Holidays Are Joyful!

Mignon and Musette in their Holiday sweaters!

Bret and Aydan cutting the tree.Aydan and Shawn with the puppies at the tree farm...

Aydan, decorating the tree.

Aydan's favorite corner of the living room!

The Christmas tree!

Christmas Eve brought out some friends, Dave and Michelle Chapman, and their baby, Harriet.

Grace Chapman, Aydan, and Sydney Thomas listen to Christmas stories.

Maryn, thoroughly engrossed in the Christmas story...

....and helping Brinna to read the "Texas Night Before Christmas"!

Ryan and Alisha Thomas enjoy playing with their son Josh's toys.

The creative Nativity scene, with all the kids involved!

Josh, Sydney, Aydan and Grace...excited for Santa!

Its Christmas Jammie time!

Aydan actually took this picture...not bad! (that's Jake, Maryn's boyfriend on the right)

Christmas morning and Brinna still looks great!

Maryn and Aydan with their gifts to each other...creepy, squirmy laboratory...

Clayton and Maryn are excited about their presents to each other.

Aydan and Bret will be playing lots of games and doing lots of inventions...

Hey, Musette, get out of the way! (nice Christmas sweater, though)

Mignon, resting after a long day...

It was a crazy holiday season this year, with Shawn traveling 5 different places in 6 weeks! But Christmas came and went anyway, and it was a good one---good friends, some old and some new, great family times, late nights and way too much food! The New Year found Bret, Aydan and Shawn in New York state and the rest of the family in many different places, so we said our "Happy New Years" via cell phone, but the feeling was still the same...Bret and Shawn cherish this family a lot and look forward to when we can all be together.

Life is simpler now, with a small "saltbox" house we've rented and the household down to just three....(well, six, counting the puppies and the cat) We go on walks with the puppies and thrill at the New England world around us, and look forward to birthdays of Aydan, Maryn and Brinna in January and Feb. and visits to Utah to see the G-babies in March.

Life is good.

The attached 1820 Saltbox that is our home. (not the large front building, but the back one)

It's really just the servant's quarters to the big house, (it used to be a school)
but we love it!

The view of the old town center from our front door.

New Year, New Babies!

Lane and Lucy on the day they were born...

Aydan had to wear a mask, as he was getting over a cold!

Lucy on the left and Laney on the right

Mila and Ethan holding the twins---all in their Christmas jammies!

Hailey and
Ethan holding one of the twins, and the most beautiful stocking stuffers in the world!

I returned home just before Christmas, after spending 9 days with the sweetest little things in the world...my NEW G-babies! Hailey had her twins on Nov. 29th, quite early from their due date of Dec. 31st. Lucy and Lane are their names----two darling girls, and the most beautiful miniature babies that you have ever seen! Lucy was 3 lbs. 14 oz. and Lane was 4 lbs. 10 oz. They had to stay in the hospital an extra week, but both came home within a few days of each other.

I had to go to Brazil the week that they were born, so Ben's mother came for a week to help them, and my sister Margy helped also, until I could go to Utah to help...

I had SUCH a wonderful time with those little ones! They are so special and tiny and the small cries that they made were like the most beautiful music that I had ever heard... What can I say? I love babies...

Congratulations, Hailey and Ben, for giving us and the world such wonderful, beautiful and bright children. We all love you for it!