Christmas 2018

As you probably noticed from the pictures, we have 2 big girls now! Each day I am struck by how they’ve grown up this past year! Both of them are talkers, so we never have to wonder too long what they might be thinking! They also love to make up songs about anything and everything, making Dave and my refrain, “please just obey; we don’t need a song about it.” However, we love hearing them sing “Jesus songs,” and our daily prayers are that they grow to love and trust Jesus more each day and their worship (and ours), encompasses each part of their lives.

Well, you may recall, 2017 was the year of our house move and Callie’s health struggle. We are still loving our “new” house. Amy did some interior painting, and we continued to work on the landscaping and our little garden. We discovered cherry tomatoes grow VERY well here! Over the summer, Dave’s truck spent nearly a month in the shop, so after some tears from Maggie (who grows rather attached to things) and lots of research, we made the decision to replace “Chucky” with the upgraded “Sir Charles”-a silver Kia Soul. Yay for better gas mileage and a reliable (and cute J) vehicle!

Callie’s health has definitely improved this year, working with a nutritionist. She is still on a rather strict diet (which is tough) but is mostly feeling and looking healthy, so we praise God for that! Callie does all things passionately-whether it be playing hard or crashing afterwards! She played her first year of real softball in the spring, and her team enjoyed an undefeated season! She had a blast with Daddy as the assistant coach, a special sweatshirt with her name on the back and a big 1^st place tournament trophy to top it off! Callie started gymnastics in August and is loving that, as well. She also continues to enjoy school (3^rd grade this year) and just finished playing a singing/dancing/baby doll-loving orphan in Bethlehem, in our church Christmas play. Both Callie and Maggie are on Faith School’s Bible Quiz Team. They are learning all about the book of Acts and doing such a great job in their monthly quiz meets.

This was a big year for Maggie! She turned 5 in February, so following the tradition we started with Callie’s 5^th birthday, we spent a night at Great Wolf Lodge. It was lots of fun since both girls were tall enough to do the family inner tube rides. In May, Maggie finished preschool and decided she needed to do all the big girl things! She lost some baby teeth and learned to ride her bike without training wheels over the summer. In July, we had quite the adventure when she tripped in a small hole and ended up breaking her femur! In the emergency room, we learned that the femur break was caused by a bone cyst, so we had a late night ambulance ride to Doernbecher, where she had surgery the next day. Maggie was quite the trooper, and while it was obviously a difficult time, we were so aware of God’s protection and provision in all the details! Also, the amazing prayer support from friends, cards, gifts, and meals were such a blessing to our family! Maggie completed physical therapy in late November and excitedly announced she is now “a normal 5-year-old!” After months of limited mobility, she delights in galloping, running or jumping wherever she goes! She loves kindergarten and is thrilled to be learning to read. Always pushing to be like Sissy, she looks forward to the day when she can read chapter books!

Dave began his 5^th year as Lead Pastor at Grace Church in August! He had the privilege of leading another study team to Israel in February, in partnership with his parents and a pastor from Salem. He completed his second summer of doctorate classes and is doing some voracious reading to prepare for his January class! This year is full of changes, as we are exploring a church building program, and Dave’s family is building a duplex here in Dallas and will be moving in early 2019. The girls are excited to have cousins close; we have a new niece joining our family in February. Amy is beginning her 10^th year as a real estate assistant and continues to enjoy working outside the home a few hours a week. With Maggie in school every morning, she’s been able to participate in Bible Study Fellowship this fall and is also working with the high school senior girls midweek and on Sunday mornings. We are grateful to have Amy’s mom nearby and are hopeful this coming year will bring more time with her dad. Amy’s sister’s family moved to Spokane Valley, WA over the summer, so we anticipate a road trip north sometime during 2019! Dave and Amy celebrate 14 years of marriage this month. In this time of reflection, we are so aware of two things: life is full (of both good and bad), and God is faithful! He has been, and continues to be, our Strength and constant Presence, especially during hard times. Our hope for 2019, is that you come to a deeper awareness of His love for you and seek His plan for your life.

With love,

Dave, Amy, Callie and Maggie Bertolini

Digital Christmas Card 2016

Christmas 2016

Dear Family and Friends,

   I’m not really sure how this year has flown by, but once again, it’s Christmas! 2016 has been a full year for our family! We are so grateful for the Lord’s blessings and enjoy seeing your pictures and hearing updates on your families!

   Callie finished out her kindergarten year and her first year of Sparks (AWANA) and second year of tee ball. We are so proud of her for working so hard to memorize all her Bible verses and learning to read! Toward the end of the school year, I had to make sure I held the book where she couldn’t see it when I quizzed her on the verses, as she told me one day, “Mom, it’s so much easier to say the verses now that I can read them!” J She began attending 1^st grade at Faith Christian School in the fall and is loving it! She is our perfectionist and wants to get everything right the first time! Both girls took outdoor swim lessons with my cousins’ children this summer, which was a lot of fun. Callie really made huge strides in her technique and her confidence! It’s been so exciting to see her grow emotionally this year and learn to process through life’s ups and downs in a healthy way.

 

   Maggie was thrilled to FINALLY (said in an extremely dramatic voice with hand motions-as most of Maggie’s words are ;-)) start school this fall. She’s pretty confident she can do most everything Callie can, if only we would give her the chance! She continues to be our loud little tomboy, who loves to make messes and play in the dirt, often while wearing a frilly tutu! She regularly asks us deep questions out of the blue and has a sweet love for Jesus coupled with a stubborn streak a mile wide. She is also a bit (okay, perhaps more than a bit) boy crazy-crushing on her summer Sunday school teacher Mr. Button and our junior high pastor, David. She was rather disheartened when David got engaged, but both girls are excited to be the flower girls in the upcoming wedding!

   Dave and Amy just celebrated 12 years of marriage this week! As we look back, we are grateful for the many blessings God’s given us, but we are also thankful for the hard times that have forced us to rely more on Jesus and taught us how to work as a team. Parenting two strong-willed children is exhausting. They have fighting down to a tee! But we are so thankful God entrusted them to us and pray for wisdom to be parents that point them to our Savior! We enjoyed surprising them with an early Christmas present vacation to Disneyland this month. We LOVED seeing their faces as they met the characters-especially the princesses, and we discovered both our girls enjoy thrill rides! Other highlights of 2016 included Dave’s trip to Israel in February with members of our church, more time with grandparents and cousins, and Amy teaching a class at Corban University during the fall semester. Church is going well; thank you for those of you who pray for Dave and the rest of the church leadership and for the pastors’ families! We know how important those prayers are and appreciate you!

With lots of love and excitement for what God has planned in 2017,

Dave, Amy, Callie (6 ½) & Maggie (3 ¾) Bertolini

Christmas 2014-Our Digital Christmas Card

December 2014

Dear Loved Ones,

  

  I recently read through some of our past Christmas cards and determined two things:

1.) We are very blessed. Seriously, we’ve had our trials, but God sustains and gives us strength, and the good He’s given us (family, friends, church, etc.) far outweighs the hardships!

2.) Life is a whole new ballgame after a second child! Wow, I apologize for all the peachy keen, glowing reports with our easy firstborn. We have since learned that Callie’s behavior during the first few years was a gift; it was not due to our exceptional parenting! Laughing in the face of everything we thought we had nailed, Maggie or both girls give us daily reminders that take us back to Sergeant Schultz’ famous line, “I know nothing!” However, I am so very thankful for our precious girls-for their sweet smiles, their contagious laughter and their heartwarming hugs but also, (in my good moments—when they’re in bed or playing nicely J) for those sleepless nights, the crazy disobedience and the constant cries of, “MAMA!!!!!” that drive me to prayer. And for those of you who pray for us—for our parenting and for our girls to grow to love the Lord with all their hearts, THANK YOU! It means the world to us!

   2014 was a very busy year! Maggie turned one in February. We celebrated with a family trip to Disneyland. This was a win-win-win in my book. We had a great family vacation with friends and visited our CA family; Maggie will think we are awesome when she looks back on pictures years from now (hopefully J); and I didn’t have to throw a one-year-old birthday party (totally sneaky). Maggie is the little firecracker that lights up our family. She has an amazing cheeseball smile that comes out as soon as she sees a camera phone! She loves to climb and thinks “childproofing” is a joke. She adores her sister; she loves snuggling, playing chase and stealing her sister’s stuff! She just figured out how to open Callie’s bedroom door-insert dramatic meltdown from 4-year-old! While her comprehension and athleticism has been excellent for quite some time, her verbal skills are just beginning to come out. Callie has proven to be an adept translator when Daddy and Mommy are clueless!

   Speaking of Callie, our little performer is happiest when she is on the go! She is once again loving preschool and has some sweet friends. She also began ballet this fall. I’m not sure there’s anything cuter than little girls in ballet! We are all excited to watch her in the Nutcracker next week! Callie also enjoyed her first official year of VBS this summer-including the stage performance at the end, and she will be in the children’s church Christmas play as a baby dancing cactus! She loves to put on concerts for us at home and goes by the stage name of “Lisa Margaret”! Our little Sweetheart is constantly playing imaginary games and challenges us on a daily basis, as the lectures we give her are so often ones we need to hear ourselves! “Talk less; listen more. Don’t throw a fit; just ask for help. It doesn’t matter what “she” did; you are responsible for how you react.” I find myself having to apologize for my reactions to my children far too often! Thank goodness for the forgiveness they freely give, just like our heavenly Father!

   Dave has spent the year continuing to figure out the role/schedule of lead pastor. We have all discovered that unwinding from the job is even more difficult in this position. However, he is doing a great job, and God is blessing our church. As a church, we are doing the Read the Bible for Life program-a chronological read through the Bible in a year. Dave’s sermons come from a passage we read each week. Earlier this fall, Dave and the other pastors got to go to the Catalyst conference in Atlanta. It was a great time of learning and bonding as friends and a ministry team. Another highlight of the fall was the Men’s Chili Cook-off, where Dave took first place with his “Smokin’ Porker” chili. He has also been further perfecting our favorite salsa recipe and continues to enjoy barbecuing whenever the weather allows. Another fun thing for Daddy is that both girls enjoy playing with his remote control helicopter and are now getting into Wii games.

   Dave and I celebrate our tenth wedding anniversary next week! I think most who are married would say that similar to parenting, marriage has its perfectly blissful moments and its perfectly infuriating moments, all part of growing us closer in our relationship with the Lord. This year, Dave has had the opportunity to perform several weddings, and therefore, we have done some premarital counseling sessions. It’s been so valuable for us to get back to the basics some days and continue to work on our own marriage, as well!  In addition to counseling, I am, once again, co-directing the children’s Christmas play, which is a lot of fun and volunteering on the women’s ministry team at church. But of course, I spend most of my time trying to keep the girls from driving each other crazy-or worse, ganging up on their parents! I love taking zillions of pictures of them and on especially brave days attempting art or baking projects together. (They look adorable in their little matching aprons Grammy made them). I continue to enjoy working a few hours at the real estate office each week. My mom has been able to visit a couple weeks this fall. It’s great to have the time with her, and we are so grateful that her health continues to improve. The girls and I are also thankful to be able to see Dad a couple times a month.

 

We hope this Christmas brings you special family time and a new awareness of Christ’s love for you.

“Though he was God,
    he did not think of equality with God
    as something to cling to.
 Instead, he gave up his divine privileges;
    he took the humble position of a slave
    and was born as a human being.”

Philippians 2:6-7

With love,

Dave, Amy, Callie (4 ½) and Maggie (22 months) 

Christmas 2012

It's obviously been a really long time since I updated our blog-mostly because I really didn't know what to say over the past few months. We've certainly been going through a stretching trial in our lives, but we've also just been extremely busy with the stage of life. So, below is our "Christmas card," with highlights! 

As many of you know, 2012 has been a difficult year in our family. However, our God is faithful, and we’d like to focus on His blessings this year & look forward to His continued work in 2013! We so appreciate your prayers for our family!

· In January, we enjoyed a wonderful family vacation (with friends) to Disneyland and got to visit Dave’s grandparents.

· Callie turned 2, moved into a big girl bed and is now potty-trained! She also continues to amaze us with her vocabulary, and we love listening to her sing songs and Bible verses!

· A new niece, Nora Anne, joined our family in May.

· We found out Baby Girl Bertolini #2 is on the way (Feb. 2013)!

· Dave began his FINAL year of his Master’s at Western Seminary (set to graduate April 2013!) and will, Lord-willing, assume the role of Senior Pastor at our church in September of 2013. 

· Finally, despite the very painful circumstances, the Lord has used Dad to touch so many lives for Him and there is more than 1 new Believer for each month we have been apart! We choose to praise. 

With love, Dave, Amy, Callie and Baby B.

Callie's 2-year-old Book!

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This one's for you Great Gpa & Gma!

REALLY LATE DISNEYLAND TRIP

So, we took Callie to Disneyland in January, and I haven't posted about it...I'm taking the easy way out, so here is a video highlighting the trip!

Almost 2!

A very brief synopsis-mostly in pictures, of what we've been up to these last couple months! We decided to potty train. Cold turkey method-threw out all the diapers for both day and night and into the big girl panties. They are so cute in this size! Callie, for the most part, has done great! I get her up in the night to go when I have to, or when she cries out. We moved her to a big girl bed! Found one on Craig's list for a great deal that matched the rest of her furniture! She LOVES it-however, it takes her much longer to go to sleep because she likes to play in there. The posts have 4 removable "microphones" that she uses to sing. (especially perfect for ABC's and Jesus Loves Me). She sings ALL THE TIME!

First night in Big Girl Bed!

Still enjoys baths

Looking so much older!

Wrestling cousin A.J.

Ready for church with stickers from going potty in the toilet!

A rare sunny day!

The microphone :-)

We went outside and Callie said "Oh, sunshine!" I said, "Yes, God gave us sunshine today." She responded with a resounding, "THANK YOU, GOD!!"

My Cutie Pie!

Pretty in purple (side note, this dress was a hand-me-down from a church friend, but it happens to be the same dress the flower girls wore in our wedding :-) How fun is that?!)

Success-what's your definition?

This summer is my high school reunion. While my classmates are talking about how old we are, I'm the young one in most of my current friendships, so that's not what I've been thinking about. What's been on my mind as I think about seeing people from high school (many for the first time since we graduated) is what our perception of each other will be upon meeting again and learning the life directions of our peers. When we graduate from high school and go off "into the world" as they say, we all aim to be successful. For many small-town graduates, I think "success" conjures images of lucrative careers, travel, perhaps an attractive spouse and a fashionable home and car.

My senior year of high school, I was voted the "Female Most Likely to Succeed" for the yearbook. I think students had the understanding that this was just the politically correct way of saying "the one with the best grades." I have always enjoyed learning new things and God blessed me with "school brains" so most subjects came pretty naturally. I also worked hard. Combine those things with my type "A" perfectionist personality and for better or worse, I was labeled the smart kid, teacher's pet, nerd. With those titles, I didn't have a lot of bosom friends, though I was respected by my peers, thus the yearbook title. However, I would wager to say that the majority of the students who voted for me would not look at my life now and say I am the most successful. My teachers, who had expectations of me being a doctor, scientist, writer, or engineer would probably be disappointed and see a waste of talent. Would they be right? Sometimes, after a particularly rough day of potty training, arguing with my toddler over meals or bedtimes or the 5th load of laundry, I question what life would have been like had I chosen to pursue a different degree/career path (or professionally used the one I have). However, it doesn't take long before God reminds me that His definition of success is so much different than that of the world. Had I followed others' plans for my life, I would not have been faithful to the job God had in mind for me or my own desires. I didn't go into college aspiring to be a career woman or make a lot of money. My goal at the time was the same as it is now. I simply desired to be where God wanted me to be, growing in my relationship with Him and doing what He wanted me to do. If I am fulfilling those three things, than I believe I am being successful. There's a chance that someday I will go on to get my Master's degree or work more outside the home, but for right now, I am proud to be Pastor Dave's wife, Callie's almost full-time stay-at-home-mom, and most importantly lover of God available for His use.

Curly IS the New Straight!

Check out those bangs!

It's not very often when I write about anything other than my adorable daughter, but I've been thinking a lot about seasons of life lately, and it all started with hair!

Twice in the past couple of weeks, I've been struck by a new style "wave." I was at the hairdresser (long overdue-like 9 months!). While waiting for my turn, I watched my hairdresser style a cut she had just finished. Not surprisingly, she got out her straightener but then used it to curl the customer's hair. A couple days later, I found this technique on Pinterest (speaking of new trends!) What did stay-at-home moms do for dinner and decorating before Pinterest?! And is it bad that my fullest pinboard is for extremely fattening recipes? Anyway, as I was wondering why we would use a straightener for this look instead of dusting off our curling iron, I realized that there's probably a whole generation out there that doesn't own a curling iron! I partook in a moment of silence for them as I reminisced on all the fabulous "dos" they had missed! Having attended elementary school in the late 80's/early 90's, I had the privilege of sporting mountainous teased bangs. (see above pics). I was proud of those sausage curls, sprayed liberally with hair spray and then brushed up to an impressive height. Adding to the look, of course, were homemade "scrunchies," and barrettes with enormous bows, or my favorite, balloons (yes, I'm serious) attached! I would be shocked if that full look ever became popular again, but I am thankful that wavy/curly hair is finally edging out the polished straight look that was oh so much work for some of us! While straight hair was "the thing" for the past several years, anyone over the age of 16 knew styles would eventually change.

The summer after we got married, Dave was scheduled to speak at a youth camp in California, and I was along for the ride. Shortly before we left, the program director contacted me and asked if I would speak to the high school girls one of the days on purity, modesty, dating relationships, etc., while Dave spoke to the boys on similar topics. I remember talking to these beautiful, sun-tanned, mostly blond-haired girls who had their hair straightened to perfection-the height of style. Off to the side, I noticed a group of more "natural" looking girls (they almost could have passed for Oregonians!) Unfortunately for them, it appeared they had inherently curly hair that refused to be straightened, despite what society dictated in Teen Magazine.

In my effort to explain to the girls the importance of valuing the things of God instead of prioritizing outward appearance, I pointed out that styles change. I looked at the girls off to the side and assured them that someday in the not-too-distant future, straight hair would be a thing of the past, and we would all be envying their natural curls as we try to create the same effect with product and a hot iron. Laughter from the "in-crowd" accompanied my statement...and I can see, from their perspective, how it would have been difficult to imagine straight hair ever being out of style. After all, I was speaking to the generation that had probably never owned a curling iron!

But lo and behold, here we are, nearly 7 years later (so it took a little longer than I thought), and curly is the new straight! Ecclesiastes 3 tells us there is a time for everything and a season for every activity under the sun. Beyond fashion, friendships change (how many of us are still close with the people who were in our wedding party, let alone our BFFs from grade school?), statuses change, careers change, health changes, ideals and dreams change. Only God remains the same, and He promises never to leave us. Aren't you so thankful that we have God to see us through each of these changes! If you're going through a difficult time in your life, I hope you'll remember that it will pass and pour yourself into the One who will be there for you through it and through eternity. Those babies eventually sleep through the night, toddlers get the hang of potty-training, high schoolers won't always be sassy and rebellious (and hopefully, someday they'll thank you for your work and prayers for them), finances will get straightened out, a job will come about, in a few months it WILL stop raining (or you can vacation somewhere with sun!)...

So, now you know what my mind ponders in between cleaning up Legos and running a certain toddler to the bathroom to avoid accidents!

Jesus and...Mater?

My baby girl is in love with Jesus...and Mater (as in Tow-mater from the Cars' movies)! Oh, and somewhere in there Baby Beluga gets a nod, also! Many times throughout the day I hear, "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus" in the sweetest little sing-song voice. This week, the song went something like this, "Baby Beluga this I know, for the Bible tells me so...Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Mater, Jesus! He is strong, yes, Jesus loves me!"

I love hearing her sing about Jesus and talk about Him throughout the day and randomly stop running around the house and announce "wanna pray" and then fold her hands and say "thank you Jesus for friends, Mommy, Daddy, Callie, and Mater, AMEN!" and resume running. I love how her prayers consist of "thank you Jesus for..." Dave and I pray that her love for Jesus continues to grow and deepen, and we thank Jesus for our little Baby Beluga, Mater, Jesus-lover!

These pictures are from yesterday. Callie and Mommy did a little Valentine's Day photo session while we waited for Daddy to get home :-).

Little update on our almost 22-month-old!

Wow, time flies! I realize I haven't done a Callie update post in a few months, and boy has she grown and changed! She is talking up a storm now and singing almost as much! I have sung to her each night since she was born while I put her to bed. The songs are whatever praise song comes to mind, most what I remember my mom singing to me when I was growing up. A couple nights ago, Callie started singing with me while I was rocking her. It was such a sweet moment as I realized these "Jesus" songs were sticking in her head, and hopefully, making their way to her heart. She talks about Jesus now and sometimes sings, "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus" when she's working on something. When you ask her "who's Jesus?", she may respond with "Light of the World," "God's Son," or from her favorite Newsboys song "the King." The song says "Make a way for the King; the King is coming!" Callie belts out "Make a way for" then, "King Jesus!"

She loves to get in your face and tell you stories. You know it's a story because you'll catch words here and there while she rattles off paragraphs of other "words" and then looks at you with hopeful expectation for the appropriate response (which by the way, is always praise for such a great story!) She can pretty much repeat anything-the bigger or more interesting the word is, the more likely she'll try! Her favorite word right now is "camouflage." And she can tell you that God makes the animals camouflaged so they don't get hurt. (Now, you have to know she's saying that to get it, but once you do, you can definitely tell!) She loves movies and books about animals, though since our Disney trip, we've been a little stuck on 2 famous mice!

• Other quick updates: She's eating better now! Yay! She usually has dollar pancakes or small waffles, sometimes hash browns for breakfast. An almond butter and jam sandwich (1/2) for lunch, and meat with green beans, corn, or rice for dinner. She likes apples, dried cranberries, Rice Chex, or applesauce for snacks. She also very much enjoys cookies :-). She's eating dairy free & gluten free to avoid painful rashes, so her diet is not as varied as we'd like, but I'm just happy she's finally eating!
• She is wearing 2T clothing-pants are still big on her skinny waste but shirts/jackets/jammies fit great! She's 26 lbs. Size 4 diapers for the last few months. Size 5 shoes. We can get her hair into a pony tail or pig tails now-both make her look older and pretty adorable :-).
• She loves books, puzzles, cars (very enthralled with the Pixar Cars movie characters), Wild Animal Baby Movies (which she calls "Dancing Babies"-they are very educational and the source of her knowledge about camouflage!), Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Tinkerbell, and her babies (which include: monkey, bunny, Pooh Bear, puppy and her 2 dolls "Abby" and "Becky") She still sleeps with monkey, bunny and Pooh. Abby, Becky and Puppy sleep in the doll crib across her room.
• She wants to walk and run everywhere on her own. She really doesn't care for the stroller that much, as she'd rather be walking.
• She's close to being able to sing her ABC's! She loves working on it and also sings many parts of "Baby Beluga," & "Jesus Loves Me."
• She can count to 14 but consistently leaves out 7.
• We are potty-training! She's doing great when I watch the clock and take her every 1/2 hr or so. She is very M&M motivated :-). I'm hoping she'll start telling me on her own soon. We'll see!

It's hard to believe our baby is getting close to 2! She keeps us hopping, and we are so thankful for her!

The never-ending picture recap of Christmas!

Christmas Preparations!

Making cookies with Mommy

Having a great time!

Gingerbread house decorating

Pretty proud of her masterpiece!

Our "dreaming of a white Christmas" version

1st "Christmas" with Uncle Dandy

Callie got a "My Little Pony"

Pretty exciting!

Love you, Uncle Dandy!

He also gave her a stuffed animal barn with animals and a cool puzzle!

The barn doubles as a purse!

Hugs before jammies

Christmas #2-Christmas Eve Morning with Daddy and Mommy

Coming down the stairs!

Checking out her present pile

New b-ball hoop!

Sheep book!

Broom so she can finally sweep at the same time as Mommy!

And the big gift...a Tinkerbell outfit!

Pretty adorable!

The full look!

She loves it :-)

With Mommy

Christmas Eve Service at church

Playing with Daddy since we didn't make it through the service in the sanctuary :-)

Family picture

Christmas Morning

Mommy and Callie ready for church

opened some presents when we got home

almost ready for Grandpa and Grandma "Woof Woof's" (Bertolinis)

Her new dog from Great Grandma Bertolini

Puzzle from Great Grandpa and Grandma Stewart

Christmas #3 with the Bertolinis

Grandma showed Callie the Christmas story through these little boxes

(each had a different part of the story inside such as Mary, Jesus, angel)

Callie played with the boxes for quite a while

Callie was Santa for a little while

Aunt Ashley gave Callie a Tinkerbell toothbrush.

Couldn't wait to brush her teeth!

The Bertolinis

AND on to the Davis side! Christmas #4

These 3 cousins adore each other :-).

Opening presents-we attempted to keep them on the couch the whole time-they did okay!

Sophie and A.J. sharing Callie's excitement as she opened

her Bitty Baby from Grammy and Poppy.

Callie gave baby "Abby" a hug right away!

and carried her around in her "backpack"

Disclaimer: The next few pictures are small because I thought

they would upload faster-not the case!

Uncle Josh and Aunt Anna gave Callie a "Boom Truck!" So exciting!

Fun and rare picture of just the two of us after 7 years of marriage!

The "Davis" girls!

Poppy and his granddaughters!

The cousins taking a rest!

The whole family :-) Only our 2nd take and all smiling-pretty impressive, right?!

What a fun Christmas week we had! While there were lots of presents and Callie loved the Christmas tree and lights, she's also getting really good at the Christmas songs about Jesus-

her favorite being "O Come All Ye Faithful."

We look forward to watching her grow and learn more about Jesus in 2012!