Santa

The annual J. Alvin Christmas party took place this last Thursday, and once again the guys went all out decorating. The theme was Narnia, and students entered through a "wardrobe" to make their way into the party. The atrium looked really cool... there was even a working street light in the middle of the atrium. Each year the suites compete in a decorating contest. This year there were some really cool looking Suites: Holiday Saloon (with a boar's head mounted on the wall), An Upside Down Christmas (looked like a cozy sitting room with a christmas tree, presents, and a fire - all upside down), An old-fashioned malt shop, and even a Santa picture station (with elf helpers and photographers).

So Jonathan had his first picture with Santa... I just found it on Facebook with the caption "I can't believe they trusted him with the Brock baby" :-)

Little Smiles

Two

Could this have been two years ago? It seems like just yesterday... and yet it seems as if you've been with us forever.

Look how you've grown! Happy Birthday to my sweetest little girl. I love you so much! You've changed my life forever. I can't thank God enough for the gift He's given me in you.

Christmas Stockings

Christmas stockings at our house don't match. They were all bought at different places, different years. They look okay together... but this year, as I was thinking about what kind of stocking I should buy for Jonathan, I realized that maybe I should just make some Christmas stockings. If we have more children, I can then easily make additional stockings to match. Then I found these stockings in a picture on the Angry Chicken blog. What do you think, aren't they cute? I love that each one is different than the rest, and yet they match. I also love the little initial on each stocking. So, I've decided that I want to try to make some that are similar to these. Hopefully they'll be done in time for next year's Christmas! I'm writing it here so that I actually do it!

Jonathan at two months

Here's a video of Jonathan that I took last night. He's two months old now and he is such a sweet baby. I can just tell he's going to be an easygoing sweetheart. He loves to be held and snuggled, and he loves when we sing to him. He had his two month appointment yesterday and he weighed 14 lbs. 14oz. So he's still a big boy!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Here at our house we are thankful for pie... Check out Greg's blog and you'll see why.

Elisa Pictures

These pictures were taken back in September by a student for a photography project. He just dropped off the picture CD today, and we were so pleased with how they turned out. Check them out!

Life with Elisa

Some of the things I found around the house yesterday:

One of Jonathan's diapers, neatly stacked with the placemats.

A sippy cup put back away in the box where it goes, still full of water.

The little lamp off of the top of the TALL dresser placed carefully on top of the shelf headboard of the bed.

Lest you think that my little girl is always careful and organized, in the last couple of days she also:

Turned on the blender without the lid on while "helping" me make smoothies.

Dumped the pancake batter out of the bowl while "helping" me make pancakes.

Knocked the glass cup measure to the floor where it bounced three times before shattering into a thousand tiny pieces.

I can't really blame her, she's still just a one-year-old (almost a two-year-old!) Sometimes she drives me crazy... but mostly I'm amazed by her. It's so fun to watch her learn and grow.

She is starting to talk in little sentences. So much fun! Some of her most often used sentences lately: "Mommy hold you, Leesi." and "Leesi do it."

Potty Time

So Elisa has been showing a little bit of interest in going to the bathroom lately. Last weekend we bought her her own potty. She was really excited about it, and carries it around the house in order to sit on it in different locations. But both Greg and I realized after buying the potty, that neither one of us has any idea how to go about potty training. Anyway, this morning Elisa grabbed her diaper and said, "poop." I asked her if she wanted to go poop on the potty and she said yes. So we took off her pants and diaper and she sat on her potty. She kept on getting up to go get books for me to read to her. Finally after quite some time, she peed in her potty. I was so surprised. And I think she may have been a little surprised too.

Anyway, I'm not sure that we're going to start serious potty training yet. But I do want to make a plan and start getting ready to potty train. I'd welcome advice and recommendations for good books and websites etc.

Jonathan's Dedication

Jonathan was dedicated this past Sunday. It was a somewhat unimpressive event: 8 families lined up and the elders and pastors went down the line praying for each kid. We were the last family. Elisa has been in some kind of funk the last few days, so I was totally preoccupied with trying to keep her somewhat quiet and happy. She kept on climbing up the stairs to the stage as far as she could go while still holding my hand, then jumping back down the stairs. It was a really fun game. So, when the pastor got to us, and I picked her up, she started screaming (of course). But Jonathan was good as gold the whole time.

Even though the event itself was not very exciting or impressive, I'm trying to keep the meaning behind the dedication in mind. We are presenting Jonathan back to God and saying that we will do our best (with the help of our church, friends, and family) to raise him to love and serve Jesus.

Here's a picture of our family after church on dedication day. (Check out Jonathan's very cute sweater - he looked so grown up)