Isaac @ 3 months

Thank you Auntie Beth for the adorable, soft and cozy blanket!

Isaac at 3 months

I'm so blessed to have such a great photographer! My friend Trenda (at 6 little feet) has done it again...she captured wonderful picutres of my children...and our family. I LOVE them all...now the hard part will be picking which ones to print and frame. Check them out here.

Life's sweet little moments

Hannah has been saying some of the cutest and sweetest things lately. I'm going to try to start getting them on here...because I just don't want to forget. This morning we were all laying in bed resting a little more before getting up. I looked at my husband and sweet little children and just said "I love my family". Hannah repeated me....she said "I love my family....my Daddy, my Mommy, and my Isaac.". My heart is so full. What a joy/blessing it is to look at my children and my husband...my little family...my precious gifts from above. Thank you, Lord!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

I've got the Joy!

For Christmas, my MOPS group gave Hannah (and I) the Go Fish Christmas cd (C is for Christmas). She loves it! Esp. the first song..."Joy to the World". It's fun for both of us to listen to...and she loves to dance to it...def her favorite Christmas song this year. We had to share a quick video of her enjoying the music!

Luke 2:11

Hannah's verse for this Christmas season has been Luke 2:11. It's neat to see her memorizing God's word and hiding it in her heart. Jesus is the reason that we can celebrate!

Answered prayer

Last week...Sawyer our cat had been outside for a day and a half. I can't just leave the kids to go looking for him, but from the house he was no where to be seen (I wonder if someone had let him in...). Hannah and I were both feeling sad that he was gone and missing him. So at her nap the second day, we prayed that he would come home. Sure enough, while she was asleep, I saw him walking toward our house. I opened the door and he ran home. When she woke up I showed her the surprise. She walked right up to Sawyer where he was sleeping and said "you know what Sawyer, Jesus brought you home to us!" It was so neat to see her get to see her prayer answered. I love that our God thinks even the littlest things are important. Thank you Lord for answered prayer.

Playdate fun!

It was nice to take a break last week from the busyness of Christmas to enjoy a playdate with Hannah's little friends. I'm so glad that she has such good friends to play with and learn with....and I sure do love their moms and the friendship that we have. We are so blessed!

Please note...this picture includes SIX smiling children looking at the camera (or at least in the general direction) and one precious sleeping baby....the moms were thrilled!

Homemade Nativity

It's been such a joy to celebrate the Christmas season with Hannah this year. She's really beginning to understand. One fun way that we have been learning the Christmas story is with our home made nativity. I found these cute little paper dolls on making friends.com. It's fun to see her act out the Christmas story and our daily Bible verses with them. If your looking for a meaningful activity to do with your toddler this Christmas hop over and print some off for your family too. I printed them on card stock, covered them with contact paper and attached to toilet paper tubes that I cute up.

Our First Real Snow

When we got home from church Sunday afternoon, there was a fresh snowfall on the ground and beautiful flakes falling from the sky. We went outside quick to catch some flakes on our tongues and snap some pictures.

it actually snowed so much that our church Christmas party that evening was canceled. We stayed in our warm cozy house, and celebrated the first snow fall with hot cocoa & Frosty the Snowman

Isaac @13 weeks

Isaac was all smiles as we were bundling up to head out to church. Thanks Nana for the cute/warm hat!

My little brother...a college graduate!!

We headed back to the good 'ol University of Akron (my alma mater) to celebrate with Tim as he graduated! We are SO proud of him and all that he has accomplished!

We are all so thankful for my parents. We are thankful that they value education and made the sacrifices that they did to help us get through college.

Isaac was a doll the whole time...such a good boy!

SO proud of our brother!

Tim and his beautiful Hannah

buddies already!

Future graduates!!

Me and Isaac sporting the hat his Aunt Beth made him


this boy loves his mama


gotta appreciate Tim's sense of humor :)

Hannah and Ethan enjoying some time with Pop

What a great weekend...what a great family! It's always fun to have a reason to come together to celebrate! Congrats Tim...we love you!

Small Group Family Game Night

We had a small group fellowship/family game night on Friday night. We enjoyed a time of fun and games with a few families from our small group. It's neat that Hannah is old enough to begin to understand some games. Her very favorite game is Memory. She now has 3 different versions of it thanks to friends who have shared with us.

She had fun playing this Veggie Tales version of memory with Mr. N.

Later, Mrs. N taught both Hannah and I how to play Cookin' Cookies which she loved too! She won at least once.

What fun!

Oreo Drops

Hannah and I had fun making these yummy and very simple Christmas treats!

Here's the recipe (from finding joy in my kitchen):

1 pkg. oreo cookies

1 pkg. light cream cheese (or fat free), softened

4oz chocolate chips, or 4 squares of white chocolate bark

1. Begin by using a food processor or blender to break apart the cookies into fine crumbles.

(We tried the blender...but ended up smashing them in a ziplock with the wooden spoon...but maybe your blender will work better than ours)

2. Then, mix the cookie with the pkg of cream cheese until well combined.

3. Shape the cookie/cream cheese mixture into small balls.

4. Place them on 1-2 plates.

5. Warm chocolate chips (or chocolate bark) with 30 second intervals in the microwave. Stir in between each interval.

6. When melted, dip oreo drops into white chocolate and decorate with sprinkles. OR pour melted chocolate into a ziplock

7. Chill. Best served cold.

Enjoy an easy Christmas cookie recipe!!

Christmas picture wreath

Here's an easy do it yourself Christmas project for your house. Nothing elegant about this...but definitely a fun way to display some pictures of your family. I LOVE pictures...so when I saw this idea (I'm always borrowing an idea from someone else...I found this one in a magazine last Christmas)...I had to try it!

Just cut circles from tag board with decorative scissors. Then cut pictures just just a bit smaller with regular scissors. I glued everything with glue sticks. Once I glued them all together in a wreath shape, I added ribbon to the top to hang and ribbon bows around the wreath for decoration. This was a quick and easy Christmas craft for this mom. :)

Happy Birthday Grandma!

Not only was Sunday Isaac's baby dedication...but it was also Grandmas birthday! It was so exciting to get to be with her on her actual birthday! We enjoyed going out to lunch together and then we came back to the house for gifts and cake.

I made a chocolate cake from scratch...first time and it turned out so yummy. I was bummed that the layers slid a little in the car (we brought it along in case we were having dessert at the restaurant).

Hannah decided that Grandma needed 5 candles

Helping Grandma blow out the candles

I love you Grandma!

Isaac @ 12 weeks: Baby Dedication Day

Baby Dedication

Sunday was Isaac's baby dedication day. It was a special day for us, our family, and church family. We are blessed to be a part of such a wonderful body of believers. We know that they will encourage us and support us as we raise our children, Isaac and Hannah. We are thankful for Pastor Marian and his support and encouragement. What a great day to pledge ourselves to the Lord...to strive to raise Isaac (and Hannah too) in Him.

Marian read Numbers 6:24-26 as a prayer for the children

"The Lord bless you and keep you (Isaac)

The Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you (Isaac)

The Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace (Isaac)."

We pray the same thing for our precious baby boy!

Our family on dedication day

it was special to share the day with our dear friends, Craig and Juila, and their sweet children.

We were also blessed to share the day with family

Nana and Papa

Gran and Pa (Gran made Isaac's adorable dedication suit)

and doll to match

and Seth's parents....Mom and Dad F.

what a special day!