Thanksgiving Celebration

I am late in posting these pictures, but we celebrated Thanksgiving for a couple days in Denver. The most exciting thing for the kids is that we stayed in a hotel. The following are some of the things we did over the two days like: The Thanksgiving brunch and Tree; Visit the Wildlife Experience in Denver, and see the Downtown Denver Lights.

THANKSGIVING DAY - THANKSGIVING TREE

WILDLIFE EXPERIENCE

LIGHT UP DENVER

Rockclimbing Reward

Wes is a "truth tracker" in AWANA. This means he has completed at least 7 sections every 3 weeks. Each month, he has been rewarded. For 3 consecutive months, he was rewarded with FREE inside "rock climbing" @ Dicks Sporting Goods. Susanna tagged along with Wes and dad...so she reaped some of the benefits of her brother's hard work.

Our Happy Walker

Rebekah is getting more comfortable walking...just a few days before her 11 month birthday.

Catch-All Update

Hello Family & Friends,

I am not sure if any of you still check out our blog since we have been so slack in updating it. But, just in case, I will attempt to do a catch-up summary since our summer entry.

After great summer times with Grammy and Grandpa Harry & Pops and Mia, we started the school year the 2nd week of August. Susanna started a part-time Kindergarten designed for Homeschoolers. Our intent is to start her full time next year in Kindergarten since she has a late birthday. She LOVES school and would go every day if she could. She is making friends and growing in confidence as she relates to other girls. Her teacher, Mrs. Conn, is very kind and warm with her and understands her personality very well.

On September 7th, we celebrated Susanna's 5th birthday with a family trip to the Denver Aquarium and an Ariel themed birthday cake. It was an "Under-The-Sea" weekend. All of us had a wonderful time being together and celebrating Susanna's special day. She made sure Wesley and Brigham knew it was her "Special Day" each of the three days over the weekend (Fri., Sat., and Sun.)

Rebekah, who is now 10 months, started crawling in August and was quick and agile by the time we went to the Aquarium. She is now standing on her own and walking along the furniture, (and crawling up the stairs) with ease. I think she will take off any day and I will have to grow eyes in the back of my head to keep up with her. Brigham is in his first Kindermusik group and Cubbie/Awana group this year and seems to enjoy them. He is such a joy and such a frustration all at one time. While he is staining something, disobeying, or getting too rough with Rebekah, he will look at you with a gleam in his eyes and a genuine smile that melts your heart. Even though he still gets his punishments and cries big tears, he recovers quickly and is smiling and laughing through the next curious endeavor. We are blessed to have a lot of time together to play and make memories. Fortunately, Brigham and Susanna love to play together most of the time and are now bringing Rebekah in on their pretending, even if she has to be the baby in the stroller.
Wes is doing well in school and is coming along in his reading. Third grade is proving to have a greater work load than 2nd but he is adjusting well. He loves his teacher and his best friend, Noah, is in his class. Jon and Wes are active in Awana and spend good quality time during the week working on their Bible verses. Wes just finished Flag Football through our YMCA. On his last game, he scored a touchdown and made 2 interceptions. For Wes, that is huge because he is mostly the "block and containment" guy that helps others make the touchdowns. But, you gotta love Wes, he was just matter of fact about it. He was still focused on getting home and playing with his Star Wars Clones. We had our first snow today, October 22nd, so needless to say, IT'S COLD today. But, with the cold, comes extra time to do things like, UPDATE A BLOG.

Rebekah's Half-Year Portrait

I know I am behind posting her latest portrait, but such is life these days. This shot was taken in July when she was technically still 6 months but only a few days shy of 7 months. She will be 9 months on Sept. 12th and I will have to get an updated shot taken at that point. But, better late than never is my new motto, even though I hate being late about anything. In this portrait, Rebekah is wearing the dress Susanna wore for her 6 month portrait. It is also the same dress in which Susanna was dedicated. It is so amazing to see their portraits side by side at home and see how different they are from each other. Both beautiful but with strikingly different features.

Right now, Rebekah is crawling and pulling up with ease. Actually, we are going to have to shop for a baby gate this weekend for our staircase. She has stood alone two times but has quickly sat down once she realized she didn't have a hold of anything. Part of me is anxious to see if she walks early and the other part dreads for that day to come!

Family - Summer Visit 1

During this Summer, we were very fortunate to have various family members visit us in Colorado. The month of July included visits from Grammy Elaine and Grandpa Harry (Jon's Mom and Step Dad), as well as, Pops and Mia (Monica's Mom and Dad).

The following slide show is from Grammy Elaine and Grandpa Harry's visit. We did a lot of exciting things from a July 4th Celebration and Fireworks to a Sky Sox Baseball Game to Wesley's Baseball Game, the Zoo, and we capped it off with camping in Estes Park.

We hope you enjoy the show!!!

Brigham Turns 3 & Is Using the Potty!!!

We are overjoyed to announce that Brigham is using the potty and wearing "Big Boy" underwear! Oh yes, he also turned 3 years old this week. You can see what excites me more by the introductory sentence. Believe you me, Brigham using the potty is such a welcomed and anticipated milestone for the whole family, especially Jon and I who have been changing that big boy.
On Monday, June 16th, Brigham turned 3. His only request was for a Dinosaur Birthday Cake. In my attempts to give him is hearts desire on his birthday (and cake is the boy's hearts desire), it fell to pieces when I transferred it from the pan to the cake board. Luckily, the pieces were large.

So, Wes and I put our heads together and came up with the Earthquake/Dinosaur Cake you see here. It's not pretty but it brought such excitement to Brigham's face. And, that was worth it all!
Brigham opened his gifts from Wes, Susanna, and Rebekah at breakfast, went to lunch with Jon at Witt's End, and had cake and ice cream after dinner to celebrate his special day. Thank you to all who remembered him with cards, gifts, and calls on our "Big Baby's" (as he still calls himself) special day!

Wes Turns 8 years old

Our firstborn turned 8 years old on May 15, 2008. However, we held a Prince Caspian Movie Premier Birthday Party for him and his friends on May 18, 2008. Jon and Wes met his friends at the movie theater at 3:00 pm to see the matinee for Narnia: Prince Caspian. Wes had been anxiously awaiting the release of this film. Since it opened on the Friday after his birthday, we decided to make a party of it.
After the movie, the boys came to our house for sword battles in the backyard, pizza, cake & ice cream, and presents. We had quite the time. Wes was thrilled to have all his close buddies here in town to share the movie with and extra hands for sword battles after it was over.
The day before the party, Jon and Wes spent the day bike shopping. At the end of the day, they settled on a bike and we hit the Santa Fe Trail to test it out and to give Susanna and Brigham a chance to get their bikes out too. It has been a cool spring but that day was very nice!
Thanks to all of you who remembered Wes on his birthday. We wish we could have celebrated with you but we were still blessed to make some great memories.

Cinderella - Steven Curtis Chapman

By now, most of you have probably heard about the tragedy of Maria Sue Chapman, the adopted daughter of Steven and Mary Beth Chapman. Our family has been encouraged so much by the music and ministry of Steven Curtis Chapman that during this time of family tragedy for them, we have contributed to their Adoption ministry, Shoahannah's Hope, in honor of Maria Sue. If you'd like to find out more about this ministry and/or donate, then click HERE.

I hope you will enjoy this interview and acoustic version of his hit, Cinderella.

Spring Break - What a Whirlwind!

Most of you have seen our Spring Break pictures in the Kodak slide show I sent out. Therefore, I only have a few pictures displayed here. I must say, we had the best Spring Break. It was fast and furious, but full of memorable events. We traveled the northern route on our way to Tennessee, crossing Kansas, Missouri, part of Illinois, Kentucky, and finally reaching Tennessee the night before Easter. The Kids woke up at Pops and Mia's to a chilly Easter morning. They were happy to see the Easter Bunny knew where they were. After enjoying a wonderful Easter service at church, we had a sweet family dedication for Rebekah, followed by a fun Easter egg hunt for the older children. The week following Easter contained a plethora of activities; Battle at Chickamauga for the boys, the Princess Parlor for the girls, a trip to Grandpa's lake house in Georgia, and to top it off, Uncle Cam and Aunt Holly's wedding. The wedding weekend was wonderful but exhausting. Trying to keep Brigham contained in a tuxedo was the thorn in Jon's flesh and nursing in a formal dress was mine. But, it was worth it to be a part of such a sweet family celebration. Holly was a beautiful bride and Uncle Cam was his fun, loving self. We also discovered that weekend that Susanna is not the only one in the family with a song in her heart. Brigham displayed his dance moves on the reception dance floor with vigor!! On our return journey, we passed through Arkansas, Oklahoma,and the southern base of Kansas. We had a memorable night stay in Oklahoma City. At 3 am the front desk called our room and told us, along with the entire hotel, to gather in the lobby restrooms because a tornado was passing through the area. We picked up the sleeping children and made our way to the lobby. Wes was the only one who was awake and was a bit concerned. But, it passed and we went back to our rooms for some more sleep. Before getting home, we spent a few hours in Dodge City, Kansas and went through the cowboy/old west museum there. It was very interesting and the kids loved it! Susanna finally got a pink cowgirl gun to defend herself from her two brothers. By the time we arrived home, we were spent, but in a good way. Now, it is time to start saving for our trip East at Christmas. By then, hopefully we will have rested up from our Spring Break!!

Rebekah's 3 Month Pictures

I know most of you have seen Rebekah since these were taken, but I am trying to catch up on our blog in chrono-logical order, if possible. Our last update was Feb. 24th and it is now, May 10th. Boy, are we behind!! Rebekah had a few shots taken from a photographer here in town. My favorite shot of her was black and white but, it won't download correctly. I also had a family shot taken but it is black and white too. These are the only color shots I purchased, so I thought I would share them.

Family Catch-up

We are back online and it is great! I didn't realize how internet dependent we were until we didn't have it. Scary! It appears we have had a brief run in with the flu. Just Brigham and I have been sick so far. Needless to say we have catch up to do on multiple levels, especially laundry and groceries. So, in order to catch you up on some events, here is a brief summary:
Rebekah turned 2 months on February 12th. She is starting to sleep through the night, sleep in her bassinet at night, and nurse 3 1/2 to 4 hours more consistently. The progress is nice. I am feeling much more confident in traveling to Tennessee in March with her becoming more settled in sleeping and eating patterns. She has also started sucking her thumb. She will actually spit out her pacifier to get to her thumb. I do believe that finding her thumb has helped her stay content at night in her bassinet. It must comfort her enough to stay asleep in her bed rather than fuss to get in ours. Her most prominent features right now are her double chin, semi-mohawk, and her chubby cheeks!

Our Valentine's Day was very sweet. The children of course ate

too much chocolate! Brigham ate his the fastest of the three. He

would wait until I sat down to nurse

and then I would hear a bag

rustling. The next thing I knew, he had a mouth full of chocolate.

Susanna paced herself as did Wes. Jon and Wes surprised me with

breakfast in bed and a gift certificate for a Massage. I haven't

used it yet but am truly looking forward to it!!!

Rebekah's Firsts

Instead of trying to review the past six weeks of Rebekah's life, I thought an overview of some of her firsts would give you a good glimpse of how she is growing and changing.

To the right is Rebekah's first tub bath. She seemed to really like it. Susanna got in with her for a little while. I turned around for a brief moment and when I had turned back, Susanna had placed a tub toy on Rebekah's tummy. Very cute gesture. Yes, and even Brigham got in the tub too, but only for a picture. He was a little rough around her at first but is getting more and more gentle as time passes.


To the left is Rebekah's first "Gampy Outing". Gampy came to stay with us from Jan. 4Th to Jan. 15Th. It was such a treat to have her and Rebekah got lots of time with her Gampy over those ten days. All the children enjoyed having her, even Brigham. He was grumpy and going through Pops' withdrawal. Unfortunately, he took it out on Gampy a bit. But after she left, when asked "Brigham, who do you love?" he responded Mia and Gampy. Too bad Pops. It was sweet seeing Gampy and her namesake, Rebekah Evelyn, have some bonding time. We are looking forward to some more in March!!

To the right is one of Rebekah's first smiles. She actually had her first smile a few days before this one was taken. However, I couldn't get that one on film. She loves her bouncy, swing, and Mommy and Daddy's bed. Notice her bassinet or crib were not in the list. I must admit, I am not as strict with her routine as I was with the other children. But, time passes so quickly and she is a wonderful cuddle baby. She snuggles very close at night. I know I will pay later when she is 2, 3, or 12 and still sneaking into our bed. But, for now, it's nice.

Our Christmas

Well, it has been awhile since we have updated the blog. Now that we are getting into a routine, I wanted to give a brief synopsis of our Christmas. The Lord truly blessed us during the holiday season with a white Colorado Christmas, a healthy newborn, and Mom and Dad who came in for 3 weeks to celebrate Rebekah's birth as well as Christmas with us. Cameron and Holly were able to come for about four days as well just before Christmas!! The children were in heaven having Pops and Mia for 3 whole weeks!!

Other than sitting around the fire and playing in the playroom with the children, we enjoyed a Christmas Eve service at New Life Church and followed that with a Christmas Eve Dinner (one of the many wonderful meals Mom prepared while she was here). We woke up BEFORE DAWN, (thanks to Wesley), to see what Santa had brought. Eventually, we got around to Christmas brunch and began putting together numerous items for the children. It was a long but wonderful day!!

Before and after Christmas, Dad got a chance to walk and run in some chilly conditions but loved the view of the Rockies on his treks. Mom stayed busy cooking, doing laundry, and holding Rebekah. Wes and Brigham kept Pops busy with their battles they set up in the basement and Susanna colored and colored and colored in her various art books. A few days were even warm enough to take the kids to the park while they tried out their new bikes and trike.

All and all, Christmas was spent being together and celebrating first and foremost Christ's birth and also the birth of our Christmas Gift, Rebekah Evelyn.