Happy 2009

The holiday's have come and gone, and we are now standing at the beginning of the unknown. What will this year bring? Hopefully a new job for Bart. He will be working at our church for at least the next 3 months, then...??? Abbi will begin walking and talking and becoming a little person with her own opinions and desires. Addison will continue growing and challeneging us. He will begin to have friends over to play at his request, participate in orginized sports, and perhaps begin music lessons. Our country is also in transition, and we are praying that God will grant our next president wisdom, that he will sorround himself with Godly people who will help him lead this nation.
It is always scary looking into the unknown, but I don't think that is what God intended us to do or feel. I think he really wants us to live in the present. So I have been asking myself, what can I do today, for my family, kids, husband, for myself, for my country, for my friends, for my church, for those I don't know who are in need. What can I do today to honor God with my life. This is the idea I would like to carry with me for 2009. I know that God will take care of the future, that is not to say that we should not plan ahead, but it does give me comfort and help me to realize I don't have to worry about it. I also can not worry about the past, I can not change what has already happened. I can choose to live today for God, in a way that is pleasing to him.
I have other resolutions that I will not share at this time, but I think that if I am successful and continue striving after this idea, the other resolutions will happen, and without much extra effort.
OK, enough seriousness, here is the fun stuff. Pictures from Christmas, and our trip to Seattle.

Here is Christmas morning in Montana.





Christmas with the Nygard Clan










The Carnes Family Cousins



And a trip to the zoo



Happy New Year! May you be richly blessed, and live today for His glory.

Christmas Time is Here

December is upon us, and we are gearing up for our first ever Christmas in Montana. It is amazing the we have lived in Montana for almost 8 years and have never celebrated Christmas here. For all of Addisons life, we have not had a tree in our house, or hung stockings. We are excited to start some of our own traditions with our kids this year. So far we have been out to the "wild" to cut down our tree. I had very low expectations, but our tree is one of the most beautiful I have had ever. I think the process of tromping through the woods with the kids, and finding the perfect tree makes it all the more beautiful to me. We have also started the count down with our advent calendar, and are trying to do daily advent readings along with lighting the advent wreath. This becomes a little difficult with a three year old, but we are trying.

This also marks the first year that Addison has not been terrified of Santa, and was even excited to have his picture taken with him. Abigail on the other hand screamed her head off (as you can see.)



We went on the Santa Train again this year, it is fun for Addison to get onto a real train, and although the train does not actually go anywhere, he had a blast sitting in the seats and looking out all the windows. Like last year, they gave every kid a hat, gloves and scarf.




Abigail seems a little oblivious to the whole Christmas going ons, she won't even touch the tree, I don't think she likes how it feels. But she looks very cute in all her Christmas duds, some of which she has been wearing for the past month because I was afraid she would grow our of them before Christmas arrived.


Here is her new favorite sleeping position


This past weekend, we had my company christmas party up at the Double Arrow Lodge at Seely Lake. Despite the weather (it was snowing and -4 without the wind chill when we arrived there)we had a wonderful evening and stayed the night in a great cabin. Bart played Santa for the second year in a row, and although he didn't let on at the time, Addison did know it was daddy. I asked him where daddy was, and he said "Santa is daddy." Evan Abbi warmed up to him, looking a little confused that her daddys voice was coming from a very weird looking man in red.




Another fun thing we have done this winter season is put up a bird feeder outside out front window. We are apperently the only one for miles, because there are literally swarms of bird that decend on it throughout the day. I counted 8 birds on it at one time today. At this rate we will be filling the bird feeder about 2 or 3 times a week. Aren't birds supposed to fly south for the winter??

More Christmas Pics to come!!!

November Already

Where does the time go. It seems that Halloween was just yesterday, and now I am realizing that November is almost half over, and Christmas is only 6 weeks away. What is even harder to believe is that Abigail is almost 9 months old! She is changing so much each week right now. She is now crawling all over the place, and pulling up on anything that is within reach. She has taken several tumbles because of this, and I am sure they won't be her last. We are placing bets as to when she will start walking. She is crawling about a month and a half sooner then Addison was, so if that transfers over to walking..??? Let us know what you think. Bart's money is on 12 months, the same as Addison. I am betting on closer to 11 months.
Addison is also changing. His imagination is taking off, and I get to witness his turning into a rocket, or a dog at any given moment. I have also learned that we now have a toy store in our house called Freddies. The location changes with where Addison chooses to build the store each day. Some days it has a bed and kitchen, and other days it is just a pile of toys in the middle of the living room. Today he is Buzz from Toy Story, and he is jumping (flying) off the couch, chairs and his bed. Crazy boy! I can't wait to see what he becomes tomorrow.

MOVIE TIME

Our kids are growing up so fast, here are some new tricks for both of them. We cant wait to see what is next!!

October Pics

This has been a crazy month, and it has flown by. Here are some pics we have compiled from the month.
If you look closely at Addison's lip, you will see the result of his headlamp snapping back into his face. It was the first injury that really had me worried, not because it was really that bad, but because I knew he would forever have a scare from the incident. It is not that noticeable in this pic, but you can now see the beginnings of the scar to come.

My parents and brother came to visit a few weekends ago. It was great having them here, and Addison is finding out how much fun Uncle Tim is.

This was Abbi's first tunnel experience, she loved it, and would squeal every time Addison would crawl in at the opposite end from her.


Addison was much more into carving pumpkins this year, and even helped clean out the inside. It didn't hurt that power tools were the carving tool of choice this year.


We took the following pictures at the farm down the road. We tried very hard to get a good pic of the two kids both looking near the camera and smiling, but it didn't happen. Getting a three year old to hold still for more then 3 seconds is almost impossible. Especially when there are pumpkins to look at and hay bales to climb. We got some cute pics anyway.

Abbi on the move

Yes it is true, Abbi has started crawling, well she is scooting around on her belly comando style. She also is officially in the middle of her first ever cold, and cut her first tooth, what a week! She is now 18 lbs., and cuter then ever. Here she is showing the world!!