Thursday, December 16, 2010

Stephens' Family Christmas Letter 2010...

These Are the Colors of Our Lives....

This past year has been such a whirlwind. Perhaps it is the fact that we have settled into Florida living, which means we are busy doing what people who are plugged into their community do....or perhaps it is the fact that we have a 4 and a 2 year old who have enough energy to possibly push time to move faster (quite possible).

So this year, I wanted to express the colorful aspects of our lives....

I'll start with the girls

Lily(4) is bursting at the seams with her warm smile and colorful apparel. She truly has a future in fashion as she tends to let everyone know whether or not she approves of their outfit (its usually mine she doesn't approve of).When I asked her what her favorite color is, she proceeded to tell me, "Bright Blue, Bright Pink, Bright Red, oh and Bright Purple."All of these colors now make sense to me since she changes her outfit 4 times a day just to accommodate for this exten
sive color palette.
She usually wants her hair just perfect, and we have been
working on growing out to pony tail length for about 2 years now. She is an excellent big sister to a sometimes demanding younger sister, and for that, she gets a Bright
Red Star in my book!



After asking Claire(2) five continuous times what her favorite color was, she finally looked at me like I had ten heads and said "um,purple mommy". Then she proceeded to tell Lily her favorite color was purple. Claire also has a flare for the dramatic when it comes to her outfits, the colors are usually just dramatically
clashing. Claire is also
changing her outfit 4 times a day, but usually because she
has some random food spillage or has covered herself in lotion (on the outside of her clothing) or soaked herself while washing her hands...
She has been washing her hands a lot because she is now potty trained! This is why I am giving her a Bright Yellow Star...
(brown seemed a little awkward)! Claire has become more and more verbal...and in turn has realized that she is pretty funny. Her favorite thing to do when asked is to say... "Ok Boody", which translated into English is "Ok Buddy" and then she waits for you to laugh. We can't wait tosee what kind of jokes her expanding vocabulary will present to us. She is a truly caring child and is always right there to take care of me when I don't feel well...then she asks for a cup of milk.


Brian is continually adorning the color Tan as he is always covered in sawdust. I think we have more sawdust in our dryer lint collector than we actually do lint... perhaps one day I'll come up with a sawdust/lint craft. Brian is an awesome father, and just as much as he loves to play and wrestle
with the kids, he enjoys knitting and watching a football game...what could be a better combination right? Who knows, you just might be the recipient of one of his knitting creations!






As for me, I'd have to say my color for this year was GREEN. This was because my face was Green for half of the year. In March, I found myself in the hospital for 5 days with Shingles and Viral Meningitis...I came out of that time grateful for my life and family. In July, I found out I was pregnant again, and have been battling all-day sickness up until very recently. My main goal was to try to be a good mom and wife while feeling so ill...many days I felt like I failed, but the girls were so supportive and would always remind me that it's just because of the baby that you are so 'pukey' mommy. Now that I am feeling better, I can't wait to get back into a good 'mommy' schedule and begin our 52 Week Preschool Again!



But our favorite color of the YEAR has to be BLUE! This is because in April of 2011, we will be expecting baby #3 and it is a BOY! The ultrasound technician had to show us about 12 times that it really was a boy, and I think we were both still stunned after we left. Lily and Claire are both happy about having a little brother, and Claire has actually shed a few tears about how she wants the baby to come out of my belly button right now! Lily is looking forward to exercising her mothering skills which often times are more honed than mine!

Overall, 2010 has brought us many blessings that we are looking forward to in 2011. We hope to have our home in Tahoe sold in early January which will be a bitter sweet chapter closing in our lives. We look forward to welcoming baby boy in April, and starting up Preschool again with Lily. We are excited about all the milestones and memories our family will have and can't wait to share about them with you next year! We hope you have enjoyed your Rainbow Connection to us, and we want to leave you with an Irish Quote:

“May you always have work for your hands to do.
May your pockets hold always a coin or two.
May the sun shine bright on your windowpane.
May the rainbow be certain to follow each rain.
May the hand of a friend always be near you.
And may God fill your heart with gladness to cheer you.”


God Bless you all this upcoming year,
and have an amazing family-filled Christmas!

Love, The Stephens'