February Highlights- Part 1

Winter Grilling

Chris loves to grill even in the winter. He is frequently asking me if he can grill for dinner. (I know... I'm super blessed!!) Here are my boys whipping up dinner for us.

Mark's 1st Spaghetti

The night before we left for NJ we had spaghetti for dinner. We tried to give Mark the pasta without the sauce (less mess); however, he kept pushing this bland pasta out of his mouth with his tongue. When we dipped the pasta in sauce he slurped it right down!! Looks like we may have a little guy who love Italian!

Grandma's Birthday Weekend in NJ

Valentine's Day weekend we packed up the car and headed East to visit my fam. We ate, we laughed, we played, we celebrated my Mom's birthday, and we just plain "hung out." I love visiting my family and it's even more special when I get to be with them on a birthday. Happy Birthday Mom/Grandma! We love you!!!

I love my darling husband SO much!! I really can't count the ways but here's one of them: he makes life fun :-) We enjoy watching the food network and travel channel every now and then. Once in a while there are shows discussing the best places to eat in _________ city. When we decided to make a trip to NJ he searched out one of these decorated eateries for us to visit. His choice: RU Hungry in New Brunswick, NJ home of "The Fat Darrel" which won the sandwich of the year! What's on this sandwich you ask?? chicken fingers, mozzarella sticks, french fries, and marinara sauce Yeah, I was not super convinced I would enjoy this award winner, but it was actually quite tasty. If you run into Chris sometime, you'll have to ask him how this sandwich was invented--- it's quite intriguing. That's another thing I love about my husband.... He's always researching something new and interesting:-)

Here we are in front of RU Hungry

All 8 of us crammed into my parents 7 passenger van so we could take one car. This was before we realized there was no indoor seating for lunch. Somehow we all managed to chow down without making a mess--- it was a miracle!!

We introduced Mark to bubbles in Grandma's kitchen. It's always a joy to see the excitement in his face when he is discovering.

Of course Mark had to see what these bubbles tasted like, but to his chagrin he wasn't quite able to capture them in his mouth :-)

My Creator

"Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created." -Rev 4:11

I learned to sew a month ago and frankly I was obsessed when I first started. My thoughts were swarming with figuring out how to create new things with beautiful fabrics and thread. I couldn't wait for nap time so I could get out my wonderful hand-me-down sewing machine and work on creating. Before this discovery I wouldn't have classified myself as a creative person-- I like to try to copy others' creativity but never really come up with something on my own. After my sewing experience I would definitely say I'm creative--- I'd say we're all "creative." We are made in the image of God and God is certainly creative. You may have already thought about this but I really hadn't until my afternoons with the sewing machine. I would find myself repetitively saying, "Lord, thank you so much for letting me create!" And then my thoughts would wander to His beautiful & perfect creation (God didn't need a seam ripper!!). Sometimes the ugliness of sin disguises the reality that we're created in God's likeness. It was neat to be reminded of it in the most unlikely of places: bent over a sewing machine!

As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness. - Ps. 17:15

For fun, here are some of the things I made. I'm loving them!!

Mark's sling (inspired my Aunt Sarah's)

My diaper & wipes cases-- these are so much better than my plastic bag!!

Crazy Diaper Deal!!

Calling all Friends and Family...

For anyone who is interested in saving some money on diapers... I was surfing some blogs for coupons on diapers and ran into this great deal... Basically there is a $10 coupon and a $15 mail in rebate. Here's how it works....

1- go to diapers.com and order the diaper brand of your choice. They have pretty much all of them... pampers, huggies, luvs, etc. In order to get free shipping and use the $10 coupon you have to have at least $49 worth of diapers and/or wipes in your cart

2- at check out type in the coupon code sveten to get $10 off immediately

3- print your receipt and this form. If you read through the form, it says you can mail it in for a $15 rebate (which takes 6-8weeks to receive back...but hey! it's still $15!!) If you don't send in the rebate you'll get a free year of PARENTING magazine (which is still cool, but I like the money better!)

In the end you can get $49 worth of diapers for $24!! I ordered the diapers around 10am and received them the next day! (Coincidentally, Mark also loves the HUGE box they diapers came in.)

Have a great weekend!!!

January Highlights

New Year's

I really couldn't think of a better way to ring in the New Year than playing games with our dear friends and that's exactly what we got to do. We cheered in the new decade after some mean rounds of Speed Slice on the Wii Resort. We then managed to bring on the craziness of "Peanuts" aka "13 Pack" which lasted a good hour or two. As I think back on all the fun we had I can do nothing but smile and praise God for giving us far more than we could imagine. When Chris and I first moved to Cleveland our constant prayer was for friends. We were recovering from the "good-bye's" of college graduation and moving to a town where we virtually knew no one. Our friends from college were such kindred spirits that I didn't imagine God could bless us with such close friends again. I guess that's what Ephesians 3:20 means when it says "He (God) is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think." Praise God for His goodness to us!!

Left to Right: Me, Caitie, Lindzey, & Tarah

Mary & Carl (Chris is behind the camera)

Mark's 1st Snow Experience:

I was trying to get through this winter without buying a snow suit for Mark. Chris desperately wanted to take him out to "play" in the snow several times this winter, but I was trying to convince him it wasn't worth it this year. Well, when our lawn was "dusted" with 14 inches of snow earlier this month I saw Chris's point--- we had to document this experience in which the snow depth was greater than 1/2 Mark's height. Chris & I had a blast dressing him up and introducing him to the snow. (We have the proof too--- we took over 200 pictures in about 30 minutes!!!) On the other hand, Mark was not a big fan of the adventure. He pretty much screamed every time we set him down in the snow. Which just meant we got to hold him more :-) (He'll come around eventually!)

Getting Ready: We used Chris's work socks as leg warmers :-)

Fun times with Dad: We didn't have a sled so Chris propped Mark up on the snow shovel and toted him around. They both loved it!!

Me and my sweet little boy :-)

The Pfeils Return & Mimi's 50th

Chris's sister and her family (the ones who are missionaries in Japan) are back in the States for a year. Needless to say we are excited (and that's an understatement for sure!!). All of Chris's siblings were together to welcome their arrival. Coincidently the date of their return was also Mark's Mimi's 50th Birthday. We did a lot of celebrating that weekend!!

The Fam

Mark --the one standing--decided he had to be a part of the piano playing (even if he couldn't fit on the bench!).

Mimi's cake was good to the last crumb!

We celebrated Christmas at the Pfeils... Mark enjoyed Calvin's new toys :-)