Back to Normal

Adam's Christmas break was eventful. We traveled a few hours west to visit family for a couple weeks. We enjoyed seeing our dear family again and were sure to fit in some time for chillaxing. Isaac was sure to fit some of that into his busy schedule, too.

A couple days before Christmas a seminary family's infant son passed away. Baby Christian spent Christmas with Jesus - the best place to be for Christmas. Their journey was inspirational and their family is so strong. You can read about their journey and offer support here. We've been following their story from the very beginning. Baby Christian's mommy wrote beautiful updates in the CaringBridge journal throughout the entire journey. When you stop by their site, be sure to bring some tissues with you.


My (Sarah's) kitty, Inkin, began to not feel so well a couple months ago. Her health began to rapidly decline during break. I've had her since I was 9 years old and she was 10 weeks old. However, her time with us came to an end. She now rests peacefully. I'm sad about her passing, but the timing couldn't have been better. Her passing away while we visited my parents' home was best, because she is now resting there instead of us wondering what to do if she passed away while here in Fort Wayne. We wouldn't have wanted to bury her here at our rental home. It was an odd feeling coming back home to Fort Wayne after the Christmas travels and seeing her food and water bowls waiting for her.


On a brighter note, Isaac's Auntie Laura took some fabulous photos of him. She is quite the talented photographer and captured some really lovely moments:

Bath time!

Isaac is very good at unwrapping gifts. He loves loves paper!

Auntie Laura is finally in front of the camera! What a sweet photo.

Isaac seems to like doing a certain thing (blowing bubbles, a fake cough, etc) for a week or two

and then moves on to something else. For one of the weeks during Christmas break he discovered this

expression. This was particularly funny because his uncle did the same thing when he was this age! 

While visiting GG and Grandpa, Isaac was sure to enjoy some puppy time...

...including Sooner! Isaac is drawn to animals, which is so sweet! 

We are glad heenjoys animals, because we do too! 

Isaac likes to hold the puppy's face and then give it a kiss on its nose. So sweet. :-)

During the last week of break we've been trying to get back to normal and get back into a routine. I've been busy making freezer meals (may as well get ahead if I can!), catching up on laundry and putting away Christmas stuff little by little. Adam has also been taking advantage of this last bit of free time; he's been working very hard on his studies and getting ahead in some classes. As this break came to a close, we couldn't help but realize how close Call Day is becoming...

...after all, Call Day is only 114 days away. 

Which is also 9,849,600 seconds. 

Or 164,160 minutes. 

Or 2,736 hours. 

Or 16 weeks. 

New Toys!

Isaac looOooves his new toys!
Two of his favorites are the exersaucer and a cloth book.  His exersaucer has so many different activities on it, which Isaac loves! He has mastered how to spin the seat to get to different activities. The colorful book has crinkly pages, different textures and a rubbery spine, which is perfect for teething.

'Tis for Season for...

...hot chocolate, holiday music, Christmas cards and car repairs!

Pinterest has so many nifty ideas...I found a particularly neat one involving marshmallows!  The pin's source can be found here. Below is a photo of a delicious cup of hot chocolate, which I made for us right after a brisk walk. It was a lot colder outside than we thought so it was a short one! Despite the chillyness, it was nice to get some fresh air.

Moving nearly every year has its disadvantages. Lugging around the non-necessities is one of them. 95% of our CDs are in storage, including our Christmas music. Pandora.com has been our music companion during this special season. Some of our favorite holiday stations are:
-Bing Crosby Holiday
-Josh Groban Holiday
-Taylor Swift Holiday
-Mildred Bailey Holiday
-Michael Buble Holiday


If you haven't heard of Vistaprint, you should definitely check it out! Their goodies are of fabulous quality, creative designs, fast shipping and super sale prices. We ordered a few Christmas cards and here are what some of them look like:

Car repairs...it seems that when one vehicle is in the shop, the other gets sympathy pains. The suv got a new transmission and another thing or two. The van felt left out and decided it needed new brake lines, a new oil thingamajigger and something else. Car repairs and Christmas aren't a fun combo, as anyone can guess. However, these fixes aren't minor - they're important - and it'll be nice when they're both fixed. On a positive note, yay for fully functioning vehicles for the new year!

Luke 2:11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.

Happy Birthday, Adam!

Adam's birthday is on December 12th. 

For years I've been looking forward to celebrating his birthday during the year 2012. 

Why? 

Because it'd be 12.12.12!

How cool is that?

I hosted a small but lovely party for him and (with a talented friend's help), served this delicious cake:

This devil's chocolate centerpiece was four layers tall and sat on a vintage glass cake stand. Shavings of white chocolate were sprinkled on top for a sweet garnish. 

The slices were so tall that they had to be served on dinner plates. 

The evening went well, fun was had by all and right now there is one large piece of chocolate cake left...but not for long!

Happy birthday, Adam! Love you! :-)

Where has the time gone?

one week old...

...five months old.

November November

This month has been pretty busy with Adam finishing up a quarter, beginning another, routine check-ups, visiting family...whew! Here are a few photos from our month:

More fruit, please!

To Great-Grandma's house we go!

One of my first few times in the exersaucer! Love it!

Isaac's Nursery Reveal!

When we found out that we would be having a baby boy, I contemplated the nursery theme for quite a while.

Inspired by the Restoration Hardware Baby & Child vintage aviator theme, the nursery adventure began!

I painted a dresser white and selected a dusty vintage blue paint for the walls. There is a post dedicated just for the dresser, which was published late June 2012...just a few days before Isaac arrived (good thing I didn't procrastinate painting the dresser!). The inspiration for the dresser came from Pottery Barn, such as this piece here. The dresser matches our white changing table and crib.

(Please pardon the lack of photograph quality....)

One of my baby shower's themes was vintage airplanes. I enjoyed helping out with the event's decorations. With my Cricut, I created a triangle banner out of vintage patterned and colored papers. 

It went from cake table decor to the crib's banner. (RH Baby & Child's nursery themes are generally neutral toned, but I wanted to add some cheery reds and pattern.) It kinda reminds me of this banner.

My sister created a beautiful blanket for Isaac. The colors are similar to this blanket, one of the inspirations for the room. She chose the perfect colored yarn for this special gift. It is so pretty I only want to drape it over the side of the crib for display!

In the spring  I found this nifty hook propeller at a children's clothing/etc resale event. Perfect tone of red, creative and great for organization!

Something I wanted for the walls was a dictionary print. You may have seen them...it's basically a picture or letter printed on a vintage piece of paper. Our printer wasn't cooperating and I didn't have a good dictionary page background image...so long story short I did something a little different. I have four identical black frames without the glass. Inside I inserted a dictionary page from my 1960's doorstop of a dictionary. With my Cricut I created "FLY!" in large grey letters. I adhered them within the frame using foam adhesives. I liked the idea of the letters being raised because it adds depth.

During one of the last few days in Wheaton, Mom, Isaac and I went to some garage sales. Along with some other goodies, we found these curtains. Linen. Neutral. Long panels. Only $1 a piece. Perfect. 

So I got four. :-)

One of the last things I added to the nursery was a mobile. I was waiting for inspiration. I really liked this one, but it was $$. So I pulled out my handy dandy Cricut once again and the following is what I came up with. I already had the paper and string...$0.

Most of the planes in the nursery are from my second home. This beautiful silver one is, however, a gift from some dear friends.

I hope you enjoyed the tour of Isaac's nursery. It was fun to create! And just think, this summer I'll be taking it apart and putting it back together again this summer when we move.