silly cough

So, this morning, Ivy coughed, and she had to cover MY mouth so I wouldn't catch her cold! What a silly girl! :-)

Where's Owen?

Did you see where Owen was? We were having fun playing with ALL of the stuffed animals we have (isn't it something how MANY you accumulate???) and decided to do a "Where's Waldo?/Where's Owen?" picture out of it. (Do you remember the "Where's Waldo?" books?)


BUT, who needs toys when you have an open space and an imagination?!?! Here Ivy and Owen are having a ball just running around in a circle...(Now that I'm writing this over a year later...perhaps this is why Owen now loves to run around in a circle and to be chased by Ivy! :) )

fun in the snow

The air is cold! The snow is falling! Winter is here! What to do? Have FUN outside!

As our dog Paisan needed to get out for a walk, we decided to get everyone dressed up and go out and enjoy the snow. Usually, when we walk, we let the kids ride in their sleds as we pull them along...

...and sometimes Paisan pulls a sled! :-)

Daddy and Ivy made the first snowman of the season (while Mommy and Owen went inside where it was nice and warm)!

On a separate day, a couple of families from our church had planned a snowshoe/cross country ski outing in Lovell, Maine. We decided it would be a great family outing for us, and we enjoyed spending the day with a part of our church family.

***group photo to be posted later

To add to the fun, Nathan recently met a guy who works at the local police department, is new to the area, and who we have been trying to connect with to get to know a little better SO we asked him if he wanted to join us. He agreed, and we discovered that this would be his first time snowshoeing. (He didn't know he was going to get more of a workout than just snowshoeing!)

This was Ivy's first time snowshoeing as well! She did great and had a blast with it!

Her little legs did get tired though so she would take a break and get to ride in the sled.

Our "new" friend John blessed us (especially me) with pulling the sled! I very much appreciated his willingness to get an added workout as I would have probably been the one to pull the sled, and it turned out that snowshoeing at 6 months pregnant and being waaaaay out of shape was exhausting enough for me! Thank you, John, for being such a blessing to me and for all of your help with the sled!

All in all, our day of snowshoeing was a lot of fun, but we didn't expect it to be as cooooold as what it was (almost a little too cold for Owen since he wasn't moving around). Of course, the day can't go off without a hitch! That hitch would be a dead car battery! As I was inside helping warm up the kids in a cold van, this was the scene out the front windshield...

Thank you to EVERYONE who helped get our van up and running again!

After our snowshoeing adventure and getting our van working, we went to the Bedell family's beautiful log home where we enjoyed great food (chili, hot dogs, and hot cocoa), great live entertainment by Nathan B., and great fellowship! Thank you to the Bedell family and the Roy family for planning and preparing for this fun-filled day!

catching up

Recently, we got to "catch up" with a few people we haven't really gotten to spend too much time with even though we live so close to one another. Why do we allow our lives to get so busy to interfere with opportunities to get together and encourage one another? We all do it - how can we stop the vicious cycle? (When someone figures that one out, please let us know!)

I was able to go out for dinner with a couple of ladies that I worked with for years when I worked at the law firm before becoming a stay-at-home mom. It was great to catch up with these terrific ladies! They have always been an encouragement to me as their hard work and determination to make the best of situations at work and in their personal lives have always spoke volumes to me. We really worked well together and grew to know each other and the goings-on of our families over the years. (You know, if you really stop and think about it, you really grow close to the people you work with as you see them sometimes more than your own family, especially if you work with the same people for many years.) Although I LOVE being a Mommy to my precious kids and getting the opportunity to teach and have a hand in sculpting my kids into who they are and what the Lord wants them to be, these ladies (and a few others) are who and what I really MISS from not working outside of the home.

We recently got a chance to visit with a terrific family from our church as well - the Comeau family. This family is such a remarkable family and have been such a blessing to our family that they probably don't even realize how special they are to us and how much we admire them and are encouraged by them. There are 7 kids in the family, and each one of them are so well-behaved and seek to follow the Lord's leading in their lives. We have learned a lot from Mr. and Mrs. Comeau regarding the discipline and specialness of and love for children through actual teaching but also through observation. We have been blessed to get to know two of their daughters more closely as they attend the Bible study we host in our home. The knowledge that these two ladies possess of the Lord and of where things are in the Bible have taught us and inspired us so much. Just getting to know these two ladies' personalities and characters have been so refreshing to us as well. And to think that we would have probably never have gotten to know this family like we have had they not opened their home to us and invited us to visit, and we would have never gotten to know Anna and Adia like we do had we not been obedient to what the Lord laid on our hearts to do! Is there a lesson to be continually learned here?

We also got to share some time with some great friends! We have been friends with the True family pretty much since we moved up here 7 years ago. It was so refreshing to get to spend some quality and relaxing time with our friends...something that we've neglected to do for many months. Shame on us - but better late than never!

gaining

Yesterday, I had a doctor's appointment for Baby Z. #3. I am now 23 weeks along in this pregnancy. I learned that I now weighed over 140 pounds and was reassured that the baby is still looking great and healthy! When I came home to disclose this information to my hubby, my sweetheart of a husband lovingly reminded me that I weighed that much when Ivy was born! You just gotta love my brutally honest husband! (I wouldn't want it any other way though! I love you, honey!)