The Beach and the baptism

We are so fortunate to have as one of our dear friends, the priest who officiated at our wedding. Scott and I both greatly admire his passion and dedication to his calling as well as his wonderful warm spirit and being. When we married, he made the mistake of offering to baptize our children so we took that to heart. Considering he was shipped off to sea the day after our wedding almost 4 years ago and spent 2 years in Afghanistan, we were afraid we'd lose touch. But the magic of the internet kept us connected and brought us to the happy occasion that was this weekend-Van's baptism.
Our immediate family-grandparents, aunts and uncle all made time in their busy lives to travel a good distance to Virginia Beach so we could all be together and celebrate this special day. Van was of course the life of the party and enjoyed every moment.
He had his first run in the sand on a breezy winter day at the ocean, was blessed at a moving private celebration, behaved for a 2 hour restaurant dinner and then ran us all around the aquarium before he napped his way back home on Sunday afternoon. Life doesn't get much better than this...

Happy New Year!

Happy 2009 to all! We look back on 2008 as an amazing year...bringing Van home was certainly the highlight and every day since has brought more joy than could ever be imagined.
As much as Van likes to stay up too late, he didn't make it to the ball drop of 09...plenty of time for that to come. He was a bit sad to see the Christmas decorations come down this weekend...he hugged and kissed the Santa and Christmas tree good-bye.
We started out the new year with an awesome play date with our twin buddies at the Children's Museum of Richmond. What a blast! We finally managed to get a couple decent photos of our virtual triplets. What great buddies they are already...Donna (twoheartsinguatemala.blogspot.com/) and I are so delighted by their joy at hanging out together.

Pre-Christmas baking day...fun fun!

So many choices...

Favorite Party Hat

Future Motorheads work under the hood

Just like Diego

The almost got it triplet shot...

Got it...thanks for Austin for the buddy hug pose!

Part two-Holidays

Yes, more opening, more cuteness...doesn't get much better than this!

Posing

WOW! A sweater and a shiny box too!!

Generations-from tie to diaper

Cute!

Help Daddy!

Peeps for breakfast...yum Christmas!

Santa 'Tatoe...big hit!

Surrounded

Family PJs...thanks to the neighbor visit for capturing this!

And we open and open and open...(Part One)

Van's Christmas celebrations started back at Thanksgiving so he was all about the gift exchange concept. We started again with a visit from Aunt Christina (aka Santa in training) who overloaded us with love and toys and toys. (Part one photos here)
Then it was off to Alexandria for a big fun family celebration on Christmas Eve and then back home in our Christmas PJs to wake up to more surprises from Santa under our tree...wow what a holiday celebration it has been. We are so blessed with the love of family and friends and one unbelievably amazing little boy who is loving everything about the season!

Our family gift was a new camera to capture all his excitement...now we have lots more great photos to post as a result...stay tuned!

Dressed and ready to see my first mall Santa...loved him!

Christmas with Aunt Christina

Merry Christmas to all!

From our happy family to yours...hope it was magical!

Our talented photographer friend, Andy Pigsley took these wonderful photos for us. Check out his work at www.andypigsleyphotography.com.

The tree, the tree

Our annual Christmas tree outing took on a whole new sense of wonder and fun. And then there was decorating fun. Now every morning when Van sees that the tree is still there, it's a celebration. We hug and kiss it every night before bed. We can't wait to see the excitement once Santa arrives!

Ready to find the perfect tree and go for a sled ride

Searching, searching

Found it...now get to work Dad

Hey wait...

...what happened to the tree that was just here?

Almost to the top...

That's better

More decorations

Gotta strip down after all that hard work...

...and of course get my buddies to pose with me

Howard and Two

Most of you have probably met Howard...the duck...Van's lovey, constant companion, and sidekick. He gets around. As much as we've tried to limit his exposure to the elements, he still sometimes makes a surprise visit to a restaurant or the garage floor. He has gotten numerous washings and he's seen many a late night inside the dryer. Needless to say, he's loved.
So thinking ahead, we asked Mimi if she could find us a back up Howard in the event that the original ever goes AWOL. We've only had one close call this summer when Nanie was visiting and the threesome went for a neighborhood stroll. But the rescue attempt was a success and Howard returned home safely. Mimi hit the jackpot and scored us the very last Howard in the store to keep in reserve. Last week, we finally had to break down and introduce him during a dryer session that just wasn't fast enough. To think that we might have been able to pass him off as the original...well see for yourself...

So now we carry Howard and Two...friends forever...identical twins not so much...