Funny Girl!

Anna and Grandaddy had a blast playing with the wrapping paper rolls over Christmas. Not sure who had more fun. As you can tell Anna makes us smile a good bit. A great example of this is a conversation that took place at a Chick-fil-A not too long ago between Anna and a woman sitting at a booth behind us. Eating at a "restaurant" as Anna says is one of her favorite things to do as she gets to people watch and interact with so many.

Anna: "You have shakemilk?"
Me: (interpreting) "milkshake"
Woman: "No, I am drinking coke. When you get to be a big girl you can have coke too."
Anna: "You wear underwear?"
Me: (apologetically) "We are potty training and we have told her that big girls wear underwear."
Woman: "Yes, I wear underwear. Do you wear underwear?"
Anna: "Yes"

We are so proud of our big girl. She has been wearing underwear since November 1st with only one accident to report. Anna just made up her mind one day that she was ready for underwear. More than likely there would not have even been a single accident if she didn't have a mom who rarely remembers to ask her if she needs to use the bathroom. Potty training had been taken off my radar once Aiden arrived. Anna had other plans though. She has amazed us as we rarely prompt her to go. But it is VERY nice only having one in diapers during the day!

The real reason for it all!

Our 2 1/2 year old surely helped us keep the real meaning of Christmas in perspective this year. A little over 2 years ago, shortly after Anna was born, I was asked to be a part of a group that was making Jesse Tree ornaments. We each made 25 of one ornament and then exchanged them. Giving each family 25 different ornaments, one for each day leading up to Christmas in December. The ornaments correspond with a story in the bible that ultimately prepares you for the coming of baby Jesus. Although we have had the ornaments for the past two years this was our first year of reading through the Jesse Tree book, the corresponding scripture and hanging the ornaments on a small tree. We thought Anna would be old enough this year to begin to grasp some of the concepts. Little did we know how much she would understand and how excited she would be about hanging a small ornament each night. It was the highlight of each day. We were blessed listening to her recap what she had gathered from each story. It was amazing how much she began to understand sin. She refers to it as disobeying and will either give you the example of Adam and Eve eating the apple or someone pinching. Little minds. One of our favorite moments in sharing with her was when we were reviewing the story of Abraham. The night before we had shared with her about Abraham having to sacrifice Isaac. We asked her the next night," what present did Abraham give God instead of Isaac?" She looked at us very seriously and immediately said, "Livy." We have good friends who have twins the same age as Anna. Their names are Isaac and Livy. Another night we were talking about Jesus coming back to earth or as Anna refers to it, "Greenboro (Greensboro)." Anna immediately had multiple questions, "Jesus have car, Jesus walk, Jesus have backpack, Jesus have puter (computer) like daddy?"

Christmas Eve was another reminder of the excitement of Christ's birth through the eyes of a child. Anna was so excited about going to the Christmas Eve service at our church. She could hardly wait to sing. She kept asking us over and over again if we would sing, "Go Tell it on the Mountain." This is one of her favorite songs right now. She knows it word for word. We told her there was a possibility we would sing it. After the first song was sung, Anna blurted out for all to hear around us, "Go tell it on the Mountain." Sure enough, moments later the words to her favorite song appeared on the screen. Those sitting around us turned around and smiled at our sweet girl and continued to watch her as she clapped and tapped her foot as we sang those wonderful words!

Anna was surely excited to open presents on Christmas morning but nothing compared to the birthday celebration for Jesus. Yes, a new basketball goal was thrilling but it paled in comparison to singing happy birthday to Jesus and blowing out his birthday candles on the cake she had decorated. I believe we lit the candles at least three times and sang "Happy Birthday" five times with Anna's voice towering over everyone else's. Before we had Jesus' party, Anna kept asking when we were going to celebrate Jesus' birthday. She knew the real celebrating had not taken place!

Thank you Anna for reminding us why we celebrate this time of year.
"But the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.'"

Luke 2:10-12

My little helper!

(More Christmas pictures to come but still trying to catch-up on posts from the last two months!)

Most of the day Anna is my little side-kick. A lot of the time Anna will do whatever task I am doing with her toys. For example, if I am cleaning up the kitchen she will go to her play kitchen and begin to wash dishes. If I am wiping the kitchen floor she will get on her hands and knees with a rag and wipe the floor. She continues to love playing mommy these days and rocks, soothes, sings, feeds (yes, she does nurse her baby dolls, a site to see) and strolls her baby all day long but more times than not she has her phone in hand when she is performing any of these tasks. Her conversations are hilarious! One task she loves to help with is the laundry. She has watched me fold laundry so much that she really does have it almost down. She always puts the article of clothing underneath her chin to begin the folding process (just like her mommy). She just can't seem to keep it folded and thus will more or less put it in a ball and place it on the clothes I have folded. As you can tell she is VERY serious about folding her clothes. She doesn't take her work lightly! I surely love you, Anna. You make mommy and daddy smile, A LOT!

J's

according to Anna but known to the rest of the world as PJ's or Pajamas!
Three cousins.

Big Sister and Little Brother.

Anna and her baby cousin she refers to as Ewwiot (Elliot).

Patiently waiting...

to hold and kiss the one she adores!

Merry Christmas!

What an excruciating hour and a half. In my head I thought it would be a quick afternoon task that could be checked off my to-do list in no time. How could I be so wrong?! By the time Anna was up from her afternoon nap and both were dressed, Aiden was ready for his afternoon nap and Anna was ready for her afternoon snack. I took well over 100 pictures that afternoon. Kevin tirelessly propped up, moved and positioned our children while I tried to get the perfect shot! After tears, pulling hair (Aiden pulling Anna's), jumping up and down for smiles and eye contact I wasn't even sure we had a picture that we could send!

But thankfully we did! We agreed it was worth it all and we would do it again!

Today may you experience the birth of our Saviour and be reminded of all he had to endure in order for us to have true life!
And know too that he would do it all over again if he had to.
"I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." John 10:10

What a difference a year makes!

Last year Anna was very unsure about the white stuff that covered our yard and streets. However, this year she couldn't get enough of the snow! Here she is getting all bungled (bundled) up as she says.

All smiles!

Ready, set, go! Anna couldn't go fast enough or enough times down the hill in our front yard!

What a fun family day!

The princess and Thanksgiving!

For Thanksgiving we headed to Fredericksburg to spend time with family. Aunt Kristen and Great Uncle Jim were able to meet Aiden for the first time! Aunt Kristen gave Anna a very special present all the way from Vietnam. Shortly after Anna was born Kristen visited Vietnam and it was there that she bought Anna a princess dress. On this trip Anna was finally old enough to wear her gown! She surely looked like a princess in it as she was dressed from head to toe in pink. Thanks Aunt Kristen for such a fun and fitting gift as we often refer to Anna as "our princess." It was actually not too long ago that I made a phone call and when the person on the other end of the phone picked up I said, "hello princess." Needless to say we are a little sleep deprived here and I just repeated words that often come out of my mouth throughout the day as I wasn't talking to my little two year old princess but instead to my thirty-two year old prince charming!

Three Months!

We are WAY behind on blogging these days but I have high hopes of catching up or at least giving you glimpses into the Sasser household over the next few days! It seems that with the arrival of a second one everything gets done a little later or sometimes not at all. Here are some pictures I took of sweet Aiden at three months. The top picture was included in our Christmas card but when it was printed it was zoomed way in. :( But it was sent anyway, as getting something, anything out was a small feat (more on that later!). At three months our little man weighed 12lbs! We only know this because we took Aiden in to see the doctor at the end of November because he was very congested and having difficulty breathing. We feared RSV. Instead we discovered he had a double ear infection. Aiden gave us no clue that he had an ear infection. He continues to rarely cry and has such a sweet disposition. His eyes love to follow his sister around the room as he sits in his bouncy seat. She provides all the entertainment he could ever want. She continues to be smitten with him! Dancing and singing for him, rubbing his sweet belly as he sits in the bouncy, hugging his neck and giving him more kisses than he can take in.