Friday, March 19, 2010

Update on Mommy and Daddy

Since my last post was really long and all about our sweet baby boy, I thought I would have a separate post for an update on Luke's parents. :)

Jonathan is getting closer and closer to graduation! He is in the final stages of compiling his dissertation and will defend at the end of April. He continues to work hard at school, his dissertation, papers to be published, tutoring along with balancing family time. He is such a hard worker and it really inspires and encourages me.

He is still in the process of job searching. He was asked to visit Tarleton State University in Stephenville, Texas for a two-day interview and he felt like it went well. That was at the end of February and we still haven't heard back from them. He has recently been invited to Hardin Simmons University in Abilene, Texas for an interview. I will be going with him to look around Abilene. He has accepted a summer job at Richland Community College here in Dallas and will go through August.

These past few months have been very hard on us. We have been stretched thinner than we both thought possible! But the Lord is good! And sovereign! And provides! As hard as it is right now I find joy in knowing that God is in control of everything! We don't know where, when or who Jonathan will be working for but we have a peace, that can only come from our Father, that everything will work out and we will be fine. There's not enough space on this blog to write out all the little ways God has been faithful to our sweet little family and we don't take that for granted.

Ok now that I'm off my soapbox :) on to me!

I absolutely love being home with Luke! Playing with him, reading to him and being just plain silly with him. It's a lot of work and Jonathan is gracious to understand that somedays I just don't get around to the kitchen and that some nights are just going to have to be frozen pizza nights. I enjoy my little projects....frames, cards, goodies.

My current project focus is on Jonathan's graduation lunch. When he found out we were doing this he asked, "You're not going to go all out are you?" To that I replied, "Well of course I am honey! That's what I do!!" So I'm working on some creative ways to turn Jonathan's work ("Modeling Antigenic Variation in a Malaria Infection with Immune Response and State-Dependent Delay") into a fun graduation lunch party for all the rest of us air heads! :) It's quite the challenge! I'll be sure and post pictures of the outcome.

I am also doing the Women's Ministry Bible Study again this semester at our church. I have really enjoyed the study and absolutely love getting to know the sweet ladies in my group. I also love that my group consists of young moms, moms of teenagers, single ladies and grandmothers. I also go to a ladies dinner once a month at the home of an elder's wife. I enjoy that sweet alone time with just the girls too! We always end by sharing our struggles and prayer requests. I'm realizing more and more how important alone time with the girls is!

So that's a quick update on our lives. We'll be sure to keep you posted on the job front with Jonathan. We are so thankful for your love, encouragement, support and prayer!

Also, here's a link to some of my recent projects.

Luke at 13 months!

It's so crazy to watch this little miracle keep growing and growing! I am still shocked my baby is one and it's already been another month... 13 months!!! Oh my goodness soon he'll be going to kindergarten and then graduating high school! Ok so maybe I'm getting a little ahead of myself. :)

Jonathan and I find out everyday just what a bundle of joy our little Lukester is! He is talking constantly pointing to the things he can say: ball, 'chee' (tree), 'melmo' (elmo), mama, dada, 'dada' (hat), dog, book, 'oosh' (shoe) and 'nana' (banana). These are just a few that he says really well and doesn't include all the words he thinks he can say and tries very hard at. The funny thing is he calls hats 'dadas'. Well I think it's funny...but Jonathan takes it personally. :) I think it's cute. He just knows that his Daddy wears hats all the time.

Luke is walking everywhere and climbing and falling and getting banged up like little boys are supposed to. He is also trying to figure out just how far he can push Mommy and Daddy but mainly Mommy. I often spank his hand easily 10 times in a row because he repeatedly disobeys me. You might wonder does a 13 month old really understand what he's doing is wrong? My answer... YES!!! After every touch of the computer or touch of the trash can he likes right at me to see what I'm going to do about it. I swear I see myself in my baby child already and it makes me nervous for the teenage years! Jonathan and I continue to discuss and pray how to best parent Luke. Hopefully he will turn out alright! :)

We gave Luke his first haircut tonight. I just about cried while I was cutting those precious baby locks off. He did pretty well. He squirmed around but there were some brief moments where he sat perfectly still! He just looks so big now!

Here are some recent pictures and videos:

New haircut
Resting his head!
Getting some pointers from Pops!


Sunday, February 14, 2010

Luke's 1st Birthday Party

My baby boy's first birthday has come and gone. I can not believe he is a year old now! Where did the time go? I feel like I've said every month. Luke has been such a blessing and joy to us during his first year and we look forward to watch him grow up.

Ok enough of the sappy stuff! :) We had a great party! Luke did amazing during the party considering it was during his naptime!!! Here are some pics!


All the food and drinks
Luke's Birthday banner I made

The cake table

The cake

The picture display of Luke's 1st year

The sign in and favor table

The door sign

The birthday boy

About to open presents

Giving Luke his cake

The birthday boy as a smurf!

The clean up!

It was a true success! And I loved getting to plan my first family party! I always love to have a party to plan so .... stay tuned for Jonathan's graduation from SMU in May! :)

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Luke's 1st Birthday is almost here!



So I've been planning like crazy for Luke's first birthday party. I know that he will totally not remember anything about it but I just love a good excuse to decorate for a party! :)

We'll be doing different colored polka dots for the theme. We're getting Luke a ball pit so I thought that would be a fun "polka dot" item that I could decorate with. Here's his invite and my inspiration for everything... I blurred out the address and phone number


I'm making a Happy Birthday banner, photo banner to show pictures from Luke's first year and all kinds of goodies and favor boxes! I'm getting really excited and I'll be sure to post lots of pics of the party! So stay tuned!

Thursday, December 31, 2009

Luke's 1st Christmas!

We celebrated Luke's first Christmas this year and he really seemed to love it! I will admit that it seemed he loved the wrapping and tissue paper more than the actual presents but oh well! We had our family Christmas really early this year since we had so many with our extended family. Luke loved reaching into his stocking and pulling something new out. He really loved his walker that Santa got him!
We celebrated with the Taylor side the week before Christmas. Luke got some great clothes and a pop up tent! He didn't know what to think about it at first but he absolutely loves climbing in and out of it! He also got his first basketball goal that all the adults broke in for him. :) My grandmother got Luke toys that I used to play with as a child. A popper and a pull along phone! Luke loved them immediately and knew exactly what to do with them!
The weekend before Christmas we had Mitchell Christmas. We acted out the nativity drama as a family. Luke was a sheep and Jonathan and I were shepherds. We enjoyed our time roasting marshmallows for smores and catching up with our family. Luke got lots of books and some cool clothes. He got a Spiderman warmup suit that Jonathan was very jealous of! :) The adults got to play the newlywed game which was a blast! We enjoyed learning things about each other.
On December 21st we left for Salt Lake City, Utah for a family ski trip with my family. It was my dad's whole side and the Hinsons and Nicholsons. Going through security was definitely a shocker! We took up about 10 bins, no exaggeration! Luke did AMAZING on the flight! He slept the whole 2.5 hours!! It was quite a challenge carrying a snowboard bag, 2 carry ons, a huge suitcase and a diaper bag! Did I mention we had a stroller and a carseat too?!?
Jonathan had a great time snowboarding all week. He hadn't been in 3 or 4 years. I stayed at the condo with Luke and my mom. We are the ones who don't ski! I did get to go snowmobiling with the group while my mom watched Luke! That was a lot of fun!!!! Jonathan was so sweet to let me drive as much as I wanted since that was my only entertainment. I don't want to brag or anything but I did get it up to 70 mph! :)
Luke had an amazing 1st Christmas! I love that he had a white Christmas on his 1st year!! We really loved spending so much time with our family! I love the holidays mainly for that reason! We hope you all had a great Christmas!!!

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Mitchell Update

Oh my goodness it's been a while since I've updated our blog! Here's a brief run-down of what's been going on with us!

On November 1st Jonathan and his brother, Samuel, ran a half marathon. They both did great! Samuel had run it last year and it inspired Jonathan so much he wanted to run it this year.


Luke had a great first Thanksgiving and we enjoyed seeing family in Ft. Worth, Palestine and Beaumont. We also gave Jonathan's parents a 40th Wedding Anniversary party the same weekend we did Mitchell Thanksgiving.

Luke even got his first taste of Aunt Dee's famous banana pudding!!

Luke is growing more and more every day. He has 3 teeth now and we often call him snaggle tooth because his one tooth on top is off to the side! :)

He is also walking around pretty good for a 10 month old! He started taking a few steps around 9 months and now he is really doing well.

We are packing for a ski trip now that we will take to Salt Lake City, Utah with my whole family. We'll be gone for a whole week so I'm a little nervous about packing for a 10 month old for that long! Stay tuned for a few pictures of Luke in the snow! :)

We also just took our Christmas card pictures so I'll post those soon too!

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Pumpkin Patch

We had a great time at the Dallas Arboretum in the Pumpkin Patch. We got some great pictures of our little family and Luke. Enjoy and Happy Fall!!!