Happy Birthday Baby Boy!

Everyone say "chocolate cake!"

You mean this isn't all for me?

Mmm...suddenly my thumb tastes better than ever

We enjoyed a day celebrating Nate with just the four of us, and now we look forward to celebrating with family and friends on Sunday.

Children's Museum

For Nate's first birthday today, we made a trip over to the Fort Worth Science and History Museum. Charlie loved the dinosaurs, and both boys enjoyed the children's museum section. Then we headed to Railhead for a yummy BBQ lunch to complete our morning in Fort Worth.

Nate saying "ROAR" at all the dinosaurs

Paging Dr. Keeney

This is Charlie playing his first game of Candy Land tonight. I can't wait to play lots and lots of games with the boys as they get older.

2009

2009 has been quite a life-changing year, which I think makes it worthy of a little review:

This is the year that our family grew from 3 to 4 with the addition of Nate in January. It's a good thing that the joy doubles when you have two kids, because the challenges double, too. :) It's been a year of figuring out exactly what life looks like now with two kids. How do we keep our marriage strong when we're pulled in so many directions? How do I keep my identity beyond just "mom?" How do I keep keep up with two little souls running around my house? How do I make all these decisions about what's best for them? And the answer to all of these, I learned, is "by God's grace."

It has been a year of tremendous spiritual growth for me. Becoming a mom has taught me so much about my need for God. In June I made that proclamation public when I was baptized at our church. At the time I felt like it was capping of my spiritual journey, but I now know that it was actually just the beginning, and I'm so thankful for how he reveals Himself to me more and more everyday.

I've learned a lot about God's sovereignty this year. It's easy to trust that God is in control when everything is going well, but one's faith is really evident when things take a turn for the worse. We've seen many of our friends and family deal with major illness this year, and while I don't often (OK, almost never) understand it, I know this:

My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance;in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. Psalm 139:15-16

Life may surprise me, but it never surprises God. So with all the ups and downs, I choose joy.

Here's a look back at some of my favorite posts from this year:

• Charlie sharing his cars
• family photos
• Charlie the toddler
• fun photos
• happy Nathan
• Mavs playoffs
• May misc
• meeting LT
• Charlie turns 2!
• one of my fave photos of the boys
• Charlie starts school
• Pumpkin Party
• happy boys
• first haircut

In everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.
1 Thessalonians 5:18

More Snow!

Christmas

First haircut

Visit with Santa

Charlie was a cool dude during his visit with Santa, and Nate was understandably upset for a minute until Momma and Daddy started making silly faces at him. I love this picture of him because he's smiling, but you can still see the tears in his eyes.

TCU Fans

We had some friends over to watch the BCS Bowl Selection announcement tonight. Charlie and Dylan had so much fun playing together. Could they look any cuter?

It's pretty exciting that the Frogs are going to the Fiesta Bowl, but we would have loved to have a chance to play against the Big Boys. No disrespect to Boise State; I'm pretty sure they feel the same way. Should be a good game, anyway. Dave and I booked our flights and will be there to cheer on our Frogs!

Gingerbread decorating

Nate enjoying some gingerbread

Charlie "helping" Grandaddy

We all know the best part is eating the candy

Practicing

Nate's been practicing his walking! He's getting better and better at standing on his own, so he's getting so close.



You may remember this contraption being used with Charlie:
And not 30 minutes after this picture was taken, Charlie took his first steps.

I've noticed a difference in how Charlie and Nate approach some of their major milestones. When Charlie decided he was ready to roll over, crawl, stand and walk, he just did it and didn't look back. One day he wasn't crawling, and the next day he was, etc. Nate, on the other hand likes to practice for a few weeks before he really does it. For instance he likes to stand up, but then only stays up for a second before he falls back on his cushy bottom. But he keeps doing it and doing it so he can perfect it. I'm interested to see if this will continue to play out in their lives.

Thanksgiving

My parents visited for Thanksgiving this year. Dave was traveling the day before and the day after, but we were very thankful he could sneak home to spend the day with us.

If that doesn't say "Thanksgiving" I don't know what does.

Even Nate loved the feast (in fact, I think he ate more than Charlie did).

That's not just any book they're reading; it's the TCU football media guide. We definitely have a Horned Frog football fan on our hands.

Charlie loves star-shaped sprinkle donuts!

We went to the Gaylord Texan the day after Thanksgiving to enjoy all their decorations.

On Saturday we went to Main Street Grapevine for their Christmas celebrations.

Charlie got to play "reindeer" games with Santa and Frosty. I was surprised how much Charlie loved Frosty.