Sunday, September 19, 2010

Playing Catch-Up

Hi out there! We are still alive and kicking and really enjoying life right now. Here's a catch-up on life in St. Louis!

Nathan. Nathan is going to pre-Kindergarten every morning and is loving it. He's at our church's school where he went last year (and where I taught). Well, I think he loves it, at least! He doesn't tell me much about it. He likes to keep school secrets :) He's got a new friend at school who is coming over for an afternoon playdate tomorrow and apparently the other little boy is VERY excited, as is Nathan!


Nathan loves dressing up, as you can see above. He is enjoying wearing his old Halloween costumes and mixing and matching the pieces.

He's also enjoying cutting every chance he gets, which is often. I have paper and scissors and tape that the boys can use and so Nathan really likes to cut out various animals and tape pieces of paper together to make funny things. In the above picture I think he taped these two pieces of cut paper onto his face to be a mean mouth and probably turn himself into a dinosaur. (Yes, he's still obsessed with dinosaurs....I know much more about them than I ever cared to know!)
Nathan also loves playing with his friends in our neighborhood. In the picture below his friend, who is almost 7, is reading to him. That little boy is so sweet to Nathan and the other younger kids.

Here he is on his first day of school this year. He was so excited!

Isaac and I are really enjoying spending more time together this year. I am now staying home full-time (yippieeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!) and during Toby's nap in the morning it's just Isaac and Mommy. I haven't had much time with Isaac by himself because Nathan was always with us. I am enjoying getting to know Isaac better as an individual and not just in relation to Nathan.

Isaac is more introverted than Nathan so sometimes he prefers to play by himself, or play inside when there are lots of kids outside. He also likes things to be done properly, as can be seen in the picture below with the trains lined up. We have a set of wooden blocks that have a wooden box and he likes to put the blocks back in the box. There isn't a lot of extra room in the box so the blocks have to be put in just so to fit well and Isaac is really good at it. He also loves puzzles, even ones that seem like they should be too hard for him. I am waiting for him to be old enough to load the dishwasher. He'll probably be better at it than I am!

I am also pleased to announce that Isaac is potty trained! Well, about 80%. We started him about 6 months younger than we did Nathan (so he was about 2 1/4 when we started). We still have a little way to go before he's all the way there, but at least we're done with diapers!



And then there's sweet little Toby :) Toby is an incredibly easy baby. Jimmy and I keep pinching ourselves. We are certainly thankful that God has chosen to bless us with these perfect little ones.


Toby is 4 months old and he's a good sleeper and good eater. He loves to smile with those cute dimples! He also loves to laugh. It's hard to get a good video of him laughing, though, because as soon as I get out the camera he gets very serious :) When I clean up his neck he just thinks it's the funniest thing ever. He also gave the doctor some great belly laughs when she was checking out his abdomen the other day.


He's always exploring! He loves to chew on his hands and will sometimes pop out his paci to get his fingers in his mouth. He's rolled over a few times and I can't believe that the time is coming near when he'll be mobile! Wow, times flies faster and faster with each child!


Jimmy is really enjoying working with Manhattan GMAT. He's teaching two classes right now, one online and one in person. He's taking a full load of classes at the seminary. I'm also auditing a class, Marriage and Family Counseling. I really enjoy getting to audit classes! It makes me realize that I don't want to take them for credit because I don't want to do the work :) We are also both involved with children's ministry at our church. Jimmy is heading up Sunday school at the first service, and I'm teaching a 1st/2nd grade class at the second service. I enjoy having that teaching outlet (it's my first time teaching Sunday school!).

Life is really good right now :)

Up soon: pictures from our trip to Virginia in August!

Sunday, August 15, 2010

What a wonderful summer!

Woah. This summer was great. I know I haven't blogged in a while but that's because we have been traveling a lot! July 9-20 we were in California and then July 29-August 13 we were in Virginia. So....there hasn't been a lot of time to upload and edit photos, and create a blog post. But there are a few posts composing themselves in my head:

*Dedicated to grandparents
*Wonderful family
*Traveling with children

Hopefully they'll appear soon. In the meantime...Nathan starts school tomorrow (5 half-days a week!) and we'll celebrate by starting Isaac on the potty training adventure :)

Sunday, July 25, 2010

An Ode to the Iowans

These are our
Iowans.


We love them a whole bunch.

And I'm pretty sure the feelings are mutual.

Between the Brocks and the Iowans there are no shared
hometowns,
colleges,
churches,
workplaces,
or homes.

We met in.....an interesting housing circumstance. And the friendship stuck. Praise the Lord! He knew we needed each other.

They have
loved us,
fed us,
laughed with us,
prayed with us,
been sad with us,
blessed our children with presents,
even taken off work to keep Nathan
when Isaac arrived.

Their love for my children is inspiring and contagious. With no children of their own, they still understand how children can be limiting. But they never see ours as a
burden,
only as more people for them to shower
with their selfless love.

Andrea, Katie, and Kelly, we love you.
We love that our friendship with you has stood the tests of
miles
and
time.
We look forward to every moment spent with you.

Friday, July 23, 2010

Sunday, July 11, 2010

My favorite place

“The Sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever.”

--Jacques Cousteau




Saturday, July 10, 2010

Follow-up thoughts on the Sabbath (thanks to Isaiah)

Isaiah 58:13-14:

If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath,
from doing your pleasure on my holy day,
and call the Sabbath a delight
and the holy day of the LORD honorable;
if you honor it, not going your own ways,
or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly;
then you shall take delight in the LORD,
and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth;
I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father,
for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Nathan's 4th Birthday--A Dinosaur Party!

We had a great time celebrating Nathan's 4th birthday yesterday. I can't believe that my first baby is already four years old! Here he is opening his first gift of the day: Mini and Maxi books! These are great books that tell a Bible story and then there's a story about the Muffin family that reflects the Bible story. Nathan loves them! Papa and Grandma Brock have quite a few and though they're out of print, Grandma was able to procure five for Nathan for his birthday. Needless to say, Nathan wanted to read them all morning, and every free moment since then!

After ope
ning his first-thing-in-the-morning gifts, we thought we'd better get the party underway! Nathan is currently obsessed with dinosaurs, T-Rex in particular, so we threw him a dinosaur-themed birthday party. I'm sorry to say that there are no pictures of the decorations :( When the guests arrived we split into two groups. (Did I mention that there were FOURTEEN children, plus their parents and in some cases younger--baby--siblings at the party???) One group painted t-shirts with dinosaur stampers and the other group went on a dinosaur hunt (thing Easter egg hunt). Then we switched groups. Between the swap most of the kiddos played Carnivores and Herbivores, a game we made up based on the game Sharks and Minnows. It went well...until Nathan collided with a friend. Thankfully they quickly recovered :)

After a hydration break (because it was HOT and HUMID), Nathan opened his gifts while Daddy fetched the pizza. We then ate lunch and had cake, said good-bye, and came into the air conditioning for the rest of the afternoon! It was a wonderful time and Nathan thoroughly enjoyed himself. Grandpa (Bryan) was visiting and treated Mommy and Daddy to the Olive Garden for dinner! A great day was had by all :)

Here are some more pictures from the big day!