A Very Long Post (sorry!)

Where do I begin? We have had a lot of stuff going on lately so I apologize for this being a rather lengthy post! I didn't want to leave anything out. I'll start with the "oldest" news and work my way current.

Occasionally I like to take Madelyn (and now Drew too of course!) to wherever Gene (my step-dad for those who don't know) is currently building so we can see what he's been up to lately. I'm always so impressed with his work and I think he likes to show off his creations! For the past several years and probably for many more to come, he is building at Grande Vista Bay in Rockwood. These are huge homes right on the lake....gorgeous! While we were there, Madelyn took a ride on the bobcat (her favorite thing to do) which made me a little bit nervous because this particular lot is VERY steep and it looked like they were going to slide right off into the lake.

Here is the back of one of the houses he is just finishing up:

This is the clubhouse he built a few years ago for the development:
Just as an example of how crazy our weather has been around here the past few weeks...the day we visited Gene it was very chilly and maybe in the 50s...then the next day...sunny and in the 70s. So...off to the park we go! Sara and Gabriella came over and went to the park with us. Madelyn loves the park, it's one of her favorite places to go. Drew and Gabriella caught up on their naps while we were there!

Silly girl:
Cute little Gabriella:
And the moment Justin has been waiting for (and I have never seen in the 12+ years I have known him)........the scales say 199!!!! WooHoo!! He's been working so hard to get below 200 pounds. He is lookin' good people!

Here is Mr. Drew yesterday, which marked his 4 month birthday. Today at his well-child visit at the doctor's office, he weighed a mighty 16 lbs 14 oz (I just realized that I am telling how much the boys weigh......Madelyn and I will keep our weight to ourselves!! he he he) and he is 24 inches long. Growing fast!!

And finally the last picture.....we decided Drew is big enough to play in the ExerSaucer so out it came tonight. Here he is trying it out for the first time. Of course, Madelyn was right there with him helping him out and telling him what to do!

Rolling over with help from sister!

Drew can roll over by himself but the video captures Madelyn helping him! I thought it was cute so I decided to post it!

How Great is Our God

Just a simple little post to say how thankful I am for my family, friends and job right now. My job is so rewarding and it is truly something that I thought I would never be doing! So much has changed and tranpsired in our lives over the past year.....thankfully, it has finally seemed to settled back down into normalcy again. We had another awesome service this morning at church and one of the songs we sang was "How Great is Our God". Even though I am constantly failing Him...He is always there and right now it seems we have been given a fresh new start to serve Him. New year, new baby, new job, new beginnings...

54:51 and Dedication

We have a runner in the house!! That would be Justin. He ran in the Strawberry Plains 10K on Saturday and did awesome!! He ran the 10K (which is a little over 6 miles in case you did not know...) in 54 minutes and 51 seconds!! This was a personal best and was enough to earn him 3rd place overall in the Clydesdale division (>200lb men). Way to go Justin!! The kids and I decided to surprise him at the finish line (it was a cold, rainy morning and I had told him when he left that I didn't think we would come...) so he was fired up to see us!!

Here he is coming around the corner towards the finish line....

The clock says 54:59 but his OFFICIAL time was 54:51...ha ha ha...

Madelyn giving Daddy a big hug:

This is Justin with one of the "Spin" instructors at the YMCA (Ellen). She placed 1st in the Grand Masters division. They represented the Y well!!

Then on Sunday, we had Drew's parent/child dedication at our church. This is a sweet time in which we publicly display our intentions of raising our child in a Christian home. The occasion is best described on our church's website:

"In the dedication of children, the primary emphasis is not on the child, but on the parents. We are making public our intentions to make sure that our child that has been given to us by God, is reared in faith. The dedication does not ensure that child's salvation, but rather it gives parents an opportunity to express their intentions of gaining Godly wisdom through scripture to raise there child knowing Gods love and serving Him. We believe the Bible teaches baptism is only for those who understand what sin is, and have decided to become followers of Jesus Christ. "

Here are pictures from the service...

It is a really special feeling looking at these pictures of our family at our church....to think that on the very same altar 7 1/2 years ago is were we were married....and now....2 KIDS!! ha ha ha... But really, we have grown so much in our faith at this church and it is a very special place to us.


And here's what my sweet husband gave me for Valentine's Day:


It probably would have been a good idea if I had been running too......

Spring is in the air....well, this weekend anyways!!!

We finally emerged from our house this weekend!!! 64 degrees on Saturday and 70 today!! Woo-who!! Too bad Justin had to work on Saturday :-( . I took the kids (that still sounds funny saying that!) to the park for some nice sunshine. It was a little windy so it felt a bit chilly but we had fun anyways. Madelyn was so excited that it was Drew's first time at the park. She begged to let him go down one of the little slides with her.

Madelyn wanted to swing in the baby swing so she could let "Lucky" and "Penny" swing with her. These are her favorite stuffed animal buddies of the moment (she has new favorites every couple of days it seems...):

So here they are getting ready to go down the slide (yes, I quickly put the camera down and held on to him!!....):

Today we went to a birthday party for one of Madelyn's friends. It was so much fun because they had horses and the kids got to ride them. The party was for Haley (in the purple on the bottom row) which is one of Madelyn's favorite friends from school and church! Apparently Haley talked about Madelyn so much that she now has a baby sister who's name is ....Madelyn (but I think they spell it differently).

And here is Drew hanging out at the party!!!

We finally got a good picture of Drew smiling!! This is from a few days ago....I guess one day when UT was playing...he already has the orange and white spirit!!

He's a Big Guy...

It's official. We've got a big guy on our hands. Drew had his 2 month check-up today and he weighed in at a whopping 14lbs 2 oz. This puts him in the 82nd percentile for weight! He is only 22 3/4 inches long (22nd percentile) making him an official short and chubby little thing!! He also got started on his vaccines so he didn't enjoy the doctor visit very much. Actually, he was all smiles with the nurse while she was preparing him for the shots. Then in a blink of an eye..the cute little smile went to a pitiful little pouty face (think: the way Justin's bottom lip looks when he pouches it out) then quickly on to a very loud cry. He was okay after a few minutes. We are so thankful that he checked out all nice and healthy!!