Leaves, Leaves, Leaves!

The boys got to help Grandpa Growl last Thursday rake some of his leaves!  We just got it in before the weather turned very cold!  Jeremiah was a big help but did not like when Grandpa used the leave blower- that was a little too loud for him!  :)  He kept holding his hands over his ears!

 Lord willing, tomorrow, Jeremiah & I are headed to PA to be with my family for the rest of the week and weekend.  Who knew a Hurricane would hit the area this week!  We are supposed to fly out tomorrow morning and I think right now, our flight is still going but it could be a crazy ride.  I am sure the airports will be full with people trying to get flights in and out of the area.  Here is hoping for a smooth trip as I will be solo with a 1 1/2 year old on my lap.  Today we are watching Katy and making Gluten Free chocolate chip cookies for Michael to eat while we are gone.

And yes- I did burn the cover of my cookbook!  Leave it to me to turn on the wrong burner and then leave my cookbook on top of it.  Michael thought I should put a picture of this on the blog- oh my!  :)

J's 1st Haircut

This past Saturday, Grandpa Growl took Jeremiah to get his first "real" haircut.  Actually, Grandpa thinks that I basically butcher his hair- which may be true but I like little boys with short hair. :)  He did pretty well- only cried twice- I tried to distract him with some books.  But, it is definitely easier having someone else do his hair than putting him in his highchair at home. :)  We also found a nice tractor at an Estate Sale on Saturday which Jeremiah LOVES- he lately loves anything with wheels, trucks, tractors, buses- anything he can line up. :)  I tried to get a few pics of him after the cut- at least he stood still for a minute as he is enjoying saying "cheese" for pictures!

Jeremiah- 20 Months

So I am a little behind in posting pictures- here are a few I tried to attempt to take the beg. of October when Jeremiah was 20 months- so he is almost 21 months now.  Oh my!

Reformation Day!

Friday night we celebrated our 8th Annual Reformation Day celebration!  We hope as Jeremiah gets older to do more fun kid activities for Reformation Day.  But our current celebration existed of Michael reading to us some or the 95 thesis during dinner. :)  Then when the boy went to bed, Michael and I enjoyed again watching the movie Luther!  It is always challenging to think through how privileged we are to have the Scriptures in our own language that we can READ for ourselves- to be able to meditate and memorize God's Word is something I too quickly take for granted!  :) 

Here are some pics as well of Jeremiah & Jonathan's attempt to paint pumpkins a few weeks ago.  So maybe they need to be a little older. 

Friends Visiting!

We had some great friends visit the last few weeks.  It was fun to see friends from Cedarville Matt & Leann Whitacre and their two girls last Sunday!  And this past weekend (though I took no pictures)- it was so fun to see my best friend and college roomie all throughout high school & college- Sara Fillmann!  It was fun to have some "girl time," along with college friend Sarah Brown.  Though it was a good time of fellowship, I have to admit- Jeremiah put me to the test.  Sat. morning as we were trying to talk- he was basically throwing tempers and throwing himself everywhere.  Then again Sunday night, I found myself almost in tears at a church Fall Fellowship as my husband was speaking on St. Patrick and my child was running a muck- while it seemed like all the other kids were sitting quietly and listening.  Jeremiah definitely put me to the test this weekend and it left me humbled at the grace and wisdom of God needed to parent as well as a humility that we boast only in Him!  I was also reminded of some little thing we will be working on this week- namely "Come to Me."  As he tends to run the opposite way when I say come.  The boy literally has so much energy and I found him later that night pulling a 3 year old boy in a wagon- a child half his size.  Oh my! 

Our attempt at getting them to sit down on a couch together :)

Love this picture!  Typical boy- finger up his nose. :)

Our Amazon business has expanded- we are now shipping to Bethlehem Baptist Church- just had to take a picture of  this one. :) 

Faithful Trusty Dusty!

So Faithful Trusty Dusty- my car that my parents got me after college- has bit the dust!  It served us well for our 7 years of marriage!  I think in total I had the car 8 years!  We will never forget all the stories we have from this car- most notably I am sure I will miss driving down the road in Louisville with the alarm blaring and not knowing how to turn the alarm off.  Nothing like someone looking at you while you are driving and your car horn is going off.  Oh the things we encountered with that car!  I also taught my hubby how to drive a stick shift on the car before we got married!  We will miss Trusty Dusty- kinda.  :)  Now we are juggling one car and praying the Lord would provide for us another used car.  Michael is enjoying his trips on the Metro Bus- I think secretly Jeremiah is jealous- he would love to ride the bus with him!  The sacrifices a husband makes so I don't go crazy all day stuck at home. 

The Boys...

 These cousins sure have fun together!  My favorite thing this week was when Jonathan came in- Jeremiah went up to him and gave him a big hug- so precious!  This pic was a few weeks ago, when I was watching Jonathan and we took them on a walk.  Yesterday, we tried to paint pumpkins together- I think they need to be a little older to enjoy it more.  They just got very messy in the end but it was fun.  We are cheering on the Reds here as they have game 4 tonight in Cincinnati- hoping they win today.

Our Anniversary

 On our 7th anniversary this year (2 weeks ago- so I am a little late), we celebrated by taking little Jeremiah to First Watch- one of our favorite brunch/lunch places!  Jeremiah had a cold so we didn't want to leave him with his cousin.  Michael had a meeting at church that night and J and I hung out together!  Michael and I were able to go to Skyline and a Reds game Tuesday night- much thanks to the babysitting generosity of Mark & Becky V!!!  I think one of the biggest gifts you can give young couples is to watch their kids so they can get out and go on a date or get together with friends!  :)  I pray that when my children are grown and gone out of the house, that I would be intentional at investing in these young moms and watching their kids! 

 The following weekend, we did try to get away for a night and were so thankful for the time away as this year it seemed particularly hard to get away with Michael's busy work/school/church schedule!  Thanks to Dad & Mom Lyons for taking care of the little guy!  On Saturday we found a beautiful park to hike in though I was not up to my usual hiking self.  The park had a beautiful lake as well!

 We also went to the Lebanon Apple Festival and met Mark & Meredith I. for dinner.  It was so refreshing to meet up with some great friends!  And of course, Meredith is always so good at baking and making creative treats- she brought me this little chocolate kiss acorns and they were soooo cute- I intend to make them soon!  All she used was hershey kisses, little nutter butter rounds and a hershey kiss on top- super cute and they really did look like acorns! 

20 Weeks Already...

 On Wednesday morning we had an ultrasound to see how the little wee babe is doing.  The Lord was reminding me over and over again to TRUST HIM as I have been preparing to lead a Bible Study on Anxiety this week and I found myself very anxious the morning of the ultrasound!  My mind can so quickly go to "what ifs" and thinking negative thoughts instead of hoping in God!  We took Jeremiah with us and he was a very good boy while we waited.  I have to admit I sure have missed Dr. Grim and his staff- he has a wonderful ultrasound tech lady.  This lady at Good Sam was good but not too excitable!  Michael and I both said we were glad it was good news as we would not have wanted to receive bad news from her!  :)  Everything looks great with the wee babe and the baby is right where it should be.  I have to say, I am amazed that they can tell anything from those ultrasounds as I never know what I am looking at except when I see the side shot.  The ultrasound was a little inconclusive but after asking her a few times- she thinks we are having a GIRL.  We both left the ultrasound a little shocked but also cautiously saying we think maybe a girl.  So that is the conclusion of the ultrasound but more importantly, we praise God that the Lord is giving us a healthy babe.  Daddy held Jeremiah the whole time and he kept waving to me on the table- it was cute.  I had Michael's mom and grandma and Ben & Laura & Jonathan for dinner last night and we made Gluten Free PB cake cupcakes and tried my hand at caramel frosting.  So they did not turn out that well but we attempted to put red icing in the middle- at least they tasted pretty good. :)