End of 2008...

Okay, finally....the end of 2008 was a whirlwind of activity for the Tombrella family! We celebrated Sam's 4th birthay, Rob and I had our 9th anniversary, our first Christmas at home as a family, and then our annual Christmas trip down to Houston and Santa Fe to celebrate with our extended families! The boys had a blast and totally got into the every aspect of Christmas! They loved doing the advent calendar each day with us and adding the next character to the nativity scene, they loved watching "The Very First Noel" and "Polar Express" time and time again, reading all our Christmas books, and making our annual gingerbread house! This year we went ahead and added in a touch of Santa and even left him a special double stuffed cookie with a glass of milk! The boys thought it was great and were so impressed and amazed when the cookie was gone the next day and note had been left telling them thanks! Most of all, it was just extremely special for Rob and I to enjoy Christmas Eve worshipping with our beloved church family and then beginning a new tradition of Rob reading each one of us a letter that highlighted what the Lord had done during the year and anticipated all that He will do in each of our lives in the coming one! What a special memory that night was for us! And after the boys were put to bed and the toys were assembled and ready for the morning, Rob and I sat on the couch together and I pondered afresh the kindness and goodness of the Lord in our children...just four and half years ago we were dreaming of such Christmases and wondering if we would ever celebrate with even one child in our family...now we have three amazing boys and a plethera (is that how you spell it?) of memories of how they have blessed our lives! All glory to God for the miracle and blessing of children!

And now, please enjoy a few pics from our Christmas! I am not very good at remembering to have the camera handy, so my pickin's were slim, but enjoy just the same. (And to my sister Alicia, I am so embarrassed and sad that I hardly have any pictures of you with Asher...please forgive me! I hope you got more than I did in our time together...I love you!)

Reading before bed...so fun!

Sam's b-day cake...not as good as if my mom had
been there to help me!

Me and my big boys!

Opening up another "for both" gifts...they got a lot of those!

Our finished gingerbread house...an edible masterpiece!

My parents and all their grandkids!

Rob's parents and almost all their grandkids...

Cate and the new nephew (due in June) were missing!

Future kicker for the Cowboys!

And the future Cowboys QT!

My Meme and I with sweet Asher!