Dear God...

"Thank you for your gift of Baby Jesus. Thank you for loving me so much that you would send your only Son to save me. Please help me to always remember that Christmas is about so much more than wrapping paper and presents. In Jesus name, Amen."

Sophia recited the above blessing/prayer for Christmas Eve dinner and Christmas dinner with our family. We have been practicing all week. She still needed help from Mommy, but I am so proud of my little angel.

Christmas Meltdowns were present, however, I really think that Sophia was able to grasp the "reason for the season."

God Bless and Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Nichole

Family traditions

Below are some pictures of Sophia partaking in a beautiful Stancil family tradition of decorating "Nan's" tree, who is David's Mom, her grandmother. The tree looked beautiful as Sophia and my beautiful neices adorned the tree with MANY ornaments that have been collected over the years. It was one of those moments that made your heart warm... just what the holidays are all about. Merry Christmas Everyone!

Happy 4th Birthday Princess Sophia!

Sophia Says...

Sophia Says she is Thankful For...

"Grapes" and "My Family"

Random.

Happy Thanksgiving from Our Family to Yours!!

Halloween 2009

I am not sure what Fia likes best...

Spending time with Family, handing out candy or trick or treating with her Daddy!

Let the holidays begin :)

Nichole

Officially a crazy household

Sam's crib:

Sophia's new big girl bed:

So, as I continue to be a HORRIBLE blogger, I keep this blog as a commitment to my fellow bloggers and how I can follow these beautiful people and their life miracles as well as struggles. As part as this commitment, I will also try to keep my fellow bloggers abreast of what is going on in the Stancil family's "life," hence the title of my blog... Stancil Family :)

First, an explanation of WHY I am a horrible blogger. Life is keeping me VERY busy and on my down time can't seem to hardly OPEN a computer, except to work on grad school and read other people's blogs.

TEACHING: I am a teacher of the K-2 babies at Cumming Elementary school for children on the Autism Spectrum. The year started off a little rough with a HUGE hurdle of transition for ME as well as my students. Things now, beautiful... I leave my job thanking God. I love my students, my co workers and I am TRULY blessed. We just wrapped up our classroom Fall Festival with our kids and their parents! It was WONDERFUL! We had a blast with sensory activities, "bobbing for apples," painting pumpkins, and socializing!

Parenting:

Sophia is blossoming in to such a big girl, she is and always will be my little independent child! Sophia's latest obsession was Calliou, but we have now told her that Calliou has gone off the air. Calliou was quite whiny and think that he may have been the contributor to Sophia developing a few undesirable habits. Now on to a more educational Favorite TV show.. Super WHY! Sophia picks a show and must watch it obsessively... it has, in the past, been High School Musical (movie), Hannah Montana (show), Max and Ruby, Barney, etc.

Sophia also participates in Ballet on Mondays and the Fun Bus on Tuesdays. I know she loves both, but is anxious to get back involved in gymnastics, which we will do... eventually :)

Sam:

He is an active thing and appears to be doing fine. I am praying for a strong and healthy boy... I already LOVE him with all of my heart! We will be scheduling a c-section for his arrival the week of January 5th 2010.

Chloe:

Our newest addition! MORE than a handful, but our little girl's bestest bud! However, she is most certainly adding to the chaos of our household! Chloe is a mix of Bijon and terrier! I believe it is the terrier in her that makes her a bit unmanageable at times, but for the most part, a sweet addition to our family!

Family:

David and I have been faced with a VERY odd situation lately, but we have been forced to strengthen our faith and place it in the Lord's hands.

Our family and friends have shown us how faithful they are also! We could not have gotten through this point of our lives without them.... even without this bizarre situation.

My Mom has moved back to where she belongs (close to me and her grand babies) she has done so much in helping me prepare for this baby and also helping with Sophia in an effort to give me a rest! My Dad has also prepared a room at his house complete with a crib for those days of exhaustion as well as completing the trim work in the bonus room (which we finished this summer). My niece and her boyfriend even came up and put together the baby's crib and Sophia new big girl bed! This is just a mention of SOME of the things that we have been blessed with by other people and their kindness... not to mention the donation of baby boy items! (YAY!)

God Bless everyone and I will keep updating! Love, Nichole

It's a boy!

Well, I am 21 weeks and So far so good! We had a wonderful ultrasound last week revealing the sex of our baby, and SHOCKER... IT IS A BOY! I was totally expecting another girl!

I think we are leaning toward the name... Samual David Stancil... "Sam."

Sophia is WONDERFUL and THRIVING, but was honestly not thrilled that it was a boy, so she got her sister... Chloe, the dog. (1/2 bijon, 1/2 terrier... she is a mess and the house is slighly chaotic.. whoa!)

Love,

Nichole (David, Sophia, Chloe, and Baby Sam)

It's Independence Day

Even as the economy is in the toilet and there are some people REALLY close to me who are having hard times and DESPERATLY need jobs.. I am also feeling blessed to have My family, My babies, My husband, and My Home. I am Thankful that I live in this FREE country, the United States of America. I hope everyone has a safe and blessed Holiday. Love, Nichole

FAMILY UPDATE- Everything is still pretty much the same. I will be teaching at a new school next year and am very excited for the new challenge and I am still pursuing my Masters degree in Special Education/ Adapted Curriculum. Sophia is SUPER smart and can't wait to get back into the swing of things and go to school every day to see her friends, she is VERY social, but we are sooo enjoying our time together this summer. D is working ever so hard at Leonards Market and we are trying to get this nursury going. If anyone or if anyone knows someone that can hang insulation and sheetrock (for a great economical price).. or looking for any remodeling work on these lines... send me a message/ post on here or my e-mail is mailnsl@bellsouth.net. We are on a budget, but are determined to add on a nursury for our beauitful new baby!

Thanks!

Horrible Blogger

Hey Guys...

If Anyone out there reads this blog I am surely all are disappointed. I am 9 weeks pregnant (yes, that should have been a blog) and I am throughly enjoying getting my Masters right now (yeah.. ok!) so I am finding myself with less and less time to update this sucker! To be clear.. I really am enjoying Grad school it is just becoming a bit overwhelming lately, but it is all evening out!

To catch up, Sophia and I are out for the summer. Well, Sophia goes to school on Thursdays which gives me a "ME" day and a chance to catch up on school work and maybe a quick run to the grocery store. Sophia is also participating in gymnastics over the summer as well as swimming lessons coming up in the last week of June! We are also playing catch up with the dentist, getting some pictures made, scheduling Dr appointments for Mommy and Baby, and TRYING to do some housework. We will soon start renovations for the nursury also.

So.. We, Stancils, are keeping busy, but if you want togetogether with any of us now will be the time to get in touch b/c Fall, Winter, and Spring will be even busier!!

Much Love- Nichole

Technology Technology

OK... so I know that I know that we are in the technology age, but besides having a lap top I did not realize how all of it would affect my daughter b/c she is only 3! However, she has been really saying some cute things and I thought I would document them on my blog, as someone recommended me writing them down somewhere.

First, the other day David picked Fia up from school and she was walking around with a note pad and a pen. The teacher informed David that Sophia had started her own business. The teacher recommended David to ask Fia what the name of her business was, so David proceeded to ask her. Fia said the name of her business was..get this, "Dot Com."

Also, the other day when I was sick I was pretty much letting Fia run the show (make a mess), so she brought out all of her friends (stuffed animals and dolls) to the living room. Sophia began handing all of her friends cards and stating to them, "this is your e-mail."

Giving in to her fascination with Technology, I know she likes to get on the computer and do her "school work," like Mommy. So a new website that we get on to help Fia not only learn her letters- she know those- but learn the letter sounds is starfall.com. It is a great website! It also promotes reading and distinguishing between capital and lower case letters and much more! Great tool for learning as well as Fia- Mommy bonding!

Here is the link: www.starfall.com

Fia and La La at the CIrcus

Spring has Sprung

Even though we live in GA and I am anticipating a freeze to come and kill all of our beautiful flowers, however, we are enjoying this beautiful weather and found ourselves a flower patch! Happy Spring...

Happy Love Week!

Well, we were finally able to squeeze in a little photo shoot with our little Fia at the Picture People.. I have been slack. Her is our beautiful Valentine! Or as she says...

" I am Sophia; I am a Big Girl" and "I can do it; I am getting bigger!"

2009... Here we Go!!!

I just wanted to wish everyone a Happy New Year and MANY blessings to come! Love, Nichole