Merry Christmas!

Hope you all had a lovely Christmas. We have felt blessed beyond belief this year. We are enjoying time with family and will post pictures of our December adventures soon! But here is a picture we took yesterday for Christmas. Joel wanted one of just the boys in their Sunday garb, but Aiden wouldn't have it. And since he was needing a nap, we couldn't wait around for my husband to finish his usual fellowship, so we headed back home sans Daddy. The picture turned out rather well though, and I'm excited, since pictures of just Mommy and boys are a rare thing indeed!

It's a...

 

BOY!

My sister had this marvelous idea of letting out the news by using the color of balloons... well, after we went through the ordeal of having a helium rationing program in Michigan (who knew there was a helium shortage in the world??), a loss of balloons due to the high winds in Indiana, a Thanksgiving day trip to Meijer to restock balloons (5 balloons took 30minutes...) and an SD card, a couple tackles, few screams/tears and popped balloons later...

... well, this is the best of what I got.

Maybe I should've just stuck with my husband's idea and just posted the "money shot".



So yeah, we are blessed to be able to have another little boy join our house next spring-- I'm a bit shocked, since this pregnancy was so different, but I think God knew our budget couldn't yet afford the bows, lace and frills a girl would bring into the mix!

I'll post pictures of our Thanksgiving with his parents later. I have to get them off of Joel's phone. You see, after our holiday excursion to Meijer because I insisted I needed a SD card since I forgot mine here at home... well, my camera up and died later that day. It won't focus. :(


So... any camera recommendations? Trying to decide between forking out the money for a SLR or just getting another small digital (thankfully my mom will let me borrow one of hers until I make the decision, since as Danya puts it, Asians are naked without their cameras!).

The Hitz Family and our Anniversary

Thursday was Len's 87th birthday. Because he loves the boys so much, we were kindly invited to help celebrate at his house last night with his boys and their families. We have been so blessed to have this adopted family and the boys love Len. Apparently, it's "like Father, like Son", because, well...

Happy Birthday, Len! We love you!!

 And in other news, today is our anniversary. We've survived 6 years together, can you believe it? Thank you to all who gave us ideas (he used your idea first, Cindy E!) of things to talk about-- we were shocked that after never spending any time talking together, we could still have a decent conversation, and hope to continue it this Thanksgiving weekend! Joel had never been to the melting pot before, and after hearing lots of rave reviews from others, wanted to try it. Lucky for us we had a groupon, and since I'm a member (from days gone by), we also had free chocolate covered strawberries to take home with us. Yum! As I stated earlier, the Hitz family spoils us rotten, and as is tradition since we've been here in MI, they watched our children overnight so we could have a little getaway-- 4 miles from home at a hotel (courtesy of Joel's parents)  :)

So since this prego Mommy has forgotten to get a card, but knows her husband will eventually read the blog... Happy Anniversary, my dear husband who brings joy and happiness (along with challenging growth ;) to our lives! Thanks for a lovely weekend where we were able to talk, and you didn't pull out your phone except a couple times-- with permission! I love you and can't wait to "survive" some more years with you!

The best part of the night?? Guess who got to eat the cheesecake...  ;)

Autumn Gala

It used to be an annual tradition for Dr. Colen to take the senior residents to Botsford's Autumn Gala at the MGM Grand each year. Even though he passed away, his wife Rita still invited them. Dr. Bono, the spine surgeon purchased a table however, and invited the 3rd and 4th years to come along too. So, with the help of Jamie and Sarah, I got "dolled up", we had Hailey babysit (which the boys loved and looked forward to for 2 days beforehand), and I spent the night wining and dining on amazing food (let's just say I got to know the waitress with the lamb chop appetizers really well...), and spending time with wonderful ortho friends and getting to know Amy better. It was a wonderful (but late!) evening to spent with my husband!

(Thanks to Danya for the pictures... I figured since there was already one Asian snapping photos, no need for duplicates :)

Redeeming Halloween

For the past couple years, Cherise and Woodhaven have organized an event focused on redeeming Halloween for the small children to meet at the nursing home and "parade" around visiting different residents dressed in costume. The Woodhaven staff and elderly residents enjoy seeing the small children all dressed up. This year was no different, except instead of handing out candy to the residents, the children gave homemade cards to them, and the residents were given candy by the staff to hand out to the children. It was culminated by a visit to see the boss, Randy, who announced to his staff that I'm going to have a little girl next spring. (Come next Wednesday, we shall see whether Randy and Liam are right!)

Anyhow, it was no surprise that Liam wanted to be a cowboy like his friend Jake, rope, hat, boots, belt buckle and all. Aiden, since he still won't talk, had no choice but to be what Liam was last year (although this year it fit!). Some of the staff even remembered the doctor running around from last year, and were delighted to see that the pea was now running around in the doctor costume. I still can't stand this holiday, successfully avoided all stores that had anything even remotely scary, and was able to get my son to be content with just a couple of pieces from the stash that he got (it helps that he associates fruit snacks with church services). And for the few people that gave me dirty, bah-humbug looks this year when I said I would not be taking my children trick-or-treating (why anyone thinks a 3 yr old needs that much sugar anyways is beyond me...), and then went on to circumvent my parental authority and ask my son if he wanted to go out and get candy for Halloween... well, they were shocked when he said that he already did get candy from some nice old people at Woodhaven. So there!

But I'm not the least bit bitter...  :)

 

By the way, for those who think that Aiden is dressed like his father... Joel wanted to make it clear he is not his Daddy, because he is an MD, not a DO. I told him the cell phone to the ear and the scrubs makes them a lot alike though... ;)

Minivans

Well, we did it. Went to the dark side. It took a bit of humbling on both of our parts, as I had told myself I would never, ever become an owner of one. But then, when the Murano bit the dust, and we conveniently found out (by God's grace) that I was pregnant at the same time... well, it made the decision a bit easier. Sort of.

We are now, the proud owners of a minivan (again, by God's grace).

Can you believe I actually had to google "minivan" to see what was the correct form of spelling?!
Yeah, I had disassociated myself from them that much.

Actually, one of us is quite proud. He has thanked God for his new "van" since we went as a family to take a look at it a few days ago. He wanted to know if we could borrow it and I told him we had to buy it, which he said we could do. I told him Daddy would have to give the guy a lot of money. He said that was ok too. (Note to self: teach child budgeting when he reaches appropriate age :)

He was so thrilled when I told him we would buy it, that he was even willing to share it with a friend's child I was watching while she gave birth. He couldn't understand when the two-year old didn't share his enthusiasm. 

And apparently, a van can fix all ills. Joel was frustrated when he couldn't remove my license plate from my vehicle to put on the van (I told him this was God telling me to keep driving the maxima-- he just scoffed). Liam came out and I told him his Daddy was upset. He told Joel to sit inside the van, because it would make him happy again. Daddy said a "hug" would make him happy, but Liam replied that the van would make him more happy-- and he was even willing to sit inside the van with his Daddy!

And today, he was elated to help his Daddy "fix" the van (aka make screw holes for the license plate... apparently it's a common thing to have the screws rust into the vehicle holes). When I showed him a bit of rust, he thought maybe we ought to put a band-aid on it so that the van wouldn't cry and be sad.

Yes, it has taken on human characteristics, and it's only day 2. Yikes.

So while one of us is overjoyed for our new "familial mode of transportation" as my husband refers to it, the other two of us are at peace with the fact that we have a minivan, because really, it means that we are in the process of fulfilling God's first commandment in Genesis 1:28 to be fruitful and multiply. And really, in a day and age where it is shocking and almost looked down upon to have so many children (I was frequently met with shock that we thought of having more then 2 children)... well, maybe we will one day drive our minivan with pride. ;)

Just don't call me a "minivan mom" yet. Not quite ready for the title. And actually, I'm scared to death of driving such a big vehicle. Especially during winter. Who knows, maybe it'll be Joel's car! :)

Friendships

We have been blessed beyond belief with friends here in Michigan, whether fellow residents and their families or those in our church. For the past couple of weekends, we (the boys and I) were adopted by one family, as Joel was once again out of town, and their schedule tends to be more lenient then those with school-aged children. My boys probably consider Ben a surrogate father, and love Elijah and Sarah... even if Liam does constantly tell her she has a big belly ;)

So here's a few pictures from a random trip to Parmenters (in which everyone else had the same idea- so much so, that the ducks weren't hungry!), a weekday trip to Toledo Zoo on the last lovely, 78-deg day in MI (the next day the high was 50...), and a couple of family birthday parties for Elijah's first birthday.

And for my parents... I'll post the Woodhaven pictures later :)

Autumn

Looking across the street, I am oft times jealous of the vibrant colored maple(?) in the neighbor's yard and the glorious leaves that fall from it's branches. I know what you are thinking... probably because I don't have to rake them, right?!

But actually, I'd love to rake them to the side, and watch our street vacuum mulch them up...

 Our white barked tree on the other hand doesn't put out the greatest fall foliage, and I've usually a very small pathetic pile when I feel like doing my outdoor fall duties.

But I've learned the secret.

You see, this crazy Michigan weather, combined with my husband's out-of-town excursions means he hasn't been around to mow, err, I mean mulch the grass and leaves. And because today was cheerfully sunny, compared to yesterday's overcast skies... well, I introduced my children into the art of leaf piles.

Without having to lead by example, of course.

Because it looks like fun... if you're a child. To me, it looked kind of damp and pokey. And when Liam dumped leaves on Aiden, I think he agreed.

Especially, when he didn't notice the broken piece that was stuck to his pacifier, before putting it in his mouth... :)