Christmas 2013

This was our first year sending an e-card in place of a Christmas card to friends and family in the mail. We chose to save the $$$! 

The excitement for the big event in just 5 more days is palpable. We're just a little excited. Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! 2013 has been a blessed year. We are so grateful to have welcomed our 5th baby October 28th. Holland Deanne has truly made us feel complete. She is overly loved on by us all. 

Aaron gets the father of the year award for growing his family larger than his entire immediate and extended family. We love to share with people that he has one brother, one cousin, one Aunt, and 5 kids. He's busy growing the custom homes department for Ivory Homes. 

Melissa is swimming in diapers, squeezing in good books whenever she can, and taken on the massive responsibility of homeschooling her children. Although it has received some peculiar looks, she has enjoyed (most days) her children staying home and the adventure of teaching them. She has made some incredible friends who are on this same journey. We are all learning! 

Hannah was recently baptized. We couldn't be more proud of our Hannah. She is a choice girl! She has taken on her place as the oldest with great responsibility. She can make breakfast, lunch, and almost dinner. Joseph depends on her greatly to entertain him since mom has become more preoccupied with baby Holland. He loves her. We all do. She still loves art, but has become a much better reader and loves to read to her siblings. She's also enjoying math and piano. She wants to be a singer when she grows up and have people listen to her on the radio. Heaven help us! 

Nathan is 6-1/2, full of energy, and has a zest for life. Sandwiched between two girls isn't always easy, but he's mastered teasing and gets his fair share of sisterly drama. He can hardly wait for Joseph to get a little bigger to wrestle with. He loves legos, coloring, cooking, riding his bike, being outside, science experiments, dancing (the boy has moves), and playing games with Abigail. He wants to be a pilot and a police officer and a fireman when he grows up. 

Abigail is our 5 year old horse. Seriously, she is a horse more than she is a girl. She is our family entertainment. You've never seen such drama in a child until you've seen Abby. She loves people, horses, her friends, her mommy, and her blankie. She has a wild imagination and is joy personified! Nathan lovingly decided to help make Abigail even more beautiful recently by cutting her some bangs. Fortunately, he chose to do that the day after we took some family pictures. We're pretty sure there was no protest by her.  Abby wants to be a horse when she grows up. 

Joseph is 18 months and our firecracker. His impersonation of a chimpanzee is spot on! He has some lungs on him! We know for sure this boy of ours is going to do some great things in his life because he is one very determined little guy in everything he does. He can say mo(more), all done, by, hi, daddy, mommy, no, and a whole lot of mumbling. He thinks he's just as big as his siblings and wants to do all things big kids do. Joe wants to be the center of attention when he grows up. 

Holland is our 2 month old angel baby. There is something so sweet about a newborn at Christmas time. She came to us in her own special way and no amount of effort on our part was going to change her breech position. Through many, many prayers she was born completely perfect! She is mellow compared to her siblings. We are smitten with her. We are excited to see what she wants to do when she grows up. 

If we could think of only 5 words to sum up 2013, they would be: 

- Blessed

- Inspired

- Crazy

- Happy

- Thankful

We feel deeply grateful to have this time each year to think of the true meaning of Christmas. The Savior has been ever present in our lives and we know with such certainty that He loves us all. What a tremendous gift He is for each one of us! We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

much love,

the Lombardo's