More Christmas fun

The videos are up, and here come the pictures! Isaiah's first Christmas was a hit! It was so much fun watching him (try) to open his gifts. At this point he can't get too excited about what is under the wrapping, but it will come.

Christmas Eve was full of tradition, church, and moisture. Weird combo huh? It had been raining here for about 3 days, and it was POURING on Christmas Eve. I can honestly say that is a first for me. We went to the 4:00 service, which we thought would be the best time for Isaiah, but we were wrong. For the first time ever, he had to be taken out of church. He just couldn't sit still. Oh well. We made it home to our traditional Christmas Eve meal and off to bed, but not until we put out cookies for Santa, and retrieved the last presents from the basement.

Christmas morning was exciting as ever with opening gifts. We had to take a break for breakfast, but then we were back at it! We had to cut it short for nap time as well. However we did manage to open every last present, even the one hidden outside. (Steve's gift from me was outside, and I tried to be sneaky and get him to take out the garbage so he would find it, but he refused to take out the trash.)

We lounged all day, actually all weekend. It was so much fun hanging out in our PJ's all day, munching on goodies, and being together. I can't wait to do it all again next year. Hopefully we can include more of our extended family into our celebration next year! We missed you all.

Isaiah's First Christmas Morning

We had so many gifts under the tree this year; and they were mostly for Isaiah. But Christmas is so much more fun now with him around, even if he is more grateful for the boxes and paper than the gifts themselves. We are trying a new thing with posting videos. They may be a bit long, and not real exciting but at least you'll get a glimpse of Isaiah's first Christmas. This first video is first present of the day, one he had happened to try and open a couple days earlier than he should have!



This little toy from NJ Grandma and Grandpa provided the chorus and music of our Christmas morning. Isaiah loved bopping along to the music and beat; I guess we'll have to pick up some matching bling for him now too.

Ahh, the Christmas Letter

It seems like such a short while ago I was sitting here in disbelief that it was already November. Now I sit here almost half way through DECEMBER! Only 15 shopping days left ‘til Christmas, yikes! Life has been busy getting ready for our first Christmas as a family of three. And a birthday party at the same time! I guess this will be our life from now on, so I better just get used to it! We have made it very clear and committed ourselves to making sure Isaiah's birthday is always celebrated separate from the holidays. We want him to have his own special day. Fortunately, he doesn’t know any better now but he will in the future. Overall, I think that I finally have things both Christmas & Birthday under control; and as Steve likes to remind me, I make things harder than they need to be. But the Christmas cards are sent, tree and decorations are up, gifts are being wrapped, Christmas movies are being watched, cookies are baked, and we are ready to celebrate the CHRISTmas season. Last year we were so preoccupied with having a baby that the holiday zipped right past us. Not this year!

The past year of our life has been completely, wonderfully crazy! Since last Christmas, we welcomed Isaiah David into our family on December 31, 2008 at 2:12 am. He just made that tax credit deadline; what a good kid! This new addition should not be breaking news to most of you reading this. Our lives have revolved around him ever since. What a gift and blessing from God! I can remember pre-parenthood when the days were filled with Sunday naps, watching TV, and sleeping in, but they do not even compare to the hugs, kisses, smiles, giggles, love, cuddles and amazement that now fill our lives. Who knew one single little human could bring all of those things? There is nothing we love more than being parents!

It is so hard to believe that he is almost a year; how quickly it has gone. He is growing and learning so much so quickly. At this point he is mimicking most of our actions and even some of our words. But he is still the cutest little guy, a happy and easy-going baby, and the source of hours of fun and entertainment. We can't imagine our lives with out him. I already said it, but it warrants repeating, we love being parents!

As the year 2009 went on, we were busy packing, moving, and unpacking. Our vicarage at Our Redeemer in Moorhead ended in July. But we do often think back on our time there. We made so many great friends and had so many great memories. We really do miss our time there and our vicarage family. The next couple months following vicarage were spent in MN and NJ, visiting family and friends and re-adjusting to life in St. Louis. It has been a busy year of changes and we await more. The coming year will bring us another new home. Where? Stay tuned, we will find out Tuesday April 27th at 7:00pm (CST). It will also bring the conclusion of a long 4 years of Seminary life with graduation on May 21st. It has been a crazy, wonderful ride but we are so excited for having a place to permanently settle into and call home. Still, even after graduation, we will be living in St. Louis until August when the National Youth Gathering is concluded. I have been working with the Youth Gathering registration so the last part of my job will be attending the Gathering down in New Orleans.

That's all for now. It was brief, but if you go back through our old posts you can see more news and more pictures. You can watch how much our little guy has grown and changed! We hope that you enjoy our blog. Come back and visit often; we try to update at least once every couple weeks. Leave us a message; we love to hear from you all! May God grant you all a wonderful Christmas and holiday season, full of joy and love with family and friends. May the true gift of new life and hope in the Bethlehem Babe fill you with peace!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
><>Steve, Calie, and Isaiah

Thankfulness

Thankfulness, it's a word that gets thrown around a lot this time of the year. We all know that we should be thankful at all times of the year, but Thanksgiving is a time to really give thanks. I am thankful that there are only 4 months until call day, 8 months until we move (hopefully for the last time), and 8 months until I get to (hopefully) become a full time Mom again. I am thankful that I got time off from work, to spend with the 2 men I love most in my life. I am thankful for them. The list can really go on and on, but I will spare you and stop there.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving break. Steve finished his last fall quarter at the Seminary, so he enjoyed a two week break. He played with Isaiah, taught him new things and caught up on ESPN. I was off of work for a few days, and REALLY enjoyed cooking, scrap booking, and spending all day with my boys. On Thanksgiving day, we were invited to our friends, Katie and Joe's house. We had a wonderful dinner and great company. Later that night we were invited to our upstairs neighbor's house to play games.

I got caught up, as usual, in the madness and great deals of Black Friday. I decided that I wasn't going to go out early, so I hit the shops at about 6:50. Steve made me return something at Target, which I thought was CRAZY on Black Friday, but it turned out to be profitable! I left with the vacuum that I wanted within 7 minutes. By 7:03 I was at Kohls shopping my heart out. By 8:00 I was home. I went out for round 2 at 9:30. It amazed me that it was busier at 10am vs 7 am. All in all, I got some great deals, and I am done Christmas and Birthday shopping. Now onto the wrapping!!!

Saturday we went to a first birthday party, then went to cut down our Christmas tree. What an adventure! It's harder to choose a tree than we ever thought! We took the wagon out to the field and started walking. The trees were all long needle, which neither of us really wanted, but they grew on us and we ended up finding one after a lot of searching. Steve, with all of his manly muscles, cut down the tree while Isaiah watched and I took pictures. I hope you enjoy the show!

This week brings us back to the grind of daycare, work, school and homework. We are thankful for all of you who actually read this labor of love. Leave us a message and let us know how you are doing!