6 Months

Well, my Joshua David. You turned 6 months on Dec. 19th. I can't believe you are that big already! It seems like just yesterday you were a teeny baby in my arms. You have to be one of the easiest babies ever. You wake up happy around 7 or 7:30am, drink a bottle sometime soon after that, although you don't fuss for it. You look around for big brother Kinley and wonder where he is. Then you are fully entertained for an hour or so when Kinley does get up. Mommy kisses you and lays you in your bed for a short morning nap which you don't fuss about. Then you get up again and take another bottle and are happy again until it is afternoon nap time, which you don't fuss about either. I think you are like your mommy, you like your sleep!!! :) When you wake up from nap you take another bottle and have some oatmeal cereal, which you really enjoy and then you are happy to watch Kinley or Mommy until Daddy comes home and then you give Daddy big smiles which makes his day. You take another short nap, wake up, take another bottle, and then go down for the night. I love you so much my little guy! I try to enjoy every moment I get to hold and snuggle you because I know the time goes so fast. I pray that you come to know Jesus young and that you cling to Him forever. You make my heart smile, Joshua, and I am so thankful for God's gift of your life!

My Beautiful Bible Study Ladies

Thanks for seeking Jesus! I have missed being with you the last couple of months!

Thinkin' Hard or Barely Thinkin'

Warning: Do Not Look at this Post if you Have a Weak Stomach: this is for my sister!

Can you tell what this is?

Brotherly Love

I'm so glad my boys get along so well! Kinley really loves his little brother and loves to make him giggle. It is too cute.

Pictures for the calendar sister

Can you use the ones on the right side?

Great Weekend

Chris and I had a great night together! We went to the Ribeye Steak House in Champaign. Yummy! Then we went and saw the movie 2012. We both really enjoyed it, although it almost made me come home and get my boys and smother them in motherly love. :) We ended up coming home to spend the night, but mom still kept the boys. It was really relaxing and we both slept really good in our own bed until 10am on Sunday. I can't remember the last time we got to do that. So, it was definetely a wonderful, relaxing time together!

Anniversary Getaway

I'm so excited for tomorrow to get here! Chris and I are are going to Champaign and staying overnight for an early anniversary get away. I love that we do this every year. It is such a much needed time together. Thanks to my mom for keeping the boys!!
On a side note, Joshua turned 5 months old this week. I can't believe how big he is getting and how much more aware of everything he is. Kinley loves to play with (by) him now and try to make him laugh, which he does a lot. It is so sweet to watch, even when he randomly will yell "laugh Joshua"! Too funny. :)

Got Thumb?

3 Years, 4 Months

These are just pictures of the pictures we just got back. :) I have admit I think my boys are pretty cute! Kinley loved getting his picture taken this time and Joshua was a champ too. I can't believe how big they both are! Time goes so fast. Help me Lord to enjoy each moment!

My 3 Year Old

Kinley turned three last Wednesday on the 14th. I can't believe my boy is 3 years old. He is so precious to us and the time has gone so quickly. Here are the top 10 reasons why I love my Kinley boy.
1. His bright blue eyes and big smile
2. The way he makes me laugh with all his antics.
3. The way he loves to "help" right now whatever I'm doing
4. The way he gives "his" Joshua kisses and talks in a high pitched voice to him
5. His excitement when Daddy comes home and his contentment when we are all together.
6. The way he loves his Papas and Grandmas
7. The was he greets me every morning with "Hi Mommy, it's light outside, time to get up!"
8. His love for books and animals.
9. The way he says "Pleeeease"
10. Because he is a special gift from God and I'm so thankful for him!

Crib or Bed?

I am trying to decide if we should put Kinley in a regular bed or keep his crib up for awhile. He has started climbing out of his crib this week. So far it has only been when he is ready to get up in the morning and after his nap. So . . . part of me thinks he is ready for a bed and wouldn't do to bad in it. But . . . we will be moving him into his new room hopefully in the next month or two and I'm not sure I want him to have too many new things all at once. Any suggestions? I also have access to a crib tent and could go that way for awhile too. Decisions, decisions.

Bath time Chatter

This is the conversation I had with Kinley during his bath this morning:
What's the kitty's name: CoCo
What's the whale's name: killer
What's the alligator's name: crocodile
What's the cow's name: moo

So funny. He is so much fun right now most of the time. We do have our moments though.

Apple and Pork Anyone?

Yesterday I went to the Apple/Pork Festival in Clinton, IL with Leslie (mom-in-law), Tammy and Sara (sis-in-laws), and Cory and Emily (nephew and neice). I secretly went for the food and the company of course. I had a yummy baked potato, some of an onion blossom, and some of a funnel cake. Yummy! I did end up buying two dining room table chairs that will go with the table Leslie is giving us as soon as our addition is done. I got them both for $20. Yippee! I also bought some caramel cheesecake fudge. Haven't eaten it yet, but it is tempting every time I open the fridge. It was a fun day with family. :) Today I am spending relaxing-kind of-at home with my two little munchins. I missed them yesterday even though it was nice to have some mom time away. They are currently both sleeping which is such a peaceful part of the day. :)

Hannah and Joshua

I just had to post this picture. It was awhile ago, I think Hannah is a month and a half and Joshua is a couple weeks old. I'm sure they will be good buddies growing up. :)

Christopher

Chris has been working hard on our addition. It is all enclosed now, the guys are finishing the siding. It has been a longer process than we originally thought, but overall it is going well. I can't wait to have the extra space and an actual bedroom as opposed to the porch. :)
The pictures are kind of in reverse order, but I don't know how to move them around. :)

Three Months Already

Well, hello blog world. I'm so excited to have our internet back at least for the time being. I'm not sure where to start, so I will start with our new precious gift from God. Joshua is such an easy baby I truly am spoiled. He started sleeping through the night at six weeks old and continues to amaze me with how much he sleeps. He smiles all the time and loves to be talked too. He has started watching Kinley more and I see him randomly smile at him while he watches him play. Kinley has adjusted well and really doesn't pay a whole lot of attention to Joshua. He'll stop everyone once in awhile and say "hi Joshua" and then keep on playing. He does like to get his hands in and help when it is Joshua's bathtime though. :) I can't imagine life without my two precious sons and I'm so thankful for them.

Joshua David

Just wanted to write a quick update on Joshua. Sorry I haven't been blogging in so long. Our internet is down and still is, but I'm using a different computer. Joshua was born on June 19th at 4:49pm. He was 8lbs. 11 1/2 oz. and 21 1/2 inches long. He came out face up so it was a little harder delivery this time around. He came just when the doctor said he was going to let me push for 10 more minutes and then we would of had to have a c-section. So . . . praise God he came when he did. The first week was a bit rough, but we are all adjusting now and sleeping a little bit more at night. Kinley is a great big brother and doing really well most of the time with sharing Mommy and Daddy with the new little one. I hope you are all doing well. I'll try to post some pictures soon!

Happy Easter!!

I hope everyone had a very Happy Easter! Kinley loved it this year. He got to hunt eggs outside at Grandma and Papa VanHoveln's house and then again at Mom's house in the evening. We are so thankful for the little guy! And even more thankful for the sacrifice of Jesus today and everyday!

What's missing in this picture?

The funny this is he only thought he needed a coat to go bye bye. :)

Faith in the Fire

For those of you who don't know, Chris' Grandma Hynd (his mom's mom) died in a house fire last night. She lived in a mobile home next door to Chris' mom and dad in the country south of Crescent City. Paul and Leslie saw the fire, but they couldn't get in in time to get her out-the fire was already too out of control. The hardest part was that they found Granny close to the double glass doors which is only about 5 feet from the outside door. So, there is a lot of self blaming going on. Please pray especially for Chris Mom and Dad as well as the rest of the family. Granny was 92 and ready to go home, but the way she died has everyone in a state of shock and mourning right now. Thankfully, Jesus is our Rock and our Anchor and Chris' family does know the Lord, so pray that they would cling to the Rock at this time. Thanks!

Decision Made

Well, Chris and I have decided officially that we are going to add on hopefully starting the middle to the end of April as long as we can get everything we need to the bank and get the loan quickly. We are already approved, but I guess a building loan can take awhile to finalize. Anyway, I am getting excited about this and a little overwhelmed since I know it won't be done by the time the little guy comes in June. I went to Kapers the other day to price and start to pick out carpet/linoleum and got overwhelmed by that as well. This is the first time I have ever picked out anything and I will be picking out everything, so I might be asking advice on colors and such in the future. I want it all to go together, but I don't really have the best eye for that. So anyway, we will start this new adventure hopefully middle of April. I will try and take pictures along the way. :)

FFA Auction & A Cool New Barn

Saturday night Chris and I went to Crescent City's FFA Auction. Our nephew, Cory and neice, Emily are both in FFA there. We couldn't resist buying this barn for Kinley. We just hope it will survive at least two boys. :) Kinley loves it. In fact, he didn't want to leave for church yesterday morning because he was having so much fun with it.

Beautiful Day!!!

Did anyone else get outside and enjoy this beautiful day? Kinley and I went for a walk--not a real long one since I haven't exercised all winter so I need to build up slowly with this little pouch on my belly. :) It felt so good to be outside though and Kinley loved it. After our walk we stopped and played with the neighbors since they were out and Kinley got to see the chickens again after a long winter. Our neighbors also got a cute little dog named Gordy so Kinley loved that as well. I hope this weather stays or at least comes back to stay soon!
My A. Connie and A. Carolyn came for lunch today too which was fun. Kinley loved having company and more attention of course. :) A. Connie brought him a little bunny and duck which he hasn't let out of his sight. :) I hope you enjoyed this glorious day!

So Cute

I watch Ethan on Mondays, my cousin's little guy who is almost exactly a year younger than Kinley. Yesterday morning around 10am Kinley wanted to watch a cartoon, so I turned on "Handy Manny" and snuggled both boys up in the chair. I looked in on them about 5 minutes later and found Ethan asleep on Kinley's shoulder. It was so cute!

Can I Ride On Your Back?

One of Kinley's favorite things to do right now when Chris gets home is ride on his back. Sometimes he is a Choo Choo Train, other times bears, other times monkeys. He has even found some other lovely people who will let him ride too. :)

And the Verdict is in

Well . . . we found out we are having another boy! Of course we are both very excited. It was so fun to see him in there. He had his little legs stretched out straight and looked like he was sucking his thumb. :) The lady doing the sonogram messed up at first and said it was a girl, and then four or five minutes later she pointed out that she had made a mistake and it was definitely a little boy. My due date is June 22nd or the end of June sometime as everything seems to point to a little different date. Kinley went with us, but I don't think he is really catching on to what is about to happen. He kept saying "Mommy sleep? Mommy nap?" because I was laying down on the bed. We tried to point out the baby on the screen, but I'm sure it just looked like a blob to him. So, I guess we will be looking at blue again. :) Thank you God for a healthy baby boy!

Tomorrow, Tomorrow It's Only a Day Away

We are having a sonogram done tomorrow, and hopefully this little bundle of joy will co-operate so we can find out if we are having a boy or a girl. I'm excited to see the little one in there. I can remember being amazed when we had Kinley's done. It is so fun to see them moving around and stretching, etc. I'll keep you all updated . . .

Ode to a Small House

The five best things about having a small house . . .
1. You can clean the whole house in an hour and a half if you're really feeling energetic.
2. You know where everyone is all the time and what they are doing, which comes in handy with a 2 year old.
3. You would know if someone were breaking in very quickly.
4. It is easy to heat and stay warm and toasty.
5. You can say "we don't have room for that" when people offer you things you don't want.

This is me being thankful for the house God has given us for now. :)

Homebound

Kinley has been running a temp and has had a cough, runny nose, seems achy, etc. for the last three days and nights. I have kept him dosed on Ibprofin and Tylenol and whenever that wears off his temp goes back up. So we are homebound for the day as well as yesterday, although Chris came home to stay with him while I went to the doctor, and probably tomorrow as well. Tomorrow makes me sad because we had planned on making an Aldis run with Mom and Sally. I guess I'll have to go next week. I just pray the little guy gets over this soon. It's so sad to see him sick.
My doctor's appointment went well. I got to hear the baby's heartbeat which is always cool to me. :) My due date is June 22nd, which is David's birthday so that could be fun. :) I was glad to hear I had only gained 3 pounds because it felt like I had gained 10 around my middle. I did feel the baby for the first time two nights ago laying in bed. So exciting! I get to have my sonogram in three or four weeks so that will be fun too. Hope you all have a great weekend! Ours may be spent hibernating. :)