More Christmas

Cousin Christmas Pictures

Here are some shots of the cousins in their Christmas outfits from Nana and Papa. What a cute bunch of kiddos.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas! We have been enjoying time with the Dickson side of the family at Lynn and Marji's house in Leavenworth. Yesterday we opened gifts with Aundrea, Chuck, Marji, Lynn, Corrine, and Grandma Dickson. We also attended the Christmas Eve service in the middle of a snow storm.

Levi soaked up all the love, attention, and presents. Here he is with the wheeled tool case. We'll have to wait until we get home to set up his new soccer goal from Gran and Grandpa.

Luke and Levi posing with a 2010 calendar from Aunt Liz and Uncle Bill.

Vroom!

A microphone! Music to my ears.

Playing with a great book from Grammie: 'Elmo uses the Potty'

Hex set!

We hope that you and yours have a wonderful day. We are expecting the Corzine-Rush clan to fly in later today and are anxious to see if all this snow delays their arrivals.

A Few Snaps from the Week

Levi has really been enjoying time spent drawing lately. Most scrap paper in the house, and a lot of the not-so-scrap paper, gets his artistic treatment.

The nice thing about Kansas winters is that we actually get to still play outside often.

Whee!

Megan was in town for the holidays and I got to have dinner with her, Gwen, and Claudette. We sure talked a lot more about pregnancy and kids than we used to but we still laughed just as much as the old days. Here Gwen and Megan are showing off pictures of their kids to the other.

Day at Gran and Granpa's

Levi and Luke spent the day in Leavenworth and had lots of fun. Sadly, Amber was having queasiness and assorted other pregnancy related issues so she stayed at home and rested.

Long Time Ago in Bethlehem

Tis the season for Christmas music! I wrote last year about one of my favorites, Little Drummer Boy. Another one that I always enjoy is Mary's Boy Child. Around here, we've been listening to Boney M's version from 1978 and it has inspired a few family dance parties. You can see the music video here.

I have a fond memory of singing this song with my brother and parents in church. I was quite young- maybe 6 years old? There is not a recording of that event so you will just have to check out the video above and imagine that it was exactly the same only not really.

Here is a quick outline of the major differences:

Them: Crazy, furry, all white cloaks

Us: Christmas sweaters, static-y hair from wearing winter hats neccesitated by every Chicago winter.

Them: cool 'Oh my Lord, You sent your son to save us...' addition

Us: We may have sung The Straw Carol (another favorite!) as an encore

Them: island accents ("Looong tim aye-go in Bet-lee-hum...ahnd maahn will leeve for-aye-ver-more becoose of Christmas day")

Us: Great Lakes dialect ("Laahng tie-eem ago in Beth-luh-hee-am...ee-and mee-an will live forever more becaaaause of Christmas day")

Them: Cheesy dance moves

Us: No moves. There may have been some slight swaying.

Them: accompanied by synthesizer and steel drums

Us: Dad strumming on the acoustic guitar

Anyway, I hope you are enjoying all the holiday music because there is no escaping it. Now, next order of business, who will join me in a petition to stop the playing of Paul McCartney's Wonderful Christmastime?

Happy Birthday, Lea!

Happy Birthday to my little Sissy! I love you so much and can remember going to the hospital to see you soon after you were born. You have always been so cute and so fun and can light up a room just by walking into it.

We're so excited to see you at Christmas!

In Memory

But my servant, Kaleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land I have promised.

Numbers 14:24

Loss

Our hearts are so heavy with grief this week over the loss of our nephew, Kaleb. Corrine was set to give birth to him on Friday but during a doctors appointment on Monday she learned that he had passed. Tuesday she delivered him and we were fortunate enough to get to hold him and admire what a beautiful little boy he was. We told him 'hello' and 'goodbye' at the same time. Please, please pray for her and the rest of the family as they grieve. We will be attending the funeral services on Saturday.

He's Got the Whole World In His Hands

The Dickson household is celebrating joyfully with our friends, John and Kim. They have just been granted parental custody by the Ethiopian courts of two beautiful boys. If you have a minute I suggest you read some of their story here: Chatter Box: Old News

We're so happy for you!

Here's a picture of brand-new mom, Kim (flanked by Heather and Gwen with baby Daria) at her baby shower that was held over the weekend.

Mid-Point

Here I am posing with my 21-week pregnant belly and a pumpkin which is the approximate size of the baby. We're so thankful for this pregnancy and are very excited to meet our little guy.

(Bigger than 12 weeks, for sure)

Weekend Update

Here's our little boy modeling a hand bandage accesorized with a sticker. He burned his hand on Sunday and gave us a little scare. The doctor said it was not serious and to just keep antibiotic ointment on it. At first it hurt him quite a bit but he bounced back quickly.

He takes his drawing seriously.

We visited Lynn and Marji's place to watch the K-State game. Sadly, despite Levi and Luke's matching outfits, the team lost.

Here's Ben at the soccer game on Saturday enjoying his banana very much.

A pre-teen girls soccer team was warming up on the other side of the bleachers and these two were totally enthralled by their chatter and energy.