McArtor.net

Archive for April, 2009

The rainy weekend left us housebound for most of Saturday and Sunday. We did venture out Sunday morning to go to church, but unfortunately, that was the extent of our weekend excitement. After having such a beautiful Thursday and Friday last week, it was a tough pill to swallow being kept indoors watching it rain, rain and…..oh ya, rain. It was the same story today and by 3pm, both kids were sick of me, sick of each other and sick of being in this house! So, we are all hoping for some drier, sunnier days to come and to come SOON!

Other than being a little stir-crazy from being housebound this weekend, both kids are doing great. Josiah has turned into a chatterbox and can say “mama” “dada”, “rockey rockey”, “nigh-nigh”, “hi” and last but most certainly not least he can say “Anya”. And let me tell ya, he doesn’t just say it, he SCREAMS it. He screams “YAYA” all the time…when he can see her, when he can’t see her, when he wants her to come sit by him, when he wants her to leave him alone, when he is in his crib trying to take a nap, when he wakes up from his nap….basically all day long I am hearing “yaya”…and it makes us all giggle every time. He really does love his big sister! Anya is still busy being Anya….everyday is a new adventure with her. The thing Jason & I have been noticing with her lately is her ability to have a grown-up conversation about things….and sometimes I can’t believe the conversations I find myself in with her….she definitely keeps us on our toes.

I don’t know if any of you have heard about Stellan, the 5 month old Minnesota boy who has a rare, life-threatening heart condition–but there has sure been a lot of “talk” about him on the internet. I actually stumbled across his mom’s amazing blog and have been reading it for quite some time, even before his heart condition was discovered. It is funny how you can feel like you actually “know” someone by just reading their words on a website, but that is how I feel about this family. I feel like we have traveled through this journey with their baby’s condition without having ever even met them. Here is the link if you are interested in checking out the blog: mycharmingkids.net

Anyway, Stellan had a very risky heart procedure called an ablation performed yesterday in Boston as a last-ditch effort to help control his heart rate. Seems as if the procedure was as successful as it could be considering everything, but nothing with this baby’s story has been easy and chances are good that he as he grows, he will have to have a pacemaker put in (they are hoping to make it to age 4 before that happens). So, if you have a few minutes today, just pray for this little boy and his family. Their faith and trust in God is simply AMAZING and it is inspiring to read how calm they have been through this whole ordeal just knowing that He is in control.

I know that after following this family’s story, I have been ever aware of all the blessings in our life. Not because of our possessions, our jobs or anything else that can be replaced, but because of having each other, having our loving family & friends, having healthy children and having God to trust in all that we do. When you think about it, there doesn’t seem to be much more we need in life.

Tonight was the last night of AWANAs for Anya until it starts up again in August. We had an awards ceremony at the church followed by a meal. Anya has successfully completed her first of two years in the Bible Buddies category. She got to go up on stage with her class and had her medal proudly around her neck. They recited the Bible Buddies pledge and sang a song. It was very cute and she did a great job–we even got a wave from the stage when she spotted us. For some reason she panicked at the very end when she was leaving the stage to come sit with us and started crying–she said she didn’t know where we were. Luckily, her teacher was there to point her in the right direction and all was well.

Otherwise, we had a quiet weekend. Here are a few pictures of the AWANA celebration.

So, as some of you might remember, Josiah got his first haircut at Magic Kingdom last month on our vacation to Florida. Yesterday he got his second “first” haircut at Roosevelt Barber Shop on 42nd St where Jason has been getting his hair cut for years. Jason has decided that the haircut at DisneyWorld didn’t really count since it wasn’t in “his” barbershop. Either way, the guys at Roosevelt Barber Shop did a great job and I hope they are ready for another McArtor man coming every 5 weeks for a trim.

Here are a few pictures of his second “first” haircut.

First and foremost we want to wish everyone a Happy Easter! What an great day today celebrating the resurrection of Jesus. I am a sinner and chances are good you are too…isn’t it awesome that He died to erase it all? If you ever needed a reason to celebrate, there it is. Rejoice, Christ has Risen!

We had a great weekend! Friday I took the kids to the mall to see the Easter Bunny and they loved him! Anya loved asking the Easter Bunny 500 questions (which was alittle tricky for Mr. Bunny since he could only shake or nod his head in response) and Josiah was just happy sitting on his lap pulling at the Bunny’s funny bow tie. It made for a cute picture and made Anya’s day!

Friday night great G’ma Bertie, G’ma Jeryl and Aunt Joni came to stay with us. They couldn’t make it to town last weekend for Josiah’s birthday party because of the weather, so they came this weekend instead (Papa Ronnie stayed home b/c he wasn’t feeling well). They stayed until Saturday evening and we had a great time with them. We spent quite a bit of time outside enjoying the beautiful weather on Saturday and even got a few games of Wii played. Anya had fun playing tag with G’ma Jeryl and Josiah had fun showing the ladies how fast he can get around (and how much he can eat) and both kids were worn out by the end of the day.

Today we went to church and then came home and had a pretty laid-back afternoon. The Easter Bunny finally made an appearance during nap time and Anya was very excited to wake up to find hidden Easter eggs and an Easter basket full of goodies. Josiah found one egg and was completely content to hold only it and let Anya do the rest of the leg work tracking down the hidden eggs! They had a fun afternoon and Anya is still amazed that the Easter Bunny knew to bring her the Little Mermaid t-shirt she had wanted at the store the other day! Such a smart Easter Bunny

Anyways, what a fun weekend. Here are a few pictures of all our Easter weekend fun!

Today was suppose to be Josiah’s big first birthday bash with all our family and some close friends. Unfortunately, the weather kept everyone home, so our big party suddenly became just the 4 of us. We had a great family day and just hung out. Our neighbors, Lois & Paul, came over this afternoon to have cake and ice cream and watch Josiah “open” his presents. He hasn’t really caught on to the whole present-opening thing yet, so it was a good thing his big sister was around to help him figure it out!

I used my limited creative ability and attempted to make the cakes for his birthday–I was pretty pleased with how they turned out. Since one of our (many) nicknames for Josiah is “J-Train” we of course had a train theme for his party. His train cakes were black & gold (on the suggestion of his father) and Josiah loved digging into his cake. He definitely made a mess of himself before it was all said and done and had black frosting from head to toe (literally)! Then, shortly after finishing his cake, in true Josiah fashion, he proceeded to puke that black frosting up all over our white carpet. Luckily, I got most of it out and think I learned my lesson about using black frosting

So, we had a great day celebrating Josiah’s birthday. Here are a few pictures of his birthday party fun. Enjoy!

My baby is 1 today….*sigh*. Where did those 365 days go? When did my cuddly tiny newborn son turn into a chunky, on-the-go, little man? What a fast, great year it has been watching all the changes and milestones in Josiah’s life! To Josiah, today is just another day…he really has no idea it is his birthday and frankly I think he is getting sick of us singing happy birthday to him every 5 minutes But to me, his mommy, it is a day that really makes me realize how much joy he has brought to our lives in such a short time.

Happy Birthday Josiah…we love you buddy. Can’t wait to see what you have in store for us in the next 365 days!