Blessed in 2009 ~ Hopeful in 2010

Another year has gone by and it was a great one for us. We went from a family of three to "The Frazier Four". God has given us more than we deserve and for that we will always be thankful.

This past year has been alot of work for me as a full time working Mommy of 2 babies, but God and a hands on wonderful husband helped me make it through. It was hard, it was exhausting, it was difficult, it was sleepless, it was frustrating, it was challenging but it was all WORTH it. Worth it for so many reasons. I love my husband, I love my kids & I love my life! God is so good, all the time!

Emma Caroline watching her Daddy put on his yearly fireworks (sparkler) show in the backyard.

We had a little party tonight, yes just the 4 of us that consisted of alot of little junk food. Emma was so excited and said, "Mom are we having a nursing party?" A nursing party...exactly what is that I wonder? This kid can say some funny stuff.

Seriously, does it get any cuter than that right there? They love each other and they love each other alot. I tell people all the time, one of the best gifts I could ever give my babies is a sibling. What more could a Mommy ask for? N-O-T-H-I-N-G...I got it all right here and I hope it last forever.

You my sweet boy turned our pink house blue in March making for one very happy Mommy, Daddy and Big Sister.

You got to enjoy your first sparkler show tonight presented by Daddy. Don't worry, he does it every year...maybe next year he will add some of those frogs he was talking about. You would not leave your hat on your head tonight, you kept snatching it off and throwing it down as soon as we put it on you. I can't say I blame you after all the time you spent in the cranial band, big boy.

So from our family to yours ~ we wish you a Happy New Year or a "Happy Nursing Party". A new year filled with an overabundance of blessings in 2010. I am 100% sure I will not make it till midnight, so I am off to "kiss" my husband and call it a night.

QuaCK, qUAck, QUAck

Santa landed on our rooftop on Christmas Eve with a crate in his sleigh that said "LIVE ANIMALS" making for one happy little girl at our house.

Months ago Emma started telling us all she wanted for Christmas was a firetruck and a real duck. We thought she would change her mind, but she continued to talk about these ducks daily until she got her little hands on them.

This is where she hangs out these days, on her little stool looking at her two little ducklings.

She decided to name her ducks, brother & sister. The little one is brother and the yellow is sister (bet you can't guess what made her think of those names can you)?

They are the cutest little things I have ever seen and we have fallen in love with them.

This little girl would live on a farm if we would let her. She reminds me so much of myself more and more everyday.

We plan to release these little guys in our neighborhood pond eventually, so we have been letting them spend some time swimming and bathing themselves.

I wish you could just see these ducks follow Emma around like little dogs. They literally take off running behind her all over the house.

She loves to tell them, "come on little duckies I am the Mommy". It is so sweet, until she tells them and me that I am the grandma (ha ha).

Last night we let them swim in the water table, so the kiddos could watch. Emma was trying to kiss them the entire time.

Our little man loves them too. It is so funny to watch him look at them. He is probably thinking that we have lost our minds with 2 ducks living in the house. Maybe we have!

I don't know how we will ever let them go. Each day we grow more and more attached to them. We have told Emma from the start that we could not keep them forever and she seems to be okay with it for now.

She keeps telling us that when we turn them loose in the pond, she is going to put her bathing suit on and swim with them.

So where did the ducks come from? Rumor has it that Santa picked them up from a feed store the Tuesday before Christmas when they were only 1 day old. They had just arrived from the hatchery where he had ordered them from about a month ago. Good thing Santa is a planner, right? The Jolly Old Fellow did a good job according to our little red headed, 2 1/2 year old.

These little ducks have been very loved and spoiled by The Frazier Four. They are growing quickly, much faster then we expected. I would say they have tripled in size over the past week. I am a little concerned that we are going to wake up one morning and they will be flying around our house. Emma would probably think that was the greatest thing ever.

So, the Frazier's have a farm with quack quack here and a quack quack there, here a quack, there a quack, everywhere a quack quack, oh and one VERY HAPPY little girl too!

Christmas Card 2009

Little late this year, where does all the time go? They were all mailed out the Saturday before Christmas and I am confident that everyone has received them by now.

We went with a tri fold, 5x5 linen card this year and I loved them. Our wonderful, amazing, talented photographer, Darla DiStefano outdid herself again. That girl knows how to make my heart smile BIG, every time! Thank you for being the best friend a girl could ask for and for being so talented behind the lens.

Back of the card, hopefully you can imagine it folded up. The center is the very back when it is all folded and the far right is the front of the card.

Inside of the card ~ Christmas is a time to hold dear the gifts that have already been given, those that bless us with love & joy! I loved everything about these cards and I especially love the two little people in them. Hoping that you and your families had a very Merry Christmas and are amazingly blessed in 2010.

Belated Christmas Home Tour

I hoped to participate in one of the Christmas Home Tours, but time literally just ran out on me this year. I knew that I had to capture the memories of what our home looked like for Gavin's First Christmas, so here it is. Better late than never, right? Welcome to our home this Christmas. I captured as many of our special little details as possible.

Looks like we will be busy packing things up this week and getting ready for a New Year full of blessings.

Christmas 2009

Christmas morning was a blast for the Frazier Four. There is so much I have to post about and so many memories I never want to forget. Here are just a few...

Letter to Santa, along with cookies, milk & carrots for the Reindeer.

Of course we had to battle the cold and head outside to sprinkle our Reindeer food in the yard.

Santa was very good to Emma & Gavin this year. We were so excited for them to wake up and see all that he had left.

All our sweet girl asked for was a duck, a firetruck and some make up. This was the last gift she opened on Christmas morning. The look on her face was PRICELESS. She got two little ducks, a Pekin and a Mallard. Yes, they are currently living in our house and I will have to share more in the days ahead. Let me just say that we have one very HAPPY little girl walking around playing Mommy to 2 little ducks.

This little boy smiled all day long and he had many reasons to keep on smiling. I got my first BMW when I was 30 and he got his at 9 months old. Is this not the cutest little car ever? We just could not resist. I saw this years ago and said if I ever had a little boy, he would have one of these. God is good, isn't he?

Christmas 2009 was more than we could have ever asked for as a family. We spent the days with friends, family and alone as the Frazier Four. It was wonderful, it was fun, it was exciting, it was magical and it was oh so much more!

We talked about how blessed we were in 2009 and how we are so excited about what God has planned for us in 2010. We spent time remembering our Savior and the true meaning of the season. I heard my baby girl tell lots of people that it was Jesus' Birthday and we sang Happy Birthday to him over and over.

One of my favorite parts was standing hand in hand with my husband while cradling our son in my arms, while he held our daughter closely and led our families in prayer. There is just something that excites me about hearing him profess his love for our Lord & Savior publicly to our families while holding us so close to him. Thank you Jesus for blessing me with this amazing husband and my children with the BEST DADDY in the world.

I am praying for God to promote us in 2010 in our marriage, our family, our finances, our careers, our relationships, our children, our country, the perfect church home & most importantly our relationship with HIM. The truth is, I am praying this for all of you TOO!

Two and a Half !

This baby girl turned 2 1/2 years old last week (15th) and I am just now getting around to share her sweetness with all of you. Emma Caroline, these have been the best 2 1/2 years of my life and I know there is so much more to come.

You are so ME! Everything about you reminds me so much of myself and it is a little scary at times. I often ask your Grandma (my Mom) if I were like you as a child and she says not till I was much older. I am just more and more amazed everyday at the stuff you come up with and the conversations you initiate with us. There are things that concern you that I am confident concern no other 2 year old. You are so sweet and compassionate about others. Here are just a few of the many things about you these days:

• Love to eat "Chicka Fila" and Macaroni & Cheese
• Want to dress yourself everyday and tell us not to help you
• Love to play Spa (you talk like the ladies who work there)
• Super excited about Christmas and want a firetruck and a real duck
• Extremely protective of your baby brother
• You are a Daddy's girl all the way
• Still love Beamer
• Enjoy talking on the phone, bath time & any type of craft
• Like to sing at the top of your lungs
• You are sometimes a bit bossy
• Super social and try to talk and make friends everywhere we go
• You are a bit dramatic, I am thinking it comes natural to you
• Continue to sleep with 15 stuffed animals and can call them all by name and know if one is missing within seconds of getting into bed.
• Love all your friends and teachers at MDO
• Participated in your 1st Christmas program ( you twisted and danced the entire time, singing very little)

You are an amazing kid and fill our days with laughter. There are times you are so funny, but we should not be laughing at you, so we have to hide our faces to keep from laughing out loud.

Happy 2 1/2 year old Birthday Emma Caroline. We love you more than the stars love the sky baby girl. Every single day with you is a blessing!

9 months = 26.8 lbs

I can hardly believe that my big ole boy turned 9 months old today. It is even harder to imagine that he has been on this earth for as long as he was inside of me. It has been an awesome 9 months of celebrating each day of this sweet boy's life and continuing to be thankful for the blessing of him daily.

Month 9 has brought about some changes:

• Weigh 26.8 lbs and wear size 6 diapers
• You are standing up on your own
• Continue to say Mommy, Daddy & Emma
• You are very active and all over the place when we put you on the floor
• Got to have your helmet removed and your head looks beautiful
• Your Daddy had to cut a little piece of your hair because it was hanging over your ears
• You are madly in love with your big sister and think she is so funny
• You are scooting all over the house and are really fast
• Have become super attached to Daddy this month and often prefer him over Mommy these days
• Enjoy playing in Emma's room
• Started pulling up and standing up in your crib while holding onto the rail
• Love our dog Beamer and get very excited when he is by you
• Noddy has become the TV show you love the best
• Car rides and baths are your favorite times
• Celebrated your 1st Thanksgiving with us at the Carnes
• You are a wild man, you like to squirm around during diaper changes and when we are holding you
• Have 8 teeth and love to bite us
• Enjoy being outside
• Traveled with us on our 2nd vacation & you were wonderful
• YoBaby yogurt remains your favorite food
• You are quite the ham when we pull out a camera and start smiling instantly
• Get super excited and scream when you like something
• Taking 3-4oz. pumped bottles a day and nursing at night, still exclusively nursed {you refuse to try formula}
• Wearing 12-18 month clothes and 6-12 month Pedi Peds
• You look just like my Daddy {oh what I would have given if he could have just held you this side of Heaven~you would have had a pony by now for sure. He would have been smitten over you}
• You constantly laugh and smile

Gavin, you are a pure delight. We love you so much and your smile is contagious, Son. We are so excited to have you with us this Christmas and to celebrate the Holidays as a family of four. Happy 9 month old Birthday, baby boy. We continue to thank GOD everyday for the blessing of you. Keep Smiling!

Welcome to Who-ville

The ICE exhibit at the Gaylord got added to one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. This exhibit was phenomenal and 98% of it was all carved out of ice. There are a few added touches that they used that are not ice, but for the most part it is all carved out of ice. It was unbelievable to see the talent and hard work that went into reproducing the story of the Grinch.

This exhibit will be at the Gaylord for the rest of this Holiday Season and next year and in 2011 it will be a Charlie Brown Christmas and the Frazier's will be headed back. We loved it.

This entire exhibit is kept at 9 degrees in order to keep the ice from melting. It was not as cold as I expected it to be, but it was certainly chilly.

I kept my baby boy in my arms the entire time to make sure he was good and warm. He seemed to enjoy himself and looking around at all the bright colors.

Emma was so cute and walked like a big girl through the entire exhibit.

Can you believe that all of this was hand carved?

We had Gavin so bundled up that we just propped him up against the presents carved of ice.

Simply amazing, isn't it?

This scene was so detailed and happened to be one of my favorites.

The good ole Grinch, again.

There were a couple times that Gavin would drop his head down on me and it kind of frightened me a little. I kept asking Curtis, do you think he is going to pass out in here because it is so cold? He ended up being fine. I think it was all the clothes, blanket and jacket we had him bundled up in that had him a little uncomfy.

If you live close to a Gaylord property, this is the perfect little weekend getaway. We had so much fun and enjoyed everything about this property and all it had to offer.

They also had huge slides made out of ice that I slid down by myself and it was big fun. Emma went up there with me to slide and she decided she did not want to do it because she had to do it by herself. For some reason we did not end up with any pictures of that exhibit.

We asked a man to take a family picture of us with the Grinch and when we got our camera back we realized he had cut the Grinch's head off (ha ha). Oh well, at least it is a picture of the Frazier Four, right?

I loved the Grinch before this trip, but I think I love him a little more now.

All good things must come to an end, but I must tell you that we enjoyed our mini vacation to Grapevine and spending time together. It was a super nice way to get into the Holiday spirit and reflect on all that we have to be thankful today and in the future.

Green Eggs & Gingerbread

One of my favorite memories of our little Texas Christmas Getaway was eating breakfast with the Grinch.

I was a little concerned that my kiddos would be scared to death of the big green fella.

I was the first one to get a big hug from the Grinch and I wanted my babies to see that he was a friendly guy. I love the Grinch and my husband finds it most appropriate to call me this during the Holiday Season. As a matter of fact, we all collect a Hallmark ornament every year and mine is the Grinch ornament that Curtis loves to pick out for me then giggle about it throughout the Holidays with family and friends.

Yes, we really ate green eggs & ham. How cute is this? All of the food was themed around the story and let me just tell you there was some interesting stuff on the spread.

This little girl did not want the Grinch to touch her. She kept saying, "Mommy, tell him to keep his hands to himself". Yes, my baby will drink out of her cereal bowl no matter where she happens to be. I kept telling her the Grinch was friendly and she kept saying, "friendly like my shadow Mommy?"

I loved this chocolate fountain they had set up.

This happens to be my favorite picture from our entire trip. I can not help but smile every time I look at my little guy in the Grinch's big hands.

Here is the best we could do as far as a family shot goes. We were shocked that Emma actually sat down beside him. Of course we had to tell him to keep his hands to himself.

Look who is standing by himself these days. This was on a little bridge as we were leaving breakfast.

Onto Gingerbread Corner to build an Enchanted Gingerbread House. I had never heard of these until this weekend, but apparently they are one of Oprah's Favorite things.

We had so much fun decorating the little house. We usually do one of these at home, so it was nice to make this mess somewhere else.

Emma's Daddy was telling her to stop eating the candy. This poor kid could not resist eating the candy. We would tell her and tell her not to eat it, so she would lick it. It was HILARIOUS!

Okay, so Daddy finally gave in and just started squirting icing in her mouth. Of course then she kept saying, "one more time Daddy, please".

Little Man even got involved in the action. If you look real close he has the icing bag in his hands and it looks like his sister has another piece of candy in her mouth.

Our house ended up being so random and just had stuff everywhere, but we made some wonderful memories creating it.

The final product. Yes, that is an {F} on the front which represents the Frazier Four! Oh and look at my sweet girl, looks like she got one last lick in before we put it away. She was so proud of this Gingerbread house and we were so proud of all her hard work. Of course we have this displayed on our island for all our Holiday guest to enjoy.