Stepping Back in Time...Part 2

After Christmas in Hickory, we headed to Durham to spend time with more people we love.

But let's jump straight into the pictures, shall we?

Yes, my sis-in-law really is that awesome...she made a little snowman out of ranch dip and it was delish.

We woke up Christmas morning and dove into presents.  Then the guys (well, most of the guys ;) made breakfast for us ladies.  Yum.

We call that one above, "Snuggles with Grandpa."

Haha...that one makes me laugh.  E and Uncle Nate (being a goof as usual :)

The best shot we got of the cousins and their babies.

And then I made my girl do a photo shoot with me.  That one is blurry but I love it nonetheless.  But she kept moving like the active toddler she is, so I tried to keep her head in place...ha!

Love that one above, even though homegirl isn't looking...

And one of my favorite things was getting to hang out with this lil studly man... (do excuse the double chin I'm sporting, however :)

And finally, one lady picture of us in our new aprons (thanks Aunt Patti!).

Just like in Hickory, we got to see some dear friends that we hadn't seen in awhile.  It was so very, very good.  Unfortunately those pictures are all scattered around the internet and instead of rounding them up I'll just tell you that we were so grateful to see so many of the ones we love in such a short period of time.

Thankful, oh so thankful, for the friends and family God has given us...they're blessings!

And with that...it's a Christmas wrap!

Stepping Back in Time...Part 1

Let's step back in time to the end of last year...

I'm just now getting around to posting our Christmas pictures.  We surprised our families in the states (well, except for the three/four that had to know about it ahead of time for planning purposes).  While we were there I didn't post at all because I solely wanted to soak up the moments together.  Then we came back to Bratislava and had some friends visit, and again, I just wanted to enjoy quality time.

So, here we go...back to real life...and posting ;)

This is going to mostly be pictures, with some wordage, but they say pictures are worth 1,000 words, right?

(I should mention that I let family members take most of the photos while we were there...I was soaking it all up, remember?! ;)  And these are just the Hickory photos.  Durham ones to come soon!)

Not sure why her shirt is wet, but I really love that little face for some reason.

That is one seriously amazing face.  Seriously and amazingly cute.

He was great at making her laugh (though she was caught here just after a laugh, I suppose)!

Love that one above.

"Are you really taking my picture AGAIN!?" haha.

She got a really fun tunnel for Christmas and had a blast in it.

Everyone is looking at the camera...success!!

We also got to see some sweet friends while we were in Hickory which was so great.  Most of them were quick visits, but so valued.  We tried to get a photo with each of them (except for Cait and Bradley...booo).

So thankful to have had the opportunities to see family and friends.  It was a great Christmas, indeed.  Up next, our stay in Durham!

She'll be Named...

Wow!  Some if you guessed the name correctly!  And so many of you had great name combos based off of the columns of names we listed in our previous post.  I loved a lot of them, actually.  Thanks for playing along with us!

But I think we'll keep to the name we've chosen ;)

Which is...

Nora means "light" and also "woman of honor."  We just really liked the name Nora, so we decided to go with it.  Rose is derived from Jason's side of the family where his mom's name is Rose Ann (and it also goes back farther than that...to Jason's grandfather's mom, I believe).  We love the name and the people behind it, of course!

Elise is a shortened version of Elizabeth which is my mom's name and my middle name, so we like to think we're tributing some love to our mama's in naming our girls ;)

We think Elise and Nora make a cute combo.  Already can't wait to meet this next little bean!

Wanna Gander a Guess?

So we want to announce the name we've chosen for our second sweet baby girl...but we need your help!

We want to make a little game out of this.  Here's how it'll work.  Below there are two columns of names:  First Name and Middle Name.  There are four names in each column.  One of the names from each column is the correct name we've chosen.  So choose one name from the First Name column and one from the Middle Name column, then leave us your name combo in the comments section and we'll see if anyone is close to guessing the correct name!

Fun, huh!?  (at least we think so ;)

Now, some of you out there already know the name we've chosen, so if you're one of those, don't guess, ok?  Thanks!

First Name

Leila
Emma
Nora
Myra

Middle Name

Joy
Elizabeth
Ann
Rose

There you have it!  We'll share the name we've chosen soon, but in the meantime, get to guessing and thanks for having fun with us!

2012: Year in Review

I always love the posts at the end of the year.  They cause me to reflect, look back, think on the good, the challenging, the blessings, the hardships.  I like it.  Mostly.  Then on the other hand it makes me realize just how quickly time flies...

But alas, despite the fact that we're about to enter a new year, I cannot pass up this opportunity to look back on our 2012 and reflect with some of my favorite pictures.  So much happened this year, but these are just some highlights.  Care to take a look with me? :)

January

I love love this sweet shot.  The first of many stories that daddy will read/has read.  Just a sweet moment captured.

Not pictured in January:  Zuzana taught me how to cook rezen (European dish)

February

Freezing cold, of course...but we still took a fun date to the frozen over pond for some much-needed hubby/wife quality time :)  Love him (and we're total dorks!).

E sports her first 'hawk and looks cute as ever.

Not pictured in February:  Lots of snow, thirty day photo challenge

March

This marks the month where E's great appetite began (though we've recently encountered some toddler appetite opposition).  Here she's eating avocados.

Not pictured in March:  We all flew to Germany for a conference and it was E's first flight.

April

Elise hit the (indoor) pool for the very first time in her (really cute) red polka-dotted swimsuit.  We went with our friends Boba and Filip.

And we took our debut Easter family picture.  One of my all time fav's (so far ;)...

Not pictured in April:  E tried green peas and couldn't stand 'em, and we found out our sis and bro-in-law were expecting a baby BOY (who was born in September).

May

That photo just melts my heart every time I see it.  Too much sweetness going on.  Definitely a favorite May moment captured on camera.

Not pictured in May:  Jas went on a trip to England, E went on the swings for the first time :)

June

Four generation photo taken when my mom and grandmother visited us.

Not pictured in June:  First Daddy's day for Jason and Elise, summer camp #1

July

We headed to Greece for some meetings and ended up catching this hilarious face from the little one :)

Not pictured in July:  summer camp #2

August

Palmer side visits for some quality time and we got this shot while out and about "sight-seeing."

Then the three of us went on our family vacation to Italy.  This is one of my most favorite shots of the two of them.

We also went to the park for E's one year photo shoot (which she wasn't so happy about).  We got some good shots, however, and Jas caught this post-shoot fun going on between my girl and I.

Not pictured in August:  I turned twenty-six!

September

E takes her first steps!!!!

And then she turns the big ONE!!!  (Big month for the little girl)

Not pictured in September:  Jas turned thirty-one!

October

Jas takes this amazing picture while out and about with Elise (they spent a good bit of quality time together this month since I was feeling pretty rotten from pregnancy with number 2!)

And then we announced that someone would be a big SIS...

Not pictured in October:  E goes trick-or-treating here at home and helps carve her first pumpkin.

November

We headed to the Christmas market for some good food and fun with our community group.

Not pictured:  E starts trying to use a spoon, Jas grows a 'stache for Movember (he did end up raising some money to fight again mens' cancer! Go hubs!)

December

We surprised the families in the states for Christmas :)  It was a GREAT time (still going through all the pictures).  Above, Elise got a fun tunnel and she also got to hang out with her baby cousin Bryce.  What a blessing it all was.

So that's 2012 in a nutshell.  Good year.  Full year.  Challenging in some ways.  But we're thankful.  Prayerful and hopeful for a fruitful 2013!