Christmas Letter 2010

Merry Christmas from the Connors Family!!!!

We are wrapping up another year. This is our tenth Christmas as a married couple. Wow, how time zips past. It seems like only a minute ago that we were putting up our very first tree together or wrapping Ella's first gifts.

This year I am especially excited for Christmas. We have so much to be thankful for. I am loving being a mom who gets to be fully in these moments with the kids. I'm enjoying how much they are enjoying every bit of the festivity and the traditions. Each morning finds them running for one (or all) of the three different Advent Calendars we have going this year. They can't wait to find out what the picture will be on the chocolate or what will be tucked under today's cone or even to just move the candy cane to the new pocket. (Yes, three advent calendars may be slightly overkill, but I tell you, I am so excited for Christmas, it seems to reflect the level of over-the top excitement we have going here.) I am so excited to have my whole immediate family home for Christmas this year. It will be so great to have Aaron and Meghan and Greg and Emily all home to celebrate together. I can't wait!!!

Ella continues to love and excel at school. This year found her in a new school building but with many of the same friends from her last building, and she has adjusted well. She is blessed to have the same teacher again this year. Her third year with her! Mrs. Bowen has become family. Ella loves reading and is enjoying preparing for our family Christmas Eve service at church. She has a few lines to share and will sing in the choir. We are so proud of her!

Jack started school this year. He is working on adjusting to the new and very busy schedule. Kindergarten is all day, every day now. His teacher is enjoying getting to know our unique boy and he is helping all the other kindergarteners learn all about police officers. He continues to keep us smiling with the fun things he says. He is a joy and a blessing in our family.

Our sweet baby is growing too quickly. Linc is in a hurry to keep up with his older siblings. He is all potty trained and has been for many months. He talks up a storm and keeps us smiling with the fun things he says too. He and I have adjusted to our hours without the big kids each day. I'm enjoying these special moments with him!!!!

Jace continues to work at the Home Depot. And continues to pursue his own plumbing work. He manages to stay pretty busy. And hopes that if the economy ever changes, he will be in a good position to plumb full time again. We continue to be so blessed by the job at Home Depot and we are so thankful for it. But we look forward to what the future holds too.

I have made some decisions to make my schedule a little less full this year. I have been fortunate enough to be able to continue to be involved in our moms ministry at Community Church. I am missing being more involved in children's ministry but I am happy for the opportunity to focus my energy and that it is allowing me to make my family the priority they ought to be. I know my time with them is passing much too quickly.

Well, that kind of sums up things around here for now. I hope you'll continue to keep up with our family here on the blog. I enjoy being able to share many of the things going on with us here.

May you and your family have a holiday filled with wonder and awe as you remember the gift that God sent all those years ago.

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulders: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 9:6

My Lincoln Log, Old Man and 2nd Grade Alein...

This Halloween, we carved pumpkins twice, once at a pumpkin carving party at school and once at home...



we took our usual pumpkin head pictures; even a real one this time...







we worked for hours sewing a Lincoln log costume...



we dressed as a Lincoln Log, an Old Man, a 2nd Grade Alein, and "Raining Cats and Dogs"...







we had a lot of fun with old friends collecting our candy...

Jack says...

"You can write that down."

after telling an ER nurse that his dad thought about being a police officer when he was a kid, but then decided to not be, now he works for Home Depot and his name is Jason. :)

He charmed all the nurses in the ER the other day. He is feeling much better now.

Kindergarten and Second Grade...

Can't believe that school has started again. And that this year BOTH Jack and Ella are going.

Jack is a kindergartner and Ella is in second grade already. Both were very excited and are settling in to the new year. Linc and I are adjusting as well. The house is pretty empty. :(

Here are some of the first day of school pics. Jack just spontaneously did that silly pose. He cracks me up.

Jack says...

"Hi Ethan."

as he is walking to the bathroom at Target with Jace past a boy and his mom who are walking in.

Jace says, "Do you know that boy, from church maybe???"

"Nope, I just wanted his mom to say, 'Do you know that kid.' I heard her call him Ethan."

Oh, my great observer. He misses nothing.

Summer Fun...

Hello!

I seem to fall off the grid a bit when summer hits. We have really been enjoying some down time. VBS, vacation, blueberry picking, fun at local parks - have been keeping us busy.

Here are some fun photos of playing with kites in the yard recently. Clothes have been optional for Jack and Linc lately. Jack is wearing underwear in this photo, even though they are hard to see. :)





Linc is all potty trained - he is doing awesome. Jack is still saying funny things but I have been keeping track less well. Ella is missing school a bit. But she is enjoying having down time too. She has to have her tonsils and adenoids removed in a few weeks. :(

We have started a new project - switching the kids rooms around. It will allow us to move Linc to a big boy bed. It may be a very slow project. :) It seems to be happening in small steps. As long as it is done before school starts, it will be fine. Plus, when the rooms started as complete disasters, there is extra work to be done.

Hope to post again soon.

Ella's art project...

Ella has a really fun art program in her school. They have art once a week on Wednesdays. Last Wednesday they made paper sculptures. So Ella got the family paper sculpting.



This is Ella's up close.

We all, even Linc and Jack, sat and cut paper and made beautiful creations. Some people took it a little seriously. Cough, cough, JASON. I guess he thought we were turning them into school. But now we can be sure where Ella got her creativity from.

And here is that fabulous creation made by Jason:



Check out the frog. You can't see it, but he even has a fly on his tongue. You probably didn't know he was an artist...

Fun was had by all!!!!

Prayers and Jack's Belated Birthday Blog

Jack turned five since I blogged last. I can't believe he can go to kindergarten in the fall!!!! It really is unbelievable to me.

He was able to celebrate his birthday again and again, of course. The picture above was the day we celebrated with Jason's mom and sister-in-law. But he also celebrated earlier in the month with my family before Aaron and Meghan went to Africa. And we celebrated on his birthday with ice cream at McDonald's and then we had a couple friends over for a bonfire in the back yard.

It was a good birthday. And he is a good boy. I am loving watching him grow!!!!!



This is Lincoln a couple mornings ago. Can you believe those eyes??? They aren't even photo shopped and they are so gorgeous! He has a milk mustache.

I wanted to blog his recent prayer - it was just so cute. Read it in a slow, sweet baby voice to get the full effect:

"thank you for grandpa, uh,

thank you for ice cream,

thank you for sprinkles, and

thank you for fire truck shirt.

AMEN!"

Too precious. Love that he is really thinking about what he is thankful for - he had seen grandpa that day, worn a fire truck shirt and ate ice cream with sprinkles.

And it really is the little things, isn't it? Like sprinkles and fire truck shirts. What more could a boy ask for really????

Lincoln did...

have VERY dry skin the day before Easter.

And he did find some lotion to help him with that problem. He did get the lotion all over himself, the laundry room, and around the kitchen table before Jack came to tell me that Linc was making a mess.

Dry skin no longer...

So innocent looking. :)

Linc's 2!

Linc turned two this week. He is such a sweet and wonderful little guy. His birthday celebrating is lasting all week. We celebrated with my family last Sunday, our immediate family on the day (St. Patrick's Day) and we celebrate with Jace's family today. Nice to have a birthday last a little longer. :)

On Linc's birthday we took a trip to the still quite wet local park. It was fun in spite of all the water and the weather was just great all week.

Here are some fun pictures from the park...







And a picture of Linc with his birthday milkshake. :)



Happy birthday my wonderful Linky!!!!!

The KING of Dress Up

Many of you who see us on a regular basis know that Jack is the king of dress-up. And it is all about the details and the accessories.

Most often he dresses as some sort of policeman but sometimes there are other outfits too. And very often (at least for awhile) the outfits revolved around his footy pajamas. Those are the pj's pictured above with the animals on them. We had to cut the feet out, he had worn them so long.

I thought I would showcase a few here. They will be sure to make you smile. :)



This is my favorite policeman uniform - most days he wears this. It has real county patches from a friend. I'm not sure why this day it also included, strawberry shortcake glasses and a lightening McQueen hat????



This is his Mr. Rob outfit. Mr. Rob is one of his teachers at church.



This is his Grinch outfit. Hence the mean face.



This is his Santa outfit. Yep, that's a dress that was Ella's. :)

I love you, creative boy!!!!!

Jack says...

"Lucy is sick too."

"That's too bad." I say, on Valentine's Day, when we couldn't go to church because Jack had been throwing up in the night. Lucy is a red, fox in socks, named after Lucy Little from the Littles. Previously named Mason, "Why is she sick?"

"She ate fire."

Hmmm. That's a new one.

Jack says...

"I want to sit by the cops!!!!"

as we walk into a restaurant in Lansing with my mom. He's seen their cars in the parking lot - he knows they are there somewhere.

The man seating us, though I am sure he has never gotten this request before, asks if we would like to sit by the cops. Mom and I agree that would be great. And we get a booth right next to them.

Jack is beside himself. He's studying their uniforms. He's making mental notes (and verbal) about what's on their belts. He's soaking it in.

The policemen finish their lunches and one stops by our table as they exit. He asks Jack and Linc, "Are you two related? Do you share well? I have something for you but I only have one."

Yes, yes, we say - they will share. And the city policeman hands Jack a patch. An official patch. He says, "I wonder where that came from?" as he turns and shows us his right shoulder - now no longer sporting his city patch, just some bare threads!!!!

He seriously pulled it off his arm and gave it to my boy who LOVES policeman!!! Thank you so much kind policeman. That was awesome.

Jack can't wait to get it attached to his blue shirt or his blue coat...

Ella had a birthday...

a week ago already. She turned seven. I really can't believe it. In just the short time she has been in our lives she will be fourteen. I am not wishing it away. I am hoping to enjoy it more and more and savor every moment. I already know how quickly it passes.

I am so proud of her. She is a wonderful, sweet, kind girl who is learning to love Jesus more everyday!

She had a nice birthday. Her good friend Matilda came over on the day to celebrate with us and go out to eat with us. Then the kids and I went to visit Mom and Dad on Friday night to celebrate with them and Aaron and Will.

Lincoln did...

find a really creative way to use his peanut butter from his sandwich at lunch today. Much more creative then using it to fill his belly, like I was thinking...

Lincoln, Lincoln... I am just shaking my head at you.

A new year's trip to the beach...

No, we didn't travel to Florida. Or California. Or any place warm. :)










We went to the beach in Manistee to go sledding. It was a lot of fun. I love the picture of my mom. She's saying, "I love the beach." And she does - she doesn't mind if it's snowing. Hardly
anything keeps her away from the beach.

Hope you and your family had a great time celebrating the start of 2010!!!!!