Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Christmas So far...

This year has been a little different for our family during this Christmas season.  We don't always know why things happen when they do, but that doesn't matter cause God does and we count only in Him.  A week ago today, Amanda got a phone call from her dad letting her know that her Uncle had passed away.  Immediately, we bought a airline ticket and AJ and Amanda flew out the next day.  Please pray for Amanda and her family with the loss of a family member this close to the holiday season.  I know that they will appreciate it.  

With Amanda and AJ in OK, that left me with just the boys.  I have loved my time with them as we don't get to hang out as much as I know we should.  We have done lots of things together, like gone to McDonald's and again went to McDonalds, and then we actually had mexican, then it was back to McDonalds.  :)  I probably let the boys get away with more than usual, like staying up late, camping out in my bedroom, and having coke and chocolate cake right before bedtime.  But hey, it is not like we do that all the time right?  They are finally flying back to home tonight and we are very anxious to get them home. 

As for other things, I have greatly realized that my wife does so much for this family.  As husbands, we know that our wives do a lot, but it is when we are put in their shoes that we realize we take it for granted sometimes.  My wife is the best and I want everyone to know that I love her so much.  I realized these things while she was gone, while I had to do all the baths for the boys, laundry, cook (a little) do all the Christmas Cards (probably forgot some) and bake 100 cookies for all the SS. teachers at church.  Usually she would have done most of that, but when I had to do it all, it gave me a greater appreciation for my wife.  Husbands, if you are reading this, remember what your wife has done and thank her for all she still does for your family.  They are precious gifts that God has given to us. 

As for Christmas ideas for family this year, we made a DVD of our family, so I thought I would put it on our blog.  Just photos mainly of the kids over the years.  Hope you enjoy and Merry Christmas to ya'll!

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Christmas Shopping and Other Busy Things













This past weekend we took the whole family Christmas shopping. It was fun to be out with everyone but it was also pretty tiring. We all went on the Christmas train ride in the mall so that was the boy's highlight. Baby girl is really growing up fast. She is talking all the time now it's really cute. Her favorite thing is phones. She loves to pretend she's on the phone and walk around the house (I think she's imitating daddy).

On a separate note, our long awaited neurologist appointment for Zeke is finally here. We are really praying for a doctor that we can talk to and will answer our questions. He's been doing pretty good lately but still occasionally has issues. Please, please, please pray for him this week. Our appointment is on Wednesday. We appreciate all the prayers and support we've had thus far.

Friday, December 5, 2008

Little Indians



This week in school we learned a little about the Native American Indians. The boys made little Indian feathers to wear on their heads and painted symbols the way the Indians did to tell stories.
The boys have been doing really good in school, I am very proud of them. They both work really hard and most of the time they are pretty good. Next year we'll be starting Bryson on First Grade material since he's doing so well in reading. The program I have does cursive handwriting, so I'm a little nervous about doing that. I guess we'll just see how it goes. I'm not going to push it too hard if he's not ready. Zeke is very close to reading more fluently. He can read now but sounds out each sound. He's starting to blend the words together in his mind and then read them. It has been such a blessing to see each of them learn to read....God is good!

And then there is our sweet baby girl...she's been growing up fast. She's got quite the personality and has been talking a lot. Her most frequent words are "cookie," "juice," "night-night," "stinky." Pretty much her day...eat, sleep, poop :).

Here's also some pictures of AJ waking up from her nap.