Finally... Christmas pictures!!

I wanted the videos on here last, but am too lazy to try and figure out moving them through this HUGE post. I could have put lots more (David got me a Flip for my birthday, so I am video crazy!), but chose these. I put these on here mainly for family, so that is my disclaimer. :) Feel free to find pictures below.

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This is SOOOOO Brooklyn. Loving her pillowpet present from Grandmommy and Granddaddy!

Again, SOOOOOO Brooklyn.  Playing with Corbin, then changing the game into hugging him to death.

Evidently she thinks Adley is really funny!!!!

The video I wanted of Reagan REFUSES to load on blogger.  Not sure why... I've tried probably 10 times.  But this one of our little rockstar is pretty good too, it's SOOOOO her, although it has nothing to do with Christmas, really.  :) It does have everything to do with a musical princess wand turned air guitar, and that's plenty.  Goober.

OK.

My goal was to have Christmas pics up before January ended. I am at least going to get that done!! Going through a billion Christmas pics is always such a daunting task, but I am on it! Just don't expect them to be edited pretty or anything, ok?!

This is a random Reagan pic, taken before we left for FtW. Typical day in Reagan-world.... she was "headed to the pretend beach" complete with laying on the floor on her Tiana beach towel.

A tradition I plan to keep for years to come:
I've been collecting Christmas-themed books. Santa-ish and Birth of Jesus, all mixed in. I got 24 total, wrapped them, then one "appeared" under the girls' Christmas tree each Dec night after bathtime. So, we read a Christmas book each night for a bedtime story. I have boxed them all up to re-wrap next year (will just give away any that are too baby-ish and add to the collection each year).

That meant we had to take some with us to FtW. Here is Granddaddy doing the honors.

Sweet girl woke up the morning we were to do "Christmas" with over 102 fever. No symptoms, just felt YUCK. This picture shows how NOT herself she was.

Beautiful Adley.

Reagan perked up enough, thanks to presents. She was puny, but made it through.
My mom gets the kids Christmas pj's every year. It's her thing. This was the first year we found something unisex enough for ALL FOUR to match rather than coordinate. Love it.

My Grandmommy, giving m&m candy canes to the kiddos. :)

"Thank you" hugs.

I think she liked it. :)

Stockings! Grandmommy and Granddaddy fill the kids' stockings at their house.

Sick girl.

It was the year of the sleeping bag! Major hit. They slept in them every night after this.

Brooklyn's turn!

Uncle Amoo helping with her Elmo Shape See'n'Say.

Reagan showing off her Pillow Pet!

Adley and Corbin gave THIS awesome present to Brook. She LOVES it.

And Reagan got an entire box of dress-up clothes from them. SOOOOO up her alley. Little sick-but-happy Tinkerbell fairy.

Adam and Missy gave these cool folding chairs to my parents. It was hilarious how excited Daddy was!

Reagan playing "teacher" with some of Adleys play-school presents. So sweet, Adley let R be the teacher a few times. They had SO much fun.

And, sweet Corbin sharing some Legos. (notice R as a new princess... and my brother may or may not be picking his nose back there.  Sorry, Adam.)  :)

Movie time!!

Corbin got a BB gun. All the little AND big kids had fun with this present! Little Mermaid taking a shooting lesson from Granddaddy.

Corbin. Concentrating. Hard.

Reagan taking another turn, between costume changes. :)

(fyi, my parents have a big creek and woods behind their house. no neighbors were harmed in the shooting of these pictures.... )

LOOOOOOOVE this pic.

Sorry, here's more, but I love these pictures!

Don't remember what they were talking about here, but they sure are sweet!

Adley's turn!

Both my girls LOVE my brother so much. I think the feeling is mutual, and it makes me so happy.

We went to holiday in the park at SixFlags, and I bet we got some great pictures there too. But, they are on my mom's camera.... bet those won't make my January deadline... shoot.

Little Walker

Time for Brooklyn to show off a bit! :)  And one can see from that look on her face at the beginning that she is VERY TWO these days.

This was taken exactly a month ago, but lots of folks have asked for a video of our little walker, so I grabbed this one.  This was 4 days after her birthday, 4 days after she started walking without her walker.  We were at the hospital for a follow-up with her neurosurgeon, and she spent the entire time in the waiting room walking up and down this ramp.  And this is MUCHO impressive because ramps SHOULD be really hard for her.  Her ankles are locked at 90 degrees by her AFOs, so for her to be able to walk ramps up and down this early was awesome.  This was also the appointment that her surgeon, who really doesn't have much kid-friendly-bedside-manner, pulled out his camera and asked if he could video her walking.  :)  Makes a proud Momma even more proud.
(watching closely, you can see that after she falls and gets back up, she waves "BYE" to me then signs "my turn" by tapping two fingers on her chest.  She uses "my turn" a lot, not only in its correct context but also as her own way of saying "I do it by myself".  So that's "Bye Mom.  And by the way, I just got up all by myself.") 

Have to write down this story for myself so I don't forget:

Being at the Children's Hospital is always a big reality check for me.  Brooklyn, by the grace of God, is TRULY REMARKABLE in what she can do physically.  I look around at some of the kids we see on the floors we hit at the hospital, and MAN I'm reminded of how blessed we are.  Not that those families aren't blessed too, but you know what I mean.  Anyways, this same day a young woman came up to me and was asking about Brooklyn as we were waiting and walking around.  She was a private nurse to a little 6 year old girl Annie who was wheel chair bound and had ALL KINDS of issues.  She and Annie's mom were going on and on about how great Brooklyn was doing for an SB kid, how cute she was, etc.  :)  Then, the nurse asked me if she could video Brooklyn walking.  I of course said sure, then had Brook walk over to her and hug her for the video (B looooooooves any excuse to hug people!).  The woman teared up and told me that, awhile ago, she and her husband had a little girl still-born with spina bifida, and that they always wonder what she "might have been."  She wanted to take this video of B home to show her husband, thought it would make him smile. 

Yeah.

Oh my goodness.

That could have been us.  That was SUPPOSED to be us, from what they told us early on. 

I can't thank Jesus enough for our Glorious Miracle.  Isn't she great?!?!  Isn't God GREAT?!?!

I pledge allegiance to the flag

Of the United States of America.

And to the re-pug-lick for which it stands

One nay-chun under God,

Indivisible

With Liverty and Justins for all.

Conversation I had to write down...

 Oh, how I love this girl SO much!

Writing this down for my "scrapbook"....

All evening, Reagan had been pretending she was a "different" Reagan who had different parents, but then came to live with our family.  No idea.  Anyways, at bedtime she starts telling me how her other dad, John, puts her to bed at her other house by himself.  I asked, "Where did you learn the name John?"  She says, "You know, Mommy, from John 3:16." 

Duh  :) 

She recites it to me.

Then I asked her if she remembered what eternal life meant.  She said no, so I start saying that for people who decide to make Jesus their best friend forever, Jesus will come back and take them to heaven.  She asked, "For people who don't decide to make Jesus their best friend, they don't get to go to heaven?"

We talked about that sadness for a bit, then she asks if Daddy, Brooklyn, and I were going to heaven with her.  I said YES, that Daddy and I decided to make Jesus our best friend a long time ago, and that we pray everyday that she and Brooklyn decide that too.  She then tells me that she (Reagan) decided when she was 1 year old that Jesus would be her best friend forever.  :)

Then the best part.

"Mommy, will we get a new house in heaven?"

"Well, I bet so.  Jesus said that He is preparing a MANSION for us.  A mansion is a GIGANTIC house that is huge and beautiful." 

She goes, "YOU MEAN WITH SPARKLES AND RAINBOWS!?!?  And flowers and crowns and BRACELETS?!?  That will be awesome."

I pray God keeps her faith (and mine!) this simple.  I am so thankful for her sweet spirit! 

Tonight in her prayer she thanked God that she gets to make a tiara tomorrow (a Christmas present-craft she wants to pull out in the morning), that she hopes she gets some mail, thankful she had a good Christmas, thankful for Jesus and His birthday, and thankful that God loves her so much. 

At this point I'm crying.

So, I had to write it down....  I'm sure I will have to come back and re-read tomorrow when she starts her backtalk or griping at her sister or something.  :)  Oh, how I love her.