Merry Christmas from Maine!

If our previous Christmas letters have been “old hat”, we finally have NEWS this year:

January was spent researching Residency programs, schools, neighborhoods, etc, and creating a “match list” of where the Mr. hoped to complete his residency.

February seemed to last forever as we awaited the news of where we would move.

March 18^th, “Match Day,” we learned that the Mr. had matched for a 3 year Internal Medicine Residency at Maine Medical Center in Portland, ME, to begin in June.

April found us packing our belongings, wrapping up our 9 years in Utah, and taking a quick trip to Oregon to bid farewell to family there.

May brought Graduation and a move to Maine on the same day!

June found us settling into a HOUSE! Goodbye little apartment, hello 2400 sq feet! J

July marked “Dr. Buchanan’s” first month of Residency.

August meant our 9^th anniversary, a visit from our dear friend Bea, and a delightful week at Lake Picasset with our new friends, the O’Malleys and Richardsons.

September marked Angel’s First Day of Kindergarten

October brought a much-anticipated visit from our Oma & Opa! What fun!

November reminded us of the multitude of blessings for which we are ever grateful!

December will be bittersweet as we enjoy the wonderful holiday season, witness our first “New England winter”, and think fondly of our loved ones far away.

Our Top 10 in 2010

10 – number of states on our “match list”

9 – Packing 9 years into 1 Penske truck

8 – months since we left Utah

7 – days a week we miss our loved ones

6 – the number of days the Mr. has had off since July

5 – the age of our newest Kindergartner

4 – the Mr. driving the Penske from UT to ME in 4 days!

3 – incredible children who keep getting cuter

2 – bathrooms in our new house! At last!

1 – happy family, no matter where we are

Wishing you and yours the best, this holiday season and always!

With love, The Buchanans

Why I just can't get anything done around here...

...Because ALL I want to do is look at these little lovelies all day long! Can you blame me?

Man, I am one lucky mother!

Grins

Have I mentioned that I'm grateful for Grins' dimples? I love them. Every time I look at his smile, I want to eat him right up. Sometimes I actually do - he's delicious!

Today, as we were getting in the car, he said, "Thank you for your kindness, Mommy!"

This little man melts my heart! I am SO grateful for my children, grateful to be a mother, and grateful for the honor and priviledge of being with my children (almost) every waking moment!

Christmas Cards....

Tis the season for sending out Christmas cards/letters/greetings! This is one of my favorite Christmas traditions; sending out letters to family/loved ones I may not have seen in awhile, and also receiving cards and hearing about what everyone else has been up to this year! I made it a goal when I was married to do a Christmas letter every year - and so far, so good (although I may not be on time every year... I think the year Wiggles was born they were more like Valentine's cards....!)

Anyway, I recently heard about a promotion going on right now on Shutterfly where bloggers can receive 50 Christmas cards for free! I have done photobooks on Shutterfly in the past - last year I gave them to our mothers and grandmother and had to keep one for myself, of course! And everyone LOVED them! But I haven't yet made cards with shutterfly...but when I checked out their ENORMOUS selection of Christmas cards, I felt like a kid in a candy store! Truly! They have SO many, it is impossible to choose just one style! But I did narrow it down to my top 4 favorites:

With Love Chartreuse - I often choose cards with multiple pictures because I love putting a family shot, along with individual pics of my children! This one really caught my eye - I love it!

Bright Christmas Story - I love that this has 3 pictures - for my 3 little lovelies - and think it's especially nice that you can add a little sentence about each one - perfect!

Love 2010 - This one really jumped out at me since I have actually already written our Christmas letter - which had our Top 10 for the year! So I couldn't believe they had actually designed a card for that! Wow!

Pine Cone Toile - I love the marriage of modern with classic and traditional - beautiful!

Hurry on over to Shutterfly right now to check out this great promotion, and to pick out your favorite! I'm sure such an amazing deal won't last long! :)

By the way - if you've already done your Christmas cards but are still shopping for Christmas presents, they have TONS of great ideas.... Photo calendars are a great idea, and they also have an entire section on lots of different photo gift ideas! And if you're done with your Christmas planning, check out their awesome New Year's Invitations and Birthday Invitations! They really have it all! :) And, I just have to say, I have been very impressed with their customer service as well - which is HUGE for me! They respond to emails/inquiries right away!

Reverent laughter?

Why have the majority of my posts been about prayers lately? I don't know. But here's the latest funny to add:

Wiggles, as I've mentioned previously, likes to pray "Please bless Daddy to ride his bike safely on the road." (He's gone for 99% of her prayers, and bikes to and from work, so this is actually a much-needed prayer, and I appreciate her thoughtfulness.) She also likes to ask "Please help me to sleep all through the night in my own bed" (uh, have we brain washed her enough? :) But what's even funnier is that she has started mimicking Grins' 'Please 1, Please 2, Please 3... although she doesn't stop at 3 - last night she went up to Please 22 before I finally redirected her. But I digress....) Anyway, this evening at dinner she said "Please help Daddy to sleep through the night on his own bike" at which point I, completely caught off guard, guffawed, and then, trying to stifle the laughter mid-prayer, proceeded to make some sort of snorting noise. At this, Wiggles considered her words and said "No, not sleep on his own bike. Please help Daddy to

ride his bike on the ROAD and sleep in his own BED" ...but by this time, having heard my unintentional outburst, her older siblings were already laughing as well, and her sweet little prayer of faith managed to evolve into a slightly irreverent giggle fest. But, I'm pretty sure the recipient of the prayer was laughing too, and He knows the intent of our hearts....

I'm so grateful for the faith of my sweet little Giggles. When she prays, she really is talking to God. Pure and simple. It's beautiful.

(This picture has nothing to do with the post but it's so exciting because I took it today! I got a new camera (THANK YOU MOM&DAD B!!!), so I can once again capture these beautiful little moments, like my children all snuggled together, reading.....this is how I find them almost every evening as I prepare dinner. I love it!)

Which brings me to my next topic....gratitude. I actually started this in my personal journal a few days ago, but haven't had an opportunity to blog about it until now. A couple of friends of mine have been blogging about things they are grateful for; one for a month (here), and another for an entire year! (here). I hesitated to jump on the bandwagon at first, since 1) I am not normally a 'bandwagon jumper' so-to-speak, and 2) I don't blog every day. But I finally decided that jumping on a good bandwagon can actually be a very positive thing to do, and that I needn't blog every day to benefit from such an experiment; I will simply write my reasons to be grateful in my journal, and blog about them as I am able. Again, more for my benefit than anyone reading, but there you have it. Blogging is just a little more exciting than a journal because I can add a little picture. :)

So, for today: Wiggles' faith. It makes me smile....and sometimes even laugh.