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!

thanksgiving...a bit late

Well, I'm finally finding the time to update my blog about Thanksgiving! Sorry for the delay! We had a great time at the Tombrella's and the boys really loved playing with their cousins! Debbie, my mother-in-law, made an amazing spread of all the traditional foods...enough to feed an army, to-be-sure! I told her with all these boys I've got, she's going to have to teach me how to cook like that!...for an army, that is! ;) The highlight of the week was all the girls, compliments of my in-laws, had a night out on the town with dinner and the Houston Nutcracker Ballet!! What a great time we had! And all the daddies stayed behind to watch the boys and little Cate! Thank you, Debbie, for a funfilled memorable night! What a memory!
Now enjoy the pics!

Asher and his Grandma!

Chillin' at Grandma's after our big meal (which they hardly ate)!

Sweet Cousin Cate and Asher! Oh how she was taken with him! So cute!

Grandpa (after turkey?) (Sorry Robert!...I couldn't resist!)

I can't imagine where Rob gets his obsession w/ coffee...

All the girls before we headed out on the town!

At Birra Poretti's Italian restraunt...delicious!

Debbie up front with our carriage driver...Rachel treated us to a ride!

"The Michelle's" with beautiful grown up Faith!

The biggest gingerbread house I've ever seen!

Yummy!

Waiting for the show to begin...

Faith with Minnie Mouse (or so her autograph said...)

Oh, and remember my post on Dollar Store toys...

well here is one of the pictures of sad Sam with the pieces stuck on his finger.

potty training...part 2

You know in that children's book, Once Upon a Potty, when the little boy (or girl, depending on the version you have) poo-poos, but "not exactly in the potty"... Well, Joel understands that part better now!

He has officially entered the "Potty Training Zone", which in the Tombrella house, means you run around nakedy all day until you catch on. Joel had sat on the potty twice already, after showing obvious signs he needed to go. Nothing. Well, just a few minutes ago, I heard Sam and Joel talking in the hall about pooping in the potty and then Sam ran in to get me and said, "Come see Mommy, come see!" Well I thought, "Wow, in just one day we have poo-poo success?! It took Samuel weeks to achieve this!"

Well, no. We didn't quite have success. A lovely present was sitting on the bathroom floor. Joel knew he needed to go and he made it to the right room... progress or a definite leaning if you ask me! So the training continues!

I think the theme of my Christmas will be, "All I want for Christmas is my two sons in underwear, my two sons in underwear..."! he he! Happy Wednesday!

Picture Tagged...

I was tagged a few weeks ago by my friend Jeanna and I failed to respond...this time Diane "picture tagged" me and since it is easier to respond, I did. So here is my picture. Isn't he a cutie, even though he looks pretty serious! That face can still be found quite often on the countenance of my now nearly 4 year old Samuel! My how time flies!

So now it's my turn to tag. I tag Alicia, Jeanna, Kelly Ross, Erin Ball, and Lauren Sok...

tag you're it!

Go to your pictures, look in your 5th file folder, and post the 5th picture in it....have fun!

Thanksgiving happenings to come....!