Almond Joys

2009-07-04T22:56:00.002-04:00

Our church made a fantastic float! I'm not sure what place we came in. Our George Washington got 3rd place for best costume in the parade.

Jade had a blue 4th of July cookie!

Joy is a great parade participant!

Joy's tricked out ride!

Jade being patriotic. She is wearing her medal for winning 2nd place in her age group for her decorated stroller.
It really was a fun day. This was the first year we walked in the parade, so we were pretty tired when we got to the end. Our cookout was great fun thanks to all of our family and friends that came. All in all, it was a great way to celebrate our wonderful God and the great country he has given us to live in.

2009-06-23T22:05:00.006-04:00

Just lounging around!

Me and my sister.

We love our daddy!

Joy revving her engine or blowing bubbles. She is full on crawling and getting into everything! She is already pulling herself up to stand and is not yet 8 months! We definitely have our work cut out for us. She already hates to be told no, so we are in trouble. Jade is trying to be patient when Joy gets into her stuff, but she is starting to realize what it means to be a sister. Not only that but what it means to be the big sister and setting the example. I think she will do a fantastic job as she grows in wisdom and allows God's wisdom to penetrate her heart. Many times her kind heart puts me to shame and reminds me of how I should respond. I love my little "spicy girl".

Memorial Day Weekend

2009-06-03T21:50:00.003-04:00

Well, this picture is way out of order. This is in Chicago on the way to the Arboretum with Aunt Melissa and the cousins. Little Joy was so wiped out from all the fun already (or lack of sleeping at night maybe?), that she fell asleep sitting up in daddy's arms while we were eating lunch.

Jade and her new scooter. She was so happy to get it, but sad that she only got to try it out for a few minutes before leaving for Chicago. At least there were scooters at Aunt Melissa's house.

The car ride home from Chicago. Isn't she beautiful?

Okay, I know these pictures are out of order, but at least I'm posting them! These are the cousins on Matt's side. Sierra is the oldest. She is on the left. Teagan is the one holding Joy. Isn't it a great picture? Why is getting a good picture with more than one child in it one of the most exasperating things? Anyway, this was at the Arboretum. The girls are sitting in front of a beaver house (obviously not a real one).

This was Jade getting up the courage to wade in the tadpole pool at the Arboretum. There were millions of tadpoles! I thought there was no way she was going to put her feet in there ( I definitely was not going to!), but she did. Actually, she did twice! It was so creepy because as soon as she stepped in a place that we both thought was kind of clear, hundreds of tadpoles were stirred up! Hopefully they all saw her foot coming and got out of the way or else she squished a bunch of future frogs. I'm all for taking care of the animals as a command from God, but I also think if a few didn't move out of the way fast enough it's probably okay. If all those tadpoles make it to adulthood that area of Chicago may think Moses is back calling down plagues on the people!

This is harder than I thought!

2009-05-18T20:55:00.003-04:00

This is the most recent picture of the girls. We had just gotten done eating dinner and Joy, of course, got green beans on her clothes. Jade loves Joy so much and, as much as she can, Joy loves Jade. Jade sings to Joy when she is sad or crying and Joy usually calms down sometimes even laughs. Joy is constantly watching her big sister. Anyway, I am not going to guarantee that I will keep up with this again, I just felt like doing it tonight. Having Joy so quickly after getting Jade is a lot harder than I imagined it would be. They both need so much attention and I still have to take care of some of the office management stuff for Matt's practice. I am so thankful for them, but I just had nothing left at the end of the day for the longest time. Now that Joy is sleeping through most of the night and Jade is getting back to normal (kind of ) in regards to her sleep, Matt and I are beginning to feel a little more rested.

This is Jade with a ladybug painted on her cheek. We went to the Arts Festival this weekend and I actually talked her into doing this! She was afraid at first, but once she let the girl do it and saw it on herself, she was so excited to show everyone! I think I may have to buy some face paint and do this everyday now!

My two sweet babies in the backyard on Mother's Day.

Our 2nd Gotcha Day Anniversary
May 8 2009

Our 2nd March 5th Surprise!

2008-03-27T20:17:00.005-04:00

I haven't felt like blogging for awhile and this is the reason why...

On the morning of March 5th 2007, we received the wonderful news that we had a daughter waiting for us in China. On the morning of March 5th 2008, we discovered that we had a child waiting for us in the womb. The first had been anticipated for 2 years, the second was an absolute surprise.
The video above was just taken today after we went for an ultrasound yesterday and our doctor thought she saw twins! We had to get a different ultrasound today to get a better picture so we could find out for sure. There is thankfully only one. Twins would have been cool, but a lot more difficult. This baby is only 9 weeks old, but is already making life very difficult for its mama! I have been sick for three weeks. I'm starting to feel a little better, but that's not saying much. Jade has been such a sweet little girl! We are also in the middle of a major remodel down stairs. Our kitchen, family room, and mud room are completely gutted. We are basically living upstairs. Jade is not able to run around as much and I definitely have been too sick to take her outside although the wonderful Ohio spring rains have been pretty consistent for the past several weeks anyway. Anyway, I guess it's a good time to not have a kitchen because I couldn't handle cooking right now anyway. Matt, of course, has been the best husband ever! He works hard all day, comes home and gets some kind of food together for dinner, plays with Jade and puts her to bed. And does some laundry too! How blessed am I! Anyway, my due date is October 27th. I guess there is no other info about this right now.
Here is a cute video of Jade from a couple of months ago. She really likes all of her musical instruments! She has to carry her breath mints so she has fresh breath blowing into her harmonica!

My blogger works again!

2008-02-12T18:32:00.003-05:00

Before the haircut...

during the haircut...

after the haircut!

Sitting pretty!

Picture update

2008-01-25T13:53:00.000-05:00

Jade wanted to share her chewed up carrot and celery. I hated to turn down that face, but you should have seen the celery!

This is Jade showing me what a rabbit does. She is so funny when she does it! She tries to wiggle her nose up and down, but she ends up blinking her eyes too.

I have such a wonderful husband. At the beginning of this month I got really sick one weekend and Matt took care of Jade the whole time so I could rest. He took her out that Saturday to play in the snow while I napped. When I woke up later they were back inside and Matt told me to go to the window. This is what they made for me. He is always doing stuff like this. He wrote me a note last week using the sweetheart candy with little phrases on them. He cut out a red construction paper heart and then wrote the message with pen and candy. I came down for breakfast to this beautiful gesture of love from the most amazing man in the world! And he says he's not creative!

Life in Death

2008-01-24T23:57:00.000-05:00

We just attended a funeral today. It was for a man in our church. I did not know him well, but what I have seen and known of him and his family made me want to go. He was in his 90's. He'd lived a life of exemplary faith in Christ and had passed quite a legacy to not only his immediate family, but to our church family as well. I've been struggling lately...just with life I guess. I tell Matt that it is just my seasonal depression kicking in.(Ha! Ha!) I really do not like winter at all, but I'm just making excuses for my frustration. Anyway, I was saddened at this funeral and yet encouraged. Isn't that the neat thing about the death of a true believer. Even in their death, God uses them. Probably for many things. For me it reminded me of what life is really about, which I know in my head all the time, but have a hard time living sometimes. I can be so ungrateful. I seem to struggle with just being satisfied in Christ. I'm so discontent. I guess that's been the big thing lately. I've wanted a child for so long and now I have this wonderful little girl and I'm struggling. I sometimes long for the days when Matt and I were alone. I miss him so much. I also feel like a failure most days. I struggle to find time to get all the things done that need to get done. When I do get them done I feel like I failed Jade because I probably didn't play with her enough or maybe I was less patient with her. Did she go to bed knowing that her mama loves her or is she sad and lonely. I've resolved after today to change some things that I need to, and yet I'm afraid that that is no different than other days that I've read my Bible and said this day will be different. I think some of this rambling is because it was an emotional day and it is very late. But I do wish I could live my life with the kind of faith and trust in God that this man did. It's easy for someone to do something spectacular at the end of their life that people remember, but I want to live the kind of life that this man did. But that is harder because it was every single day choosing to set aside self and instead make every choice to bring glory to God. I feel exhausted just thinking about it! I know whom I have believed, but am I persuaded that He is able to keep that which I've committed unto Him against that Day?

2007-12-26T19:05:00.000-05:00

The office Christmas dinner.

Christmas Morning! Matt was thrilled to wear "Dr. Seuss" pajamas! If you don't know me, let me tell you that statement is dripping with sarcasm. Actually, he was a good sport. I'm not thrilled about posting this picture since it was taken before showers and makeup, but I told my mom I would.

Jade's first cinnamon roll. No icing of course!

Opening presents!

This picture is at the zoo wildlights on Saturday night. They were really pretty and Jade was oohing and ahhing. Out camera decided to punk out on me. It kept saying that I was shaking, but my hands were like a surgeon. We need a new camera as it does this often. Maybe, it's just used to Jade's constant movement and has tried to make up for the movement, so now when she sits still everything else seems to be moving!

I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas with family and friends. We really enjoyed getting so many cards and pictures of all of you. Hopefully, we'll see many of you again soon!

2007-12-16T21:03:00.000-05:00

Jade loves her mac and cheese!

This was Jade's first time playing in the snow! It snowed a couple of weekends ago, but Jade's snowsuit hadn't come yet, so we couldn't go out and play. Daddy wasn't here either, so of course we wanted to wait for him to share this moment. She wouldn't let us put her down while we were outside, but I think it was because she was getting tired. It was close to her naptime. I had to sit in the sled with her while daddy pulled us around the yard. Then he got to shovel the driveway. What a workout!

2007-12-06T22:16:00.000-05:00

This picture really isn't fair to Jade. She had been sitting and playing quietly in her stroller for almost two hours today. This was the very end of our trip to the paint your own pottery store. She was hungry and ready to be out and running around. Plus, I wouldn't let her touch the wet paint!

Yeah!!!! We finally got a picture of her smiling. She's usually so inquisitive when the camera comes out that we get serious face all the time. She's really just happy because she got daddy's pager. Nothing compares to that!

2007-12-06T21:37:00.000-05:00

"Mom, I've already tried on everything I own!"

This reindeer is suffering from a major tryptophan overdose.

"My visit with Great-Grandma Hintz was fun, but it sure was a long car ride."

Going to get my first Christmas tree at mama's favorite nursery.

" I wonder if there is anyway I can put this ornament up higher?"

2007-12-02T20:31:00.000-05:00

Good stuff mama!
This one's for Aunt Marcy!
Jade was captivated by the sand and seashells. She was looking down and I just put the camera under her face and pressed the button. This is what I got. She's so cute no matter when the camera gets her!
This is just one of the pictures that Matt took when he was trying to be a creative photographer! I was pretty impressed.

2007-12-01T22:12:00.000-05:00

Jade then...and Jade now!

I just thought I'd post some pictures from our trip to Savannah back in October. Matt had to go to a medical conference, so we tried to make a little vacation out of it. It was Jade's first time at the beach and I'm not sure she liked it very much. She cried when we tried to get her to go near the water. We just took advantage of the beautiful background instead and got some good pics! I can't post all of them so these are just a few. She has changed so much in the last almost seven months I had to post a picture of our very first moments together just for comparison.

In the beginning....

2007-11-11T21:11:00.000-05:00

Well, I guess I've held out long enough. I'm joining the world of bloggers, but I'm sure I won't keep up with it like some people. I do have more of a reason to document our life because of our precious daughter Jade. She will really be the "star of the show". I'm still setting this blog up, so I'm sure it will take a while for it to be much of anything. I'm not too sure of what I'm doing, and I don't have very much time, so it will be a work in progress.