Messy Boy!

Nathan had leftover lasagna for lunch on Friday.  He decided he could take over feeding himself and look what happened!

"Momma, I have an orange beard!" :)

BONUS picture: Isn't this too fun?!  He's watching Daddy out the window, standing in the laundry basket!

10 Year Anniversary

It's hard to believe that it's been 10 years since we were married...  We had such a quick courtship and short engagement, that we would marvel at each year that we were together.  God has done a great work in us and it's amazing to see where He's brought us.

November 29, 2003

Married in Pinckney, Michigan

I was teaching 2nd grade at a wonderful Christian school and Barry was working for a women's conference group selling/managing merchandise.  It was just the end of the traveling season for Barry and we were looking forward to 3 months together before he began traveling again.  We were hopeful that there would be a change in his job so that he could stay home more, but we didn't know what that would be.  This year's class for me was the best one I had in my teaching career.  They worked well with me and we had a great time.  We were involved in a great church and enjoyed doing things with Barry's family almost every weekend.

November 29, 2013

Living in Lebanon, Tennessee

We are both working in jobs that we never anticipated doing when we moved down to Tennessee just over 8 years ago.  I'm at a non-profit in an administrative role and Barry's working for a warehouse.  God blessed us with a baby boy almost two years ago and we are loving every moment of life with him.  We're at the 5th church since moving here and enjoy serving and getting to know people there.

~~~

We've definitely had our ups and downs -- moved from an apartment to a wonderful rental home with awesome neighbors, 3 miscarriages, supportive co-workers at each our jobs, experiencing the joy of pregnancy and birth of our son, etc.  God has taught us a lot and we continue to be in situations where He's teaching us more.

Thanksgiving

It's the big day - Thanksgiving! :)

 Daddy & Nathan had to wear their Lions jerseys because of the big game.

"Ummm, I think the Lions will win by 5 points!"

Now to work on the turkey!  It was yummy.

Oh dear!  Where is that Nathan-boy?  I think I lost him...

Fun Day

Nathan and I started our day with a yummy breakfast - waffles! :)

 He does not like syrup and will refuse to eat it if there is some on it, but let him have them plain and he goes to town! :)  (Also, did you notice that we've graduated to a new style of sippy cup?!  What a big boy!)

When Daddy came home from working a half day, he worked on putting plastic on the windows.  Now we'll be extra warm during this winter and perhaps the electric bill won't be as high.  (Wishful thinking, right?!)

Football Friday

I just had to snap a picture this morning of my boys because I thought it was very ironic the shirts that they were wearing today.  Nathan who was born in Tennessee is wearing a Detroit Lions shirt and Barry who was born in Michigan is wearing a Tennessee Titans shirt.
(As you can tell Nathan was not happy with having a picture taken!)

We're off to a rainy morning and colder weather this weekend.  We're glad it's Friday and are counting down the days to our vacation next Wednesday.  Yippee!

Ride 'Em Cowboy!

Nathan found this roll of wrapping paper in the office (I don't know how he even knew what it was to pick it up) and decided that it was his horsey.  He was going around the kitchen and hallway riding it.  It was too funny.

He's pretty much back to himself and into everything.  Happy Thursday!

A Smile for YOU!

He loves this necklace of mine...  When I put on my necklace this morning, he was adamant to have one himself.  So, I pulled this one out for him.  He's played with it several times before and knows just what to do!

Hope this brings a smile to your face and maybe even a chuckle! :)

Happy Hump Day!

Two for Tuesday

Look at me being a big boy! :)  Nathan is waiting to brush his teeth.

One year ago...

We are soooo thankful that Nathan is feeling almost back to his normal self.  (Knock on wood!) He slept all the way through to 5:40am so it seems that he might be getting over the time change as well.

We're looking forward to having some days off together next week.  Counting down the days!

Stickers

Since Nathan went to the doctor, he got to pick out a sticker from the stash they have.  So, we picked Rex from Toy Story.  The sticker stayed on his coat all weekend long.

Nathan LOVES stickers... As you can see from the items in the picture, he puts the stickers everywhere!  The funny thing is that we haven't bought any stickers - these are just ones that have come in the mail with different things.  Yeah for stickers!

Two Surprises

When we got home today, Nathan had two surprises:

 He got a music card in the mail from Nana & Papa (it lights up too!).  It's our favorite characters, Hoops & Yoyo singing a version of Happy Birthday to the tune of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.  (It's somebody's birthday somewhere, right?!)

Mrs. Mary sent an early Christmas gift.  I don't think you can tell that this is an elephant, but it's a nice fluffy animal chair that is just too fun!  He did sit in it some, but laying on it was the most fun.

Unfortunately, Nathan has an ear infection in both ears.  We went to the doctor this morning and got a prescription for Amoxicilin.  Fun times, right?  We didn't get to relax very much as we had to run into Nashville for me to get blood taken and then we spent 1 1/2 hours trying to get to Daddy.  YUCK!  Hopefully the weekend will be better!

Sleeping Baby

I haven't done a "sleep" shot in quite a while so thought I'd snap one real quick before getting the Little Guy up.  It's actually been pretty chilly the last few nights and we're glad for this fleece pjs.

After a lot of sleeping -- Nathan slept 13 hours overnight and took a 3 hour nap -- our guy seems to be on the mend.  He played a lot with Daddy into the evening and was acting like his normal self.  The teething stuff is getting a bit crazy (lots of slobbering still), but we're hopeful that it's just the teething and a cold that got him down.  His appetite isn't still back to normal, but he ate a good breakfast.

Praying for a good day!

Throwback

Since Nathan is sick, I thought I'd go back to a happy picture!  One year ago today...

Look at that toothless grin!

We got the call Tuesday afternoon that Nathan had a 101.6 temperature, so Barry rushed to get him and I got a ride home with a co-worker.  Nathan's been coming down with the sniffles and a cough so we're not sure what the fever's about, but it's not bad to get to stay home mid-way through the week, right?

Happy Hump Day!

Two for Tuesday

We're showing the war-wounds... Evidently he scratched his eye during nap time yesterday.  The bruise on the right side of his forehead is from the playground.

Don't you love my hat?!

Playing Outside

Since it was so beautiful this weekend, we took some time to go to the big park.  Nathan had a ball climbing through all the stuff they had built.  It's a big castle type structure and there's lots of ins and outs.

 He's peaking out the castle window.

 Chillin'

Driving the big wooden car... It's huge! :)

The forecast for the week is for chilly weather -- maybe even some snow flakes -- so we had to enjoy the nice weather while we could.  It was neat to see how much Nathan could do... I think the last time we were here he wasn't walking yet.  Pretty soon, he'll be the one playing tag with the other kids!

Sunday Fun

We haven't done a family pic in a while and since it was so nice outside, we decided it was time.  You can see some leaves on the ground, but I was hoping for more fall colors.  Oh well.

Nathan refused to come out and play when we were working on the yard.  I'm not sure what his deal was so he just stood at the door and watched us.  Most of the work occurred during his nap time so he wasn't part of it anyway.  Daddy was finally able to get him to do a picture in the leaves we collected, but he wasn't too happy about it.  Silly boy!

Football Friday

Nathan didn't wear the traditional team football shirt today, but still, he's got a football on his shirt.  Actually, Barry was able to get him to say football quite a few times this morning.

His favorite toy this week has been his Superman band that Nana & Papa sent him several weeks ago.  It plays music and he loves to dance with it.  He hasn't figured out to push the button himself, so we will be asked repeatedly to push the button.

Boy, we are wiped from this week!  Not only has the time change been a challenge this week (we're averaging a wake up time of 4:30am), but he's been teething too.  So, we've had excessive slobbering, bad diapers, and more whining/crying.  There's been times that it's been almost a tackle-to-the-ground to take away his paci so he can eat.

Hope the weekend will be better as we spend some time outside raking up leaves!  Want to come help?!

Happy Friday!

Overalls

When we were switching our clothes to winter and the next size up, look at what we found!!!!

 Daddy loves overalls (which is why we have had several pairs as Nathan's been growing up).

 I don't want to "smile" with Daddy.

Well... It's okay now - I have my paci!

Two for Tuesday

Hard at work "signing" his name to the birthday cards.

"Gooooood morning!"

Reading

In the one quiet moment this morning, I got Nathan to sit and read for a minute.

This time change has been killer on him (and us too!).  He was up at 4:10am Sunday (5:10 the old time) and today at 4:30 (or 5:30 the old time).  We kept him up as long as we could before nap on Sunday and kept him up till 7:15 for his normal bed time, but it didn't change his wake-up time for the morning.  They said this morning on the radio that it takes a week for our bodies to adjust.  I'm hoping it won't be that long for us.  It's wearing Barry out!

Sausage Gravy Biscuit

Someone in our family LOVES sausage gravy biscuits.  Can you tell?

He decided that he was going to feed himself this time and got it everywhere!  This is just one of the times that we wiped down his head.  He'd pick up a bite with his hands and than rest his head on his hand!

Yum, yum!

Washing Machine

 God's provision!

"I can do it just right!" :)

Our washer went out 3 weekends ago as Barry was doing our first load of the day.  We've been doing the laundry mat for two weekends as we tried to get sorted out what we'd do.  A co-worker's husband came one night during the first week of it not working and thought that the part we needed to replace was something related to the agitator.  We looked it up and on the cheap end it could be $50 but on the high end over $200.  Since our machine was 10 years old, it just seemed crazy to put too much money into it.  As we struggled with what to do, we continued on with the laundry mat.

That's where God stepped in. We had someone give us cash to purchase a new washer!  We searched and searched -- looking for that "best" deal and in our desperation, God brought us to Best Buy!  The worker was so helpful and allowed us to buy the floor model -- which had only been on the floor 1 week!  There was a small dent in the bottom corner so he gave us $80 off!  He even threw in the hoses for free.  A good friend came with his truck and picked up the washer and we got it hooked up in less than an hour.

Praise the Lord! We thank Him for looking out for us and providing such an awesome gift!