It's Still Christmas!

Merry Christmas! Just wanted to post a quick blog to wish everyone a Merry CHRISTmas. We drove home last night from Southern California where we spent the week and Christmas day. We left at 10 p.m. last night and got home at 5 this morning! It was a long night ( I love coffee) but so nice as the boys slept the whole way and we didn't hit any traffic. We got home slept for 2 hours, had family Christmas and spent the rest of the morning putting everything away and getting organized and ready for our Dear Friends who are coming any moment to spend the next week with us! :) So it's still Christmas at our house as we have at least one more round of celebration today...and that's what it's really all about celebrating Jesus each and every day. Merry Christmas.

Just Relaxing

We're in Southern California and just enjoying some time not doing much of anything. So nice to slow down for a bit. We left at 2 a.m. Saturday morning and had a fabulous drive down here...I even got to see the Hollywood sign for the first time (it was light by then). Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend before Christmas and have had a moment to reflect on the baby on the manger who was and is the creator and sustainer of the universe ...amazing.

Still Recovering

I think I'm still recovering from the shock of seeing a GIRL on the ultrasound. My emotions are all over the place. One minute I'm really excited and awed at the thought of having a daughter and then the next minute I'm weepy over never dressing a little boy in blue. Oh, how I love hormones! :)  Matt, on the other hand, is a VERY excited daddy. Thanks everyone for your excitement for us. We are just resting in God's hands and know that He will keep us through all the ups and downs. 

   We are getting ready to head to Matt' s family (Southern California) for Christmas. We're excited to spend Christmas with them since we've only done it once in the 8 years that we've been married! :) Still have a few things to get done before we go clean the house, pack, organize the gifts, make sure last minute shopping is done, finish the baking, send out one more package, and label, stamp, stuff, and send out all the Christmas cards! I love leaving things to the last minute! :) 

 I hope your Christmas season is full of God's love and to bring you a little cheer here's the following conversation between Kaden and Caleb...

  Scene: gathered around the nativity calender to unwrap the figure of the night

 Kaden: "Caleb, why are you putting the camel in the sky?"

 Caleb: With a look of total confidence in his face, "Because it's a reindeer!"

   Hmmmm....maybe we need to work on keeping our Christmas stories strait! Although, Caleb is just a bit confused all over since every time he sees Santa he calls him Noah! :)

NOT TO BE!!!

To Be or Not To Be

Well...tomorrow is the day. Matt and I are headed to the doctor to have our ultrasound. The last two babies we've chosen to be pleasantly surprised at birth as to which sex God blessed us with...but the third time around we've opted to find out early! One if it is a girl I get to dream in pink, and two if it's another little boy then I have time to mentally prepare for three boys! :) I'm 99% sure it's a boy based on the heart beat we heard last week and maternal instinct, but tomorrow we should now if we are to be a family of all boys or not to be...

My Knight in Shining ummmm Fabric Armor

Clearing the hall of Bad Guys


Strike a pose 

For his birthday Matt and I got Kaden a Knight costume! ( ok, honestly it's a halloween costume I got like 50% off. I just love a bargain!) Kaden makes a great hero. He has the heart of a knight always caring for the fair maiden, rescuing those in need, and learning to be a true gentleman. I'm so proud of the little man God is molding him into!

Christmas Cookies

Pirate Cookies..I mean a pirate making cookies
Where Caleb spent most of his time while we were making cookies...poor baby. 
The finished project!

We got out Christmas Sugar Cookies made today! And in the words of Caleb, "Mmmmmm! That's good in my mouth!" :) Caleb ran a fever most of the day, so he did help some but asked to go lay down on the couch (so sweet) so Kaden and I took over most of the cookie making. Kaden is getting to be a great help with the cookies and it's fun to spend the time together...even it the mess does drive mommy crazy! :) 

  Ok and now a message from the little boy sitting on my lap..

  rb tbhubv r77890ududdjdcjcjcjvjv  jududuud duuigigri rgerlge

New Look

Just wanted to say THANK YOU to Julie for helping me to get a new look on the blog! Seriously, this has been like a 3 day process...I'm that computer illiterate! :) Not much new or exciting to post. Caleb was running a fever this afternoon so the plan for tomorrow is to stay home with the boys and make Christmas sugar cookies! We're very excited! I'll try to get some good pictures of the mess...I mean cookies! 

Street of Bethlehem

The first scene
Kaden couldn't decide if he loved or was terrified of the Roman soldiers. 
Mary and Joseph making their entrance
Think Tinkerbell/Angel. The angel was pulled up behind the stable so that she looked like she was flying. Very exciting. 

  Friday night, Matt and I took the boys to walk through the Street of Bethlehem. This is something that my daddy used to take us to do each Christmas...only 10 years ago it wasn't nearly as big as it is today. A local church in Salinas puts on this amazing production every year that allows you to walk through what Bethlehem would have been like at the time Christ was born. They have Roman soldiers with real swords (Kaden was very impressed that they were real) riding horses and managing the crowd, donkeys (of course), goats, sheep, horses, bunnies (none of these were great for my allergies but the boys LOVED them.) and the church members are all dressed like they are from Biblical times, and they even had flying Angels! 

   Let me start off by saying, we had a very hard time finding parking even though we attempted to follow the posted parking signs. In our defense the sign that we followed had an arrow pointing right into a lot full of cars which we assumed meant we were supposed to park there. However, we quickly found out that we were not at the place where the buses were picking people up and driving them to Bethlehem. Faced with the choice of reparking the car or walking we opted for walking....bad idea. We started huffing it down this street (mind you it's cold, we're pushing Caleb but Kaden is walking, it's very dark, we have no idea where we are, and Salinas is NOT the safest place to wander. ) We head about 10 blocks or more from where we parked as we see buses turning on that street...the buses were turning there to go back to the parking what we didn't know was that after leaving Bethlehem the buses drove about 4 blocks north and then turned around to head to where they needed to be. We figured that out once we'd walked about another 10 blocks up from the other direction and ended up on a street that was close to where we needed to be not accessible...so we backed tracked and finally wound our way to Bethlehem (in reality we were close to where we parked and had we stopped and figured that out we would've saved a lot of time and grief! :) We tried to keep a positive attitude and explain to Kaden and to ourselves that this is what Mary and Joseph must have felt like...discouraged and tired! 

  Once we got there, I realized how big this thing had grown. You know at Six Flags when you're waiting for a ride and you have to wind in and out of all the turns to get to the actual ride....it was just like that! There were like 20 or more turns to go through before you could even get in! There were easily a thousand people waiting and they would let maybe 200 in at a time. The first scene was the wise men coming to visit the governor to find out where the new King was born. Then they let you pass into Bethlehem (the whole time the Roman soldiers are very rude and treat you like your there to pay taxes) and walk through the booths. They have booths that show how they made yarn, pottery, bread, tools, cloth, toys, incense etc. It's really neat but very overwhelming as it is so crowded. Next you pass through these gates and watch Mary and Joseph come into Bethlehem looking for a place to stay. Everyone is invited back to the stable and as you walk through the next opening there's a mountain scene where the shepherds are. The do a dancing/singing angle routine and then you finally see Baby Jesus with Mary and Joseph. The dramatic climax is when the angel flies into the air in celebration of his birth. The church does a good job talking about why Jesus was born and on the way out of the church they have 3 crosses set up as a reminder of why Jesus came. It was fun to go to as a family (once we got there) and a neat experience for the boys.

     My favorite quotes of the night...Kaden: "What is that SMELL" Mommy, "That's a donkey."

  Kaden upon hearing Mary ask, "Is there no one compassionate in this town that will help us tonight?"    "I WILL!!!!"

   Caleb while watching Mary and Joseph and Baby Jesus, "Yeah for Babies, Yeah for Jesus, Yeah for Babies!" 

The Rest of His Birthday

The Birthday King!  Kaden wore his Chuck E. Cheese birthday medal, his Birthday Boy pin, and his red crown from his teacher (yes, I know it looks pink) all day long! He is so proud to be 5!
Caleb got a gift from his Granny and  from Grandma in Texas...he was so excited to have something to open!
Showing off his new leapster game from Papa and Grandma...we've finally let him enter the world of electronics.
You have to look at this picture and the next one together...this is the wow, I got clothes for my birthday...
This is YES!!!! I got Kung Fu Panda! I love the difference in joy!

Here are a few more pictures from Kaden's 5th birthday. I failed (surprise, surprise) to bring the camera to school or cubbies to get pictures of those mini parties but just imagine 2-5 year olds eating chocolate cupcakes and chocolate cookies (chocolate EVERYWHERE) and singing Happy Birthday in their very sweet, very off tune voices and you get the picture! :) Kaden is loving being 5 and even told me today he could clear his own plate and throw things away because he's 5 and can do things now! Sweet! It's time to bring on the chore list! :)

First Impressions

Matt and I are really loving Calvary Chapel Monterey Bay where we have been attending church. The pastor does a great job teaching verse by verse through the Bible, and the worship is pure and sweet. On top of that, they have a great children's program which is huge once you start having kids. All that being said, Matt and I decided it was time to get a bit more involved so that the church would really start to feel like home. I filled out all the paperwork to become a Sunday School teacher and had a meeting with the Children's Coordinator today to go over their system and curriculum etc. 

  Well, we get to the church slightly late (totally normal for me) but the Coordinator isn't there yet. No problem we'll just wait downstairs. So we walk down the stairs and there's a rope across the bottom with a handwritten sign which says. "Do not enter. Alarm activated" I think hmmm...that's probably just there to scare people off. So with my two children in tow and Kaden asking mommy why we're breaking the rules and going through the do not enter sign to which my explanation was, "It's OK hunny we need to be down here" we duck under the rope. Immediately an alarm goes off and gets louder and louder and louder until the boys are screaming and we're running for the door. We wait outside the door until we see the secretary come sprinting down the stairs to turn off the alarm. I apologize for not obeying the posted sign...apologize to Kaden and reinforce that yes, we should always obey do not enter signs and we go on to meet the coordinator. 

  As I'm sitting in the meeting with the coordinator the secretary again comes sprinting down the hall to ask me if the alarm on my van is going off. Yes, it was going off because silly Mommy left her keys in reach of her two year old who has an obsession with pushing the RED button on the key pad. Ahhhhh...so embarrassing. Not a great way to impress the church with my ability to read, follow instructions, or watch my own children! I guess that's what God's grace is for!

Major Van Hook

Major Matt Van Hook at attention...isn't he cute!
Taking the Oath
Matt's Dad and I got to pin on his new rank
The boys got to put the new rank on his sholders
The new Major Family
Kris and Shawn Van Hook, Matt, me and the boys

Monday afternoon Matt was promoted to the rank of Major in the Air Force! We are so proud of him and all that God is doing through him. We are excited to see where the Lord will lead us next. 

Kaden is 5!!!

Kaden and his Kung Fu Panda birthday cake! It was supposed to be red on top and yellow on the sides but I gave up and just splattered it! :)
All Kaden has wanted this year is a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese
Caleb was a bit overwhelmed by Chuck E. Cheese, he just had a blank expression on his face most of the time and watched the mechanical dancing/singing mouse!
Kaden on the other hand enjoyed every moment! He LOVED it and that made 3 hours of screaming children and mass chaos worth it!
We couldn't get Caleb close to the mouse so here's most of the party and Papa Van and Grandma Shawn who get awards for enduring Chuck E. Cheese with us!
We tried in vain for a group photo and then just as we were getting ready to leave they all spontaneously formed a group!

  Sunday we had Kaden's 5th birthday party! He's actually five today and loving every minute of it. We celebrated Sunday and then today he took cupcakes to school (yes, I forgot the camera) and tonight we're taking cookies to AWANA. I think he feels well celebrated. He had a blast and it's so fun to watch his face glow and eyes light up. Hard to believe we've had this gift for 5 years! Thank you Lord. 

  

Happy Thanksgiving

Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving...yes, I am aware that Thanksgiving was yeterday, but every day is a day to give Thanks!  We had a really blessed day being able to share it with Oma and Chris. What a gift family is. On top of that the Turkey turned out great thanks to Oma and she saved us at the last minute with gravy which I had completly forgotten! Live and learn! We also started a great new family tradition of making family pirate movies...more on that later.

  Sadly, Oma left for home today and Chris and I head to the airport at 3:30 in the morning! That's the really sad part! Starbucks isn't even open that early! On the up side, Dad and Shawn are coming tomorrow afternoon! 

  Hope everyone has a good weekend and finds themselves wrapped in God's grace. 

He's coming...

Chris and I
Sorry I didn't mean to get the picture of Matt with his eyes closed but I can't figure out how to delete it. Anyways, they're trying to make sad faces cause one of our friends was leaving.
My brother Chris is coming tomorrow! I'm super excited and just thought I'd share the joy! 

Noticing a trend...

I've come to realize I'm becoming more and more like my parents...my dad especially today. Oma's been here not even 24 hrs and already we've taken her to Lover's Point, Carmel, and yep, you guessed it next on the list is the Aquarium and Fisherman's Warf. Not that it's bad to take everyone to these places, cause they are really great places to go to and so fun to visit...but when we lived out here EVERY time someone came to visit my dad had this list of places we took everyone too, and we knew the order and where we would park and what we would do each time we went there...and now I'm doing the same thing! :) I love how that works!  Good thing that my Dad is such a good example to follow!

  And I'd post pictures...but you've already seen these places just refer to earlier blogs! :)

Out on the Town

  As promised here is a picture of our night out on the 18th. We had such a great time. Matt found a great little restaurant in Carmel that served Italian, Mediterranean and Greek food. So yummy. And you know it's good when it's crowded and there's people waiting outside! After dinner, we headed down to Cannery Row and made a bee line to the Nestle Toll House Cafe! Just right for desert...and then we headed home with very full tummys and hearts! It was just a sweet time together. Oh, and Matt and I are trying hard to do the traditional anniversary gifts for each other each year. This year was rubber. Do you know how hard it was to think of something rubber that we actually wanted! So Matt ended up with a rubber ipod cover (yes, he was excited) and some itunes money, and Matt got me some rubber soled running sandels (yes, I was very excited)! 

  This weekend and next week is going to get very busy. Matt's mom (Oma) is coming on Saturday and staying until Friday. My brother Chris is coming Tuesday and staying until next Saturday...and then Matt's Dad and Shawn are coming Saturday afternoon and staying a couple days for Matt's pinning on ceremony (he's making major)  and then it's Kaden's 5th birthday! :) I'm excited about everyone coming and all the celebrations, and I've promised myself that I'm not even going to stress about the house not being clean! :) We'll be busy, but I'll be checking in and posting pictures when I can. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

PS. Matt and I are getting another date tomorrow! We have a friend who volunteered to watch the boys so we could knock out birthday and Christmas shopping! Two dates in one week! woohoo!

8 Years and Counting

Eight years ago today, right about now,  I was at my reception wondering when it would be over so Matt and I could finally get away and be alone! :) Today is our 8th wedding anniversary! Amazing now looking back to see how God has led us on the paths-mountains and valleys-we've walked. I can't help but look forward to the future and wonder what the next 8 will hold...but it doesn't matter since we know Who holds the future. For today I'm content to rest in this moment and Praise the Lord for a husband who loves me and seeks to provide and care for me as Christ does His church.  Thank you, Matt.

  We have a babysitter for the boys and we're going to have a date alone for the first time since...June I think! Very exciting. I'm not sure what to wear but that's a minor detail, just knowing that I won't have to ask Caleb to stop hitting people in the head that are sitting in the booth behind us and Kaden to please not use his fingers in his mashed potatoes will be Heaven! :) I'm sure we'll get a picture to post as we're trying to take one each anniversary so that by the time we reach 50 we'll have a whole album of pictures that will show how gracefully or not we've aged and changed! :) 

  Hope you all are having a Fabulous November 18th. Jesus loves you

Bumps in the dark

Well, I'm cautiously celebrating what I'm 99% sure are the baby's first moves and bumps! I'm starting to feel little nudges and pressure on one side like the baby's found a comfortable spot and is laying on one side. I'm so blessed and excited, but nervous as well. Please keep praying for a healthy pregnancy and baby! 

  Today is a BEAUTIFUL California day. It's in the 80's with a light breeze and the beach was calling my name. Caleb and I had an impromptu picnic at Lover's Point. While it would have been much more relaxing just to sit and gaze out over the water splashing up against the rocks, bask in the sun, and smell the ocean water...we spent the time trying to keep sand out of Caleb's food (hard to do when he kept brushing his hands clean right on top of it), Keep the food from falling into the sand, make sure the sun wasn't in his eyes, and keep him from throwing all of his food to the seagulls who are not afraid at all to grab the food out of your hand as you're about to put it into your mouth! I was afraid the gulls were going to attack us! :) However, it was still an enjoyable moment in time. Hope you all have a good weekend. Jesus loves you

Political Discussion

Last night at dinner, Matt was discussing Thanksgiving with the boys: why we celebrate it, what it stands for, who the pilgrims/Indians were, what they ate, etc. The discussion on what they ate (Turkey) led to a discussion on which bird Benjamin Franklin wanted to be the national bird (also the Turkey).  Can you tell I'm married to a Political Science major? So Matt asked the boys which bird is our national bird, and here are their answers... 

  Kaden: "It's an ostrich!"

  Caleb: "No! It's Big Bird!" 

  And thus ended our discussion on Thanksgiving and politics! :)  

 

First Day

Caleb checking out the starfish
Kaden and the jelly fish...they are amazing!
Little oysters
Big oysters
Kaden's sea life puppet show
Inside the wave at the aquarium
Starbucks on Canary Row
Noel in the candy store! 
On the beach in Monterey
Heather getting close to the Sea Lions
Noel at Lover's Point at sun set...I just love her smile!
All the kids at Lover's Point

  The girls first day in Monterey we spent on Canary Row, at the aquarium (which they loved), and meeting the Sea Lions. It was a great way to spend their first day here. Once Matt got home from work we headed down to Lover's Point to catch the sunset...which we missed but still it was fun to climb around on the rocks for a while. I would write more but I have a squirmy little boy on my lap waiting to play Elmo and laundry that needs to be folded! :) Guess the weekend fun is over! :)

Second Day

Noel at Marina state beach...and I think that's me in the background but I have no idea what I'm doing! :)
Walking down the dunes after a very long hike up! You can see the whole city of Marina and the Salinas valley in the distance from the top of the dunes!
Caleb chilling in the car
That bump is a Hump Back Whale!
Going out to sea
Kaden and Daddy on the boat...Kaden loved it!
I just love this picture of Matt...He's just so cute!
Eating at In and Out the best fast food restaurant in the West!

  Friday was a beautiful day on the bay. We hit Starbucks in the morning and headed for the beach. I made the girls hike it up the dunes but it was well worth it for the almost private beach (there was two surfers on the water and a fisherman far away) and the chance to just take in the beauty of the Pacific. God went above and beyond our expectations and blessed us with an amazing site of FOUR surfing dolphins. They were amazing and so beautiful to watch as they did flips in the water. So much cooler then Sea World when they are doing it on they're own out in the wild! After that exciting display we had to hike it back up the dunes and go pick up Kaden.

  We ate lunch on the warf (they have the BEST clam chowder in a sour dough bread bowl) and last minute decided to send Matt, Kaden and the girls on a whale watching boat tour. No pregnant women allowed, so Caleb and I went home for a nap. They got to see several whales from the boat...and I'm sure were much more impressive in person then in the pictures! :) 

  Caleb and I picked everyone up and headed for Salinas to pick up Caleb's pictures and walk the mall. We found some great deals at GAP...still a thrill after living in Del Rio. We took the girls to In and Out for dinner...it's a very California thing and good food.