Thursday, February 26, 2009

Thankful Thursday

Today, I am thankful for...

1. A sleeping baby. It is 8:30 AM and Matthew is still in bed! Yesterday he slept until 9 AM and still took 2 great naps for me!

2. Our sump pump (even though it is not working correctly right now). We are thankful that it keeps our basement from flooding during this crazy freeze-thaw cycle... and that Ryan knows how to fix it when it acts up!

3. Being done with orientation!!! I am finished with orientation at my new job! I am so excited to start doing things on my own "officially." Have I mentioned that I love my new hours? It is so great to have the weekends to spend with my family!

4. Portrait Innovations... we are having Matthew's first set of professional pictures taken on Saturday (yes, we know, bad parents). We are thankful there is a studio not too far from our house and we are the 1st appointment of the day, so hopefully we won't have to wait too long!

6."We serve a risen Savior, He's in the world today. We know that he is living, whatever foes may say. We know that He is leading through all the stormy blasts, the day of His appearing will come at last...." Go ahead... sing it! Happy Lent!

Monday, February 23, 2009

Matthew Thomas the Train

Here is Matthew's new favorite activity. He is so proud of himself when Mommy and Daddy push him around the basement. Now, we just need to invent something to extend the handle!

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Busy, Busy Beavers!

We have had quite a day! This morning, our phone rang at 7:24 asking Ryan if he could come and do the video for church this morning. We were planning on sleeping in and going to Sunday School and 2nd service to usher, but Ryan went ahead and went early to help out. Matthew and I arrived in time for Sunday School which we spent in the Crib Room. Ryan left there at 10:45 to go down and start ushering and I was to wait for our replacement to show up. He did not come, so I stayed in the Crib Room during 2nd service while Ryan ushered. We came home from church and decided we wanted to hang shelves on the empty walls in the family room. We took Matthew out to Grandpa and Grandma's and headed to Fort Wayne. Three stores later, we were on our way home to hang the shelves. We stopped and got Matthew and then Ryan spent the rest of the afternoon hanging them (9 in all!!!!). They look great, especially now that I have been able to trinketize (yes, I made that word up) them! Maybe we can snap some pics later this week! Hope everyone has a great week!

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Thomas the Train!!!!



Matthew has a new train and he thinks he is BIG STUFF! We just got home from a family Christmas with my Dad's side of the family (we know it's February, but we just weren't healthy enough at Christmas time). Thanks to Aunt Julie and Uncle Mark and family for this great new toy! We have been making circles around the basement on it ever since we got home! HE LOVES IT!



LOOK AT ME!!!




One-handed!

It's Saturday

We're just posting today because it's Saturday and we are trying to get back on the good side of all our blog readers! Happy Saturday! We're off to celebrate Christmas... more on that later...

Friday, February 20, 2009

I'm Sorry.... So Sorry!







Well, we owe all of our loyal blog readers a HUGE apology! We have been WAAAAAYYYYY behind on our blogging lately... I guess we have been spending more time with Matthew! Here are a couple pictures to get us back on track and we will try to do a better job from here on!

Saturday, February 7, 2009

Matthew and Jacob

Matthew loves his 5 ft. tall giraffe that Uncle Mark and Aunt Julie got for him. Here I am holding him so that he can ride Jerry (that's the giraffe's name).


Papa's birthday was yesterday, so the boys had a photo shoot. For those of you who don't know, Jamie's parents own the Napa store in Columbia City. Thus, all the Napa gear!


I love this picture...It's like Jacob and Matthew are trying to plan their escape. "Ok, if you distract your mommy, and I distract my mommy..."

The Bridge



Ok, so I found this website, Tangle.com.

Every time that I click on a video on this website, I find one that I have to share. This one was really great...a little long (6 1/2 minutes), but it is well worth it to watch. I hope each and every one of you enjoy.

Friday, February 6, 2009

AHHHHHHH!!!!!!

I AM SOMEWHAT ANNOYED!!!!! I HAVE JUST SPENT THE BETTER PART OF THE LAST 2 HOURS TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHAT IN THE WORLD HAPPENED TO OUR HOMEOWNER'S INSURANCE PAYMENT DUE ON 12/29/08!!!!! APPARENTLY, SINCE WE REFINANCED OUR HOME, THE PREVIOUS MORTGAGE COMPANY DID NOT FIND IT NECESSARY TO PAY OUR INSURANCE PAYMENT. WHAT IS MOST ANNOYING ABOUT THIS ENTIRE SITUATION IS THAT WE DID NOT DECIDE TO REFINANCE UNTIL 01/07/09... 8 DAYS AFTER THE PAYMENT WAS DUE!!!!!!!!!!!! I JUST FINISHED TALKING TO SOMEONE WHO SAID THE PAYMENT WAS NOT RELEASED DUE TO A FREEZE PLACED ON OUR ACCOUNT PENDING AN UPCOMING REFINANCE. IT IS VERY INTERESTING TO ME THAT THEY KNEW ABOUT A PENDING REFINANCE BEFORE THE PAYMENT WAS DUE SINCE WE DIDN'T TELL THEM!!!!!!! NOW, I AM BEING TOLD THAT THE $1000 + IN OUR ESCROW ACCOUNT WILL BE MAILED TO ME WITHIN THE NEXT 30 DAYS!!!!!!! THAT'S GREAT... BUT THE PAYMENT FOR THE STINKING INSURANCE WAS DUE 39 DAYS AGO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I GUESS MATTHEW AND I WILL BE MAKING A TRIP TO THE INSURANCE AGENCY LATER TODAY TO PAY THEM THEIR MONEY!!!!! THANK GOODNESS FOR SAVINGS ACCOUNTS!

Thank you for letting me vent... I feel better now! :)

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Thankful Thursdays...

Today, I am thankful for...

1. A warm home.

2. A loving family.

3. Wonderful friends.

4. A good job.

5. Chocolate!

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Fun Times


One of my favorite things to do is to get Matthew up in the mornings. He is so wide awake and ready to go most mornings. Here he is after a long night's sleep, happy to see Daddy!



Here's our little man playing after church on Sunday! He is so anxious to show everyone his teeth. He'll even bite you if he gets the chance!!!

Cheer For Who???



Here is another video that I really enjoyed. I had heard of this story on ESPN, and was really impressed by the coach and fans of the home team. My favorite line in this video is when the reporter is talking about the visiting team, and says, "Regardless of the bad things they had done in the past, they had reason to look ahead." What a great way to look at Christianity. We all have done things in the past that we are not too proud of, but we can look ahead to greater things because we have been forgiven!!!

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Dad



My cousin, Sara, sent this video to me and thought I might enjoy it, being a new Dad. And I did. Thanks, Sara!!!
Show this to all the Dads you know. I don't think we realize the impact we have on our kids!

Monday, February 2, 2009

Saturday, Sunday, Monday!

My best friend from college, Nikki, came to visit us this weekend! It was so great to spend time with her and catch up on everything and nothing at all!



Here's Matthew trying on some dancin' shoes... They are size 4's and we could barely squeeze his BIG feet into them!




Matthew and Daddy after his bath. This is probably Matthew's favorite part of the day and usually time that he gets to spend with his Daddy. I can't wait till he figures out he can splash us while he is in there! Sorry we slacked off this weekend on the picture posting, but now you can consider yourselves up-to-date! Have a great night!

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Stethoscopes are smarter than you think!



Our preacher shared this video this morning... not exactly your conventional take on how to tell what's in someone's heart, but a cute video nonetheless. The sermon was discussing a "Spiritual Stimulus Package." Couldn't we all use that?