I swiped this from a friend's website...so deep!

In times of change, the learners will inherit the world, while the knowers remain well prepared for a world that no longer exists. -Eric Hoffer

1st Loose Tooth!!!

On New Year's Day, Reese lost his very first loose tooth! It began to wiggle only the night before. And that quickly, it fell out! He was a little bit afraid, not understanding what in the world was happening to him, so I calmly explained what was going on. And I reassurred him that everyone else has lost a tooth too! Even little cousin Mikayla has her 2 front teeth missing at the moment, so it was comforting to him to see that he had a toothless companion.

Marina, on the other hand, refuses to believe that she will ever lose a 'toof' because she insists that her 'teef' are already sharp!

Morales Christmas

We celebrated Christmas with my side of the family, on New Year's Day. Dinner at Jenae & Tony's house. Board games. Gift exchange. And of course, MUSIC!!! There's always a lot of music involved in our gatherings. I don't mean a boom box or an ipod playing. I mean live music! Somebody is always strumming on a guitar or playing a song on Jenae's baby grand piano. And if there is no instrument around, we start a beat by tapping different patterns on our dinner glasses, until every person is involved, creating a percussion set that even Blue Man Group would envy! And if we're simply scrubbing dishes in the kitchen, someone will inevitably sing out a tune, and soon enough we are all harmonizing. We are a very musical family, and I just love how music is such an integral part of our family times! Here are some snapshots from our Christmas gathering.

Bringing in 2009!!!

True to tradition, we started out the evening by meeting Ryan's family at church for communion. We love to group together around Pastor Ron as he prays for each member of our family (from the oldest to youngest) and for blessings in the new year. Then he passes us out communion and we spend a few moments remembering what Christ has done for us. It's an amazing time of reflection...both on the past as well as the future. How blessed we are. And how grateful we feel for the continous way our God showers us with love.

Then, we headed out to Heather's house to join some of our closest friends in a New Year's celebration!

All Dressed Up...

...the kiddies...all dressed up for church in their Christmas outfits...

Christmas Day @ the Brody's

Brody Family
All smiles (except Marina! My word!)











Another Christmas Day, spent with my sweet hubby!

As every year, Christmas Day was spent at Grandma and Papa Brody's house. Extended family joined us as we ate a Christmas meal and exchanged gifts.

Here is Ryan with his grandmother, 'Mom Riefke.' She spends the entire year gathering special gifts to give to her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren on Christmas Day.

Christmas Morning

Christmas Eve morning...traditional breakfast with our best friends, the Grove's.
Christmas Eve dinner...Grandma & Papa's house, lotsa food, lotsa gifts, lotsa fun.

Christmas Morning...kids woke us up at 7:30am. Gifts from Santa were waiting under the tree and gifts from Grandma & Papa (from the night before) were carefully set up and displayed on the couches for the kids to see when they reached the bottom stair. (Mark stayed up with us last night to help set everything up, since this was his first year knowing that Santa isn't real...now he gets to be in on fooling his siblings!) The time is 8:20am and Daddy and Mommy are heading back to bed!









"Don't bother me...I'm playing with my new dollhouse..."