Crazy Love Gamble-Style

 We are ready, or at least close. The presents are all wrapped.  The house is all clean & pretty.  We can't wait for Grandma Barby & Grandpa Bob to arrive, we are picking them up this morning from the airport. Such an excitement is in the air.  It's so funny how quickly Christmas seems to arrive, right after Thanksgiving, don't blink.  Then Ava's birthday and New Years, it all happens so fast!   We are really looking forward to spending some wonderful memory-making time with our family.  I love this time of year.  And this is the best part, the busyness fades into a calmness, where we can just enjoy all the hard work in getting everything ready.   A little excited and relieved to have this little elf fly back to the North Pole, she's fun for a minute, than she turns into one more thing to remember....   : ) Happy Holidays Everyone!

Have you ever been so far behind on something you feel like there is NO WAY you will ever accomplish what you need to get done?  Oh my gosh, I just ordered 3, filled to the brim, photos books and got myself COMPLETELY CAUGHT UP with the entire lives of my children thus far.  I am in shock.  Wow.  I wish I could convey the magnitude of this project, it was crazy and quite maddening, now I must vow never to get that far behind on this again!!  Yay!!!! To give you a slight idea how far behind I was, lets just say about 4 months of Norah's life had made it into a book and she is nearly three years old!!  I'm such a slacker!  Ava had about 4 books filled by the time Norah was born.  Now I put WAY more pictures in each though, so they take forever.  Here are a few of the throw-backs, so fun to look through! I feel so accomplished, but now my brain is completely fried...

Things are both coming together & getting a little hairy over here.  My "done" list is MUCH longer then my "to do" list which is always a good feeling.  It's like when you enter the longest line ever but then feel a sense of progress & relief when  you look behind you and see that SO MANY new people have accumulated behind you.   A false sense of awesomeness but I will take it!! I stayed up until 3:30am last night wrapping presents AGAIN. I also re-wrapped the ones Norah destroyed  and found the home of the stack of bows she has removed. I still have to bake all day today and get a few  details worked out for tomorrow. Santa will be arriving in the morning since our schedule  is far too busy to accommodate him showing up  on Christmas morning. So I guess today is officially Christmas Eve Eve.  She actually asked him for exactly what I got her, a purple bike! If anyone needs a baby fi...

This is going to be a great week! Our family is celebrating Thanksgiving in Government Camp  this year.  We are leaving tomorrow to get the house ready & Wednesday the family will begin to arrive. There is a ton of packing, list writing, shopping & baking to accomplish today. So much to do I need lists for my lists.   Wish me luck.   I better get to work. I hope everyone has a truly blessed week! Here are a few of the people I am most thankful for:  Love them.

I can't believe it is almost Halloween. Time flies by so quickly, before you know it Thanksgiving will be here, then Christmas, Ava will  turn 4 and Norah will turn 1.  Don't blink, it always seems this time of year stands still for nothing.  Our calendar fills up so quickly, I just want it all to slow down. I want to soak in the little time left I have of Ava being 3 and  Norah being our little baby.   On the other hand, I love all these holidays and it will be  fun to experience them with the girls at these ages. I just want to bottle up their cuteness, but for now I shall at least share it with you...  Ava is such a good sister. She keeps asking to hold Norah lately.   Norah just seems too big for this now, but it sure is cute to see her try.  She also wants to feed her...  Norah always looks at us like "Are you sure this is a good idea?" It may not be a great idea,...