Baby love....

my baby love...the kids are in love with baby. Matthew almost daily tells me he can't WAIT to see the baby when it's born. And if you know Matthew he doesn't just say this to me, he expresses it through his whole body! He gets a huge smile on his face, then touches baby so gently and gives her kisses. He's so tender. Posting a few pics of our growing family. Enjoy!

1st day of school! 1st day of school!.....

...as in Nemo when he chants this in the beginning of the movie. Matthew started preschool today here in Iowa!!! What a big day it was for our little family. He was a little nervous but was quickly shown where he could put his coat and find his name tag and that helped him make the transition okay. A hug, squeeze, and a kiss and EJ and I were out the door. Came home, fed her lunch, (it was so quiet!) and put her to bed. Woke her up from her nap (not happy about that) in time to go get big brother and forgot her shoes in the process. We have a few kinks to work out yet.

All things girl...

We have it on good authority that we'll be adding another little girl to our family! This is good news since Matthew had declared that he loves girls and hopes it's a girl! Now onto thinking of a name....

Christmas was spent at a friends church and then overnight at their house to celebrate Christmas morning and presents. The kids had a good time; Matthew, "now which one can I open?" and Ella Jane content with just one gift for 15min. then realizing that she had more to open. Some of the favorites have been EJ's new princess cell phone, purses, lip gloss and Matthew's movies; Mary Poppins, H.S. Musical and a beach ball decorated with the world.

Matthew discovering how fun a sink full of bubbles can be

Playing together

Ella Jane and grandma in DBQ.

Snow angels with grandma

Gingerbread houses

The start of the holiday season

snow...

it has engulfed us! At times it dictates our day even. "Sorry honey, they haven't plowed our street yet, and I can't get up the hill, can you get a ride home from work?" "Let's go sledding!" "Let's make a snowman!" "Let's go shovel the driveway!!" All these are common phrases in our household these days.

Jim is "on travel" as you Marylanders would say, next week and my mom was kind enough to fly out from Seattle to help me out while he is away. She flies in tonight and the kids are so excited to see her! I am too, she is going to help me get this place in shape, i.e. window treatments, remove wallpaper etc. Nice to have company when you are doing that sort of thing.

Merry Christmas!

Catching up on pics!

Fun after a recent snowfall

Who needs sleds when you have a basement full of boxes?

Matthew's funky carpet

My little beauty after getting into my makeup bag

This so cracks me up!

Our new house

Matthew cuddling up next to Ella Jane after having enough quiet time of his own

Field trip to the pumpkin patch with MJ's preschool in MD.

Another little lefty? I'm so proud.

I just love her expression

Wrapping up the end of an unforgettable evening at church...our farewell dinner: Oct. 14th

Suitcases presented to the kids which they LOVED, and still play with here in IA

Our beloved Lauren Jones

Uh, spy kids? I love this picture, it makes me laugh every time I see it. EJ doesn't know why she's leaning, only that MJ is so she should too. And MJ is b/c he likes to pose this way for pictures lately.

Our beloved Katie Jones!

Our beloved Liz!

We've arrived

in more ways then one. We have been in Dubuque, IA for one month now and as of yesterday we have a phone and Internet at the house. Talk about luxury. A few funny stories along the way....

Patsy and Peter were kind enough to join us on our big plane trip out to the middle. Getting to our initial gate was quite the trial and comical now that I look back on it. It's a good thing Patsy was there to help me! She watched the kids many times those first few days so I could make a thousand trips to Target for soap, tp, ziplocs and all those other little things that you just don't move with you.

After Schumachers left, we had a visit from a friend of ours who lives in Indiana. She stayed for a few days and helped with the craziness of settling in. And now a month later we are more settled, but the kids are still crazy. Poor things, they've had only me to play with for a straight month!

Thankfully, Matthew starts school on Monday. Hooray! He is so eager to learn. Just this morning, he asked me what a sign said b/c he wanted to understand. He amazes me. Some more funny things about him lately are as follows....

While playing in the basement which now includes boxes in the form of a boat, he mentioned that he was taking a trip to Charlie Brown Methodist in which he preceded to be the pastor and sing and dance for me. What great entertainment! This morning at breakfast he was very serious and wanted to know how we were going to recognize the baby when the baby went to Kindergarten. With a class of 20+ kids he was concerned that we weren't going to be able to knowwhich one was our baby. I love the way his mind works.

Ella Jane is obsessed with everything baby. Baby clothes, baby toys, baby's room. She's wanting to wear random baby clothes lying around and gets very upset if they don't fit. Somehow explaining that they are for the baby is just not enough.

Anyway, things are looking better for us and I am so grateful for that!

Taking a moment

...to remember the kids. Sounds simple right? In the midst of a move like ours it can get pretty crazy with details, offers of help, dinners out and the lack of routine. I had to capture this time that Jim stopped what he was doing to read to the kids. They soak up any time we give them these days as they must know it is limited.

We have started packing and it's not quite as crazy as I thought it could be. I have found that it really doesn't take much to pack up a room. So, even though the house is a maze of boxes and packing paper it's not too overwhelming.

Tonight is the big bash that the church is holding for us. There is expected to be over 300 people packed into the fellowship hall tonight to bid us farewell. It will be an emotional time we know and we are looking forward to having so many of our favorite people together. So many of them have already spoken such kind words to us, many of them with tears in their eyes. It will be a hard move on both the congregation and for our family.

More to come after our big party!

Wisdom

...as in Jim's 4 wisdom teeth that got pulled yesterday. He's a great patient and already back to work today. (the day after) Face is quite swollen and seems to make my stomach turn just looking at him.

We're up to our ears in moving details. How do we get there, when do we get there, etc. We're ready to be done! But we know that won't come for awhile, so we'll just press on from here.

That's all for now.