Stay Off The Roads--Judah's Driving!

Judah's Poppy and Grandma bought him a remote control race car back when we lived in Reno. At the time, Judah was a bit too young to play with it. He's old enough now and he's having a blast! He's not the best driver, however, so you'd be wise to stay off the roads while Judah's driving!

SNOW!

Winter has officially arrived here in Iowa, despite what the calendar says. We got blasted with our first snow storm last week and ended up with about 8 inches of snow. Judah's been having a great time in it though. He and Steve went sledding on our neighbor's hill (on the other side of our backyard fence) and on our little hill in the backyard. Judah also loves to bundle up and play with his diggers and dump trucks in the backyard and on the deck. He scoops up snow with the diggers and fills up his dump trucks with it. He comes in all rosey-cheeked, wet and cold--ready for a nice cup of hot chocolate, with marshmallows, of course. Cassidy loves the snow, too, and had a great time "sledding" with Steve and Judah.

A Bit Excessive

Typically, Judah is only allowed to sleep with one or two of his fave toys. On this day, for some reason, he managed to persuade either Steve or I to let him sleep with all of his cars (his "friends") for nap time. A bit excessive to say the least! Notice, though, how he has all of them neatly lined up. I'm sorry, Judah, for passing my "everything has to be 'just so'" gene on to you!

Tree Cutting & Decorating Fun!

We are so excited to celebrate our first Christmas in our new house. Although we can't quite top the adventure we had two years ago hiking into the Natl. Forest in Northern California to find and cut the perfect tree, we did find the next best thing here in Iowa. Last Friday we hopped in the Jeep and took a short drive to a cute little tree farm in LeClaire, IA named Trees and Traditions. Their barn is set up to look like a cabin on the inside, complete with woodburning fireplace and an antique sleigh. They also have an antique tractor, which Judah loved "driving." We found the most beautiful tree we've ever had and the price was really great, considering all of the amazing customer service they provided. We would highly recommend this place to anyone in the Quad Cities area.

After finding the perfect tree, we headed to downtown LeClaire, which is an adorable little strip of shops along the Mississippi River. We stopped for a coffee and snack at a cute little coffee shop named Lydia's and had a really great visit with the owner, Ken Bailey. A nice Christian man doing a little soul searching for the direction God wants to take him next. We left feeling refreshed and encouraged knowing that our new friend, Ken, is in God's perfect hands. We'll be praying for you, Ken!

That evening, we put on some classic Christmas tunes, cooked up a junk food feast (pizza rolls, onion rings, chips & guac, chicken wings and shrimp w/cocktail sauce). We sang along while eating and decorating the tree. What a fun tradition! However, I must add that we decided that adding some healthy food to the mix would probably be a good idea in the future...we all had stomachaches!

Thanks, God, for a perfect day spent as a family enjoying your beautiful creation, encouraging our brother in Christ, feasting on your generous provision and preparing to celebrate the birth of your Son, Jesus. It just doesn't get any better than that!

It Smells Like...

The other day Steve, Judah and I were getting into the Jeep to run some errands. Steve and Judah had been working in the backyard (where Cassidy "does her business") earlier that morning so the first part of what came out of Judah's mouth as we got settled in the Jeep didn't surprise me.

Judah: It smells like poop.
Steve: WHAT does it smell like???
Judah: Poop. Little teeeeeeny tiny chickmunk (i.e. chipmunk) poop!

Needless to say, we both busted out laughing. Where in the world does he come up with these things???