Christmas Morning Stockings

I know this is WAY late, but I thought I'd go ahead and post these pictures for Grandparents anyway. :) Thanks Oma for the great stockings, and thanks Nana for the cute matching pj's. The boys had a great Christmas!

Surprise, surprise!!

We had our ultrasound yesterday...I'm already almost 20 weeks--can you believe it?? And we got some fun, VERY SURPRISING news! We're gonna have a baby girl! I went from super exctied to super scared in about 30 minutes. I'm back to super exctied because I reminded myself that little girls don't come out as hormonal 13 year olds. I just remember how I was at that age...scary stuff.


These flowers are what my sister brought to the resturaunt last night to let my parents know they are having their first granddaughter. I was on the phone with mom and it was SO FUN to hear her reaction. I just wish I could've been there to see it. I had a moment...missing home and family and important occasions to celebrate together. I know I am right where I need to be, but sometimes, on occasions like this, I wish I could just hop on a plane and be there.


What are we going to do with a GIRL?!?!?!? It's going to be so much fun...

First Haircut

We have a dear family friend who brought us a Christmas tree this year. Mrs. Donna was replacing her artificial tree with a newer model, so she passed it on to us. I never thought I'd have an artificial tree (I had a bad experience with one as a child) but let me tell you that it was really nice. It went up so quickly without any maritial stife and came down just as easily.

Before Mrs. Donna arrived I thought I might take Daniel to get a haircut. Daniel was in DESPERATE need of a haircut--his mullet was out of control. I had been putting it off because I really wanted someone special to give him his first haircut. (Aunt S offered, but I was a little hesitant. She hasn't been trained to cut hair.) So, I was just going to bite the bullet and go to Kiddie Kutters and get it cut. I strapped the boys in the stroller and we started walking. Well, about 1/2 way there I thought, I wonder what time Donna's study at church is over. I called the church and she was already finished, so we turned around to go home and wait. I resigned myself to the mullet for another day.

(Heavy D's mullet)

So, Mrs. Donna arrived and we started putting up the tree. As we were stringing lights, she was telling me her life story and casually said, "I was working and doing pretty well for myself before I got married." I said, "Donna, what did you do?" She said, "I was a hairdresser."

I about fell over. Isn't God good to give us someone we love to do this? It was such a sweet little gift for all of us. Mrs. Donna was THRILLED and so was I. Heavy D looks like such a big boy now!!

I'm Mullet-Free!!

The clencher of the whole day was G Money taking an extra pair of scissors off the counter and cutting HIS hair. Fortunately, it was in a place that was not noticable. I just had to laugh...

Some thoughts on Christmas Cards

Well, my Christmas cards are addressed, stamped and (almost) sealed. They have been written for weeks, the pictures have been printed for weeks, and yet...they are not finished. I wish I could use the excuse that the BLIZZARD closed the post office for two days (which it did), but I can't. I just have too much going on. I think next year I'm not even going to try to get these things out before Christmas. Plan on it being a New Year's letter. My mom used to do Valentine's Day letters. Now that's a thought...

Things I have gotten accomplished?
Well, I'm done baking (except for Granny's fruitcake--yum), the gifts are bought and wrapped (except for just a couple) and all our decorations are up (except the cute stockings mom made--I'm still waiting on my stocking hangers to be shipped.) And I've been able to spend LOTS of time with my children, which is always fun. G Money helped decorate cookies this week and Heavy D is teaching himself how to walk (he doesn't need my help, after all. :)) I'm really excited about just having a quiet Christmas here in snowy CO. I've never had a white Christmas before...kind of fun.

And for those of you who are anxiously awaiting your cards (ha, ha, ha), here is a preview of the picture and hopefully you'll get it sometime next week.

some news...

I think most of you already know this, but I've been really bad about sending out update emails, so I really don't know if the word has spread. We are going to become 5 in June. That's right! We got a bun in the oven. I know, it's still hard for us to believe, too. We are excited to meet this new little one when the time comes...but for now, I've got my hands full. GOOD TIMES!

For those of you who like details, the due date is June 2 and we found out around our birthdays (happy 30th birthday to us). Heavy D and this one will be 18 months apart and G money will be almost 3 1/2 when the baby comes. It's going to be FUN! :) (Mom, go ahead and block out the end of May until mid June when Nancy's baby arrives. I'm gonna need you...)

Happy Birthday, Heavy D!!

We celebrated Heavy D's first birthday yesterday...my, how time flies!
Kudos to S for her photography...

 

Halloween

Still trying to catch up...Here are my two pilots on Halloween. Heavy D just cracks me up in that costume.

Heavy D--11 months now!

Heavy D really wanted to play outside in the snow with his brother, but he had to watch from the window with Oma.

More Fun in the Snow

I know I posted a while ago that we were having the house painted...here is the finished product. We are still hoping to get shutters that match the trim, but it hasn't happened yet. Can I just say I LOVE having that yellow brick painted?!



G Money enjoyed falling back into huge drifts of snow and just lying there.

Nothing quite fits right, but that sure makes it cute, doesn't it?

The Blizzard

I know I'm super late blogging these pictures, but I'm still in catch-up mode. We woke up to this a few Thursdays ago! Where I'm from, it doesn't snow until January or February, so I'm still trying to get used to this. The best part was that it was pretty much all gone within a few days. Love that CO sunshine!



G Money watching his daddy shovel the driveway. Our neighbors measured 14 inches on their back deck! 

Women's Retreat

Well, the reason I fell off the face of blogging world the last month was that I'd been preparing for the annual V7 Women's Retreat. For some crazy reason, the head of women's ministries asked me to be the speaker for this years retreat because she "believed I could do it." I was incredibly honored, but also VERY OVERWHELMED. After praying about it, I agreed to do ONE talk. Due to some circumstances (nobody else could do it) I ended up speaking THREE times. Let me tell you I have NEVER in my life felt more dependent on the power of the Holy Spirit. It is a good, good place to be. (I did know way in advance that I was going to have to speak three times, thankfully.)

One of the most fun things about the weekend was that Mom got to come! It was GREAT to have her there. We were the prom queen wanna-bes for Saturday night's dinner--both of us fit into our original prom dresses. (Mom looked FABULOUS!) And, Buena Vista was beautiful as always and Trail West pampered us once again. Man, I love it out there. 

More AFA game

One happy 2 1/2 year old. You can't beat it--all of his favorite things in one place: football, airplanes, hotdogs, and his daddy. 

Air Force Game

Sorry I've been such a slacker about blogging lately. We have had a busy month! I have a lot to update you on, but I don't want to overwhelm you, so I'll just give you a little at a time. :)
Tailgating before the game with the new minivan. I'm still getting used to the fact that I'm now driving a minivan...it's awesome, but I just feel old. :) Oh well.
All the cadets marched in before the game. It was really fun to see--not quite like Williams Bryce Stadium, but a fun tradition.
And you can't beat watching parachuters land on the field or seeing this amazing plane fly right over your head!
 

Jackson Greer

Here is my new, precious nephew...

 

It's A...

Well, last night the newest member of the family made a skinny debut at 6:19 pm. Shinny did FABULOUS and the little punkin is so cute--looks just like T with a black fuzzy head. And, did I mention LITTLE?? 6 lb 14 oz. I looked at that baby and couldn't imagine having one that small. What do you do with them when they look like they will break? NanniPants, you certainly know what to do with little ones. Me...just give me a big fat baby and I can handle it. :)

Oh yeah, it's a BOY!!!! The Bakers haven't added a girl to the family since 1984...what is going on? No name for little Skeeter yet...but, they do have a year to make that decision. No pressure, guys. I'll try to post some pics when Hubby returns with the camera.

The Race

We are looking good in this picture because we just finished running the Broadneck 5K! My very first race ever and it was so fun to be able to do it in MD with Dacy. We were slow, but we never walked AND we finished with lots of people still behind us. I'm glad I can say I ran my first race BEFORE I turned 30!
So, for those of you who are wondering, "Is this really my friend Erika?" let me assure you that it is me. Hubby and I started this running program back in May (see it here) and I actually enjoy running now! NEVER EVER THOUGHT I WOULD SAY THAT. Hey, if I can do it--ya'll can too! :)

Dancing King

We went down to the docks in Annapolis tonight and ate dinner down by the water. There was a little jazz band playing and G Money LOVED the music. He made friends with the lion and they did a little number together.

We're in MD!

We left early this morning to see our friends in Maryland! It is so good to be here and G Money is SO happy to be back with his "duh." (They call eachother that and have done so since they learned to talk.) Tonight the ICE CREAM TRUCK came to the neighborhood and G Money had his very first experience...oh the joy! It really made his night when the lady let him get inside the truck. He thought he was BIG stuff.