Family and Friends

We had a busy couple weeks with a quick visit from my parents, a visit from my brother, and a wedding and a conference! We had our best snowfall of the year earlier in March and since it had a nice thick coating of ice underneath, it made for great sledding!

Of course, snow and sledding means hot chocolate - since we only have had snow like three times this winter, we all enjoy it as a special treat :)

The girls love their Auntie Miriam!

Mom and Dad came especially to see baby Aaron Joseph before he grows up :)

Dad and Aaron Joseph hanging out -

We spent the night before the wedding with the McC. family. Esther had so much fun playing with her cousins and Joanna - Here they're watching part of a movie. The girls also enjoyed a toy they've recently "met" - marbles:)

Aaron Joseph was smiling for the camera too - as well as his wonderful father!

The pretty stage and bridesmaids at the wedding -

We tried a quick family picture, but didn't take the time to get everyone to smile...

All my parent's grandchildren :)

The reception was beautiful and delicious - my favorite idea was the "cookie buffet".

Aaron, Dad, Mom, Miriam, and Anna

Anna got a special children's plate - with food that didn't stain her clothes!

Michael and Jordan laughing - It's always encouraging to see a wedding of two young people who want to put God first in their lives and let His Providence lead them to the right one!

The last wedding I went to at this church was Amos and Rebekah's - 6 years and 4 children ago :) For those of you that don't know - Aaron moved to MN the weekend of their wedding...

Daniel kept wanting to hold the baby.

We met Nathanael and Mrs. G. for lunch in Nashville -

It's quite a sight to bring 7 small children into a Cracker Barrel! They were good though :)

The cousins (minus Aaron) by an old train at Centennial Park -

Outside the Parthenon - It was a beautiful day to be outside!

Jeriah and Gideon -

A statue of one of our favorite heros - Sgt. York! Amos and Aaron also spent some time working on our matching vans. We loved having everyone come for a visit!

The girls think Aaron's changing table is their bunk bed :)

I didn't give this picture time to download all the way. This is the big chapel at the campus where the conference was held.

While Aaron was in sessions, we spent a lot of time at the "play area".

I enjoyed meeting other moms who brought their children to play and having someone else take care of meals!

Two Years and Two Months

 Aaron Joseph has an outfit with almost every animal you can think of on it...there are several with puppies and the words on this one say "Top Dog", which has become one of our nicknames for our favorite baby boy:)

 He's growing, or else his clothes are shrinking and has started to be a little more aware of what's going on.

 Anna and Esther just hanging out - they really are not hyper all the time!

 Those of you that are not grandparents can just scroll quickly through this post because I had so many cute pictures (or at least, I thought they were cute) of Aaron Joseph that I just went ahead and posted them all :)

 So sweet :)

 He has started smiling more and I just adore his smile - even has dimples!

 Aaron made "mini-mouse" pancakes for breakfast on Anna's 2nd birthday - actually it was on Saturday, since we knew we'd be busy on Sunday, we celebrated a day early.

 She has an obsession right now with anything the color pink, so she went for the pink gift-bag first!

 Esther wanted to open the gifts for Anna, so we let her hand the bags to her instead.

 New hair things from Grandma!

 If I can just get her to leave them in a whole morning of church...

 Looking at a new "book" -

 Helping Mommy make gingerbread cake -

 One of her new phrases is  "Happy Birthday to Me"-

 She wouldn't try to blow her candles out ("they're hot") and she didn't want whipped cream on her cake...but the rest of us enjoyed it :)

 Aaron and his Dad did some work with the bee hives that day...

 OK, this is Aaron on his 2-month birthday - enlarge the pictures if you can to see that special smile!

 The normal "serious" look -

Anna, Esther and I were hanging out at church and Anna found my camera and wanted me to take a picture of her.

Esther's new thing is taking her old purse full of uncracked hazelnuts and saying "These are my own weapons. Come on Anna, let's go face Goliath" - based off lines from her David and Goliath story book. So far she hasn't figured out what a sling is and I don't plan to show her anytime soon :)

I've been trying to do some reading - especially when I'm up in the middle of the night...I recently read a really interesting book on the "candy bomber" of the Berlin Air Lift, something I really didn't know much about, and "100 Christian Women who Changed the 20th Century" - It covered a very broad spectrum, so I wouldn't say all the ladies changed things for the better, nonetheless, there were a lot of great stories and was inspiring.

I've also been trying to use up our winter squash before it goes bad, so I tried out "stuffed acorn squash" - very good, "butternut squash soup" - not good at all, squash fries, and pumpkin chip drops, as well as a recipe for garlic spaghetti, Cajun cabbage, and shredded beef sandwiches.

At church we've had several special speakers this winter - an evangelist who did a "one-day revival", a couple who partners with a national-led ministry in India, and a speaker from Creation Ministries International who did a great job! We really enjoyed visiting with all of them.

I'm hardly ever in town on the first Saturday of the month, but I was yesterday and had fun going to Goodwill to do some summer clothes shopping. Aaron did a funeral for a man who was a WW2 veteran and who knew Sgt. York. We met a family here who used to go to the same church that Aaron was saved in. I came down with the flu one day this week - as I was in the line to check out my groceries...Anyway, Hope you all have a great week!