First Snowfall!

Well, today we got our first real snow fall of the year.  Just about 4 inches I think, but it's the awesome wet kind of packing snow!  I took the boys outside to play and we made snow angels and a snow man that fell over :( but mostly had snowball fights....including one with our neighbors, the Nowackis.  It was sooo much fun! What a wonderful wintery day! Right afterwards, we quickly made some hot cocoa and headed out to Christ The King, for Andrew to participate in the Living Nativity scene they do each year.  And to our surprise, they invited David to participate too!  So today we had two wise men in our family :)  Auntie Elham and Uncle Darren came to watch.  So much fun!

Advent

Advent is upon us.  As we wait for the birthday celebration for Jesus, we are decorating, singing, praying, and reading lots of stories about the Christ child (and some about Santa too, who we've decided celebrates Jesus by giving gifts....)  I love Christmastime!

More Splash Village

Andrew with Buzz, his birthday gift

The boys with the Zehnder's mascot :)

"I have a cake on my head!"

Racing to the waterpark!

Some more splash village pictures! I meant to add them to the other post, but here they are..

More Catching Up...Halloween

Super Daddy carried Andrew on his shoulders!

The Roslyn Kids!

Molly mouse and Bella butterfly :)

In my continued attempt at catching up...here are some halloween pics.  Halloween was so much fun.  We walked around the neighborhood with our awesome neighbor families and the kids had the time of their lives! Mom and Mary came and handed out candy at our house with Bella, too, which made it even more special.  We're so thankful to have moved into such a wonderful community of people!

We also had fun halloween celebrations at the Lakefront park Hob Nobbin with the Goblins before Halloween!  What a nice fall!

First Amini Report Card Arrives

Today is a little bit of a milestone for our family.  Today, our first child brought home their first report card. I didn't think it would be such a big deal to me.  In fact, I actually forgot it was coming home today....but somehow it's a bigger deal than I expected.  I remember my first report card in Kindergarten.  Now, I have a very OCD personality and have always been very achievement-oriented, so possibly that's why that memory sticks out to me (especially since my memory is awful!).   Somehow, my baby bringing home a report card makes me wonder, "How did we get here?"  He was just born.  I was up all night nursing just yesterday.  He just learned to crawl....a report card? Really? Is he old enough for another adult to tell me how he is doing?  To get marks and comments?  Well, no matter whether I believe it or not, it's true. It's here. It's on the counter.  And it's full of good news.  David's doing great in kindergarten.  It's just his mommy who has to learn to let go.....

Andrew's Fourth Birthday

Andrew, fourth birthday

Andrew, 1st birthday

Well, if I was behind before I'm waaaaay behind now, so I'm trying to catch it all up!  We've been very busy with the remodeling project, and I have let the memory book lapse! So....on November 24th, my little Andrew turned four years old! Unbelieveable, but he really is already four.  We celebrated his birthday at Splash Village in Frankenmuth.  (We also celebrated his first birthday there !) This year, we actually got an amazing deal on the room so we could also book a little party-in-your-room deal, which was very nice!  When we arrived there was a banner on the door wishing Andrew a happy birthday, and his name was even on the sign outside!! Inside our room was a big birthday hat and a special towel for him to keep, as well as arcade tokens, pizza and pop, and a cake!! I love, love, loved this party!! No prep, no clean up, uber fun!  Needless to say Andrew (and David and Bella and mommy and daddy ) had an amazing time.  Bonus, the Hemingways met us up there (along with some more of their family)! A great celebration for a great little boy.  Andrew has grown into a very sweet, happy, energetic, intelligent, imaginative, confident child, and we are so proud of him.  What a blessing.  Thank you for our little Andrew, Lord! 

One and A Half!!

Yesterday our little girl turned one and a half years old.  It is amazing. Unreal.  Tonight I watched her as she put her own story books away in her bookshelf after story time, and just thought, "Where is my baby?"  She's no baby anymore, folks! She's a real toddler-- a walking, talking, container-emptying, squealing, loving, hand-holding, pizza-eating, toddler! It honestly seems like I just brought my little princess home from the hospital, and now she picks out her own shoes every morning!  What a wonderful year and a half we've had, and I am so happy to have a little girl to love in our family!  As each day passes we will soak up as much as we can and still each night whisper, "Slow down, time, slow down.."