Noelle walked right up to Santa and held out her hand. It was the cutest thing. She’s been saying "Santa" for several weeks now.
Noelle taking pictures with Santa.
Noelle was so relaxed hanging out with Santa.
Daddy and Noelle posing in front of a clock that Noelle found.
My family!
It’s getting cold out!
Noelle’s hair is growing slowly but surely – she’s so cute with her little blonde halo! Night night everyone!
Mike and I designed this card together for the blog – we are learning so much and thought it turned out really nice. We wanted you guys to see our first little creation.
At the Euc this week, during this advent season, we are having our first art installment. We were asked to bring a piece of art with us to our gathering: a story, a poem, picture, song, something meaningful to us during this season of waiting and anticipating the coming of the Christ child.
The Banks family is having a live nativity at my parents home in Jacksonville over the Christmas holiday (email me at melissajpond@gmail.com if you would like to come). Noelle is going to be our angel, so I decided since I had her costume, for my art I would take black and whites this week of Noelle in her "angels" costume.
It was very emotional for me to take these pictures. Noelle is the epitome of innocence and expectancy, the perfect combination of what advent means to me. I titled the pictures by whatever emotion they evoked in me about awaiting our Savior’s birth.
"A Star in the East"
"Humble Birth"
"Watching Over"
"They came from Near and Far"
"Innocence"
"Discovery"
"Friendship"
"The Miracle of it All"
"It is You, Emmanuel"
"Creatures Great and Small"
Noelle was saying hello to the birds and talking to them. She is so gentle and kind to all of creation, and I admire that so much.
"Bow before the King"
We went down to “The Fort” last weekend to hang out with Shawn and Ashley. We wanted to see Santa, but they said he got too cold!?!
Noelle in her Santa outfit – I wish we had known we were going to run into the REAL Santa on Saturday, because we would have met him in this outfit!
“It’s COLD!”
Our sweet friends, Ashley and Shawn, braved the cold with us!
Noelle chasing pigeons while Daddy chases her!
Our little girl is growing up!
Family photo in front of the beautiful tree downtown.
The best Santa in the whole wide world!
He even let Noelle tug his beard!
…and was so happy to show off his bright red suspenders. But the main reason he is so special is because he is so real.
Did you know Santa’s name is Carl? His wife of 53 years is in Hospice care right now. He asked us to pray for her; her name is Margie. He was encouraging us in our marriage and jokingly said, “I married five women and should have divorced three of them.” He explained that through life we grow and change, and it’s important to journey together and never give up!
He is probably the kindest soul I have ever met. It’s amazing to me that while he is in the midst of one of the scariest trials of life, he is spending time bringing happiness and blessings to us. May we all have such grace and courage!
Our Christmas party this year was at the Gaylord Texan. It was so beautiful and fancy!
John’s construction holiday gala was at the Gaylord as well, so we got to meet up and have a little fun!
Mike is making a “this is so cheesy” face, but he would totally deny it if you asked. He’s always such a good sport!
Brother Man wanted in on the sleigh action – he is always in it for a good time!
Beautiful dessert!
After supper and throughout the dancing, we had numerous famous visitors – here are a few of them. They were a surprise to us all, and it was hilarious – we all had fun dancing with them. Austin Powers was the MC for the evening. He was so funny!
Mo and Heather!
This is my favorite picture of the night – Mike and Jon’s boss, Larry, was showing them a good time.
Where’s Tina?
Oh, there she is, taking a moment to strike a pose! Aren’t they lovely!
Mike picked out my dress (which is a big deal to me), so I wanted everyone to see it! We had such a wonderful date night and a huge thanks to Mama Kay and Grand Papa for keeping Noelle – she had a ball as well!
The kids were ready for class to start!
We played so hard – we played with balls, bubbles, tambourines, bean bags, and all the gym equipment while dancing and singing the whole time. This is a pic of the kids getting their “good job” stamps!
We tried to snap a picture of the kids, but they were busy. The dot on Noelle’s foot is one of her five stamps… they even put one on her belly – we had a great time.
We decided the kids had just as much fun exploring and playing outside afterward.
Lead the way Hudson!
Too funny – Brooke told Hudson to smell the flowers, so Noelle ducks her head into the grass to take a whiff. She cracks me up!
There ya go!
Hudson giggled every time he took a sniff.
So cute!
Noelle was having a total blast hanging out with Hudson.
I had to put this pic up – it’s so cute how tickled Hudson was.
Noelle was a little spooked when Blitzen came under the fence to say hello. He was such a gentle reindeer, and my first one to meet!
Noelle put on her winter hat and brought her glasses to Daddy and asked him to put them “on” with it. She’s so silly. We are loving our funny monkey. She makes us laugh every single day.
