Happy Birthday Erin!!!

Happy Birthday Erin!

I (Michael) have invaded Erin's blogosphere...to wish her a Happy 31st Birthday!!

Thirty-One Things I Love About You!

1. You want your children to know Christ

2. You serve your children selflessly

3. You make fantastic meals

4. You place high value on the local church

5. You love the nations

6. You love the gospel of Christ

7. You shower grace upon me and forgive me

8. You continually keep our home clean

9. You love to mow grass :)

10. You followed me to Israel...with a 1 year old!

11. You like to hike with me in the woods

12. You kiss me

13. You grocery shop for our family

14. You stay on budget

15. You know how to find great deals

16. You wear dresses/skirts for me

17. You read God-saturated books

18. You always look so pretty 

 19. You want me to be satisfied with Jesus

20. You have gorgeous legs

21. You encourage my never-ending studies

22. You understand why I am at HUC

23. You bring wisdom to our children

24. You keep the car clean

25. You love other people more than yourself

26. You have inner beauty that shines brightly

27. You are faithful to me and our family

28. You model biblical womanhood

29. You make me gluten free treats

30. You...are...hot!

31. You are looking to a home not in this world...but in the world to come

Happy 31st Birthday, Erin.

With All My Love and Affection,

Michael

(I invite you to post comments on Erin's blog about why you love her as a friend or family!)

Graduation

 So proud of my dear friend Sarah Brown for graduating on Friday with her Family Nurse Practitioner degree.  She worked very hard for this degree and I was excited to go with her boyfriend Joshua and her fam to see her graduate- of course Lydia came with me.  Special thanks to Grandma for watching Jeremiah and Michael watched him in the evening and took him on an evening hike.  I even ran into a special friend all the way from Michigan at her graduation. 

Random Pics

A visit with Grandma Lyons and Marty the other week.

 

A few smiles!

Jeremiah lining up his trucks with Lydia!

Bath time!

Jeremiah trying to nurse his "EE" monkey!

Outdoor Picnic...

 The weather has been so delightful the last few weeks- so we are taking advantage of it and playing outside as much as we can!  Last week we had an outdoor picnic for dinner in our small little backyard- it ended with Jeremiah, of course, playing in the dirt.  We are loving all the walks and outdoor playing that is happening after a very LONG winter. 

Lydia- 2 Months

 Our sweet little Lydia- aka- Lydie- Lyd- she has many nicknames already is 2 months old today!  She is bringing us many smiles and one of my favorite things is capturing her many different faces!  Though she is not doing too much yet, she loves to lay on her back and kick and follow me around the room.  Lydia has had some fussy times lately over the past few weeks- mainly in the evening.  She seems to have tummy troubles at times and boy can she arch her back and scream when she is in pain.  I am trying to figure out what is going on in her little body but her worst times are in the late afternoon and evenings.  Other than that- she really is a good baby.  She loves to smile and coo when I feed her.  She has been working her way toward sleeping through the nights- sleeping a few times through the night from like 10pm to 6 or even 7am the other day.  Most nights she is waking up once to eat.  She sleeps in the little bassinet the Wojnickis gave us in the living room with her little sound machine.  Our schedule is a little more flexible these days- beginning around 7am and I usually feed her at 9:30pm and get both of us to bed around 10pm.  So that is little Lydia in a nutshell at 2 months. 

Cousins...

A lot has happened in the last week and a half.  My sister-in-law Laura had her baby last Saturday night so the baby was born at 12:20pm on Sun. April 7th.  And she had a little girl- little Anna (AH-NAH) Linnae Lyons was a big little girl and weighed 9lb. 1oz and was 22 in.  Laura had the baby the evening after hosting Jonathan's 2nd birthday party- no one even knew she was in labor during the party.  She can hide it well!  :)  Here is the girls' first picture together!  We are thrilled the girls can be together and only 7 weeks apart.  So I am excited to introduce my new little niece! 

The Buzz...

The Haircut Before...

 Well, we did it.  Friday night, sitting in his high chair watching Shawn the Train on You Tube and eating cookies, Michael buzzed Jeremiah's hair.  It was quite the family affair.  Michael, the expert buzzer, trying to buzz a wiggly little boy and me trying to distract Jeremiah and talk to him about trains and hold his little hands down.  But I think we like the finished product- I think this will be one of many buzzes to come.  I keep looking at him thinking that he looks older to me- well I guess he has entered the land of the 2 year old.

The Buzz...

Clifford!!

And Sara Fillmann- this photo is for you!  Michael's Aunt gave us a Clifford shirt and I think of you when I see it!  :) 

Easter- March 31, 2013

 These are some of my favorite Easter pics from this year.  My parents came out again to spend time with us!  We read lots of book with Jeremiah, went to a tree house, blew bubbles, went on Jeremiah's first hike at Mt. Airy Forest, played on the playground, dyed Easter eggs in the backyard, went out to eat for my dad's birthday, Michael & Dad watched John Piper's Farewell sermon.  We did an Easter egg hunt and had lots of yummy food- it was quite a weekend!  Now every night- Jeremiah wants to pray for Pop, Mom-mom, Josh & Rache- he had so much fun with them!

Reds Opening Day!

 Monday was Reds Opening Day.  We decided like last year to celebrate!  Michael still had off because of Passover so we headed for a walk in the evening and to get free Coneys at Skyline like we did last year. 

Lydia- 6 weeks

Lydia is 6 weeks old this week and the smiles are starting to come which is a huge blessing during the long days and nights and times I feel exhausted!

 And we have the return of the blankie which means Jeremiah is napping better this week.  We will see what will happen next time laundry day comes and the blankie is washed but we are rejoicing that for this week, naps have returned! 

 Jeremiah also loves to fill her little chair with lots of his favorite toys and toys he thinks she will like as well.

These smiles make it all worth it!