catch up

I have been blogging in my mind lately but have but have not had time to actually post anything.  So here are a few entries that have been bouncing around in my head.

Nathan's Baptism

Today my nephew Nathan was baptised.  For my non LDS readers, in our church we wait until kids are eight years old (the age of accountability) so that they can make their own decision on whether they want to be baptised.  Anyway, John and I and the boys joined my parents and Tyler and Becca and Theo and our cousin Amber at Lisa and Tracy's home in Virginia for the weekend.  Despite the massive amounts of snow in the past week we were all able to make it here with no problems and we have been having a great time!

The baptism itself was amazing.  The spirit was so strong throughout that half of us were in tears. Nathan is a very special boy.  He has the kindest heart and you could tell by everyone's comments that he is so loved and appreciated.  Lisa and Mom gave the talks.  Tyler did the baptism.  Keri, who was unable to make the flight from Utah wrote an arrangement of the primary song "When I Am Baptised" which Lisa, Amber, Mom, Tyler and I sang.  Tracy also bore his testimony- something I have never heard him do before.  It was incredibly touching and so meaningful to his kids and Lisa.  For the closing song Lisa sang a song from "Women at the Well." There was not a dry eye in the house.

I am so proud of Nathan for making this decision.  I am also extraordinarily grateful to him.  My boys idolize Nathan.  He is always so sweet to them and takes the time to play with all three of them.  I greatly appreciate the example he is setting for them.  His baptism made an impact on them today.

It's Snow Fun

Last week we had more snow dumped on the Philadelphia area (and the east coast in general) in a single season than ever before.  The storm on Saturday dumped around 28-29 inches in our neck of the woods.  We had a second storm hit on Wednesday.  This blizzard dumped about 24 more inches.  It was all fun and games until a giant tree branch crashed onto some nearby power lines and we lost power for six hours.  The house was getting pretty cold by the time power was finally restored.  We bundled up the boys and tucked them into our bed to watch a movie on my laptop which was luckily fully charged.  Matthew was not a big fan of being tucked in!

So my conclusion from this week:  being snowed in can be lots of fun- especially if John gets to take some time off of work and we get time to play in the snow with the boys, however, it is NOT fun if the power goes out for any amount of time and shoveling an estimated 4 feet of snow is exhausting!  Maybe we should move to Texas- oh, wait, dallas got snow this week too.  Ugh!

6 Months Old!

Matthew hit six months old last Sunday.  He weighed in at a whopping 18 lbs 6 oz and 26 3/4 in long.  How can he only be in the 66th percentile for weight?!

Matthew is now rolling from his back to his tummy, saying "DADADADA" and other fun babbling sounds and he has started to notice who is holding him.  He is not so sure that he wants to be passed around so much anymore.  However, he loves to smile and laugh and play with anyone who will give him attention.  He is also trying to sit up on his own.  It may take a while, that is a lot of bulk to move!

We are still working on the whole sleep thing...