Taylor-Made Family

Brandon and I have been reading this book to prepare for Easter - Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross , by Nancy Guthrie. Though it's pretty in-depth, it is really good and really helps me think on the true meaning of Easter (the cross and the resurrection of Jesus, and the life offered us by God through Him).  The authors are both new and ones that have been around for hundreds of years - Jonathan Edwards, Saint Augustine, John Piper, Charles Spurgeon, Tim Keller and many more.      There is also a Christmas one for advent.  They are both edited by Nancy Guthrie.  Easter and Christmas are such big holidays for us as believers, so I love anything that helps us focus on the true meaning!

Aiden is 3 1/2 years and has been using his left hand for some time now, so it's safe to say he's a lefty.  Recently, Hudson has been doing all his eating and also coloring/drawing with his left hand too.   We may have two lefties on our hands.  

Another Easter tradition we started last year is the Resurrection Eggs .  We will do this activity again this year, beginning 12 days before Easter.  We used these with Aiden and even at the age of less than 3, he could grasp the main ideas of the true story of Easter.  Each egg has an object in it that represents a part of the Biblical account of the Easter story.  Starting 12 days before Easter, allow your child(ren) to open one new egg each day (along with reviewing the previous ones), and use the included booklet to tell the Easter story as you go along.  It is so exciting to watch your little one's eyes light up with understanding when they open the final egg on Easter morning and there is nothing inside! He is not here; He is risen!

This is something we did with Aiden last year to help him understand the idea that Jesus is Risen.  We will do it again this year, because we want to continue to point our children to the true meaning of Easter. Resurrection Rolls 1 can refrigerated crescent rolls 8 large marshmallows (one for each roll) 1/4 c. melted butter ground cinnamon white sugar Bible or Children's Easter story book - while waiting for the oven to preheat, you can read John 19 to your children.   (picture from eatatallies.com) 1.  Open and unroll the crescent dough.  This is like the cloths that they wrapped Jesus in. 2.  Take the marshmallows.  These symbolize Jesus, who was pure and white because he had no sin.  3.  Dip each marshmallow in butter.  The butter is like the oils that they covered Jesus with. 4. Now, roll the marshmallow in the cinnamon/sugar mixture.  These are like the spices used to prepare his body for burial.  5.  Next, take each marshmallow and place it in the

Aiden had a trip to the dentist last week.   He got to wear some cool sunglasses.        He was such a big boy and had his first full teeth-cleaning and check-up.   I thought he might be afraid of the sounds but he did so well.   After that we stopped for a donut to celebrate!     

Two weekends ago, my Mom and Grandma came up to visit and help while Brandon had the annual Sr. High Snow Camp up at Word of Life Owen Sound with his youth.  It was so great to have them up!  My dad would have liked to come up I'm sure, but now that my grandpa (dad's dad) lives with them half of the year my dad needs to stay home to care for him.  Aiden especially had so much fun ..... he played "hide and seek" with grandma and great-grandma, showed off his trains and with just generally soaked up all the attention.  Grandma (the boys' great-grandma - mom's mom) got to meet Hudson for the first time.  It was special too because Hudson's middle name (Loyal) is after my grandpa Loyal.  Thanks so much Mom for saving the day again.... we love having you up! On Tuesday, February 13th, Hudson's first tooth finally broke through!  I knew it was coming as he has literally had anything and everything he can get his little hands on in his mouth for the past se

Hudson surprised us by arriving exactly 1 month early. I had not felt any movement all day Sat May 21, and so was told I needed to come into triage. I arrived around 7pm.. They hooked me all up and found Hudson's heartbeat no problem. Then his heartrate dipped very low, and they went into emergency mode throwing an oxygen mask on me and calling the doctor. His heartrate went back to normal. Dr. Hasen did a quick ultrasound and found that my amniotic fluid was very, very low, and told me I couldn't leave. He said Hudson needed to come out as soon as possible. So I called Brandon and he called his mom and arranged for her to come over to care for Aiden and then he packed up and got to the hospital. Dr. Hasen was wonderful and so comforting and the whole delivery was amazingly easy. They got me right in a room, put a foley catheter in to get things going, started pitocin, broke my water. This was all by maybe midnight. I was dialating, but not extremely fast and started

Highlights from the last year and a half.....(so we can keep record of all the things that have gone on in our family)........ July 2010 - I started working full-time teaching an intensive Business ESL summer course at the university (teaching M-F, 9am-3:30pm; then lots of marking essays, prep every night).  My students in this program were so great and worked very hard.  Aiden started Montessori.  July -Aug 2010 - Brandon led the youth mission trip to NYC with Urban Impact, and also did day camp and VBS.  Aiden got really sick a couple times in the summer, including while Brandon was in NYC, and had to overnight in the hospital. Sept - Dec 2010 - I started working part-time in the ESL program at the university, teaching 4 hours of class four days a week (though still spent hours every night in grading essays, and prepping).  Justin and Sherri had Elijah in Sept!  Oct 2010 - We found out we were pregnant again!  I had more morning sickness this time around, and found it