Kaydi's first Christmas-Part I

Kathryn's first Christmas (part one) was this past weekend.  Since Ben and I are always in Michigan over December 25th, my family is wonderfully flexible and we have Christmas on a Saturday that works for everyone.  This year it happened to be December 17th.  We were supposed to be at mom and dad's around 9:30 AM.  However, I was so excited that I had trouble falling asleep, staying asleep, and then woke up at 5:40AM and did not go back to sleep.  In the past I have been so excited about opening gifts...don't get me wrong, I still love presents....but this year I was so excited to hang out with my family, watch all of the kids open presents, and to just experience the joy of celebrating Jesus' birth.
Once we got to mom and dad's things were different than normal but in a good way!  Dad started off reading the Christmas story after that instead of stockings first, the kids opened all of their gifts.  After that we got to the adults.  I was excited to pass out our gifts because I felt certain that everyone would like them (I do not always feel this way and then I feel anxious about it). Of course, Ben and I received wonderful gifts as well.  After gifts, we all had a fabulous brunch that mom had cooked and then just enjoyed everyone's company.  The kids got totally exhausted and I did as well since I didn't sleep the night before :).  It was a wonderful day and reminded me again how many blessings have been poured out on my family.  Here are some pictures of the day.

Trip to STL and Tulsa

It has been a busy few weeks for our family. Last weekend, we went up to STL with my parents to watch the Cardinals play the Cubs.  It seemed just a month earlier that it would be a pointless game but it turned out to matter a lot int he wild card race and the Cardinals won in the bottom of the 9th...exciting!  From there, Ben, Kaydi, and I went to Tan-Tar-a for a conference.  Then this weekend (October 1) we headed to Tulsa for Matt Vassar and Natalie Wakefield's wedding.  Both trips were a lot of fun....Kathryn is such a good baby!

Anniversary

Well I haven't blogged in a month so I have a couple to catch up on.....

Our anniversary was much different this year since we now have a child. We could have left Kathryn with my parents but since we both work (more on that in a future post) we decided to take her with us.

Upon looking at the Tigers baseball schedule, we decided that a trip to Kansas City would be perfect for our anniversary. It is perfect that both the Tigers and Royals are in the same division because it gives Ben a chance to watch his favorite team.

Both of us love baseball and it was so fun to take Kathryn to her first game. She loved looking at all the sights until she fell asleep half way through. We also went to the World Market the next day before heading back.

Lakin' Girl

Kathryn is definitely my daughter.....she loves the lake! Yesterday we took her down to Pomme for her second trip. This was the first time she got in the water. She loved the boat rides and swimming as well. She woke up for a second when she got in and one other time when she spit out her nuc but other than that she greatly enjoyed sleeping while floating!



And just because it is so cute I had to post these pictures of swimming at Grandma's. Well Kathryn didn't actually swim but she did enjoy her cousins and being outside.

Way Behind...

I am getting so far behind with this blogging thing. I am determined to do better although I know that in reality, our baby is due to be born anytime and I am sure it will be quite a while before I do a better job at this. I have all of these grand plans for my maternity leave which include things like setting up an online photo album, organizing my pantry, etc. I am sure that I will really just want to sleep any time I am not cuddling with my new baby.

Now that I have gotten way off topic.....back to the point. This month we have celebrated my little brother's birthday and had a wonderful Easter celebration. Additionally, we were able to have a fun night catching up with friends when Phil and Jessi were in town.

Mom cooked a birthday dinner for Clay on April 15th. It seems so strange that he is my little brother and yet has a family of three kids! I always love getting together with everyone.








On Easter Sunday, we all went over to Clay and Elissa's house for some Easter egg hunting, fellowship, and an outstanding meal prepared by Elissa (with some sides/desserts brought potluck style). It was such a rainy weekend but Margaret and William were able to hunt eggs between the rain storms. I can not wait until Jackryn and Amelia are out looking for eggs too!









In other news, my parents are building on to the house. They are adding a dining room where the back porch is now. As the family grows there is no place for us to eat a meal together so mom is quickly fixing that!

Amelia Louise

Last Sunday was such an exciting day, Clay and Elissa's third baby was born! I have been so excited for this birth....it is probably the combination of Clay and Elissa living here as well as me being pregnant myself. On Sunday, Ben and I woke up and headed over to my parents to hang out with the kids (Margaret and William). We got to play with them most of the day and then had the honor of meeting the beautiful little girl! Below are pictures of the kids at grandma and papas and everyone meeting Amelia for the first time.

Dad's 56th

It was a big weekend for our family. Friday was dad's birthday, Saturday was Ben and I's Valentine's celebration, and Sunday my beautiful new niece was welcomed to the world (Valentines and Amelia coming in later posts). It is funny how I don't post forever and then there are three events that are worthy of writing about.

For dad's birthday our family went over to mom and dad's for dinner. We had a chance to give Margaret and William their Valentine's present, give dad gifts for his birthday, and enjoy a wonderful meal together. I say it all of the time but I feel so blessed by a wonderful family.

Some of my cutest pictures look horrible because I should have had the flash on (that's what I get for trying to take the pictures).

Family and Friends

This has been a hard week. Friday night, a member of the Fair Grove community lost her son (a 4th grader), husband, father, and uncle. They all died of hypothermia when their boat overturned in the Niangua river. Additionally, a long time member of my home church (FGUMC) is at home on hospice care. When things ike this happen, it hurts so bad and it is unfathomable what the individuals who actually lost the family members feel. It is times like this that you feel helpless and all there is to do is pray and rely on your faith is Christ. For me, part of the coping/healing process is to count my blessings and remember how lucky I am to have such wonderful family and friends.

Last night, Clay and Elissa graciously let Ben and I take one of their unused deep freezers for our house. We got it moved over here and then also had dinner as a family. Kathleen, Cooper, Brent and Kristy also came over. It was so much fun having three little ones running (or sitting) around everywhere. It is hard to believe that if the same group comes over in another 3.5 months there will be 5 little ones! Children make everything so much more fun. Cooper did so well playing on the floor (even by himself at times). William ran a million miles an hour until he got put to bed (which he did not like). And Margaret stayed up so late being cute as always. She eventually laid down on the couch next to Kristy and fell asleep as Kristy read her books. It was precious.

I took several of these pictures so don't expect good quality but they are still cute! (I just realized that apparently I did not take any adult pictures-oops!)

I LOVE December

December is a wonderful month. It has Christmas, Christmas break, my birthday, and New Years Eve all rolled into one month. Additionally, there is typically snow (even if it doesn't snow in Missouri, most of the time it does in Michigan when I am there). Everyone who knows me knows how much I love getting presents. Well it turns out that I really love to get them as well. Since I get so excited about getting new things, I really want to pass that joy onto others. Christmas is so much more fun with little kids around. Yesterday (December 18th) we had Christmas number 1 at mom and dads house. It was so much fun to have everyone together but especially to watch Margaret and William with the toys. William was perfectly content after he got his first toy (a top that was in the top of his stocking). This was the first Christmas where Margaret was really into opening presents and we did well with a Thomas the Train toy that he got her.