It is our family's prayer that you find the same wonder, awe, and joy as a child when you think about the miracle of the birth of our Lord and Savior.

And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. Luke 2:7

Happy Birthday Jesus!

Merry Christmas!

Sledding Videos

Snowtime

Yes, these are pictures of the same child who less than a year ago, didn't just dislike the snow, but I think, hated it. If you don't remember, jog your memory here. Needless to say, his opinion has changed quite a bit. We all put some work into the snowman, but it just wasn't meant to be. First, the snow wouldn't roll into balls. It was more off a pile-and-smooth method of building. Secondly, since our "trees" are mere twigs themselves, we don't have anything to use for arms. If anyone is looking for a last minute gift idea, we need fixing for a snowman. We'll definitely have to try this again sometime though.
The sledding was a hit. He would get quite upset when we would need to catch our breath. It's not easy to run through several inches of snow! We didn't get out til almost sunset so the pictures are pretty dark. I'm sure we'll be out doing this several more times. Nate also thinks the sled is great for pulling around indoors.

Colossians 3:17

Brad has used several clips off this site as sermon and teaching illustrations. I happened to be looking for something else on the site one day, and I came across this. I'm not sure why it came up with my search results since it had nothing to do with what I was looking for, but I thought it was pretty good. If you watch The Office on NBC, you can see they used the Office style. Next time they start pushing the use of your spiritual gifts at your church, see if dodgeball shows up on your inventory. (Unfortunately, it's not one of mine.)

Asia!

Looks like I won't have to wait for Matt to be in Afghanistan to get a visitor from Asia. Africa plans anyone?

Check back later today for some Nate in the snow pictures. His Grandpa Knorr requested pictures of sledding and a Nate-size snowman. We'll see if the little guys up for some outside time later today.

Jesus has 2 mommies

Notice anything peculiar about this nativity set? Yep, Jesus has two mommies! Nate was given the Fisher-Price nativity by his favorite Patty and Gary. They have one at their place, and I have always thought it was the cutest thing. (When you press the angel down, it plays music and the star lights up.) I was thrilled and so thankful they had gotten him one, and I eagerly began to unwrap it when we got home. Each piece is wrapped in it's own plastic bag. I was quite perplexed to find that we had 2 Mary figures and no Joseph. I'm left to wonder if this was done as a joke by the packer or what. Is it an attempt to modernize the Christmas story??? Some might be a bit offended, but I thought it was hilarious. So, I'd like to introduce to you baby Jesus and his two mommies. Any suggestions as to how I explain this to Nate?
(Fisher-Price is sending us a complete set of all the figurines for free, hopefully this time we'll get a Joseph.)

4 continents! I've had visitors to my blog from North America (duh), South America, Europe, and now Australia. Matt's going to attempt to get an Asia for me while in Afghanistan. Anyone heading to Africa? I'm assuming Antarctica is out of the question. Too bad.

I've really been struggling to blog lately. Facebook has taken over a lot of my computer time. Tori introduced me to a scrabble game on there, and I'm addicted. I'm going to have to limit myself to Scrabulous only when Nate is napping. I'd like to think my brain is getting some good exercise by looking at all those letters. Get a facebook and play scrabulous with me!

Is anyone else getting annoyed with the tv reruns? I'm going to be so bummed if the seasons are over. I spent all summer gearing up for the new season, and it's essentially over. At least make some new Grey's Anatomy!!! I hear they're actually making a Big Brother to air in the spring due to all this craziness. I'm going to have to just start watching a lot of reality tv I suppose.

Some Cute Stuff

As Nate gets closer to turning two, I find myself thinking a lot about how we'll decorate his room once he's out of the crib and in a big boy bed. I've actually spent quite a bit of time roaming the internet searching for ideas. I want something that can grow as he grows. I don't want to have to start completely over again a few years from now. Today I happened to find a person whose blog recommended a toy off of this website. They have some of the cutest stuff and shipping isn't out of this world expensive. Here is the stuff I would love to do in Nate's room when he graduates to a new bed in the extra bedroom. (I have no intention of repainting the nursery. Too much work went into it.) Here is what I found. I like that they are wall decals and can just be removed when he outgrows the look. I also love the colors! I would probably do a pretty neutral wall color. I also love the quilt. It's a bit pricey, but I know from making quilts it's just the way it is. What do you think? The whole reason I ended up at this website is because of this adorable play food. If I was rich, I would go to town on this website!!!!

hold the pickles, no mustard, please

I just want to say that raising a toddler brings something new everyday. Lately Nate has become quite opinionated about getting dressed. It's turn more into a fast food ordering situation than anything else. Yesterday's order was: I'll have a shirt, 2 socks, 2 shoes, and hold the pants, please.

I also did not intend for this picture to be an action shot. He has learned though that there is a screen on the back of the camera, and it has him on it. He now chases you while yelling until you let him look through all the pictures.

When do I get to win a battle around here???? Score: Nate: all Andrea: 0

snow business

I just have a bit to say regarding the snow. There is a sense of normalcy to snow here. It's no big deal; the "life goes on" mentality is in full force here. This is not the way I was raised. Snow days were cherished events in my childhood. Snow day to me say family day. It's just how I was raised. When it began to snow in Little Rock, everything was canceled and closed. It meant the family got to spend an unexpected day together. (And Dad might just start the fire place.) Those who know me well, know how much time with family means to me! I love it! To this day, I just feel like it's wrong when we go about our normal daily routines and work when it's snowing. I think God gives us snow days to give us a break from the normal and take time to just spend together. And I like my way of thinking. Along with this comes my decision that I plan to stick by even though I live further north, I cannot, do not, and will not drive snow covered streets. It's just not worth the risk to me. If they really think "life goes on" despite the snow, they need to install some form of heated street. How's that for an idea. Someone please get to work on this idea.

the snow is following me, make it stop!

I need to back up a week and get caught up on what we've been up to and share some pictures along the way. A week ago right now, we were in a charter bus on our way to Keystone, CO for the youth ski trip. Nate and Mags stayed with Brad's parents while we were gone. We had 16 kids and 4 adults, including ourselves. They've not had much snow (we did get some while there), and haven't been allowed to make much either thanks to the drought. That made for some really packed down, icy skiing/snowboarding. Our group made 3 trips to the medical clinic, with one ending up with a broken wrist (the other two were sore but okay). The slopes stayed really busy thanks to 36 Hours of Keystone which was also taking place. (People are really nuts enough to ski for 36 hours straight.) The drive home was long on Sunday, but we got to see several movies we hadn't previously seen. Enjoy some pictures.

Today we got some snow of our own here. In all it was somewhere around 4-5 inches. Not a bad little snow. We took Nate out in it when we cleaned off the driveway and sidewalks. He still isn't the biggest fan of the snow. He also wasn't to fond of the snowpants, boots, or gloves. He keep trying to get me to take the gloves off because he couldn't pick any of his outdoor toys up. He did venture into the snow to try to get me to pick him up a couple of times, but he prefered to stay where we'd cleaned the snow off. Maybe he too was meant to be a southerner like his momma????? I really thought he'd like it this year. I guess we have about 8 more months of winter for him to get use to it! Enjoy some more pictures.

Also want to say thanks to all who checked in on us to make sure we were okay yesterday. We didn't know anyone involved, but know of people who work there, had been there earlier, or were planning to go there that day. Unbelievable is still the word that comes to mind when I try to comprehend what has happened.

Get to Work

Nate decided to give us a hand with feeding Mags yesterday evening. It was cute and took several trips between the dog food bin and her bowl. I wonder what other chores he capable of . . . taking out the trash?????

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From Trash to Treasure

Two problems. Hopefully some solutions are out there.

Problem 1 is the trash. Maggie, who's always been a really good dog, has suddenly taken an interest in the trash. If we don't lock her up when we leave, there's usually trash on the floor when we return. We started locking her up again, and she's turned into an escape artist. And, then it's up to the trash. What caused this sudden bad behavior? How do we get it so that we can leave her out when we're gone without putting the trash under lock and key?

Problem 2 is the treasure. I noticed today that the center stone in my engagement ring is loose. I have no clue how or why it happened. I'm not quite sure what to do about it. Obviously a jeweler is needed, but John Reynolds, who we got it from, is in St. Louis. I don't want to just take it to just anyone. Is it a bad thing to wear it until I get it fixed? I assume so. Anyone know a reputable jeweler here?

Update

Brrrr! It sure is cold here! There's nothing like going from a high of 70s one day to 20s and 30s the rest of the week. (And we all know how much appreciation I have for winter and cold weather.)

We had a good Thanksgiving with Brad's family. We headed to the farm Thursday morning and stayed the night to watch football on Friday. Brad and his dad had a fun time on the four wheelers scouting out possible Christmas trees. We also played several rounds of Apples to Apples. I was lucky enough to win a round! Yay me! (Brad won twice of course.) Football was a super low and super high on Friday. Go Hogs!!!

Today was Christmas decorating day. We accomplished quite a bit while Nate was napping. We were able to get the tree up, lit, and decorated. It was challenging this year to make sure that only things Nate could touch ended up within his reach. He got a huge grin on his face and kept saying "tree" when we got him up. It was too cute. He's found a lot of the bells that we put within his reach and thinks they're great. I'm just going to have to keep a close eye on him.

I didn't take any pictures all weekend. I'll see what I can do tomorrow. Brad is preaching two different sermons at two different services, but after that the day should be pretty relaxed.

Hope your turkey day was thankful!

Playing in a Winter Wonderland (kind of)

So those flurries they predicted and I was watching earlier . . . . Well, it's now been snowing for several hours. Not quite what I expected today, but how can you complain too much about the first snow of the season. (After a few more though, I do retain the right to complain as much as I feel necessary.)

why me?

Just a quick note to say that life is not fair. While my little sister is in Hawaii today, I'm staring out the window at snow flurries. So not fair!

Momma told me there'd be days like this . . .

He is my son, and I love him. He is my son, and I love him. He is my son, and I love him. We are having a day where I have to keep reminding myself of this. I should have known what kind of day it would be when I couldn't sleep last night, and then Maggie was threw up three times before 6:30 this morning. I've heard several people say that you always love your children, but you also have days where you just don't like them very much. Nate's mood is definitely leading me to believe fully in this statement for today. He is my son and I love him. He is my son, and I love him. Who am I kidding? He's Brad's son today. (All of you with children will understand this post completely. No kids yet, just wait. . . )

Is it just me or is anyone else thinking that November is flying by?

A new way to do pictures

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Here's a new little thing that I found out about. It's a quick attempt at just trying to figure out how it works. I'll play with it some more and hopefully come up with something that's a little better.

I'll start by updating on the pacifier issue. Thursday was go day. I chicken out and only poked a pin-size hole in two of them. He didn't seem to notice one bit. (Not that it was noticable enough to be noticed.) Friday I decided I'd better make things a bit more noticable. I cut a slit in the tip of the two I was giving him. At naptime it took quite a while and some tears before he finally fell asleep. Nighttime was much better. Starting Saturday he happily took them and acted as if they'd always been this way. He just doesn't seem phased. I have a feeling he'll be a bit like Leslie, a family friend who I've known since she was born, and hang onto it until there's nothing left to hang onto. I'm not quite sure when I'll snip the actual tip off, but it makes me nervous to think about. I dread the tears and sadness he'll have. There was a point before he was a year where I really thought I could break him of it easily. I just felt like he was too young. Now he's so much more attached to it. Oops. . .

The girl I spoke about a couple of posts back passed away on Friday. It's made me really reflect on how I am around Nate. I want to make sure that I cherish and truly give him my best each day. The truth of the matter is that we don't have a guarantee on how long life is. Sometimes it can get rather tiring to play the same games over and over again with him, but when I stop to notice how much it means to him . . . it's worth it. (Even if we already read But Not the Hippopotumus 9 time in a row, and he wants to hear it again.) We have had a ton of fun together over the past few days. He continues to learn new words all the time. Yesterday he started saying "flower" although he usually leaves off the "-er", and it sounds a bit slurred. Tonight he went to the computer and said "sic". He wanted us to turn on his Nick Jr. Radio "music". I love it!!!! He's also become quite a helper around the house. He will go get most anything you ask him to. He is also great at throwing things in the trashcan, including sippy cups when they're empty. I also have found him to be quite helpful, slow but helpful none the less, when unloading the dishwasher. He'll hand you the silverware one at a time. He's also a champ and unloading anything else that's non-breakable. Tonight he even got to put two pots away in their drawer. He felt like big stuff! I know I will look back in a few year and realize how quickly time went by, but I can also say I enjoyed the small things along the way.

Nate was up at 5:30 this morning. This girl is going to bed shortly.

from "uh" to "oh"

It is truly amazing to both Brad and I just how much our Nate has grown up in recent months. Just today in all of his constant talking, I noticed he now is saying "uh-oh" instead of "uh-uh". It may sound small, but I always loved the way he use to say it. Just another indicator that he's growing and learning every day.

With all of this growing up, we, fine, I have made the decision that it's time for the pacifier to go. Brad would happily let him walk to kindergarten with it, but I don't quite feel the same way. I'm sick of carting it around all over the place and dreading what might happen when it's forgotten. Just yesterday I had to pull over on the side of the road because his diaper bag which had his pacifier was in the trunk. Arghhhh! Starting tomorrow the process begins. The tricky part is that he likes to have not just the one in his mouth, he also likes one in each hand, kind of like a security blanket. I'm going to go about it by snipping the tip off which I've known several people to do, including Nate's pediatrician who has twins which are a couple months older than Nate. I think I'll attempt it at naptime tomorrow and see what happens. I am really dreading it. The car will be the worst though since he won't sit in his carseat quietly without it. Help! Someone please . . . I need help!

Notice not only the three pacifiers but also the lovely bedhead! :)

the great pumpkin

Here's our little pumpkin. He looked quite adorable last week. As you can tell from the pictures, he wasn't too big on the hood part. He visited our neighbors on either side of us, but that was it. He was actually so tired that he was in bed by his normal 7:30. We were excited to have 34 trick or treaters compared to the 4 we had last year. As more houses are built around us, it should only grow to more and more. We're one holiday closer to Christmas! (Not that I'm one to overlook Thanksgiving. I love the holiday season!)

see you in st. louis

It's been another busy one around here.

Brad and I (along with 2 others from the SE staff) left Thursday for the National Youth Workers Convention in St. Louis. We've been looking forward to this trip since finding out about the St. Louis location in October 06. There are so many things we both miss about StL since moving away.

The convention was great. We got to see a lot of great bands (David Crowder, Leeland, Starfield, we missed Jars of Clay, boo) All of the free stuff they give out is wonderful. It's like Christmas; everytime there's a general session there's more free goodies waiting on your seat. There were also some good sectionals that I enjoyed. I was given quite a hunger for learning more about teen girls and many of the issues they deal with. I'm currently ready the book Queen Bees and Wannabes which led to the movie Mean Girls (which I've not seen, but will now). I've never been so entralled with a non-fiction book! I also really appreciated Doug and Cathy Fields's Q&A session on Marriage, Family, and Ministry. I agree so strongly with their thoughts on the balance between the them. We ate waaaaaaay too much good food. We had Jack Stack in KC on the way down. We hit Seamus McDaniel's, Favazza's, Joanie's Pizzaria, and of course got some good ol' Chikfila! We made sure to spend some time wandering around both Seminary campus and at Galleria. It was also great to see some great friends that are missed a lot.
Worship time with David Crowder Band.Who doesn't want a free foam hammer hat? I'm sure Adam and I will cherish ours forever! :)

It was a challenge to be away from Nate from Thursday afternoon until today. I've never let the little guy be away from me for so long. It was good though. He did great and had a blast! Dave and Kay sent me pictures which was wonderful. I called last night on our way home and got to talk to Nate on the phone. He said, "mama" on the phone and brought me to tears. I was ready to head directly towards him. It's amazing how he can melt me. It's nice to have him home. He seems to have grown a ton in the few days apart!

Complete change of subject.

A family at our church was involved in a car accident this weekend. It's a very serious situation for their oldest girl. She is suffering from life-threatening injuries. I would ask that you remember the family in your prayers and ask for complete healing for this 12 year old. They have set up a Caring Bridge site where you can keep up with things: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/ashleywooden . God IS good and answers prayers.

Playing in the Leaves

I decided I'd better get some pictures of Nate playing in the leaves before too much of the fall color had gone. Fall seems to be in full swing here, which means the trees will soon be empty once again. I have a favorite tree here that I've been watching the color of for a while now just waiting for it to be in it most colorful stage for picture taking. Back to Nate. This was his first time to play in the leaves. He really wasn't too sure about them at first. He seemed to think they didn't feel very good. After setting the camera down for a while and playing with him, he seemed to get the hang of it. I think he'll really enjoy it next year!

The trip of a lifetime

A couple of weeks ago my mom and my aunt started quite a project. Anna Marie (my aunt, Dad's younger sister) flew down from Michigan with a ton of pictures and slides from my Grandma and Grandpa Koss's house. The idea was to scan them all to the computer and make cd's for all of us to have. From what I hear, they scanned all weekend and still didn't finish. I'd been reluctant to look through the ones Dad put on his website. I didn't want to get stuck clicking through endless numbers of pictures. Today I figure it was time to start looking at them. I'd just do a few at a time. I got stuck, and it was wonderful. I spent almost an hour looking through over 500 pictures. I smiled a million smiles, held back a few tears, and really enjoyed myself. It's hard to believe that Grandma Koss has been gone for almost 3 years. Grandpa's seen better days, but he's still keeps on going. It's amazing the love and admiration you unknowingly have growing in you for your grandparents as you grow up. I saved a few of the pictures and have added them here. For the full trip down memory lane, you can click the link to Mom and Dad's site on the right hand side of the site.

I love this picture. It's my favorite of them all. I want to print and frame it. The happiness in both their faces is amazing.

The beginning and end of our ballet careers. Let's just say ballet was not high on my interest list.Happy Halloween a few days early! I'm the one with the red ruffles and pom-poms.I'm about 3 months old here and enjoying some quality time with Grandpa and a pink teddy bear.

There were several pictures of Grandpa with us grandkids. In true grandfather fashion, we were often times on his lap.

Wearing Your Food

Letting Nate feed himself with spoons and forks has not been too high on my priority list. They tend to encourage him to play rather than eat. There comes a time in every toddler's life where he or she must make that giant leap to not eating everything with your hands. That time has come for our Nate. I usually have to try to keep myself busy. Otherwise, I'd be there trying to take over, and he would never learn. So here is a little peek into our learning process:

Randomnimity

Not too sure what to blog about. I guess I'll just try to share a few random things with little regard for grammatical correctness.

• My brother's time in Afghanistan has been shortened. He should be able to come home in Nov. 08 rather than Feb. 09!! Praise God! Keep praying!
• Huskers lost again. . . boo. It's getting pretty miserable around here. Brad said this was the one game left that we should have won. Yikes, what does that mean for the rest of the season?
• Razorbacks won! Woo Pig Sooie!
• I've got a few new shows I've been watching this fall. Private Practice on Wednesdays. Women's Murder Club on Friday. Both good. Wouldn't say either are great. I'm slowly getting more into each. Anything else worth checking out????
• Nate's got a cold. And all the new reports say no meds. I feel terrible for him. I'd never consider braving a cold without medicine.
• We got close to 2.5 inches of rain last week. I didn't think the sun was ever coming back. Today was muy perfecto! 70s and sunny. Tomorrow 50s. Boo.
• I love pears! I long for pear season all year! I'm addicted!
• We went to a church family's house on Friday. She made apple pie with crumb topping! I loved it! I want another piece.
• Nate's been very into coloring lately. He tries to say "color". Only I would understand what he was trying to say though.
• My dad is doing the Detroit half marathon tomorrow. Go Dad! (He did a full in March so this should be a piece of cake) :)
• Monday is my goddaughter's 9th bday!

It won't let me upload the pic of Nate that I want. I'll try again tomorrow. Adios.

I could think of several titles for this post . . .

Okay. Most of you know that I am not a politically opinionated person. It's just not something I get all excited about. I know that the morals in our country are terrible, but I don't know that anyone with the description "politician" is the right one to fix that. Anyways, I just had to post this picture of Hillary. Whether you like her or not, you have to agree that this is a terrible and rather frightening picture. What was CNN thinking (at the time I'm writing this, it's the picture with the head story) when they picked this one out. I'd have to guess that whoever was in charge of this story, wasn't a huge Hillary fan. Yikes!

Pumpkin Patch

Lots of pictures again with this post. I'm not quite sure why I didn't just do a slide show. I was about halfway through loading when I realized it would have been easier. Oh well, they're here now. Brad and I took about 150 pictures while at Pooley's. It was half the cost of Vala's (where we went last year), and more appropriate for Nate's age. Here we go . . .
There were a ton of animals at Pooley's. Brad and Nate are checking out the baby chicks here. There were also goats, pigs, sheep, cows, and horses. Nate wasn't too sure about any of the animals. My two animal observations: 1) Pigs are loud!!!! and 2) A sheep's "baa" is very low.
Nate' favorite part of the experience was playing on the tractors. This is common anytime we are around a tractor. He could have spent the entire time up there. We got a ton of cute picture up on the two different ones, but I only put one here. (I'll try to put all 150 pictures on our snapfish site soon.)

Brad and Nate making their way through the mini maze. Again, some terrific pictures were taken here. Check snapfish for them.
Of course, more tractor love! They had a track for the mini tractors and bikes to go around. Nate's legs were a little short for reaching the pedals.
Just a very Andrea-ish picture. I'm continually on the lookout for picture ops like this.
Nate and I picking out the good ones.
Nate was being a stinker in the pumpkins, which he referred to as "ball". He refused to look at Brad and I as we took pictures. He would turn and walk away constantly. Finally, I started to sing "Itsy Bitsy Spider". He LOVES the song! He froze, smiled, and was adorably photogenic as long as I continued to sing. In the picture right below, he is doing his attempt at making a spider for the actions. (He also tries to to do "washed the spider out".)

Probably one our favorites. Brad did a great job snapping picture while I sang!
I love it when he's actually willing to hold my hand. He's usually too independent and would rather walk beside me.

I think this is my new favorite picture of my two guys. They were checking out the cows, and Nate was a bit unsure of the loud mooing. They seemed to be angry cows.
Nate just wasn't sure of what to think of all the animals. He would just bury himself against his dad.
Instead of a sandbox they had an old silo with corn in it. There were toys for the kids to play in the corn with. It was at about 11 that night as Brad and I were trying to fall asleep, that I had a frightening thought. That corn would be heaven for mice, snakes, and other critters. I'm afraid to think of what was living in there. I was glad that Nate was not really impressed and didn't want to play long in the corn. Still gives me the creeps to think about it though.
And here is the prize winning pumpkin that came home with us. He's not that big, but we thought he was just right for us.
Saturday morning we headed to Kansas City with 56 7th and 8th graders. We went to the International House of Prayer and to Great Wolf Lodge. I think everyone had a great time, but it was exhausting. Hopefully I can get my hands on some of the pictures of Nate having a blast. He'd live in water if he could.