He's on the move

About two weeks ago, Carston took his first few steps. Since then he has been cruizing around from the couch to the ottoman and between other peices of furniture that aren't too far away from each other. It's a neat thing to watch. I can always tell when he is going to give it a try. His arms go up to balance, takes one step, balances, takes another step, his face lights up because he knows he is doing something new. Eventually he either plops onto the floor or grabs the closest thing to hang onto.

Joseph sometimes seems a bit jealous of our excitment with Carston starting to walk. He will sometimes crawl around then stand up and imitate Carston as he walks then waits for us to clap for him. Crazy boy. He's been learning tons of new words and making sentences. Brannon and I have had to really watch what we say as he repeats everything! Not that we go around cussing or anything.

Brannon and I are doing well. Brannon has been kicking tush with getting some new accounts for Clark's Honey. (way to go Brannon!) I've been enjoying the cooler weather and enjoying spending time with ladies at church in our new Bible Study.

Today is another beautiful day so I think the boys and I will go on a picnic and run off some energy.
ps...HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRANDON!!!!

Splashing around on a hot day.

I think both our boys were born to be fish. They both LOVE water. We have a pool at our apartment complex, but I (Mandie) don't really like to take both of them by myself so, this is a nice alternative.

Joseph's favorite movie, at least for the time being, is Ratatouille. (he can even say the name along with a few other names) So, when he got the Ratatouille coloring book from grandma Chiz, he was pretty happy.

Why can't time stand still sometimes?

The last two weeks have come and gone so quickly. I wish that we could have slowed them down. Brannon's parents came out for a week visit and my parents came out the week after that. It feels like they just got here and this morning we said our tearful goodbyes in the parking lot. Joseph blew many kisses and waved. Once pa-pa chiz was out of site, he asked "pa-pa back? pa-pa back?" wanting pa-pa and grandma to come back.
There is such a thing as good quiet and bad quiet. Right now, the quietness of this afternoon is not so great. The boys were spoiled with love and playtime from grandparents. We went swimming several times, took many walks, went to the Denver Aquarium, etc...It was a wonderful time and we made some great memories.
We were also able to be all together to celebrate Carston's 1st birthday. It's hard to believe that he is a year old already. I think that one day I will blink and both boys will be driving. (Hmm, Joseph behind a wheel driving) Carston has certainly been on the move. No doubt he will be walking in the next month or two. No steps by himself yet, but he can stand on his own sometimes. At least when he is not paying attention. Once he realizes he is not holding on to anything, he plops to the ground. Diapers serve more than one purpose. They are great cushions.
We are planning on driving out to Elgin, IL for Christmas time so only 5 more months till we can visit again. I'm sure it will come quick.

Boys will be boys

There are days where I look at our two little boys and see someone so different. They are growing and changing so much. Joseph has learned so many new words and is beginning to make some sentences. They aren't always coherent, but he at least knows what he is talking about. He did have some minor surgery on his tongue. He was born tongue tied and December of '07 he had a small flap removed from under his tongue. This has helped so much with his speech.
Joseph's favorite thing to do is throw rocks in a river just down the road from us. He loves being outside and going for rides in the truck. He still has his beautiful stubborn streak and is certainly strong willed. The terrible twos kicked in around 18 months and is still going strong. Brannon and I are keeping our sanity for the most part. It can be taxing to deal with, but we do what we can to tame that strong will. He is such a lively, outgoing little boy.

Carston is doing great. We have nicknamed him chubs because he's quite a beef cake. I think he will be able to take on his big brother in no time. He loves to follow Joseph around and do the things that he does. He isn't walking on his own yet, but with how much Joseph runs around, I think he will want to walk soon to keep up. Carston loves to smile and laugh. He loves being outside. It's been so neat to start to see his personality come out. He seems to be totally fearless and would do just about anything if we let him. We were at the river just the other day and he was sitting on the ground just a few feet from the edge of the river. Once he saw daddy walk in the water, he had to go too and took off for the water. It didn't exactly occur to him that he can't swim yet or that he even needs to swim to go in water. It's amazing to think that in one more month Carston will be a year old.

So far we haven't had any trips to the hospital. The boys play fairly well together although Joseph is still pretty possessive of toys that he thinks are still his only, but we can tell he loves his little brother and likes to help him with things. I think they will be great friends.

It's been a while...a long while

Well, it has been a year since we have updated our page and it's about time we did just that. So much can happen in a year and so much has. Let's start back in November of '07. We had planned on moving back to the mid-west area and we became aware of a church in need of a pastor in Greeley, IA. We visited a couple times and decided that this looked like a great opportunity to start a new ministry.
We practically had both feet in before it was brought to our attention that maybe this was not the right decision. I (Mandie) had felt quite uneasy about things, but couldn't exactly pinpoint why and didn't see the reasons of hesitancy as being enough to not move. Both Brannon and I, after meeting with some very close and loving friends, decided that Greeley, IA was not where God wanted us. There are many things that we both need to work on individually as well as together. You could be praying for us about that as we seek to grow and mature. We have decided to stay in Brighton, CO for another year and continue to be in ministry at Living Stones Community Church. We do not know where God will take us come July of 2009, but in the meantime, we are excited to see what will happen in our marriage and in our family.
Please keep us in your prayers.