Merry and Bright... and busy!!

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season this year. We had such an sweet first Christmas with our little girl. It was so fun beginning new traditions as a family. Finley was such a trooper through all of the houses and families we went to see and actually loved the paper and tape much more than anything anyone got her. I can't wait till next year..... only 11 months to go.

I hosted Richard's family this year at our new house. Since we've been away really since we've been married I've never had the opportunity until now. It was fun and a little stressful at the same time... but it was my turn. :-) Here are some photos from our holidays...

Total Chaos!!

Finley and Emily loved their babies!

I finally got to use my fine china... it's only been 51/2 years!

Granddaddy cutting the Turkey

We all ate very well

No Place like Home for the Holidays

I have had the best time decorating our new home for Christmas. The past 2 years we have had to pick and choose what we can have while living like sardines so this year I let it all come out. Yes I do get into it a little more than most but I get it honestly from my mom.... we used to kid her when we were younger that our house could be mistaken for a landing strip with all the spotlights that she had going!!
Finley has loved all the lights we have up and every morning her and daddy turn on the lights together. She loves to wave at the tree and has been really good about not touching it. We have had a couple of tornados come through our North Pole Village but anything can be fixed with a little super glue... right? I love this time of year and am already dreading putting everything up.
Here are a few pics from around the Vanhook House:

New York, New York

This past weekend Richard and I met our DC friends MJ and Kelly in NYC for the weekend. Thankfully after our flights were cancelled and rebooked we finally made it Friday afternoon. This was only the 2nd time we have left Finley to go out of state but she was well taken care of while we were gone by her Papa and Granna and Aunt Mary Kathryn, along with some help from cousins Mary Mills and Abby. We had a great time and it was great to catch up with MJ and Kel.
Here are some pics from the weekend:

Kelly and I in Little Italy

Richard and I in Central Park


Bike in Central Park with lots of Christmas Spirit

Kelly and I by Central Park Ice Skating Rink

Kelly and MJ in Central Park in front of The Plaza

Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree

Macy's Store Window

I know I know….. NO EXCUSES!!!

Ok maybe just a few…. I know I have been a bad blogger but not having internet for 3 whole months really can get you off a blogging routine. I’ll call it a sabbatical and I shall be a better blogger from hence forth. ( or something like that?)

Well to say a lot has happened since July 27th would be an understatement. I will try and recap the last 4.5 months in as little time as possible but try and hit all the key things.

We moved away from our life in DC and moved back home to Arkansas. The adjustment was harder on me than I thought it would be. I knew this is where we needed to be and had wanted to be closer to family for a while but so much changed so quickly. Richards job in which he travels some was a big change, we had really grown to love the area we were in up there and we loved our friends up there like family, and Finley was changing so much. We also moved into a rent house that was a little depressing with no internet (could not get it in the area at all!!!) and not in the best neighborhood at first so that didn’t help either. So I spent a lot of time in Searcy with my parents while Richard was on the road which was another excuse for not blogging.

Things started to change though when we found our house…. or should I say home. We were planning on building and had even met with a builder a couple of times when a great house came open in a great neighborhood in our price range. We thought it was too good to be true and when we went to look at it the owners were actually a couple we knew from college. I knew it was our “home” when I first walked through the front doors. So we made an offer and they accepted later that week. Richard’s job started to settle to where he worked from home most of the time. And we began to meet new friends and found a church that we felt like we could plant our lives.

Finley changes more and more everyday. She is so much fun and is really starting to show personality. She is now almost 9 months and is crawling at lightning speed and pulling up on everything that will stay still. She has even began standing up and balancing on her own. She is talking all the time and I think she will not have a problem giving her opinion to anyone.

Her new favorite things to do are:

• Ride her car while her daddy pushes her,
• Ride in a shopping cart like a big girl and see how many people she can get to look and smile at her
• Put anything and everything in her mouth
• Stand at the window and look outside
• Dance, dance, dance,
• Take long baths and splash a lot
• Look at the Christmas tree and wave at it
• Have her daddy mock what she is doing
• Play peek a boo
• Have you chase after her
  

Some of her not so favorite things:

• Being told no
• Taking medicine
• Getting into her carseat
• Not getting your full attention
• Getting her nose wiped

God is good and we see that his timing is perfect. We love being back near family and getting to have “date nights” again. We love that when people say bad traffic down here we know we can handle it. We love the slower pace and the friendliness of the south once again. I can honestly say that enjoy going to Wal-mart supercenters as well… most of the time. It’s good to be home!!

Here are a few photos from the last 4 months.