Blessed

So far, this Christmas has been filled with magic, wonder and family... all the way from down the street to Juneau, Alaska! 

Morgan and Dylan, the sweet and adventurous cousin-duo from AK were the height of conversation around the Sowa household for weeks! Dylan and Morgan entertained and won over the hearts of Emma Rose and Porter all over again on Christmas Eve!

Grandpa Jerry was so thrilled to have everyone that he decided to sing "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" for the whole family! It was by far the best night-before-Christmas ever!

The next morning, Santa visited our home... and was real enough to honor Porter's wish for a big bouncy ball and a red marker.  He even left Porter half of one of his cookies, ensuring his goodness and real-ness!

Emma Rose's favorite Christmas-morning present: fancy shoes...Mama's girl, or what?

And Porter was equally thrilled about the shoes...

Until (to Daddy's relief) he got a big, huge truck.  He was so adorably excited about everything this year...

 Emma Rose hammed it up the night of Christmas with the Leavitt family.  She was in 7th heaven entertaining all who would watch her.

Caroline, one of the CO cousins who is just a year older than Emma Rose, is the "big girl" that Emma Rose adores at any and all family gatherings.

...But on the way to the Christmas celebration, both Porter and Emma Rose fought over who would be able to hold baby Haley, a year behind Emma Rose, first!

A funny picture of Porter's favorite cousin, Ansley:

Here is a picture of Emma Rose, guarding her new, favorite toy, a vacuum cleaner (if only it were real...)

What a fun Christmas this was...the kids were at SUCH a fun age together. 

We are so blessed by our family; sometimes we forget how much love and possibility and fun we are surrounded by in the midst of the day-to-day-ness of life and holidays.  We are so grateful for our family.  More than anything, we are grateful that Jesus was born to show us how to, as we tell Porter & Emma Rose, "be nice to others just because we love them."  How many amazing blessings we have in family and friends, and our God.