Christmas Pictures

Mid-Day at Christmas

Why is the paper always more fun!?

"This is the life..."

The kids are playing so well with their new toys, I actually got a few minutes to get some newer pictures onto the computer. Although, I realized that Brady has sweet potato on his face in all but two of them!! Nice mom I am, I let Elli feed him dinner and never checked to make sure his face was clean. The saddest part is that my mom is sending them out in cards and Brady is going to look like he has some skin disorder! LOL!
We have had a very nice Christmas this far and will not be done celebrating until later tonight. We are going over to Nathan's parents for steak dinner (yum!). The kids are going to be so spoiled by the end of these two days I don't know what I am going to do. :} I keep reminding Faith that the whole reason for Christmas is to celebrate Christ's birth... She says, "I know mom, but I still like the gifts." Gotta love her honesty.
Blessings (again!) to all!!!

Happy Birthday!!!

We have two wonderful birthdays to celebrate today! Happy Birthday to Jesus (well, at least this is when we celebrate, right? :) )! And, I can't forget a Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband... Besides, I finally can say we are the same age and he can stop rubbing it in that he is younger than me.

Have a blessed Christmas and may 2008 be your best year ever!!!!

I'm OFF!!!

Oh happy day! Today is my first day of Christmas break. I know it is going to fly by. Today alone was a blur between a birthday party, last minute shopping, and just keeping up with my two little rascals. :)
I am hoping to remember to get my camera from my dad tomorrow so I can upload some new photos.
Have a great rest of the weekend!

Almost a Merry Christmas

Well, if you are looking at this, there is a very good chance you got our Christmas card. We decided to share this page so we don't have to worry about sending pictures all the time. We'll see... If I have your email, you will probably still get my Kodak updates.
We are busy getting ready for the holidays. I can't believe it, but I think that all of my shopping is almost done! WOOO HOOO!!!
We are on the road to recovery and everyone is in very good health, except for the normal "this-time-of-the-year" runny nose.
I am on Christmas break from my classroom for 11 days after class tomorrow! I can't wait and neither can Faith. We don't have any special plans. Not that all the family members we will be seeing aren't special. :)
Faith's dance "recital" (I use that term loosely) is tonight, so hopefully I will have some pictures to post.
Brady is currently pounding on the patio door looking outside longingly... I should probably go bundle up the kids and get outside...it is a balmy 32 degrees! :)

Hopefully I will have time to post before Christmas. If not, have a blessed Christmas!!

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Holiday Spirit...ummm, not quite yet

Well, it has been quite a couple of weeks! We started out with Thanksgiving Day at our house and I had the stomach flu. Whooo hoo...fun. ;) Then just as I was getting better (thank God I was feeling better), Brady got it. Faith was doing great, so I breathed a sigh of relief and then...she got it. YIKES!! Just when we thought Nate had escaped the "grips" of illness (ha, ha...) he was diagnosed with pneumonia today! Whew, when it rains it pours sometimes. :{
But, none of this is life threatening, so we say, "Thank you God for your grace to get us through these minor things."

So, the pictures are of Faith and Brady (Brady's first time playing in the snow), a deer in our front yard, Brady doing his favorite thing this week: mopping, and Brady's first Thanksgiving.

Brady went from army crawling about three weeks ago to being completely on the go and able to pull himself to standing. Exactly as I expected. I bought a pair of boots for him thinking that he will probably be walking before the snow is gone around here...in June. He,he.

Faith is in dance class. I will have to post some pictures later. We had a great weekend of playing outside (not the picture...I'll post those later), baking cookies, and other fun stuff!

Well, hopefully I will be able to post again soon! Blessings to all!!!!!!

Fun before snow...

It's official...we have teeth! No pictures yet, but hopefully soon.
Faith started dance class tonight at the "Y." She loved it!! I will get some pictures next week.
Need to make this short, I'm typing w/ one hand and holding 20lbs in the other! :)

Yikes, what a couple of weeks

So, I took on some contracted work with my old job...Thank God they are flexible. I have been working on it for a couple of months now and still am not completely done. If it isn't sick children, it seems like something comes up.
Two weekends ago I was all set to sit down and work on it after the kids went to bed. But, on my way home from a fun swimming trip to the "Y" and a stop to Target, I got a call from my sister. For those of you that have heard this, sorry, but I will tell the story. Kara called and was on her way to the emergency room behind the ambulance that was taking Ron (her husband) there! To make a long story short, I was so glad she got in touch with me and eventually I ended up at the hospital through the night (thanks to my wonderful sil Heidi) with Kara while Ron had emergency, may I say life-saving, surgery.
Well, thanks to much prayer and a fabulous surgeon, Ron is home and recovering. But, it was a long and painful ordeal for him. He tore his esophagus (I can spell it now without spellcheck!) and from the sounds of it, a pretty bad tear at that! He ended up in the hospital for over a week. I am soooo proud of my sister! She held it all together and was the greatest cheerleader I think a husband (not that I've ever been one) could ask for. The kids did great as well!
So, needless to say, I am still behind on my work. And, obviously, I am not working on it at this minute... :{ But, even more grateful for family than ever before!!
Faith is doing great. Brady, too. He has been going to the chiropractor (yes, I know he is only 8-months old). But, it is going great! He had some (mom details here) constipation issues and let me tell you, they are completely better~ it's been over a week and he is doing great!
Well, I better get to bed...I do have to work tomorrow.

Our day trip to the "old mine"

Future Miners?....Maybe in sports!

It's been a couple of weeks since our trip, but here are a few pictures. I tried to find the old picture from when Faith was a baby, but I couldn't. :( As you can see, Brady we thrilled with the underground tour. Ha,ha!

This week was busy with work and other things. I had a training on conducting vision screenings (very interesting...yawn) and a staff meeting as well as a few home-visits. I am still waiting to hear about an early ed position that would put me into a classroom and allow me to have summers off. There is a hang up in HR (someone else, not me), but I'd rather have them dot all there i's and cross all there t's rather than offer me the job and then change their mind.

Nate's on afternoons, but I have kept busy. Chad and Heidi's kids came over tonight and we had their famous "Pizza Movie Night." And, tomorrow Faith is being rewarded for good behavior and we will be going swimming at the "Y." Fun, fun!

Faith is doing well, but ever since my maternity leave she would much rather I was a stay-at-home mom. Sometimes I wonder myself. Today Brady seemed to be back to himself as compared to the last month and a half. I am still bringing him to the chiropractor to see if a gentle adjustment wouldn't help. His appetite is great, he ate an entire jar of 3rd step lasagna tonight!! And, he loved my Seafood Fettuccine Alfredo the other day.

Hope the weekend is nice! It has been in the 40's and 30's here (way different than the upper 80's last week).

Go Packers!

Giant Boy?

No, we don't have a giant child...his cousin thought it would be cute to put him in the doll stroller. Needless to say, we all got a chuckle out of this. It was the most content Brady had been in about 2 1/2-weeks...Poor baby was sick with a double ear infection and sinus trouble. But, he is on the road to recovery now and back to his smiley self. "Only" 3 1/2-weeks later!
Faith keeps saying that she loves having a brother and takes every opportunity, with our without permission, to hold/carry Brady Boy (her nickname). Thank God she has stayed very healthy through all of this. One cranky child was enough for me. :)

Bad time to start a blog...HA, HA!!!

So, who wouldn't think that finding out the news that you are expecting wouldn't be an ideal time to start a blog? That is too funny!! So, it is seven-months since the expected child was born and I am finally getting back to trying this again!

In my last entry, I said that we were having a girl, which was confirmed by SEVERAL ultra-sounds. Well, most anyone that is reading this will know...she was a he. God has such a great sense of humor, doesn't He?

So, we have a boy, I have a new job, and I don't know if there is much else to share right now. I will try to get to this more often.