Lunar Eclipse

Tonight, for the first time in over 450 years, there's a lunar eclipse on New Year's Eve. The next one isn't supposed to be for another 200 years or so. As we close out an amazing 2009 for our family with all of its ups and downs, and look forward to what's ahead, tonight's "show" in the sky reminded me of who is really in control and I'm so thankful for that. We look forward to 2010 and all that will come with it, and hope your New Year is filled with many blessings as well. Here's one of the shots I was able to get of it in case you missed it!

First ride on the bikes!!!

Well, we had a little rain around here, which was nice because it was actually warmer, so it melted the ice-rink we had out in back of our house. SO, we quickly went out this morning to test out the bikes! The girls were so excited to put their little helmets on, and get to it! There's some learning that has to be done, but they loved it and are looking forward to more!

Hannah gets on...all geared up!

She's ready to go!

Peddling hard...she's going to figure this out pretty quick!

Look at that smile! She loves it...and as you can tell, (Daddy's going to love it too with the steering/push handle built in)

Ok, so Hannah had just ridden down this hill, and Cailyn wanted to also...not a big hill, not going fast. But, it only took a second and a massive whip of the wheel to the left, and down she went...so we've had our first fall. As you can tell, I was too slow...

And, of course, the tears...but we'll be ready to go another day!!!

Christmas morning at the Deibel's house

Ok, so we have a couple videos of the morning that we wanted to share with our friends and family. The first is of the girls as they came down the stairs to see their stockings on the table...the excitement as they saw what they got is awesome! The video after is of the "big surprise" gifts we gave them. I've always looked forward to that Christmas when we'd give the kids their first bikes, so we snuck into the room we had them hid in, and taped their reactions...a sweet Merry Christmas at the end of that one from both of the girls. We do hope that you had a very Merry Christmas, and we pray many blessings on you, wherever you are, and we thank you for following our blog, supporting us with your thoughts, and all the blessings we have because of you, whether you're family or friend. Merry Christmas from the Deibel Crew!!!

Do you ever wonder...

...what happens just after a great adorable video is taken of kids singing a wonderful Christmas song for all their friends and loved ones to enjoy? Well...wonder no more! We present the "outtake" of the girls singing Away in a Manger...

...another sunset

As we get closer to Christmas, I'm amazed every day at how early the sun is going down, as I've said on here before. Well, today was an absolutely gorgeous day, so around 4:15, we raced down to the beach to see the sun setting. Glad we got there when we did! It was on it's way down, and we probably would have missed it had we got there too much later. I got several shots of it, but to me, this was the best of them...

...for your Christmas spirit

Bed time at our house usually consists of a story, prayer and a song. Since it's Christmas, we've been doing Christmas songs, and one of the girls favorites is Away in a Manger. They've come up with some "sign-language" for it and sing it so sweetly, I just had to get it on video and post it for you all. So, from our family to yours, we're wishing you a great Christmas season! (by the way, I'm singing in it too, and my apologies...they were having a hard time staying focused the first couple tries so I had to help them get through the song. Enjoy anyway! LOL)

Santa's Lap!

On Sunday, our village had their local Christmas fair, held in Hannah's school. It was a great event, and probably 80% of the community showed up to it at one time or another. There were crafts for sale, cookies and things for sale, and of course, plenty of tea and coffee. All proceeds were going to Hannah's school for fund-raising purposes. We had a lot of fun talking with people we knew, meeting new people and just having fun. The girls got their faces painted (which they were VERY excited about!!) and of course, they got to meet Santa. Now, since I'm a former kid myself, and have seen many Santa's, I have to say, this was the coolest Santa experience I've ever seen! When we got into the gym, we gave the workers the kids name and ages, and paid our fee for the sitting. Once we finally were brought into the room, it was magical! It kind of made me think of a Haunted house or something the way the first room was darkened and decorated (like Christmas, not Halloween!) and you had to walk to different room where Santa was. He was sitting in his throne-looking chair flanked by a decorated tree and a mocked-up chimney. All done well, and not cheesy looking at all - you really felt like you were walking into a story-book! So, Santa asked the girls (mind you, this is all in Irish, so we'd done some practice before we went into the room) what they wanted for Christmas, and of course they told him. He went through the usual, "Have you been good" etc. and just complimented them on how sweet they were. Then, all of a sudden, down the chimney came 2 bags! One each with their name on them packed with a few age-appropriate gifts like a coloring book and markers for Hannah and a toy music player for Cailyn; and of course some sweets! Santa presented them to the girls, and wished us all a Merry Christmas, and out the door we went. It was SO fun! I'm sure that may be the longest Santa's lap-sitting story you'll ever hear, but to us, it was just very awesome, and the girls really loved it. Around our house (*spoiler alert*) we know that Santa is make-believe, but we do understand that there's a lot of fun in pretending. It was a great day out, and here' the picture they sent us home with of the girls sitting on Santa's lap.

Stroll contintued...

Here's a few more pictures from our stroll the other night...

We had just come around from behind a house and the girls caught a glimpse of an airplane in the sky...

The sun-setting over the islands just off the coast

As we were walking back, the site of the sunset reflecting in the windows of the pub near our house was spectacular

And the favorite of the evening...the girls sharing a secret...

Evening Stroll...

One of the best parts about having the sun go down at 5pm is that the girls are awake for it. In the summer, it can be well past 11pm before it goes down, so it's virtually never dark for them. So, on clear days, we try to go out and walk and enjoy the cool evening air and see a cool sunset. While Jen was doing some stuff around the house, I bundled the girls up and we headed down a road near our house. It was a really fun walk, and I got some great shots of the girls...

Love the expression on Cailyn's face!

All of a sudden, they both had these blank stares on their faces...

What a cutie!

Sweet smile!

Trying to get some emotion in the photo-shoot, I asked Hannah to tell me about something at school...she was so into this story, and I got this when she was telling me that she got to go run in her little basketball room "2 times!!!"