All Things New

We finished up 2012 with two lazy and wonderful weeks of celebrating Christmas and spending time with family. John didn't have to report to the office during the holidays and not having him rush off every morning when we've barely just woken up is one of my favorite parts about December. I got to snuggle in bed a little longer and enjoy my morning coffee a few times while he got up with our early birds and fixed breakfast. Ahh, if only it could have lasted forever. Today I was running around like a crazy person trying to get the kids out the door by mid-morning because I apparently have forgotten how to do it by myself. Oh how I miss you already, two-parents-at-home life of leisure.

Christmas was so fun with such excited little ones and their equally excited cousins.
 It just gets better every year. Here are a few of the highlights.

                                   

 

As John and I celebrated New Years this week, we both agreed that we are more than ready to say good-bye to 2012. See ya later! It was a good year, but one with a great deal of sorrow and trials. God has stretched us and tested us, and yet we have found Him to be so faithful and loving to us amidst the heartbreak. We are eagerly anticipating the new things that are coming in the year ahead. The biggest being that Gavin will HEAR this year! Whether God chooses to heal him through His miraculous power or through the medical miracle of cochlear implants, we are giddy with the thought of our son hearing our voices in only a few short months from now. It just can't get here soon enough.

My verse for this year that God has really been laying heavy on my heart is this:

"Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a NEW thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the dessert and streams in the wasteland."
-Isaiah 43:18,19

That is just some powerful scripture, no matter where you find yourself starting out this year. God is going to do big and amazing things, because it's in His nature and, well, He just can't keep Himself from being Himself. He loves us way too much.

Happy 2013!

The Pool is Open

I love long weekends, especially when they involve relaxing and swimming at my parent's house. We spent the whole day there today for our first swim of the summer and it was so nice. We even got to enjoy a last minute visit from my sister Kim and her family, which made for some very happy cousins splashing around together. Happy Memorial weekend!

Our silly Norah, decked out in her brother's baseball hat, too-big goggles full of water, licking up all the salt water while she swims, and fearlessly jumping off the diving board before any of the older kids would give it a try. 

Great Grandma Dee, always ready to play and splash with her kiddos, and baby Harry

The boys, Charlie, Jack, and Eli armed and dangerous with their water guns

Easter Eggstravaganza

Today we hosted an Easter egg decorating and egg hunt party for all of the Costello cousins. There were 13 kids here, 11 participating in the festivities, and lots and lots of chaos. Eli's competitive spirit (that he inherited in heavy doses from both his parents) came out strong during the egg hunt and then he talked his cousin Max into hiding on the side of the house to eat their candy in secret after they were finished. We're pretty sure he ate a pack of fruit snacks, a large PB Egg, and a handful of jellybeans before we caught onto him. Can't say I wouldn't have or didn't do the same thing when I was almost 4 years old.

It was a great afternoon and the start of a fun Easter tradition that we all agreed to carry on in the family in the years to come. These kids are all so blessed to have their cousins as their closest friends. Happy Easter!

 The Decorating

The Hunt begins....and that tongue means business

The smiles of success and wow is this family growing

Christmas Highlights 2011

Christmas this year was wonderful and busy and full of family activities as usual. It would be impossible (and frankly, boring) if I were to share all the many happenings of the past month, so I will spare you the details and skip right to my favorite parts...


Annual Costello Sibling's Christmas dinner, hosted to perfection by Sam and Jen this year

Getting the surprise of a lifetime when my parents flew my sister's family home from France for Christmas and they all showed up at my front door late at night and nearly gave me a heart-attack.

Getting to spend lots of time with these giggly girls who couldn't be closer if they were sisters...

and these wild boys who melt your heart as they pelt you with Nerf bullets

Watching the magic of Santa come alive for Eli this year and remembering him asking if we needed to leave cookies out for him or if Santa would just "help himself in our fridge"

Having our own special time on Christmas eve morning to watch the kids open their gifts and exchanging stockings with John

Spending Christmas eve day with the Costello crew where we enjoyed a delicious brunch and relaxing afternoon with our wonderful family

My parent's annual Christmas eve party and the beautiful dresses Grandma bought the girls

Boy's pull-up contest Christmas morning where my husband was crowned the champion and scored us a Cheesecake Factory gift card and night of babysitting courtesy of my parents

The chaos of 8 children opening gifts at the same time and not being sure where to look or focus

Spending time with the world's greatest, great-grandma who asked for a rocking chair for Christmas so she could rock all of her babies. Do you not just love her?

Papa Bob and part of his future baseball team who have no idea how lucky they are to have such an amazing Grandpa

A childhood story published into an actual children's book written by my mom (and worked on for months and months) as a special gift for my Grandpa

Watching this blue-eyed firecracker trying her best to keep up with all her cousins

The annual matching pajamas picture with all the Johnson kiddos and our newest addition this year, baby Harry!

"Fishing for dollars" competition in the hot-tub where each fish was worth a different dollar amount

 Passing around baby Harry for some much needed newborn snuggle time

And though quiet moments have been few in the past week, when I take a second to reflect on my Savior,  my family, and my blessings, I am nothing but overwhelmed with gratefulness. This Christmas was truly a special one filled with everyone that I love in one place and lots of memories that will leave me smiling long after the tree comes down.

 "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore." 

Isaiah 9:6-7