2011 Verse

"But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. And have mercy on those who doubt; save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.
Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen. " (Jude 1:20-25 ESV)

5:29pm Yesterday

Something's Happening

The other day, I looked at our calendar and saw an event planned. It was called, "Something's Happening."

Next thing I knew, Brad and Annie from our church's small group Bible study were at our house to watch the kids and Ellis and I were off on a surprise date!

Not only did I get a romantic evening with Ellis, but I also got surprise flowers and dove chocolate! (I had to eat it in secret so Mac wouldn't see it).

Mac & Corrie

This picture is a perfect description of their relationship right now.

Corrie

Watching the Redskins. A girl after her mom's own heart.

Mac

Wild. A boy after his daddy's own heart.

Looking Back...

So, the other night I was looking through the pictures on my phone. I saw some pictures of Mac and Calvin from the summer when I was babysitting Calvin in the mornings, and I just had to post these. Awe...how little they were!

"Snack Time." Notice how Mac has managed to hoard most of the Cheerios on his side of the floor:

One morning Calvin was very quiet. Later I discovered that he was working on a "project" called get all of the toys that you can and throw them over the baby gate. Mac was very interested.

Super Daddy

Ellis has been extremely busy with his projects at work, but he has still found a way to make time for helping me with the kids. How his "daddy" skills have grown since this time 19 months ago when Mac was a newborn!

Here is a picture of him taking care of the kids and trying to get work done so I could take a shower. This picture seriously was not staged. I came down and this is what I saw.

Mac & Corrie Update

I was thinking the other day that watching your children grow is like watching a little seedling grow. There are a billion seeds sprouting every day, but somehow it is so exciting and amazing when you see that little seed of yours pop out of the ground and start doing things. Here is an update how these two have been "blooming" lately:

Mac:

Mac has been camouflaging himself

And walking around in mommy's shoes:

Corrie:

Corrie has been awake more and enjoying staring at things:


And also sleeping of course:

TV Tray

The other day we tried coloring with crayons for the first time. I thought it went pretty well...until I found the blue crayon in Mac's diaper. So now we have moved on to color pencils and stickers. A little less tempting eat...hopefully.

Anyway, I found one of our old TV trays and realized it would make a great desk for Mac to use with his little rocking chair. He looks like he is ready for school!

Halloween part 1

Ellis and I have traditionally been terrible about celebrating Halloween. We have actually been one of those couples who has turned off the lights and hidden when the first knock on the door came and we realized that it was Halloween and we didn't have any candy. Well, this year we did manage to get Mac and Corrie into costumes, and Mac got to try out his first attempt at trick-or-treating. I will tell more about that when we get more pictures from our friends. For now, here are a few pictures that I took with my phone:

Our friends the Rocke's had this costume at their house. I decided to pose Corrie in it for a picture. Her legs only went to the nose of the jack-o-lantern, and her arms hardly even reached the armholes!

Our church had a party on the front lawn, and there was a bluegrass band playing. Mac spent the first part of the night dancing and being fueled with energy from our french fries.


Apparently, Mac looked just like the real Elmo from behind. Several kids wanted their pictures taken with him. Mac, of course, had no clue that he was Elmo.

Adventure at the Mall

Today has been one of those days when you are willing to venture out into the pouring rain with a newborn just to get your toddler out of the house for a little while. Our mall has a "play place" for little kids, and we decided to check it out. You can see from the pictures below that Mac enjoyed the visit. We'll find out in a day or two how many germs he ingested from the multiple runny noses that I saw being wiped on all of the places where Mac was playing.

Here's Mac pretending to fly the life flight helicopter: (sticking his head out the front window)

Hanging out in the cockpit:

The little boy on the left was growling at Mac to try and get him to move out of the pilot's seat. Mac just stared at him.

There was a lighthouse slide with a tunnel under it. Mac refused to slide, but he enjoyed sitting at the entrance of the tunnel and watching other kids have to climb over him to get through.

The Big Brother

Now that Corrie is here, Mac seems so much older and bigger than before. Here are some pictures from earlier today...what a big boy he is!

One Week Birthday

Well little Corrie has been with us for one week, and to celebrate her birthday she got to listen her first sermon and of course watch more NFL football with mommy (Go Redskins!) Here are some pictures of her from earlier today.

She's a 10!

My mom thought of the idea for the title of this entry because our sweet, cute, super cuddly little Corrie was born on 10-10-10. What a great birthday that God decided to give her! Also, my dream came true and I went into labor on a Sunday morning, which meant that I got to spend the day watching NFL football with Corrie (Redskins won in overtime). Not too shabby for a first day of life.

Corrie's Books

I have been praying that God would provide the money for me to be able to have some copies of The Hiding Place to give to people when Corrie is born. Lately I have been thinking "if I could just get at least 2, I could give to one to Kelly's neighbor that we have been praying for and bring one to the hospital in case a nurse is interested. Well, today my friend Kelly gave me two Barnes N Noble gift cards. The store had two books on the shelf, and I only had to pay .96 cents. I am really excited to see what God will do with the books and I am so thankful for Him answering my prayer and providing them.
Also, I have seen God working in other ways regarding Corrie's birth. I have been praying that He will bring her "at just the right time." This phrase comes up in a few places in scripture when God has been planning something important, and He always makes sure the important event happens (or will happen) in the fullness of His time. Ellis has gotten to a point with his projects that it is a good time for Corrie to come, and Lynn had her baby, so that means that Ellis' parents will be able to come down and help us without missing Lynn's labor. Mac is over his terrible bout of Roseola (although now he has impantaigo). We will see when God sends Corrie to us.
I have also been praying for a labor/delivery that will honor God and that will be joyful. I am not sure what He wants me to do as far as natural birth or medication, but I am praying that I will be sensitive to His leading if it matters one way or the other.

Mac's Recipe

Yesterday Mac took out a pot, a lid, and veggie steamer when I opened the drawer under the stove. This morning I noticed that he had found a wooden spoon and some other very special ingredients that he was stirring together to make a very important recipe. I know this recipe is important because he was occupied stirring it for almost an hour!

Mac's recipe ingredients:

1 feather from a couch pillow
1 veggie steamer
2 crumbled up, tiny pieces of aluminum foil
1 balled-up scrap of paper that has been torn from a board book (any book will do)
1 smashed plastic lid used to hold muffin liners
1 measuring tape that has been pulled out of its plastic case (don't tell daddy!)

Combine ingredients, stir and enjoy!

Yes, I know it's been a while...

Doesn't everyone eventually say that in a post? Well, it's true, Mac's road rash picture has been the only thing to look at for quite some time on this blog. Well, I do have some excuses. (Doesn't everyone also say that in a post like this?) Anyway, I am going to put a bunch of pictures in this post to give you a little update of what we have been up to lately. With the exception of the first picture below (can you tell that the Nemeths are professional photographers?), all of the pictures are from my phone. I'll make another post with pictures from our camera.

Amanda & Mac got to visit with the Nemeths: finally some family in NC with us! Here is Mac with Grace

We moved to a new apartment, and Mac has been enjoying the view of various construction projects going on outside our kitchen window. (I especially like the jack-hammering on the walkway right outside Mac's bedroom window during nap-time).

Ellis' truck is feeling right at home here though...

Mac has learned the word "horsey"

And has been trying on his cool-guy shades

And is trying to eat with a spoon (he'll figure out which end to use eventually)

And has been learning how to ride in a double stroller to get ready for his little sister. (We are still working on not pulling Calvin's hair from his seat in the back of the stroller).

Ellis sewed a patch on our new bike trailer with the sewing machine his mom got us for Mother's Day

G$ came to visit. I didn't get a picture then, but here's one of us from High School. Yes, that was our official Varsity Field Hockey photo. Rachel is wearing the team uniform and posing with us. Her clothing style is only slightly different these days.

Tina and her girls came to visit, and I didn't get a picture of that either, but here's a picture of her daughter Lizzy at WalMart. She really likes Macaroni & Cheese.


We learned that the giant bin in front of the fireplace needs to be replaced with a baby gate

Dan and Julia

Our great friends Dan & Julia are coming to visit in a few weeks (you may remember them from a previous post when Mac was still in utero). We are pretty excited about them coming. We are not sure what we'll do together yet, but I am thinking that it will look something like this.