This weekend our sister Sandra married Jonathan at the Pickering Barn. It was quite a family affair. Our brother (who we call PJ-Pastor Jeff) married them and all the brothers and sisters participated as bridesmaids or groomsman. Their daughter Maya was the flower girl (she was also ours) and she walked down the isle hidden in her mama’s puffy dress. This is the third family wedding in 16 months and we keep expecting things to go a little smoother. But this wedding was full of as much chaos as ours! But that’s what makes it fun… Sandra wore cowboy boots with her wedding dress, we dined on BBQ (which was REALLY good) and learned how to four square dance from a professional. It was such a blast. And our sweet baby was perfectly behaved all night. She slept in Mimi’s lap during the ceremony and woke up full of smiles and laughter. She was laughing so loud during the toasts I had to excuse myself. You must check out all her smiles on our album page!

I finally found an easy way to share our photo albums online. You can find a link on the right that will direct you to our photos.

http://www.youtube.com/get_player

Exciting news: Fin is able to face out in her carrier, thanks to her super strong neck. She braved the cold to go for a quick walk to Starbucks with mama, papa, grandpa and mimi on New Years Day. May you have a blessed 2008!

This year we decided to space out all our holiday stops over three days. By Christmas night we were pretty exhausted, but it was worth it, because we were able to relax a little more with each family. Finley had a wonderful first Christmas and of course she was very spoiled. She woke up Christmas morning wide awake at 6 am-which is very unlike her…. Brian and I think she was too excited about her presents to sleep! Her favorite present so far is the rain forest music player. It hangs on her crib (or for now on our headboard) and plays soothing lullabies and rain forest sounds. It has lights and little animals that move around and she loves staring at it as she falls asleep. If it weren’t 2 inches away from my ear I’d probably love it too! Other highlights include: the girls winning cards (as always), singing Happy Birthday to Jesus and blowing out candles for Him, my mom’s homemade Cranberry Bliss Bars and so much more!

This weekend we stayed the night at my parents house. We decorated the tree, visited friends, worked on sewing projects, watched football and went to Brian’s Christmas work party. We also managed to catch Finley laughing on camera. Stick with the video…the best part is towards the end. Please forgive the obnoxious noises I am making-but she thought it was entertaining so I stuck with it…Sorry!

We found out that Finley has acid reflux (who knew?). Our pediatrician put her on baby Zantac and gave her this contraption to sleep on. We’ve had it for almost a week and she is sleeping really well on it…sometimes 7 hours straight-yippee! Every time I look at her strapped in I still die laughing.