Little Pig Blues

Hi. Joy has been singing A LOT lately. She'll sing along with music, demand we sing with her or not sing at all, or sing something with her own random/made-up lyrics. She sings to everyone including: Danny and I, our life group/bible study group, the doctor, cashiers, etc. And she'll sing anytime, for example belting out a song during pastor's sermon at church. And when we ask her to sing quietly, she'll guilt us by loudly saying, "But I want to sing." Danny caught her on camera singing along to the "Three Little Pig Blues". And, just so you don't worry about safety, his eyes were on the road the whole time. He started recording and then rested the hand with the phone on his shoulder to capture this precious moment. Oh what great memories! Enjoy.

32 weeks and counting

Time is flying by for us! I am 32 weeks pregnant today and can hardly believe our due date is just around the corner, on March 26. We are interviewing doulas this weekend and are anxious to have her on board helping us to finalize plans and most importantly, help us with the birth of our baby boy. We are praying for a smoother delivery of this child than we had with Joy (which lasted 48 hours with a long list of interventions). I am feeling good. My only complaint is loss of sleep, which I figure is only practice for what's to come. :)Danny returned yesterday (a day early!) from a week long trip to Florida. He and two other guys went down for the PGA show. Their goal was to market Danny and Gary's (Danny's dad) internet business called 'Rainbow Golf Systems'. They were a bit disappointed in the attendance at the show, but have about 40 leads from around the country to follow up on. Joy was so happy to see Danny when he returned. They chased each other around the house for a LONG time and she talked none stop about all she did while he was away. We are thankful to all be together again and have a new-found respect for our military families. I've always been thankful for their service and sacrifice, but am even more so now.
Below is a picture of some fun we had outside today in the 40 degree weather.
Joy continues to grow and talk more and more. She has become very interested in books and games lately. Her favorite books include her favorite characters most of the time, like Curious George, Maisy, Clifford, Mickey Mouse, and others. We have a few different versions/forms of the Memory game that she is often asking us to play with her. She also really enjoyed a game called 'Silly Faces' at my parents last week. Below are some pictures we took of her in her Christmas dress. She has become quite a little princes!

Christmas and New Years

A belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. We spent December 24 -26th with the Krafve's this year. A possible pink-eye diagnosis for Joy delayed our arrival on the 24th, but we made it and had a wonderful time. Joy wanted to do Christmas all over again when it was time to leave. You will see in the video below that they guys spent some time shooting my dad's guns. It was pretty cold and windy, but the boys had to get out anyway. We returned to Madison on Monday afternoon and left again on Friday for Ida Grove, IA. Joy's grandma, Peggy Rainbow, is from Ida Grove, which is appx 6 hours away. It was Joy's longest car ride to date and first overnights in a hotel. She did pretty good but was exhausted by the time we returned. She has slept in every morning this week in attempt to catch up, I think.
Danny and I 'acknowledged' 8 years of marriage on January 3rd. I didn't say celebrate because Danny came home sick from work, so we stayed in. We will 'celebrate' sometime in the coming weeks hopefully. Danny is gearing up for the PGA show in Florida in a few weeks. And I am LOVING being a stay-at-home-mom! I've entered the last trimester of the pregnancy. We are excited to meet our little boy in a few short months.
Enjoy the video below. I decided to put a few of our favorite video clips together from the month of December for this post.

Christmas Preparations

As most families are this time of year, we are busy getting ready for Christmas, but enjoying the process with Joy A LOT! Her favorite Christmas things, so far, include:
1. watching two Christmas videos, Frosty the Snowman and The Crippled Lamb (nativity story)
2. listening to her Christmas CD with Jingle Bells, Frosty the Snowman, and Baby Jesus songs
3. singing 'Happy Birthday Jesus'
4. going to Christmas light display at local park
5. eating candy canes

Here are some pictures to highlight our Christmas activities so far...

Joy made her first batch of Christmas cookies.

Joy loved hiking out in the rain to get our Christmas tree. We met this very friendly reindeer at the tree farm.

Train display at Olbrich Gardens.

Decorating the Christmas tree (above) and house (below).

Our little golfer

Joy loves to play golf these days. You will see some serious concentration and good basic golf skills in the pictures below. Dada is really proud. But, I think we may have to move the golf clubs outside pretty soon because she can really hit them far and in the air. I also think it is so cute to hear her call the 3 clubs she has by name: putter, wedge, and driver.

Night Swinging & Sliding

Hi everyone. We are grieving the loss of our outdoor playtime before and after dinner these days. Joy asked to go outside while she was eating on Monday night. I started giving her our usual response, "It's too dark to play outside". Then Danny chimed in quietly & respectfully, asking for my approval, "you know..." My response, "if you want to continue allowing this idea past tonight, it is up to you". To his credit, they had a blast. Here is what resulted...

Halloween 2011