Merry Christmas Eve From NZ

Christmas Cookie from Courtney at Starbucks

YUM

His first chocolate fluffy!

Loving his cookie

Still loving his cookie!

May you have a great Holiday Weekend!

Playgroup Christmas Party

Max and I hosted the playgroup Christmas party. We both had tons of fun. Max was the cutest host. He would go around to all the kids and make sure everyone was okay. Such a thoughtful boy!

Christmas cupcakes

Max had tons of fun playing outside with all his friends

Santa even came - Kiwi style. In a

Max didn't like Santa but did like his reindeer VW Bug

It's finally SUNNY!

WOO HOO!!! It's been so cold here! It was fun to feel like an American Christmas, but you know us...we LOVE summer!

Max started off his morning with a present from our favorite family from the dairy.

He was SO excited and loves his new bottle and plate

We then had a playdate at the beach with one of Max's favorite girlfriends Talia

He loves playing with her and loved getting to show her his beach

Max is ALWAYS kissing Talia. He just loves when she comes to play!

Monday.

Started off our day watching iBethel.tv

Max LOVES it!

Then we headed to the beach.

It was cloudy and cold all day but the beach is always fun.

He loves playing with his beach toys!

We ended our day stopping by the dairy to have a play. He absolutely squeals when he gets to go visit. And they LOVE Max. Constantly loving on him and spoiling him.

It is like having a nana at the dairy. No matter how many times I say no to treats she can't help but give him more. And he LOVES it! He is truly spoiled.

They let him play with everything. And he knows he is spoiled.

The girls are in India for the summer holiday. He got to skype them and see them tonight. He was SO happy.

Uneventful day. Memory filled day.

My Beach Boy

All he knows is going to the beach most days. This week it has been raining lots, but that doesn't stop Max from bringing us his beach toys and sunscreen and saying "beeeeeech beeeeeech beeeeeech." This morning he played with all of his toys and I am pretty sure was pretending he was at the beach even though it's raining and cold.

In other news, our lives have changed very quickly and very dramatically. I am officially a working mom and I LOVE IT!! Sam will end his job that has been a job that we needed, but very hard for many different reasons. He will get to pursue photography more seriously again and not have to endure a bad work environment. I work 2 minutes from home at a very cute little restaurant right down the road. Sam and Max walk me to work at 6pm and then I am there until around midnight. If you know me well you know that by midnight I will have gone through three sleep/dream cycles on a typical night. Ironically, I am doing fine. It might help that I nap when Max does and I have snuck in an occasional Starbucks around 4 when I am exhausted. I think more than anything I am loving this new role. I LOVE being Max's mom and Sam's wife, but I also love having many things to accomplish. I just wasn't wired to be a stay at home mom. I didn't go into this mom thing with great passion or conviction either way, but now seeing that I am a better wife and mom doing this job confirms what I had a sneaking suspicion about...I LOVE being a working mom. For me and Sam it is perfect. I still get all day (which with summer coming is a very cool blessing of going back to work) Max sees me and Sam working as a team. It has been amazing to see the team component go up dramatically the last week and see how well we work together and love and serve each other. After a long year of learning, change, growing and an occasional fight or two (or more but who's counting :) I see the fruit of commitment, love, and service to each other and our family.

Happy Holidays from the Acklands

May HOPE and PEACE be present in each of your homes

Christmas Joy in the Mail

The one thing about living far away is the romantic notion of getting Christmas gifts in the mail. It feels like a movie somedays (minus the package coming in the falling snow from a overly happy mailman)

Aunt Denise and Uncle Jim sent Max the COOLEST card! He gets to press a button and it plays Rudolph. Let's just say we heard Rudolph a lot yesterday

Auntie Holly, Uncle Mike and Tyler sent an AWESOME nativity set just for Max. He absolutely loves it.

He loves opening presents

His favorite part is baby Jesus to which he continually says "Geez Geez Geez" as he carries it around the house.

We also are starting to get Christmas cards in the mail which I LOVE. Christmas cards with family pictures of the kids or the whole family is not a tradition here (but I am still going to do it even though people think it's silly and over the top :) hehehe) so when I get them in the mail here I cherish them! They stay on our fridge all year until the next Christmas when we can update their cute family! Thank you to those that are sending us your cards. I LOVE IT!