January

Here's what's been happening in January--in between all the crazy running around!

Brandon worked hard and did a very good job of typing out his own thank-you notes for Christmas presents this year.  I would write out sentences on paper with slashes for spaces and he found all the letters.  We then printed them out and glued them in pretty cards.  It was a good experience for him in many ways, but he was sure sick of thank-you notes by the end.  ;)

Micah has really taken to sitting at the computer and just listening to music, especially if I'm working on pictures at the same time.  He'll often sit for 30-40 minutes at a time and I'll forget he's there.

Brandon has really been in a creative stage lately.  He's made instruments (drum below), a guitar, and a cement mixer just to name a few.

Micah is finally out of the crib so he can't demolish it any further.  They are both extremely proud of their "bunks" bed, but are still learning what "quiet" means when it's bed time...

And here are a couple of my favorites from our 20 week ultrasound for #3.  He was very adament of getting the ultrasound wand out of his territory!

Blessings

Sometimes I Wonder...

If I did not have VERY distinct memories of carrying him for 42 weeks, I would seriously wonder sometimes at Micah being my child. 

After nap time conversation:

Me: Are you ready for a snack?

Micah: Yeah

Me: Would you like gold fish crackers or strawberries?

Micah: Strawberries!!

Me: Do you want some sugar on them?

Micah: NO

Who is this kid?  Fruit for snack and no added sugar to make it palatable?

Eagles!

For the second year in a row, I drove up to the North Fork of the Nooksack River in December.  The eagles gather there to eat the salmon and they are absolutely gorgeous to watch and photograph.  Last year I went in the middle of the day, so this year I went up really early in the morning and was there for sunrise.  It was a spectacularly beautiful and frigid morning!

The changing colors as the sun came up were amazing.

This guy looked how I felt--cold!

Right around 8am a whole bunch of professional photographers showed up.  In between taking my own pictures of the eagles, I watched these photographers and started really feeling sorry for them.  They were so focused on the eagles and getting THE shot, they forgot to look behind them and see the sunrise.  It's always one of my prayers when I go on outings like this that I won't be so focused on getting the good shots that I forget to stop and look around and enjoy the beauty of creation.

Hawks were also in abundance.

 Right before I left Bryan looked me in the eye and said, "Remember, Sara, eagles are called birds of prey for a reason.  Be careful out there."  That thought ran through my head again as this guy flew right over my head.

 This picture isn't so spectacular as hilarious!  See the two eagles in the center?  They look like they're having a stand off over the fish on the shore and every other bird around was watching rather closely.

The trees were also quite full of finches.

Yum!  Breakfast anyone?

 How many eagles can you count in this picture?  My last count was 15.

It was a beautiful morning in quiet, in fun, in reflection, and in enjoying God's creation.  I'm looking forward to next year already!  Want to come along?

Blessings

Christmas Eve

Did you know it's rather difficult to tell the difference between lingering morning sickness and the flu?  Pretty sure I just got shnookered with both the end of this week.  Thankfully it seems to be the 12 hour one that's going around not the two day one Bryan had over Christmas break!

Christmas Eve, after nap time, we headed over to Bumpa and Grandma's house.  Uncle Andrew and Auntie Cheryl were there as well.  It's always a fun time when we can get together as a whole family!

*Warning: LOTS of pictures!*

First order of business was to play Brandon's new pirate game.

I love this picture with all the big boys and Brandon playing a game.  They are introducing him to the art of game playing in the Korthuis family well!

Important discussions happen with Auntie Cheryl!

Both boys got some fun dress up clothes!  Can we say, "Bob the Builder(s)"

Goofy "Mickey Mouse" replication!

 This was the first "big" present of the night.  The facial expressions on Mom's face are classic!

Someone's going to Ashland to see several Shakespeare plays!

SURPRISE (not really cause she was part of the planning)... Cheryl's going too!  :)

We were sitting on opposite sides of the room when we were told we had to sit on the couch together for this one.  It was a present for both of us...

An IPad!!
We had been looking at various tablets for months but it was not really an item in our budget so it was a big hit!

HOWEVER, Bryan is a Microsoft man...

Me, really preferring the IPad to other tablets we had looked at...and trying to convince him...it didn't take much.  ;)

Cheryl getting the ONE thing she was really hoping to get...

I love this picture, despite it's fuzziness and because it is fuzzy...gives it a bit of a dreamy look to it.

Bumpa's across the room spanking stick??

Garden tools just Micah's size.

My cutie-pies!

Giggles and cuddles with Grandma to end a FUN evening.

Unfortunately, that is where my Christmas pictures end.  I guess the next two days were simply focused on having enough energy to get through the other parties.  Christmas day we spent at Bumpa and Grandma's house with more family and the day after Christmas we were at an aunt and uncle's house for the larger Korthuis family party.  It was a fun four days of parties!

Blessings on your week.