Thankful Thursday

This Thursday, I am so thankful for all of the many wonderful friends that God has blessed our family with in the many different locations that we have lived.

John 15:12-13 - "This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends."

We were able to visit with some old friends on Monday. They were our back-door neighbors in Ohio and the boys spent lots of time together for the year we lived there. Here are all of the kids together:

We were also thankful to enjot such a beautiful day in February where the kids could play outside together. The two friends are Wesley & Wyatt, affectionately called "Waisal & Cry-it" by Catherine after they left.

I'm also once again thankful for a wonderful husband who cares for me and loves me and offers to watch the children when there's a Girl's Night Out, like tonight! I can't WAIT to go laugh hysterically at Anita Renfroe with some of my wonderful friends here in Colorado - yay!!

Valentine's Day

Sorry that it has been so long since I have made an entry to the blog! It seems like the last month and a half have been even more hectic than usual. Anyway, we finally had an occasion to take the time and take pictures and post them for you all to see! What a fun weekend we have had celebrating Valentine's Day! We started the morning with Catherine watching her favorite show on TV: Hi-5 - she LOVES this show - lots of singing and dancing! Here she is enjoying the show:

Then we opened Valentine's cards and treats from grandparents and each other. Here are all of the kids together and then with some cards & treats:

Catherine especially enjoyed her treat that Daddy found for her - a soft, pink bear that rattles - three of her favorite things in one - she loved it!

Doc Sue, the boys and I had planned a special surprise Valentine's treat for Tom. He was gone for the week TDY to DC and while he was away, we planned. Doc Sue generously offered to take all of the kids for the night at her house so that Tom & I could celebrate together. Then I ordered some lobster pot pies and whoopie pies from Maine and supplemented them with scallops, rice, & broccoli that I bought here. The kids were supposed to keep the secret, but you know how it goes...much was given away when in the morning Adam asked in front of Tom "When are we going to Doc Sue's?" Tom got little clues from the boys that something was up and finally concluded that we had a surprise and that we were all going to Doc Sue's for dinner on Valentine's Day. So, that's what we let him think. When Catherine woke up from her nap, I said that the kids and I had to go get one more surprise and we left. I brought them to Doc Sue's where they received MORE Valentine's treats - see the fun they had there:

When I returned a little while later without the kids, Tom was surprised to learn the real present was that Doc Sue took the kids for the night so we could celebrate by ourselves. What a gift! Here is the meal Tom & I enjoyed by candlelight alone in our living room:

It was a wonderful Valentine's Day! Tremendous thanks to Doc Sue for the gift and to the boys for sort of keeping the surprise! We hope that we can be better with keeping you up to date now. We have friends from Ohio visiting tomorrow on the holiday - the boys are very excited!

Christmas 2008

Finally, I feel like a have a couple of free moments to update the blog - probably should be cleaning or something more important, but I need to update my blog!!! Here's a combo Christmas Post. These first couple of pictures were taken the Sunday before Christmas at Church - the boys sang some songs. Here's Mommy and Catherine:

Catherine stayed with us to watch them practice before the service, then when the service started and we were waiting for the real singing performance, Catherine said "All Done! Play!" Finally the boys started singing, then we brought her to the nursery where she played for the rest of the service. Here's Jonah doing motions for "Away in a Manger":

Here's Catherine on Christmas Eve in front of our tree loaded with presents:

Here's the boys singing some on Christmas Eve and Catherine ringing her jingle bell from the audience - enjoy!

Tom always reads "Twas the Night Before Christmas" and the Christmas Story from the Bible to the kids before bedtime on Christmas Eve:

It was a very eventful day with many wonderful gifts from family and friends - everyone enjoyed the day which started at 7am with stockings, then the presents were doled out to each family member and we took turns opening gifts. We were glad that Doc Sue was able to spend the night on Christmas Eve and enjoy Christmas Day with us! Here is one of Catherine's favorite presents - a baby stroller to put dolls or stuffed animals in - she wheeled it around the house with a big smile on her face, saying "Stroller!" She also talked on her new pretend pink cell phone and pushed buttons on her new keys, and loved on her new stuffed animals.

The boys enjoyed playing some new board games, building some new Lego & K'Nex Creations, and playing some new Leapster Games. Jack also received some new Nintendo DS games for the Nintendo DS he purchased the day after Christmas with his own money that he had been saving up for a long time. He was very happy! Here the boys are all having fun together watching Jonah play a new Leapster game:

Doc Sue helped Mommy cook a big Christmas Day feast and right before we ate, we enjoyed our tradition of opening "Christmas Crackers" which each have a Party Hat and fun little toy - notice the fun hats we wore while we enjoyed the meal:

It was a wonderful Christmas celebrating Jesus' Birth and remembering all of the many blessings that God has given our family.

Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful for:

• The ability to make goodies for Tom's office and neighbors
• Finally getting an appointment to get our car fixed
• Getting cards, photos and letters from old friends to catch up on their lives
• Wonderful neighbors who will bless our family by babysitting all of the kids tomorrow night so that Tom & I can go to his office Christmas party tomorrow night as a Christmas present - they won't take money - thank you, Flanegins!

Catherine's Birthday

Catherine turned 2 on 12 December 2008! It was a Friday and Daddy was on a trip on Doc Sue was working, so we decided to have the big celebration with presents and cake the next day when everyone could be here! Here's Catherine with her brothers on her actual birthday:

Catherine's birthday post wouldn't be complete without several adorable poses from her:
Now it's Saturday and Catherine wanted to wear a dress for her party. She had a pink balloon and posed again:

Here she is in her "birthday seat" to open all of her presents - she really enjoyed opening everything!

Here's Catherine opening her first baby from Mommy & Daddy - as soon as she saw what it was she exclaimed "Baby!"

She received many wonderful gifts that she enjoyed from all of her relatives! After the presents we had lunch and, of course, cake. Catherine chose to have a "cuccape" or cupcake. Here's the cake we decorated and put candles on - she said that she wanted a "choclate" cake - she says that word pretty clearly!

Here she is enjoying her cupcake:

All done! That was delicious!

Here's Catherine the day after the celebration wearing her new dress to church! What a pretty girl! It was a great birthday weekend!

Thankful Thursday

This Thursday I am thankful for:

• My sister, who helped immensely with the kids today with all of the various trips, concerts, dinner, and babysitting while I went to a meeting and helped make a speedy (not really) and inconspicuous (not really) exit from the concert when I had to leave - if anyone was at the AIES concert tonight, you surely saw all of us - we apologize if we were distracting!
• Jack, who did a wonderful job ringing hand bells at his school - he tried it for the first time this year and he did a wonderful job!
• Once again, the Covenant family - for the leadership and all of the people and relationships - I love that everyone is real and that all of them truly love on our family in good times and bad
• Laughter and great food with my Beth Moore group this morning
• Sweet Catherine, who joined our family 2 years ago tomorrow - Happy Birthday Sweetie!
• God helping us even when things are not looking so good and we're going through tough times - for His strength, provision, and love through members of the Body of Christ

"I will praise you, O LORD, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonders. I will be glad and rejoice in you; I will sing praise to your name, O Most High." Psalm 9:1-2

Adam's Birthday

Adam turned 7 today, 7 Dec 2008! We had a very fun event-filled day! We let Adam open one present before going to church. At church, he got to pick out a present from the Birthday Box and he chose a small stuffed brown dog. After we returned from church and ate some lunch, Adam opened the rest of his presents - here he is with a couple of presents:

In the afternoon, we went to Mr. Biggs for the first time with a couple of Adam's friends from school and church. It's a HUGE place with Go Karts, Laser Tag, Bowling, Mini Golf, Bumper Cars, An Arcade with inflatable bouncy houses, a carousel, and a huge play area with climbing things, places to dress-up, a sandbox, a pirate ship with air cannons that shoot out balls - it was amazing! It was not very crowded when we went and the kids all had fun running from place to place trying out all of the amusements. Here's Adam with his friends (L to R): Justin, Jonathan, Jack, Adam, Aiden, & Andrew:

Here's the cake they provided for his party:

Our whole family was there, plus the friends and their moms or dads and Doc Sue. Adam said when we got home that night that this was "the best birthday"! We're glad that he had fun and it was wonderful celebrating with him. Hard to believe that 7 years ago we were in Okinawa at Camp Lester hospital where Adam was born! Children grow up so fast! People always say that, but when you have your own, you really understand that.