Santa and the Reindeer Sighting...

As I catch up on Christmas blog post I have to include the night we went to see

Santa and the reindeer.

The line was long but this year we were inside so we were at least warm and

cozy.

While Curtis and I waited inside with Gabriella, Nicholas went outside to check on

the reindeer.  He told us that there were two big reindeer and a baby reindeer

and they were really cute!  As soon as we saw Santa we would go see the

reindeer.

Santa was extremely nice and attentive and Gabriella didn't have a fear in the

world sitting and chatting with him!

After we saw Santa we went out to see the reindeer; it seems that we just

missed them as they had to fly back to the North Pole! 

There were some nice girls who asked if we would take their picture and they

would in turn take ours...so we took them up on it!  The following Sunday morning

after leaving our unbelievable Christmas program at our church, which included a

live camel among other animals, we were walking out to our car when a very nice

lady stopped us.  She asked Gabriella if she would like to see something.  She

 opened the side door of her van and there was a tiny baby reindeer!!!  We were

simply amazed!!!  We later found out this is the same family that provides

reindeer to where we were the night before!  The lady was very kind in allowing

 us to see her reindeer and apologized that we missed them the evening

before! This is one thing I love about the city where we live; the spirit of

thoughtfulness and kindness is so prevalent here!  Recently we were just voted

as the most optimistic city in America; I would have to say I totally agree and it's

 a wonderful place to call home!

Brothers and Sisters...

Gabriella has such a unique relationship with each of her brothers:)

Jordan spoils her and baby's her like none other!  We had a meeting to attend

 and even though Jordan wasn't feeling well he pulled out the cookie dough,

cookie cutters, decorations along with making icing so he and Gabriella could

decorate Christmas cookies together...like three weeks before Christmas!

She had a great time eating the icing and decorating the cookies with her big bro!

Their finished product:)

As many of you know Gabriella and Nicholas spent a lot of time working through

their new positions within the family.  Namely, Nicholas had been the baby for

over twelve years prior to Gabriella coming home from China. I can happily say

that this dynamic duo has come a l-o-n-g way and realized there is plenty of love

to go around for each one!

Daniel and Gabriella prove that personalities can be very similar even if you

happen to come from two totally different parts of the world!  When they first

met Daniel had to try really hard to get on her good side...let's say he

had definitely met his match!  Now she squeals with excitement any time she

knows she will talk to him, see him or be able to spend time together.   She loves

each of her brothers unconditionally and I can say that they all feel

the same about her.  They have all said they can't imagine their life without her

and God definitely knew who the  perfect little sister would be for each of them!