Christmas

The beloved basketball goal. Loved by Hunter & Nathan.
Such a sweet boy to give his brother a kiss.

His new train table

Hunter got to open all of Andrews presents.

Santa

He's here! He's come! My little Boy.

I am reminded this season of the great love parents have for the children. I can not comprehend the love that God had for his son and the great sacrifice-for me. For me, such a sinner.

One thing that God has really shown me over the last six months is my perfectionist tendencies. This has been hard but good. It’s like a being a clay pot-broken. When this pot is put back together, it’s going to look more like a pot(I hope) but still with many imperfections. I’ve seen my sin and how great it is. The best thing about seeing your sin in its magnitude is remembering His grace and the magnitude of his gift.
I was reading through The Jesus Storybook Bible, a children's bible great for adults too (if you don’t have order it today!!). I love the words in it about the Christmas story.

“But how would he come?
Mountains would have bowed down.
Seas would have roared.
Trees would have clapped their hands.
But the earth held its breath. As silent as snow falling, he came in. And when no one was looking, in the darkness, he came.

And there, in the tumbledown stable, amongst the chickens and the donkeys and the cows, in the quiet of the night, God gave the world his wonderful gift. The baby that would change the world was born. His baby son – God’s great gift.

So he pulled out all the stops.
He’d sent an angel to tell Mary the good news.
He’d put a special star in the sky to show where his boy was.
And now he was going to send a big choir of angels to sing his happy song to the world:

He’s here! He’s come! Go and see him. My little Boy.”

-The Nativity Luke 1-2

I love how God chose to send Christ into the world. In the most humble way possible. To the most humble people. I pray that this next year, I would remember this and grow in grace and humility. May the love of our God and His son be with you this Christmas and throughout the year.

Our Sunday best

Thanks for coming to our church to hear Nathan preach.
Here are the boys' Christmas outfits. Their "girly" outfits as some people in our family like to call them. Good thing I get them dressed for church when there is no daddy around. Usually when Nathan sees them at church, he rolls his eyes. Then I hear something like this-well at least you don't do this very often. And, I guess this is okay for now since you don't have any girls to dress. Hey, that works for me!

*This post is especially for my dear friend who dresses her boys in "girly" outfits (you know who you are :) ). Thanks Mimi and Lisa for our outfits!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Oh, I am so far behind on blogging. I will blame it on the busy Christmas season, but mostly it's due to having 2 little ones I'm sure. Nathan's birthday was last week and it often gets a bit overlooked by Christmas, and now Hunter's birthday six days earlier. I think we might celebrate his half birthday next year. Nathan and I enjoyed a nice pizza dinner out without Hunter and with Andrew. It's funny, I don't mind taking Andrew with us out to eat at all. However, Hunter is another story. It's amazing how having a second child changes ones perspective on many things!

Back to Nathan-words simply can't express how thankful I am for his life, and that we get to share life together. He is such an amazing father to our boys and watching him with them makes me fall in love with him more. Thank you for making so many sacrifices for our family. We love you. Happy Birthday! (And for those curious, he's 33).

Happy 2nd Birthday Hunter!

My little boy is 2! I can hardly believe it. Hunter is at such a fun stage right now. He is taking in everything, repeating everything and I can just see the wheels in his head constantly turning. As I just mentioned, he loves trucks-ALL kinds. He also is very into balls, plugs(good one right?), puzzles, games, playdough, outside trash cans(yup, another great thing), making sure things have batteries in them, books(finally!), blocks and more blocks and his brother. So to sum it up-all boy. I'm not sure I can convey just how much Hunter loves his brother. He tells me the minute is he crying and wants him to stop immediately. He tries his hardest to pick him out of the carseat, swing or papasan seat. I'm guessing that he gives him several kisses an hour. The way he loves Andrew is just a glimpse of his sweet loving nature. Hunter is not a cuddler, but he does give long hugs and great kisses. He is still quite the active one, but now enjoys playing with his toys and books for a bit longer.

What a gift this sweet child is. I am so thankful that I have the great privilege of being his mother. I pray that we will raise him up to be a godly man. Hunter, I LOVE YOU more than you can imagine. You have brought so much joy to us and I can't wait to watch you grow up. Thank you heavenly Father for this indescriable gift!

One year ago at 12 months

15 months

18 months

Dump everything and truck on over

Andrew decided to get in on the action too.

The dirt cake in the dump truck.

Hunter had his 2nd birthday party on Saturday. I debated about not having a party since I have an 8 week old, but I love celebrating birthdays too much to not have one. The compromise (with myself) was to have a small party. We all had a great time-especially Hunter!!

2 months

Time flies. I thought time passed quickly with Hunter, but now I am realizing that with Andrew, it is just racing by. I can't believe he is 2 months. He goes to the doctor next week, and I look forward to seeing how much he has grown. He seems so big to me. Andrew is doing well for the most part. He definately has some stomach issues. It seems to be worse at night-where he just fusses and can't get comfortable. He likes to be held and walked and held somemore. His stomach does not agree with dairy, so once again, I am not eating any dairy. We will see how long this lasts. I'm hopeful that he is going to outgrow it VERY soon.

I will put his 2 month pics up tomorrow.

Thanksgiving