Spencer [5 weeks]

More Winter Pictures!

After several days of warm[er] 40-50 degrees weather {and temptations to bring out the flip-flops ;D}...we awoke one morning this week to another wonderland of snow.  Just reminding us that winter never ends in February {or March...or April for that matter}.  But we decided that we'd much rather it snow and cover everything with a blanket of charming white-ness than to rain this time of year...that would be such a huge mess!  And Spring weather will be here before we know it. ;D

Some photos of a beautiful sunset God gave us not so very long ago...

Of course, we couldn't really see the sun setting from our house,

but we could see all the beautiful colors it left trailing through the sky. ~

Mr. [One] Month

Today...Spencer is one month old.  The ladies at our church hosted a baby shower for him this afternoon.  Needless to say, he's more than set with newborn diapers. ;D  And he's getting so...chubby. Just look at that double chin of his. ;D

Snow day!

We rarely ever get to take a snow day around here.  Two feet or more of snow is nothing to us--local schools aren't even delayed!  But since it's been warming up and the snow has been melting, we thought we better take a day and enjoy it while we still can.  We had the Karpenko family--our dear friends of 10+ years--over for the morning//afternoon and enjoyed sledding, snowboarding, snowball fights, and hot cocoa... Nevermind that we had too few sleds and the snow was soooo wet, we had so much fun!

  The hill just across the road from our house.

Sophia and Jon {the twins' hero of the day}

 Matt and Sam

 Shiloh wasn't so sure about the whole "sled-riding" thing...

 This is what he looked like most of the time. He only went down the hill once, and that was more than enough for him!

 The tobaggon we're riding is over thirty years old...it seems to have gotten smaller over the years. But we all fit and I didn't even fall off! ;D

 Katie and Stef

Part of the group--the last ones left on the hill anyway. {Notice Shiloh's smile...he was so happy to be heading back to the house. ;D}

Spencer [3 weeks]

Spencer Josiah, you are now three weeks old...

Growing so fast, and gaining lots of weight. :D

You're already beginning to outgrow some of your clothes!

You like to cry when we try to take your picture,

{please don't let that become a habit}

but most of the time you like sleeping the very best.

It's uncommon and special for us to catch you with your eyes open,

but it's beginning to happen more and more.

And we like that an awful lot!



 

Today Skyler took and passed his driver's permit test,

and as he's been driving farm trucks/equipment/tractors for a number of years,

he's already close to being able to take his driving test

and become an official driver!

{Happy day for all of us...I think.}

And we're looking for a small{er} car too.

That really will be a happy day for us when we do. ;D

Tomorrow our dear friends {our pastor and his family--they have 11 kids too}

are coming over to spend the morning//afternoon with us...

We have a pretty awesome hill just across the road from our home,

so we're getting together to go sledding and play outdoors for the day...

Before all of the snow melts, because it's actually warming up to the mid-forties this week!

We're sooo excited.

Well, we thought that maybe Spencer would soon say goodbye to the hospital, but Saturday evening he was taken in again due to a high temperature--at first our doctor thought he may have had pneumonia, but it turns out that he has a urinary infection.  So he's on antibiotics and will be in the hospital for a couple of days yet.  Beyond that, we've not heard much... But we'll keep you posted, and hopefully Spencer and Mom will be home again soon!

{Update} On Wednesday afternoon {Feb. 9th} Spencer was able to come home from the hospital.  He's still on antibiotics, and he has a couple more doctor's appointments scheduled for this month.  We're not at all sure yet what caused his UTI, but he's doing much better now.  Thanks for praying!

Spencer [2 weeks]

Shiloh, Savannah, and Sophia wanted to have their photos taken too. ;D  The twins adore Spencer, but Shiloh still hasn't gotten over the fact that he's not exactly the baby anymore.  It's cute to hear Shiloh say his little brother's name though..."'Pencer" :D

Spencer almost weighs as much now as he did when he was born...although he still has jaundice, he doesn't have to have his glow-light wrapped around his little body anymore, and we're hoping that this next week will bring the end of blood-work and hospital visits for him!

For the rest of the family, we're in the middle of job-hunts, taxes, every-day school/house work, and wishing for long, warm, lazy summer-days...

Winter{ed}

We actually haven't seen the sun very much since November, but when it gets really cold {like, 0 or -10 degrees or more...} the sun likes to peek out for a bit.  This is what our yard looks like in the winter.  Part of it anyway.  We get lots of icicles here. ;D