Belated prego pics

Here are some belly shots from 25 weeks....
This first one is on my birthday, as you can see I am turning one!!!
I ordered a yummy cake from a Greek bakery with fresh strawberries inside. The frosting was a little sweet but it was good!!!

Pregnant Belly

I decided to try Carolyn's method of taking pregnant pictures...only my mirror is a little dirty. This is 22 Weeks.

The Craziness

So I always start off with good intentions, wonderful ideas and high goals. When it comes to the...whats the word...seriously the baby has stolen all of my brain cells. I just have enough left to remember that I used to be able to think and function normally. Anyway, oh, the word is execution.When it comes to the execution I end up realizing that I decided to do too much. For Eric's birthday I decided to make him a train cake. So got some wonderful Thomas kit things...enough to make two cakes and I thought I'd mix and match. Here's the story:
We went up to Libby on Friday and had a nice relaxing couple of days. Friday night we watched this neat old movie with James Gardner and Doris Day: Move over darling. It's about this lady who was stranded on an island and when she returns after 5 years, her husband had just gotten married that morning. It was hilarious!!!



My brother Jon was turning 16 on Sat and we had a party for him.


Eric couldn't wait for dinner. I made Lasagna and salad and Mom made strawberry and blueberry cheesecake.







Monica gave Jon a pineapple, sour patch kids and gum. He really loves pineapples!!!



Mom gave Jon a blow drier...he was very excited because now he doesn't have to stand in the heater to dry his hair before walking out to the bus.



We got him Biscotti from costco that he loves and some new goggles. I can't believe my little brother is 16. He was born when we moved to Libby.

So on Sunday we had a party for Eric. Mishael helped me and we made the train cake...it was alot of fun but took us hours. My goal was to have Thomas for the engine and 4 cars because he's turning 4. Mishael ended up adding a caboose.









The mining car...with red rocks.



Originally supposed to be the passenger car with gummy bears as passengers. Later Eric named it the freight car.


The top was supposed to say Eric.



The Zoo car..one of my favorites...has animal crackers inside.


The log car...It was hard to make all of these without everyone eating the ingredients!!!



Mishael's caboose...she even did a little balcony on the back with a little gummy bear for the brake man.




The finished train...almost too pretty to eat!!! Mishael kept groaning every time someone cut a piece.



One candle on each car...harder to blow out at once!!!


Naughty Grandpa gave Eric a whole half gallon ice cream all for himself. Said it's for him to eat for breakfast before mom wakes up...every kids dream.


yummy!!!



Joe and I gave him this new reading pen called TAG. It's really great and he loves it. Grandma and Grandpa gave him a kid snow shovel and an old muffin pan to play in the sandbox with.

We drove home Sunday night in the snow storm and since Monday was Eric's actual birthday, Joe's parents wanted to spend it with him. So instead of doing something simple I decide to make another cake...a giant Thomas!!! It was a complicated day: baking the cake, trying to pick up my car from the shop, dropping Eric off with Joe so he could take him for ice cream, running to the store to get supplies, and running back home to actually assemble the cake.
Here's what the end product was:












Eric and his cousin Jaylie eating cake at the new little table Grandma and Grandpa bought.


Grandma and Grandpa bought him a carrying case for his pen the we got him and lots of books to go with it. Aunt Jennica bought him another book that works with the pen too. He loves it!!!

We came home from a long day and worked for several hours to clean the house, do laundry and make chocolate biscotti that Eric had requested for his birthday snack at preschool the next day. I was so tired that I slept better than I have since I got pregnant!!!

I think this birthday may have to last him a couple of year because I don't think I will try to outdo myself next year. From now on it's simple, simple, simple!!!

My little Alien

I thought I'd post of picture of the unltrasound...I'm about 10 weeks pregnant!!! We are so excited and thankful that everything is looking good and healthy. If you can make it out, the head is to the right side of the picture...looks like an alien because the head is bigger than the body. It's so beautiful to me.

life and stuff

It's so wierd because when I go to post stuff on here my mind pretty much goes blank...well actually it goes like this. "maybe I'll write about that...no that's boring...oh what about this...no that's too long of a story..." and it ends with me getting so overwhelmed because I haven't written for so long that there is too much to write about!!! But the thought is there to post on my blog. And according to reliable sources "it's the thought that counts!!!"

Christmas Letter

I decided to post my Christmas letter on here as well as sending it out...so here it is.

Hello Everyone, 12/2008
I can’t believe it’s already Christmas again. This year has zoomed by!!! I’m going to attempt to sum it all up for you.

The year started off busy for me as usual with taxes. My business is growing, mostly just from word of mouth, as I don’t do a lot of advertising. I enjoy it but I don’t want to get too busy so I keep it small.

We had A LOT of snow last winter, very good for skiing and good to have the extra moisture. Joe injured his back while skiing and had to take a break from going up to the mountain. He is so active that he had a hard time taking it easy. Needless to say, he is very excited for skiing this year!!



In March, Eric turned 3 and we had a big Thomas the Tank engine party for him!!! He likes everything and anything related to Thomas and friends. We had Thomas cake, games, hats, whistles and décor...I went a little crazy!!! Joe and I surprised him with a Thomas bed. He had aunts and uncles, cousins and two grandmas and grandpas at the party.







After a lot of house searching, Kip and Sandi (Joe’s parents) found a house over here on 5 acres and began the move from Grand Coulee, Washington. Joe was very busy making several trips back and forth to move their things. It’s around 18 hours round trip so it’s been quite an undertaking. There are still a couple of trips to be made. After building a small addition, fencing the yard and painting, they are still getting settled but the house turned out to be perfect for them. We are really excited to have them living close so that we get to see them more and Eric can get to know his grandparents better.

Joe decided to build a cedar fence around part of our property and the front yard and did a phenomenal job. I am always so amazed at how he seems to have the ability to do any project. Of course he couldn’t have done it without his little helper Eric to hand him boards and screws. We have 1.25 acres so we are just fencing two sides at this point. It has added a lot of appeal to the property.





The summer was busy, mostly with trying to fit in every summer activity I could think of. Our summers are so short so we try to take advantage of every bit of it!! This was the first summer Eric has wanted to go near the water so I took him to a Mommy-toddler swimming class. He’s still tentative about putting his face in the water but we are going to keep at it. He got to have his first boat ride on the lake this summer, which scared him at first, but I think by the end he thought it was pretty cool. In July, Joe’s brother Ted, his wife Kellie and their baby Will came to visit from Illinois. We always have such a good time with them so we were really excited for the visit. We decided to take them up to Libby, about 1.5 hour drive, met up with my family, hiked up to Kootenai Falls and had a picnic at Libby Dam. Then Kellie and I took the kids up to Canada to visit an old preserved mining town and left the husbands to have boy’s-only day. Then we took them over to my Aunt and Uncles house for Fourth of July barbeque and fireworks. We left with terrified kids and a firework shaped bruise on Ted’s stomach!!! Thankfully it wasn’t serious!! I think despite that it was a pretty fun evening and we were sad to see them leave.
In August, Eric and I went to church family camp with my parents and stayed in their tent trailer. It was really fun and Eric enjoyed it so much more than last year. It’s amazing how in one year he went from baby to little boy. It’s sad in a way to see him not be my little clingy baby but nice that he likes to run and play with the other kids more.
















As the school year got closer we talked about putting Eric in a preschool two days a week. A couple of other moms from our church have children the same age and we decided to start a preschool co-op. Basically we are homeschooling our kids together. We ended up with six kids, three moms are teachers and three are helpers. So we only have to teach every three weeks. We set up a room in the church and we each contribute money every month. Its been great for the kids to have structure, be exposed to letters, numbers, creative concepts and learn to respect other adults and their peers. It’s been a lot of fun so far. We have done some field trips to the pumpkin patch, pottery painting, had a Thanksgiving celebration, and are planning a Christmas program.







Joe keeps really busy at work but has been able to keep a better schedule so he can be home more evenings and weekends. This makes Eric and I very happy!!! He really enjoys having his parents closer and was really happy that he had three of his siblings here for Thanksgiving. It was really special to have Thanksgiving in his parent’s new house and have so much family there.



Eric is a very active boy with an inquisitive mind. He never stops surprising me with new things he has learned. He can use the computer and loves to play his preschool game on it. Just recently he made me so happy by playing Twinkle Twinkle on the piano!!! He can’t learn enough about letters and I have a feeling he’ll be starting to read words next year. The most recent accomplishment is that he knows what letter and sound each word starts with. He looks around the room and tries to figure out all the sounds of everything he sees. He writes his name everywhere and wants me to show him how to write all the letters. This year he got to go to his first movie in theatres. We took him to see WALL-E and he loved it. He still talks about it…it was such a cute movie. He’s my little buddy and I really enjoy being able to spend so much time with him.










I have been staying busy with the preschool. It’s so nice to be able to do some teaching and yet still be able to be with Eric. I like being able to decide what he’s learning and being exposed to. In addition to singing at church, I started to play piano for the service, which has been a learning experience and helps me get out of my comfort zone a little. I really enjoy it and in a way it’s an outlet for me. In October we went through a difficult time after we lost a 10-week pregnancy to miscarriage. It’s been difficult but we know there is another cute little angel in heaven. Only God can bring healing and comfort.

Looking back over the year I just feel so thankful. Thankful for wonderful family, friends and a God that that is always here for us. He has blessed us with everything we need and more. Now I am working on trusting Him for the future!!!






We love you all, Moriah, Joe and Eric