Christmas + toddler = HEAVEN

Hellooooooo!

Christmas is an altogether different experience with a toddler, what a JOY it was to watch him open his presents!! And to watch him now playing and learning is amazing. Here are some pics.

Kitchen set from me and Dar - Noah LOVES it. My niece gave him a shopping cart that came with fake food so he takes the cans of beans and soup and shakes them into the pan. He's such a good cook.



Nana and Papa got him a quad - look out! He loves to stand on it when he rides, he's such a stuntman...



Noah watches Handy Manny, a cartoon that teaches that everyone should work together and is important. We got him a plush manny and toolset that's pretty cool :)



Grandma and Grandpa Jenson got him the great house in the first pic, complete with doorbell and mailbox. I made him some little letters that he loves to send and receive.

This is the shopping cart I mentioned. Noah pushes this around ALL. DAY. LONG.



We don't normally like licensed disney stuff, but when I pushed Elmo's tummy and he sang about how much he loved Noah so so much, I had to get it!



Noah loves to pull his full-size wagons around the house and bang them into everything. We thought he would enjoy this one more his size. He got it from Auntie Juju and can now drag a wagon around without so much collateral damage.



A fun shirt I got for Dar - it has Mr. Rogers on it, get it?



I have to post these pictures. I was so impressed that Darren made a little envelope out of wrapping paper to keep his receipts in! I, on the other hand, misplaced most of mine... I may have to hire his skills next year :)

Our Funniest Home Video

This is worth watching the whole way through - he is so patient!

Sorry! This video had to be removed because on Grandpa's urging we submitted it to AFV :) Who knows, maybe we'll win $10,000 or more!

Kisses for Mommy :)

Merry Christmas!

We have decorated our house pretty minimally this year, but it is enough to feel like it's Christmas around here :) Unfortunately something has gone strangely awry with our tree and it never took in water.... this means that our tree is DEAD, quite dead. It is a light, dry-looking green and bits of it's branches fall off if you simply walk by it. Good thing we are just a few days away! (note the absence of ornaments on the bottom of the tree - clearly the sign of a toddler in the house)







This is a nativity scene that I fell in love with last year and Darren bought it for me as a surprise... it came too late to put it up so I was glad to have it for this year!

Mary

The angel

A shepherd

And baby Jesus with a whole lotta hair!

A friend was going to paint them over to look a bit more true to their ethnicity but she said they were beautifully done in a particular style and didn't want to mess with them. Oh how I long for the day when a nativity scene is full of people from the middle east! My inside set has a Jesus that looks like Dan Quayle and a shepherd that looks like an English schoolboy...

I will never forget you Olive

Yesterday I had the honor and great privilege of participating in the celebration of little Olive Jacqueline Waltenburg. She lived just an hour but impacted many people for a lifetime.

I would like to include an excerpt from that message:

Olive’s life taught many of us to take a stand on what we believe. She challenged us to ask ourselves if we truly believed the Bible when it shows us that God wants to heal the sick. Where we wavered in the past, we pressed in for Olive. We searched the scriptures and found reference upon reference of God’s desire to heal and we pushed our faith outside of the box of our own experience and dared to believe.

And even though things didn’t turn out how we had hoped, and we are left with unanswered questions, we are not turning back. We will no longer believe that God makes someone sick for the greater good, or takes a baby away from her loving parents to teach them something. This is NOT the heart of a Father - the Father’s heart is to heal. Death and sickness, from the beginning, have come from Satan (the adversary). Jesus said he came to destroy the works of the enemy. Our God loves us, and He is for us, not against us.

Sweet Olive had Potter's Syndrome, and if you'd like to know more about her or her amazing parents you will find their story under "links".

I'm so proud!

Darren was in TX this last week for work and discovered that he and his business cohort were the top sales team of the first quarter AND the second quarter. God has blessed us so much through Darren's work... they have walked with great favor and have worked hard to bring in some big deals. Here is the bling they presented him with. These are HEAVY, and have rainbow blinking lights on them of course.



Noah has taken to going to the drive-in recently. He loves to climb into his stroller, get strapped in, and watch one of his TV shows. I wish he loved his stroller that much when we were out and about instead of flailing his arms around and announcing to the world that he is "all done!"

Juju and Noah enjoying a rare pizza night in front of the TV :)

Hello!

Yay Leapfrog!

Some of you know I worked at Leapfrog a few years ago. When I was there they came out with a video called the Letter Factory. Well, after 1 week of owning it and probably 5 views, this was my conversation with Noah a few minutes ago.

Hey Noah,
what does the letter A say? Ah
what does the letter B say? Buh
what does the letter D say? Duh
what does the letter M say? Muh
what does the letter S say? Ssss
what does the letter O say? Ooo
what does the letter P say? Puh

He knew a couple of these already but I thought it was just amazing!
kim

Mommy cleans up

I have felt so frumpy lately that when it was time for Cornerstone's Womens Christmas dinner I wanted to dress up nice. It was the first time I really did my hair with purpose and I was so happy with it! I felt great! Here are a couple pics.

Heat, Hair and Red Patent Leather

Kind of sounds like a book I wouldn't be allowed to read! No worries though, this is a family site and all is well :)

I had to take a picture of Noah the morning after I asked Darren "you don't think he'll unzip himself right out of that thing??" to which he replied "Nah...he'll be fine"

Apparently he was hot!



Noah has a new fascination walking around in shoes, ANY shoes... from work boots to ballet flats, this kid rocks the runway in his bold style.



In honor of my very best friend losing her hair to chemotherapy, I decided to give 8" of my hair to the Pantene Beautiful Lengths campaign (www.beautifullengths.com) They donate wigs to women going through chemotherapy. I'll post a pic of the finished product later.

Noah's first "dolly"

Of course I think Noah is the smartest little boy in the whole wide world, but I think this proves it! I pulled out a potty seat we bought because Noah was very interested in the toilet tonight. Upon sitting him on it (clothed) it was clear that the little hole made for him was reaalllly small and I didn't think it would work. As I prepared to box it up, I noticed Noah was really enjoying it. It was like a giant potty-puzzle that he could put together and take apart over and over. Then, as he often does, he wanted to try to pick it up. He carried it to and fro, huffing and puffing, occasionally dropping it and putting it all back together. Apparently the load became too much for him to bear because the next thing I know he is carefully setting it on top of his "scoop" push-along so he could more easily maneuver his way around the house. I was amazed that he had that complex of a thought process to figure that out - maybe he'll be an engineer like his dad :)

Used Bath Water

I have had a looooong weekend! Yesterday was spent helping with the wedding of some good friends of mine, and today was spent in Pacifica celebrating the ordination of another friend. Still, even though they were happy times, I was tired on the drive home tonight. When I walked in the door I told Darren how great the house looked. He replied "At least it's better than how our upstairs bathroom looks". Ugh, what happened? Toilet overflow? Pipe leak? By his voice the conclusion was drawn that it was not going to be pretty. Jennifer and I trudged up the stairs to greet whatever catastrophe was there to meet us.

But instead, a glow lit the master bedroom, a soft glow of candlelight. We turned the corner and the large tub was filled with wonderful scented water and surrounded with candles... My husband gave me what I would not have given myself - a break! I had planned on immediately throwing in a load of laundry the second I walked in - I'm so glad it was interrupted.

While I was in the tub I had a funny memory. When I was little and I had taken my bath, I would always offer my water to my dad. "Hey dad, you wanna use my bathwater?" I thought I was giving the gift of a lifetime - hot water already drawn for a bath. How convenient, right? "You bet!" he'd say, and once I was done, he would go into he bathroom and shut the door. Looking back, I now realize that I was giving him what probably amounted to about 6 inches of tepid water, and it was used bath water at that! I laughed at how my perception was so different back then. What a good sport my dad was to play along - now I understand why I always heard the water turn back on as he probably was filling up the rest of the tub with nice hot water. I love you dad :)

Noah was here...

Hanging out with his friend Lucy

Playing with spaghetti (that he won't eat)

Playing with grandma's cane

At the park with mommy

Look mom, a stick! (Just before it goes into his mouth)

For no reason at all....

Those are the best flowers to get! Darren arrived home today and presented these beautiful roses to me! It was a wonderful surprise and topped off an already great day.

I cried today.

I was driving home from a trip to the grocery store with Noah, pretty random, right? In the car the song "Sunrise" came on by Nicole Nordeman. It took my mind back to how terrible things were just 8 short months ago. My postpartum depression was just starting to get treated so it was still crushing my spirit and my heart.... it was such a hard time.

But today, this beautiful albeit foggy day, is a great day. I love my life. I love my house. I love my husband. I love my son. I LOVE MY LIFE! What a joy it is to feel this way! I praised Jesus all the way home, with Noah saying "Jee JUH Jee JUH" right along with me. I am so thankful to God for bringing me through such a dark valley and taking me into His glorious light. What the enemy intended for evil, God will use for His glory.

Here are the lyrics to the song:

If I had the chance
To go back again
Take a different road, bear a lighter load
Tell an easy story

I would walk away
With my yesterdays
And I would not trade what is broken for beauty only

Every valley
Every bitter chill
Made me ready to climb back up the hill
And find that . . . 

You are sunrise
You are blue skies
How would I know the morning
If I knew not midnight?

You’re my horizon
You’re the light of a new dawn
So thank You, thank You
That after the long night, You are sunrise

There’s a moment when
Faith caves in
There’s a time when every soul is certain God is gone

But every shadow is evidence of sun
And every tomorrow holds out hope for us
For every one of us

(chorus)

You alone will shine
You alone can resurrect this heart of mine

You are sunrise
You are blue skies
How would I know the morning
If I knew not midnight?

You’re my horizon
You’re the light of a new dawn
So thank You, thank You
That after the long night, You are sunrise 

You are sunrise

Say cheese!

I had some dental work done today and they numbed the left side of my face. I took this pic with my phone on my way home from the dentist (at a stop light!) I am smiling as big as I can, but half my face is totally dead - I look like a crazy woman! I thought of videotaping myself singing a song so you could REALLY get a laugh but I decided against it ;)

My dream has come true!

After following his music for the past 20 years, I finally got to meet Little Rocker in person!! I met up with him on his north american tour and he was just as amazing off stage as he is on stage! I think he even looks taller in person :) I was shocked when he agreed to come with me to a Halloween party at a friend's house - he has such big muscles from lugging his amp around to stand on. Oh, and he signed my shirt!!!








The other man in my life, Noah the lion, charmed all passers by at a pumpkin patch this morning :) Almost every person walking by commented on his costume and his cuteness - and I thought I was just making a last minute decision at Old Navy! He rode a horse for the first time, and giggled at goats licking his fingers as they ate pellets from his hand. Of course I looked down to see Noah pulling his hand out of his mouth, a sign that something has just gone in... like... a green pellet. Ew! It came out a little mushier than it went in but we got most of it out. A little extra fiber I guess.

See Ya!!