HAPPY BIRTHDAY BECCA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Our wonderful sister and aunt turned 17 today! We love you Aunty Becca!!!

Christmas Morning

Christmas day was really fun and relaxing. When Santa came the night before he was kind enough to set up Michael's electrical train Grandma bought him and it was ready for Michael to play with. Sadly, the train is a bit too delicate for Michael, so Becca and Dad had to work for him. But he didn't seem to mind. He was giggling, laughing, and jumping up a storm! It was too cute!

Finally Grandma and Grandpa arrived and I had finished preparing breakfast so we got right into the present opening.

The first present...such excitement on his face!

Looking at the new DVD from G&G Stoa--Thomas the Train, what else?

Michael enjoying the Choo-Choo train book from Grandma Stoa. As soon as he opened it he just sat down and looked through it. It warms my heart to see him enjoying books so much!

Grandpa being VERY silly

And the tools from Mom and Dad! These were a big hit...but not as much as the Thomas the Train set from G&G Stoa!! He still plays with it most of every day, and it's been a week and a half!

The next two pictures are my presents from Nathan. I wanted two things this year and that was all! I wanted a key ring area to keep our keys from getting lost and a mirror. And that's just what I got! (Sorry, I forgot to flip them when I put them on the computer)

The other presents we got were Snow Tires from Nathan's parents, for which we are ExTrEmElY grateful, a DVD player for the car (great for those long trips we take regularly!), a really fun digital picture frame already filled with pictures from this blog, Bryce got me the full collection of the Twilight Saga!!!, a puppet theater and puppets, and Michael made out with a good load of clothes!!!!

We were also very blessed this christmas season! Included in Michael's speech therapy opportunities, we have a case worker who, basically, looks out for us and makes sure we have our needs met. She was able to Michael's name on one of those secret santa trees along with one of his wants and one of his needs. For his need we said snow boots and then the correct size. For wants, we just put anything train or Thomas the Train. So a few days before christmas, we got our little package! We felt so blessed to open it up and find some really nice pairs of snow boots, Thomas the Train bathtub squirters, AND brand new Thomas the Train shoes!!!!!! I was overwhelmed at he generosity of this individual who was willing to spend around 40-45 bucks on a family they had never ever met!!!! It just reaffirmed to me how watchful the Lord is of us. Michael was in DEEP need of snowboots and I was nervous he wouldn't have any this year becasue we really couldn't afford them. And then, this may seem like a small thing but it was on my mind, we had thrown away Michael's bathtub toys becuase of the condition they were in. I hated seeing Michael looking so bored in his bathes and I wanted to buy him some more, but again, we couldn't afford it, and then this person bought him some!! I just can't help but feel so special and grateful that this individual was willing to help us out! I truly hope they know how much we appreciate it and I'm sure they were blessed ten-fold for their generosity!

WILL YOU JUST POSE ALREADY!!!!!!!!!

So, with all the effort it took to get Michael to pose and just stand still for the PJ picture, I figured it deserved a post of its own...so enjoy!

Just a word about this video, I forgot that it tilted if I didn't hold it right, so you might have to twist your neck if you want to see it well enough

Here's a close up of his PJ's. Thanks Grandma!!!!

I thought this picture was so DANG cute!!!! I just love the admiring glance he's giving Becca! Now she can NEVER question the love he has for her!

FINALLY a good pose!!!! Ugh, I can't even TELL you how many failed attempts we had!!!! But if you watched the video, you might have an idea!

Finally, Michael showing us how stressful this process was for him...Too bad Becca was close enough to be the victim!

Christmas Eve

Alright, here are the pictures of our Christmas eve. It was a fun night. We had a nice big dinner. Nathan made enchiladas, I made a really good dip in the crockpot, a few other dips, and we cut up some vegetables to eat with the dips. The general "theme" was Mexican. We really liked it, and are thinking of making it our tradition for each X-mas eve.

Here is Michael "helping" with the cleaning of the vegetables. His lasted major fascination rests in "cleaning". Oh, this is a trial for me!! He loves to stand on a kitchen chair and stand at the sink with our dish brush in hand and anything else he can his hands on. It was funny/fun for the first few days, but now it's becoming something that he INSISTS on doing every minute of every day. It's gotten old a LOOOONG time ago (about 2 weeks, now)

I don't remember what was going on here. I think Michael had just gotten out of the bath tub and we were waiting to open his PJ present. He was cuddling with Becca to stay warm.

Ripping open the present and finding his PJ's. He surprised me this year. He knew exactly what to do with the presents. Last Christmas and his birthday he was really timid with opening the presents--Not this time!!

And the living room ready for the morning just after Santa's arrival!!!

What I've Been Doing For The Last Week

This is the book that I have been counting down for about 4 months and it was finally released on Saturday. Oh, it was sooo good!!! And it was fun to read it with Becca, my sister-in-law. Since I was up in Canada visiting, we decided to get the book as soon as we could: 12:00 midnight on Saturday morning. It was pretty fun to travel the one hour each way to get that book into our hands!

She was nice enough to pick up a copy for one of her friends...too bad the friend didn't receive the book until Monday morning....We then proceeded to read it in the same room together until Monday morning when she had to leave for EFY. As soon as I got home my copy was waiting for me and I was able to finish it yesterday. It was nice to finally read a book that I wanted to read.

I really enjoyed reading it with Becca, too. I'm so grateful that she's my sister-in-law. I almost hate saying the "in-law" part. She's just so much fun and I hate that we live 8 hours from one another! I would love to live closer and hang out with her more often. I'm just so lucky for the family that I have married into.

I'm a blessed individual!

Fun Times With The Sunderlands

Chris, Cathy, and Becca were able to come down and spend the weekend with us last week. It was a lot of fun to have them down, as it always is. On Sunday we went down up to the gardens on campus and took some pictures of Michael throwing rocks into the ponds and running around. He had a lot of fun with Grandma and Granpa and Becca. It's always hard to see them go!

Fun Times in Canada!!!

We have been having soo much fun while we've been in Canada! It has been soo nice to just relax and let Michael run wild!! He really loves his Grandma Sunderland and will only allow her to do anything with him while she in his site. It has been really fun to watch. It's also been a great time for Nathan and I to relax from this last stressful semester!!

This was the BEST sleeping arrangment EVER!!!! Well, for Nathan and I, anyway. Nathan's parents have a chase lounge (or really nice couch) in their bedroom, so we had Michael sleep on that with them in their room! The first night, Michael fell off it a few times in the night, so for the rest of the time, they just pushed it up against their bed, and he was just fine!! It was nice. As you can tell, he was quite comfy!

Thanks Chris and Cathy!!

Here is Michael giving one of his famous hugs!!! I'm telling you, he LOVES his Grandma!!!!!!

Michael also mastered going up and down the stairs...that was scary. He did really well, and didn't fall down the whole time. He fully enjoyed having freedom to roam the whole house!

One of my favorite things to do when we visit anywhere is to go "park hopping". I just think it's so fun to see the different parks that are out there and Michael loves to play and run around outside.

Michael really loved the slides at this park!!! He didn't have much interest in anything else. Just the slide.
Becca and Michael going down the slide together

I know this is a silly picture, but it's a good one to help me remember Michael's need to have his tongue stuck out if he's doing something that required a lot of concentration!! Here he had just finished climbing up the ladder to a pretty tall slide.

We also had some fun moments on the swings. But we had to really force Michael away from the slides first.
I LOVE these pictures of him in the swing! He just thought it was soo funny becuase I was so close taking pictures of him.

I just LOVE his smile!!!!


Michael wasn't too sure of the See-Saw's. He would sit on it and look at us like he was ready, but when we would lift him up, he would quickly slide off.




This was a fun night! Michael discovered there was a sun roof in his car.
He's saying Cheese in this picture

Kisses!!!!

These were some cute boots Cathy found for Michael. He loved having these on!!

Michael loved this piano! He was on it quite a few times each day.

I have lost 6 Inches!!!!!!!

Ya, that's right. On Saturday I lost 6 inches...from my head...

It's not the best picture and you can't really tell what it looks like, but I think it does look good. The cut is pretty much way too short, and it wasn't supposed to be. I wanted it to be at least an inch longer, but the cutter must have had other ideas. But I've gotten a lot of compliments on it, and I'm growing to like it. I bought a straightener for it and that really helps. Becca (my sis. in law and friend) also got her hair cut and hers looks way cute, too. Here are some before and after pictures for your enjoyment!

Before
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After
Front

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