o holy night... [updated with more pictures]

the stars are brightly shining // It is the night // Of the dear Savior's birth!
Long lay the world in sin and error pining // Till he appear'd and the soul felt His worth
A thrill of hope // the weary world rejoices // For yonder breaks // A new and glorious morn!
Fall on your knees // Oh hear the angel voices // Oh night divine // Oh night when Christ was born
I hope you all had a joyful Christmas Holiday! {it feels like I should pause to hear your response here, but this is a blog about the Powers family, so I will continue} :)

Ours was a whirlwind of family, fun and food!  On a side note, Adilyn was ridiculously blessed with gifts this year!  Although she wasn't as into unwrapping gifts as I thought she might be, she does seem to love all of her new toys now!  We are quickly realizing that it is time to get a jump start on finishing the basement, if only to have a place to keep everything...
Here are a few peeks (having technical difficulties - so I'll try to post more later) into our Christmas Eve & Day celebrations...

Adilyn's Christmas stocking...

the first gift of the night...Baby Jesus to lay in the manger

opening a few other gifts

blowing out one of the candles from the Birthday cake for Jesus (see Dan "not" helping)

long day for such a little girl - but she was smiling & giggling to the end!

Merry Christmas Eve with G+G Peltier

then we went home to open a couple of gifts under the tree...

Adilyn's gift to Mommy + Daddy (she made it while at daycare)

then we went to G+G Powers house for Christmas Day

All dressed up - and took your first 6 consecutive steps alone

(only Daddy & Great Aunt Cindy saw it the 1st time)

opening all of your gifts!

quick picture with Great Grandpa John + Great Grandma Grace on Christmas Day

Merry Christmas Day with G+G Powers

                                    hope you all had a wonderful Holiday with the ones you love!

almost time...

for Christmas - hard to believe it's right around the corner! As you rush around to get everything crossed off your list; throwing elbows at the woman who almost took the last toy on the shelf - just remember, Jesus is the reason for the season! I know it's a cheesy saying, but it's true and simply states why we celebrate Christmas. 

FIRST - have to say a HUGE congrats and Happy Birthday to little Jack Arthur Tenley!  He was born on December 14th and is an absolute cutie! He, Mom and Dad are doing wonderfully - and getting settled in at home.  Praise the Lord for bringing him safely into the world!

Alright - it's also almost time for Adilyn's 1st birthday!  Quick update for the most recent before January 12th sneaks up on me and it's too late!

our 11 month old!

this is more like it...always LOVES the camera!

Adi, you are more and more fun every day!  We love you so much and are so blessed to call you our daughter!  Here's what you've been up to lately:

• Pulling yourself up on EVERYTHING - or just squatting and standing
• Chatting - constantly!  You're making a lot more noises now; more sounds than just 'da da' and 'mmmm' when you eat. Once you even sounded like you said Cade! 
• Waving - actually moving your arm up and down - at anyone that will look.
• Clapping - and getting an 'audience' to follow along when you do.
• Walking...kind of - you cruise SO fast when you can hold on; but you've even taken a step or two unassisted to the safety of Dad or Mom's arms!
• You're usually up for a rousing game of Peek-a-boo.  Your laugh is contagious and we will do just about anything to hear it!
• We're not sure - but all signs point to you teething (for real this time)...I even saw some white stuff close to the surface of your gums - so we'll see!

It's also been an eventful few days - with the Holiday Season in full swing!  We spent some time at Mom & Corrie's house making lefsa with Aunt Cindy + Uncle Craig and Cousins Bonnie + Becky. It was a great time - we even had a flour fight! 

Dan manning one of the lefsa pans 

Adi even got in on the action - well kind of... 

I'm not sure who slept longer...I think Daddy :) 

This look about captures your spirit these days - always up to something...gnawing away at that apple too!

Grandpa Dale came & Christmas came early - your first present!  

though you seemed to also like the box...  

Then we went over to Aunt Sarah + Uncle Alan's house to celebrate the Dale Family Christmas...it was almost 50 degrees, so we were able to enjoy a bonfire outside! 

Even the Floridian, Grandpa could be outside to enjoy MN weather in December! 

some of the family gathered around the fire... 

I'm so glad you came to visit us this Christmas, Grandpa! 

I hope you all are enjoying time with family and friends as we near Christmas. 

it's beginning to look a lot like...winter!

We've seen quite the turn in weather here in MN over the last couple of weeks.  It wasn't "warm" on Thanksgiving day here, but it definitely wasn't undeniable that winter is here - unlike now.  All that means to us is it's time to start hibernating - which means a couple of things: staying indoors as much as possible & spending time with friends and family.  I know it sounds kind of odd, but there's something about cold weather, snow on the ground and Christmas lights that makes me feel like it's time to reach out to all of our friends - old and new and catch up after a busy summer, spring & fall. 
Adilyn is getting ready for her 2nd official MN winter...

 Dan and I have been loving the quality time we've been able to steal away with Adilyn lately.  Here's the latest:

• Dancing! She loves to move around when she hears a good song - pretty funny since her style is to hold onto a surface with one hand and raise the other in the air while smiling/shrieking.
• Cruising - around furniture, walls, appliances, anything she can place her hands on and she is getting FAST (and getting into some trouble as you can see below...)

• Playing peek-a-boo - behind walls, blankets, towels or anything we toss over her eyes.
• Dan has also been 'testing' Adilyn for her "IQ Test" with the UofM Children's Hospital when she turns 1 - he will show her an object and hide it under one of two towels - last time, she pulled the right one 3 out of 4 times! 
• Adi has also started to do what we consider blowing kisses - she started one morning and chose to direct her first ones at the ceiling light in her room...it was pretty precious anyway!                

               

• We also had another first - Adi got her first case of pink eye this past weekend.  As far as we know - no one else got it from her and she was able to get drops and go back to daycare after a day at home with Mom.
• Something else I've noticed is that when Adilyn gets sleepy and is ready to hunker down and cuddle with us, she still keeps her foot/feet moving - it's pretty adorable, because her Daddy happens to do the exact same thing before he falls asleep at night.  :)
• BREAKING NEWS: Tonight, Adi was being a bit fussy - and clamped down on one of my fingers.  After feeling around a bit, I definitely identified a bump on her top right gum - and was able to sneak a peek at something pushing its way to the surface!  We'll see how long it takes for that thing to bust through - hopefully it will go quickly!
• The chatting (da-da, ma-ma + random noises), constant motion, waves, smiles and laughs continue! 

 Adilyn Rose - you are such a joy to us!  It's VERY hard for me to believe that you are 3 days from being 11 months old!  It seems like just yesterday we were just dreaming about you - wondering what you'd look like, be like.  We are still praying and dreaming for your future - but you should know, we are loving every minute WITH you now! We love you baby girl!

We also spent some time putting up the Christmas tree - though we had to go in stages while Adi was napping to get the tree up and lights on without someone getting tangled up!

And some fun just playing with the lights!

(side note: she does almost everything with her tongue peeking out these days - reminds me of my dear friend KMT) :)

Hope you're all enjoying these cozy, winter days!

thankful to be grateful...

Hopefully you all had a wonderful and Happy Thanksgiving!  We did our best to eat copious amounts of Thanksgiving day food (on and before the day), napped, spent time with family and friends and counted our many blessings!  We are truly so grateful for all of God's blessings on our lives.  It is especially meaningful to remember back even 10 months ago to the arrival of our beautiful little girl - you changed our world, Adilyn and we are SO grateful for that! 

We were fortunate enough to celebrate Thanksgiving 3 times...here are a few shots of each day!

#1: playing with all of my second cousins at the Huddleston Family Thanksgiving

Oops - did I wake you up, Daddy?

#2: DUPI Thanksgiving - our 6th annual celebration hosted by Justin + Mary Uran!  SO much fun I didn't even get more pictures and we forgot to take a group picture this year! 

Here's Adi with her friends Riggins + Alli (not pictured: Lily + Ethan)..apparently the car rides lulled them all to sleep!

#3: Thanksgiving Day at Grandma + Grandpa Peltier's house

helping out in the kitchen while Dad made gravy

All of the fixins!

finding my seat at the table

Nothing says a Holiday like a post-meal nap with Daddy!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

changing up

Alright - couple more updates while we're at it for you to digest with your Turkey dinner tomorrow!

Remember this photo from a while back? Adilyn's debut as a 'baby model' for Halo Sleep Sacks?  Well, this was the result...

We're hoping it doesn't go to her head...

I think she was more interested in eating the paper than cashing it...

...or maybe not - heading to the bank!

Maybe it's too late and it's all gone to her head...? I don't think so :)

VERY difficult to get a 10 month picture with this little one! 

That smile makes it all worth it!

Here's what you've been up to lately, peanut: 

• ALL smiles
• Dancing to the beat (of anything you hear) - and you're not shy about it at all!
• Pulling yourself up on everything you can - even letting go for 10-15 seconds before you realize it and plop down onto your bottom again
• Shrieking less (which we all appreciate) - though they still come out from time to time; usually in public to humble Mommy
• Sleeping even more (10-12 hours/night)
• Signs of teeth coming to the surface (potentially causing the incremental sleep)
• Eating more 'real' foods - you've even tried some garlic mashed potatoes - plus some Cheerios and canned fruits
• Laughing when you hear us say "no, no" to something (usually turning the XBox on + off repeatedly)
•  "Waving" to everyone that will smile at you (mostly just sticking your left arm straight out in the air)
• CLAPPING - you LOVE clapping for any reason or no reason at all

You are a joyful, friendly, outgoing + very active little girl and we just LOVE every moment with you!

Love you baby girl!