Jason's belly dance

After a bath in the sink, JD decided to show off his dancing skills. I think the towel costume helped put him in the mood.

Steph and Suzie

Here is a brief update on our Sweet Suzie. She is doing great! She is now 6 pounds! She is slowly learning to take her feedings through a bottle rather than a feeding tube. Steph feels a bit more like a mom now as she can hold her at will, change her, dress her in clothes, and bath her. Lord-willing she will be able to come home in a couple of weeks. Praise God!

And baby makes three?

I was unaware this picture was being taken (do we ever want this side of us pictured?). However, it got me thinking! I find myself out and about like this often and wonder, "where on earth will I put a third child?" Two hands, three kids? I know many who do it, so if you have any tips feel free to pass them along. I'll find out by next summer I suppose! =)

We're Back!

Now that September is here we can go back to Disneyland!A little rest on Minnie's bed.

JD HAD to ride in the car, of course.

"Mee-kah" is the only character allowed to get close to JD. Mickey is his favorite.

September

Ready to go to "hu-ah" with Daddy.

First Day of School

We'll here we go! My little girl started preschool this week. She had
absolutely no hesitation and continued to comfort Daddy
that she would only be right down the street.
She had fun, of course, and wants to go every day, but
I think two days a week is plenty!

Shelby Dance

Shelby is taking a dance class this summer. It is very fun and cute. She is very proud of herself in this class. The first class, she had a big smile on her face and would give me a thumbs up sign every few minutes.

Beach Pics

Pardon the smudge on the camera! We had a beach day this month. Both kids loved the sand of course. Shelby much less afraid of the water this time. We felt the earthquake while there.

This is a picture of the kids swimming in the sand.
Much less scary than swimming in the water apparently.

Our Sweet Suzie

Suzie on her birthday

I can't imagine that anyone is reading this blog and has not already heard about my sweet niece, Suzie Lorraine Sanderson, born 12 weeks early on July 18th. I still wanted to do a tribute page to her because we love her and she occupies so many of our thoughts and prayers.

What a trial this has been. I can tell you that God has truly strengthened my faith as I watch how Steph and Kyle handle this. They are so strong, though only in the Lord. God has brought our Suzie through many ups and downs and she is now almost one month old and stable. We have no idea what God has planned for her life, but we know she is a miracle and God will continue to get the glory from whatever lies ahead.

If, by chance, you haven't read her story visit my sister's blog:
http://thesandersonfam.blogspot.com/

Family Photos

It had been three years since we took family pictures. Here are a few of our recent photo shoot. These are Shelby's four year pics and JD's 18 month pictures.

Courtesy of HG photography (Hallie).

Shelby-Shue Is FOUR!

My girl is now a four year old! She had a dalmation party and enjoyed time with her friends.
Duck, Duck, Goose or Puppy, Puppy, Dog (her request)
pictured with Victoria and Andrew

Sweet smile while we sing.

As it turns out Dalmation party stuff is hard to find so I did my best. I stuck with the black and white theme and of course posted 99 little puppy dalmations around.

Thanks, Hallie, for the great pictures!

DISNEYLAND AGAIN!

We weren't planning on going to Disneyland again until September, but then we won sneak peek passes for the new Toy Story Mania ride at California Adventure so we couldn't miss it. We spent half a day down there and took Presley with us. The ride was fun (though Shelby was scared), that is, until it broke down a little over half way through the ride. We had to be escorted off. But we did get a sneak peek version of it!

Colorado Fun

Another Colorado page...I know this picture seems random, but it's a funny story...

We attended a VBS performance with our friends and Shelby got coralled onto stage with the other preschoolers. My friend, Heather, offered to save her, but she wanted to stay up there. She knew none of the songs, but seemed to fit right in with the other kids her age! She doesn't mind performing one bit!Shelby is on the left behind the girl in yellow.

She was chewing gum so she kinda looked like she was singing!

Little man cheered on his sister and danced in the aisles. He's a little charismatic.

Shelby making friends with Melody.


Shelby got lots of attention on her birthday. We traveled home that day and at least two dozen people wished her Happy Birthday in Denver Airport.

Colorado Friends

After knowing each other for 25 years the three of us have countless pictures together! These are my life long friends and we thought it would be so great to get pics of us and our mini-me's! Each of us has a daughter that is our mini twin! me with Shelby, Jessica with Natalie, and Heather with Melody

And this is the brood that the three of us produced! Ten kids in all (I'm a little behind). But hey! I've got it easy compared to them!

"Bosom friends"
....If you don't get it you haven't watch Anne of Green Gables enough.


Jessica and Ryan Skagerberg, my wonderful hosts for the weekend! Thanks guys! I love you and can't wait to visit again!

Colorado Visit....Julie's Wedding

Our family friend, Julie, got married on June 7th and we were able to go down to Colorado Springs for the wedding. All Shelby's little friends (the Skagerberg girls) were in the wedding. Natty and Shelby, bestest girlfriends.

Though Shelby was sad to be left out, all was forgotten once the dancing began. She danced almost the whole time and at one point she was the only kid out there with all the adults. (JD danced too, mostly running around flailing his arms.)

Disneyland Birthday

For Shelby's birthday we really wanted to let her do Ariel's Grotto lunch with her cousins. They met all the princesses and had a lot of fun spending the day with the whole family at Disneyland.

Shelby had the important job of helping announce the coming out of Snow White. She took the job very seriously.

Uncle Ryan loves to spike Jason's hair.

Jason loved his "bu-loom", which we got him once Shelby was DONE for the day.

May Family Vacation cont.

The beach was BEAUTIFUL when we were there. Jeff and Shelby played in the sand and JD...well he couldn't get ENOUGH sand--that is, throwing it, scooping it or eating it. I was going to post a picture of his messy face, but the video does it so much more justice! He even threw some sand on Jeff's stomach while he was sleeping, leaving nice spotted tanlines. I don't have a picture of that, but you can ask to see them, they're still there. =)

May Family Vacation

We spent a few days near Disneyland in May. Here are my favorite pics from Disneyland (I won't put too many since we seem to have an abundance of Disneyland pics on the blog). Fun time as a family!

Our First Passover Seder

Ever since I got my grandmother's seder plate I've wanted to host a Passover Seder. So this is it! What an awesome worship service a seder is! I encourage every believer to make it to at least one Christian Seder in their lifetime. We hope to do one every few years to give our kids a taste of their Jewish and Christian heritage. Maybe you can join us some day!

Our guests this year were Steph and Kyle (and Sanderson baby yet to be named) as well as Ken and Kristie (split on opposite sides of the table so their boys could sit together), Bill and Rachel, and Steve and Brittany. Also, my mom was there to tell and show me how it is done!


Thank you to those who attended! It was very neat to share that with you!