Eckert, Party of 4!!

She's here! Sadie William Eckert was born on Friday, December 18th at 6:26 pm. She was 7 lbs 10 oz and 19 inches long. She's beautiful, and we are relishing her arrival. While the 3 of us got to know each other in the hospital, Rosie played with her Auntie Erin, Lucy, Baby Henry, Mimi and Papa. She had a great time. She adores her new baby sister.

My December Loves~

Out of the Mouths of Babes

This morning Rosie and I were playing with her Nativity set. We set up Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus and I told her that Jesus, "came to love the whole world....." She thought for a second and looked at me and said, "I love Small World, too."

How is it that our theological discussion suddenly turned to Disneyland?

P.S... Yes, I'm STILL pregnant. The countdown on the side of this page? It's not telling the days until Baby comes... it's telling the days that I am overdue! Today it's a whopping 6. Needless to say, we're READY.

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

We chose this chilly evening to pick out our Christmas tree. We had a tough critic along with us. Who knew that it could be so hard to pick out just the right tree for the season.

The perfect Christmas tree has to be straight... it can't lean.

The perfect Christmas tree has to be tall.... just like Daddy

The perfect Christmas tree has to have that good evergreen smell

We were all very excited about our choice.

But.... Rosie wasn't too thrilled with the chainsaw.

We certainly worked up an appetite for pizza

(and later, a frozen yogurt sundae with gummy bears and M&Ms.... she has a sophisticated pallet)

Waiting......

We've been missing in action, I know. Here's what we have been up to since recovering from H1N1 and while waiting for Baby Sister to arrive:

We participated in the Dana Point Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving, with Emerald Cove Camps being one of the proud supporters of the race. Ron trotted... Rosie and I strolled..... ever so slowly.

We celebrated Thanksgiving with the Welch/Bordeaux/Hunt side of the family, since my doc said no to traveling to Flagstaff to be with the Eckerts. We had a great time together. I'm the enormous one on the right.... the checker at Trader Joe's asked me if I was trying to smuggle a turkey under my shirt... nice, really nice. But in case you're wondering... I did make room for the Pumpkin Pie.

We've shared many hours of nesting, preparing, and cozy reading on the couch.

We had a rare rainy day here in San Clemente. We took advantage of it with a family walk.

We took Rosie to Disneyland for what is probably our last time for a while. We topped off the night with a licorice rope that was longer than Rosie.

We're celebrating Advent, and truly living out what it means to be "expectant."

Halloween Festivities

It's Monday afternoon and Rosie is still experiencing a Halloween Hangover. Spiked blood sugar coupled with the time change has not made a happy 2 year old these last few days. Rosie had an absolute great time on Friday and Saturday. Friday we went to visit Ron at a camp event. Rosie wore her butterfly costume that her Auntie Gayle bought her. Saturday she wore her butterfly costume for most of the day until it was time to trick or treat. She changed into a cow costume for the actual trick or treating. I was worried that she would be too cold in her butterfly outfit. Rosie totally got into trick or treating. It was hilarious watching her march up to the door and confidently shout, "Trick or Treat!!" when the door was opened. She always followed this up with, "Thank you so much!" as she walked away. Ron and I were in awe of her independence. 

Rosie was the sweetest butterfly- she adored this costume and refused to take it off!

"No one told me that trick or treating means I get to walk around and collect candy all night!"

This was the first sweet treat of the evening.... I think it was about 4:30......

The cutest cow and rancher I've ever seen!

Rosie got to trick or treat with some of her favorite kids, the Paschalls. The older kids kindly mentored her in the art of trick or treating for the first few houses. After that, She and Brenner were on there way and holding their own like the rest of them!

Rosie and Brenner started out in the wagon, but quickly realized that they could cover way more ground on foot.

This was the crew of kids that we went with... as you can see, it was total chaos!

"Hey! Look what you got, Brenner!"

Carrie and me.... and a quickly fading Mickey Mouse and cow.

Rosie and Brenner checking out their loot.