Immanuel...God With Us 2011

Finally, the day we have been waiting for is here. Christ is born and we are celebrating the birth of our Savior in a big way!

 All dressed up for Christmas Eve services at First Baptist Church of McKinney. Bug wore her dress all night because she wanted everyone to see it!

 Half of my Christmases have been spent with this wonderful man. How I adore him!

 After church, we returned home and had an early dinner and lit our Advent candles. It's one of our favorite Christmas traditions and one that I hope our children will take with them when they create families of their own.

 On Christmas morning, we have a special way of retelling the birth of Christ. We open tiny boxes, each containing a figurine that tells a part of the story. More than anything else this Christmas, we are blessed by Christ. Happy Bithday, Jesus. Thank you for being the greatest gift we will ever know!

Magic Moments...Christmas 2011

I love traditions and one of my favorite parts of Christmas is the opportunity to pass on traditions from mine and Marty's childhoods, while creating new ones with our own family. The past few weeks, we have made many beautiful memories in small magic moments. Here are a few that I am storing up in my heart from this Christmas...

Each year we do a family devotional to countdown to Christmas. This year, we added Snoopy to the mix. It has been a ton of fun anticipating the birth of our Savior together.

 

Sofie was home sick one day from school, and made this note for Santa...just in case.

 

 

 We have three Christmas elves that visit us each December. We summon them the night we put up our Christmas tree, using a magic snow globe. Lily was concerned that our elves might be scared of our dog, Penny. She wasn't with us this time last year. So, she wrote them a note just to reassure them that everything would be ok upon their arrival. Ha!

The kids were so excited the day our Christmas elves arrived for their visit from the North Pole. Let the mischief begin!



One Saturday morning, just after the Elves arrived, I woke up to this adorable scene...Little Bug watching cartoons with her elf, Penny.  She even shared the blanket so that Penny would not be cold. How sweet is she???  Sweet enough to make her own honey.

 



Since the kids are out of school, we loosened up a bit on our bedtime routine. The girls had a ton of fun having a "sleepover" together a couple of nights during the break. Listening to them whisper and giggle together until they fell asleep really tickled my heart. I love the friendship that is growing between my girls.

Little Bug has a December birthday, and we try very hard not let her big day get lost in the shuffle. I loved watching Jack and Lily hanging out together during Sofie's birthday party at McDonalds. We have a picture very similar to this one from many years ago with Marty and his sister. When I saw this, I couldn't help but smile.

 

The girls used our "magic snow globe", a gift a few years back from our Christmas elves, and gave Santa their Christmas wishes on their lists. They wanted to be sure he had everything right on Christmas Eve.

Hot cocoa with friends on a cold winter day.

 

Sofie wanted to be sure Santa knew where to find her...

 

 

I have a December birthday as well. This year, my birthday wish was that ALL of my babies will be with me for my next birthday.

Little Bug loves her puppy! It cracks me up watching her carry Penny, the dog, all over the house...whether she wants it or not!

I know it's a bit premature, but I just couldn't help myself. I placed a gift for Baby Buckle under the tree this year. Somehow, it made our chosen child seem as though he/she is with us by including him/her in our celebration this year. I let the kids open the gift...a book and a CD of lullabies. How I pray that we have four stockings on our mantle next year.

 

Our Christmas tree is funky and filled with sentimental ornaments. Some are from my childhood. Others, from Marty's. Some are keepsake ornaments that mark special moments in our life as a family. Our favorites are ones the kids have made over the years. I love this picture of them standing in front of our tree. It was such a fun night, looking through our memories and laughing together as a family. I hope the kids will treasure the ornaments on this tree when they are older, as much as they do right now.

 

 

Baking Day!

Every year, the kids and I bake cookies together at Christmas. I think they wind up wearing more frosting than the cookies, but we have fun anyway. This year, Jack decided he wanted to go for some "boy bonding time" with Daddy. So, they went to see Mission Impossible IV and the girls and I got messy in the kitchen.



We cut out sugar cookies and gingerbread men and then decorated them. They look really tasty!



I think Santa will be pleased.

Drama Rama

Jack participated in Drama Rama last weekend. It is an all day acting competition and he competed in three events including monologue, improv,and costume design. We got a sneek peak of some of the performances the night before the competition at the coffee house performance at Jack's school.

The day began with a musical performance from all five schools. Jack was asked to fill in as the character Drake, in the musical "HONK: The Ugly Duckling". Since this was a temporary fill in part, Jack only had a couple of weeks to prepare. I know I am biased, but I think he was sensational!

Theater students from all five middle schools in McKinney came to Dowell Middle School to compete. McKinney ISD is a big supporter of the fine arts, and there is a lot of tough competition. We were thrilled for Jack when he texted us the news that he got 2nd place for his monologue. His improv team made it to the semi-finals as well.

Jack completely loves drama and he is very proud of his accomplishments this year. He has a great time on stage and he has made some wonderful new friends in drama class. We can't wait to see what God has in store for our budding actor.

Christmas Recital 2011

This was a very busy weekend. In addition to Sofie's birthday, we also had Lily's Christmas dance recital. After many months of preparation and hard work, Lily finally had her chance to shine on the stage.

Lily, and her friends, Kinley, Molly, and Gracie had fun posing pretty before the show. They are such sweet girls.



Her Jazz performance was lively and fun to the tune of "White Hot Christmas".



She looked like she was having so much fun.



Lily's ballet class danced to the song "Blue Christmas".



She looked incredibly elegant and graceful as she performed.



Sofie is Lily's biggest fan! She was so proud of her big sister that she told me Lily's dancing put tears in her eyes.



During intermission, we gave Lily her recital gifts...white roses, which are her favorite, and a dance trophy. She was very excited!



Lily made us giggle when she started giving an acceptance speech after she got her trophy. She is just too funny!



We stayed for the second half of the show so we could watch The Nutcracker. As in every other year in the past past, Lily loved watching the Snow Queen most of all. Daddy, on the other hand, completely enjoyed snuggling his own tiny dancer.

Eight Is Great!

Our Little Bug is eight years old!


Sometimes December birthdays can get lost in the craziness of Christmas. So, when Bug was just a little sweet potato, her Daddy started a tradition of drawing her age on her forehead for her birthday.


That way, nobody can miss that it is her big day! Sofie loves when people notice her birthday number and wish her a Happy Birthday. She says it makes her feel famous. ha!


Having a December birthday means that our Christmas elves are visiting us. Sofie was so surprised to find they had made her a birthday card.


We started her big day with chocolate chip pancakes, as requested by the birthday girl.


It was "Polar Express Day" at her school, so Sofie wore her pajamas to school.



Sofie asked to eat dinner at Cotton Patch. It was tons of fun just being together celebrating the day Bug came into our lives. Afterward, we had fun being silly for the camera.





Sofie asked for angel food cake with chocolate covered strawberries. It was almost as sweet as she is!




Today, we had a birthday party with Sofie's friends.



Sofie and her posse at McDonalds...her favorite place other than the soccer field.


Happy Meals for the happy girls.


Happy Birthday Little Bug! We hope Eight is Great!

Merry Christmas 2011

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Dear Family and Friends,

Once again, it's December and we find ourselves welcoming Christmas. We hope this letter finds you blessed with peace, love, and happiness.

Still living in McKinney, Texas, we remain very involved in our church and community. Marty is still employed as a Senior Manager at Ernst and Young in Dallas. I enjoy my life as a wife and mother, and feel blessed to be at home full time. Together, we serve in our church youth group as small group leaders for sixth graders. It's a ministry we both thoroughly enjoy. As you may have imagined, the kids keep us very busy and are all growing up way too fast.

Jack is now 13 years old and is in 8th grade. He is extremely active in both church and school activities, and his schedule keeps him away from home more than we would like. Still, it is so much fun watching him discover his gifts and talents. In November, Jack had one of the lead roles in the Dowell Middle School presentation of "HONK!", the musical. He has an amazing voice and a wonderful presence on the stage. In the coming months, we will finalize Jack's Freshman schedule for next year. It doesn't seem possible that those years should be upon us so soon.

Lily is now nine years old and in fourth grade. She still loves dancing. This year, she decided to study both jazz and ballet. In addition to dance classes and school, Lily is part of the children's praise team at our church. She loves performing!

Sofie is in second grade and will turn 8 years old this month. She just finished her third soccer season and has started practices for basketball. This past summer, she also attended tennis camp through our church. "Little Bug", as we call her, is happiest when she is playing outside and truly loves sports.

During the past few months, Marty and I started the process of adoption so that we can bring home our fourth child. Just a few weeks ago, we became "paper pregnant". That means we have finished a mountain of paperwork and are preparing for our home study. We hope to be on a wait list for a baby sometime within the coming year. Our family is very excited to meet our "chosen child", and we are already in prayer for our baby's birth mother. Hopefully, when I write this letter next year, our baby will be here with us.

With that, it seems a perfect time to mention another baby, who came into the world over 2,000 years ago and is the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. Jesus Christ, our Savior, is after all, the reason for the season, and the greatest gift we have ever received. I pray his love lights your path this Christmas.

Merry Christmas,
The Arbuckle Family

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit"-Romans 15:13