Happy New Year's... eve - 12/31

...to all of you! We'll be busy tonight, with friends, and probably tomorrow, but I hope you all have a great new years! And for those of you who can't stay up that late, it'll still be the new year in the morning!
I just have finished putting more pictures on our photos and videos site. And a couple videos, if I remember correctly. I'll post a few here, too, as always. But there's definitely way more there!
:o)
Here's the kids in their Christmas pajamas.

Isaac laying on his blankie.

Ruthie took this picture of Isaac and me (with Josh's help a bit) and I cropped it and changed it to black and white. I rather like this one!

and a happy new year! - 12/27

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! We definitely did. We kept it pretty low-key, didn't venture out too much, just really spent a bunch of time with the kids. But, ya know, that's kinda what it's all about for us!
On Saturday we did get to my friend's family Christmas. That was really nice, we all had a lot of fun there, and felt like part of the family. It definitely didn't take the place of spending time with any or all of you, but it sure helped fill the hole for us.
On Sunday we got in to Brandon for church in the morning, then came home for the rest of the day. We had veggies and dip, cheese and crackers, chicken nuggets, and meatballs, and let the kids picnic in the living room and watch a movie. They had a lot of fun, I think. They all actually got to bed a pretty decent time that night and so got a good night sleep. Definitely needed, as they were all feeling a bit under the weather with a cold.
Christmas morning we woke up with the kids and opened our stockings. Then we took time to eat breakfast before opening our gifts. The whole thing took nearly until noon! Ruthie likes to open all her presents and then play with them, while Zech likes to open and play with each one before opening the next. It was a lot of fun to do with them! Isaac slept until a bit after 10am... I guess he enjoyed his first Christmas?!!
I have lots of pictures to share, but probably won't get a chance to upload them for a bit yet. I'll try to get them on the end of this week!

Isaac is 7 months old!! - 12/19

How times flies!
Isaac Benjamin is 7 months old today!! I can hardly believe it!!
He's doing well, growing like a weed, and getting into everything that he can. He doesn't sit up on his own yet - I think he can, because he will for a bit if I just hold him and then let go, but he's lazy and lays down to roll around to reach things. He doesn't seem interested in the least bit to get up on all fours or crawl. I guess rolling suits him fine?! Just like me, from what Mom and Dad have told me! :o)
Ruthie and Zech are getting very excited for Christmas. Every night we're home and able, Josh and I sit down and wrap a few gifts to add to the pile under the tree. Ruthie has all ready said we have TONS of presents... and have to open them all! Zech is doing really well not touching them, just looks for a while from time to time!
Tonight we're going in to Brandon for Ruthie's last dance class before Christmas Break, and we're going to stay afterwards and go to Brett and Jeff's school Christmas Concert. I think Ruth and Zech will really enjoy being there to see the boys, and I think the boys will be happy we're there, too.
I'm hoping this will be the last trip to Brandon for us until Saturday. Though Thursday we'll be going to the school's Christmas Concert here in Minto (and Santa is supposed to drop in!!), and Saturday we'll be going to Ernie and Kathy's (friend's dad and step-mom) for their family Christmas.
See? With being so far away from you, and not having convinced any of you to move and join us yet, we have to adopt more family!
The biggest countdown, I think, is Josh's countdown to break! He's looking forward to a bit of a break, and it'll be really nice to have him around for the kids.

Some pictures! - 12/11

Here are some pictures, finally! Sorry, I got busy with bedtime for everyone the other day and yesterday was another busy day in Brandon. But here are some of the pictures!
Isaac playing in the exersuacer - he really likes that thing!

Isaac and Jack - he really likes that thing, too!

Ruth and Zech ballet dancing together! She gets the idea from the '12 dancing princesses' movie (a barbie movie). Zech doesn't mind dancing with her, though!!

All three kids - christmas pic. The ONLY picture I got of all three together!

Ruthie's Christmas pictures


Zech's christmas pics



Isaac's christmas pics

we're counting down to christmas! - 12/09

Well, the countdown is definitely on! Ruthie and Zech have advent calenders (the little chocolate in the window ones) and they love getting their treat every night! Ruthie's been telling us every morning what number the day is and which chocolate she'll get. Zech doesn't really get the whole idea, but he likes the treats! Grandma and Grandpa (Patti and Ken) have sent us our presents all ready, and they're sitting under the tree. To Zech this means it is Christmas, thus we open the presents. Each day we remind him that it's not Christmas until all his chocolates are gone. So far, so good. But we'll see what happens as the days continue to go by - a little guy can only wait so long!!
This weekend's another busy one. We're going to Brandon tonight to try to see the Holiday Train (going across the country to raise donations for food bank, I think? stops in a bunch of towns for a half hour concert) I don't know how long Zech will care about the music, but I'm sure he'll love to see the train pull in with christmas lights!
Then tomorrow we're going to get in for church in the morning, go for lunch, and then go to a different church's (jill and reg's church) christmas concert. It's some neat singing christmas tree concert, supposed to be really good. So, I'm sure the kids will enjoy that one, too!
And that's about it for now!
...
Oh! Bethlehem Live went well. Ruthie did really well staying outside with us - the first night she lasted almost an hour, the second night she stayed out for 1.5 hours! I didn't, however, get any pictures of us dressed up. By the time we got there and got fed and ready, we were late... so no pictures. But I've put a bunch of new pictures and one new video on the site for any who wanna peek! I'll put a few on here, too.
...
Okay pictures aren't working right now and I have a tired baby in my lap. I'll get him down for a nap and try the picutres again later! If nothing else, just go through the link to the photos and videos and you can see them all!

Happy December! - 12/01

Well, it's definitely winter here. We've had a couple snowstorms this week all ready, and it looks like another one brewing now. Hopefully we'll still be able to make it into Brandon tonight to be in our church's 'Bethlehem Live'. I'll have to remember to take my camera and have my friend got some pictures of Ruth, Josh, and me all dressed up.
Oh, for clarification, the church sets up an outdoor display, obviously with live people and animals, and people can come for a "tour" of Bethlehem. They walk through the "town" - past sheperds with sheep, homeless people, a marketplace (where we'll be), see the tax collector, and end up at the nativity scene. It's pretty neat, and a great outreach to the community. Last year I took the kids by myself, and there were TONS of people waiting for tours. The whole sanctuary was FULL of people waiting. So awesome to see!!
So, we're hoping for decent weather tonight. We need the roads to be clear enough for decent driving, and we need it to not be too cold. Snow is fine, but bitter cold is not. Noone would come, and besides that, the actors would all freeze being outside for 2.5 hours!
And, in case anyone worries - Isaac and Zech will be inside the church, with baby-sitters. Ruthie will get dressed up and come out to the marketplace with us. I'm not sure if she'll last the whole evening (though I'll have to come in for a bit, at least once, to nurse Isaac, so she can have a break then) but if she wants to, she can play in the church too.
So, hopefully there will be pictures to be shared after tonight! There are a couple really cute ones of Ruth and Zech "ballet dancing" together last night. Josh kept them home and I took Isaac into town to get some groceries and a few more Christmas things done. He called me just to tell me how cute they were and that he'd take pictures for me to see. :o)
Well, things are obviously busy, but good, with us. Sorry I haven't updated again in a while. With the computer downstairs, and (for now) in the spare room, I don't get on much. I know I don't need to be on as much as I used to be, but I do need to a bit more than I have been recently!
The kids are all well, growing and laughing lots! The boys both did awesome with their needles last week. Isaac didn't react at all to his (dptp, hib, prevnar) and Zech hasn't had any reaction yet (mmr). I know his can take up to 14 days to show reactions, though, so I'm not jumping for joy yet! Ruthie is bugging us EVERY DAY to get the tree put up for her. I think she thinks putting the tree up automatically makes it Christmas?? Might be a shock to her that just because the tree is up doesn't mean she can open and get her presents!! But I do need to get it up, if nothing else, so I can take the kids' Christmas pictures!
Hmmm... thinking about which... I should try and see if I can't use the timer to get some shots of all of us. That'd be neat. I realize as I see our pictures that we're always the ones taking them, so we're not IN them! Well, at least me anyways! I'll try to get a few of this old mug to share.
And that's about it for now! Gotta get a snack going for these guys, and maybe start on the tree for Ruthie.