I won it. Fair and square.

The three sisters have an annual tradition of fighting over the mom's favorite ornament.  Years ago Bekah bought it at Cracker Barrel and it became the tradition to "fight" for it.  We have to decide between the three of us who wins it.  Mom is not involved (that would be wrong, wouldn't it?).  If you have a baby or a near death experience that is a "trump card" and you usually get it.  But since Rachel and I both had kids this year it was going to be a toss up. Rachel and Bekah decided I deserved it and I couldn't agree more :) I guess I'm not just mom's favorite. 

It was a day of many celebrations

Sunday was not only a celebration for Luke's dedication, but a belated birthday party for Gabriel and Matt.  Gabe turned 17 earlier this month, and Matt was 32 on Saturday (I hopefully will have a belated birthday post up for him soon).  After we all got home from church we enjoyed coffee (everyone sacrificed sleep to travel to church for the 8:30 service!), soup, and fun time together.  The guys enjoyed football, the kids drove the crazy coupe cars down the hill, we ate some cake...  It was a great day.

Luke's Baby Dedication

Today we dedicated our Luke to the Lord in front of our church family, and our own family.  We were blessed to have so many people from Matt's family there, my mom, and friends to support us as we took this big step in Luke's life.

Today we promised to pray daily for Luke, to live a Godly example, discipline him according to the principles of Scripture, love him unconditionally, encourage him to become an active part of a local church, and equip him to be a world changer.  That is quite the huge task, and we are going to try our best!

I love baby dedications at our church.  We publicly agreed to our commitment, and Jerry charged the church to support Luke as he grows to know Jesus.  We took a stroll around the congregation to show off our little man while a slide show played.  Then received a parenting book, that is going to be a fabulous tool for us.  And were prayed for by our children's minister.

We do not take lightly what we commited to today.  And are so thankful to have been able to share today with everyone!

We missed Daniel and Lindsey

 This moment, where my grandparents met Luke for the first time, was something I had prayed would happen.  God is good.

 Hannah Beth is like a doll.  So tiny and perfect!  And beautiful!

 I love these people.

 The whole gang (missing Daniel though!)

 The Buhler Bunch

Oh Beau, you are such a handsome, fun little man.

 This one was serious.

 In the photography business, they call this "All hands on deck"

 Nana and Papa's grandkids

The Kids Table.

A funny thing happened.

Never order your Christmas cards while holding a 7 month old and having a conversation with a 5 year old.  You might just forget to delete the automatic fill in/example line on the template.

At least I only ordered 15 of these.  And I got a really good deal on them, so I'm only out a little.  Or maybe I'll just go ahead and mail them. Who knows, maybe Martha, Paul, Julia, and Simon would appreciate me including them.

Isn't she lovely?

My sweet Ella.  I'll love you forever.

Noah Matthew Siak

I love you to the moon and back.

Brothers.

"Sometimes being a brother is even better than being a superhero."  - Marc Brown

Which one will be my Christmas Card photo...

Here's a sneak peak of our family photo shoot.  Now to pick one for the Christmas card...  Yikes!  They are all fantastic.  We owe it all to Joey Siak's photography gift!

A Sneak Peak

Once again, Joey has wowed us with his photography gift.  He blessed us by giving up his afternoon last Sunday to come shoot pictures for our Christmas card/wall frames.  I needed a few of Luke to send to the church for Luke's baby dedication (November 27th) so he emailed me these tonight.  I can't wait to get the rest!  So enjoy, my precious Luke.  There's nothing cuter on the planet.

Luke's Love/Hate relationship with the Santa Hat.

 "There might be something on my head."

 "But you are funny mom!"

"There is definitely something on my head!!!"

Bring on the Christmas, baby.

I am well known as an "early decorator."  And I'm ok with it.   You can judge, or accept, but it's not going to change the fact that our little family LOVES Christmas.  Today we turned on the music and put up the tree.  (That sentance made it sound easy, but after the tree light 5 hour catastrophe trust me, it wasn't easy).  Everyone got involved, and grinned the entire time.  We LOVE Christmas!!

Ella's 5th Birthday Party

We went to Chuck E Cheese for Ella's party this year.  It was her choice, and it was a crazy afternoon!  She actually started running a fever right before we got there, and spent the first half of her party sitting in my lap.  Thankfully Aunt Heather ran to target and got her some tylenol so she could perk up.  After that kicked in she enjoyed playing with her friends and cousins.  It was a jam packed couple of hours!

Loving life.

We took advantage of the beautiful weather and spent most of the afternoon outside today.  It was so perfect!  We all had so much fun.  As much as I want the holiday's to get here, I am going to miss the pretty weather!

 Sporting her birthday princess crown!

 Working on extra credit for school.  That boy loves to learn!

This was the first shot I took today,  all I had to say was "Hey Lukey" and he looked right at me and grinned.  Check out those new teeth!

My girl

Ella is 5 years old today.  Sigh...  How did 5 years fly by so quickly!  I can remember the day we found out we were having a girl.  I thought it was a joke.  I had never even considered that God might bless us with a girl (matt is one of 6 boys, his dad is one of 4 boys, etc...).  Then she came.  We fell in love.  She wrapped herself around her daddy's finger tighter than I thought was possible.  Her smile is infectious.  She is loving and kind.  She can be fiesty and sassy.  She is my biggest helper (sorry Noah, but it's the truth).  She takes care of Luke like a little mommy.  She loves her friends.  She loves to be in charge.  She loves to dance and jump.  She loves to  be creative.  I can't remember a day when she hasn't made me something (cards, pictures, and other crafts).  She has the biggest imagination and can get wrapped up in a pretend world and stay there for the longest time.  She loves to dress up.  She loves to talk about heaven and Jonah from the Bible and she's afraid Lady Gaga is going to hell (this is a really, really, long story).  Her prayers are the sweetest, purest, honest prayers you can hear.  She loves potatoe chips, strawberries, and chicken nuggets.  And eats peanut butter from the jar.  Her blue eyes are the prettiest on the planet.  In fact, she is the prettiest little girl on the planet.  She knows how to be patient, and uses that knowledge most of the time.  She makes me laugh, hard.   She loves to spend time with her daddy.  She loves to be outside. 

I am the lucky one.  To get to celebrate her 5th year.  To be her mommy.  To get to love her, care for her, snuggle her, and experience life with her.   Happy Birthday Ella.  I'll love you forever.