Christmas sledding in St. George

In cahoots

Gifts from Up Above

Our girls

Mommy! Can I hold Livy?

Anabelle loves being a new big sister. On a daily basis we hear her say "Can I look at Livy?!", "I want to kiss Livy!", etc., etc. It takes all the effort we can give to save Livy from Anabelle's smothering love. Livy is also growing up to be one majorly sleep-deprived baby thanks to Anabelle's love. Anyway, we regularly hear Anabelle say. "Can I hold Livy?!" So here's a bunch of those occasions from the past 6 weeks.

Maria's mom had bought her tickets a couple hours before Maria's water broke, so fortunately the airline let her change her ticket. She came out the day after Livy was born, and this photo was from a couple days later:

Anabelle admiring her baby sister:

Big hug:



"It was worth having to take a bath just to hold my baby sister!"

Sharing the baby with their cousin
It's so much easier having two... I mean Anabelle changes diapers, prepares bottles, and even bathes her little sister:

"Mommy, her breath stinks!"


Livy's not always as happy to see her big sister...

"Livy, I love you!"

Anabelle's sinister side... she enjoys seeing Livy scared...

Not quite as mature as Anabelle, but I wanted a turn too..

I had a list of postings to write, but this one managed to cut to the top of the list

Happy Birthday Livya Yael Lewis! While her birth was so reminiscent of Anabelle's (water breaking in the middle of the night with no contractions, 7 hours of labor, a handful of pushes to get her out), as we look at Liviya, we wonder how can she be related to Anabelle? I mean, she's so quiet and doscile! (at least for the first 4 hours of life).

Her first bath.

Her stats:
Birth date/time: 09-29-09 7:54am
weight: 8lbs 2oz
length: just under 20 inches
hair: dark brown and curly
eyes: probably brown
favorite pastime: sleeping and eating
interesting piece of trivia: She has a cousin that was born in Arizona just a few hours earlier

Dinosaur dig

On our return home from Israel we stopped to see the grandparents. Down the street from my parents' house, there is a museum built on top of a place where they found a bunch of dinosaur footprints. Anabelle had been telling me all summer that she wanted to be a paleontologist
(we took this video as we walked from the park by our place in Rehovot one afternoon in June)

so I let her try it out:

She liked it!

להתראות ישראל (see you later Israel)

So we returned from our year in Israel about 2 months ago, but today when I was thinking about doing a new post, I noticed I'd started this one a while back and never finished/posted it. Anyway, though it's kind of past its date, here I go...

Being in Israel was an amazing experience and we recommend it to anyone. We learned so much and grew so close as a family. We also gained such a broader appreciation for other cultures and a better view of who we are and who we want to be. Anyway, here are some photos from the last few weeks there....

Anabelle had a blast there with friends from church:

And friends from the Weizmann:

Occasionally we'd join some friends from the Weizmann for Bible study. Before leaving, they had us over for dinner and one last reading from Deuteronomy:

Before we left, Anabelle made sure to check out the science museum in Jerusalem:

And Maria said bye to close friends who were also moving back to the states:

We made sure to take one last breakfast at the cafe down the street from our apartment... Anabelle made sure to enjoy the "American Breakfast" one more time (pancakes with fruit, ice cream and chocolate syrup):

We were so grateful for so many good friends who took us in while in Israel