Sunday, September 25, 2011

A Special Dedication

I'm not sure if we announced that we did officially decide on a church out here. We now attend First Baptist Church here in Oregon. We have come to really enjoy the different ministries they have, and we love the preaching.

Today our church had a Baby Dedication for the families who have children that haven't been dedicated to the Lord yet. We were never able to do this for Jewell in South Carolina, so we decided to dedicate both of the kids at the same time. I'm so happy we were able to do it this way.

Two other families from our church Home Group dedicated their little ones as well. I think that made the whole thing even more special. :)






Saturday, September 24, 2011

I'm a Big Kid Now!

What an exciting weekend we've had. Not only have the kids been extra cute, but Jewell overcame a huge obstacle! That's right, she can play on the playground equipment at the park!!!!!!! Yes, I'm more than thrilled about this. I usually try to take the kids to the park by myself while Matt is at work. But this weekend we all went together. Jewell usually requires a lot of help, so Matt worked with her a bit, while I played with Jeffers, and then we switched. Today, it all finally clicked! I think it helped that I wasn't holding Jefferson while helping her go up the steps.





We started out by my going down the slide WITH her. It was a bit of a big slide on that side of the equipment anyways. All of a sudden, she took off! She started climbing on her own! Then, she went down the slide by herself. By the end, I didn't even have to follow her around. It was funny though, she went to the slide by herself, and she went down the slide on her tummy. She always thinks that's safer because we taught her how to go down the stairs at home that way.








While Jewell was learning to play, Jefferson was enjoying a little photo shoot with Matt :). Who says you have to spend several hundred dollars on professional pictures? My husband can do it all! Love love love it!








What a fun weekend/adorable weekend of enjoying our children.

Happy Birthday Daddy

Last Friday (forgive the late post...we've been having major internet issues that were finally resolved today), Matt turned another year older. Yep, that's right, he is now 28 years old. His sister Stephanie and I think it's hilarious that it's the first birthday away from his Mom :). It's more like a family joke actually... But still funny to us.

We had a blast with a few friends that came to celebrate with us. We have come to get to know Matt's bosses family pretty well, so we invited them over for grilled steak and cheesecake. I of course insisted that Matt blow out all 28 candles.

I gave Matt an Oregon Ducks has for his birthday this year, but we decided we'd save up for an iPhone 5 as his real gift. He's pretty excited!




Monday, September 19, 2011

Our Angel Turns 2

This past Thursday our little girl turned 2 years old. She is getting so big! This year has been full of changes in her little life. She learned to drink out of sippy cup, crawl, and walk! She also moved across the country. But the biggest change was probably welcoming her little brother into our family :). She's done just splendidly. We love how innocent and sweet she is when learning new things, or trying to communicate with us. Jewell has entered the typical "Terrible Twos", but those moments are always put in the back of our mind when we hear her say things like, "more please, thank you, daddy...w'are you?, love you, kiss!, baby...sleeping!, and AMEN, etc. No matter how "terrible" a moment may seem, there are always those moments that melt your heart.

Milestones: Jewell can walk! She started walking at 20 months. She can count to twelve and attempts to count to 20. She knows all of her letters and points out words. She has the basic shapes down now, and almost knows all of her colors :).

Sleeping: Jewell still takes a 3 hour nap and sleeps for 12 hours at night.

Favorite Activities: Reading, playing with the neighbor kids, nursery :), blowing bubbles, taking baths with Jefferson, coloring, walking her baby stroller around, playing with her kitchen, and loving her Daddy! What more could a Mom ask for! I'm so thankful for the Daddy/daughter relationship they have already.

This year we decided not to throw a big party. We think she'll enjoy one much better next year. We are definitely looking forward to it!

Her big present from us this year was a play kitchen. She hasn't stopped playing with it either! She just loves acting like she is cooking, especially when I cook dinner.

Here are some pictures of our little family party :). We gave her the kitchen after she woke up that morning. We just couldn't wait! You'll notice some of the letters are missing from the cake pictures. Jewell was much more interested in telling us the names of the letters on her cake and then eating them, than actually eating her cake! Love it!













We love you so much Jewell!

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

7 Months

Oh goodness. This is SOOOOOOOO late. So so so late. Poor Jefferson. He's already 7.5 months old and I'm just now updating his friends. Such is life.

Jefferson is doing so well! I will have to take the typical elephant picture later because I'm struggling to keep him still for the picture :). Love it!

So here goes....
  • Eating: He takes 4 bottles a day. 2 of the bottles he drinks 5 ounces and the other 2 he drinks about 6. Yes, he finally quit nursing. He just wanted to look around the entire time! So I dried up. He also has solids 3 times a day, but hates vegetables with a passion.
  • Sleeping: Jeffers is a great sleeper. He sleeps from 7 PM to 7 AM and takes 2, 2 hour naps. I'm so blessed!
  • Milestones: Jeffers sits up great now! He loves to play on the floor. He is desperately trying to crawl, but isn't quite there yet. He is also grabbing things better with his hands and using his thumb more often. He isn't too into reading yet, preferring to eat the book rather than look at the pictures.
  • Weight: I'm pretty sure he's thinning out now. Which is a nice thing for Mommy! He's about 20 lbs so I'm not worried.
  • Clothes: He wears 12 month clothes. He has outgrown every 9 month pair of shorts or one piece outfits except for body suits. Typical boy!
  • Little brother things: Well, Jewell learned what it's like to have a little brother. He pulled a rather large chunk of her hair out this last weekend. Oh goodness...
Jefferson is just as sweet as can be. He's a big Mommy lover and well, he adores his sister! He laughs all the time, and loves long stroller rides. In fact, I think we need a new double stroller (I bought mine used for 15 dollars) because he's trying to escape the one I have or pull on Jewell's hair. We just eat him up each day, and thank the Lord for His great plan for him to be our son.