Happy 4th Birthday, Elliott

Our handsome little man

It's hard to believe that Elliott is already 4! It seems like just yesterday I was holding this brand new baby boy in my arms! Now, he is chatting it up all the time and telling us "remember when" stories. What a blessing he is to us and what joy he brings our days! (yes, there are moments he drives us and Alana a bit crazy!)..but we wouldn't trade him for the world.

We got Elliott a Lightning McQueen cake and then headed to the Amazing Pizza Machine. Daddy has wanted to go there for a long time so I said we could go there for both of their birthdays. It is a glorified Chuck E Cheese and much cleaner! We had a great time. Daddy took him on the go carts, we mini golfed and bowled and played little games. Alana loved all of the lights and of course we all enjoyed the buffet.

Elliott got a new bible from great grandma and grandpa s.
Sitting at his new table from grandma and grandpa k.
Happy Birthday, love!

Jonathan's birthday was on the day his varsity show choir performed for the Music Educators Conference. They did a great job and daddy again wrote their ballad. I am so excited to share this one with family as he wrote it for my cousin Jane who passed away this summer. This year, he also wrote the tap. He did such a great job and I am so proud of him! Show choir season 2009 is going to be awesome!

We decided to stay home for Thanksgiving this year. We went to Jonathan's co-teacher's house and had a wonderful time!! I went shopping on Black Friday-a first for me. I was up at 4 am and went to Kohl's and Toys R Us first. I sat in lines for a long time but everyone was very nice and would hold your spot if you wanted to go look at something. I got almost all of my shopping done that day. I think it was worth and would say I might do it again.

Well, Christmas is just around the corner! We are doing the tri-state triangle this year-first to my parents, then to Jonathan's. We kept a few days on each side so we could have down time with just the four of us and if there is any bad weather (pray there won't be!) Hopefully, I will have updates on that soon after the first of the year. I am so excited for the kids to open their presents!

I guess that is all for now. Take care and God Bless.

A little slow on the updates...

Yeah, I know it's been a long time and it's way past Halloween now and even Thanksgiving beat me, but nevertheless, here is a few pics of our cute kids at Halloween. Elliott and Alana were replaced with a chicken and a princess. Mommy and daddy had fun helping eat the candy while the kids were oohed and aahed at. They looked pretty darn cute, I must admit. Enjoy!
Take care and God Bless.

Cute in cousin Kendall's shirt and hat!

The chicken and the princess!

Alana's First Birthday!

Hi, I'm the birthday Princess!

I can hardly believe that our baby girl is one already! We were so excited that both sets of grandparents were able to come to our house to help celebrate. I baked a butterfly cake for her and of course she got her own special cake to dig into! Of course, big brother helped her blow out her candle and open her presents (and play with them before she did!).

I know I have a long way to go before I am a master cake decorator, but it was from the heart and I had fun doing it!
Yeah, I forgot the "H" when I was doing the lettering, oops! It all still tasted really good!

If I would have let her, she would have ate her whole cake...she was all about it!
The family

The kids with Grandma and Grandpa D and "Peanut"
The kids with Grandpa and Grandma K

On her actual birthday, we delivered cupcakes to Susie's (the kids daycare), mommy's work (I still am working part time from home) and daddy's work. Then, we brought the rest to church that night. It was fun! She sure looked like a princess. Daddy's nicknamed her "Princess Cupcake"

Hey, I'm one, guys!

Sideways, but so cute...look at that face!

"Riding" the bike at Susie's!

My Baptism

I am so happy to tell you that on August 24th, I was baptized. This was so meaningful to me and it was great to be able to publicly declare that my heart belongs to Jesus! Jonathan was baptized when he was 13 and I was baptized as an infant but I believe that it is important to be baptized when you are able to make the decision to accept Jesus Christ as your Savior. I have always believed in God but it was until February of 2006 that I truly accepted Christ into my heart and started living for Him. I am still a "baby Christian" but I believe I am learning to walk more closely with Him every day and I look forward to the day that I can see our children be baptized.

Before attending First Free, I had never even seen a full immersion baptism, so I was a little nervous...especially since we had an outdoor pool and the water was pretty chilly. About 50 people were baptized that afternoon ranging in age from 7 or 8 year olds to 60 something grandparents! We were able to choose who was to baptize us and the first person that came to my mind was our former Worship Minister. The circumstances surrounding his departure were very difficult for all of us and he has not been back since this but being in Worship Ministries was really my springboard into accepting Christ. So, after a lot of praying, I asked Mike to baptize me. After much prayer and consideration with his wife, he accepted and I was so happy. It was a wonderful day and so many were so happy to see them back. It just completed the happiness of my day.

The water was a little chilly but the sun was out and it was a beautiful day. Here are some pics.

Me and Mike
Praying before my baptism
There I go!
An emotional but spirtually uplifting day for us.

Some fun pics

Well, here again it's been almost two months since I posted. I am sure most people have given up on me and don't even check my blog anymore...but for those that do, I am posting some new pics of our kids. They are mostly of Lana because you know how it is with babies, you just want to snap and snap. Elliott doesn't want to stop long enough to pose for a picture.

The bathtub "Mohawk"
Cute Pigtails!

I am getting more and more excited for Alana's hair to get longer so I can do fun stuff with it. I think that when it gets longer, she will have curl to it as I messed with it a little and there is a little curl showing up! I tried piggytails in her hair today and it is the cutest thing, so enjoy that one and her mohawk in the bathtub.

Alana is sporting her Silverhawks shirt
(handed down from Elliott) before the Spirit Fest kickoff.

Elliott wearing his new Resonance shirt.

We are getting into our new fall routine and it's good. I do a Tuesday morning bible study at church and MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) twice a month which is great. We have a lot going on but we are working it all in. Alana and I were both sick this week (for three days!) but are both doing much better, thank goodness.

I really hope to post more soon. But until then, enjoy the pics, take care and God Bless.

Earnie and Alana looking out the front window.

I'm terrible, I know

What can I say, things have been hectic around the our household! But, now there will be a different sort of hectic as I am officially a stay at home mom! I am going to continue to work PT from my home for the state still, but I can do it after the kids are in bed. It will be a nice extra source of income to make our monthly budget balance! I am very excited to begin this new adventure and even more excited that our whole family will get to be together for the next couple of week before daddy heads back to school.

So much has happened that I can't possibly catch you up on everything but here's a brief run down, the major things...
My first cousin once removed (I guess that's the technical term), Jane, passed away on June 26 from non-smoker's lung cancer. She was only 50 and was just diagnosed in March. Everything went downhill very fast and she entered hospice at the beginning of June. It is comforting to know that she is with Jesus dancing and singing praises but it is tough to know that she leaves behind her twin boys (13 yo) and her husband who also has cancer. We are praying for a miracle for Britt so he can be around for his boys.

Jonathan's grandpa was diagnosed with cancer in May and has been lucky enough to have the best drs at the Mayo clinic helping him get better. We pray every day that the approach they are taking will cure him.

As most of you know, Cedar Rapids, IA was devastated by flooding mid-June. This is Jonathan's hometown and it has been so hard to see all of the flood's ravage and not be there. We will be going there in a couple weeks to see it all first hand.

My hometown was hit by two tornadoes on the same night. It was about 2 miles from my parents house and thankfully they are ok and there was about 8 houses either destroyed or with damage.

Elliott is a busy 3 1/2 year old and Miss Alana is almost 10 months old! She is crawling like a pro, cruising along stuff and getting brave and letting go of furniture. They are both so fun and keep us entertained. Elliott is learning to write his name (and is very good at it already!) and loves to watch the storms with daddy. Alana likes to say Mama and make car noises and do whatever her big brother is doing. She only gained 1 lb 1 oz between her 6 and 9 month appt, so she is at 17lbs 3 oz and is 27 3/4 inches long. Earnie was supposed to lose 4 pounds (1/4 of his body weight) per the vet's orders because his back was just not healing completely. I am happy to report that he is down to 13.4 (he was at 16). I am sure he doesn't like it because we have had to cut his food back and not give him treats. He has a fondness for green beans though (very low cal and the vet recommended to fill his tummy).

Well, through all of these things, we know that we could not have gotten through all of this without the Lord and all of the prayers from our church family and friends. God is great through the it all and we continue to give Him all the praise.

I will post pics soon. Take care and God Bless.

Almost May

Hard to believe it's almost May and when I talked to my mom today, they were pretty much dealing with a blizzard! Thank goodness, we don't have that here. The grass is green and trees budding, but it was pretty blustery yesterday and today. We've had a few nice days-took out our new bike tow/stroller as many days as we could last week. We got that with the gift card we got from Chad and Monica for Xmas. We're very glad we got it. The kids and Earnie can be in there. It's great!

Alana is 7 months now...can you believe it? At her 6 month appt, she was 26 1/2 inches long (90%ile) and 15 lbs 3 oz (25%ile)...hmmm tall and thin, where does she get that from? She's finally getting enough hair to put a little piggy tail on top-so cute! She's sitting up by herself and rolling everywhere as well as scooting backward. Today, she has taken to getting up on all 4's, which probably means crawling isn't too far behind! My baby is growing up too fast!

Elliott is 3 1/2 now and is a great helper around the house-he loves to put laundry down the shoot, sweep (after we've gotten most of the dirt up already), help mommy in the kitchen and of course play with (and sometimes annoy) Alana.

The exciting news for mom and dad is we're getting a new bed on Tuesday! Ours was still under warranty and had over 2 inch dips in it! Not fun at all to sleep on-I have been hurting every day for weeks and it's even effecting Jonathan. So, we took a bunch of pictures and got word last Saturday that we would be receiving a credit at Slumberland to purchase a new bed because our model was no longer made. So, we upgraded to a king which will be amazing-especially when both kids and Earnie join us!

We also had to get new windows for the kids rooms. Their rooms are above the garage which isn't insulated. It gets sooo hot in the summer and very cold in the winter because of that and the windows are very drafty. So, hopefully this will help immensely. They should be here 1-2 weeks.

Well, I'm posting some pictures of the kids. Hope you enjoy. I also hope it's warm where you are and if its not, that it will be turning that way soon!

Take care and God Bless.

Yeah, we're still alive!

Right now I'm sitting in a hotel room waiting for the culmination of show choir season for Jonathan and a return to our new normal (now that we have two kids). Since I wrote last, we had a busy December with the holidays and once January hit, it's been show choir season. Jonathan has been taking his groups to compete or judging every weekend since then except 2! So, as you can imagine it's been difficult to find time to get on the internet and pay bills let alone update the blog! I miss it-the only thing about bed rest I really miss!! :)

Alana is almost 6 months already! It's so hard to believe! She is sitting in my lap right now as alert as can be patting her hand on her knee like something's really funny! She is rolling over, talking up a storm and just started a little bit on solids. She absolutely adores Elliott and smiles and laughs a lot. She definitely has made our lives brighter! She gets more beautiful every day and is growing up too fast! She was in the 75%ile for height at her 4 month checkup so I will be interested to see what she is at her 6 month appt.

We had a rough month with her in January with sickness. She had a virus with 102.9 temp with
Tylenol and they had to do lots of tests on her. If she would have been 2 weeks younger, the would have immediately admitted her to the hospital. She got over it fairly quickly, but it was so hard to see her go through it. Then, less than two weeks later, she got the intestinal flu. All the kids except Elliott got it at daycare. She was projectile vomiting for a day and then got it from the other end for a few days. Then, I got it to-but didn't vomit or the other end-just a very upset tummy. I wish I would've thrown up, I think I would have felt better.

Another thing about Alana is that she has taken to sucking her first two fingers on her left hand. She rarely uses her pacifier but loves those fingers. Cute for now, but hope it doesn't become a really hard habit to break.

Elliott is a busy 3 year old. He loves his friends at daycare and is such a good helper with Alana. He just loves to play with her. He's a great big brother. He is completely "potty" trained but not "poopie". It's an ongoing struggle, he's done it twice on the potty but is just not doing it consistently. It will come eventually.

Jonathan got influenza the first week in March and missed two days of work. I had the milder version the week before. Not fun for either of us, that's for sure.

Earnie hurt his back almost 3 weeks ago and we are still nursing him back to health. We had to bring him in to the vet and they gave him a shot and told us we needed to keep him kenneled all the time for two weeks and give him pain pills-he had a bulging disc. If it were to rupture, we would only have 24 hours to operate or he'd be paralyzed. He was in quite a bit of pain at first and virtually had no use of his back legs. It was so hard to see him like that! He is starting to get his pep back but doesn't have full use of his legs back yet. The vet said it could take up to 6 weeks. We have had to make some changes of where he can be while we're gone. We used to let him be on the main level, but he could still get off and on the couch, so now we will keep him in the bathroom.

Anyway, I hope to post pics soon and update more often. Take care and God Bless.