Christmas Week 2011! (finally!!)

We traveled to Warner Robins, GA to be with my parents and sisters for Christmas this year!  It was such a fun, busy week!  

 We climbed "Stone Mountain" in Atlanta one afternoon!  The kids especially loved this :)  Nathan wanted to do it all by himself. 

Alex was such a little climber!  He loved jumping all over the rocks and running ahead :)

While in Atlanta, my parents took us to the "Pink Pig".  It's a train ride inside Macy's that is some kind of Atlanta tradition.  It was a bit overhyped, but the boys loved it of course! 

His face says it all, thrilled to be on the Pink Pig train ride!! :)

Christmas Eve we headed to church!  They don't have any kind of nursery for Christmas Eve at my parents' church, which of course made me super nervous!  BUT I was incredibly impressed with both boys and how good they were!  We didn't have to step out in the hall or anything, they did AWESOME!  These pictures were taken just before church :)

After church we always have snacks, cookies, and punch set up before bed!  The boys of course love this tradition! 

Nathan LOVED the punch!  This started his love for the "big boy cup" that he insists on drinking from often now ;)

Christmas Morning!!!  We always do one "big gift" from Santa and stockings, and the rest is from family under the tree.  Here are the boys opening their stockings! 

Here's Alex with the pirate ship he asked for!  He was thrilled! 

A photo with grandma and grandpa on Christmas! 

They got a parking garage for their hotwheels!  They love this! :) 

Here they are with their Aunts!  All in their footie jammies ;)  (courtesy of mom and dad!)

Another favorite gift, a dragon castle!! 

The weather was really beautiful while we were there!  The kids got to spend a lot of time outside :)  Here Alex is with an airplane he got for Christmas! 

One morning we went to the Air Force Museum.  My boys never get tired of airplane museums ;)  Alex always wants to make sure we don't miss ANYTHING and they are never ready to leave! 

We took a 2 day trip to Callaway Gardens while in GA!  On the way we stopped at FDR state park where Roosevelt's summer home and museum is. 

At Callaway Gardens we enjoyed a trolley ride and light show, stayed overnight at a cottage, and then went the next day to the park.  They had a huge butterfly conservatory that the kids LOVED! 

With my beautiful sisters! :)

And with my wonderful husband! Loved having a week and half with him off work this year!!

They also had a bird show that was really cool and lots of trails and beautiful scenery to enjoy!  The kids always love playing outside and were thrilled with all of the rocks and sticks of course ;)
A picture of the whole group!!!

We always do Gingerbread houses at Christmastime!  Alex was especially into it this year.  It ended up being much more "kid decorated" than it has in the past ;)

The last night we were there we had a campfire and roasted marshmellows! 

It was such a fun week!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

We've been busy around here this month!  The shopping, parties, crafts, baking, wrapping, cards... you know, all the normal "December" stuff :)  We're all so excited for Christmas in just a few days!  Alex is so fun this year!  I love celebrating the holidays with kids!!  

 He told me that all of the animals were lined up to see baby Jesus!  He knows Christmas is "Jesus' Birthday" and can tell you the Christmas story... but, he is of course excited about the presents and Santa too ;)

 Nathan got a hairline fracture in his lower left leg 2 weeks ago when he slipped on a tomato that he had just spat out in the kitchen.  That, of course, has made this a much busier month!  They did not have to put his leg in a cast due to his age and the way the break was.  They gave us this removable brace instead, which I am so thankful for!  The first couple of days he was in a lot of pain, and the doctors appointments and x-rays were traumatic (for us both!)  He didn't walk on it all for a solid 2 weeks and was extra fussy due to the painful leg, frustration over not being able to get around normally, and the onset of some kind of stomach/diarrhea virus at the same time!  He adapted to his leg by crawling and walking on his knees though (it's amazing how quickly kids adapt!).  Yesterday (at two weeks and one day) he finally started walking on it a little bit again!  We went for a follow-up appointment and it is healing nicely.  It may be another 2-4 weeks before he is back to normal, but he is much happier being able to get around more normally and without so much pain now! 

We used this picture for our Christmas card this year!  :)  I finally got them sent out on Monday, which isn't too bad, right?  ;)

 Alex LOVED seeing Santa!  He had no fear this year, he just went right up and sat on his lap!  He told Santa all about the pirate ship he wants for Christmas.  He's been talking about the Imaginext Pirate Ship for over a month now.  We already had a "Santa Gift" that the boys were going to get from Santa (since we do one big gift and stockings from santa - and everything else is from us) but then Alex wouldn't stop talking about the pirate ship!  So, we weren't left with much choice - Santa is giving Alex the pirate ship for Christmas!  Alex has been counting down the days with his Christmas chain and our other countdown calendar and can't wait for Christmas day! 

 This little guy doesn't really get it, but follows his brother's excitement!  He'll repeat Christmas words and has been trying to sing "Jingle Bells"!  He loves the Christmas tree (and taking ornaments off) and has happily done all of the Christmas crafts with Alex and I!  We got a family shot with Santa (which I'll have to upload later using the scanner), so he did ok with that (no tears!).  He wants "Spiderman" for Christmas!  He is strangely obessed with Spiderman - I'm sure having a big brother has something to do with that ;) 

 Christmas will be so much fun with these two this year!!!  I think I'm probably as excited as they are :) 

 Love this sweet boy!!!

 We went to the Zoo Lights downtown this past weekend!  They had a nice train display that the boys absolutely LOVED.  I think they could have stood here all night ;)  We watched for at least 15 minutes, then had to convince them to leave!

It's so fun being downtown at night!  We drove around DC some to look at the monuments and capital building all lit up!  I hadn't seen them at night from close up and it was really beautiful!  The zoo lights were a lot of fun too, Alex especially liked them! 

grieving... but living.

It has been six weeks since our angel left us.  We are very deep in grieving.  Although it has gotten better with time, I am hurting, sad, and angry.  I'm grieving the loss of our precious baby, the loss of being pregnant, and the loss of the plans and dreams we had for the upcoming months and even years.  We miss Jeremiah all the time.  It's hard and it hurts.  I'm clinging to God's promises and rejoicing in knowing that he is in the arms of our Savior.  He skipped all of the terrible pains of this world, and went straight to his eternal home.  But selfishly, I want him here on earth with us.  We love you, sweet angel. 

Through the grieving, we are still living.  We have two wonderful children here on earth and we are still enjoying time with them and making memories.  Since it's been a while, here is what we've been up to the last month or so:

 Alex played in many more soccer games, he loved it!  He made his first actual goal at the last game, and was so proud! 

 We carved pumpkins of course (yeah, it's been a while... haha)

 And the kids loved dressing up and going trick or treating!  It didn't take long for Nathan to catch on and beg for candy! :)

 We went to trunk-or-treat at church, then came home and trick-or-treated in our neighborhood for a bit too.  It was a lot of fun!!

 Alex got a trophy at his end of season soccer party!  He carried it around with him for the next two days... so cute!

 Michelle came for a visit over Veteran's day.  We went to the American History museum and walked around downtown. 

 It was a fun couple of days! 

 She brought her puppy along, and the kids loved her!!

 We decorated our tree really early this year... almost a full two weeks before Thanksgiving!  We had to get it up before Gary's family came for the holiday because we always celebrate Christmas at Thanksgiving with his side of the family. 

 The kids are very excited for Christmas this year!

 Gary's family came for the week of Thanksgiving!  This was Thanksgiving morning when we decided we'd have "Christmas Morning" together!

We had a great week visiting with Gary's side of the family.  The kids especially had a blast with all of the extra playmates and attention!

Keep praying for us through the holidays and as we approach our due date - this is a hard time of year to try to be joyful, happy and thankful in the midst of such pain.