random Christmas pics, just for fun

Jack and his bear (used to be Uncle Trents I think)

Driving the firetruck to go help people, he is getting very into dressing as a fireman, builder, cowboy, army guy, etc

At the Christmas lights, it was very nice we have a pic of him here on his first Christmas 2 years ago :)

Grandma and Papa at the lights

So you know that somehow on airplanes we seem to have issues with diapers, i can't remember the last time there was a blowout at home, but on our flight home at Christmas we wet through a diaper, so i had to take the pants off to dry them under a hand dryer...it was pretty funny.

I thought this was funny, our manger, plus spencer the train :)
Our manger characters got to lots of places, for example one of the kings went through the dishwasher the other day without me knowing till i was emptying it :)

Stylin while our pants are drying. he was also eating his snack, so the bib completes it. that is our monkey backpack/leash, very handy in the airport with no stroller, that way he couldn't run away. he did very well with it, wasn't thrilled but never tried to run away from it. He loved the moving walkways in the airports and escalators.

my cousin olivia helps with these ponies after school a few days a wekk, they are in training to work with children with special needs, this was the 2nd time we visited them, the first time he was more skittish, this time he really liked them and wanted to try riding. They were named Hershey (the one he's riding) and Snickers, so now most horses in books are named Snickers.

Taking a walk

Petting Snickers throug the fence, he wasn't scared a bit this time.

Hope you enjoyed these random shots from our life :)

We are getting back into a good routine and he is doing very well adjusting back to being home.

He is such a good boy. I think he is growing right now. he's been sleeping and eating like a champ :)

hi daddy

sunglasses and airplanes

Jack wanted to wear his glasses and wanted curious george to wear his glasses that are too small :)

so with some tape we made it happen. here he is showing me george and giving me his best cheese smile isn't he awesome

Here are some pics from our flight home. One of the pilots let him sit in the real pilots seat and push a couple of buttons. He was very very excited and then of course wanted to sit there for the entire flight, it was very kind of them and Jack loved it!

Can I sit up here?

We had a great new year and enjoyed a day of being home and spring cleaning today.

Christmas Pics

Bubbles!
Opening presents with Grandma

Jack's treasures from Lowes

Thomas set and trains

Super cute jammies

Jack and mommy

I just wanted to say that we had a wonderful Christmas and we are sooo blessed.

Some kids in my ministry live in homes with no floorboards and no presents, in the city I live in. My husband is amongst children who are maimed, have little to eat, and definitely no presents.

So we really want to be thankful and give back in all seasons, but especially this one.

What are you looking forward to this year? What are you praying for? We are anticipating a wonderful reunion and some wonderful memories.

We know friends of ours will be experiencing deployments and hard times. And we will be praying with them through this new year.

We love you Daddy!

Christmas

Merry Christmas!

We had a wonderful Christmas. Jack and I flew home on the 20th. He had his own seat, which made traveling so much easier. We spent a couple days with Grandpa Jeff and Grandma. We had a great time together, then we headed north to Winona and Jack got sick, but he was alright, we spent a couple of days with Grandma and Grandpa. We went to Christmas Eve service and had our first Christmas on Christmas Eve morning. He was sooo excited to get some Thomas toys from Grandma and Papa. We spent Christmas Day with Great Grandparents. First the Snyders then the Sweatlands, then we left for Ohio and went to Great Grandma Coldren's house for one more Christmas. That day included lots and lots of presents :) Tractors, cars, curious george, trucks, toolboxes, many things of wonder for a 2 year old. We spent the next day with Olivia (my cousin, Jack loves loves loves Olivia) The next day we spent at the Barlow family Christmas. One thing I really really love is that we did family worship time (3 months to 79 years) singing and reflecting on the true meaning of Christmas, the real relationship that is available to us in Jesus Christ.

We also did a show and tell time where each family did a short power point of their year so that we could see what has gone on with each wing of the family. It is such a joy to be from a family that shares openly about our relationships with Christ and loves to be together.

It's an interesting thing to have a child who is old enough to really enjoy Christmas and love presents. It is so sobering to know that what we teach him and the memories that we build for him will be what he remembers and possibly does with his family. We are not doing Santa in our house, I am not opposed to Santa, we took pictures with him this year, and it is literally impossible to not talk about Santa because he is everywhere, but we are trying to make sure that we talk more about Jesus than we do about Santa. To know that it is Jesus birthday, that that is why we are so blessed. We have every possible material possession we could ever need. We try to recognize and appreciate that. But to know that even if we had none of it that Jesus is all that we need. He is why we celebrate and why we are here. To worship and honor his name. It is my #1 job in life to follow Him, and secondly to raise our son to know Him.

I have been reading the book Radical (if you haven't read it you should) and it is really eye opening and a great reminder about what really matters. We really cut back at Christmas this year (and saying that it is still amazing the amount of $ we spent) on things. We continue to search to find the balance in giving to others less fortunate and being stewards of what the Lord has given us.

That being said Jack has an entire collection of presents to take home that he loves! He had an amazing Christmas and we are thankful and blessed to have so many people who love us.

So in closing I hope that you and your loved ones had a wonderful day celebrating the birth of our Saviour. Jack will be quick to tell you that it was Jesus birthday, but the presents were for Jack :)

Maybe next year we will be able to tackle giving back to Jesus. ahh theology with a 2 year old.

family time

we just had our 2 weeks together and it was wonderful! I am putting up some of our family pics from that time. We did so much. Jack's birthday, snow, thanksgiving, getaway to pokagon, running in the woods, so wonderful to be together!

we love you daddy!

blogging

just in case-

if you were worried about us-you can keep up with what we are doing here at my friend Jessi's blog

mikeandjessib.blogspot.com

she is much better about blogging than i am and will be posting pics from our visit :)

she already as pics of us up from this week, super cute jack pics

the beach

Last week we went to the beach for a mommy get away. My friend Laura went with Jack and I, we had a great time!!! Look how big he is!

We found a welk egg casing. it looks like a snake, that is what Jack decided it was :)

The snake

Such a brave guy

Here we are

Look mommy a shell

Such a big boy

Serious face

Playing is some hard work

We had a great morning on the beach. The night before we collected shells and went our for birthday dinner at Jack Mackerels.

Playing with Laura

AHHHHHH

Our cabin at the rec area.

Jack at the restaurant, he did great!

Mommy and Jack, I am now officially older :)

Okay, this is so cheesy, but I had to document a great hair day i had.silly i know, but i just had too, curly hair does not provide this opportunity very often :)

Hope you enjoyed the post, i will be posting again about our visit with papa!