All in a day in the life of a 22 month old

Nate turned 22 months on the 16th. I can't believe my baby is nearing two!
I thought I'd capture a few "every day moments" for those of you who feel like you miss out being so far away. I left out all the tears, fits, and poopy diapers...thought you could just imagine those. ha ha :)

Breakfast. Enjoying his toast with jelly.

What a treat!

I love this picture because I see it every day.

He watches out the window while I take our dog outside.

He usually waves, which is what I always told him to do at first to

make my momentary absence more bearable. :)

Heading out to do some errands...

Hooray!! Movie time! His favorite time of the day.

Watching "Bob the Builder," his new favorite.

Getting out of the house.

It always seems by the afternoon we need a

change of pace if we're going to make it till evening and still be sane.

Here we are headed to the park. It was fun. We were definitely the

only ones there and there was only one slide and one swing that wasn't covered

in snow but he didn't seem to mind.

After each trip out he always insists on "driving" for a bit before we

go inside. I thought this picture turned out neat with the reflection

off the window.

Okay, we are coping now. "Mom is making supper and I'm getting

tired. When is Daddy coming home?"

Notice there is a new addition to the bunch.

Since he wore off all of Mr. Lion's tags, he now requires "Andy the Antelope" as well.

(His christmas gift from Daddy)

Poor Mr. Antelope doesn't know he is just being used for his tag.

Daddy's finally home!!!

I don't know who's happier, Mommy or Nate!

Bath time!! I'm getting a bit sleepy...

Little drummer boy

As I have mentioned earlier, my little boy loves the drums! These were taken at my uncle and aunt's in Glendive, MT the day after the wedding. Nate was in heaven!! Everyone was actually quite impressed how well he could keep the rhythm. Mom and Dad gave him a drum set for Christmas and he has been playing it daily. He even hears the drums in music we listen to and often has to run get his drum so he can play along. The best thing is that I found a great way to keep him entertained while I'm in the shower in the mornings... we bring his drum in and I sing every song I can think of while he drums along. He does it the entire time without losing interest! Isn't he just the cutest??

Talina & Rob's wedding

Here are some pictures of Talina's wedding. I can't take credit for any of them as my camera AND my video camera died before the wedding started! Grrrr! So these are all from Rachelle and Renee's cameras which I stole off of facebook. (Thanks girls) They took some great pictures! Talina and Rob shouldn't have even bothered to hire a photographer with Rob's two sisters around! :) Anyway it was a beautiful, cold day as you can tell from the outside shots. Rachelle had Talina looking beautiful!!! (Not that she doesn't have any natural beauty of her own) :) Enjoy!

The bride and groom

The blushing bride...

Bridesmaids...

The ceremony...

Mommy's little helper

Nate is really getting into "helping" me lately and has been setting the table for

dinner the last few weeks. Thought you'd like to see what a good job he does. :)

My little man

One morning when my parents were here Nate was watching a movie while we all got ready for the day. My mom came out of the other room and Nate was sitting like this. Just like a man! I guess he also decided it was time to add a little style to his hair. It looked perfect like it had been done on purpose! Such a handsome little man!

A little about our holidays...

A few photos from our Christmas... not in any real order.

Nate has shown a real interest in drums lately. Every Sunday after

church he insists on playing the drums up front.

Lately we have been the last ones to leave as he doesn't want to quit.

So... he was delighted when he got a drum set from Papa and Gramma Moring.

Nate got a real kick out of Elmo!

Christmas Eve...

Checking out his new recorder!

Playing jingle bells for us while we sing along

the three of us

Wow, has it really been that long since I posted last? I guess December came and it all got a little crazy. We had a wonderful Christmas. My parents came down to Buffalo the 23rd to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with us. It was so fun to have them and to spend our first Christmas in our home! Christmas Eve I made a yummy clam chowder and we attended the candlelight service at our church. I decided this year would be different from any other Christmas. I was really desiring a change and I'm not sure if it is my reaction to Jeff's death or to the fact that I was "hosting" Christmas and wanted to start a few traditions of my own. So I decided that we would only open a few gifts Christmas Eve and wait on the rest till morning. Also rather than the usual turkey or ham I did prime rib. It was so good!! I think we will definitely have to keep that as a new tradition! Our day actually wasn't that relaxing since after gifts and dinner we had to start laundry and packing to leave the next day for Talina's wedding. We woke up the next day to strong winds and snow! Not ideal for traveling. It was a stressful 6 hour drive to eastern MT. The Lord was gracious to give us safe travel as we saw a number of vehicles stuck in the ditch. Talina's wedding was beautiful and she was absolutely gorgeous!! She could not have looked any better! It was wonderful to spend time with relatives and to catch up with Rachelle (Talina's best friend from Multnomah and now sister-in-law) and to meet the rest of her family. We had a fun family get-together at my aunt and uncle's in Glendive before heading home Sunday afternoon.

Derrick and I have been fighting a bad cold ever since we got home so this week has turned out quite differently than we imagined. Oh well. It has been very relaxing! As usual our vacation went way too fast and I am not ready to take down all of our Christmas decorations! Its always such a letdown when its all over.
I do hope that all of you had a wonderful Christmas and have a Happy New Year!

Our Thanksgiving in West Virginia

Thought I'd share a bit about our trip to WV. We flew from Casper to Washington DC on the 22nd. Derrick's mom, Cindy, and Dave picked us up at the airport. Nate did really well on the trip...it was a long day! The dvd player was a life-saver for us. It was nice to pop in a movie whenever he was getting restless. I think we only needed it once though...or maybe twice. We spent all day Sunday relaxing at Cindy's house in Moorefield and then headed down to Summersville to visit Eric and Tonya and kids on Monday. Nate had a blast with his cousins or atleast with their toys. He was in heaven! Tuesday the guys and Cindy watched the kids so Tonya and I could go shopping in Charleston. It was so much fun! I actually got a bit of Christmas shopping done. That was the highlight of the trip for me. The rest of the week we took care of kids and just had fun being together. We all made the three hour drive back to Cindy's on Thursday to spend Thanksgiving at her house. She had a feast for us! It was wonderful. Friday Derrick's aunt Pam and cousins Tyler and Lindsey came over. It was nice to see them. Our time in WV flew by...its never long enough. Saturday we didn't fly out till 5:30 pm east coast time so didn't get home to WY till 1:30 am. Another long day!! The next morning Nate woke up with a high fever. Thankfully it only last 2 days; not sure what that was all about.

Now we are settled back in and getting ready for Christmas. I got my house and tree all decorated this week. I looks so nice! I love Christmas! We are having my mom and dad for Christmas which will be fun. It will be the first time we have had Christmas at our house! Then the 26th we will all head up to eastern MT for my cousin Talina's wedding on the 27th. (I get to be a bridesmaid!!) After her wedding I think we will keep going on to Lewistown for a few days. So it should good... it definitely will be different this year without Jeff. It's bittersweet. He will definitely will be missed this holiday season. I can't help but wonder what Christmas celebration he will be experiencing in heaven. Surely they celebrate Jesus' birth in heaven, don't you think? :)
Anyway... here are a few pictures from our Thanksgiving. I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I love you all and am thankful for each one of you!

We had a little "photo shoot" one day hoping for a

nice picture for Christmas...

Three little monkeys jumping on the bed...



Nate loves his Grammy!

Derrick, Tyler, and Eric watching football

Sweet Logan

Eric cutting up the prime rib.

Wow, it was good!

Nate enjoying his Thanksgiving dinner

Yum!

Derrick and niece, Caroline

She is 3 months younger than Nate