What an amazing season of many celebrations! I’ll have to break it up in a couple posts at least.

I had so much fun getting ready for the Holiday’s this year. It was so much easier to do things not being 9 months pregnant. And it gets more and more fun the older Ethan gets… the more he understands and the more family traditions we can start. This year was the first year we did Advent… it was actually the first time Kevin and I have ever done it, as neither of us did it as kids. It will definitely stay a great family tradition in our house. I loved, not only the family time together but what a great time of sharing Christ together and remembering the true meaning of the season. And as the boys get older we can add lots more great activities.

The weekend before Christmas we went to Detroit to celebrate Christmas with Kevin’s family. It was such a nice visit with everyone (as usual). I think my favorite part was singing Christmas carols together while Dad Vile played the piano. Great memories and I know Ethan loved it too! (he loves to sing). We played games, which is always interesting and fun with Kevin’s siblings. On Sunday afternoon, Kevin’s dad pulled down the old slide projector and slides and we watched family pictures and reminisced about Christmas’ growing up (well, they reminisced, while I listened and learned more about my family :)) It was fun to see pictures of Kevin and his brother and sister and compare who Ethan and Lucas look like.

We had a great visit and it’s hard to believe Christmas is already over. Here are some pictures of our weekend in Michigan.

Jonah & Ethan playing

The big kids anxious to open presents

Loving our new cozy blanket

Gram & Jordan

Jordan always taking care of the kids

Ethans new headphones

Uncle Joel & Lucas

Singing with Uncle Jack

Categories: Family, Holiday
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Lucas’ birthday is today but we celebrated on Saturday. It was a fun day with family! Thanks to everyone who was able to come help us celebrate the life of our little guy. We appreciate you and are blessed by your love.

Lucas has been a true joy. It’s been fun having another boy in the house. We’ve seen many similarities between Ethan and Lucas but also so many differences. The boys get along so well, for the most part, and we look forward to see their relationship grow and change.

Here are some pictures of his big day… he was a real trooper and I think he really enjoyed all the attention being on him!

Lucas’ 2nd cousin’s: Luke & Blake

Yay!  Lucas loves to clap… so cute.

New bouncy toy

The birthday boy!

Ethan’s new toy… the box!

Categories: Lucas
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Our first snow! Ethan was so excited to wake up Wednesday morning to a blanket of white snow in our yard. He wanted to go outside immediately. But we waited till Lucas’ morning nap before we bundled up and headed out to play.

He loved making paths in the snow (that’s about all you could do since it wasn’t good packing snow) and a he helped me shovel for a while… after about an hour he was hungry, cold, and ready to come inside. It was fun.

Categories: Ethan, General
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This past weekend I went shopping with some friends from our LIFE Group at church. We did an overnight trip up to Frankenmuth, MI (about 2 1/2 hours North). Frankenmuth is near a huge Prime Outlet Mall with 100’s of shops. I was so excited to get away without kiddos and spend time with just girls.

We had a great time watching chick flicks in the hotel and then watching the Food Network till our hearts content. On Saturday we hit the hotel’s continental “extended” breakfast (HA)… which didn’t really do much for any of us, and then we were off for a day to look for great deals and check people off our Christmas lists.

We first headed over to Bronner’s - the World’s Largest Christmas store… you can’t go to Frankenmuth and not go there. I was presently surprised by how NOT crowded it was!!! I guess we hit it at the right time. Once we got our Christmas fix in, we headed to the Outlets. We did pretty good but were wiped out by 4:00 and decided to head out. We stopped in Ann Arbor for dinner at Mongolian BBQ. It started snowing a little when we got there and by the time we got done with dinner the streets were covered in snow and from there I was white-knuckling it for 2 1/2 hr. home (should have only been 1 hr.). Needless to say were were all pretty exhausted when we finally got home.

It was a great trip though and it was so fun to get away with the ladies!

Jenny & Melissa

Roz

At Bronner’s

At Mongolian BBQ

Categories: Friends
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