind, please post just a little note so I know if I should keep this up. I'm happy to keep blogging, as long as I'm not the only one reading it. Ok, enough of the fine print, on to the pictures.

In her spare time, Hannah likes to ride around in the backyard...in just her skivvies.

One day when Ali was over, I heard Hannah run into the kitchen and open the fridge. I came out to the living room to find this...
At least they're sharing

November Recap

Since it is the last day of the year, I guess it's time to finally get my act together and post some of our happenings for the last two months.

Back up to the end of October... Hannah was a ballerina for halloween. We went to Cora and Marie's house to carve pumpkins, play games and pass out candy. As you can see, Hannah loved scooping out the seeds.

Ali, Hannah, Annabella, Cora and Marie

We celebrated Hannah's 3rd birthday on November 8th. Nono and Nona came down for a visit, Daddy got donuts for breakfast (Hannah's favorite), and we took her to the Santa Barbara Zoo.

Nona helping Hannah try on her new princess dress-up clothes.

Hannah had so much fun at the zoo, can't you tell?

The Nemo birthday cake. My first time playing with fondant. I'm not so sure I like it yet.

Hannah's preschool has chapel once a month where they get all the kids together to sing songs, hear a Bible story, and celebrate the birthdays of the month. Here is Hannah up on stage for her birthday, and each kid gets a cross necklace.

So now you're updated on November, hopefully I'll post some December pics this afternoon.

Hummmm Baby!

Translation:

"When the Giants come to town,

It's bye, bye baby!"