bat guitar

(click the play button to watch the video clip)

Here's N enjoying some time outside back in early December. It's too cute not to share! Originally he set up the T-ball set and hit a couple of balls with B', but then he decided to put on a concert instead. :0)

it's about time...

Somewhere between family time, caring for the kids, being a wife, ministry work, and the energy drain of pregnancy; I've managed to neglect updating the blog since the end of November. Sad, sad, sad. So, today I set aside some time between other things to fill in the last two months of life in our family! Here are some pics just for fun and by way of updating you on our cuties' latest looks, ideas, and antics.

J' said she was helping PT work the other day. She was definitely making it harder for him to type, but her happy giggles were bound to make it worth the awkward reach :0)


J' has recently developed an interest in all things "beautiful." She likes dresses, bows and flowers in her hair, and comments on anything she thinks is "just beautiful." Yesterday as I was sipping some herbal tea she said, "Mommy, your tea cup is just beautiful." It is a pretty tea cup with pink roses set on a yellow background. Don't go overboard with girly ideas about her though, her other current favorites are puzzles and dinosaurs! My little lady loves to roar with her claws up and her nose crinkled!
Isn't this sweater dress the CUTEST! A sweet friend at church passed this one down when her little lady outgrew it recently. Adorable!

Here ya go... a recent pregnant pic. We're 8 months along as of this week, but I took this a couple of weeks ago. I've never been this big, this soon, EVER! I understand that I carry pretty small, but I still don't know where that belly is going to expand to in the next few weeks???!!! Praise the Lord for His sweetness in that the vomiting is over finally and I'm only nauseous on the occasional day now. (No, I didn't suddenly whack all my hair off. It's all natural and curly in this pic and piled on top of my head in an afro-puff. I didn't feel like pressing it straight that day... lots of days lately.)

N' and J' said they were building a fort. It looked more like the contents of the playroom being dumped out onto the family room floor, but they were happy and working so industriously that I just joined in the fun!
The next day they built a truck out of the kitchen table chairs. N' was the driver (he used the chair in front of him for a steering wheel). All three made engine noises while they made their way down the road.

Here are N' and J' after a wedding we attended two weeks ago. They were looking too cute not to snap a pic! B' refused to stand still for the picture and kept coming out as a little boy blur, so I gave up and just captured the bigs. It was a casual wedding with a cowboy theme, hence the choice of N's western wear shirt for that day.

There's nothing thrilling to report. Church continues to be a blessing and we love serving in ministry! Family life is so sweet (though it would be neat if all three kids would sleep all night, in their own beds, every night). Now, just a few tasks and projects I need to complete before babynew #4 arrives. One such task: now I've caught up on the missing time according to the blog. Sorry so very slow with postings... it really was about time :0)

Christmas

One of our favorite times of year -- the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ! It's such a great blessing and privilege to share our faith with our children. We spent this Christmas at home to save money we would have spent in travel and to start to establish our own family traditions for celebrating on Christmas day.



My mom came over on Christmas Eve along with my grandmother who was in town for the holiday. The kids had a grand time eating a special late night (well, it was late for them) snack of popcorn with Nana and getting cuddles and play time with Shirley-the-Great! (Somehow I didn't manage to get a good pic of my mom all evening.)

My mom brought them a pop-up storybook nativity scene with little figurines the first of December, and they re-enacted the Christmas story for her - again! They were pretty good at the story by Christmas Eve. N' loves the angel Gabriel figurine! He mostly enjoyed flying Gabriel all around the family room and skipping the rest of the story. What can I say, he's only 4 :0)


It snowed late on Christmas Eve and continued intermittently into the morning of Christmas Day. We knew from the weather report that it wasn't likely to last long, so before we even ate breakfast, we bundled everyone up and headed for the yard to play in the snow. J' thought it was GREAT! She would have played as long as we allowed.


B', who loves all things athletic, especially throwing and kicking softballs, footballs, and soccer balls; was in love with snowballs! He liked throwing them in the air until he noticed that they broke into a powdery pile when they land so you can't throw them again. Then he took to crushing them between his palms and watching it snow on his shoes. Only hitch, mommy had to make the snowballs for everyone. They didn't catch on and daddy was snapping pics and blocking them from the icy driveway.



N' was the most eager to get out the door to see the snow, but after about fifteen minutes he announced, "This snow is cold and wet. I want to go back inside." With that, he went straight for the door, stepped inside, and waited patiently for the rest of us to follow a few minutes later. They were ready for breakfast after a half hour or so anyway :0).

When the sun's rays reached the backyard around 10am and the snow melted, N said he was glad his grass was back. Hee hee! O well, they can't all be snow lovers like their mommy. PT has some company in N' for preferring to spend wet, chilly winter days indoors.


We had a lovely, quiet, sweet Christmas day. We snacked on fresh pineapple! (That pineapple also helped to glaze the ham.) I made a sour cream pound cake with a brown sugar struesel top for Jesus' birthday cake and we sang Happy Birthday to our precious Lord and Savior!

company came...

My cousin Joe and his wife Michelle were in town the weekend after Thanksgiving to attend a wedding. It was so much fun to have them visit our church service and then come over for dinner at our house.
Here are B' and Michelle after a diaper change. (B loves to run free in his cloth diaper after a change before he puts his pants back on.) He and Michelle were fast friends! There's nothing better than cuddles!

New Mexico is a long way away! What a blessing to see them and spend some time! We had a great day!