God Bless Jonah Charles

Yesterday afternoon Jonah was baptized at our church. Since Jonah's godparents are living out of the country right now, my parents stood in as the proxies. Jonah's baptism was a very small affair since we had James' Cub Scout Pack Christmas Party directly afterwards. Brian and James even went dressed in their uniforms. Despite our attire, the baptism was a beautiful event for our family. We are all very happy to have welcomed Jonah into the Catholic church. He was the last one to wear the Greaber Family baptismal gown. I will get it cleaned and passed on to Sally to use with Baby Blaire in a couple of months.

From Photos for Blog

From Photos for Blog

Gingerbread Houses 2010

This past Saturday we participated in a Hadley Family tradition - making Gingerbread Houses. Poppa Mike and Aunt Sarah came to visit for the day. Mimi and Muddy were under the weather and weren't able to make the trip. After lunch they broke out all the supplies - graham crackers, frosting and lots of candy. Poppa Mike built all the houses using hot glue and then the boys all got to decorate their individual house. I think more candy made it in their mouths than on the houses but it was great fun for them. After we cleaned up, we all sat and watched the Muppets Christmas Carol before Poppa Mike and Aunt Sarah had to head home. It was a wonderful visit and we're hoping we can do this with them every year.

John's Christmas Program

John's Christmas Program was this past Thursday. We were so blessed that my parents were able to come to town for the day to attend. It would have been next to impossible to get pictures or video of John while keeping Jude and Jonah entertained and happy. John had a part this year. He carried the birthday cake down the isle while all the kids sang Happy Birthday to Baby Jesus. His teachers were telling me how he had a huge smile on his face during rehearsals but that day he must have been a bit anxious because I got a half smirk when I was trying to get pictures. Thankfully he did his part well and sat on the stage for the final song on the program - We Wish You a Merry Christmas. After the program, we went back to his classroom for cookies and lemonade. We enjoyed chatting with the other parents and John's teachers before leaving for the day. We decided to go out to the new Steak N Shake for lunch that day as a treat to John for doing so well. Here are some photos. I'll try to upload the video later this week.

From Photos for Blog

From Photos for Blog

Christmas Card Outtakes 2010

Man oh man taking pictures of four kids is hard work. We were lucky to get a couple of decent shots for Christmas cards this year. Here are some of the ones that didn't make the cut.

Fun Outfit

Jonah recently moved up to 6 month sized clothes and he has some super cute outfits. This is one of my favorites.

From Photos for Blog

Bundled Up

I just had to post these pictures of Jude all bundled up for some outside fun. I think he was going out front to get a ride in the wagon from James.

From Photos for Blog

Decorating for Christmas

The boys had an absolute blast decorating for Christmas this year. Almost every day that week James would ask me when I was going to put up the tree. Finally by Friday I had moved the furniture and cleaned the spot for the tree. I got it all put up and the branches fluffed. I also managed to get the lights on so they could put the ornaments on when we were ready. I was hoping to wait for Brian to get home but James was chomping at the bit the moment he walked in the door from school. They had all 100 new ornaments on the tree before Brian got home from work. Jude had a great time taking the ornaments to James and John to put up on the tree. I also managed to get the lights up outside. Once Brian got home, we went out for dinner and playing on the playground at Chick-Fil-A. After the boys went to bed, I had to redistribute the ornaments on the tree since they hung several of the same color balls on the same branch. By the end of the night, the tree looked great!!

Jonah at 3 months

Our sweet baby Jonah is three months old today. I'm doing my best to cherish each and every day with him as he's our very last baby. He's growing so much right now and is really filling out. His little cheeks are super chubby. He loves to look around and have chats with me. He still does not enjoy riding in the car but is starting to enjoy taking baths. He's also slept through the night for the past two nights which has been a real blessing. I'm really hoping this trend keeps up as we could really use our sleep at night. Jonah doesn't have a doctor's appointment this month so I don't know how much he weighs or how long he is. Jonah does have reflux and started taking Prevacid about a few weeks ago. We can definitely tell that the medicine is helping him as there is little to no screaming during feedings. He doesn't like taking the medicine which stinks. Next time I plan on getting the pharmacist to add flavoring and see if that helps at all. Jonah had his first real road trip over Thanksgiving and he did better than we expected. There was hardly any crying. We're still not ready to make the drive out to Tucson though. Maybe next year. Well that's about all I can think of right now. He's waking up from a little snooze so I better go get his bottle ready. More pictures to come soon.