Livia Mae is 1 Today!

Livia Mae is one today! We had her birthday party last weekend. It was a Winter ONE-derland theme. Here are a couple pictures from the event!

Livia with her snowman cake.

She LOVED her cake. She knew just what to do! When she was all done, she continued to sign "more"!

Happy Birthday precious little girl!

Joey's Prayer

After telling a lie this morning Joey and I prayed together so he could ask for forgiveness, here was the dialogue:

Mommy: Dear Jesus
Joey: Dear Jesus
Mommy: Please forgive me for lying, it was a sin
Joey: Please forgive me for lying, it was a sin
Mommy: Dear Jesus
Joey: Dear Jesus
Mommy: Please help me
Joey: Please help me
Mommy: Be an obedient little boy
Joey: Be an obedient man.

Thanksgiving and 9th Annual Christmas Tree Hunt Extravaganza!

I know these posts are very overdue, BUT better late than never, right?! We had a very special Thanksgiving this year, we have so much to be thankful for! God has continued to prove Himself so faithful to our family and in the midst of what seem like extreme trials we have also experienced extreme blessings. I cannot wait for a day to post on our blog all that God has done in this season of our lives (I feel like it would be premature to write it out now, so stay tuned...).

We spent the morning of Thanksgiving day at Sunrise Baptist's Thanksgiving service. It was the first we have attended and was a wonderful way to start our day. We then spent the afternoon at our Uncle Tommy's house in Anacortes. He put on a wonderful spread of delicious foods and it was a fun day to also celebrate Livia's 1st Thanksgiving!

Our Family of Five

My sister Wendy (or Aunt Woo as the kids call her) and her dog Roxie Jo

Grandpa and Grandma Dennis with the kids and their turkey hats grandma made them.

Josiah, Livia and Hope:: Three blessings in our lives that we will be eternally thankful for!

Every year after Thanksgiving, on the Weeda side, we go to the Hovde Christmas Tree Farm out in Sudden Valley. The tradition started 9 years ago (the year Andy and I got engaged) and since then we have added 5 kids over the years! Andy's brother, Matt, started this tradition and we call it our Christmas Tree Hunt Extravaganza!

The whole Family (Left to Right in a circle): Kim, Julian, Natalie, Mom (Darlene), Tabitha, Livia, Amy, Andy, Hope, Josiah, Matt, Daniel & Rebecca

The Weeda Family in front of the Hovde Haus hollowed out tree.

We found our tree!!!

Joey helped daddy cut the tree down and carry it down the hill! Good work boys!

All the cousins, eating candy canes, cookies and sipping on hot cocoa

Trip to Portland

Last month we took a family vacation to Portland, OR on the weekend when Andy had class. The kids were able to go back to Western Seminary's campus and see where we use to live and visit some old friends on campus. The picture below was taken about 20 minutes before Joey fell into the pond on campus. Luckily it wasn't very deep and his head was above the water and Andy snatched him up pretty quickly. We were all given a bit of an adrenaline rush though!

Hope and Josiah were REALLY excited to go to the zoo (even though it was rainy and cold)...so we bundled up and explored for a couple of hours. It was actually a perfect day and we had SO much fun. It wasn't crowded at all (go figure) and the animals were out and active.

While we were in Portland we got to visit and stay with our friends, Ray and Marietta Roy. When Ray started a fire in the fireplace Hope sheepishly asked, "Are we going to roast marshmallows?" Ray and Marietta were so incredibly sweet and immediately went through the cupboards and found the ingredients needed and the kids roasted marshmallows in the fire place and made s'mores!

The Roy's with the kids

We also had the great chance to visit with our dear friends the Thomas' down in Corvallis, Oregon. (Thank you again for hosting us even though you had only been in your house 2 weeks, and for being so brave to have 6 kids running around your house!) We had so much fun catching up and the kids all had fun playing together. In the picture below is Colton, Austin, Eliana, Hope and Livia (Joey didn't want to be in the picture).

Thankful

We have so much to be thankful for! I may be a week late making a Thanksgiving post on the blog, but as a family we are trying to have a mindset of Thanksgiving all year long.

Here is a picture of our sunrise this morning:

This sunrise reminded us of God's faithfulness. God is faithful in giving us a sunrise every morning. This sunrise also reminds us of our church body, Sunrise Baptist Church, which is made up of people who are faithful to doing God's work. We have been so blessed by the people in our church, in their encouragements, their love, their gifts, and their dedication to teaching our children. We are so thankful for our church and where God has us now.

Psalm 36:5 puts words to the picture above: "Your love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies."

I think they look like sisters...

The Girls...

Hope at 12 months old

Livia at 10 months old

Climbing Trees

Last week Joey climbed his first tree! Such a great accomplishment for any little boy. I was inside feeding Livia when I looked out the window and saw Joey sizing up the tree. When he ran away from the tree at frist I thought, "Phew, he's not going to try and climb it"...then I noticed he was baaacccckkk with his little tricycle. He put the bike at the base of the tree, stood on top of it and climbed up into the tree. I quickly ran outside with the camera, to be close by in case he fell, but more importantly to get pictures of my boy's first tree climb! He was so proud of himself!

Livia

Here is Livia showing off what she can say and do...

Livia is 9 months

Livia turned 9 months old last week! Wow, how time is flying. She continues to be such a good baby and always joyful. When I go and get her out of her crib she smiles big and says, "Iiiii." I'm pretty sure she's saying, "Hi". She says "dada" and "mama" and is waving goodbye. She is also scooting on her bum all over the place, she's not interested at all in crawling. The other night she got into the kitchen, opened a drawer and pulled out some plastic bags. She is definitely on the move and ready to explore, such a fun stage!

Silly Subtraction

I was in the bathroom with Josiah this morning and this is the conversation we had:

JOEY: I will go down the drain and then you will only have two kids.
ME: I would miss you.
JOEY: Then if Livia goes down the drain you will only have one kid.
ME: Uh huh.
JOEY: If Hope goes down the drain then there would be no kids.

I guess we can assume he has learned how to subtract.

This One's for Joey...

August 12th is National Middle Child Day...today is Joey's day!!!

Our Princesses

Hope dressed Livia up yesterday so they could play "princesses" together!

Joey Rides the Garage Door

Well Child Check Ups

Josiah is 3 years old! He had his well child check up yesterday and is a very healthy boy! He weighed in at 38lbs 4oz and 39 1/2 inches tall. Still in the 90th% for both weight and height.

Here's our boy sporting his faux hawk

Livi had her 7 month well baby check up yesterday also and brought smiles to everyone she interacted with. She weighed in at 19lbs 5oz and was 26 1/4 inches long.

We are praising the Lord for healthy kiddos!

Family Meeting

We had our first Weeda Family Meeting tonight and one of Hope's comments was the following...

"Joey threw his hard hat at my head and then he a-paul-a-mogized to me so I forgave him."

The Many Faces of Hope and Amy

Here's Hope and I having fun with the camera....

Showing off our shiny lipgloss...

Sad Faces...


Scared Faces...

Mad Faces...

Excited Faces...

Sleeping Faces...

Happy Faces...

Catch Up...

Ok here's me catching up the blog. There has been so much going on with the Weeda's over the last month and I just haven't found the time to sit down and update the blog. Each of the events below should have had their own blog entry, but now they are crammed together in one. I hope you still enjoy the chance to peek into our lives...

Relay for Life 2009. This is my mom-in-law, Hope, me and Livia walking the track at Lynden High School in the rain...we were troopers!

On Father's Day we took a day trip over to Port Townsend. It was the kids' first ferry ride, which they loved. We did some window shopping, ate at a GREAT Pub, found a park, and played on the beach...it was a special day! Liva is 6 months old!!! It is so fun watching her little character develop, she is such a sweetie. She is our quiet observer who is full of smiles!Livia is now eating solid food and I am having so much fun making her baby food. Hope is a great help too (like always). So far Livia is loving everything we have offered her (Sweet potatoes, squash, avocado, mango, oatmeal and banana).

My girls! Hope wanted a picture with her sister since they were matching in turquoise.

Tan + Blonde = Summer time in the Weeda house.

On the 4th of July we went to downtown Blaine and enjoyed a delicious lunch at the Blackberry House, and watched the parade with friends.

Love her pigtails!

Livi slept through the entire parade! She's such a good baby!

"Happy Birthday America"

The Color Pink & God's big ears

Hope and I went strawberry picking on Friday morning. The two of us picked 20 lbs. of strawberries in 45 minutes, I was pretty impressed. On our walk at the end of the day I noticed Hope's shoulders had gotten a little sunburned (totally mommy's fault for not re-applying sunscreen mid-day).

I said, "Oh Hope your shoulders look like they got a little pink today."
Hope replied, "I like the color pink. God knows I like the color pink. God has big ears. He hears everything I say."

Our God does have big ears and He does hear everything we say, how I love to learn simple yet such important lessons from my 4 year old.

Give ear to my words, O LORD, consider my sighing. Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God, for to you I pray. In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation. Psalm 5: 1-3

"Because he loves Me," says the LORD, "I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges My Name. He will call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. With long life will I satisfy him and show him My salvation." Psalm 91:14-16

June Fun!

Hope had her spring ballet recital

I turned 29 (wow) and Hope made my Birthday cake from scratch by herself. I read her the ingredients and taught her which measuring cup/spoon to use but, she did all the rest on her own. She LOVES helping in the kitchen!

Andy & Josiah got to ride in a hot rod!