Merry Christmas

It is this time of year that I think will always be the time that sticks out in mind from my childhood. My siblings and I saw much more than most kids our age did when we grow up. But this time of year always seemed to be the time of quietness and unselfishness. I think about this and think that there are tons of kids out there right now who suffer and are lonely and may never know that our Christ is the reason we live. I long for the time when my kids who are small will desire and grow to love our Jesus. I think about my family and how much my siblings and I love each other and how this year I won't celebrate Christmas with them. How I will miss my whole family and how I will desire to be with them, but I am so excited to teach and show Lydia and Seth that Christmas is about so much more than just gifts, but it is about the Savior who came as a baby to suffer the consequence that we fully deserve but that Christ was the biggest gift we could have ever gotten. I am hoping that they will love and desire to know about our Christ of Christmas. I also desire that they will desire to keep the relationship they have with each other. I know siblings fight , but I also know that my siblings are the best. I love you guys so much and I am sad to miss Christmas with you but I just want to say that I could never ask for better siblings than you. I am also thankful for my siblings that I have slowly gained over the past few years. Who knew that I would get my wish to be a big sister, you guys are amazing. Dad and mom I look forward to the time when we will be together again, because with out you guys I couldn't have all of my amazing siblings and I wouldn't have the knowledge I have if it weren't for you, that goes for both sets of my parents. I am super excited for starting our own traditions here with my awesome hubby and sharing it with our amazing kids. Merry Christmas from the Leinewebers!!

Christmas is upon us

I feel like the second half of this year has flown by. This past week Nana (aka Joels mom) came in town for a few days. We sure were a busy crew. Friday night we went to the opening night of Christmas town at the creation museum. Saturday I had a meeting in the morning and then our friends Josh and Laura got married in the evening, I will just make a side note here, if you are buying stuff on clearance make sure it fits before you leave the store. I bought Lydia some tights from there Saturday morning that said they were for 2 to 4 year olds and since she already is small I figured this was great, until I opened it and turns out they were for 4 to 6 year olds. So I had to make a trip out again right before the wedding to find tights that fit her. Ok moving on Sunday was our easy day then we had our Christmas party for Joels work. We road the fairy across the Ohio river and that was lydias favorite part although the rest of us were anticipating how many ways we could die riding on the fairy a very funny conversation if you ask me, Lydia even got to help Nana make Christmas cookies. Now that nana is gone Lydia asks every day if we can go to Nanas house for morrow which is Lydia talk for tomorrow. So I have to continue to explain that we can't just drive to her house in one day like we could to her friends house. But we are looking forward to going and visiting them at the end of the month. Seth has decided to help learn what discipline really looks like, he is very strong willed and a big trouble maker, but he can and is the sweetes little guy. He runs around the house yelling Daddy and pointing as if he sees Joel all through out the house. He gives random hugs and kisses and boy does he love his sister. I hope they always have a close bond.

In a nut shell

It has been a very long time since I have blogged so this might be a long one, but here it is. We had what felt like a long fall. Between sickness and other things going on we stayed cooped up in our house for awhile. But we have all been well for awhile so that is such a blessing from God. In October I excepted a position in our church as a nursery coordinator and the great thing is I do most of it from home. So that is a fun new exciting but mostly growing experience. Seth has his 15 month checkup and he was is little just like Lydia was and is. He has finally gotten his 4 front teeth in and one back molar but it looks like more are on their way. Lydia continues to develop vocabulary and I have been homeschooling her now for about 3 months. I hadn't used any curriculum but just little lessons plans I have put together here and there. I am looking at starting her curriculum the beginning of January because I feel like she would do well with it, but she has developed her numbers, some of her alphabet, colors, and shapes. She looks forward to the time we (her and mommy) get to spend time together. Seth and Lydia both love to read so we spend a good portion of our day reading it is amazing. Joel still remains busy at work and I am continually thankful for his job that he can enjoy. This Thanksgiving I was able to host and cook. My parents and my Aunt and Uncle came down on their 4 week journey through some of the states to see various children of theirs. I learned how to cook a big turkey and things to and not to do. I made pies and even stuffing which turned out was pretty good but over all it was neat to spend that time with my family. We started some new traditions in our house. We went and picked out our Christmas tree and even put up decorations outside. I tried my hand at some decorations for Christmas outside with the help of my amazing little girl. So now we look forward to Christmas to celebrate Christ and what He has done on the cross and to teach our kiddos what the true meaning of Christmas is. Hopefully I won't go months again without blogging.

Fall season

Well our fall season hasn't started off the best way, but we are spending some family time together confined to our home, except for our small trip to church this morning. Just a little disclaimer those of you who knew we were all sick we all aren't contagious anymore do to strong anti biotics that we all have been on. But as of this afternoon I am able to breathe the best I have breathed in over a month and Joel doesn't sound like base tenor anymore. But onto why I am posting. Last year I tried a butternut squash pie for the first time and it was amazing. So I have a renewed vigor to bake and maybe even try a chili with butternut squash in it. But I am at a loss. I love fall season and how it forces you sometimes to stay in more, so I am looking for some recipes. Melissa, I know that you bake and cook a lot so I am looking forward to some of your recipes. If any one else out there has a fall recipe to share I would love to try to make it, I also like how some of you make you recipes and change them up a bit. Maybe I will take some pictures and blog about all the recipes I want to try. All this once I don't feel like I am drowning on my own fluid anymore. Thanks for the recipes a head of time.

What God is teaching me

Where to begin. This month sure has had it's down for us. First starting with my parents. Please pray for them, they need Christ more now than ever as the new casting crowns song says. We went to visit them and saw God work even in the smallest of things. On our way back home about fours from home our amazing neighbors called us to tell us that there was water running out of our garage. Sigh, turns out the cold water line to our washer busted while we were gone. But our amazing neighbors called the water company and they turned off our water. So we have been steadily trying to get it fixed and finding out that only God truly knows what you need and when you need it. But let's back up about a month ago and Bam Joel breaks his nose playing ultimate frisbee (google that if you don't know what it is). So while we are in the midst of our basement saga, the amazing Dr tells us Joel needs to have some surgery to help him breath again. So now Joel has his surgery and God uses our awesome Dr to almost fully correct Joels nose. But once again God took care of me by bringing Joels parents here to help me help Joel recover. Mom and dad Leineweber you will never know how much I appreciate you and am thankful for you. So now that Joel is almost two weeks recovered from his surgery and his parents have gone home to Virginia and as we face new trials in our lives God still remains faithful even Down to something as small as the water company not charging us for the water that poured out of our basement. So as I titled this I thought about the new lessons God has taught me. One, He brings trials in our lives when He needs to teach me something and He through these trials shows me just how faithful he is when we rely on him, because I definitely needed His strength although I tried to use my own. Two, is that through theses trials we can witness to our amazing neighbors who watched out for us in our time of need. Three, God will continue to provide for you even in the worst of times. So thank you Lord for trials and thank you for protecting me through them

Happy birthday Rick Leineweber

Tomorrow we celebrate a lot of things. But I want to say Happy Birthday to my awesome father in law. I am so thankful for you and you and moms amzing example to us about what a marriage looks like. I am looking forward to the rest of time I can get to know you.

Betsy Leineweber

I just wanted to say Happy Birthday Betsy Leineweber. Her birthday was the 13th of August but I have been feeling a little overwhelmed by stuff. I just wanted to say thank you Mom for being such An amazing mother In law. You inspire me with so many things and I am so thankful to have you in my life. Thank you for celebrating your birthday with us. We love you.

Trip to NY

This past week we went and visited my family in New York. It was a long drive there but we left real early in the morning to get there in time for the kids to just be getting up from their naps. We had a great time. We celebrated Lydia, Seth's, and my nephew Adam's birthday. This was a special treat for us because I haven't been there for one of his birthdays since Joel and I have been married. So Happy Birthday Adam Nicholas LaPort. We spent some much needed quality time with my family. My brother hosted us so it was nice getting to reconnect with him even though I technically didn't get to see him much. My sister Yvette hosted during the day most days which Lydia and Seth both loved because they love their cousins. The funniest story while we were there was that we discovered that Lydia loves mice. Yes I know mice. My sister had 3 babies ones running around her house which her son Alex loved and they caught them and put them in a trap but they didn't live long because of the heat. But over all it was so nice to see you family.

Seth is 1

I know that it was a couple of weeks ago that Seth turned one, but I am just now posting because life seems real busy for us this month. Some of what he does and his states He weighs 19 pounds and he is 29 and a half inches long. He is walking and crawling both things Lydia never did. Sometimes it feels as if I have my first child with him. He eats real well. He loves anything he can put into something. He loves to snuggle. His favorite food is macaroni and cheese. He loves drinking out of his sippy cup. He has one tooth. The doctor said that he doesnt have anymore ready to come in yet. He loves Lydia and chases her around the house. He loves it when they do room time together which makes crib time hard. His favorite time of day is when daddy comes home from work at night. All in all we love him so much and are very thankful for him and his life. Here are some pictures from his birthday and his cake i made him.

Its been awhile

Wow it has been a long time since i have blogged. A lot has happened in the last month. To start off with Joel broke his nose playing ultimate Frisbee. It turned out better then what it sounded like in the emergency room, although he could be facing surgery for it next month. It really is up to him whether or not he wants it fixed. We celebrated a friend of ours, little girl Ana's birthday. She is one now. I turned 28 which wasn't to bad. My friends Candace, Cydney, Mandy and Jessie got together and celebrated it with me. Joel bought me some gorgeous flowers and an amazing spice rack. I have wanted one for awhile just never could justify buying one myself. Our over head microwave died awhile ago and Joel finally said lets replace it. So we did and then 2 and a half months later it quit working as well. But the maker of the microwave has to replace it so we are waiting on that now. Then this past Sunday our stove quit working. So we had to replace another appliance in our house. Sometimes it makes me wish that i could live back in the 1800's where these appliances didn't exist but then I thought no I dont want to do that either because then a wagon wheel might break or something like that. Oh well, life goes on. Both of our kids have had Hand, foot, mouth which is a virus and we continue to watch very closely so that no one we are around can get it. Which means we havent gone anywhere in the past few days. I have been enjoying a jazzercise class I have been taking for awhile and I am meeting goals in that so I am super excited. Joel remains busy at work and at home. The kids love to spend time with him very much and it seems as if they cant get enough of him. This coming month is a month full of birthdays so hopefully I will post more pictures soon.

Ups and downs

This week has been filled with some ups and downs, hence the title. Coming back from vacation is always hard for me. I love being around our families 24/7. I know you guys probably think I am weird, but in my defense we don't live near any family so it is fun when we get to see them. But sad to say I get very lonely. Joel goes back to work and BAM it hits me. I did have some time to get scheduled back out with the kiddos. Scheduling is hard to do when you want to go to the beach or zoo or whatever fun event we wanted to do while we were there. This week my loneliness seems to have eased up a bit but I am happy to say that i have a lot of fun projects I am working on. I have a secret gift I am making on for a friend and here comes one of my downsides. The gift requires some iron on pictures. Well sad to say I had to rip everything out because the iron on paper didn't work out very well. Then today as I was rounding up some edges,the rortary cutter that I use on material slid and you guessed it, i cut my finger. Thanks to my great friend Candace coming and telling me it's not bad at all I was able to go though the day trying not to think about the pain in my finger. I didn't really touch my project until Joel got home just in case I tried to cut off another finger. My other down was that I bought a melting pot to make shower favors fir a wedding shower I am throwing and when I opened it it was broken so I had to take it back. Today was a new start for all of those things. I didn't lose my finger so I am thankful for that and it is funny how you say, oh I didn't even know I used that finger or muscle or whatever the case may be until you can't. So God I am every bit thankful for the parts of my body I don't know that I use.

Phil's & Sarah's wedding

Joel and I had a pretty successful trip to the wedding. The kiddos traveled real well. We didn't have any major hiccups the day of the wedding. We are so thankful because so many people pitched in and helped us out with the kiddos. Joel's grandparents even got to spend some much needed time with their great grandchildren. We are so thankful to have them around. The only yucky thing that happened at the wedding was that Lydia got to hot and threw up all over her dress before the wedding ceremony. Joel's mom was able to get most of it off which was a very big blessing. Lydia and Seth were amazing the whole time we were at the weddings even though they missed naps and sometimes feedings. Seth right before the wedding fell out of the stroller and bruised up his face pretty badly but amazingly his face has healed now and only just markings are left from all the scratches and bruises. I am so thankful that God kept him safe and that he didn't have any major problems from it I should also say minor problems because he was fine. IT has been nice being able to spend time with Joel's family and hopefully soon we will be able to spend some much needed time with my family. Here are some pictures from the wedding.

9 months and counting

Seth is now 9 months. Today I took him for his 9 month checkup and he is doing real well. He weighs 17 pounds and he is 28 and 1/2 inches tall. Some of his milestones are, he says Mama and Dada. He walks along the furniture trying to walk without help. He also will let go and stand by himself for about a minute. He is a great eater. It is such a difference having a boy. I am so happy to experience life with both my girl and my boy.

Recharging our love

Last night we finally got a date night just Joel and I. Thank you to Dan and Becky. Seth after spending the day miserable and having no apparent reason why, we still decided to go on our date. Which I must say was most needed. So we all got into the car and my car barely started. Oh well it started and off we go. We dropped the kids off and left the car running so that it would stay working. So we went to dinner praying that our car would start. Woohoo it started, but we thought maybe we should try changing the battery. So off to walmart on our date and we replaced our car battery just Joel and i in the middle of the walmart parking lot. So this date as funny as it was is now sir named recharging our love, Thanks to Joel naming it that. But hey at least we were kidless.

Good bye april

Wow it has been a few weeks since my last post. But I will attempt to update this blog because some day I will be thankful I took the time to remember each activity as it changes and grows. Lydia is amazing. She is so sweet to Seth and misses him when he is sleeping or I have taken her some where without Seth. She is very smart , but i am sure most parents say that about their kids. She can identify a through h well. She knows all of her shapes now but we still are working on her colors and numbers. My favorite time with her lately is Saturday mornings. I taker grocery shopping with me while Joel stays home with the sleepy Seth. She loves to play outside especially with her friends Isabel and Abby. She has struggled with a couple of health things lately but nothing like solving some of them with prunes. I just took her to the doctors this morning and found out she had beta strep. Poor munchkin can't seem to get a break. She still is in the second percentile for weight. She is definitely fun Seth well he soon will be 9 months old. I can't believe how fast time has gone with him. He rolls over which is a big thing considering Lydia never did until she was well over a year old. He likes to stand and play at toys. One of his favorite times is playing with Lydia. We found out that he just needs to be on reflux medicine and he will sleep almost completely threw the night. He loves food which is a BIG blessing. He can say hi and DADA. But as far as milestones those are it for him. Joel just was promoted to manager of his team a month ago. He continues to stay busy and can work 24/7 if he wanted to. I am so thankful that he is an amazing provider for his family. He will be going to Texas for four days in the next couple of days. For a suprise gift he bought me an iPad. I love it which now brings me to me. I have taken up a jazzercise class that I hope to be starting 3 times a week but for now it is just 2 times a week. I traveled to wv over this past weekend all by myself and I am thankful for a God who watched over me and my family while I was away. I met up with joel's mom and sister and Grammy to go to my future sister in laws shower. We had an amazing time and look forward to Phil and sarah's up coming wedding. I think that is all the news for now in our little family.

April

It sure has been an amazing April. With lots of activity coming upnin the next few months I thought it was time to blog. Nothing much interesting is happening here. Seth learned how to roll over again. Lydia has her abcs down pat although sometimes she gets confused. Joel still is busy. And me Joel got me an iPad. My laptop practically is dying so Joel brought me this to replace itt. Although there are still some things that I miss about my laptop And hope for those things to come in on my iPad. We also got a zoo membership and Lydia seems to be enjoying it very much. Seth still has some acid reflux that wakes him up a lot during the night. So we go on day to day wondering what new thing will happen.

Craft time

This outside play thing is from my mom and dad. Her AB that she was working on Well in the past couple of weeks and taking a parenting class I decided that I needed to add just a little more structure to our day, especially with Lydia. So I decided what a better way to add another activity to our day than to add a craft. Then I decided why not add some alphabets with our craft. So I am teaching Lydia what the letters of the alphabet look like and what order they go in. It has been fun. We have been just doing it for 2 days but she seems to enjoy it. I also decided to add some pictures from the warm days of spring.

Zoo

My mom came down to visit us and today we decided to take a fun trip to the zoo. It was just my mom and Lydia and I and we had a great time. We have enjoyed having my mom here and she has wanted to take Lydia to the zoo for a long time. It is amazing how God had created each one of these creatures unique and strong and can survive. Lydia's favorites were the penguins and the cat house. Cats right now are her favorite animals. Although her one request was to the see the giraffe and the elephants so those were among the first animals we saw. My mom and I really enjoyed the bird house. I loved watching how a penguin could swallow a whole fish with what seemed like one gulp. Each time I see how God created each one of these animals it reminds me that we are Fearfully and Wonderfully made to be created like our Father.

Wow once again time flies

We have been enjoying the last couple of days of sunshine here. I realized that sometimes my mood can be changed a by the weather. So I have purposed in my mind to Rejoice in the Lord as Lydia says ALWAYS!!! So weather the day is rainy or there is warm sunshine or it is even snowing I am going to try to make my mood not be affected by it. Seth and Lydia have also been enjoying the warm sun as we have been able to play outside. It is interesting that this time last year I was pregnant and now my little boy is 7 months old and growing like a weed. Lydia too is growing in body but also in verbal ways as well. She can now count to ten but she for some reason miss 4 so her counting is 1,2,3,5,6,7,8,9,10 So we are working trying to get her to put 4 in there. But as I am speaking about the sun I realized I would like to take lydia outside so I am going to do that now.

SNOW SNOW AND MORE SNOW

Snow seems to be all we can talk about these days since we are getting a huge pile of it and even as I type this now it is snowing pretty hard. Lydia really enjoys it and she loves to get her snow gear on to go out and play in the snow and attempt to help daddy shovel it. She has grown into a love for her dolls and she is starting to use her imagination. For instance her NANA is staying with us and she brought her a Valentines gift which was a play sandwich that you can put together and put mustard on it and for the first 2 days she keeps bringing it to us asking us if we are ready for dinner. She has loved so much having Nana here that I don't know what we will do when she leaves on Saturday. Seth continues to beat Lydia on every doctor's appointment with height and weight. Today we took him for his 6 month appointment yup that is what I said 6 MONTHS it went by so fast. Any way he weighs 16 pounds 1 ounce and he is 26 and 3/4 inches long. He has learned the art of sitting up although not so good at it at times he is getting stronger every day. He is very active and loves to go from one activity to the next and he is just 6 months old he probably is going to be an active one. I have loved every minute with my 2 kiddos and just watching them grow up is amazing. Joel and I got to spend some great time to ourselves this past week because Nana was so gracious to watch our kiddos twice so we could go watch some movies and have some time alone. I am so thankful that she is here. Here is some crazy pictures of our snow!

Lydia's song

So Lydia has been learning a couple of songs. Here is what she sang today The Itsy bitsy spider went up the water spot Down came the ring of fire and washed the spider out then Jesus loves me and dried up all the rain and the itsy bits spider climed up the spot again. So this song has Nemo in it the line from the scene where they say RING OF FIRE and then the line about then Jesus loves me is from Jesus loves me. Any way she is so much fun to listen to.

My how time flies

Well here is an update on our little family. Lydia is growing like a weed. Well in height any way. She is still a skinny mini. She has learned how to count from 1 to 10 and she just finished memorizing Phil. 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always. She is so neat to watch her say it because she says Rejoice Lord ALWAYS with her hands up in the air. I am trying to teach her a verse a month. We started out with Obey your parents and now she has Phil 4:4 down. I am taking suggestions on which verses to teach her that would be short and sweet and to the point. She has really discovered her motherly side with Seth. She walks up to him and rubs his head and says Baby Seth. I love watching them together and how much they enjoy each other. Seth continues to grow even bigger than Lydia was at 5 and a half months. He has been struggling with sleeping during the day and night but we finally have gotten him to sleep through the night again thanks to some help from a lady at our church. He is eating cereal now and loves it. He also loves his excersaucer and that is his favorite pass time. He however, has stopped rolling over so we are trying to get him to do tummy time. He doesn't like it much but we keep trying. I have been dwelling on the Scripture that Children our a blessing from the Lord. It seems that each time I look at Lydia or Seth even in the tough times I remember that they are truly a blessing and I don't want to miss out on anything that they do or say because it goes by so fast.

Trying

So it seems like the past couple of weeks have been hard on Seth. He seems to be teething, he has had thrush, and some stomach problems. It has been a growing and long suffering time for with him. I was thinking about how blessed I am to even have children at 1:30 this morning. Lydia has had her amazing moments these past couple of days. Yesterday, we were driving home from Bible study and she said to me, I luv you Mommy and then she just kept saying it over and over again. It was so amazing to hear her say it. I definitely have been blessed to be a mom and stay at home with my kids.

Out with the old and in with the New

Well I haven't posted in awhile. So I will give a quick run down of what has happening. We had the opportunity to go and visit my family and then Joel's family. It was a great time. So now we are home and it is 2010. I can't believe how quickly the year went by. It started off with some pretty rocky times. We found out that Michelle was pregnant and then proceeded to see the doctors 3 times because we thought I was miscarrying the baby. But God kept him here with us. We then excepted the fact that those were the last months we would spend as a 3 person family and bring our son into the world. Then we decided it was time to potty train Lydia. So Seth entered the world on August 4th, and 2 months later I started potty training Lydia. It has been a little more difficult but we are getting there. We ended the year on a plane waiting to fly in to Virginia Beach. So we are looking forward to what God has instore for us this year.