Merry Christmas

We are enjoying our Christmas celebrations in MI with family and friends. It's been so good to be with our family as we celebrate God's gift to us, Jesus. As Malachi would say, "happy birthday Jesus." The cold air, bare trees and blazing fireplace have kept us in a festive mood; our childhood memories will be forever linked to a midwest Christmas experience not sunny skies and California palm trees. Although we love the fact that we will soon be greeted by CA warmth when we open the door rather than frigid mind numbing wind. We've had some snow and just enough to give Malachi the delight of making snowmen.

an opa sighting

my dad had a meeting in pasadena yesterday, he flew in that morning and out in the evening. so we drove to hang out for about an hour and a half, we'll take anytime we can get. malachi was excited to see opa and it also thrilled him that opa flew on a plane to see him. the last week every plane we see has been opa's plane and we've had to explain that those planes were not actually carrying opa at the moment. malachi is also obsessed with mater and mc queen from the movie, cars. he has never seen the movie, but he has a book about them. so he received a couple little cars as a surprise from opa and they are now with him all day long. this adds to the excitement of malachi now sleeping in a big boy bed with is new pillow shaped like mater the tow truck, its worked great. he loves sleeping with mater and he has transitioned out the crib and now claims the bed as his own. he stays in bed once we put him down and he stays in bed in the morning until ryan or i come to get him. it's gone a lot easier than i imagined, now if everything else about an almost 2 year old energetic litte boy could be as easy. like how to stop him from throwing food to the dog or sitting in abram's baby swing....

2nd Annual Tryptophantastic 4.7 K Run/Walk video

our friend allison shot this short clip - it is a little belated...

hot coco and rain

it is really raining, not just spitting rain, the real stuff, so we had a hot coco party today to celebrate! half of malachi's spilled all over but we had fun.

life with malachi and abram

i thought i would share a glimpse into a day with malachi and abram because sometimes i forget that what they do each day changes from week to week and some of you don't get to see them all that often. so here are some things you discover about malachi if you spent the day with him:
- he loves airplanes, the picture above is next to the long beach airport where we can go and watch planes land and take off, sometimes the pilots even wave at us.
- he repeats a lot of what we say - so he has learned some interesting words from us and others who live with us, eric and dirk. eric recently let him know that the you tube video he loves of monster trucks (yes our son is addicted to you tube, and asks multiple times in the day to watch, and i quote, "boom boom") has the music of the song "bad to the bone," so now his latest phrase is bad to the bone, associated with eric.... dirk taught him to raise his fists and say trouble, so i asked kai the other day to do trouble and he said dirk, dirk: so dirk is associated with trouble, i have to say dirk set himself up with that one
- he often leaves a room, shuts the door and tells us bye-bye, see ya
- he peels the tangerines we get from the farmers market all by himself
- he sleeps with his cars and trucks, most kids sleep with something soft but not malachi, he insists on 3 or 4 cars going to bed with him each time
- he has this look when he isn't going to listen to me, he looks out of the corner of his eyes at me and then proceeds to do the opposite of what i ask
- he loves his little brother and gives him gentle kisses and a blessing on the head, he also tried feeding him a fishy cracker the other day, what a great sharer, thankfully i heard him tell Abram, 'Here ya go,' and promptly removed the cracker from his mouth before he choked
- he is pretty adventurous and has learned that he can climb on top of the cave at the new pirate park, he is actually a great climber much to my dismay, but his climbing is not allowed because my friend who is skilled rock climber told me she doesn't even let high school students climb above their height when rock climbing and this cave is probably 9 feet high. so we aren't going to find out if malachi would be brave enough to jump off...
- he loves reading books and sometimes just sits by himself and reads behind the book shelf -thanks to loving grandparents his book supply is endless
- a few of his favorite things: baseball, elmo, football (he already cheers for USC by saying GO Trojans), cars and trucks of any size and shape, Sienna, singing & dancing, and his blankie

now for abram





our little guy Abram, who is now 2 months old and such a sweet baby is changing to quickly. i can't believe its been 2 months since his birth day and his speedy arrival on a Saturday afternoon. i know a lot of people have heard his birth story...but let's just say i still think about the day and am so thankful he wasn't born in the car on the way to the hospital, it was way too close. we had his 2 month appointment today and this is the latest:
- today he weighed in at 13lbs 6 oz and is 25 1/4 inches long and is very healthy
- he makes me smile because when I reach to pick him up from a nap his smiles greet me almost every time - he warms my heart
- his little voice is developing and he likes to tell us long stories, while he looks at our faces very intently
- ryan discovered his ribs are very ticklish and he laughs when he is tickled in the right spot - a baby's giggle is so great
- he still likes to wake me up at about 2 am and 5 am to eat - what great bonding time in the middle of the night - thankfully he falls right back to sleep and so do i
- being swaddled tightly helps him sleep like a champ and we have the best swaddling blankets, thanks to our friend allison, aden and anais is the brand and they are GREAT
- being in the sling is one of his favorite spots and puts him right to sleep, this also allows us to go grocery shopping, on walks and just get around town rather easily
- his eyes are still very blue so the jury is still out on whether they will change
- he enjoys being in his swing and on his playmat which is great because then I can get a few things done around the house

so those are the updates of my boys. i am so thankful for them and what a gift they are, and how they are teaching me incredible lessons about life, sacrifice, love and serving. i was reminded listening to the radio the other day that Jesus told us to be like little children and what a privilege to be with little children each day who remind me about what Jesus desires of my attitude and heart. today as ryan walked out the door malachi understood he was going to the office and then said mommy, home. i am thankful to be home with him and to not miss out on the moments of each day. in the last weeks i have been sad about leaving my job at Kingdom Causes and have really been processing about where my time if any will be spent working outside the home. through many conversations live and by email, in prayer, and just my thoughts i have been so challenged to grow into a new season of life with two little boys and my incredible husband who walks with me. (plus great friends and family to support us) i am still learning and processing as i write this, but i am also incredibly thankful for today and being right where i am.

2nd Annual Tryptophantastic 4.7 K Run/Walk

On Thanksgiving morning we continued a family tradition that we started last year. The Tryptophantastic Run/Walk is a fun run through Bellflower, that is still relatively "underground" (that means it is just us and a few friends). This year the race began at 8:31 and everyone who participated had personal records for the course, not to mention that everyone won the race for thier specific age bracket. The Fieldhouse's, Pruett's, Annika, Eric, Heidi and Sam (one of our homeless neighbors and her dog) were all in on the action. It was a lot of fun and we are certain to do it again next year. So put it in your calendars now, Thanksgiving Day 2008 at 8:31!

abram's little smiles

here is a peek at our little buddy abram.