Too Much Celebrating

O Come Emmanuel

O come, O come, Emmanuel
And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free
Thine own from Satan's tyranny
From depths of Hell Thy people save
And give them victory o'er the grave
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Day-Spring, come and cheer
Our spirits by Thine advent here
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night
And death's dark shadows put to flight.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Key of David, come,
And open wide our heavenly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high,
And close the path to misery.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, O come, Thou Lord of might,
Who to Thy tribes, on Sinai's height,
In ancient times did give the Law,
In cloud, and majesty and awe.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

First Christmas

Ten years ago B wore this on his first Christmas.

And now S is wearing it for her first Christmas.

Christmas Morning Fun

New pajamas are always a great way to end the Christmas Eve festivities. Because of grandma being sick we stayed home all day Christmas Eve and Christmas day. It was relaxing but felt weird.

I know this picture is blurry but I thought it was hilarious that Mosheh beat all the kids down.

The kids love giving each other presents. I think that is what causes the most excitement of the morning. B couldn't wait for L to open her pink Hexbug she wanted.

H received this Angelina Ballerina from B, L, and S.

Mosheh enjoyed his special treats.

The kids giving daddy his gifts from them.

Do I look as tired as I felt? I think I do. My best Christmas gift was a wonderful, uninterrupted nap after gift opening.

H loved handing out the gifts.

"Mommy, I got a Hexbug too!!!"

We could barely tear B away from his new Star Wars book to open the rest of his gifts.

It was a great and relaxing morning.

Wishing you and your family......

1 Month

How can you be 1 month already? You are settling into a better routine. You are a tad colicky. You love to be on the move and your favorite motion is bouncing. You are in love with your bouncy seat for this reason. Bouncing on the exercise ball with you always means instant calming down. Soft blankets are your favorite and there is now a rotation of them in the laundry at all times. One month later and you are still in newborn clothes. Your siblings are constantly holding you and you have come to enjoy it. You are simply adorable.

First Snow

"Are you ready?!?"

"Hold on tight!"

"Let's do that again!"

"Thanks brother for carrying the sled back up that big hill."

"Let's cuddle, drink hot cocoa, and watch a movie to warm back up."
First Snow Day= Success

Singing their Hearts Out

B and L did fantastic again in their choir concert with the SB Children's Choir. Despite the awful roads to get there the night was wonderful. Daddy made sure he ran out to get L her rose for after the show even in the snowy weather.
H sat quietly for the entire concert. Ahhh...that training in sitting still is paying off!
S was also wonderful and cuddled mommy in her soft blanket while listening to the glorious music.

The Festival of Light

"I am the light of the world."
We received a pretty great Hanukkah gift this year.

Slumber Party

The kids couldn't wait to put up decorations and then watch Willy Wonka. The old version. Because I knew it was going to be so late by the time the movie even started we told the kids they could bring down the sleeping bags in hopes that they would fall asleep. H was out before they even made it to the factory but the older two watched the whole thing and then went to sleep right away. Mommy and Daddy barely made it through the opening credits before starting to doze on and off. As you can see in the lower left hand corner, Mosheh watched the movie too. I think he was more watching for any loose popcorn that happened to fall on the floor.

Getting that Perfect Shot

"Get your hands down. I can't see your face."
"Stop moving for 5 seconds please."
"Almost got it."
"Perfect!"

We're in the Double Digits

I can't believe B is in the double digits. For his 10th birthday he asked for a Galapagos Islands cake. I can always count on him to stretch my cake decorating abilities. We had a nice relaxing day and then we had church at night. It was our joint fellowship with the other home church so we met at The Post. Could you get a better spot for a 10 year old boy to spend his birthday?!?! After service and the meal the kids along with the dads played basketball and dodge ball in the gym. There were also pool tables and other fun activities. It was a great time.
While it didn't come out the way I had exactly planned I think it's pretty good considering I had about four hours sleep and had about an hour to decorate it before the baby had to nurse again. B loved it and that's all that mattered.

Happy Birthday B!

First Bath

So it was time for the first bath and we had already come to the conclusion that S would not enjoy her first bath like H had.
Waiting for it..........
There is the reaction we were expecting.
Thankfully she survived the traumatic experience of being bathed and once she was back in warm pj's all was right with the world again.

Teaching the Important Things

Big brother teaching his new baby sister the importance of Star Wars.

Future BFF's

Birth Story #4

Dr. Kirsch holding S.Z.

So birth #4 started out like H's birth in that we went into the Dr.s office to be checked to see if just maybe it was the day and were glad to find out I was already 5cm.. Half done!!! I knew that she would be born on Monday so I wasn't all that surprised. We headed over to the hospital to register and wait for Dr. Kirsch to come and break my water. As always once my water was broken things happened fast. Labor seemed much easier this time and I was smiling between contractions all the way up until it was time to push. Once pushing began I thought maybe something wasn't right and after 30 minutes of pushing I knew something wasn't right. This had been a very stubborn baby when it came to turning into the right position and she was continuing to be stubborn it appeared. My nurse couldn't believe that she had just turned from breech position 6 days earlier. Well after an hour of very frustrating and painful pushing S was born. She had decided that she wanted to keep her hand up by her face while being born and that is why things took much longer than with the last. She still always has that hand up by her face when she sleeps. But in the end we had a healthy baby and that is all that matters.

Love at First Sight

The kids couldn't wait to meet her.
And yes.................

............it was love at first sight.

Introducing..........

the newest addition to the O family! She was 7lbs. and 20in.
She is perfect.
And we are abundantly blessed.

Fall Happenings

So after we got back from Disney we got sick. Some of us were really sick. B was in bed for the first 11 days of being home. He was by far the worst. Right when we got back J finished the kids playground.
Here are the kids swinging for the first time on it. Everyone is still not feeling well but I wanted to get some of the germs out of the house so I let them play outside for about ten minutes or until someone started having an uncontrollable coughing fit. Whichever came first. I was so thankful when everyone was healthy again.

Yes I know I'm posting beach pictures in my fall post. That's how amazing our weather had been. We started beach nights in May and ended them in October. Mosheh was finally healed up from his ear surgery so he could join us.



So the kids weren't suppose to get too wet. Yeah, that didn't happen.

Mosheh found my huge belly to be a great shade from the sun.

We made a trip to the pumpkin patch. L was very proud that she had picked the biggest pumpkin.

H took a looooong time to decide this year.

I think this is the pumpkin that B picked for Mosheh who was waiting for us in the car.
The kids were all decked out in their republican garb for Election day.

We also made it back to Thistleberry Farms. We made it the whole way through the trivia corn maze this year which was a huge accomplishment for us!

I really think we need a jumping pillow in our backyard.

Even H tried it this year.

This big slide was also a hit.

So I think I'm finally caught up!!! I can now post about our most exciting 2010 news! Hmmm......what could it be............