Davidson Family Fun

November and December

2012-01-12T12:53:00.007-06:00

I really cannot believe that 3 months have passed since I jumped on here! They have gone by fast, have been slightly chaotic and challenging, but have also been very good. We did not get Christmas cards out this year...sorry. I'm hoping that next year I'll have my head a little more organized.

Part of the chaos has been from having a puppy to keep up and play with! Libby is our little yellow lab - we really enjoy having her (although there are days that I say "What were we thinking?!").

Aslan and Fig still get lots of love...

and Aslan has a slight obsession with the catnip scratcher :o)

We've enjoyed baking cookies,

reading a lot of books (and discovered that the library has the audiobooks, too, which G has loved reading during quiet times!),

and even going to the beach!

My parents and sister flew down for the week of Christmas - we were thankful to have them visit for so long and to be with us to celebrate the birth of Christ. We also kept our friends' dog Cooper for the week, so we enjoyed a full house!

We attempted a picture of the four of us on Christmas after we came home from church... not exactly successful!

I'm thankful that these two are growing to become better friends to one another and pray that it continues to grow... although they each had to each stand on a piece of wrapping paper for this picture to work :o)

We loved having everyone here!!!

I think the next time we will all be together will be at Mariah's wedding in May - we are excited for that special time!

On Making a Bed...

2011-10-12T20:45:00.009-05:00

We had a lot of fun making a bed over the past couple of weekends! "Making" as in building, not just "making the bed pretty" like I tell the kids each morning! We have always had a little platform bed made of plywood which has worked just as it should in holding our mattress up off of the floor, but earlier in the summer a family from church generously gave us a big saw that they weren't using anymore and Nat has been itching to use it for something! As we were trying to think of something we'd like but that might be possible to make cheaper and sturdier than buying in the store, we started thinking about beds. A friend of ours in Charlotte had a home made version of Pottery Barn's Stratton bed that we both loved for the storage space. We were looking to see if there were any plans online and ran across an awesome website for DIY stuff: http://ana-white.com/ There were so many amazing ideas and plans and then Nat found this: http://ana-white.com/2011/07/farmhouse-storage-bed-hinged-footboard We were so excited!! A storage bed, but instead of cubbies at the bottom - a nice farmhouse style headboard and a footboard on a hinge so there is even more storage under the bed! The plan was a little confusing at times because the lady who made it was combining two different plans to make the bed, but with a little extra brain power we were able to do it! I'm thinking about re-writing them out to have it all in one spot, but at this point I'm just happy to have pictures up!

Cutting the wood into strips to make the cubby boxes

Cubbies with trim and lots of measuring! Graham had so much fun being in the garage and making his own little projects!

Trying to weigh down some warped wood - gluing and nailing the wood to make the footboard panel

Lots and lots of sanding (that was my job) - I didn't want any sharp corners or edges and wanted the paint to go on smoothly

Checking the measurements to double check how long we needed the panels to be so that the 4x4s were just slightly exposed on the edge of the bed - we made the same mistake the other lady did and had to make cuts through the panels (otherwise the 4x4 posts would be completely on the outside of the boxes and we wouldn't be able to bolt them to each other).

Sanding the top to make it level!

Headboard before being primed/painted!

Painting!

Another helper!

Putting it all together and checking out the storage space :o)

Ta-da!! It is done. I feel like we're living in a hotel (the good part of living in a hotel). A sweet friend surprised us by fixing up our room for us. I love it! We were excited about just doing a project but I didn't realize how peaceful and inviting it would make our room!

Hooray for even more storage! Graham has already deemed this his hideout :o)

A very talented friend made this and it fits the room perfectly!

Grocery List

2011-09-29T22:20:00.003-05:00

Graham wanted his own list before we went shopping today. I did the spelling and he did the writing.

It's little things like this that remind me how big he is getting!

The Haircut

2011-09-16T14:55:00.003-05:00

I thought I would try to trim Kate's hair while G was at preschool this morning, so I set up the living room with a folding chair, towels, and a Leapfrog video to keep her attention. My lack of haircutting skills plus a bouncy little girl made the results quite a bit shorter than I intended (continual even-ing-up kept the scissors going!), but it still turned out pretty cute!

G and I have been working on counting and rolling coins this week = explanation for money all over the floor ;o)

Coffee Anyone?

2011-09-15T13:35:00.004-05:00

Some dear friends of ours from Maryland are adopting a baby from China and we are so very excited for them to bring her home! One of their fundraisers is through Just Love Coffee - for every bag sold, the Wileys will receive $5 toward their adoption! Once you're on the page you can link to different types of coffee on the lefthand side (most bags are $13-14ish and you can choose whole bean/ground/espresso/french press). So if you love coffee or are wanting to give a gift to someone who you know loves coffee, consider buying through this website to help the Wileys with their adoption :o)

Here is the link!

http://www.justlovecoffee.com/james127

Start of September

2011-09-14T13:23:00.006-05:00

The past few weeks we've been settling into more of a routine (yay!) and enjoying some more bearable temperatures. Here's a bit of the start of our month...

Nat and Graham have gone fishing a few times - G loves(!) it! Kate and I came one time but spent much of the time on the playground :o)

A special grandparents' day chapel with preschool. We miss you, grandparents!!! We were very thankful for our friend Mrs. Ellen, though, who was able to come sit in for Graham!

Fun playdoh faces :o)

The majority of the wildfires are on the opposite end of Houston from us (and also many near Austin where we traveled around last month)... Please keep praying for rain in this area - it's so dry and windy! We've gone out in the evening because the smoke has made some amazing looking sunsets (although I suppose I haven't taken pictures of the sunsets, but have taken them of the kids).

Last Friday when Nat came home we decided to go down by Galveston to take the ferry boat to the Bolivar Peninsula. We've never done this before and we're already excited to go again! We went down around dinnertime so we picked up Taco Bell to eat while we waited in line. It's a free ride across (which made it even better!) and we enjoyed being out on the water for a short time.

We were able to see boats and ships (I suppose going toward the ship channel?) and even some dolphins!

When we made it across, Nat thought to stop at a little store to pick up some ice cream then we drove out onto the beach and played until it was dark.

Since this was a last minute adventure (I hadn't really thought about what we'd do once we made it across), we didn't have bathing suits/towels/etc but we had a great time! There was a sandbar that the kids used almost like a diving board - it caught them by surprise at first when they went underwater, but they were hilarious to watch as they thought up new games to play!

On Monday we went to see the Astros play - and they won! We went a little early so we could go down to the field and watch batting practice - it was so much fun!

Nat caught a ball that flew into the stands during batting practice and gave it to G - he was thrilled :o)

I know this is a hodge-podge of pictures - it's been a busy and fun month so far!

Getting Ready...

2011-08-31T15:40:00.002-05:00

...just in case the temperature dips below 100 degrees this week ;o) Happy Wednesday!

Lovely

2011-08-24T18:24:00.003-05:00

I was careless and didn't put my makeup all the way up where it belongs. Kate found it. Quickly and so quietly, too. Lovely!

Even Aslan got a makeover!

First Day of School!

2011-08-19T09:22:00.001-05:00

Today is Graham's first day back to preschool! He has been so excited all week :o) Kate keeps asking when we will go pick Graham up from school - we do miss him! We have a fun day planned though... Nat is going to meet us for a 1st day back lunch at McDonald's and tonight we are going to Putt Putt and for ice cream with the youth group!

We are thankful for his teacher this year, Mrs. Schultz! She goes to our church, she is wonderful, and we love her!!

Spontaneous Adventure!

2011-08-17T21:08:00.015-05:00

This past weekend we realized that for the first time all summer we did not have anything planned on Friday or Saturday night. For the fun of thinking out loud I said something along the lines of, "It would be great if we could just go explore somewhere and come back Saturday night." To which Nat replied, "Let's do it!" Let me first say that I was thrilled at willingness of my wonderful husband to take a bit of the afternoon off and for the opportunity to just go exploring. My next response was panic! Where were we going to go? How much could we afford in our budget? How am I going to get the four of us packed up and ready to be out of the house within 3 hours plus make whatever plans we needed to make? I love love love the idea of being spontaneous, I really do - it's fun (!) - but... I like to plan and figure out the best place to stay for our money, where we should go for the amount of time that we're able to be gone, do the grocery shopping so we don't have to buy tons of food out, clean the house so that it's restful to come home, and have a list of everything that each person needs and double check it to make sure nothing is forgotten. Thankfully, everything worked out just fine - I think we packed enough for a long weekend, didn't worry too much about the food (just grabbed a cooler, the pb&j, and any snacks I saw in our pantry), and made the decision that we were going to Austin, TX and the surrounding area. We really had a great time exploring as a family! Here are some of our pictures :o)

It has been very hot... we thought of camping, but decided against it because of the heat!

Graham and Kate's first (memorable) hotel experience. We were thankful for a good deal (on hotwire) for our hotel, so we were able to stay right downtown within walking distance to the Capitol building for super cheap! G was amazed by the special trick that turned the couch into a bed for them :o)

For dinner we went to Stubb's for some BBQ... it was delicious!!! And a really neat building too -- lots of character.

At the Capitol... it was impressive!

I was reminded as we walked through security that we were in Texas when I asked the security guards if there was anything we couldn't take a picture of and they answered that we could photograph anything but the security equipment! It was strange to be able to walk all around the building (and at 8pm) and not have security all over the place... we were allowed to just roam!

In the center...

...And the floor from a few stories up

Davy Crockett

Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin... both originally from Virginia, I must add :o)

The next morning we started exploring... we started by sneaking a peek at the Longhorns stadium, had brunch at a park, and then headed west.

We did most of our exploring in small towns around Lake Travis and really enjoyed a hike in the woods at a wildlife refuge. It was nice to have a slightly overcast day under a canopy of trees :o)

Poor Nat ended up with a thumb full of these (he removed most of them before I took the picture)...

from one of these! We had to stay on the trail for sure!

I am thankful for our little family and the time we were able to get away to spend with one another!

Going Bananas!

2011-08-10T23:46:00.003-05:00

I know that banana trees produce bananas, but ours never have... Until now! It has been so neat to watch the petals of the flower unfold - each petal is covering a banana bunch! We're excited to see how far it goes... in the meantime, I'm looking for banana recipes :o)

Look at all of those bees!

Cousin Week 2011

2011-08-10T23:01:00.008-05:00

We had our 2nd (now annual!) cousin week the last week in July! When Nat headed off to Mississippi for our church's mission trip, Bernie (N's mom) and Chelsie (N's sister) flew down to Texas with Joel and Ella (the cousins!). We had a WONDERFUL and chaotic week with the three of us running around with 4 kids aged 4, 3, 2, and 1! I am so very thankful that they came all the way down here and an extra thank you to Pop and Todd for graciously letting their wives leave them for a week :o)

I took so so so many pictures of all of them, but here is a glimpse of our week together...

So much fun with the hose and little pools in the backyard. We actually put this one at the bottom of the slide and the boys especially loved this... I think I have videos of this on the ipod - I'll try to figure out how to post that later!

Fun at the spray ground at Kemah (and in the puddles), a pizza lunch, and a train ride!

Bluebell popsicles :o)

Lots of wrestling and climbing...

A few (not too serious!) injuries!

Installing a new car battery! I was so super impressed that Bernie did this all by herself! The van had been acting a little funny but I thought it was not that big of a deal and could wait until Nat came home (oops, wrong). We had gone to the grocery store that morning and on our way home, J had to go to the bathroom. We were a block away from the library so we stopped there for Chels to take him in. I turned the car off but then thought, "What am I thinking? It is over 100 degrees so I'm turning the AC back on while we wait!" However, the car would not start. Thankfully, there is a governmental building right beside the library and a police officer pulled up while we were trying to figure out what to do. Hooray for being rescued! And hooray for a handy mother-in-law!

A self spa night after the kids went to bed and the car work was completed :o)

Fun, giggly girls!

Bernie also made these adorable dresses for K and E! They are beautiful and twirl well :o)

A trip to the Aquarium downtown...

J, K, and E loved the sting rays!

G, not so much, but he enjoyed being a scuba diver :o)

Last night was a movie night complete with popcorn, blankets, and pillows...

Thank you again for such a memorable week! Not only was it fun, but I thoroughly appreciated the refreshment of your fellowship!!!

Visit With Granddaddy

2011-08-10T22:45:00.002-05:00

My dad came to visit us from Mon-Fri one week in July! It was a fun time to visit and he was also gracious in doing some of the tedious work that we've been needing to do in our house (read: lots of drywall). Kate was super content to sit and watch everything he did!

One afternoon we went to an Astros game!! It was such a fun day (but was officially completed when K vomited [alloverme] at the Whataburger)!! ...she was fine after exactly 24 hours :o)

We love you, Granddaddy (and we missed you, Gramma)!!!! Thanks for flying to HOU to spend the week with us!!!

Postponing "Goodbyes"

2011-08-10T22:17:00.004-05:00

As mentioned a few posts ago, some wonderful friends moved to Colorado in July. We miss them! The week that they moved we enjoyed their company as much as we could with a sending off party, cleaning, and a few late nights... we postponed our "goodbyes" for as long as we could :o)

At the party...

Not all, but most of the kids!

And some last times at their house!

Blastoff!!!!

2011-08-10T21:46:00.003-05:00

Living in the NASA community, the last Shuttle launch was a big deal! Nat had an awesome opportunity to watch the launch with a friend at JSC and we turned on the local news!

The slight "failure" with 31 seconds before liftoff gave me just enough time to grab the camera!

Very focused...

Success! Congratulations to all of our friends here who have worked so hard on this!!

Beach Day!

2011-06-23T20:22:00.005-05:00

***I wrote this on June 23rd -- it is now August 10th!! I figured I would post it anyway***

This is a bit out of order, but last Saturday we had a fun beach day in Galveston with some of our dearest friends. We planned to do some work around the house, but upon being asked to join them at the beach for the day, we got ready for that instead! These friends are moving to Colorado at the beginning of July - we are going to miss them so much!!

Graham with his bucket of water - this is a big thing! The first hour he would not go anywhere near the water. We finally convinced him to come to the "wet sand" but at the first little ripple of a wave he hightailed it back to the towels. After a bit of watching everyone else in the water, though, he came back and loved the water!

Kate had no problems going near/in the water!

The girls

2 of the 3 boys!

Rain!!

2011-06-23T11:52:00.003-05:00

We have been praising God for rain the past couple of days!!! I think the last time we received measurable rain was January or February (?? ...a long time ago). We are so thankful!

While I was watching the rain and the radar on the computer... this is what I found Kate doing! I had given her a banana for a snack and she decided that bringing salt, pepper, and butter to the table would be a good addition to it - yikes!

Just for Fun

2011-06-17T15:12:00.005-05:00

Graham's been wanting to fix his own food recently (he loves to stay in the kitchen) - this week he learned how to make a PBJ and pudding -- yum!!

Beignet Kick

2011-06-17T15:06:00.002-05:00

I (usually) love it when Nat gets on some kind of making food kick. I have definitely loved it this time!! All week we have made beignets, we had our small group make beignets, and we've made them again. My way of making them is to get the Cafe du Monde mix from the grocery store, but when we ran out of that, Nat was not going to let that stop him! So now we have a real recipe too :o)

Delicious!

Evening With Daddy

2011-06-09T20:10:00.004-05:00

We enjoyed an evening home with Nat this week... it was a hot Houston day, but the evening was very comfortable so we spent it outside together :o)

Happy Retirement!

2011-06-09T19:52:00.004-05:00

My dad retired from Roanoke City Parks and Rec on May 31st - I was so excited to have the opportunity to fly up there for 48 hours to celebrate with my family (Mariah came too)! Happy Retirement Daddy!

Aren't they cute?

We had a wonderful chance to catch up with our neighbors, Jim and Marlene too!

My parents found out on the same day that their house went under contract, so we helped clear all of the last items out of the house and enjoyed being up there for one last time!

I was so thankful to be able to go up for a whirlwind trip and for the friends here in Houston who helped out with the kids so Nat could keep working :o)

Rearranging

2011-05-27T16:13:00.009-05:00

We switched around our 2nd and 3rd bedrooms this week! My parents sent us my sister's bedroom furniture so we decided to use this exciting transition to put Graham and Kate in the same room as well! Kate's bedroom is now "the bedroom" and Graham's bedroom is the "toy room/guest room." Here's what it all looks like...

I think the only thing I need to do to make it a bit more neutral is to make some new curtains for the bedroom!

Bunked! They have done great (by the way, this picture was taken before I put rails up - they can't fall out)!

So so excited :o) He told his teacher that he "slept on the ceiling" - ha!

"Toy room/guest room" (...Bernie/Dudley, I'll send your pillows soon - I just need to get to the post office!)

Big big thank you to Gramma, Granddaddy and Aunt Riah for the furniture! And for Nat and some wonderful friends who helped us wade through our toy/clothes/furniture disaster and get it put back together!

Last Day of School

2011-05-27T14:41:00.002-05:00

Graham's last day of preschool was today! He has had a fun year learning new things and, most importantly, about Jesus. We are thankful for his teacher Mrs. Jacobs! I should have done this weeks ago, but now I need to figure out some good things to keep us busy and productive at home for the summer. Does anyone have any good ideas? Please please pass them along if you do!!

G's first day of preschool in August...

And last day (today)!

Part 3: Urbanna!

2011-05-17T22:12:00.005-05:00

We ended our trip in Urbanna, VA, about an hour east of Richmond, where my parents will be moving at the end of May. They are retiring and moving into the house that my Grandma lived in. I had not been there since 2004 so it was a treat to see them and to enjoy some Urbanna charm for a little bit as well!

The whole bunch: Me, Nat, Kate, Mariah, Evan, Mum, Daddy, and Graham!

Sisters, Sisters...
Love these!
The park is right across the street!
And the Rappahannock River is a street(ish) away. My parents bought a sailboat so we went out sailing after church!
The captain!
And crew :o) Kate had this face almost the entire time. She. Did. Not. Like. The lifejacket!
It's not a trip to Urbanna unless you play with the blocks :o) Thank you so much to Gramma and Granddaddy (and Mariah and Evan too!) for keeping G and K during the whole wedding weekend! We loved seeing all of you!!

Beautiful Wedding, Beautiful Couple!

2011-05-17T21:36:00.008-05:00

I really really really can't believe that Katrina and Eric's wedding was a whole month and a half ago... and that I am just now getting pictures on here. I promise I will send the two of you all of the gazillions of pictures from a wonderful celebratory weekend, but here are some :o) We enjoyed celebrating the marriage of these special friends. The events were beautiful, but their love for Jesus and for one another just made everything sparkle! I was also so thankful for time spent reuniting with other sweet friends and for Nat to have the chance to get to know their husbands! We were refreshed by you all.

Union Station in DC - early morning on the Amtrak down to Richmond! My lovely Aunt Judy picked me up and I thoroughly enjoyed the chance to catch up with her over a few hours at Panera!

Working working on Thursday night to get it all done!
Sweet :o)

The bridesmaids' luncheon was gorgeous. Katrina's family were wonderful hostesses.

The food was so beautiful it was hard to want to dig in! But we did and it was as delicious as it was beautiful :o)
Katrina with her mom :o)
The dress!! And the bride!!

Hooray for flowers on the morning of the wedding... Katrina was so excited about every detail that day as each one came together.
The sashes they made for our dresses
Yay! Almost time :o)

I loved sitting with Kelly during the reception and catching up... It was so very cold that day that we shared a blanket throughout dinner (thank you Nat)!
I love him.

Jenny! Another wonderful friend from college who I miss dearly!

Mr. and Mrs. Young!!!!
Shorts Hall, freshman year! Kelly, Andrea (my roomie!), me, Katrina, Emilie, and Becky! (Jenny, I think you had just left)

1st Stop: Maryland!

2011-04-19T22:06:00.007-05:00

A few weeks ago we traveled east to be a part of the wedding of one of my dearest friends, Katrina! One huge perk to her wedding being in Richmond, VA was that we were still able to fly into Maryland to spend some time with Nat's family and also to be only one hour away from my parents' new house in Urbanna, VA so we were able to see our whole (immediate!) family! I was only in Maryland for a day before I hopped on the train to VA, but Nat and the kids were there for 3!

Seriously, Briggs (the dog) is enormous... he is very sweet, but G did not want him taking the lacrosse ball!!

Aunt Bridge with all of the cousins!
It is so wonderful to see Graham, Joel, Kate and Ella all play together... we enjoyed so much cousin love!
Bernie was very sweet and gave Nat an early birthday dinner the night we were all there - his birthday isn't until May, but it was great to celebrate with the family!
Uncle Mitch has a new best friend :o)

"Buddy"

2011-04-06T20:31:00.003-05:00

A couple of weeks ago, Kate kept repeating "bu-ee seat," "bu-ee shoes," "bu-ee..." and I had no idea what she was trying to say. "Boy?" "No, bu-ee." "Graham's?" "No, bu-ee." Ohhh... "Buddy?" "Ya, bu-ee!" I didn't realize it until that day but I call Graham "buddy" just about as much as I call him "Graham." And it's all she calls him anymore.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

2011-03-24T22:36:00.002-05:00

Last week we had some friends come over for lunch... I was able to do some visiting, Nat and Leighton planted our garden (with help from G) and Annelise did a lot of playing with Kate! Thanks to their work we will have some yummy food growing soon! Graham and I made charts today to keep track of how they are growing - should be a fun project!

Washing hands before lunch...

On another note, Kate learned how to climb (throw herself, actually... I was peeking after the 2nd time) out of her crib today. (!!!!!). Tonight is her first night in a "big girl bed." So far, so good... she cried for only about 3 minutes at the door before I heard her climb back in bed. We're praying that the rest of the night goes just as smoothly - and the rest of the week!

Swing!

2011-03-23T22:31:00.003-05:00

Their new everyday obsession

Last week during spring break we replaced the baby swing with a new "big" one to ease the (my own) pain of taking turns every few seconds! This really is just about all they want to do this week - and it's been a beautiful week for it! Graham is also super excited because he learned how to pump his legs to swing himself. Who taught him? Kate! Our little monkey will put her legs up to her forehead and then throw them down a couple of times to get herself moving!

A Peek

2011-03-22T22:33:00.004-05:00

I can't believe we're at the end of March already! The time is going by so quickly and things have been busy here. We have had visits from Mitch and Jackie and from my parents, births to celebrate, and lives to reflect on and celebrate as well (our wonderful pastor, John-G, passed on into glory in January). We've had fun and crazy times with the students in the youth group and have really loved the growing relationships in our small group. We have been daily convicted and daily encouraged by the faithfulness of our Lord in big things and in "little" things. Graham and Kate are growing and changing and (finally!) enjoying playing with each other which is a HUGE blessing. We have our moments for sure, but I'm enjoying watching their relationship with each other really blossom. It feels like summer here - tank tops and capris are out already, but it's not been too hot (mid 70s) so we play outside alotalotalot. Outside also means meeting and getting to know new neighbors. We're all well (for now) and no sickies (today!). Nat planted a garden with the help of a young friend and Graham last week and we've been making changes in our kitchen. Short blurb, I know! Maybe pictures soon? We'll see!

Sweet Friends

2011-01-07T14:51:00.004-06:00

We had a play date this morning with Kate's friend Ella while the brothers were all in school (and I enjoyed catch-up time with Joni)! Ella is one of Kate's absolutely favorite friends... she said "lella" after "daddy" and "mama" but even before "gam" and they squeal, running around with excitement whenever they see each other! It's so fun to watch them together... They even decided to swap hair accessories for this picture :o)

I pray that our kiddos will always have friends that they enjoy and who will eventually challenge and encourage them toward Christ!

Happy New Year!

2011-01-06T13:37:00.015-06:00

I hope everyone (if anyone is even still reading this after all of my lack of blogging!) had a wonderful Christmas and start to the new year! We have been busy but also very blessed. So am I back to posting? Perhaps this time I can say "yes!" Nat was given a church laptop to bring back and forth to work and church which means that I get to keep ours with me -- where all of our pictures are! Now no more excuses, right? So without further delay... some of what we've been up to! Prepare for a massive post ;o)

At the beginning of December some sweet friends from church invited us to come to a Christmas Tree farm for a home school day with them! Our kids love them and we spent the whole day there enjoying our time with them! The farm had a hay ride, a handful of animals, huge hay bales to jump all over, a small one for kiddos like Kate, scarecrow stuffing, tree decorating, campfires, hot chocolate and cider. They even had a huge pile of dirt with diggers on top of it as well as sleds so that the kids can go sledding! I got the biggest kick of of that and I think that's where Graham spent most of his time. We just had to pretend that it was cold!

Thank you, friends!

We enjoyed it so much that I convinced Nat to come back that weekend to cut a tree down :o)

This didn't actually end up being "the" tree, but I forgot to snag a picture in front of the one we chose... oops!

Timber!

G was super excited... this was the first time we've allowed him to go into the attic. He felt like such a big boy helping Daddy get the decorations out!

Complete! Even if it was a little floppy :o)

We had a few cold days to get everyone bundled up!

Graham's Christmas program for preschool... he's in the very front - the one who is more interested in the camera than singing!

We had several festivities, but what can beat a youth group party?! We love this group!

And it took many... many... tries to get a family picture for a Christmas card! These are some that made us laugh!!

Got it!

The leaves also started falling off in December so our neighbor's tree gave us the perfect amount of leaves for a pile!

Just for fun... We have dance parties on our "stage" step - I love it!

Nat caught me relaxing (and eating something yummy) at the end of a day!

We also did some dog sitting for our friends who are from the Netherlands... they went back for two weeks (some of them even longer!) to meet a new grandbaby and spend time with family and friends, so we had fun with their dog, Themba! He is such a good dog :o) Fig the cat hid for the whole two weeks but Aslan made a it a point to stand his ground as "man" of the house. Kate liked the crate!

My parents sent a kitchen for the kids for Christmas... they love it!

Merry Christmas Day! Throughout December we did an Advent Jesse Tree with the kids every night that we kept in the foyer. It really has been such a great way to celebrate and anticipate Christmas day.

"Christmas presents? I think I'll find the salad spinner."

We are so thankful for Skype! We were able to share some of our day with Gramma, Granddaddy and Aunt Riah!

Nat's parents (Gram Gram and Pop Pop) flew in the day after Christmas for a few days - it's always wonderful to have them visit!

Thank you Aunt Chelsie, Uncle Todd, Joel and Ella for the fun gifts too!

Oysters. Raw. Yuck. But for some reason they enjoy it! Nat and Pop Pop relaxing after installing our new bath tub!!! I know this might sound silly, but we have not had a not-gross bathtub since we left Charlotte a few years ago. I could scrub and scrub but it would still be yellow-orange. I would cringe every single night when I had to bathe our kids and make sure that any babysitter or overnight visitor understood that our bathtub really is "clean" even if it looked disgusting. Needless to say I wouldn't step more than my feet in there. So a huge thank you for the bath tub and for all of the hard work! I guess I shouldn't bother them about their raw oysters ;o)

Mmmm... making a giant cupcake with Gram Gram

We had so much fun with them!!

Aslan bracing for Kate's kiss :o)

Another group we love hanging out with is the young adults! The college students were back home from school for their break so we got together a few times... The other night we decided to have a calzone night at our house and had a blast rolling out dough, filling them up, baking them and eating them - yum!

Winner of the most enormous calzone goes to Martin!

Marivy and Katie Beth whipped up a 10-minute cake for us to finish up with - thanks ladies!

Did you make it all the way through? I hope you're doing well... Naptime is over and it's time to go outside to enjoy this sunny day! :o)

Christmas Cards!

2010-12-01T15:09:00.006-06:00

It's already December and I still haven't put up any pictures from our trip OR Thanksgiving weekend... sorry!! Tonight we'll begin decorating our Jesse Tree to start the days of Advent with the kids (and to prepare our own hearts for Christmas too!), we're hoping to cut down a tree this weekend (although we might end up at a tree lot), it's time for parties, dinners and concerts... and to start thinking about Christmas cards! We've been using Shutterfly to share pictures with our families in whole albums (because it would take forever to upload them all to blogger and because no one else but our families would care to see the 200 pictures we can take in a day!) and we're planning to go through them for our Christmas cards this year as well. I'm always impressed with their quality and they have some very fun designs for this year so I'm going to have a hard time deciding what to send! ALSO, a friend of ours, Danielle, posted on her blog that Shutterfly is giving 50 free cards to bloggers who are willing to do a write-up on their blog about their great cards... hence, the plug from me ;o) You can get all of that information here! I'm mainly looking at the cards with one hole for a picture, so I'm liking this one... but they are all very nice so we'll see what picture we end up choosing and what it goes well with! Maybe I'll even take the time to make a calendar! Anyway, it's time to figure out a bite of dinner before Nat gets home and Kate wakes up. Next up, a real update? Hopefully soon! :o) Happy December 1st!!

Our Little Pilgrim!

2010-11-22T15:25:00.004-06:00

We've had a fun and full recent few weeks... on Nov 4th I headed to Virginia with the kiddos to spend some time with my family, Nat flew into Charlotte on the 8th where we were able to catch up with a few good friends and then my parents graciously drove us up to Maryland to see friends and family there! We came home last Tuesday and have jumped back into life here with both feet (and it has been nearly non-stop!)! I will try to post pictures from our visit on here soon, but one of the things we had going on last week was a Thanksgiving Program and Feast at Graham's school! He was a little pilgrim and was so cute to watch! Enjoy :o)

Graham is 4th from the right on the back row! It's a little fuzzy on the blog but is clearer if you click the YouTube link.

Happy Reformation Day!

2010-10-31T21:42:00.003-05:00

Happy Reformation Day! We had a great time dressing up and going to our church's annual Reformation Celebration! The church joined up with the school's annual West Fest... we loved having another opportunity to have the two together :o) While most things on this day focus on Halloween we really enjoy celebrating the start of the Protestant Reformation and learning about Martin Luther (who nailed his 95 theses on the door on Oct 31st)!

Graham dressed up as an astronaut... appropriate for living right beside NASA :o) As you can tell he was already pumped about his prizes!

Kate was a ladybug! She would have sat in the pool if we would have let her!

Beanbag toss

Two little ladybugs!!

The youth group did such a great job helping out!

Our pumpkins (and a lion!)

Graham, Kate, AND Nat's first time trick-or-treating!

Classic jack-0-lantern and space invaders :o)

Pumpkins!

2010-10-31T21:38:00.003-05:00

A few days ago we headed to the Methodist church for some pumpkins!!!

The Visschers were there at the same time... isn't Ella cute?

And Kate!

G spent most of his time playing in the pile of hay!

Sweet :o)

And filthy! Ha!!

Hodgepodge

2010-10-31T20:51:00.008-05:00

My apologies... this is a slight mess of pictures from the past couple of weeks... Enjoy!

Nat went on a men's retreat in the middle of October... a few girls came over for fun and then Heather and Elliot (swinging with Kate) spent the night since we were both husbandless - such fun!!

Graham enjoyed getting packed up :o)

Big girl!

Aslan still loves attention as soon as the kids go to bed... he is totally lounging!!

Playing in the backyard...

This worked a little better!

We had some fun new friends, Scott and Mallory, over for dinner... I forgot to take pictures while they were here, but here are some sweet flowers they brought us! They're coops with Nasa so it's fun to hear about all of the neat things they get to do!

Sharing m&ms :o)

Mallory invited us to take a tour of the "Super Guppy" which is a huge aircraft that carries big things (like other airplanes). Kate played with her buddy Ella so we could take Graham on a special trip. Here are Nat and Graham in the cockpit!

This won't rotate back but this is the inside of the guppy - isn't it huge?!

Across the way was also the jet that carries the Space Shuttle around!

Outside of the Super Guppy

She also took us in the Weightless Wonder (astronaut training jet)!

I think this is a WB-57... someone would have to correct me if I'm wrong.

T-38s... Thanks to Mallory for an awesome tour!

Girlie-girl... bows, shoes, necklaces, bracelets - she loves it all! :o)

A walk in the park hoping to see some hot air balloons... unsuccessful but still a fun time!

Not much is better than ending the day with some hot chocolate :o)

Quick Picture Update

2010-10-16T14:47:00.005-05:00

Here's a quick idea of what we've been up to... trying to make it fast before Kate wakes up from her nap!!

Graham's first go-cart ride!! ....And he's still pumped that the youth group was there to cheer him on!

Nat and Tyler made a picnic table for us so we have a patio table for the first time since we've been married! Thanks guys!

We finished staining all of our projects :o)

Nat caught a hummingbird that was stuck in our garage... poor little guy!

And because it's October, we are starting to have days that we can be outside more than inside (and we're taking advantage of it!). It's still in the 80s, but at least it's in the low 80s and then cooling off at night. Whew! We survived another Texas summer :o)

Pigtails!

Nat had an awesome opportunity to fly up in a B-17 (he's doing a service for the air show that is in town next weekend and had also been asked to pray for them during their media day... what a neat perk)!!

Enjoying some sweet Daddy time whenever we have a chance :o)

More outside... Kate started climbing ladders this month and I go between being excited that she can do the playgrounds on her own and being panicked that she's going to forget that she is up high and let go (or step off). I can't believe how big they are both getting!!

Silly kiddos before bed :o)

And we're starting to have a lot more park time once again... G loves riding his bike to the neighborhood park!

We love fall!

Please Pray

2010-10-13T22:02:00.004-05:00

I know I'm way behind on any kind of family fun kind of posting and will hopefully get a chance to do that soon (maybe tomorrow? I finally put pictures on the computer tonight), but right now we would just like to request prayer.

Our pastor, John-G, has been battling cancer (this is not his first battle with it) for the past year and a half and has come to a place in his illness where he is stepping down from pastoring our church. There is nothing more at this time that the medical field is able to do for him.

Please join us in praying for him, his family (wife and four children - junior in college, jr in high school, 8th grader and 1st grader), for the elders in our church, for the congregation, for Nat, for myself and the kids, and for wisdom, love, and truth. Pray that each of us will fix our eyes on Jesus so that the Lord is glorified in all of our words, actions and attitudes!

If you are interested in how you can be praying more specifically, let us know. Thank you friends and family for your prayers. We love you all!

I Scream

2010-08-24T22:34:00.009-05:00

You Scream

We all Scream

For Ice Cream!!

...and neat shrimp boats with crazy seagulls

...and splash grounds!!!

Snapshots of the Weekend

2010-08-23T20:15:00.004-05:00

Another busy weekend! Here's a glimpse! Family bike ride Saturday morning... we even saw two alligators (Nat has a picture on his phone... I wasn't savvy enough to figure how to put that on)!!

Some playtime in the (barely working but still feeling a million times better than outside) AC

Putt-Putt Tournament with the youth group (G even got a hole-in-one!)

And some ice cream when we finished up!

Sunday we spent the afternoon with friends after church and came home for dinner and Bible Study. Today we had some nice downtime... Graham went to school, Kate slept until 9:15 this morning (very tired) and we enjoyed having Nat with us for the day. He even made our van shiny!!

Now we're back from a long walk, kids are bathed and in bed and I think we'll put our feet up to watch a movie. Popcorn? Ice cream? Yes please!

Officially a Preschooler

2010-08-21T08:30:00.003-05:00

Graham's first day of preschool was yesterday and he loved it!! We plan on having Nat drop him off most days since the school is at the church, but I wanted to take him in the first day, thinking he might need a few minutes of mommy in there to transition... Nope! He walked right into Mrs. Jacobs' classroom, dropped his backpack on the floor and immediately sat down to color with the other kids. He barely gave me a side glance when I kissed him goodbye and as I walked out of the room I could already hear his teacher instructing him on how to pinch the crayons. When we picked him up he was so excited to tell us about the craft that he made, about his new friends, and that he gets to go back to school in three days! As hard as it is to realize that our (not so) baby boy is 3 (and still growing!), it is so so much fun to see him growing and learning and for him to be so excited!! I am also looking forward to some sweet alone time with Kate that we don't have much of (and maybe even a quiet moment or two to myself)! Anyway, here are some pictures of G getting ready to start his first day!!

Heels against the door... we'll see how tall he is on the last day of school! :o)

Sister wants in!

And... I couldn't resist... Kate doing some sort of happy loud noises while we were waiting in the pick-up line!!

Cookout in Catan

2010-08-16T22:54:00.005-05:00

Sunday wasn't finished after the beach... Nat started a Bible Study for the young adults in the church at the beginning of the summer (Tim Keller's study of Galatians - it's really been a great study!) and some of them are heading back to college this week so we had a cookout to send them off again. We missed those of you who had to head back early and some of you who just couldn't make it - We had such a fun night!!

Grilling

Our cooking project of the night: Fried Ice Cream! Yummy :o)

After dinner, Bible Study, and fried ice cream we played a game of Settlers. David brought his Catan duck that you have the privilege of signing if you win... Congrats to Austin!

Game faces?

The crew that lasted until 1:30am

And, I suppose, what 1:30am does to you :o)

Hot Day at the Beach

2010-08-16T22:46:00.008-05:00

We had such a busy weekend! Some new friends from church came over for dinner on Friday, on Saturday we went to a volleyball tournament for one of the girls in the youth group and then to an Astros baseball game that night, and on Sunday we went to the beach after church. I have actually been planning on boycotting the beach until fall because it has been so hot, but it really was such a fun time! We went with our friends, the Brummers, so that we could meet Danielle's brother and sister who are visiting from Minnesota this week. We were thankful for a yummy lunch, a big breeze, no jellyfish(!!!), and an afternoon to relax. Most of all we are thankful for these sweet friends - it is such a blessing to have friends who we enjoy but friends who also love playing around with Graham and Kate... I sometimes think that strangers probably wouldn't know which adults our kids belong to, they are so wonderful to them!

Time to get messy!!Note - G is walking with Nat and Tyler here...

Now you only see his hand - oops!!! He was fine, by the way :o)

Getting some love from Danielle!

Kate with her Daddy :o)The breeze really felt wonderful and it was perfect for flying Nat's kite!

Yay for the beach! As you can see... we had a good enough time to wear out at least one of them before we even made it to the main road!!

Summer Days

2010-08-12T21:55:00.004-05:00

I really can't believe that the summer is almost over! There could be so much to catch up on for this blog, but the thought of that is slightly overwhelming, so perhaps I'll be able to catch up in bits and pieces (flashbacks from time to time, if you will!) and just try (!) to focus on keeping up with what's current-ish. This summer brought weddings, new babies (not us), Nat's Grandma passed away, a car accident (we were protected from injuries but my little Sentra was totaled) which led to the blessing of a minivan, a visit from Bernie, Chelsie, Joel and Ella, lots of fun with the youth group, a retreat and mission trip for Nat... I could go on and on. We have rejoiced in a lot. We have also been challenged by a lot, but God has provided strength, energy, patience, and love when we feel spent - being reminded of his sovereignty and goodness in all things and of our need for reliance upon him and not on ourselves! Anyway, with the fall starting up I'm sure the busyness won't exactly end but I'm looking forward to a little more routine than what we've (not) maintained over the summer. Graham starts preschool next Friday (!!! - I really can't believe he's big enough for that) and he is pumped about it. Other than that, both G and K seem to be growing bigger and faster (and Kate is becoming one sneaky little lady!)... I'm not sure how to balance not being to general with not writing a book in one blog post so I think this will have to do for now. A very special sorry to parents who I know thought that they would never again see pictures of their grandbabies... I'll try to keep it up! Until next time...

Kate's First Year

2010-05-19T09:38:00.005-05:00

Our baby girl is ONE today!! We have enjoyed a year of watching her grow bigger and develop her sweet personality. At one year Kate is very curious (but quiet! and persistent!) and gets into just about anything she can find. She wants to walk everywhere and when she falls down almost immediately gets back up to keep going. She is a climber... she has figured out how to climb onto the couch by herself - I'm sure we're at the start of many bumps and bruises! Kate loves her brother. She loves to play with him and we know whenever she is fussy Graham is the one who can make her laugh! Her laugh is a big belly laugh and goes along with her big open smile and sparkling eyes! She loves to give hugs and kisses - a little cuddlebug :o) God has truly blessed us with the privilege to be Kate's parents and we look forward to every day we are given with her! We love you, sweet girl!!

Newborn Baby Kate (May 19, 2009)
One Month (June)
Two Months (July)
Three Months (August)
Four Months (September)
Five Months (October)
Six Months (November)
Seven Months (December)
Eight Months (January)
Nine Months (February)

Ten Months (March)
Eleven Months (April)
One Year Picture to come soon!! ...after naptime :o)

More Shade

2010-05-18T22:20:00.003-05:00

It's getting there!! Two college guys, David and Erwin, came over on Nat's day off and helped him outside all day. I am so thankful for all of their hard work.

This is what it looks like now!
A little more wood and digging (and putting down pavers) and it will be finished! It was amazing to be able to go outside at 10:30 and read without immediately rushing back into the AC. A blessing indeed :o)

Mission: Shade!

2010-05-14T00:48:00.011-05:00

My hubby is a handyman and I love it. We are thankful to have a great backyard, however, it faces south and we have no trees (except for the ones that we planted but we are still taller and thicker than they are!). Thus, we have no shade to speak of in our backyard! Ever since we bought the house we have talked about building a pergola but we have put it off for one reason or another. But when temperatures started reaching the 90s in April, we decided that now would be a better time to build instead of realizing in June that we wished we had built one before the summer heat really kicked in! We're considering it our gifts for mother's day and father's day... and the reason we're eating rice, beans and pasta every day for the rest of the summer (think: seminary diet!)!

I know that pergola pictures aren't as cute as the kiddos, but it's been fun to work on together (really, Nat's been the one working so hard!!!) so I'm posting more than all of the steps (ha!)!

Our back patio area before anything has been done to it at all (ignore the clutter)!

Planning it all out

Another "before" shot

Getting the posts in

Our little helpers!

Two posts in and cemented!!

We dug until late at night... we're planning on extending our patio with stone pavers about a foot and a half on each side and then extending it all the way out to the fireplace (see before pictures) so we need to dig about 2 inches out. I have not been this sore since high school soccer tryouts - yikes!

Posts #3 and 4...

A new friend said hello at breakfast!

Starting the frame

Cutting some nice curved edges to make the ends a little more decorative.

Strong! ...husband AND frame :o)

What it looks like right now... hopefully we'll have more up after Nat's day off on Monday. Hooray for shade!!!

Happy Birthday Nat!!!

2010-05-14T00:25:00.003-05:00

Nat's (1st) 29th birthday was last week! I am so thankful to have him for my husband and Graham and Kate have the most wonderful daddy... We have many many reasons to celebrate his life!!!

We were excited to have some friends come over to watch Graham and Kate for the evening so that we could go to an Astros baseball game (they lost terribly, but it was fun to get out and we enjoyed the company of some new friends, the Brummers!)... I forgot the camera, so no pictures. Since we were going out that night we wanted to be sure that Graham and Kate could also celebrate Nat's birthday so Graham helped bake a yummy coconut cake and we brought it (along with lunch) to the church!

I love you so much, Nat!!! Happy Birthday!!!

Snapshots

2010-05-14T00:18:00.006-05:00

Just for fun :o)

3 Years of Growing

2010-05-13T23:26:00.004-05:00

Newborn Graham

6 months

1 year (with cousin Joel)

18 months

2 years

2 1/2

3 years old!

G's Birthday Pictures (finally!)

2010-05-13T22:10:00.008-05:00

I am thankful for my husband who was able to recover all (yes, all meaning all that we have ever ever taken) of our pictures that we deleted from our external hard drive. Because our computer has been working overtime I am just now getting to posting from the past few weeks!! Enjoy (if you make it through all of them)!

We decorated the house so that Graham would be surprised when he woke up in the morning!

A Clifford-themed party... This was for pin (tape) the bone on Clifford's mouth!
Happy Birthday, big boy!!
Enjoying an early morning e-card from Gramma and Granddaddy :o)
Opening presents from us after a birthday lunch!
Cheesy-Kate
"What?! You mean you put sand in this turtle?" Poor guy has been playing with an empty turtle for the past year and a half!
Mrs. Ellen came over early to give Graham a special present from their family... a wheelbarrow!
Graham's buddies from his church class (plus families!) came to celebrate with us!
The Clifford cake :o)
How many kiddos can fit on one slide?
The little cuties (Ella and Kate) playing together!
A very fun tunnel from Gramma and Granddaddy that keeps everyone (kids, adults, and cats) entertained!!
A Big Wheel from Gram-Gram and Pop-Pop!

Ride on big guy!!!

We love you, G-Man!! :o)

THREE!!

2010-04-22T22:49:00.004-05:00

I can't believe that our little Graham man turned three today! It's amazing how it sometimes seems like three years have gone by so very fast (as in: I'm shocked when I realize that we have a three year old and not a three month old) but it ALSO sometimes seems like Graham and Kate have been a part of us forever (read: surely we've known this sweet little boy for longer than that!)! At any rate, we are SO thankful that God has blessed us these past three years with Graham in our lives. He brings laughter, energy (lots of energy), and compassion to our home every day. Having him has also helped sin in my life and in Nat's be exposed daily which has brought us to deeper levels of reliance upon the Gospel - there is no way that we could be considered "good" unless we are seen through Christ's righteousness. We love how G-ram is excited about everything in life - everything!! We pray (please pray with us!) that one day this personality trait will translate into an unquenchable excitement for Jesus and bringing God the glory in all of his life. We are so happy that you were born to us, Graham, and love you so very very much!!!

For a day in detail... I'm having trouble getting pictures on here tonight, but will hopefully have some soon. Graham had a fun birthday day, though! Nat took the morning off to take him canoeing (G was pumped because he saw an alligator and because a turtle almost went down his pants!) then they both came home for lunch. G opened his presents from us at lunch and played all afternoon while Nat went to church to get some work done and I attempted to pull a little party together for him (aka the cake fell apart so I spent a lot of time trying to sweet talk the icing into holding it together for me!). Graham's little buddies from his church class (and their families) came for pizza, cake, and to celebrate Graham's birthday with us!! The sky threatened rain but thankfully it was a beautiful night for lots of little feet to run around outside while the adults enjoyed some fellowship together. And Graham made sure that everyone knew that he was having a Clifford cake (he loves that big red dog)! We all really had a fun time and we were glad to have Graham's friends share it with him.

Happy Birthday again, Graham!! We love you love you love you!!!

Kate's Baptism

2010-04-18T13:52:00.012-05:00

Today Kate was baptized by her daddy... a special privilege for sure! Nat did a good job explaining our purpose behind this sacrament during the service, so instead of trying to say it myself, I quote from him:

It is a great joy that we have today to be able to bring in

to the covenant family my own daughter, Kate, by giving to her as a sign and seal, the sacrament of baptism.

Baptism is one of the two sacraments (the other being the Lord's Supper) that Jesus gave us to serve as signs and seals of his covenant of grace.

After God made his covenant with Abraham in Genesis 1

7, saying “And I will establish my covenant betwee

n me and you and your offspring after you...” he gave the sign of circumcision to be given to all male Israelites as a sign and seal of this covenant of grace; serving as a sign to those who were born into the covenant, and sealing the promises of God to all who put their faith in him.

The bloody sign given to Abraham points to the blood Jesus suffered on the cross for the atoning of sins and no longer serves as a picture of what is to come. Therefore, after his death and resurrection, Jesus replaced the sign of the covenant with that of the Baptism of water.

In Acts 2:38-9 Peter, on the day of Pentecost, instructs all to repent and be baptized, and points back to the Covenant promise made to Abraham and his offspring, when he says, “For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” Showing us that just as the children of covenant before Christ received the sign of the covenant, the children of believing parents should receive the sign of membership in the covenant family, and the seal of God's pledge to keep his promise to all those who come to saving faith in

him.

The sacrament of baptism is not a memorial or dedication, but a means of grace and a sign and seal of that grace.

Nor is the sacrament of baptism a washing away of this child's sin, rather it signifies the washing away of sin by Jesus' blood to all who come to faith in Christ.

Neither will Kate become a Christian today, as if it were through this sacrament, rather she will be brought into the covenant family where her faith will be encouraged not only by believing parents, but through a family of believers within the church as a whole.

It is for these reasons that we baptize, and I encourage you, as we administer this sacrament, that you spend time and remember your own baptism and the sign and seal it serves you, allow it to uplift your faith this morning as you remember the work God began in you.

We love you, sweet Kate!!

Today

2010-04-13T21:52:00.003-05:00

We have been having some beautiful weather here in Texas and want to share it with you!!

Kate is standing by herself now (not taking more than one step, but I still can't believe it!) and Graham is excited for when "she gets bigger" and can run around with him.

Soccer man Graham

Loving the swing!

I'm contemplating playing a little more catch up... bear with me (sorry parents)!!

The Sock Hop!!

2010-02-28T22:22:00.002-06:00

We had a kickin' time at the Sock Hop! Westminster Christian Academy (a ministry of our church) put this on and we had so so much fun! ...As a side note, I know it's been ages since I've posted on here. Our desktop computer died so I'm at the mercy of Nat's laptop and we have just stayed super busy lately. It's a shame too because we have a brand new camera that we are having so much fun learning how to use!! Perhaps I'll be better (?) -- I'll try! Instead of playing major catch up, I figure I'll just start... here!!

The nerds, a baby and a greaser who walked through some major wind - instead of slicked down, the gel gave G a nice spike ;o)

I stayed up with these sweet friends crazy late trying to make poodle skirts for ourselves... Joni did most of the work! Alissa, Kate, me, Joni and Ella

Traci was supercute in her getup too!!

Nat won the limbo competition -- I had no idea he could limbo! I love how all of the kids in the background are cheering him on! Ha!!!

Cheese :o)

G-Ram had a blast dancing!

What a bash!!!

Lull

2009-12-22T09:51:00.003-06:00

Sorry for the lull in posts! Especially to our family who likes to see pictures of the kids!! The past few weeks (from Thanksgiving on really) have been chaotic (but good!) and... it continues! Hopefully soon I can have some consistency again :o) We'll see. I've never been very consistent.

Anyway, I hope that you are all enjoying this week leading up to Christmas and I pray that we will all slow down (myself included!) from the hustle and bustle and cooking and cleaning and wrapping to enjoy one another and, most importantly, to reflect and celebrate the first Christmas morning when Jesus Christ was born!!!

Boys Will Be Boys

2009-12-03T14:20:00.003-06:00

Some good friends of ours needed someone to watch their son Jackson while Joni had surgery on her hand this morning so we gladly had Jackson join us for last night through today. While I was in the shower this morning (and, believe it or not, Nat was in the very next room!! but he said they sounded like they were playing so happily together he didn't think to check out what they were doing) the boys had a par-tay in the kitchen!! To be more accurate, they were playing in the "snow" and totally emptied our flour/sugar cannisters for it to be snowing in the house. it.is.everywhere. They were having a BLAST!!! Needless to say, flour and sugar have been added to the shopping list ;o)

Thank you, Graham and Jackson, for the biggest laugh of the week (what else can you do when you walk in to this?!)!!!

Chef Graham

2009-12-01T22:42:00.002-06:00

Graham has really started to love helping out in the kitchen when I'm fixing dinner or baking and enjoys pretending to cook anything he can think of... although "pizza" with all of the spices on the spice rack and lego "cake" top the list of his specialties!! :o) Love it!

And Six Months

2009-11-19T23:17:00.003-06:00

Kate turned 6 months on November 19 (I started this post then but realized that I never finished/posted it). SIX MONTHS!! It's so hard to believe how quickly half of a year has gone by. Six months ago we were just getting to know this baby girl and I have loved every minute that we've been given with her! At six months...

- Kate is still such a sweet girl... she is very patient and really only fusses when she needs something.

- She still has the two bottom teeth that she got a few months ago and might be working on two more (but we'll see when they decide to pop out!).

- Kate goes after just about anything she wants on the floor and has become a barrel-rolling champ... just recently she started scooting forward on her belly (no hands/knees crawling but some definite scooting). It's funny how I wanted Graham to crawl and walk so quickly but wouldn't mind Kate being stationary for a bit longer.

- She used to be fairly quiet but has turned into a big babbler... her favorites are "dadadadada, yayayayaya, and lalalalalala." The das tend to be more talking and the las and yas always sound like she's trying to sing.

- She gets so super excited to see any of us (Nat, Graham or me) and will flap her arms wildly when she sees us... it's very sweet and it always makes Graham want to play with her to keep her excited which is a lot of fun to see (he is such a great big brother to her and she loves him!). - She also loves the cats and rolls right up next to them. I found poor Fig the other day with wet ears when he was beside her... I suppose she thought they might be a good snack!

- Speaking of food, she has been stubborn about eating anything but milk. She used to take a bottle if necessary but refuses that now and will not eat any kind of baby food... She is excited about the spoon but if it has anything on it she immediately sticks out her tongue and blows bubbles (therefore spitting and splattering food all over!). Not so sure how to tackle that one (any tips?)!!

- She sits up on her own for the most part. I don't get nervous when she topples to the side or front because she goes slowly and has some sort of control, but I like to keep a pillow behind her on the floor if she's sitting and playing because when she goes backward she flings herself and goes down very very quickly!

- She is still such a cuddler!

The past six months have been full of much joy from our sweet baby girl. Part of me wants to keep her the way she is now but I am also so excited to have the privilege of raising her and watching her grow. Kate we love you so very much!!!

One Year

2009-11-18T23:30:00.003-06:00

We closed on our house one year ago today (11/18)... Nat and I were thinking back and remembering that I wasn't supposed to carry boxes (due to being preggo) so this time last year I was steam cleaning the carpet until odd hours of the night while he moved boxes and that we ate Arby's roast beef sandwiches on the fireplace because we hadn't moved our furniture in yet. Graham was sleeping in the pack-n-play in our bedroom to be as far away from our noise as possible. And we painted Graham's room that night too. So much happened in that one day!! One year later we are still slowly working on house projects but has definitely become home to us. AND Kate and Fig have joined our family too! We have been provided for abundantly!!

Aunt Riah

2009-11-17T21:08:00.007-06:00

My sister, Mariah, came to visit us for a whole WEEK!! It was so much fun to have her here... she is so great with Graham and Kate (although I think after spending so much time with us she is not eager to have chillens right away!) and I loved having her to hang out with. Because she is a busy bee working in DC (I did not mean to make that rhyme, but it did), she wanted a restful(ish) vacation. So that is what we did! Well, as much as you can rest with a 2 year old and 5 month old in the same living space. We had a girls only day which we used for some pampering, went to the neighborhood park, meandered around Kemah, played Wii, and just had some good quality sister time (and ample aunt to nephew/niece time too). Here are some snapshots from our week...

Mario Kart competitions

Rolling competitions with Kate

So I said we went to the park... that lasted for about 5 minutes. The mosquitos were SO big and biting SO much that day so we literally ran from the park back to the house. But we had a superfun 5 minutes at the park while it lasted!

At Kemah... We saw lots of boats going out to the bay -- Graham's favorite (and free!) thing to do there :o)

Miss Kate... note the teeth! They came in over a month ago when she was 4 and a half months old which I hadn't expected. I think Graham's came in around 6 months... Each child really is different - even from the same family!

Cheese!!

I love love that Kemah has such a fun sprayground. Graham is not a fan... even when running through on a stroller. Maybe someday!

We love you, Aunt Riah and can't wait to see you at Christmas!!!

Bonk

2009-11-09T22:22:00.003-06:00

From the side, the poor boy looks like he has a dinosaur spike! But he is okay (and the wall is too)... Graham doesn't look too concerned does he?

Birth Day

2009-11-06T23:18:00.007-06:00

Nat and many others made my birthday such a special day! I enjoyed a waffle and bacon breakfast followed by a sweet friend bringing by a Starbucks mocha and chocolate muffin treat! Nat had also arranged for another friend to come by and keep Graham and Kate so that we could have a lunch date (she's from Holland and brought a Dutch lunch for Graham -- he loves those sprinkles!).

Nat made a yummy chocolate-all-the-way-through cake and a couple of friends stopped by to share dinner and cake with us (and Dr. Pepper)! FYI it was my birthday, even though there are only two candles on the cake... they were all we had!

I enjoyed a simple yet special day, topped off with some cuddles from my babies... thank you!!

Happy Halloween (a tad late)!

2009-11-03T22:08:00.004-06:00

I was reminded today by a few family members that no one has seen pictures from Halloween yet ;o) So... enjoy!

These were our finished pumpkins... can you tell who carved which pumpkins?!

Our church puts on a "Reformation Celebration" each year to celebrate Reformation Day (also on October 31st!)... It's a fun event to get dressed up for, have a chili dog dinner and let the kiddos play carnival games for prizes! Kate went as a little lamb :o)

She's chatting it up with her buddy Ella the ladybug!

Since it is a reformation celebration it was only appropriate for Martin Luther to make an appearance! The youth group put on a skit for the little ones :o)

Graham was a pirate... arrrrgggghhhh!! Complete with a parrot tattoo

Graham's friend Grant had the same idea!!

Pirate training: Beanbag toss

We had such a fun night!!

Gimme More!!

2009-11-02T22:00:00.002-06:00

She actually doesn't like rice cereal... but she likes the spoon!!

Wings Over Houston

2009-11-02T21:33:00.008-06:00

This weekend was the annual Wings Over Houston airshow. We were generously given free tickets so we enjoyed most of Saturday afternoon on the tar strip! We also enjoyed the treat of running into and spending the afternoon with a new family at our church who just moved to TX from Greensboro, NC :o)

Kate was all bundled in her JMU gear (although it was so warm and bright that we had to replace the cap with her sun hat)!

A sample...

The boys enjoying the show :o) **Note the headphones -- it was LOUD!!

Okay, so this was crazy to me... if you look closely, there is a woman standing on the top of the plane who is NOT attached to anything. She is in front of a bar and the force of the wind was holding her against it, even while the plane was doing loops!

More...

The "main" performance was by the Blue Angels... It was an amazing show!!

Pumpkins=Fall

2009-10-30T20:11:00.001-05:00

I love fall and pumpkins make me think fall even when it IS in the 80s outside! Here are our cuties where we picked out pumpkins. We came away with three... a big one, a medium one, and a small one that Graham thought was a ball (we had planned on buying a baby pumpkin but that was a definite when he threw it to the concrete sidewalk to bounce it like a basketball)!! We also had a super fun night of carving them, but we did that with friends and I forgot my camera at home.

I mentioned the weather that has been much too warm for fall but we were thankful today for another front to move in... Hooray for the first day of sweater-weather!! I really do love fall. :o)

"Floating, Floating...

2009-10-30T19:29:00.011-05:00

Up to the clouds in my hot air balloon!"

Last weekend the Ballunar Festival was here at NASA. I have never in my life seen so many hot air balloons in one location! It may seem like I'm bombarding the blog with balloon pictures but I seriously took 149 pictures on that day alone. So really, you should be thankful for only the 14 that are posted ;o) We went after G's naptime and spent the rest of the afternoon and evening (until about 8:30!) sitting on one of the NASA fields watching a balloon competition, skydivers, and a balloon glow. It was such a beautiful day for it too!!

Feasting on the carnival-like food of a turkey leg -- wow! (not so appetizing to me... I ate pizza).

Kate was enjoying the gorgeous day too!
Some of the balloons we saw...
I just thought this looked so neat.
After dark I went to one of the vendors to snag some hot chocolate for Graham and for myself and some coffee for Nat and we enjoyed the "balloon glow" that all of the balloons lined up for... My camera does not do it justice, it looked amazing!

Granddaddy's Day

2009-10-25T22:26:00.004-05:00

Happy Happy Birthday, Daddy/Granddaddy!! We are so thankful to have you in our lives and we love you very very much!!!!!

I Love This

2009-10-25T08:55:00.002-05:00

Happy Birthday Ella Grace!!

2009-10-16T15:41:00.004-05:00

Ella Grace was born yesterday afternoon, October 15, 2009!! She weighed in at 8lbs 2oz and was 20.5 inches long. We are SO very excited for Todd, Chelsie, and big brother Joel to have this sweet new addition to their family and hooray for a new cousin!!! We can't wait to meet her! We love you guys :o)

Nat's Ordination!!

2009-09-30T23:52:00.009-05:00

Sepember 27, 2009

Reverend McMillan Nathanael Davidson

What an exciting and humbling weekend!! Nat was ordained during the worship service on Sunday morning. The sermon was from 1 Timothy 4:6-16... that and the charge made to Nat was challenging and encouraging. We are so thankful for our church family and the support that they have given us. We are also thankful for our family members who were able to fly down and join us for such a big weekend!

I didn't have great pictures from my camera (above) so we're very appreciative to Joe for capturing the service for us to remember (I just don't know how to include them in the blog since it's DVD format).

Since we had more manpower, Nat's dad helped us install a new patio door... hooray!!

Family :o)

Home Again Home Again Jiggity-Jig

2009-09-30T23:46:00.006-05:00

Some fun from the home front...
I love my wild and crazy (and flexible!) kids. Also, a big thanks to Nat's Aunt Marie for the finger puppets -- they're a big hit!

...And Up to Maryland

2009-09-30T23:19:00.010-05:00

Bernie was sweet enough to drive down to Salem to pick us up from my parents' house and take us back up to Maryland. We enjoyed a stop off at JMU on the way up to eat at Mr. J's Bagel Shop and to get some new school gear for the big game we went to on Saturday. Mitch also flew in from Nashville on Thursday night so we had fun hanging out with him and Jackie for most of Friday!
Graham showed off his musical abilities :o)

Friday night we headed to the Hackenbergs' house for dinner -- we really loved catching up with this wonderful friends and letting Graham and Moses play together!

Hannah with Kate

Saturday was a fun and busy day! Bernie took us to Wheaton Regional Park for a picnic, carousel (Graham's first ever!), and train ride!! Mitch, Jackie, Chelsie and Joel were able to come out too!

Uncle Mitch with the boy cousins :o)

Smile fast!!

Graham and Joel made good use out of the train hats that Granddaddy got Graham in Virginia (we ended up with two after thinking one was gone forever at a Chick-Fil-A... nope! Just hiding in the car). The boys were ready for the train!!

All aboard!

Saturday night all of the Davidson siblings came together for a match up between JMU and Maryland (mine and Nat's alma maters). They never play each other (they're in different leagues) so we were super excited to actually be in Maryland on a night that they were.

Go JMU Dukes!!!

We love each other even though we were rivals for the night :o)

Todd, Chelsie (and baby girl coming soon!), Bridgette, Me, Nat, Mitch, and Jackie!

The last play of the game... Maryland won in overtime, 35-38 with a field goal. Such a close and fun game!!

Playing in the yard with Aunt Bridge (although Graham for some reason calls her Uncle Bridge!)

The Davidson (and Geary) Clan: Todd, Chelsie, Joel (and baby girl), Jackie, Mitch, Bernie, Dudley, Nat, Graham, Me, Kate, Randall, and Bridgette... whew! That's a lot of family!

Joel and Graham

Sweet Kate

Graham having fun with Uncle Mitch and Jackie!

Mariah and her boyfriend Evan came up to Maryland so that we could meet him and see her one more time before we came home to Texas! A sister picture plus my babies :o)

Mariah, Evan, and Kate!

Tuesday night we had another family night (minus Mitch who had to go back to Nashville) up at Todd and Chelsie's. Goofing off with homemade pizza faces!!

Yummy dinner... thanks Chels!

What visit is complete without a cousin bath? This time next year there will be four in the tub!

Bella needed some cuddle time too... thank you for having us -- we had a ball!

Beautiful Virginia

2009-09-30T22:49:00.013-05:00

In September, we took a big trip east!! I took the kiddos by myself to start the trip and was so thankful that this was the result on the airplane!! Two sleeping babies :o)

We flew into Baltimore then Mariah picked us up from the Davidsons' and brought us to Virginia to visit my parents! We arrived on Mum and Daddy's 33rd wedding anniversary (Sept 4) which was fun to celebrate. My mom even pulled out her wedding gown which has been stored ever since their wedding. We had quite a shock when we opened up the box and the dress appeared blue... we were thankful when we realized that the blue was just the tissue paper the dress was packed in and NOT discoloration of the dress! Aren't they a handsome couple??

That Saturday we took a picnic to Mill Mountain, and explored the Discovery Center and the zoo! Graham has talked non-stop about going to the zoo on the mountain.

Daddy with his grandbabies -- go Hokies!!

On Labor Day we headed to the Transportation Museum... It looked like they had a ton to explore, but Nat's flight was going to be landing soon so we hit the highlights -- the trains!!

I should have taken a picture of the model display... the picture of Graham and Daddy is one small window of a HUGE model train arrangement.

The caboose!

Mum kept us going all week with yummy yummy meals... Isn't she cute in front of a grill?!

"Aunt Riah" and Mum visiting with Kate

The whole crew :o)

One of my favorite things is the cold early mornings with the windows open and something warm to drink. Here's Nat having a sweet moment with Graham and Kate :o)

My sister left to go back to DC that Tuesday and my parents had to work so we made Tuesday a visiting day! Somehow these pictures switched and I can't reverse them for some reason. We headed to Blacksburg on Tuesday around lunchtime to visit with some dear friends from seminary, the Waters (below to the right). We had a GREAT time catching up with them and having our kids (they have three) play together. Next time we see them they will have another sweet little girl! I forgot to get my camera out until the end so this is all I have.

That night my parents kept Graham and we met up with friends that I grew up with (and also the very ones who had invited me to youth group 10 years ago where I eventually became a believer), Lisa and Carissa. We had a fun triple date with Carissa and Keegan and Lisa and Aaron. Lisa's mom kept their oldest, Vivian, and the two Kates came along with us!! I think I must have had my camera on a funny setting because the pictures of the adults were all washed out, boo. But this is a decent one of the two Kates (below left)!

Since my parents had to work on Wednesday too we spent our morning at the park (after a stop at the Salem Doughnut Shop, of course)! Graham sported the beloved train hat his Granddaddy gave him :o)

Beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains... this is taken from a section of my parents' driveway.

Graham calling for the donkeys to come to him :o)

We had such a great time spending a week in Virginia and can't wait to see them again!!!

I Love Me Some Katrina

2009-09-30T22:18:00.007-05:00

For five glorious days, my college roomie Katrina and her boyfriend Eric came to visit! It was SO great to see each other again and I was happy for the chance to get to know Eric. We went out for ice cream, went to an Astros game, to NASA, and even had the chance to go on a double date night with great thanks to our neighbors for keeping Graham! They had a chance to go to Galveston for a day and Katrina and I snuck off for a bit to have some girlie time with a much needed pedicure. The visit was topped off with late nights talking and playing cards (whoo-hoo for learning Nertz!). I loved having Graham get to know one of my favorite people (and for Kate to meet her)! It was such a sweet visit!!!

The pictures all came out smaller than I thought...hmm, I'll work on that!

Hearts Full of Thanks!

2009-08-21T14:40:00.002-05:00

Nat passed his oral ordination exams!! No pictures, but I wanted to mark this celebratory time :o) After a few years of seminary, hours upon hours of studying, testing, and paper writing this was the final (well, besides being commissioned) exam toward being a teaching elder in the PCA church!! His ordination service will take place at the end of September. Congratulations, Nat -- I'm so proud of you and am excited every day to walk with you and to see how the Lord uses you in ministry!!! :o)

How to Stay Cool on a Hot Texas Week

2009-08-12T23:10:00.005-05:00

Water

That about does it! :o)

Welcome Kate!

2009-08-08T16:07:00.003-05:00

A dear friend of mine from growing up (Lisa) and her husband (Aaron) just welcomed their second beautiful baby girl into this world! Her name is Kate Leigh and she was born August 5! I took this picture from their blog - although we hope to see them in person soon. Congratulations to Aaron, Lisa and big sister Vivian... and welcome to sweet baby Kate!! Great is His faithfulness :o)

Beach Boys

2009-08-06T09:10:00.003-05:00

On Monday (Nat's day off), he took Graham to Galveston for the morning to play in the sand and fly his kite -- they had a great time!!

And this is the smiley girl I got to spend some extra time with :o)

Happy Birthday Mitch!!

2009-07-31T19:28:00.003-05:00

We miss you and hope you're having a great day!! (Note - this did go on longer than we anticipated, but we just had to play you the whole thing!!) :o)

More Family Time

2009-07-31T18:32:00.002-05:00

Nat's parents (Gram Gram and Pop Pop) had the opportunity to come for another quick visit last weekend - this was Pop Pop's first time to meet Kate!

Gram Gram with her grandbabies :o)

The brisket Nat made for us one night... it was amazing!

A smiley Kate!

Batter up! Practicing with Pop Pop :o)

We Love Skype!

2009-07-31T18:20:00.003-05:00

We love keeping up with family and friends using Skype!! We had a great time chatting with our good friends Jeremy and Hannah the other night and gave Graham the chance to catch up with his buddy, Mr. Moses!! :o)

Happy Birthday to Aslan!!

2009-07-24T22:36:00.003-05:00

Happy 5th Birthday Aslan!! And Happy 5th Anniversary to our friends and Aslan's first parents, Sean and Lindsay :o) We are thankful for such a fun, spunky, and cuddly cat to be a part of our family!!!