Ethan's 2nd Birthday

This last weekend, we as a family, celebrated Ethan's 2nd birthday. We had such a fun day together! Here are some videos of the day. Hope you enjoy!

Thank you to all the friends and family who sent Ethan cards and gifts for his birthday. We really appreciate your generosity and thoughtfulness.

(This next video does work now)

We praise God for giving us Ethan! What a blessing and joy he is to our family. He is a constant reminder to us of God's grace and kindness toward us. We praise God that He has given us two years with Ethan. We pray that we would cherish the time that the Lord gives us with him and that we would be faithful to live out and share the Gospel with him.

Emma Photo Shoot

I took these pictures of Emma a couple weeks ago and am just now remembering to post them. (thanks Lacey for the cute bow... we have been getting a lot of use out of it!)

I took Emma to the doctor this week and she is already 18 pounds and 26 inches long. She is over 100 percentile on weight and in the 95 % on height. No wonder she is already fitting into 6-9 and 9 month clothes! What a growing girl! :-)

We are so thankful to the Lord for what a sweet girl He has blessed us with and how healthy she is growing!

A few extras.

A couple pictures I forgot to include in a previous post from Shelley and Addy's visit:

Fun in the Nursery

About 2 weeks ago, Adam and I had the privilege of doing nursery duty at our church. We had the 3/4 yr. old class (although Addy and Ethan were also in with us).

Since I had my camera with me I decided to take a few pictures (an idea I've gotten from you, Emily Gould!)

Our little visitor ;-)

Adam getting his hair cut

Doing Puzzles

Aria

Amos

(sporting his monk haircut from the Reformation party)

Ali

Snack Time

We have been so blessed by our church and are thankful that we get to do nursery so that we can know the kids in our church better. We pray that the Lord might use us as a Gospel witness not only to our own children, but also to other children in our church. We also pray that the Lord would use other members in our church to spur our own children on toward responding to the Gospel. What a gift it is to be at a church where there are a number of godly role models that the Lord uses in our life as a couple and will also, Lord-willing, use in the lives of our kids. What a blessing and encouragement.

Ethan and His Big Boy Bed

It's hard to believe that Ethan is now old enough for a toddler bed!

Just about 3/4 weeks ago, we made the BIG switch

from his crib into his "big boy bed"

We were nervous about how it might go, but it has gone much more smoothly than we thought, which we are very thankful for! The first night we introduced him to it, he climbed right up and wanted his stories to be read to him in bed...

With the help and support of his dear friend Elmo, Ethan has done amazingly well with the switch. We are very proud of him and love how cute he looks in his bed. :-)

(thanks mom and dad Harry for the adorable boy bedding...)

.... We had a few friends over last night and one of the first things Ethan wanted to do was go upstairs and show our guests his room and his big boy bed... It was pretty cute

Our little guy is growing up so fast!!

Aunt Shell and Addy's Visit

Just this last week we had a wonderful visit with my sister Shelley and her little girl Addison. They came up to Louisville while Stephen, my brother-in-law, was out of town. Shelley and Addy, it was so fun having you here. What an encouragement and blessing you are in our lives! We love you!

Here are some pictures from our time together....

Each time we get together, Ethan and Addy continue to interact with each other more and more! It is so fun to watch them interacting. A number of these pictures truly capture how they respond to each other: Ethan is mister "aggressive/let's play, wrestle" and Addy is mrs. "sweet, quiet, please leave me alone" :-)

Although there were times of tension between the cousins, there were also very sweet times as well (kisses, hugs, laughs, smiles), which were pretty precious to observe. We pray that Ethan and Addy grow to become good friends and that the Lord might see fit to save them and use their relationship to spur each other on toward maturity in Christ.

Shelly and Addy, thanks for coming to visit us! It was a joy and blessing to have you. We look forward to the next time we get to see you. :-)

Fun on the Farm.

Something that our family enjoys doing in the fall is going to a pumpkin farm.

We went a couple weeks ago to Huber's Farm with two very sweet families, the Crusts and the Lugbills, and my sister, Shelley, and her little girl Addison.

Here are some pictures from our fun time.