Silence = Trouble

Luke and I were finishing up supper dishes and chatting. It got painfully silent so I went to investigate and found this...

What could be happening behind the closed bathroom door?

I ask him what is he doing?! He quickly replies in a calm, confident voice, "I'm fine Mommy!"

As if I shouldn't be at all concerned with him standing on the bathroom sink rummaging through the stuff.

and she's off...

the moment she put it all together and took off!

I wonder what could be in here?

I'm down here mommy, peek a boo :O)!

Go Raiders!

We've been enjoying the start up of the Raiders Winter Sports Season. I enjoy the family time together and the opportunity to support the youth in the community! We got to cheer on Jimmy as they took on Northland Pines (I think) and then this last Friday took in a girls game and Taylor dancing at half time!

Go Raiders!

Good job Taylor!

"Bye mom and dad"

We love our Jimmy and Taylor!

Traeger doesn't mind when we leave. In fact shortly after they walk in the door he is saying, "Bye mom and dad." We're so grateful he feels comfortable and loved enough to send us on our way and knows we will be home again soon and that he will have a blast while we're gone!

Do you see what I see?

If you see the brown glob on the shirt and the little trailer on the floor...yes, you are seeing it right. Traeger didn't quite make it to the toilet...opps. He kept repeating, "clean it up mom, clean it up." After I ran for the camera, stopped laughing and dry heaving, I did clean it up. Lysol wipes and an immediate load of laundry were involved :O)

Sorry if this offends you but if you're a parent of a toddler, you get it and know these can be "normal" happenings in a day.

Gift!

Christmas is a time of year that Luke and I certainly feel the love and support of our church family and our extended family. Grandparents send $ and ask for the list of presents. We get countless trays of goodies, random and thoughtful gifts. We are so blessed and humbled by people's generosity! If you are one of those people who reads this and blesses us by giving, we want to say thank you. It really is a huge blessing and encouragement to us! It's good to be loved!

It is such a joy to watch Traeger experience Christmas this year!

Mr. Potato Head accessories were a big hit with Traeger.

Brother and Daddy helping Baby rip into her gift!

God is the giver of the best gift ever, His Son, Jesus Christ. He invites us into a personal relationship with Him. God loves YOU so much that He sent His one and only son, Jesus. It's truly a gift just like these the kiddos were recieving. No one is expecting anything in return. All you have to do is joyously and humbly acknowledge your need for the gift and God gives it, no strings attached. God desires us to excitedly open it and rejoice with the peace and grace that's in it. My prayer for YOU is if you've never received this special gift, that you take a moment to pray and acknowledge your need for Him. Then it' time to celebrate and rip into the gift of life God gives and celebrate the peace and joy it brings this holiday season and always.

It's about that time...

to transition out of the infant car seat. I remember dreading the transition with Traeger and it ended saving my back. But with Traeger, he was 9 months old in March so the weather was a little more forgiving than these ridiculously frigid temps of 1 degree (not including wind chill). So I guess sometime soon Ataly will make the transition and we'll bundle her up in a cute little snowsuit.

Ataly Raen...9 months old!

Well, our precious girl has started the adventures of crawling, which leads her mommy to think...where has my baby gone :O)? It such a fun adventure and I'm excited for her new explorations. Now the world is literally at her fingertips.

Ataly's hair has made it's way into her face, so pigtails were a needed remedy to save what we affectionally call " Ataly's crazy hair." Getting them in certainly is a challenge as I try to keep up with her constantly moving head.

Her constant smiles continue to light up our days, along with her innocent giggles.

We love her sweet babbles. It melts our hearts when she sees one of us and says "mama" or "dada"....what a wonderful sound to hear!

Waving, "dancing" (sitting and moving her torso) while brother Traeger runs around, and clapping are a few of her favorite things!

We praise God for Ataly Raen! We are grateful and humbled we have the opportunity to raise this little girl. We trust God will continue to give us the strength, wisdom and unconditional love as we raise her.

Small Group Christmas Party!

Tuesday night we had a blast with our small group (Jenn we missed you). Everyone came over around 6:30...we enjoyed some tasty food and lots of laughs! We have been so blessed by this fun group of friends who care and support us on our journey of being obedient followers of Jesus in our callings, as parents and spouses!

all focused on consuming the delicous 'meal'!

Matt and Julie can't contain their excitement of finding out if they got a good or crap gift...they got one of both!

We're excited to see if the big box will pay off...and it did!

Luke on the other hand doesn't need any help in the #2 dept., but now has some prune juice, metamucil and tucks if a problem ever arises!

Who would have thought in the nicely decorated tin there would be a nasty "poopy" diaper taped on the bottom?!

Brent sporting his crap gift that turned out to be not so bad.

When the gift opening was over, we played a few rounds of "Guess Who", Hatfield style!

little peanut!

In the winter I miss not being able to let the kiddos run around in their diapers...I just think they're so stinkin' cute in just their diaper. So I let them run around the house for a few minutes 'naked'.

Helpful Traeger

Traeger wanted to help feed Ataly, so why not, right?! Well, he successfully fed her all of her fruit, cereal and veges! What a helpful little guy!

Open wide baby...

going in for more...

well, most of it got in Ataly's mouth :O)

oops, just missed a little bit :O)

Special delivery!

2 BIG boxes, full of presents, arrived from our TX 'family'...

now that's a lot of love!

going in for the goods!

opening presents as he exclaims, "this is lots of fun mommy!"

we had presents and wrapping paper all over...and the kids were loving it!

We were so blessed by Mar'Sue and Elena's generosity!!

Oh Christmas tree!

Traeger was a huge help in putting up the Christmas tree this year. I enjoyed his extra hands as he pulled out every ornament from the tissue paper and then asked me to "fix it"...meaning put it on the tree.

Making sure it was still all in one piece...

I was skeptical at first but it ended up being really special to decorate the tree together...

we're almost done :O)...

the final product!

On the move...

and stuck...

but doesn't seem too concerned about it!

Pigtails!

I finally bought the rubberbands so we could put Ataly's hair in pigtails...love it!

Youth Group fun!

The Jr. High and Sr. High kids went shopping for angel tree presents...

some of the junior high kids and their fearless leaders

the senior high kids and the crazy leaders...

yes, that would be Luke's feet sticking straight up in the air

Top 10 reasons why I love my sister...

After the trip, I called Cori to let her know I got back into town safely. We shared about what a good time we had and how we should do this again when we get the chance and then she said, "You know, you're a lot of fun to hang out with!" Well, I hope so :O) We think it has been over 10 years since we took the time to hang out together, minus the kids and other distractions...long over due! My sister is the best!!!

Cori had the suggestion of sharing a few things about the other that we observed and could encourage the other with...so here's my top 10 reasons why I love my sister!

(we were going to e-mail each other the list but I thought it was blog worthy!)

10. Her love for her children and desire to honor God by loving them

9. Her flexibility

8. Her desire to know God's word challenges me to think about it too

7. She is a fun shopping partner

6. She is always up for ANY adventure

5. She is a great conversationalist

4. She shares well with others :O)

3. She is a strong trail blazer and I'm grateful I get to benefit from her wisdom

2. we can have a "conversation" without saying a word, with a simple utterance, we know what the other is thinking/saying

1. we are sisters squared, by blood and in Christ

Leaving on a jet plane...

This all started with me missing Elena and wanting to make a trip south to see her and spend a little time together. It turned out to be a great bonding time with my sister and Elena and a time to refresh and refocus.

Cori and I met in Wausau Wednesday night and spent the night at the Super 8 (NOT highly recommended but cheap and close to the airport!) We crashed early as our flight took off the next morning at 6:07. Our wake up call was at 3:30 a.m. , we got up and ready for the adventure ahead.

The travel days were fun and gave us a ton of time to talk and people watch.

We sat in front of a family of 3 who didn't believe in bathing.

Our trip was a SURPRISE for Miss Elena...doesn't this face say it all!

We picked her up from school...when she saw who was picking her up she couldn't run fast enough and was trying to get in the car to give us hugs...so worth it all!

The whole way home Elena couldn't wipe the smile off her face...

As tradition has it, we took the neighborhood kids, this time the boys couldn't join us, to Cici's for some good eats and great conversation!

On Friday, while Elena was in school, we stopped by and visited with our friends, Arica, Calli and Hudson, Chris was at work...then we headed off to watch AUSTRAILIA and of course dig into the movie theatre goodies! I highly recommend this movie!

We took Elena to a "paint your own pottery" place and made Christmas presents for her mom.

Cori and Elena working on the lettering...

the final product!

Pampering Elena...

I straightened her hair and Cori worked on her bangs...a team effort!

As per Elena's mom's request, we made some delicious puppy chow!

Go Cowboys!

Actually we stopped and got this picture for Cori's oldest son, G!

The Cheesecake Factory was a must stop...

I love my sweet Elena girl...

Cori and I had so many people take double takes and then ask if we were twins :O)

We enjoyed kicking back and relaxing in the hot tub every day...we were a little late for church on Sunday because we stayed in a little too long.

Elena opening her Christmas gifts from my mom and dad...

Some of her special gifts from the P family, us and my mom and dad...she is one loved chica!

Unfortunately, as we were settling into our hotel room the night we got back into WI, Cori got a call from Adam saying that his aunt had died unexpectantly that night. She was 38 and had 5 kids, ranging from 16-7. Not exactly a fun way to end a trip. Niether one of us could get back to sleep. Finally after laying silent for about 15 minutes, Cori came in and crawled into bed with me...we were both finally able to settle down around 1:30 and slept in until 8:30.

If you think of it please pray for Chuck and his kids as they grieve the loss of their mommy and wife.