What we've been up to:

(mostly the kiddo)

Where is he? See him? Sleeping at night, with his faithful rhino watching o'er.

Shopping at Hobby Lobby for Natalie's present...

Wearing really cute (girl) pants, trying to decide what he should watch.... (He has no TV privileges by the way.)


Glistening with drool in the morning light. I love that little smile he gives sometimes.

How can one kid be so adorable?? I see this view a lot. I love the way his hand looks holding onto the TV stand.

Maybe the cutest outfit ever. (minus the bib)

Christmas Activity Days

I had the girls over last night for a cooking night. We made beef taquitos and ice cream sandwiches. Can you guess which they were more excited about? Especially when they asked, "How many can we make?" and I replied, "As many as you want." Their eyes popped right out of their wee little heads.

It was a huge success, because who doesn't love going to leader's houses? One of the girls apparently lives across the street from me, much to our surprise, and she mentioned it..........I believe 85 times. Another little girl went into the bathroom to wash her hands and exclaimed, "OHH! It's so cute! It's like a little shower station!" Not really sure what that means, but it did crack me up. Another girl said, "Nice place you have here." Ah, to be so grown up.

I gave them all a paper ornament and a Christmas card before they left. They were soooo excited. I have to admit I had fun, too, and we're planning a Valentine's Day party here. Any ideas?

Go, Go, Go!

Andrew is a crawling maniac now. He also has learned how to sit up, and how to pull himself up. This results in lots of climbing, falling, hitting his face on stuff, etc. I've taken to putting him in his playpen when I can't watch him, which he hates. That kid loves to move. Sometimes if I'm cooking or something, I'll leave him for brief spurts of time. And I'm not kidding when I say - Sometimes I can't find him.

"Andrew! Where are you?" Should I REALLY be having to say this to my 6 month old?

Behind chairs, all the way across the room, between the TV stand and the movies (which he had to crawl over a semi-high stack of movies on the floor to get to), by the kitchen, etc. I always find him (obviously) but I'm often shocked at how quickly he gets from here to there. He is so cute.

I should have known he'd be a mover and a shaker. My ribs took quite a beating before he made it into this world, officially. And....I'm tired.

Food Fit For Heaven

Ever had a meal that makes you wish you could never get full? I got a recipe for White Chicken Chili from a friend a few years ago that is to die for. Mike and I just had leftovers for lunch and he said, "I think this is the chili they serve in heaven." I completely agree. PLUS, it's super easy and relatively cheap. I make up two batches and it makes several meals for us. One bowl will fill you up, so it lasts us for several lunches after. Try it. You'll love it!

White Chicken Chili

1. Chop 1 medium onion and 1 1/2 tsp. minced garlic and put in skillet with 1 tbsp oil (I use olive oil)

2. Add 1-2 lbs cooked chicken breast (It's good shredded or chopped small. I use less because we just don't eat that much meat. I also add it to the onions and garlic raw and then brown it all up. I've found it gives it a richer flavor.)

3. Add 1 can chicken broth, 2 cans great northern beans, 1-2 cans green chilis, 1 tsp. salt, 1 tsp. cumin (I tend to add more salt and cumin), 1 tsp. oregano, 1/2 tsp. pepper, and 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper.

4. Simmer all for 30 minutes.

5. Stir in 1/2 c. whipping cream and 1 c. sour cream

It's super good with a crusty bread and a salad on the side. Perfect for when Jack Frost is nipping at your nose. Oh, and another thing. What's the difference between Old Man Winter and Jack Frost? And don't even get me started on the Winter Miser. He is just completely complicating the whole issue. Do you think they have some sort of rivalry going, or is O.M.W. just Jack Frost as he's gotten a bit older and forgotten who he is? Maybe we'll never know.

O Christmas Tree

Does anyone really know the words to that song? Well, last night we and the Bells braved the cold and went to get our Christmas tree! YAY! Here's the lucky little deformed fella.

Did I mention it was cold? Look at that glowing angel that made it into our cart. Oh, wait. That's Andrew.

Double layers of everything and socks on his hands. Looking cute, even in a Home Depot cart.

And speaking of cute, here's a random picture of me in the truck. Kind of looks like Mike is using me as a marinette.

Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without me making Mike re-enact Mr. Krueger's Christmas. Thaaaat's right...put those mittens on the tree. And NO SMILING. *Like the Astrosnik spaceship for the tree topper?*

We even have an ornament that looks just like Andrew.

He had so much fun putting it on the tree. Can't you tell?

Oh wait. That's right. He didn't know what was going on.

His main goal for the evening was to eat the lights.

The whole crew

*Don't you hate when you lean in a photo because you aren't sure if you're blocking something or someone only to discover that you would have been fine AND not looked like an idiot if you had just stood normally?

Well, Santy...

Playing with Lil Santa to butter him up.

"Well, Big Guy....Little Guy....whatever. For Christmas this year, I'd like good grades on my finals. Or I'll squish your tiny little legs."

And when did Santa become a rapper? Look at those arms. Wiggity wiggity.

Santa Baby

I don't like that song, by the way. Especially not when it's sung by Madonna. *Shudder, Shudder*

Bass Pro Shops has free pictures with Santa so we went on Tuesday. The Santa was really nice and it was decorated really nice. I'm glad we went. So was Andrew. Can't you tell? He basically made that face the whole time.

6 months......

Well, I can hardly believe it, but tomorrow my little guy will be 6 months. I remember playing dolls with Jeanette and my baby was always 6 months because that was the age where they started doing stuff. (Little did I know how much fun they were before then, too.) He certainly has been on the go....

Here's my little hiker all ready for church. He looked so stinking adorable, although this is the closest to a smile I got. He would smile like crazy until I hit the button. Michael said he looked like an environmental activist.

Playing with a musical keyboard thingie at the Jacobs family Thanksgiving. He LOVED that thing and played with it almost the whole time we were there. As you can see, he can stand up when supported. And actually, he pulled himself up to that position. I can almost hear him saying - "I've been waiting a long time to come to earth, and I'm not going to waste a single second. Ready, Set, Go!!!"

With his sweet cousin who bravely came in and told her mother, "I'm gonna need a new shirt because Baby Andrew frowed up on me. I didn't even know babies DID that!"

This is fairly typical of a day with the neices. Cries of "UNCLE MIKE, COME AND FIND ME AND TICKLE ME!" and "Michael Mike, wanna wrestle?" can be heard from these seemingly fragile girls who in reality can pull quite a punch. (Notice how Andrew is engrossed in that keyboard? Seriously. All day.)

And lastly, (while ignoring the cans of soup in the background) here's my little guy crawling on his daddy yesterday. Happy 6 month anniversary, little guy! We sure love you. Thanks for coming to live at our house!

Awesome video! :)

I love this video. I wasn't going to post it since Thanksgiving is past, but we should be grateful for our blessings ALWAYS! Please watch it! :)

Click here.

Google Maps=Amazing

Have you checked out Google Maps lately? They have a new feature that is INCREDIBLE. Type in an address and move the little man over to where it highlights in blue and you can see that area, travel down that road, etc. They took pictures all over the world and you can look almost anywhere. Not a great explanation, but go check it out. Mike and I were looking up our old mission addresses, old home addresses, etc and it was like a severe blast from the past. Amazing! Please check it out!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a great time to think of the blessings we take for granted. This Thanksgiving, I am thankful for:

1. Clean, pure water to drink.

2. A wonderful family with loving parents, sisters who I can call my best friends, brothers who I couldn't live without, the great people who have made it into that family by marriage, hilarious neice and nephews.

3. My in-laws, who I love more than I can say.

4. Great friends who make life fun.

5. A warm, happy home.

6. A knowledge of the truth about God and his Son, Jesus Christ.

7. The ability to stay home and raise my son.

8. A wonderful husband who still makes me heart smile.

9. A beautiful, healthy, strong baby boy who astonishes us daily and is ready to conquer the world.

10. My life. I can't begin to thank Heavenly Father for all the blessings I have or list them all.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Post #2 - Also catch-up

Andrew...

can...

crawl!

*And he's discovered that he really really wants to eat my camera.

Yeah, we're proud of you, too little guy.

He can also stay sitted when you prop him up, eat a variety of baby food, bounce like crazy, and throw a fit like nobody's business one minute and steal your heart in the next. Speaking of fits....Methinks I hear one starting. Gotta go. :)

Catch-up -- Andrew and Friends

We've had so much going on lately, and I haven't been able to blog about it. :) This is Andrew trick or treating at my Mom's house. Surprise, surprise he chose the banana split flavored lollipop. :)

Here's Andrew and CJ posing for their photo op at the ward Trunk or Treat. So cute!!

Andrew with his honorary aunt and uncle, Quentin and Natalie. Remember them? They pop up kind of frequently here on the ol' blog. :)

Andrew was apparently texting while CJ...

was being adorable. :)

Here's Andrew mauling his friend Ava on Sunday. I believe he had just poked her in the eye at that point. He's learned to crawl, but watch out because....

Ava's a country girl and she's gonna get revenge. I LOVE the look on her face here. And she did get revenge by pulling on Andrew's cheek a short while later as hard as she could. Babies are so freaking strong! :) But seriously, they had so much fun exploring each other.

This picture is ridiculously cute of the two of them.

Here's me and Andrew with Ava and my beautiful friend Veronica!

Post #1 finished. On to Post #2. Whew.

Picture Time, Picture Time.

We got family pictures done today. Yay! No, this one isn't going to be blown up and put over the mantlepiece, (and not just because we don't have a mantlepiece) but it does amuse me quite a bit and may make it on my new family history wall. Those two sure are crazy about each other. :)

My sister-in-law Laura got Andrew this ADORABLE little Santa outfit. I laughed for a good 2 minutes straight when he was presented in it. Sooooo cute!!! He's definitely going to be wearing this when he meets Santa this year. Yeah, Mr. and Mrs. S have invited us up north again this year for brunch on Christmas Eve. Such a chore, but we must indulge the old man. Just kidding. Please don't tell him I said that.

30

Goodbye 20's. Helllooooo 30's. Yup, tomorrow is my husband's birthday. I doubt he'll see this on his special day as he'll be busy finishing up his huge memo that's due tomorrow for school, but in any case - Happy Birthday, Mike. I sure love you. Because:


1. You're my best friend.
2. You are hilarious.
3. You are genuinely interested in people.
4. You work so hard in school.
5. You are a wonderful, caring husband.
6. You are a fun, nice daddy.
7. You are a good friend and support to all of your family members.
8. You are quite humorous in your sleep. (I'll leave that to another post, web on-lookers.)
9. You are so handsome.
10. You support me in all I do.
11. You brought me Runts at work, thereby saving the lives of my co-workers that may have otherwise perished in a pregnancy-induced rage.
12. You're my favorite handy-man.
13. You are custom-fit for me.
14. You help me strive to do what's right.
15. You make me want to be my best self.
16. You are interesting to talk to.
17. You're smart.
18. You are kind.
19. You help people, even when no one is looking.
20. You watch chick-flicks with me. (And you even like them! Shhh...I won't tell anyone you like Jane Austen movies.)
21. You give good compliments. :)
22. You never yell.
23. You always have great gospel insight.
24. You're strong.
25. You make being married fun.
26. You think of fun things for us to do together (lay under the arch and look at the clouds, giving me a scavenger hunt on my birthday, Birthday Buddies, etc etc etc.)
27. You love me - truly.
28. You are always learning.
29. You love to read.
And lastly:
30. Because you're you. And you are perfect like that.

Happy Birthday, my nice Michael.

Hi=hi!