ZhuZhuINFO.com

Hey everyone, check out this website that Scotty and I worked on this week!

It's all about Zhu Zhu Pets, what they are and where to find them!

I'm sure you know of someone who's trying to track down a couple of these hamster toys for their kids.

So check us out and pass on the link to a friend if you would! Many thanks!

ZhuZhuINFO.com

FIRST SNOW!!

As I went in to Micah's room this morning after a good night's sleep, the routine started like any other.

Micah: Micah's all done sleeping...puppy's all done sleeping [his stuffed animal]...mommy's all done sleeping...daddy's still sleeping.

Mommy: Yes, Micah's...[and I repeat something similar to what he said - yes, family, you can laugh at my repetition now]

Then mommy reaches for the curtains to pull them back and she freaks out:

Mommy: SNOW! Whoa, our first snow...look only a little bit, but sure enough, it's not frost, it is indeed our first snow [giddy with excitement, not sure why].

Micah: Up! Up! [Mommy still hadn't gotten Micah out of the crib]

Yes folks, there you have it. November 27th 2009 is the day of western Michigan's first snow of the season. Of course I simply had to go outside and take a few pictures...



How much is that doggy, er I mean Micah, in the window? I sure hope that Micah's for sale...

Tubby, our backyard squirrel

We have some very, um, how would you say it?..."healthy" squirrels in our neighborhood. Living in an area with so many trees means there are just so many acorns to feast on. The squirrels are nearly gluttonous! I have NEVER seen such chunky little squirrels in my life. There is one in particular that frequents our backyard which I have named "Tubby." Though it's hard to capture active little critters on camera, here are the best shots I could get:

Neighborly Neighbors

A few weeks back Micah and I were taking a walk down the street when I ran into another young mom with a two year old boy. I was just going to smile and nod and go my merry way, but I thought, "Come on, Bekah, introduce yourself! She only lives a few houses down from you, so get to know your neighbors!"

Sure enough, we only needed to tell one another our names and then we were in a casual "getting-to-know-you" conversation, and Micah and her son were playing while we chatted. We discovered we were both stay-at-home moms, and she invited us to come over and play whenever. We wrapped up the conversation and Micah and I finished our walk. I wondered if I'd get to know her better, and if we'd actually get together for her kids (she also has a little girl) and Micah to play. Sometimes we as humans say things and mean it (like, "come on over anytime"), but don't always follow through with actually acting on that.

Only a couple days later my doorbell rang and it was Joanna with her two little munchkins, asking if Micah and I wanted to go on a walk with her and her friend (another stay-at-home mom), who lived a block over. Micah and I bundled up and off we went. I just thought that was so nice of her - to invite me along with her friend, when she really didn't have to.

We headed off an a good long walk in the Buck Creek Nature Preserve (near my house - it's beautiful!!), accompanied with some more great conversation. Wow, I was so excited and blessed to be getting to know 2 more moms in the neighborhood, who both had boys just a little bit older than Micah. Yet another reason to be thankful to God for placing us where He has.

The Buck Creek walk turned into a park play date the next week, and some more interaction the following week. I am just so thankful for some fellow stay-at-home moms in the neighborhood with which to fellowship, glean wisdom from, and get to know. I am truly greatful for neighborly neighbors.

Here are some photos of our park play date :-)

Millenium Park with new friends!

Family Photos

Scotty, Micah and I got professional photos for the first time last week (if you don't include the photo we took with my family in CA back in June). There's a lady at our church who is a photographer and she was offering a super discounted session fee ($10), with all proceeds going to our church. Here's her web-site: http://www.memoriesbybeca.com/
and here's some of our pictures! :-)

Homemade Pizza

Scotty and I were craving pizza on Saturday. Instead of ordering out, Scott said, "Let's make our own!" After he surfed the web for the perfect recipes, we discovered that among the cheese, sauce, and dough recipes, we were only missing 2 ingredients, and we even had a pizza stone that his mom had given us a while back. So, after a quick trip to the store, we got crackin' in the kitchen. Scott took care of the dough, and Micah I whipped up the cheese and sauce mixtures. We overcooked the first attempt. But we perfected it the next day, and it was delicious!!

Homemade Pizza

"I have no one to help me"

Right now I'm in a Bible study with BSF going through the Gospel of John, and it is phenomenal. To actually take time to study Jesus through the testimony of one of His closest disciples (John), is absolutely incredible. For the study this week, I read this miracle of Jesus, and I found it to be so amazing and kind, that it brought me to tears. I mean, this man had been invalid for 38 years, and I bet he was really lonely!! For Jesus to take the time to be with him, heal him, and then later find him again is so compassionate. Jesus is such a wonderful Savior!

John 5:1-15
Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews. Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, "Do you want to get well?"

"Sir," the invalid replied, "I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me."

Then Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.
The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, and so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, "It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat."

But he replied, "The man who made me well said to me, 'Pick up your mat and walk.' "

So they asked him, "Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?"

The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.

Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, "See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you." The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.

Leaves, leaves and more leaves!!!

Even after our lumberjacks paid a visit and cleaned up some of our trees, we still have oodles of oaks, which shed lots of leaves in the fall. I have already begun to mentally prepare myself for the loads and loads of snow I know we're going to have to shovel this winter as Michigander homeowners, but I overlooked fall. Hm, shouldn't have done that...

Sometime early last week I stepped out back with a rake, and Micah at my heels, to attack the backyard with it's blanket of leaves. An hour into it I had filled 3 large trash bags to the brim, and had only raked about, well, maybe 1/6 of our backyard? I called it quits and retreated back into the house. It was quite the chore!

So on Sunday Scotty, my mother-in-law Lisa and I stepped out to take this job full-on. I married into quite the line of "machines" - Scotty and Lisa stuck to it until the job was done. We all put in 4 hours (12 man-hours total!!), and just barely got the job done (the last 20 minutes or so of raking the front lawn was done in the moonlight - and our car headlights pointing at us). We could NOT have gotten the job done without Lisa.

When it was all said and done, we filled about 50 brown lawn and garden bags full of leaves. The following photo album is just a whole lot of leaf action, so not the most exciting slideshow ever. :-) I didn't get an "after" photo of the front yard, because it was too dark when we finished...but already more leaves are falling so it's too late for that picture. I think I need to go buy more leaf bags...

Leaves!!

California Vacation, II (August 26th-31st, 2009)

Once again, though I took hundreds of photos during this CA visit (I'm usually camera happy when I go), these 30+ photos will have to do. This is the trip to CA that I've wanted to go on for over a year, back when I found out that my childhood best friend's wedding was going to be that weekend (after 4 years of engagement, this was indeed going to be a long anticipated celebration)!! Scotty and I didn't think we could wing it financially, but on Mother's Day he surprised me with a round trip ticket to CA for Beth's wedding. I was overjoyed! So bright and early Wednesday morning, August 26th, Micah and I began our 10 or so hour day of travel to get to CA. He was a super good traveler, and I was SO thankful for that.

I not only got to attend Beth's wedding in CA, but celebrate with my sister Hannah at her 21st birthday pool party at my parent's house. Good times, great memories. Micah, as always, loved the time with his cousins (Anne and Lillyann), and all the food he got to eat. :-) I loved being with my parents and sisters for a few days.

Then the following Monday he and I headed back to MI, Micah as a last time free "lap-child" flyer (he was going to be 2 years old the next week), totaling 18 flights! And again, I was so thankful for the empty seat God always gave beside me on the airplane, so that Micah actually had a seat of his own, though he should've been on my lap the whole time. Much appreciated, God, my lap is thankful to have not had 30 lbs on me for hours. :-)

California Vacation, II (August 26th-31st, 2009)

Micah's friend

Shortly after moving to MI, Micah and I became acquainted with the local library. We faithfully attended library programs starting in January. We met another boy about Micah's age, and they enjoyed seeing each other at storytime. Now almost a year has passed, and their friendship has branched outside of the library. Here are some photo albums with our trip together to the fair and the zoo:

Hudsonville Fair (August 24th, 2009)

John Ball Zoo (October 29th, 2009)