Christmas Cards

I love getting Christmas Cards in the mail! We got our first card the Saturday after Thanksgiving. (Kudos to the Kalakie's for getting them done so quickly.) I also like sending cards but sometimes its hard to find just the right card and just the right picture. On Sunday afternoon, we headed over to Partridge Creek Mall to try to capture the perfect Christmas Card picture. We did get a couple of nice pictures and of course a lot of goofy ones! You'll have to wait until you get our card in the mail to find out whether I chose one that was:



But if you haven't done your Christmas Cards yet, you should head over to Shutterfly.com.

They have lots of cards (including the one above) and they have some great sales going on. If you have a blog you can click this link to learn how to get 50 Free Photo Cards.


They also have some great Christmas gifts including Wall Calendars. I'm planning to order something for my parents. I'd better get on it! Tomorrow is December!!

Our little Turkey

Nine years ago, I missed out on two of my favorite things, a big turkey dinner and Black Friday shopping. Derek missed out on running the Turkey Trot that year. But the nurses at the hospital were excited to have a baby to deliver on Thanksgiving day. Sometimes he's been a little turkey but we are very thankful for him. Happy Birthday Nate! We love you!!

YPAC Dual Meet 2010

On Saturday, Nate had a dual meet.

His first event was the Medley Relay. He swam a really good 50 Fly. (It was his first time swimming a 50 Fly so it was a personal best) They placed 4th.

His next event was the 50 Free. He swam a personal best 50 Free and placed 3rd.

In the 100 Free, he swam a personal best with a really strong last 10 yards. Here is a video of the 100Free.


It looked like he won the race to the wall, but he must have just got out touched. (2nd place time was 1:42.66, Nate's time was 1:42.71.)

In his last event, he anchored the 200 Free Relay "B." Even though he didn't even get to start his leg of the relay until the other 2 teams had already finished, he swam a personal best split by several seconds. We are hoping he gets moved up to the "A" relay next time.

Final Score:
Macomb Y Marlins 860
South Oakland YMCA 561

Hey, has anyone seen my baby?

He was here just a minute ago. My youngest, my last. The little one. The baby who cried wolf, with several false alarms and trips to the hospital before he finally arrived on November 13, 2006. He looks like this:



Have you seen him?


He's a little cutie. A bit of a copycat of his older brother, but with an independent streak. He loves dogs and cars and bikes. He looks like this:



Have you seen him?

He doesn't mind getting dirty. It's all or nothing in his world. He looks like this:

Have you seen him?

He's earned the nickname "Danger Boy Junior". But he keeps smiling through all the bumps and bruises. He looks like this:

Have you seen him?


Oh, I found him out in the backyard, hanging around.


How'd he get so big? He looks like this:


HAPPY 4th BIRTHDAY MAX!! You'll always be my baby.

M-O-M spells

Max is playing with his wooden letters and just put

M O M

on the table. I said: "what does that spell?"

He said:

"M"
"O"
"M"
"says Awesome!"

Then he smiled spelled it again and said "Mom"!

All Hallow's Eve

Halloween is a tricky holiday for Christians. We don't want to embrace and celebrate evil, but we also don't want to seem judgmental and holier-than-thou. Our goal: to be in the world but not of it.

So at our house we take a moderate approach: We dress up and trick-or treat. We enjoy the tamer side of Halloween, avoiding haunted houses and evil costumes. Much to our chagrin, Halloween is Nate's favorite day of the year. Better than his birthday, better than Christmas. Two hours of running from house to house for FREE CANDY!! What could be better than that?

Well he may not fully realize it yet... but yesterday he did do something better than even free candy.

He's been talking about Baptism for a while. He asked Jesus into his heart when he was around 6, and he understands that Baptism is the next step. But he's a typical almost 9 year old boy. So it's hard for us as Mom & Dad to know exactly when the right moment is, when he's mature enough to take it as a serious life commitment. Karen, the children's ministry director at our church, gave Nate a really nice workbook and he finished it up this week. So on Friday I said to Nate, you can be baptized whenever you are ready. He said "o.k. how about Sunday?"

At first it seemed a little strange to choose Halloween, but as I thought about it for a moment, I realized that God's timing is perfect. Halloween was the perfect day for Nate to be baptized. October 31st will always be a day that holds pure joy for Nate, even after he outgrows trick-or-treating. Someday He'll look back and realize that there is something even better than free candy.