Double blessings

Today we celebrated the baptism of our nephew, Derek and the 4th Birthday of our other nephew, Nolan!

Derek was baptized at St. Wenceslaus Catholic Church.

 What a beautiful family!

 Here is the newly baptized baby.  He's not even one month old and he has changed so much already.

Also note, my sister is holding Derek in the picture below.  Um, check out her rock!!  Congrats Jodi and Mike who got engaged last weekend!

Mom wanted a photo for her Christmas cards, so here is the whole fam!

 And, the Birthday Boy!!

Seriously, four years old already.  Where does the time go?

Can you see all the love?  Look at all those presents!

How cute is this future Hawkeye Football player.  Maybe he could play better than some of them did yesterday.  Oops, did I just say that?

 Happy 4th Birthday Nolan!  We love you so much!

 Of course, Landon loved the cake and ice cream.  Somebody has a birthday right around the corner!

What to do on a Saturday morning...

Find all the pillows you can in the house, pile them up on the living room floor, put your sleeping bag over top, and JUMP!

So much fun!

Happy Thanksgiving!

What a wonderful day it was for giving thanks!  There is nothing better than spending time with your family, and it doesn't hurt when good food and football are involved as well!

We hosted Thanksgiving for my side of the family on Thanksgiving Day.  As always, my husband played a major roll in the kitchen.  Because of his work schedule, he does not normally assist with any meal prep during the week (and rarely on the weekends).  But when it comes time for the turkey, gravy, etc., Jeremy likes to take charge!

There she is, all 23 pounds of pure beauty!

Jeremy started the prepping the night before by preparing a brine solution for the turkey to soak in overnight.

 It didn't take long for Landon to be curious and want to give a helping hand.  And Elke, we all know what she was thinking!

Work continued Thanksgiving morning as the rest of the prep work was done on the turkey.  It was stuffed with vegetables and white wine, butter was lathered on, and in to the oven it went. 

Half way through cooking time, Jeremy flips the turkey so the breast goes down and soaks in all the juices.

You see, we really had the easy job, everyone else brought something and it was all so good!!  Obviously so good that I didn't even snap any pictures!

We then hunkered down for a little bit of napping, a craft project, football and some old school nintendo!

The turkeys the kids made.  It was so cute to hear what they were thankful for!

 

And while the adults watched football and crashed upstairs, the kids headed downstairs to watch some movies, play nintendo and run off some steam!

We had an awesome Thanksgiving Day and have more festivities to come this weekend!  Hope everyone had a chance to reflect on their blessings and had a Happy Thanksgiving!

Poor baby

Today, I gave Landon a baby doll. Landon likes to have something to cuddle with at night, and this doll has lots of learning tools on it. Zippers, buttons, snaps, etc.  

5:15 pm:  At first, Landon was super excited!

 

5:18 pm:  That excitement then turned into, what am I supposed to do with this?

 5:24 pm:  "Look Mommy, he can fly!"

 

5:27 pm:  Landon, "Mommy, I accidentally ran it over." 

 

5:40 pm:  Mommy, "Landon, where did your baby go?" 
Landon, "I don't know.  I lost it." 
Mommy, "Landon, I think I found it in the cupboard." 
Landon, "Nope that's not mine."

Make a difference

My husband recently introduced me to a new radio station 101.9.  It's different than what either of us normally listen to, being that it is Christian radio.  Both of us are hooked, and if you hop in either of our vehicles at any given moment, you will find the radio set to that station. 

As Jeremy was searching the web the other night and was at www.life1019.com, he clicked on their Christmas Angels link.  You can find that link here.  You see, it's really pretty simple.  People post their legitimate needs and others can help meet those needs.  Things as simple as helping a gentleman repair some siding to helping a single mother who has cancer providing a hot meal to her children to helping give some children Christmas gifts that they otherwise would not get. 

While everyone is eating their turkey next week, and hopefully taking time to count their blessings, please take some time to think of others who may not be as fortunate.  I encourage you to take a look at this site and see if there is anyone's needs that you may be able to meet.

2 Corinthians 9:11 "You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God."

I won, I WON!!

I never win anything!!  I follow this blog called Iowa Girl Eats, and the other day, she asked for you to post your favorite indulgent food.  Winners got either a coupon for a free Freschetta California-Style Pizza or a coupon for a free Blue Bunny Ice Cream Item of your choice.  I won free ice cream!

Yahoo!!  She has a lot of simple, quick recipes that are relatively healthy for you and I really enjoy reading her blog.  It never hurts to respond, you never know when you might win.

Keep out!

This evening, Landon was ready for bed and went to play in his room for a bit.  I noticed things were a little bit quiet.  Time to go check it out.

Me:  knock, knock "Landon, what are you doing?"

Landon:  "I'm busy."

Me:  "Doing what?"

Landon:  "Playing."

Me:  "Can I come in?"

Landon:  "Ummmm....."

 That was a close one!  Of course he was just playing, what else could he be doing?!

Double ear infection

Let me start my saying, this child has a pain tolerance of the saints!  Rewind to last Saturday night.  I was gone all day, Landon was with Daddy, and did not take a nap.  When I got home, Landon was tired, and fell asleep around 6:15 p.m.  Not in love with the idea of him sleeping at that time of day, I just went with it.  About 30 minutes later, Landon was very fidgety and woke up crying, and crying.  I got him cleaned up, put his jammies on and put him in bed thinking he was over tired.  He fell asleep and woke up a short while later crying yet again.  This went on through the course of the night.  Even after tylenol, none of us got that much sleep that night.  Needless to say, 5 am rolled around, and Landon was up and ready to begin his day.  Everything has been funky-dory until last night. 

Fast forward to last night.  Landon woke up around 10 pm, crying and crying.  He was running a slight fever.  I gave him some tylenol and he climbed into bed with us.  Again, the same pattern played out.  Landon woke up crying every 30-45 minutes.  5 am rolled around and Landon was a happy camper, ready to begin his day.  This time we decided we needed to have the Dr. check Landon out.  

Work is insanely busy for me this week, so Jeremy brought Landon in to the Dr..  Turns out Landon has a double ear infection and his right ear drum burst.  Remember just a few months ago when I brought him in for an ear infection.  His ear drum burst then to.  So, we got some medicine and will check back in a couple weeks to make sure there is no permanent damage to the ear drum.  God has granted Landon such strength and patience, and he never ceases to amaze me.

Wheelin

It's been a while since Jeremy's jeep club was here last.  Today was a perfect day.  Temps in the 60's and the sun was shining.  What a great day to be outdoors!  Just in case you were interested in some of the days action.

New furniture

Our Saturday was super busy.  Are they ever not?  We started the day by getting groceries.  I had to buy my lunch twice last week because I was out of food in the house.  I hate that.  So, it was off to the grocery store to stock up.

Jeremy was working, so after Landon and I got home, we settled in to watch the hawks play.  (Nail bitter!)  Landon decided it was a little much and went to play in his room.  He was having such a good time playing, he didn't want to join me for lunch.  So, what the heck, I brought lunch to him!

Soon after Jer got home, we went to go pick up our new furniture. 

 

We actually got two club chairs and two ottomans, but I am waiting for the other one to come in.  I couldn't wait on the rest.  Now we need to rearrange our living room a little bit and it won't seem quite so squishy!

Derek Jordan

Welcome to the world Derek Jordan!  We have waited for our new nephew to come into this world and he is finally here.  Isn't he just perfect...

The night after Derek was born, Jeremy, Landon and I went to the hospital to visit.  Just like the rest of us, Landon fell in love with Derek instantly.

We got to hold him!

Derek with his brother and sister!

We are so blessed!