Our Holiday Blessings

i have one question to ask - How does one narrow down the pictures they post?!? i truly don't have an answer to that question, as you will soon learn (if you haven't already known that). they are ALL so darn CUTE (or funny)!

We celebrated Christmas a day late this year as Richard had to work the nights of both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. So on Wednesday, 12/26, we had all the local family over and had a wonderful time! Mom and Dad Wilkes came from Midland, Momma J came from Loraine, Aunt Carol from Georgetown, and Mike & Chrisi, Doug, Missy and Kaleb from exactly 1.0 miles down the road. :)

Here are some pictures of everyone around the table:

Aunt Carol was over visiting us the night before for a little while - and she was just totally unable to keep from poking and prodding at all the gifts under the tree. As you can plainly see, I was left with no choice. I made a search-word puzzle for her. After she found all the words, the unsused letters would spell out all of the hiding places in which she would find her gifts. Here she is diligently working:

Nathan must have been a VERY good boy this year! He received many wonderful gifts. Although he was indeed a good boy, I really think it has more to do with having a lot of family (near and far) that love him VERY much!

here he is with his new tricycle

here he is with his new cowboy hat & boots - his head may be cut off, but you can still see the excitment on his face!

even at a young age, we really wanted him to share in the joys of giving, not just receiving. here is Nathan helping to hand out presents:

to his friend Kaleb

to Dada

Here are some fun pictures of Nathan enjoying some of his presents. He is a very hard worker at most everything he does. Look at how he examines his work bench in preparation for putting his tools on it to play.

Nathan sporting his new wranglers and boots and the hat of his choice for the moment. (i am not kidding - he LOVES hats and will pick different ones to wear throughout the day and not want to go anywhere without them. cowboy hats, baseball caps, sun hats, Dada's hats . . . doesn't matter what he is wearing, all are fair game)

Today is new year's eve. It is 9:20 pm and after I finish this post, I am going to bed. Richard is working and Nathan is in bed. Given the options of toasting myself with a glass of ice water versus getting a good night's sleep - sleep wins out. I do have tell you that tonight I did something 'special', something I have never done before. Tonight I made a doggie sweater. :) Not kidding - taylored a sweater for Little Bear. I thought it was only right of me to do since I am the one who keeps insisting on shaving all of his hair off - I should make him a sweater so he doesn't get cold. Afterall it IS going to be way down into the 40s tomorrow! (oh my, i have become such a wimp so fast!! I guess I just figure my dog became a wimp too???) I would really like to share the pictures of him in his new sweater, but regretably i cannot. I took them with our new camera and don't know how to get them off of it and onto the computer yet.

***addendum*** richard showed me how to get the pictures from the new camera to the computer this morning so here are the much awaited for pictures of the doggie sweater ala ann.

Christmas program

we had our Christmas program at church this past weekend. nathan was asked to be "toddler Jesus." i have never seen a program with toddler Jesus, nor had i ever really thought about it. i just went from "baby" Jesus to "12 year old teaching in the temple" Jesus. as we went to rehersals and such, i realized that by the time the 3 wise men came to see Jesus, He was a toddler. the program was really well written, different than so many i have seen. it really explained who king herad was and why he was so paranoid of losing his throne, and the extent he went to to 'protect' it. the actor did such a good job of portraying him and his evil ways, that i didn't want him to get anywhere near nathan! (i am serious - he was scary) the show also went further than just getting the message out that we celebrate Christmas b/c that was the day Jesus was born. it also spread the word about WHY Jesus was born - that He was here, from the very beginning to teach, lead, and be a perfect sacrafice for our sins - so we can be with God in heaven. all of that in an hour - whew - not a slow moment during the whole thing!

richard's parents were able to come into town to see nathan in the show. here are some pictures. there are none yet of the show, b/c i couldn't sit close enough to take them, or we would have had toddler Jesus on stage screaming and holding his arms out to go to his mom in the third row - not a pretty picture. so i had to sit way in the back - but others took pictures for me. when i get those i will put them up.

nathan with gran and pappy at our house after his first show saturday night:

nathan getting ready for his second show, sunday morning, he found an angel's slippers to borrow before showtime:

a very proud mama and dada holding nathan outside of church after his sunday morning show:

UPDATE - HERE ARE THE PICTURES FROM THE SHOW - SHE IS FAST!

silly Mama!

nathan and i went to the grocery store. i made sure to eat and drink plenty of water before we went - otherwise i would buy too much food and drink stuff that we didn't need. what i didn't do was give myself a time limit. i didn't have anywhere to be after the store - so i just walked and looked at all the kid stuff. this is what happened next:
nathan got a new hat and sundglasses!! (they were on SALE!)

it will still fit him next summer!

catching up

a few weeks ago we took nathan to a place we like to call, "the bouncy bounce." it is an entire place full of those inflatable "bouncy bounces" that we used to call 'moonwalks' when i was growing up. i don't know if that is a regional thing or a time thing - but when i say moonwalk no one seems to have any idea what i am talking about. the ones they have now are WAY more cool then the ones we had (which were very cool in their own right - i loved those things!). now it is way more than the inflatable floor with pillars in the corners and netting so you didn't fall out - now there are ball pits, and obstacle courses and slides and . . . i'll let the pictures explain the rest.

nathan just started doing this the other day. i don't know why. he really seems to like it though. can you do this??? (note: his legs are straight and his head is nearly between his feet!) i really don't know which is more impressive, the flexibility or the balance!

nathan had his first sleep over on the 16th of this month. he spent the night with aunt carol. (who wasn't ready to be done playing by the time it was his bedtime). richard and i had a sunday school social - dinner - and then made a date of the evening after that. at first mention of a sleepover - i got a little teary- but later agreeed that it was good 'practice' for when he would have to sleep over somewhere when we go to have the new baby. here he is getting ready to go - he obviously was way more ready for this than his Mama was!

nathan is a VERY good helper! here he is carrying a box for Mama so we could mail a get well helium balloon to Grandpa. that is what i said - mailed a helium balloon. :)

here are some pictures from Thanksgiving. we spent it in ruidoso, new mexico at richard's parent's cabin. it is in the mountains and was VERY cold! we packed warm, because i figured it would be colder than we were used to - but it really was MUCH colder than we were used to. then, the night before we left it started snowing! snow - i thought that was why we moved to texas! (well, just part of the reason - but still!) the family picture includes us, richard's parents, oma (richard's grandma), and his aunt and her family.

baby's first pictures

last week thursday, we had our first ultrasound done. the doctor said that the baby looked great.

picture 1: baby's head right in the middle and the body goes to the right, you can see one arm above and one below the baby's body
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picture 2: baby's head at the left of the picture. this is a back view with the baby's butt at the right of the screen. you can see one little elbow at the top
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picture 3: this is a front view. head at the left, body to the right, and arms and legs kicking
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both richard and i were really amazed at how big the baby looks already! the baby was moving all over, arms and legs just all over the place. the doctor was even able to see the little arm and thigh bones and get measurements. i did get sick about a month ago with a virus that inhibits the mom's and possibly baby's ability to make red blood cells. this could lead to problems for the baby because it was during the first trimester. the doctor said that everything looked just perfect right now. we are going to watch things very closely and do another ultrsound in a month to make sure things are going well.

we are all so excited about this new wonderful blessing. please join us in praying for a healthy and strong baby.

just in case you were wondering about the gender. . . we are going to be surprised again!! (and no, you can't see anything in these pictures - no need to strain your eyes!)

blindsided by life

Today I heard some news that struck me like a semi truck in the blind spot. I was just ‘cruisin’ along on the internet, checking out all my favorite blogs to keep up with friends that distance has separated me from. When there on one, I read a song – it was a song written for the Skoglund family. (a dear family at the church we belonged to in Racine Wsconsin). “Why did Amy write a song for them?” I wondered. As I read the lyrics, it became very clear. Their son, an army pilot, died in a helicopter crash on a training mission in Italy. He was 31 years old. I prayed for them, and I grieved with them.

I read this right before I went to a Bible study. I asked everyone there to pray for that dear family.

Then I went to pick up Nathan from the nursery. He was so sweet. He squealed a little when he saw me. Then he put away the toys he was playing with and came over with his arms lifted high. When I picked him up – he gave me kisses.

As we walked down the hall, with him reaching his little arm up and holding onto my one finger, I thought to myself. I though, “oh Nathan, I want so badly to protect you from ever knowing the hurt of losing someone you love”. “Such a sweet boy should never know hurt like that,” I reasoned. I realized in a moment’s time – that I cannot ever protect him from that. But I DID realize what I can do. I can train him up to know and love the Lord. I can show him, that in God, he can have confidence that all things will work out for good. And that if he knows Jesus as his savior, he won’t even have to fear death. I can teach him about hope – real hope and real joy. Not the kind that waxes and wanes and fades when situations get bad. Only the hope and joy that come with knowing God and trusting in Him.

On the way home I heard a song on the radio, that said what I was trying to say. Here is the chorus:

There is hope for the helpless
Rest for the weary
Love for the broken heart
There is grace and forgiveness
Mercy and healing
He'll meet you wherever you are
Cry out to Jesus, Cry out to Jesus

(Cry out to Jesus, by Third Day)


Tonight I do cry out to Jesus. I cry out for comfort for the Skoglund family, for peace in my own heart, and for all those who do not know the hope that is found in Him.

announcement!

nathan is now in a big boy bed.
we decided to start it out as just the mattress on the floor and put the rest of the bed under it after he got used to it. by the looks of this picture, that was a good idea!

here is how i found him that first morning. he was sleeping like that!
he has gotten much better already! we haven't found him on the floor after this one time. oh, that picture just makes me laugh inside!!

fall family fun!

we took a trip to the pumpkin farm last weekend. it was such a beautiful day! it started out chilly (mind the long sleeved shirts) but we were soon pushing up our sleeves and enjoying the day. i will tell you that pumpkin farms are a lot harder to find here in tx, than they were in wi! i don't know why exactly, but there aren't very many around. they are a little bit different here too, on the way out we all stopped and bought homemade ice cream. not apple cider or warm pies, or hot caramel apples. none in site - ice cream and popsicles made of fresh strawberry puree were on the menu.

i thought it would be sweet to get nathan's picture on the hay sitting by all the pumpkins :

he only wanted to move the pumpkins around:

he tried SO hard to pick this pumpkin up. i can tell you one thing, the one who said "where there is a will, there is a way" was NOT a 24 pound little boy facing a 20 pound pumpkin!! (please take note of how straight his back is, and he is trying to lift with his legs. this boy makes his mother proud!) so many pumpkins so little time!! finally, one he could pick up and just hold - that was all he wanted to do!

"i may not be able to lift them all, but i can pull them on this trusty little tractor!"
here is a picture of all of us

nathan REALLY likes birds. every time he sees one, he gets REALLY excited and can just barely stand it if they fly! that is DEFINITELY the COOLEST thing he has EVER seen. he will put down whatever he is doing to watch a bird. if it starts to fly he makes a circle face and says "oooooooooo" or "ooohhhhhhhh" and points for everyone to see. he was really happy to see all the chickens walking around. they never did fly, but he sure enjoyed watching them walk! (you can see it right in front of the parked truck .

that about sums up our trip. we had a great time and came home with a pumpkin for some yummy pumpkin cake, and pudding, and pie, and . . . whatever other recipes i find!

finally - i am cold-free

whew!! have you ever had a cold for so long, that you wondered if it would ever go away??? i wasn't able to take anything to help it along - so i just stayed hydrated and rested, and waited and waited. but now it is GONE! nathan got better much faster than i did (which made me VERY happy).

well, anyway - here are some pictures from our trip. be sure to look at them all so you don't miss anything. . .

when i told nathan that we were going to WI, he grabbed his heavy packer coat and come to the door. SMART kid!!

nathan studiously reading the safety information on the plane:

play date with some wonderful friends! (thanks kelly!!!)

nathan's first time to play in the leaves:

playing with aunt sara:

uncle frank and nathan:all of us at grandma's cottage:dada and nathan for a walk down to the lake at grandma's cottage:nathan and his favorite aunty crystal:
we took a tour of the jelly belly factory - nathan did really well keeping his hat on!!hi fives for the jelly belly man!us and my parents:last, but not least - nathan has some VERY big news to share!!