Kidnapped

Stuart and Rachael have these little "meerecats" (sp?) outside of their house. Josh and I kidnapped them a few weeks ago and dressed them up in Christmas attire so that they could welcome our home group, which included Stuart and Rachael, to our house.
Josh and Isaac had a great time creating their costumes. :)

Running

We have a deck that spans two sides of our house and Isaac LOVES to run up and down the deck. He just LOVES running!

A Special Room for Isaac

Goodness gracious it has taken us a long time to finally get Isaac's room put together. One day Josh and I worked for two hours putting a border around Isaac's room, only to find it on the floor a few hours later. Well, the border is back up and it won't be coming down any time soon...we used blue tack, tape, and pins to attach it to the wall. We would have glued it to the wall, but seeing that our place is a rental, that was not an option. And...Isaac loves his new room! Next we will work on the baby's room.

Take me out to the ballpark

Isaac's first attempt at playing baseball. He enjoyed some special time with his daddy.

Blessings in a Box

A few weeks ago Isaac and I recieved a package in the mail from our cousin Sarah. She has a little boy that is a year or so older than Isaac, so she sends us a lot of Will's clothes. What a blessing! Look how excited Isaac is to put on his new water shoes...he danced, skipped and twirled around the house with them on. Thanks Sarah! We love you.

Isaac is getting so BIG!

I thought I would mention a few things that Isaac has been doing lately, especially so that our family can know how he is developing and changing every day.
1. He has been doing this for a while, but he enjoys making the sounds of a cat, dog, elephant, monkey, duck, birdie, lion, snake, airplane, and car.
2. When taking a bath he is the most interested in pouring water from one cup to another, and pouring water over different parts of his body. I will ask him to pour water over his hand, arm, foot, knee, etc. and he will do it.
3. He likes to say hi or hello and he loves to wave goodbye. He can also give high fives or low fives...
4. Isaac eats oatmeal most mornings with me and he can eat the whole bowl by himself...using his spoon. He still loves to eat and he especially enjoys eating anything that requires eating with a spoon.
5. Isaac's favorite things to eat are: avacados, bananas, oatmeal, spaghetti, potatoes, broccoli, any kind of bean, hummus and pita, dippin' eggs with toast, pineapple, peaches, and strawberries.
5. Isaac knows where some of the parts of his body are: he can point and say, "eyes, ears, nose, teeth, hair, etc".
6. He really likes Winnie the Pooh and especially Tigger, which does not suprise me as Isaac reminds me of Tigger! Isaac enjoys dancing around the house and literally "Galloping" from room to room during his favorite songs. We really need to get this on video for all of you to see.
7. Isaac loves giving us hugs!
8. He enjoys reading and listening to stories...especially the lift the flap books. He can point to all of the objects in his "Eye Spy Book".
9. His loves being outside anywhere...especially the park or anywhere around people. At the park he mostly likes to play in the rocks, sort the light and dark colored bark, swing, and dive head first down the slide. He is very adventurous and he is not timid at all about going down slides or running up and down trails.
10. Lastly, at least for now, Isaac really, really enjoys throwing and playing with Balls! We try to keep this to outdoor activities, but it is rather difficult for us to keep him from throwing...it really is his favorite past time.

This top photo of Isaac is really sweet...he was quite cuddly that day as he was not feeling well at all. Thankfully, Isaac has been feeling better this week. His top two mollers finally pushed through, so we can all enjoy a break from his teething. :)

He gets very focused on things....

Isaac giving me a High Five!

A Little Bit of Craziness!

Here are some fun pictures from a baby shower for Melissa Hume that we had at our house a few weekends ago. Melissa is in our bible study from church and she is due in February- one day after my due date! Who knows, maybe we will end up in the hospital at the same time?! Melissa is in the top photo, on the right, in the black tank top. Isn't she a cute prego lady! Congrats Mel- we can't wait to meet this little miracle.

Ladies from our church came to the shower

We played a silly game where people competed to see how many balloons they could stuff up their shirts...game was compliments of Claire.

Josh gets a new desk....finally!

So, Josh and I bought this really cool, old desk off of Trademe (much like EBAY) here in Wellington. Only 30 smackers, which was a great deal, but we knew that we would have to put some elbow grease into it to get it in working order. Well, the desk sat outside our house, under our grille cover for a few weeks before Josh finally had time to restore it. We had to keep it outside because the back panel was infested with borer...these little 2 mm bugs that like to chew and chomp through wood. We knew that we would have to kill those little bugs and replace the back panel before the desk ever stepped foot into our house. Needless to say, a wonderful man named Craig from church helped Josh with the restoration process and his desk is finally in the house...I am actually typing at it right now.
Thanks Craig for blessing us with your help, tools and wood. We appreciate you!!

Melts My Heart

Isaac is such a sweety. Lately he has been big into waving and giving us lots of kisses. When I put Isaac to bed tonight we read the book, "Guess How Much I Love You." I am not sure if you have read this story or not, but in the end of the book Big Nutt Brown Hare kisses Little Nutt Brown Hare good night. Well, Isaac kissed Little Nutt Brown Hare good night as well...on the page...three or four times, and on the back of the book as well. It was so cute. Then, when I went to put him to bed he stood up in his cot and leaned in to give me a kiss on the lips. Then he tilted his head and gave me a kiss on both cheeks. It melted my heart. He is so sweet. Lastly, when Isaac laid down to go to bed he pulled his head up and waved goodbye to me. He waves goodbye each time I put him down for a nap or for bed at night. It really cracks me up. He is such a doll.

My Hero- Jason!

As some of you know, my computer decided to shut down last week and we were quite certain that I had lost everything, until....Josh's brother Jason came to the rescue! It took a few hours on the phone with Jason, but he was able to talk Josh through a restoration process for my computer. Looks like I have most of my important documents, files, and pictures, so I am a very happy camper. Thanks Jason for all of your help! ou really are a life saver. Seriously, my database for our supporters alone would have taken many, many hours to restore, not to mention the irreplaceable files and pictures. Praise the Lord and thanks to any of you who prayed!

Josh, Jason, and Justin

Scorching Bay

Isaac loves to play at the beach, so we have been trying to get to the beach on our days off this summer. Last Saturday we took our new team to Scorching Bay to visit the Chocolate Fish Cafe and play. Sadly, it was one of the last weekends that our favorite cafe will be officially open. It closes at the end of the year due to an increase in the rent, but thankfully the owners will be moving to a new location and we hope that it will be as beautiful as this last one. Here are some pics from our day! Enjoy.

Isaac face planted while running into the water, so he is wet in these pics. :) Always need to bring extra clothes for him.

Lacy

Kara and Susanne

Joshua

Onslo Women's Bead Night

Last Tuesday night we had a women's special bead making night at Village Beads in Petone. I LOVE this store and thought it would be fun to organize a little women's night out so that we could all have some time off! The three new girls on our team joined me and we drove together. I really enjoy these new women, they are so easy to be with and fun! It was encouraging to meet a few new women from church and to see both of my worlds colliding together in one setting- mom friends from church, bible study friends, and my Crusade world. What a great night!

Yummy Apples

Ok, so I enlarged these photos to see how they would turn out, and to encourage those with poor eye-sight. :) Yep, my favorite Braeburn apples are in season and thankfully Isaac likes them too because they are HUGE! Without his help I might not be able to finish a single apple.