Christmas in Missouri

We flew to Missouri on Wednesday, December 21st and had a wonderful time! It was fabulous to spend time with family and friends, and to enjoy Christmas Eve service at The Crossing.  We pray that you had a wonderful Christmas as well and are, as we continue to be, humbled and blessed that the Savior of the world chose to come to this earth as a meek little baby so that we could all be saved from eternal separation from our Lord.  Merry Christmas!!

Playing with Daddy at Grandma and Grandpa's.

Liz (bestie since 7th Grade) and one of her little girls, Charlotte.

Andrew's Great-Grandma Meyer. (My Dad Rick's mom)

Benny with our new nephew, Tucker. (My half-sister Crystal's second little boy)

Andrew openining presents from his Grandma and Grandpa and uncle David.

Andrew's Great Grandma and Grandpa Mueller (My biological Dad's parents)

With my Uncle Don (My biological Dad's brother)

With Aunt Pam

Playing with Reid.  (My cousin Andrea's little boy)

Brayden (Andrea's oldest) LOVED the "roller coster" that his aunt Cara and uncle Cody got for him!

My cousins Cara and Andrea with Reid.

My Dad, Mom, Benny, Andrew and David.

Christmas in Bridgewater

We celebrated our family Christmas in Bridgewater on December 20th because we were going to be flying to Missouri on December 21st. 

Before opening presents, Benny reads the story of Jesus' birth from Andrew's Bible.

Enjoying Kanakuk Coffee Cake!

Andrew really enjoyed taking all of the bows off of the gifts.

Andrew loved all of his gifts!!

Overnight Date Night!

On December 15th, Benny and I were blessed to take an overnight trip to Staunton, VA (about 25 min away).  Our wonderful babysitter Laura stayed with Andrew, and we had a wonderful time together--just the two of us! We did a little shopping in Harrisonburg, ate dinner in Staunton, hung out at a cute little coffee shop and enjoyed our free nights stay at the Stonewall Jackson Inn.  Saturday morning we did a little more shopping in Charlottesville before heading home. 

Harrisonburg Discovery Museum

A few weeks ago Benny and I took Andrew to the Discovery Museum in Harrisonburg.  We had a blast, and will definitely be returning!

The TV Station room.

Playing with the green screen.

Train table!

Driving the Thomas train!

Puppet show by Daddy.

Andrew the farmer.

How we discovered Andrew's love for slides!

Christmas Tree Lighting

The Town of Bridgewater had a Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony tonight.  I've never been to Rockefellar Center, but I'm sure it was exactly the same as their tree lighting ceremony. 

Thanksgiving Pink Eye

We stayed in Bridgewater for Thanksgiving because I had to work Friday-Saturday.  On the Tuesday evening before Thanksgiving, we ventured out to Chick-Fil-A to explore the play place.  Andrew had a blast in the play place, and we enjoyed one of their milk shakes on the drive home. 

Well, Andrew woke up on Wednesday morning with a little green boogie in the corner of his eye, and then after his morning nap Benny notices that his left eye was swollen, and there was a lot of green goo seeping out of it.  Not good.  We called our pediatrician and took the last appointment of the day.  He told us that he had pretty bad pink eye, so not only were we perscribed the eye drops, but also 10 days of oral antibiotics.  After he infected his other eye with the pink eye, he looked pretty pathetic.  Thankfully though, you would have never known from his countenance.  He was just as happy and joyful as he always is!!

Pathetic looking...

But here's how he really was...all smiles!

Helping Daddy

Andrew is super helpful these days.  Any time we open the dishwasher, he's always right there to "help" us load or unload. I have no idea how we ever got this chore done without him!  :)

Laura

The Lord has blessed us with some AMAZING babysitters for Andrew--SUCH an answer to prayer.  One of the girls who watches him a lot is Laura. She's a sophomore at JMU (James Madison University), she is SO sweet, really great with Andrew, and she loves the Lord- she even interviewed to be a counselor at Kanakuk!  We are so thankful for these wonderful young ladies who display Christ to Andrew when we can't be with him!

A Visit from Larry and Leta!

 Benny's Dad (Larry) and Larry's wife, Leta came for a visit the last weekend of October to see Bridgewater play in the first round of the ODAC conference playoffs.  (The Eagles hadn't been in the postseason since 2006!  They must have a really great coach :)
But, while Larry and Leta were driving to Virginia from Indiana, a crazy snow storm came through and the game was postponed until Sunday.  They had to leave to get back to Indiana on Sunday morning, but we still enjoyed some wonderful time with them!
-(Bridgewater did not win the game that had been postponed, but they finished the season 7-11-1...SUCH an amazing improvement for the team who had only won 3 games in the previous two years combined.  I am SO proud of the incredible job Benny did with these guys!)

Happy Halloween!!

Tonight we took Andrew the Zebra Trick-or-Treating  at the Bridgewater College Dorms!

Fall Fun!

Some fun activities from the past few weeks!

Benny and Andrew before a home soccer game.

Andrew (aka Benny's Assistant Coach) watching from the sidelines.  He always offers such helpful encouragement to the guys at halftime.  Not really....although he does clap for the team at the appropriate times!

Dayton, the small town just down the road from Bridgewater, hosts an annual Autumn Celebration the first weekend of October.  We were amazed at how many vendors were there (apparently over 300 from like 13 different states!) 

You can't go to an Autumn Celebration without getting some kettle corn!!

This place is so precious!  They have a corn maze, petting zoo, a caurosel, a pumpkin patch where you can pick your own pumpkins, and tons of activities for kids.  The three of us went one day after Benny was done with practice.

Benny dominating the sligshot.

Andrew and Benny in the cow train. 

Riding the caurosel.

Andrew and his pumpkin!

So Andrew absolutely loves being with his daddy.  It is very rare for him to sit still for very long, but he often will in Benny's lap.  Precious. 

Kathy came in town for a week to help out with Andrew while I had orientation at the hospital.  We are SO thankful she was able to come--Andrew loved his time with his Grammy, and we greatly appreciated the countless ways she helped us around the house.  We love you, Kathy!!