Our Disney Vacation!

Our big vacation of 2012 was a week long trip to Walt Disney World in Florida.  For years, we had been talking about taking Carson to Disney when he was 5 years old.  Then we had Bristol and decided if we waited till Carson was 5 (and Bristol was 1... a.k.a. mobile), it would probably be a difficult trip for Bristol's age.  So we decided to go when Carson was 4 years, 9 months... close enough to 5... and Bristol was 5 months old (a.k.a. not mobile).  Honestly, we couldn't have picked a better age for a first trip to Disney for Carson.  I had heard from many other moms that the 4-5 year age range is the best for the first Disney experience.  And I wholeheartedly agree!  However, I do believe that a trip to Disney will be wonderful at any age, really, but I don't think that any other age is quite as magical as the 4-5 year range.  You won't ever get that fantasy/make-believe/imaginative stage back.  Yes, I'm sure Carson will still be into make-believe and have a great imagination next year and the year after... but it will be different at that point.  So I am SO GLAD we went when we did.  And we cannot wait to go back again.  Even Kevin looks forward to our next trip.  And even though we ourselves thought we may be a little crazy to take an infant to Disney, it really wasn't bad at all.  The first day was a little rough, but otherwise Bristol did great (with the exception of the bus rides) and enjoyed the trip a lot.  She was able to go on the majority of the rides, which was really fun!  She really did enjoy most everything!

Our trip was made even more wonderful because Grandma and Grandpa decided to join us!  We are so happy they did and are so thankful to have such awesome memories with them!  We've taken several trips with different parts of Sara's family, so it was a special treat to get to vacation with some of our Holleboom family.  We hope that we can do more trips in the future, too.

We arrived on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, November 24th.  We had a direct flight from Flint to Orlando.  Bristol and Carson both did awesome on the flight.  Bristol slept for most of it and was so good - a perfect first flight!  Then we boarded the Magical Express and headed to our resort.  Grandpa and Grandma had spent the day at the Magic Kingdom and Epcot, but they were at the resort when we arrived that evening.  We stayed at a value-priced resort called Pop Century.  We checked into our room and went to dinner with Grandpa and Grandma at the resort dining hall.  We had thought we may make a trip to Downtown Disney after dinner, but we were all pretty tired and decided to call it a night and return to our rooms so that we could get settled and relax a little.

On Sunday, we got up and headed out to the Magic Kingdom for the day.  It was so awesome to see Carson's eyes just light up and a huge smile on his face when we walked onto Main Street U.S.A. and saw Cinderella's Castle.  We arrived just as one of the parades was starting, so we got to see most of Carson's must-see characters right away - Sebastian from the Little Mermaid, Lumiere from Beauty and the Beast, and of course, Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald, and Daisy.  There were many other characters, too, but those covered most of Carson's must-sees (other than Gaston).  We rode lots of different rides - the Tea Cups, Peter Pan, Small World, Ariel's Grotto, the Speedway cars, the carousel, and a couple of others, too.  We got to see all of the New Fantasyland that is opening this year (more to come next year and in 2014), as well, which was pretty fun since it wasn't supposed to be open until the following week.  We stayed in the park until they lit up the castle with (as Carson will tell you) 200,000 lights.  :)  It is SO beautiful!!  The pictures just do not do it justice at all.  Seeing Disney World at Christmas is so amazing - I'd highly recommend it to anyone.

On Monday, we got up early so that we could get to the Animal Kingdom before 8:00am for their Extra Magic Hours.  We rode the Safari, did some shopping, looked at lots of different animals, Kevin and Bruce rode Expedition Everest (their "rock on" picture below is one of my favorites from the trip), and we saw the Lion King live show, which is always a great show.  We had a great safari - the trick is to go first thing in the morning when the animals are most active.  We got to see all of the animals, I think.  We even had to wait for a couple of giraffes to move out of the way for a few minutes during the safari.

We left the Animal Kingdom and headed back to the resort to have lunch and relax a little and let the kids take some naps.  Then we headed out to Downtown Disney for the evening.  We met up with Sara's cousin, Kristin, and her husband Joe and two boys, Brody and Brock, for dinner at Wolfgang Puck's.  It was so good to see them!  We haven't seen Joe and Kristin since Kristin was pregnant with Brody... and he'll be three in January!  Thankfully we have the phone, email, text, and facebook, though.  So it doesn't feel like we are so disconnected, at least.  :)

After dinner, we walked around Downtown Disney together and did some browsing in some of the shops and toy stores.  Carson and Brody had so much fun together!  Carson also got to go into the Lego Store with Grandpa, Grandma, and Daddy, which he was SO pumped about!

On Tuesday, we headed to Epcot for a couple of hours.  Grandpa and Kevin wanted to ride Soarin' - but all of the FastPasses were done for the day, so we mostly just walked through the World Showcase and did some shopping.  Then we returned to the hotel to relax and swim in the pool.  This was Bristol's first time swimming.  The water was nice and warm and she really enjoyed it a lot!

After swimming and a quick nap, we grabbed a quick dinner and packed up to go to the Magic Kingdom for Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party.  This is a special Christmas event that requires an additional ticket to attend.  It runs from 7pm to midnight.  And it was worth every penny.  They have a special parade that we actually got to see twice.  The first time, we were right on Main Street U.S.A.  The second time, we were blocked by the parade in Adventureland.  The second time is when Carson really got special attention from all of the cast members.  He was thrilled that so many of the princesses waved right at him and blew him kisses.  :)

There is also a special Holiday Wishes show for the Christmas party, which is their light and fireworks show.  It was so cool.  Both kids were just mesmerized and totally loved it!  I have a video of the finale on my phone, but the file is too large to email.  I will plug my phone in and upload it directly soon, though.



It was so nice to just walk right on so many rides, too.  Although we really never experienced terrible wait times for anything during our entire trip.  But it was really perfect during the Christmas party.  We stumbled upon a rare find around 11pm... Woody, Jessie, and Bulleye from Toy Story were partying in one of the taverns with a DJ and lots of kids.  It was so fun!  Woody had some really sweet moves and was a pro at the gangnam style dance!

After our late night on Tuesday, we all slept in on Wednesday.  Then we headed to Hollywood Studios for the day.  Carson decided he wanted to meet Mickey Mouse.  He'd only wanted to see his favorite characters (from a distance) up until this point.  So once we got to Hollywood Studios, we found Mickey and got in line to meet him.  Carson got shy just as we were walking up to meet him and wouldn't stand by him, hug him, give him a high five, or anything.  But we did manage to trick him into some pictures.  :)  Bristol got a kiss from Mickey, though.  :) 

We also saw a Disney Junior show with all of Carson's favorite shows - Jake and the Neverland Pirates, Little Einsteins, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. etc.  We had lunch, then Grandma and Grandpa headed back to the resort to rest.  Kevin, the kids, and I saw a couple of other shows, and then went to see the live musical, Beauty and the Beast, which was so good.  We all loved it!  Then it was time to meet up with Grandma and Grandpa again for the Osborne Family Spectacular of Lights, which is the special Christmas light show at Hollywood Studios.  Again, the kids were just mesmerized.  They were really quite impressive and so beautiful!

On Thursday, we headed to Epcot again.  Everyone but Bristol and I rode Soarin' when we first got there.  We saw some other attractions and shows and mostly walked through the World Showcase.  Epcot is really neat.  It was my first time there.  I loved the World Showcase, with all of the different cultures and countries represented.  I could have spent lots more time there watching the shows and browsing the shops.  The food at Epcot is much better, too.  

We rode the monorail a couple of times while we were there, too.  This was one of Carson's favorite things to do.  He loved the monorail!  So we took one last trip on it when we left Epcot on Thursday.  We decided to run over to Magic Kingdom via monorail so that Carson could ride It's a Small World one last time, which was his favorite ride of all.  

We didn't stay out too late on Thursday since we had to get back to the resort to pack up our things since we were leaving on Friday morning.  We were all sad to leave.  Kevin and I were both excited for the trip ahead of time, but at the same time we were sort of dreading it, too... the chaos of it.  But we had such a wonderful time.  It is both of ours favorite family vacation so far.  It was just so magical, as cliche as that sounds, but its true.  We were not ready to come home at all.  And we could seriously go back again tomorrow.  We'll definitely be making another trip to Disney... and hopefully another and another and another.  We are seriously considering joining the Disney Vacation Club in a year or so, too.  Because honestly, that seems to be the best and most affordable way to do Disney (plus, you can go anywhere in the world if you don't want to go to Disney one year).  But we'll cross that bridge when the time is right.  :)  

I forgot to mention another of Carson's favorite things were the surprise towel animals we'd find when we returned to our room each night... they were pretty cute!   

And those were the highlights of our trip.  Bottom line... we had a fantastic time and are so grateful for the memories that we have made!  We cannot wait to go back!!!  :)  

Bristol is 6 months old!

I'm behind on several other posts, so this one is a little out of sync, but I wanted to get it done first... before she ends up being 7 months old - lol!  :)

Our baby is already 6 months old!  How is it possible that she's half a year old?!  Time sure is flying. 

Bristol had her 6 month well-baby visit on December 27th.  She weighed 13 pounds, 15 ounces (10-15th%) and was 25 inches long (25th%). Still a peanut, but she is growing consistently, staying in the same percentile range, so that is good.  She is meeting and exceeding all of her developmental milestones.  Dr. Akrawi was impressed with her strength and determination.  ;-)  She is quite strong-willed and likes to do everything on her terms.  She did not want to bend her legs to let the doctor check her joints and he had a heck of a time getting her to bend them.  She just locked them and held her ground.  But she finally decided to bend them so he could finish the exam.  She was so good and happy, watching every move Dr. Akrawi made, wanting to touch every instrument.  She even had a little conversation with him.  She loved Dr. this time.  She had another round of vaccinations, which she wasn't too thrilled with. But she calmed right down as soon as I cuddled with her. Unfortunately, she didn't tolerate them too well again.  She always has a pretty rough 24 hours or so after she gets her shots.  Poor girl.  

Bristol is such a joy.  She brings us all so much happiness.  Carson still just adores her and is such a doting big brother.  Lately he has been telling Kevin and I how hard it is to be such a good big brother... to set a good example, to give so many hugs and kisses, to watch out for her so she doesn't get hurt, to play with her, and to hear her cry.  LOL!  But he always says there is no other way to be.  And he really is an amazing big brother.  He and Bristol are still each others' favorite people.  

From 4 months on, I think babies are especially fun.  They just learn and absorb so much so fast - and it is so awesome to witness. Bristol is very expressive with her facial expressions, tones of voice/babble, and emotions.  I think she takes after her mama in that respect.  ;-)  She gets quite loud when she is playing... especially in her exersaucer.  She sure loves that thing!  She seems to be our rough and tough child, too.  Carson mostly played gently in the exersaucer... not Bristol.  She is already jumping in it and just makes so much noise while she's in there.  She's just learning so much so fast, too.  It just amazes us how much she changes and learns from week to week. 

Bristol is rolling both from front to back and back to front and has been for a couple of months now.  But she's not like Carson where he would roll all over the place.  She just goes one way or the other and is satisfied.  She is able to scoot/army crawl around some... she mostly scoots backwards right now, though.  And she is trying so hard to get her knees up under her.  We are thinking that crawling isn't too far off.  Bristol sits quite well now, too.  She rarely tips nowadays and is quite stable.  She also loves to stand.  She is trying to pull herself up on a few of her toys and loves to hold on to your fingers and take steps.  She is definitely very interested in learning to walk... but we're totally ok if that takes awhile still!  With Carson, we were so anxious for him to be mobile... but with Bristol, we're hoping she isn't mobile as soon as Carson was!  :) 

We've started some solid foods with Bristol recently.  We're just taking things very slow.  With her sensitive system, we figure we're better off safe than sorry.  We're taking a different approach than we did with Carson.  Rather than starting off with baby cereals, we decided to skip those (and all grains, for that matter... until her 1st birthday) and start right with some vegetables.  And we did not start with the pureed veggies in jars, I just mashed up some sweet potatoes that I'd cooked with a pot roast for her first food.  No pureeing, just mashed up.  She didn't gag once... and she LOVED them!  She is quite an impatient little eater.  She wants the food shoveled in.  She's very good at eating already and keeps most of it in her mouth.  So far she's had sweet potatoes, peas, carrots, chicken broth, and prunes.  We had to break out the prunes last night to see if they will help her poo.  She went from pooing several times a day (the messy, liquidy breastfed poo) to not going for 4 days now.  She doesn't seem to be in any discomfort from it, but it is concerning me.  

Bristol loves her bathtime.  She gets very excited when she sees us getting her tub out.  She can hardly wait to get in the tub before she is splashing in the water, making quite the mess.  I think its time we move her from the kitchen sink to the bathtub.  

She is a pretty good sleeper.  She's been routinely sleeping through the night for awhile now - though she does wake once during the night at times.  But mostly she is sleeping through.  She is still our night owl, though.  She does not like to go to bed for the night before 9:30/10:00.  If she falls asleep before then, she'll only sleep a short time (10-15 minutes) and then be up until after 11:00.  So if all goes well, she goes down around 9:30/10:00 and she'll then sleep until 7:00am, at least... and even then she's not ready to get up for the day.  She'll only be up for maybe 10 minutes - just long enough to get her diaper changed and have a snack.  Then she's out till 9:00/9:15am.  If she wakes during the night, it's usually around 2:30/3:00am.  She wakes on nights when her teeth are bothering her especially.  She just goes in streaks with it.  

I could keep going on and on, but I figure this is enough for now.  I'll be back later this weekend (I hope) with a few catch-up posts (November, Disney trip, December, and Christmas).    

Winter Bucket List

So I realize I've missed the start of winter by a few weeks... and we've actually already done a few of these already... but I figured I'd post this anyway.  I've had the post sitting in draft for over a month now.  Sorry I've been so bad about posting regularly!

1.  Celebrate Christmas!  Convey the true meaning to our kids (though we do Santa, as well... but with a very limited focus).  Spend time with our families at our Christmas parties.

2.  Build a snowman.

3.  Go sledding.

4.  Teach Carson to ice skate and/or ski. 

5.  Drive around neighborhoods to admire all of the beautiful Christmas lights.

6.  Meet up with family from the west side in the Lansing area.

7.  Make snow angels in freshly fallen snow.

8.  Have a snowball fight.

9.  Build a snow fort.

10.  Do some snow painting!

11.  Make Christmas ornaments.

12.  Go to a snow/ice sculpture festival (Frankenmuth?).

13.  Pop some fresh popcorn, get the sleeping bags out, and have a family movie night/camp out in the living room.

14.  Attend at least one Calvin basketball game.

15.  Celebrate Carson's 5th birthday!

16.  Celebrate birthdays for Papa, Grandpa, Daddy, Grandma, and Nana. (As well as some cousins' birthdays, too.)

17.  Take Carson to see a movie in the theater.

18.  Attend a live show (Wharton Center family series?).

19.  Install new kitchen floor.

20.  Pursue photo business branding, new website, Valentine's Day mini sessions, etc.

Fall Bucket List - How Did We Do?

Playing catch-up here... hopefully you'll see a bunch of new posts here in the next few days...

1.  Go to a MSU football game.  Check!  We were given some free tickets, so went to the MSU-CMU game up at Central.  We invited Aunt Julie, Anna, and Kevin's late friend's dad to go with us.  We had amazing seats in the 4th row on the 40-yard line, right behind the Spartan bench.  MSU won and Carson and Anna got to meet Sparty!  It was such a fun day!

2.  Tailgate for MSU Homecoming.  We decided not to tailgate for the game since we'd have had to be there by 6:30am to get in line... and it was in the 30s that morning.  I didn't think that sounded very fun with an infant.  :) 

3.  Go to an apple orchard.  Check!  We went to Spicer's.

4.  Drink apple cider.  Check!  Many times!

5.  Go to a pumpkin patch.  Check!  We went to the pumpkin patch at Spooky Trails Farm with our neighbors. 

6.  Go to Spooky Trails Farm in Gaines.  Check!  We did this with our neighbors.  We went through the corn maze and took a hayride out to the pumpkin patch to pick out pumpkins.  The pumpkin blaster guns were out of ammo when we were there, though, which was a bummer! 

7.  Do fall leaf crafts.  Check!  We didn't do as many as I had hoped to do, but we did do some leaf rubbings and made some fall placemats like we do every year.

8.  Carve jack-o-lanterns.  We bought pumpkins, but never carved them... :(

9.  Go on a family hike at least once every other week.  We did well with this in September and early October, but with the cooler temperatures and shorter daylight hours in November, we stopped going. 

10.  Go through a corn maze.  Check!  At Spooky Trails Farm.

11.  Spend a day (or weekend) in Grand Haven.  Check!  We went to Grand Haven the last weekend in October.  We stayed at a hotel, swam in the pool, went to the Imagination Station playground to meet up with some friends, and got to have dinner and play with some of our family! 

12.  Take a drive to see the fall colors.  Check!  We took several of these, the colors were just gorgeous this year! 

13.  Pick fall raspberries at a local, organic farm.  We did not get to do this, unfortunately.

14.  Take pictures and jump in a big pile of fallen leaves.  Check! 

15.  Have or go to a bonfire and make s'mores.  Check! 

16.  Go on an autumn nature walk.  Check!  We took several of these in October on the days I was home with the kids.

17.  Go trick-or-treating.  Check!  Well technically we did trunk-or-treating at church.  We did not go trick-or-treating in a neighborhood this year.

18.  Have a picnic.  Check!  We did this several times - on Labor Day and on a couple of park outings and playdates. 

19.  Start preschool!  Check!  Preschool is going really well again this year.  Carson just loves his teachers and looks forward to going to school everyday. 

20.  Have a playdate with preschool friends.  Check!  We have had several!

21.  Camp in a tent in the backyard... since we didn't get to do it this summer, we'll see if we're able to this fall.  Never did do this... next year!

22.  Meet up with family from the west side of the state in the Lansing area for playtime and hanging out.  Well, it didn't work out to meet up in Lansing, but we did get to see them while we were in Grand Haven, as well as on Labor Day and at Bristol's baptism. 

23.  Fly a kite.  Didn't happen.

24.  Visit a local park that we have never been to.  Check!  We went to a new (to us) park in Holly one afternoon.

25.  Go play miniature golf.  We never did get to do this.  We had plans to twice again, but it didn't work out.

26.  Visit a friend or family member we have not seen in awhile.  Check!  We caught up with a couple of friends we hadn't seen in quite some time, as well as had some of my cousins over that we hadn't seen in a year.

27.  Make or buy Halloween costumes.  Check!  Made one (Bristol's) and bought one (Carson's).

28.  Take a trip to the Grand Rapids area to visit Kevin's grandparents and other family in the area.  Check - sort of...  The closest we got was our weekend in Grand Haven, which we did get to see my SIL, BIL, niece, and nephew... but no grandparents. 

29.  Go to our nephew's football game(s).  We never got a chance to see Joel play.  :(  On the days we could go, the weather was really crummy. 

30.  Go to Disney World!!!  :)  Check, check, check!  (Post to come soon, I hope).

October Craziness!

We had an extremely busy and fun-filled October this year.  Not only did we do lots of fun things together as a family, but my photography business really took off in October with all the beautiful fall colors this year.  It was a lot of fun.  I learned a lot.  And I’m even more excited to see where this adventure leads during the next year.  But I’ve also been enjoying a little down-time the last few weeks, too.  I had to put a lot of extra stuff aside since I was so busy with the business, so it has been nice to get back into those extra things (like making some Christmas gifts and working on some small projects around the house). 

Even though we did so many fun things, I realize now that I didn’t take that many pictures.  Since having Bristol, it’s tough to take as many pictures as I used to at family outings and functions. 

We had several playdates with a few of Carson’s preschool friends, which were always a lot of fun.  The kids always have so much fun playing together and I have really been enjoying getting to know a couple of the other mom’s a little better.  I just love making new friends!  J  Kevin and I have been getting to know the parents of one of Carson’s friends on Tuesday nights, too.  They’re also in the Life with God class with us.  We’ve been out for coffee (or in my case apple cider ;-P) with them a couple of times, too.  After the holidays, we’re hoping to have a chance to get together as families and do some fun things, too. 

Our nephew, Jonah, turned three at the beginning of October and had a really fun superhero birthday party.  Aunt Julie made all the kids who attended some superhero capes.  Even Bristol got one!  They were all so cute! 

We had some family photos taken by my friend, Stephanie, of Bellabu Photography in mid-October.  The kids were so cooperative and we got some really cute photos.  It was a lot of fun, too!  It was nice to be on the other end of the camera.  :)  We received over 40 images, but here are just a few of them.

We also hosted some of my dad’s family (the Moores) for a dinner in mid-October.  It had been a long time (over a year!) since we’d all been together, so it was long overdue.  We had a great low-key meal of goulash, salad, fruit, cornbread, homemade bread, and dairy-free cake for dessert.  It was so nice to see my cousins again and get the great-grandkids (Macie, Tyson, Carson, and Bristol) together (though I totally forgot to get a picture of the four of them!!). 

We took a trip to a local farm with our neighbors one chilly afternoon.  We went through a corn maze and took a hayride to the pumpkin patch to pick out pumpkins.  It was a lot of fun!

We made time to play in the leaves quite a few times during the month!  Carson loves jumping into the big leaf piles.  Bristol wasn't too sure what to think about it, but she did enjoy them a little, too.  :) 

Uncle Dan celebrated his 30^th birthday on October 14^th.  We had plans for all of the Hollebooms to meet at PF Chang in Lansing for dinner to celebrate, but unfortunately, the flu got the best of some.  So the east-side Hollebooms all went to dinner at Lucky’s in Fenton so that Danny could have his delicious steak dinner.  It had been awhile since we had been out to eat, and the meal was great!  We’ve never had a bad meal at Lucky’s, though. 

In all my spare time J, I also organized an Odykirk family dinner on a random Wednesday evening.  We had family travel over 3 hours to make it – it was so great to see everyone!!  We ended up with quite a large group, spread out amongt a few large tables, and had a good time catching up with all the cousins and great-aunts.  The restaurant of choice by the majority ended up being Olive Garden… which is definitely not a dairy-free friendly restaurant, but I figured I could find something there to eat.  After talking with the waiter and manager, I was assured that the grilled salmon and vegetables could be made dairy-free.  So I went with it.  And Bristol ended up paying the price for it.  :-/  She had a rough bout with gas and spitting up, plus some poo issues.  And it was all finally confirmed at the pediatrician a few days later that she is, indeed, allergic to dairy.  Up until that point, we did not have official confirmation, but we do now.  So no more placing myself into compromising situations food-wise for her sake. 

Bristol’s 4-month check-up went very well.  Dr. Akrawi was happy with her weight gain – though he would have liked to see a tad bit more, but said she is doing much better than she was.  So we do not have to return for any weight checks any time soon!  She is in the 25^th% for height, and head circumference, and between the 10^th-25^th% for weight.  She’s still a little peanut, but she’s growing very well and surpassing all of her developmental milestones.  I’ll update more on Bristol’s development in a separate post. 

We went over to Aunt Sharon’s house for a family day and to watch the big MSU-UM college football game on October 20^th.  Unfortunately, MSU lost, but it was still a fun game and a fun day.  Carson, Mackenzey, and Brooklynn had so much fun playing together.  It had been quite a while since they’d seen one another, so they were all so excited!  Jorie finally found a house and it is only about 4 miles away from us, so hopefully we’ll be seeing lots more of Mackenzey and Brooklynn from now on! 

Our church hosted a Trunk-or-Treat a week before Halloween this year.  It ended up being an incredibly nice, mild day… absolutely perfect!  We took the kids dressed as Mickey and Minnie Mouse and enjoyed seeing lots of friends.  Everyone thought the kids looked adorable together and I’m sure there are so many random pictures of Bristol out there on facebook some where… so many random people stopped us and said they had to get a picture of her.  LOL! 

We spent the last weekend in October out in Grand Haven.  I had two photo sessions scheduled out there – a family shoot and a senior shoot – so we figured we’d make the most of it and spend the weekend out there.  We drove out on Friday night after work and we managed to do some fun stuff in between photo shoots.  We met up with our friend Rachel and her kids at the Imagination Station playground.  It’s a huge, awesome wooden playground.  Carson loved seeing Noelle (and Noah, Emery, and Avery, too!) and had so much fun!  Then Aunt Mary, Uncle Justin, Rebecca, and Abram came to visit us at the hotel that evening!  The kids had a blast playing together and then we all had dinner together at the hotel restaurant.  It was so nice to see them all and we are so glad they came to see us!!  We also spent some time swimming in the hotel pool and just relaxing and having fun.  It was a great weekend!

We closed out the month with Halloween!  Carson had a party at preschool in the morning.  I took the day off of work and took Bristol in to the party with me.  We got to see the kids parade through in their costumes, sing some songs, and eat some yummy treats.  Carson decided he wanted to be Cat in the Hat (his costume from last year) for his preschool party.  I guess Mickey Mouse just wasn’t cool enough.  ;-P 

We did not end up going trick-or-treating on Halloween.  The weather was really crummy – cold and drizzly.  Plus, Kevin got home late from work.  So we decided not to go over to Aunt Julie’s house like we normally do for trick-or-treating.  Instead, we enjoyed a night at home together.  We did some Halloween crafts and watched the Peanuts Halloween cartoon and had a really nice time.  J

Bristol's Baptism

We had Bristol baptized back on September 30th at Faith Lutheran Church in Grand Blanc.  Much of our family joined us to witness her baptism.  After which, we hosted a luncheon at our house.  We asked her Aunt Julie and her Aunt Mary to be her Godmothers.  They are both such wonderful examples of strong, Christian women and we are fortunate to have them pray for Bristol regularly and help Kevin and I provide guidance to her in her Christian upbringing.

Bristol wore the baptism gown that I wore as a baby when I was baptized at Hope Lutheran Church in Linden.  It was a little big on her, but she still looked so beautiful in it.

Bristol did so well during the baptism.  Pastor Biermann held her facing outwards (she likes to see the world and know what is coming), so she was happy as could be and did not fuss at all.

After church, everyone came back to our house for lunch.  We did a soup and salad bar and Aunt Mary made a dairy-free cake.  Everything was delicious!

Thank you, everyone, for celebrating with us!

But Jesus called the children to him and said, Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.   (Luke 18:16)

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.  (Jeremiah 29:11)


And finally, here is the invitation I had printed for her baptism.