Picture and video catch-up for the last couple of weeks

Friday (6/26) was Nathaniel's one month birthday, so I thought I would post some updated pictures. He has grown quite a bit in the last couple of weeks. He is almost 12 pounds now! I love the chub! =)

A couple of weeks ago, we went up to my parents' house to spend a little over a week with them. Due to illness, my dad had been unable to see Nathaniel until we brought him. Here he is holding him for the first time.


My niece, Kelly, was smitten with Nathaniel. I think she would have been willing to hold him 24/7 if I had allowed. =) Nathaniel misses his warm, snuggly cousin.

My niece, Sarah, also loved to hold Nathaniel.

My nephew, Bryce, with Nathaniel...

My sister, Kyra, got some snuggle time in, too.

I love how his pacifier flipped up in this picture.

Every time he stretches like this, Jason says, "Touchdown!"

Cute little "Snuggle Bunny"

My mom made some adorable burp cloths for Nathaniel. This is one that has monkeys and says, "Little Monkey" all over. It's really cute!

My niece, Sarah, gave him a teddy bear. He is fascinated with the bow.

While we were at my parents' house and Nathaniel was 3 weeks old, he decided to roll over from his stomach to his back! I didn't catch it on video, but he did it twice in a row. Here are some pictures of him trying again.


Sydney finally lost her first tooth. Unfortunately, I was not present when it actually came out. Alyx decided to be the "Mommy" and pull it without me knowing. =( Oh well, I took this "After photo," and she was thrilled to finally have lost a tooth. She currently has two other loose teeth....when it rains it pours. =) Oh, and yes, she already has the permanent teeth coming in behind the bottom front teeth. All of my girls did that...weird, huh?


We also celebrated Larissa's 8th birthday while we were up there. She chose a Funfetti cake with chocolate Funfetti icing. It was yummy, of course! =)

Another cute "Bubba" picture...

Snuggling with Granny again...

Cuddling with Daddy...

He wasn't quite sure of his Uncle Richard....

He got a little fussy....

...and so did Uncle Richard. =)

Uncle Richard got him his first Nascar outfit...Go Dale Jr! Hey, all I care about is that it's green! =) LOL! Sorry, Richard, it's all about the fashion. =)

Snuggle time with Sydney includes lots of kisses...

He loves to cuddle with Larissa, too....

Little Mommy, Alyx....I'm sure she's seen me do this a million times. I love to sniff the top of his head. As Frank Barone on Everybody Loves Raymond says, "I'm sucking in the youth!" =)

Point in case... He's going to be such a "Mama's Boy!" =)

Jason says he looks like "Uncle Fester" from the Addams Family in this nightgown. =)

Daddy seems to know just how to get a smile out of him.

A few nights ago while we were trying to get Nathaniel to sleep, he was very fussy. He didn't want to be held, he didn't want to lie down, he had already eaten, he had a clean diaper, etc. Jason decided to lay him down on the bed to see if he would roll over. Here's what happened...

Here's Nathaniel on his one month birthday right before we sang "Happy Birthday" to him.

Another sweet close-up...

I tried to catch him smiling in his sleep and just barely caught a glimpse of one. =)

We had our good friends, the Skattebos, over on Saturday and had a great time with them. Eliana has been looking forward to holding Nathaniel for a long time now, and she finally got to hold him. He got a little fussy after I took her picture with him, so she was ready to pass him back to me. She said, "He's a little cry-ey." =)

Snuggling with his "blankie"

Alyx has the touch. She's very good at getting him to go to sleep.

Lazy, sleepy mornings are the best!

Revival Meetings

We are planning to leave tomorrow afternoon to head up to my parents' house for a week and a half. My dad's church is having their winter revival with Evangelist Rich Tozour. Rich and his wife, Angela, have another couple (Michael and Candace Wessberg) that travel with them to coordinate and run the children's ministry during the revival services. Candace was my roommate during my freshman year at college, and I always enjoy catching up with her when I get the chance.

If you are interested in hearing any of his sermons, you can download them at this site:

https://www.sermonaudio.com/search.asp?SpeakerOnly=true&currSection=sermonsspeaker&Keyword=Rich^Tozour

I downloaded the first one entitled, "Prayer that Prevails," and I have been listening to it today. I am really looking forward to these services, knowing that there is always room for improvement in my Christian walk. If you are interested in attending any of the services, the revival will be held at New Testament Baptist Church in Floral City, FL (Call the church office at 352-726-0360 or just ask me for additional info.). Services will begin this Wednesday night, January 28th, at 7:00pm and will run through the following week, ending on Friday, February 6th (I think. It might go through Sunday, Feb. 8th). Usually they don't have services on Saturday, but services during the week will all begin at 7:00pm and on Sunday will be 9:45am for Sunday School, 11:00am for the morning service, and 6:00pm for the evening service.

For those of you who live in the Tampa area, it's only about an hour trip north. If you can make it, I'd love to see you there! If not, we'll see you when we return. =)

Happy Birthday, Alyx!

Yesterday was Alyx's 9th birthday, but we actually celebrated with my family this past Saturday. We usually let each child pick what kind of meal they want for their birthday party and what kind of cake they want as well. When I asked Alyx what she wanted for her meal, she said, "Macaroni and cheese!" As you know, we have gone dairy-free, but we've decided that for special events and holidays, we'll let the rules slide a little bit. =) Since that was all she requested, we built a meal around that one dish. My mom fixed some BBQ beef that we put on toasted sesame seed buns and a big pan of baked beans. My sister, Kyra, brought a big pan of macaroni and cheese made with Fusilli pasta (you know, the twirly corkscrew stuff). Macaroni made fun! =) It was all very DE-lish!

She chose a chocolate cake with white frosting, but while we were at my parents' church celebrating the 30th anniversary of the church, we had dinner on the grounds and had a piece of Mississippi Mud cake. Alyx decided that she wanted that instead of a regular cake. Fine by me! =)

She wanted to be the one to put the candles on her cake.

While she was doing that, Jason was trying to get her to group them more together, so it would be easier to blow them out. She insisted on putting them in a straight line.

It wasn't until she turned the pan that we realized what she was thinking. She's pretty smart...

Make a wish!

She got 'em all...

You gotta lick the candles...

"Sisters, sisters...there were never such devoted sisters..." (Have you seen White Christmas?)

Uncle Richard (a.k.a. Uncle Ritardo) is the all-time cake cutter, because he's the BEST!! =)

After we (throroughly) enjoyed the cake, it was time to open presents. The gift that I was most excited about giving her and that (I think) was her favorite was a new digital camera. Since I got her a scrapbooking kit for Christmas, I thought that it would be nice for her to be able to take pictures that she could use on her pages. Here she is with her camera (which is in her favorite color no less, RED!!)...

Christmas Day

It has been our tradition to spend Christmas with my parents. We could not imagine it any other way...we LOVE having all the family around!

Ever since the girls have been old enough to get up and leave the bedroom on their own in the morning, I've had to tell them to wait for me to get up on Christmas morning so that I can see their reaction (and get pictures) of all the presents and stuff. My kids don't wake up at the crack of dawn (and I don't sleep in), so it's not like they have to wait long. In fact, I woke up just before they did this year.

Here they are on my bed just before we headed out to see the presents. They're not excited or anything... =)

Here they are checking it all out...

My kids must not be normal, because every year we give them the option of either opening their presents or eating breakfast. What do you think they choose? Breakfast!!! Every time!! So, we head into the kitchen to have our annual treat of sausage balls. Yummy!!


After breakfast, the kids dug into their stockings. They got some new "lip stick," stickers, candy (organic), notepads and pens, various toys and jewelry, puzzle books (word search, sudoku, etc.).


As a tradition since I was a kid, we have always let each child take a turn opening a present, so that we can see each one and the reaction to each (and of course to get a picture). Whenever they get an identical present, we let them all three open at the same time, because they will know after one is opened what the other two are. One of these such presents was a pair of roller skates for each of them. Needless to say...they loved them!

Larissa loved the pillow that Alyx made for her. Look how sweet they are...

The girls enjoy picking out a present for each other. This was one that was given to Larissa from Sydney (I think). I just thought it was so fitting for her since she has always been our mischievous one. She's trouble, alright! =)

Alyx got a scrapbook kit. Maybe if I have a scrapbooking buddy, I'll be more apt to keep up with my own scrapbooks. =)

Sydney got a "Cookin' Cookie" game from Larissa. It's a cute, fun game. The kids really enjoyed playing it.

Another gift that they got alike was a pack of glitter glue. Yay! Lots of fun crafting in our future! =) I guess it's better than loose glitter being sprinkled on glue. =)



Sydney was too young when the older two girls got their "real" tea sets (non-plastic), so she's really been begging for one of her own this year. She finally got it...

Papa was the official tape cutter for the girls' boxes. =) Thank you, Papa!

The girls are freezing cold every morning (even in the summer). They say it's because they have cold milk in their cereal and then drink cold juice, and for 30 minutes or so after breakfast they will huddle under blankets. I decided that they would probably enjoy some robes to help keep them warm. Here's Alyx and Sydney with their robes...

What's in the big bags from Granny and Papa?

It's American Girl dolls!!! They did not expect these, but they really wanted them. Boy, were they surprised! Thank you, Granny!!

The girls and I enjoy the "Anne" movies, so I thought that we could read through the books as a "bedtime story" kind of thing.

Here's the aftermath... =)

When things had time to settle down a little bit, this is what I found Alyx doing. They each got a book with their American Girl dolls, and she was snuggled on the couch reading hers. =)


We had a very, merry Christmas with our family! I hope you all did as well!