Welcome 2007

Here is a little New Year's baby picture for you. I hope everyone has a fun, safe evening. Scott--You said you didn't know about the tradition of the New Year's baby, so here is some interesting info I found on line:

The tradition of using a baby to signify the new year was begun in Greece around 600 BC. It was their tradition at that time to celebrate their god of wine, Dionysus, by parading a baby in a basket, representing the annual rebirth of that god as the spirit of fertility. Early Egyptians also used a baby as a symbol of rebirth.
Although the early Christians denounced the practice as pagan, the popularity of the baby as a symbol of rebirth forced the Church to reevaluate its position. The Church finally allowed its members to celebrate the new year with a baby, which was to symbolize the birth of the baby Jesus.
The use of an image of a baby with a New Years banner as a symbolic representation of the new year was brought to early America by the Germans. They had used the effigy since the fourteenth century.

By the way--another interesting side note about New Year's: It is the oldest holiday celebrated today. Cheers!

We Wish You a Merry Christmas!!!

From the Chances to all our family and friends we hope everyone enjoyed the holiday. We had a rainy but beautiful Christmas Eve--the candlelight church service was moving (except for that weird squeaking noise...) and Josh and I both started crying during "Silent Night". I had taken Lucas to the nursery during the service and started to regret it--Christmas Eve church service is a family time and I wished he was with us. So next year he will be joining us--even if he screams and cries. Afterward we enjoyed a cake in honor of Jesus' birthday as well as some extremely chocolishus hot chocolate (curtesy of Christy). Lucas read "Twas the Night Before Christmas" with his daddy before bed.
On Christmas morning we had so many gifts we could barely reach the tree. Santa left lots of special toys for Lucas--including a truck that he enjoyed climbing in, lots of books for reading time with mama, and a golf set that Luc played with all afternoon. Some highlights from the day include body parts in all the stockings (thank you Scott), a gardening rendetion of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" that Scott had to sing out loud (my ears, MY EARS!!), Nana D had to play "Deal or No Deal" to win her gift, Josh auctioned off Aunt Mary's random gift (she couldn't decide who to give it to, hence the auction) and we all laughed ourselves silly over his amazing auctioneer skills (seriously--AMAZING. He has a back up career now.)
Thank you again for all the great gifts. I hope everyone has a wonderful new year.

Some New Pictures...

Here are some new pictures of Lucas. It is so hard to believe he is a toddler now. I have trouble getting cute shots of him these days because he is just too busy to hold still for the camera. We had his hair cut again and it looks HORRIBLE since he was curious about the sissors and kept turning his head. I guess from now on we will be cutting his hair ourselves! We had a great trip home and enjoyed time with both our families--everyone was excited to see Lucas. Thank you again for all the great food and gifts.

Extreme Bed Head

This one is for Ashley who requested a new post. I swear his hair looked this way when I took him out of bed. He is due for another hair cut for sure. After his bath tonight I spiked his hair into a mohawk again and he looked so cute and modern. I know most people aren't fans of the crazy hair, but it sure is fun! We should have lots of new pictures to post after this weekend--we have a zoo trip planned for Saturday and Nate's Birthday party on Sunday.