10 months and Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas week! Andrew turned 10 months old last week amid what I thought was a bad cold and turned out to be bronchiolitis and an ear infection. He is on medication and doing much better now, bless his heart, but please keep him in your prayers. Many blessings to you and yours this season! I'm thankful for each of you!

Our extra traveler: a pesky winter storm.

two inches of ice on the rearview mirrors......on the hood...and the sheet of ice that came off our roof!

We finally got home yesterday from a great trip to Arkansas. What was supposed to be a relatively short, uncomplicated trip became longer and a little tricky when a major winter storm decided to hang directly over our travel route! So instead of us going part of the way back on Monday night and the rest of the way Tuesday (putting us home Tuesday afternoon), we went part of the way Monday night, part of the way Tuesday, and the rest of the way Wednesday morning, putting us home Wednesday afternoon. We are very thankful to be home safely! Most of the way on Tuesday we had about two inches of ice covering our car (see pictures below). At one point on Tuesday night Bryan had to pull over and chip the ice off the headlights because we couldn't see! Bryan and I have a joke that every year we inevitably have one trip that is just awful (trust me, it's happened for like five years in a row), and this year we hadn't had it yet so we had to squeeze it in before 2009! HA! Anyway, like I said we are very glad to be home safe and sound. Thanks to those of you who prayed for safe travel for us!

We did have a great visit in Arkansas. Check out my slideshow below for a review!

Why we love Amelia--a select few reasons :-)

Amelia does "ta-da!" from her gymnastics class

Amelia never fails to entertain us. I often wonder to Bryan, "what did we laugh at before we had Amelia?" She always has something funny to say or an interesting perspective to share. Here are a few of her latest funnies, and a link to a great video.

1. At church we have a Children's Worship time during the sermon; it typically comes after the communion and offering. I usually give Amelia a dollar to put in the offering plate. Yesterday the plate went around faster than I realized and by the time it got to us, I hadn't given the dollar to Amelia yet, so I just put it in along with my check. Upset, she folded her arms and grumbled. Then came this exchange.

Amelia: "Now I can't go."
Me:"You can't go where?"
Amelia: "To Children's Worship."
Me: "Why not?"
Amelia: "Because I didn't put my dollars in."
Me: "Well Honey, you don't have to pay to go; you can still go."
Amelia: "Oh."

2. The other day I was on the computer, Bryan was working, and Andrew was down for a nap. Amelia really wanted someone to play with her. After telling her several times that I'd play with her as soon as I finished what I was doing, she said "but if no one plays with me, I won't be beautiful anymore." Not sure what that means, but at least she has self-confidence!

3. At school one day Amelia drew a picture of her family. As she was showing it to me I noticed there were only three people in it. She identified them as Mommy, Daddy and Amelia. I said, "where's Andrew and Fletcher?" To which she replied, "they're taking a nap." She certainly knows what goes on at our house!

4. Usually when I make dinner, Bryan does dishes. Last week, though, Bryan was putting up a new ceiling fan in our bedroom and wanted to get it done right away, so he went to work on it right after we ate. As I was about to start clearing the table and putting things away, Bryan called me into the room to help him. I'd been in there for several minutes when I heard Amelia humming to herself and heard water running. I peeked around the corner and saw that Amelia had gotten her stool out of the bathroom and, without being asked at all, had taken all our dishes to the sink, rinsed them off, and was putting them into the dishwasher. She'd also put away most of the food we had out (including the salt and pepper shakers, which were in the fridge--but hey, she was helping!!). I took this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXhY-_kiIko, most of it before she saw me. But it was so sweet that she wanted to help and did it all on her own, and we were so proud of her. She is such a great girl!

Nine Months

Andrew turned nine months old yesterday. He's officially now been outside me as long as he was inside me! Weird! He is 28" tall and 21 pounds, 12 ounces, which despite what we'd think is only in the 50-75th percentile. I'm sure his chubby legs would break some records, though! I should take a picture of them sometime for those of you who haven't had the privelige to see them. :-) Anyway, here is his nine month picture.

Amelia's big weekend

Yesterday Amelia turned four years old! I can hardly believe time has gone by so fast. Amelia's birthday weekend was quite full, starting on Friday morning:

• Amelia got to take a special snack to her class (chocolate chip muffins--it was morning, so I couldn't really do cupcakes or anything)
• Ms. Vicky, her Pre-K teacher, gave her a new book about Clifford the Big Red Dog; Amelia got to wear a birthday crown, and she got to come home with "Ted E.," her class mascot (the kids take turns taking him home each weekend and journaling about his adventures)
• We celebrated early with a bunch of friends at Red Robin. I forgot my camera, which is really too bad because while the staff was singing their "happy birthday" song to Amelia, she had this look on her face the whole time like, "you are so out of tune." It was quite hilarious. Everyone (well our friends that is) came back to our house for cake afterwards.
• Saturday morning Amelia opened presents from family. She began the morning by opening our door at 8:00 a.m. and saying, "Mom, it's my birthday..."
• Three of Amelia's friends came over for Amelia's party, which was Disney Princess-themed. The girls enjoyed the cake (thanks, Sam's Club!) and playing with the presents they brought Amelia (ha!). Then, we all bundled up, strapped everyone into the car (thanks Matt and Jess for the loaner!) and went to...
• ...the Circus! Only one out of the four little girls had been to a circus before. All four had a great time.

It was a fun birthday weekend, and we were all pretty worn out when we got home last night. Amelia had a great time. Here are pictures from our weekend!

Happy 28th, Sister!

This is a birthday shout-out to my sister Abby, who's touring the country. Happy birthday! We love you!

Halloween

We had a great time last night taking the kids trick-or-treating. Andrew was pretty much just along for the ride, but he did great. The only annoying thing was that people kept saying, "Oh, I love his gnome costume!" Come on, people. He was riding around with Snow White. Really? A gnome? He was Dopey, just to clarify. Anyway, Amelia did great and enjoyed both getting and giving candy. Here are a few pictures from the evening.