2 Year Nugget

Last Saturday we had Abel's birthday party at Lake Benson Park. The Lord gave us a beautiful day and we all had a great time, especially Abel :-) We are so thankful for our wonderful little boy. He is growing and learning things so quickly we can't believe it. He is talking more and more. When we when for his 2 year check up he weighed 31 lbs and was 36 1/2 inches long. He actually enjoyed the doctor this time and his favorite part was getting blood drawn. He said "lady poke hole in finger" (the nurse stuck his finger and drew blood). We continually thank the Lord for his abundant kindness in giving us sweet Abel. Abel enjoyed blowing out the candles with dada

Andrew had a great time at the party, but wasn't quite sure why my camera was in his face :)

Joe took a little nap on his mom so he could be ready for some wild fun.

Abel loved opening all his gifts.

Silly Abel - he really did enjoy the swing. :-)

The beautiful Anderson girls - so thankful they live close by.

And just so you know, I did make Abel a "real" cake on his "real" birthday .

Go or No Go?

Sonya got these shoes recently. I just kept saying, "they're not my
favorite." Please give us your comment.

Fun at the lake

This is how Abel holds his nose to go under the water. Pretty cute!

Similar?

I thought it would be fun to look at Abel and Charlotte's baby pics and compare Abel is 3 months in his pic and Charlotte is 2 months. I can't believe how "tan" Abel is!

Pretty "Little" Thang

Charlotte is about 5 weeks old and we finally had her 2 month check up. She passed with flying colors. The Dr. said she gets an A+. We are so thankful for a healthy and BIG baby girl :-)

Weight: 16lb. (her weight was off of the percentile charts :-)

Length: 23 3/4 inches (90% percentile)

Head Circumference: 40.2 cm (50% percentile)

Breakfast at BoJo's

Dinner with Marna

We had dinner with grandma Marna last night. She made some pasta and
meatballs with sausage. It was very yummy. Charlotte really enjoyed
being held by Marna. She got so comfy she went right to sleep. I think
in this picture she looks a little like cousin Brody.

Tank Upgrade

Well it was finally time for a tank upgrade. I had pretty much maxed out the space of my 10 gallon tank after maxing out my 5 gallon tank.

This was my 10 gallon before the upgrade.

And this is my 12 gallon CadLights nano tank after the upgrade. I bought it used from a friend of mine, thanks Reverend. It's not a lot larger necessarily, but it had different dimensions and it is much prettier.

big brother

Abel is pretty much the best big brother ever, and happy about it. Charlotte, not so much.

summer dress

Our sweet Charlotte girl in her new summer dress - handmade by her Aunt Meredith

CHARLOTTE ELIZABETH BATCHELOR

A little over a week ago God gave James and I a very good and gracious gift, our first daughter. We welcomed her at 7:12pm on May 4th. She weighed a whopping 9lb 12oz. We have continued to receive grace upon grace. Charlotte is healthy, a great eater (she is up to 10lb now), an amazing sleeper (she slept for 6 hours straight three different nights) and is so very sweet. James is pretty sure he is already wrapped around her tiny finger and is dreading "giving her away" on her wedding day. :-)

Abel is a champ with her and loves to hold her and kiss her and give her the famous "nosey". Below are some of my favorite pics from the last few days - enjoy!

Abel, Charlotte, Grandma Sandra
Charlotte with Great Grandpa Aiken
Charlotte with DaDa (my favoirte pic :-)
Charlotte with Great Grandma Marna
Charlotte with Grandpa Dave
Brand New Baby Charlotte

The Beach

On Monday we returned from what James called our "best beach vacation ever." We had a wonderful place to stay, beautiful weather and really got to relax - praise the Lord! It was just the getaway we needed before baby sister comes (in a few weekes!!). We had a great time as a family. Abel loved having DaDa all the time and the beach "dirt" was super fun. On Sunday we put on our suits (not me :-) and went to the beach. Abel loved the COLD water and kept signing for James to "please" take him out in it. Below are pics from the beach at Fort Macon. It was a great site to visit and they even shot a cannon while we were there, we had a lot of fun.

THE BIG 27!!!!

Today is my sweet husband's birthday. I am so thankful to be married to such a kind, considerate, patient and hardworking man. And I know Abel is pretty thankful too for such a wonderful Dada. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

BABY MARTA!!!!

My sister had her baby girl on Sun. morning around 1am. The labor and delivery were super fast and all are doing well. We are so excited to meet baby Marta. She was 8lb 4 oz and about 20" long.
Baby Marta wins the prettiest girl contest, at least until our baby comes :-)
What a sweet blessing!

Roger, Stasha, and Big Brother (Andrew)

For Trent

Abel got in a fight with Trent at supper club on Saturday. As you can tell, Trent won the first round, but Abel wants him to know he is up for another go.

My little cowboy

Abel loved riding this horse at Kami and Josh's house. It made me get very tired, but seeing him enjoy it was so worth it.

Beauty and the Geek

I'm very thankful to have such a wonderful wife. Not only do I appreciate all of her wonderful features, but I appreciate what she keeps me from getting into. Namely something like this (taken from an article on making a computer storage device housed inside of a toaster):

"Where To Do The Work?"

"The kitchen is the most appropriate place to do this kind of work. It is winter in California. The garage is cold and damp. The cat does not like it there. It is dusty and not safe for expensive electronic components. The kitchen serves no useful purpose in a geek’s life other than to host a refrigerator and to provide a repository for cat food. There are appliances there that never get used, such as the oven, stove, and dishwasher. The lighting is good and there are plenty of bench surfaces. If the kitchen had a bench-mounted vise, it would be complete and perfect."

Baby or Leopard?

Our baby has polka-dots!!! For the past 3 days, Abel has had a rash all over his body. In the morning he is all swollen and spotted. After having some Benadryl he is better but the spots are still visible. We took him to the Dr. and he said it must be an allergic reaction or a reaction to having a cold. Either way it's pretty pitiful and we are praying that the dots go away soon. I did my best to capture some of the rash in the pics below. We welcome any ideas you blog readers may have about the reason for the rash

Swollen!

Snow Boys

Just us boys out playing in the snow! This is what I call "winter play."

SNOW!!!

Before James went to work this morning (yes, he had to go :-) we went outside so Abel could have some fun. He loved every minute of it and cried when he had to come in. Right now we have about 4 inches and it is still coming down. WE LOVE IT!!!

Come home soon dad so we can go out and play!!

Fun Pics

I had to post this with the Christmas pics because I thought it was too cute. Abel loves to see James' fish but decided he needed a little more height to get a good view.

This is my sweet man at my grandparents' house.

For those of you who have been around Abel much, you know he loves having his blanket on his head :-)

10 Years!

That's Right! 10 years ago today James and I officially started dating. I am so thankful that the Lord has allowed me to know and enjoy my husband for so many years. Lord willing, we will enjoy many more together. I love you James!

Tank Update

I've been enjoying my tank more and more. It needs a little cleaning up, but it is developing that "grown in" look that takes time to achieve.

Its a GIRL!

Sonya and I feel so blessed to have just found out we will be having a baby girl! We look forward to meeting her in May.