The Ebb of Adam's Ale

Bastian's Photo Extravaganza

2012-02-04T15:20:00.001-05:00

Bastian recieved a digital camera for Christmas 2011 and I had some big plans for that little baby... but none have really worked out. I realized pretty quickly that I can try all day to give Bastian projects and assignments... and he is still going to come back with photos like these! I am totally OK with that now. Soon he will be old enough to humor me with my projects, and for now I will humor him!

I do think he took some prety nice photos! I uploaded over 1,000 pictures on my computer today and these are some of the better ones. (Keep in mind this is a children's digital camera and the picture quality is about as good as a cell phone camera)

Below are photos from the National Zoo in DC. This was our first time in the Amazon Rainforest Building.

These are friends from church! It would appear that Bastian has a crush of sweet little Avery!

These are just around the house photos. I assume that Gabriel took the photo of Bastian...

These are of our fish tank! We have some pretty sweet fish now, and Bas decided to photograph them in all of their fishy/colorful/blurry glory!

Peace,
Team Whitehead

Our Sweet Baby Girl!

2012-01-31T15:33:00.003-05:00

Here are some new photos of our sweet baby girl!

Peace,

Team Whitehead

31 Ways To Pray

2012-01-29T14:29:00.000-05:00

My goal is to live intentionally. I really want everything that I do to be for a purpose and the best way that I've found to help me live this way is through prayer. Prayer has been one area that I've struggled in since having kids... something always seems to get in the way, or interupt me or I just forget. I've made progress in this area, but I still need work. I thought I would share 2 resources that I have found that have helped me focus a little better and add some direction to my prayers.

The First is from Revive Our Hearts. this is a Prayer Guide for Praying for your husband.

The Second is by Bob Hostetler and this is a great guide for praying for your children.

And just because I cant post something without a picture, here is our birth announcement! They are in the mail as we speak!

Peace,

Team Whitehead

Team Whitehead Random-ness Updates

2012-01-29T03:33:00.001-05:00

Here are some Random/ Awesome Update Photos from Team Whitehead HQ!

Bastian has a rat- His name is Nester. He is sweet and still pretty shy. He goes to the bathroom on me every stinking day when we get him out!

Gabriel got some play silks for his birthday. They are way more fun than I ever thought! We had to dye them ourselves, so the photo above is the silks drying outside in our tree... Im not sure if we look cool like hippies or if we look like colorful rednecks!

These are our playsilks in the dying process! This was kind of time consuming, but definitely worth it!

Here is Tony with the kiddos! It still shocks us that we can't say "The Boys" anymore!

Here are the kiddos! Bastian and Gabriel really love Azalea! It is funny how a little tiny girl can soften these tough men right up! They are constantly asking to hold her. it is really sweet! She already has then wrapped around her tiny pinky! Which is ok... for now.

Crazy faces and dirty shirts! That is what we have here!!

Peace,

Team Whitehead

Post Baby family Visit #1- Whitehead Edition

2012-01-28T15:06:00.000-05:00

Our first guests post baby were Tony's parents. Not surprisingly, they think that Azalea is pretty awesome!

Due to our zero guests in December rule, we have to celebrate the holidays a little different this year. As soon as Gram and Gramps walked in the door with gifts the boys could barely contain themselves!

Our first real outing with Azalea (other than the grocery store) was to the Richmond Zoo. The boys had a blast! Once again the most exciting part was the parakeets!

Both boys wanted to ride the sky ride. Gabriel got to ride with Gramps and Bastian with Tony. We were worried that Gabriel would not enjoy it.. but he had a blast.

It was a fun week, and even though Tony was

gone for 2 days of the visit, it went really

well and was super fun!

Peace,

Team Whitehead

A Team Whitehead Christmas!

2012-01-06T11:56:00.000-05:00

Since we had just welcomed a new baby into our home- we decided to have a low key Christmas this year.

It was very nice to focus on just our family and spend time together.

This was the most relaxing Christmas that we've had in a loooong time!

Here are some photos!

The boys enjoying the new Trampoline! This is the best gift to give your children if you are healing from having a baby! They spend so much time jumping and playing and wearing themselves out and I don't have to do much but watch! In the spring this will go outside and we will experience a whole new side of trampoline fun!!

Tony and the boys opening stockings! We have stuck to our plan of 3 gifts each and a stocking. So once the gifts are opened the stockings become much more exciting!

Merry Christmas!

Team Whitehead

Azalea June is here!

2012-01-06T11:40:00.001-05:00

She is here! She is here! She is here!

Thank God for this gift too wonderful for words! - 2 Corinthians 9:15

Azalea June Whitehead was born (11 days overdue) on December 14, 2011. She was 8lbs 15oz and 20.5 inches long. (She was our tiniest yet by over 1/2 a pound!)

Here is a little of her story-

We went to a regular checkup on Monday morning. Tony came with me so I would have a little back up in case the midwife wanted to induce or schedule an induction. The thing that we wanted the least was to be induced! The midwife said that the longest that they would allow me to go overdue was 15 days. So we agreed to schedule an induction for Sunday December 17th at 7:00 am and just hoped that I wouldnt need it. The plan was to use every method of induction before pitocin! Pitocin is the devil! We were sent home to try a "home induction." I took 1oz of castor oil in a high protein and other goodies in a shake twice a day. I was super reluctant to try this- and also convinced that it wouldn't work anyways. On Tuesday morning I made my first shake- and luckily when you pair castor oil with that much other stuff, it completely disappears! It did give me a slight upset stomach... but nothing too serious. My second dose was the same. I called a doula/friend and told her about my dirtbag cervix and how I didn't think that the castor oil would work anyways! We talked for about and hour and she reminded me that if I didn't let it work, then it wouldnt! I decided to take a nap- but before going to sleep I decided to read a few birthing stories from Ina May's Guide to Childbirth. Not only did this help me relax a ton, but it is fun to read a book of ALL positive birthing stories! (I honestly think that this was a huge piece ouf our baby-having puzzle!) Later that night, I went to a friends cookie/ornament exchange. I had a few contractions on the way there, but they tapered off once I got there.
We headed home and I went to bed early. and then...

Around 3am on Wednesday I woke up from contractions! They weren't unbearable, but definitely not a walk in the park either! I went downstairs and labored on our birthing ball, while everyone else slept. At 4:30am I decided that I needed some help. I woke up Tony and Stephanie (she was in town to help with the boys) Stephanie, after acting like it was Christmas morning, went to our bed to sleep with Gabriel. Tony came downstairs to help me through the contractions. We called our midwife and our doula. They said to just keep them informed. I labored in the shower for about 30 minutes. It was reeeeally nice, but we ran out of hot water! So then I went right back to hunching over the birthing ball! Around 7:00 I asked Tony to tell the doula that I was feeling pressure- not ready to push, but pressure. She told him that we needed to head to the hospital- she guessed that I was at 8 or 9 cm dilated. Tony was wise enough not to share this information with me! Unfortunately, Bastian woke up and came downstairs- he sat on the couch and watched me go through 2-3 contractions! ( He later told Stephanie "Mommy wasn't feeling good this morning, she was flopping around and growling!")

We headed out to the hospital and called the midwife on the way. She said she would be there soon. In the car we put the middle row of seats up and I labored in the car hunched over the birthing ball on hands and knees.The intensity really picked up in the car and when we illegally parked at the ER at MCV I told Tony that I didn't have much left in me. We had to walk through the elevators, and up to Labor and Delivery. Once we got there the registration nurses were trying to get us to fill out a bunch of forms and Tony explained that we were about to have a baby- like any second- and the woman at registration said "She's fine." Tony then snapped! He freaked out a little bit and explained that we weren't filling out anymore documents until after our baby was born! Our Doula arrived in the registration area as well as a charge nurse to determine if I was really about to have a baby... or if we had some time. I had a few contractions in the registration area and through everyone I was calm and collected and definitely on top of the pain... Then I had a huge and sudden urge to push! While still standing in the lobby! This was unlike anything I have felt before! (Having had 2 kiddos before- I have definitely felt the urge to push before.. but this was insane!)
I couldn't control myself anymore, I screamed- alot! Then they decided everything could wait and we should head to a room! I had to walk all the way down the hallway to the 9th room- which was the longest walk of my life!! I had two incredibly loud contractions in the hallway and after much urging from the nurses we finally made it to the room! A resident was in the room and as soon as our doula yanked my pants off he checked me- determined that I was completely dilated and said to push! So I did! She was born after 3 contractions! The entire time I was borderline freaking out! I thought that we would be laboring in the hospital for a few hours... not minutes! We even brought our birthing ball into the hospital! Luckily the entire time, through all of the intensity our doula continued to remind me " This is exactly what you wanted!" And she was right! It really helped to hear that! We were in the hospital for roughly 12 minutes! I loved laboring at home- to reduce the chance of any intervention.. but this was a little close! (The resident later told me "I thought you were going to kill me!" - Apparently, the last part of labor wasn't only intense for me!)

-Azalea was alert and took to nursing right away! We definitely got a better start with her than with the boys! Another motivation to avoid intervention- a successful start to nursing!

-After she was about 30 minutes old- a ton of amniotic fluid rushed from my body. Thats when we realized, that we had no idea when my water broke! Apparently, once your water breaks, the babies head can act as a cork and not allow it to leave your body! So it leaves once the baby is born! It was gross!

-This is the second time that we have used midwives- only to have them miss the birth and to have the babies delivered by a doctor! I truly believe that whoever delivers your baby is who was supposed to... but it makes me feel a little silly that I spent so much time hoping for a specific midwife to be on call when I went into labor! (This time our midwife assumed that she had a little mor time and decided to walk her dog before coming to the hospital)

-I had a slight issue with some postpartum hemorrhaging.. but after a shot of piticin in my leg and lots of uterine massages.. that seemed to clear up.

-We were allowed to leave the hospital at 5pm on Thursday. It was great! One source of stress for me was to be away from the boys for an extended period of time! This worked out perfectly!

-We were beyond pleased with our birthing experience this time around! Laboring at home was so helpful to us and who knows, next time there may not be a hospital involved at all!

Above all we are so grateful to have our baby girl here at last! She was a little feisty at first, but has calmed down significantly! She is not quite as calm as Gabriel... and not nearly as feisty as Bastian was. We may have found some middle ground between our boys, who seem to be polar opposites!

Here are some photos! Enjoy!

Peace,
Team Whitehead

CBS Christmas Concert!

2011-12-24T13:11:00.000-05:00

Now that both boys are in classes at CBS, I was excited to see them both perform Christmas Songs this year!

Last year Bastian was not super pumped about singing... but this year his teachers told me he is one of the loudest singers in his class! I couldn't wait to hear him!

Unfortunately, Bastian did not sing loudly this year! He actually only sang one song! AND his teacher forgot to put his button down shirt back on him... so this year was not all that I was hoping for! BUT- Bastian does say that he had fun.. so I will take that!

Aaaand here is Gabriel- right before he burst into tears, when his teachers wouldn't let him off the stage! I did end up going to get him and he sat on my lap for the entire performance!
(Notice- the Thomas train in his hand.. this is his new lovey. As long as Gman has Thomas we can take him anywhere.. as soon as we lose Thomas the world ends! Unfortunately, Thomas let us down this time! )

The Christmas program was insanely cute! I really cant wait for Bastian to be excited about performing in it! Although that day may never come!

Merry Christmas!
Peace,
Nikki

Inflateable Palace

2011-12-20T13:42:00.001-05:00

In a desperate attempt to induce labor we all headed to Inflateable Palace for some fun and enrgy burning! If the boys are super tired at nap time then Mommy gets a nap too!

This was a giant hug from Gman after we went down the slide together!

Gman was cooking up something in the kitchen!

Bastian loves to zoom through this one now!

The slide at the end is the best part!

While I didn't go into labor and I don't necessarily recommend it for that purpose.. we did have a ton of fun and the boys were spent afterward! Totally worth it!

Peace,

Nikki

Making Christmas Ornaments!

2011-12-17T13:34:00.001-05:00

We've decided to start another tradition... Starting this year we will be decorating our tree in homemade decorations. One reason is that they are just cooler, and the other being that if they get broken... we can make a new one!

Now that Aunt Steph is here we enlisted her help with the ornaments and we had a blast!

After we were done with the cutting and the baking we started painting!

Bastian was a painting fool! He loved it and he painted at least 3/4 of the ornaments!

Gabriel was less excited about painting the ornaments and chose to paint his body!

Here are some of our finished products! Well almost finished.. we still have to toss a few coats of clear coat on them!

Whoo hoo! Hooray for Christmas Crafts! Merry Christmas!

Peace,
Nikki

Felt Board and a Christmas Tree!

2011-12-12T13:11:00.007-05:00

We've decided to make at least one Christmas Gift for the kiddos each year. This year I knew that I wasn't going to be feeling up to it on/around Christmas ... so I not only made the gift early, but gave it to the boys early as well!

We had a huge peice of plywood in the garage- so we covered that sucker in felt and cut out some rad shapes and BAM! Christmas Gift! Not the most creative or cool.. and trust me when I say that I had some creative/cool ideas! But they actually like it and play with it!

I like it because it inspires imagination and they like it because they can make monster faces!

I saw a really neat idea on Pinterest, where you cut out a felt Christmas tree and then cut out ornaments so the boys could decorate a tree over and over. Little did I know that when you have boys they dont really care about decorating trees with stinking ornaments! They like to make monsters and aliens and Halloween Faces!

I made the zig zag lines for the ornaments and Bastian says "Hey mom, I need some more of those angry mouths!"

We do like to encourage creativity.. so I can't complain too much! Its a good think I like it too!

Peace,
Nikki

Museum of Play- Rochester, NY

2011-12-10T13:11:00.000-05:00

Before we left for NY a friend gave us some tips for fun places to check out! The best tip was Museum of Play in Rochester!

Because we are members of The Children's Museum of Richmond, we didn't have to pay admission! It was great!

This was by far the best museum that we've ever been too! We went to the museum on 3 different days and explored different stuff each time! The first day we checked out a room full of manipulatives! Both boys were in love! We played with tangrams and drums and this really neat pully system where you load the big bouncy balls and watch them roll along some guide wires on the ceiling- this was Gabriel's favorite part!

They also have a whole Sesame Street Area. The boys liked to see Elmo and drive in a car with him.. they also got to check out Elmo's World! It is funny how much they loved it considering we never watch Sesame Street!

They also had an amazing Butterfly House! Bastian loved it! He was very cautious of th butterflies and making sure that everyone was quiet so that we wouldn't scare them! He loves to pretend that he is an explorer!

My favorite part was the Kiddy Wegmans! It blows the Kiddy Martins that we have at CMor out of the water! Each person gets a cart and can buy 5 things, then they go to the check out and actually check out! Everything scans with the item description and price! Then you pay and take an actual Wegmans receipt!
Both boys kept going for the same things each time- Bastian got produce, fish and a box of popsicles and Gabriel picked 5 loaves of bread! Every time!

We also spent some time building cars and monsters!

And playing a giant game of chess in the Giant's House (From Jack and the Bean Stalk)

We spent the most time in the Story Book part for sure!

There is WAY more to the museum that this.. and honestly we would go back to Rochester just to check out this place again! It is worth it!

Peace,
Nikki

Rochester NY Trip

2011-12-08T13:22:00.000-05:00

Tony was asked to go to Rochester NY for work and luckily Grandpa Bill works for the same company and was also asked to go!

Tony decided to bring the whole family! Which was great! We had a cheap vacation and time with family! You cant beat it!

We spent the weekend with Bill and we got to check out Niagara Falls! I wasn't too pumped about this.. but it was way cooler than I expected!

Bastian thought it was cool and then he got too close to the edge and got freaked out!

And then we found an awesome tree for everyone to climb!

This is my favorite shot of them together!

We also sat in a grassy area for a few minutes before beginning out hike back to the other side and an asian woman came up at asked if she would "tayka pikcha" and I was shocked but said ok... and then she gathered our whole family and her friends and took a picture with us on the ground! Then another asian family saw what they were doing came over to take a picture with us! It was hilarious... but I am pretty sure that we are going to be in some creepy advertisements in China soon..

Peace,

Nikki

Preparing the Garden!

2011-10-26T16:44:00.001-04:00

We had to give up a little early on our raised beds this year. Partly thanks to a little stinker called the Squash Beetle and partly thanks to a nasty little thing called Powdery Mildew.

We still had decent yields from our Garden this summer- quite a few squash and cucumbers, only a handful of green peppers and enough tomatoes to make sauce for 10 families! (not really- but we had a lot!) We also grew spinach- but I didn't plant enough to be worthwhile. We tried to grow melons, broccoli and potatoes, but had zero success there. Im not sure what went wrong, but we will try again next year.

Because our biggest failures were in our raised beds we decided to start the garden prep now so that next spring it will be good and nutrient-y!

Gabriel had a blast digging and Bastian loved looking for bugs!

Each time we found a worm Bastian would grab it and dig a hole for it... and then help him get cozy in his new home by burying him again!

Gman just likes to dig and throw dirt! He had fun just being outside!

Here's to a better garden next year!

Peace,

Nikki

Grandma Beth and Janey Poo come to visit!- The Sequel

2011-10-20T15:33:00.001-04:00

Grandma Beth was apparently going through Bastian and Gman withdrawals and decided to come for a visit!

The boys love it when we have company! Especially when the company comes to play with them!

Both boys were napping when Grandma and Jane arrived, but on the way down the stairs after waking their faces lit up at the sight of them! It was really funny!

This was a relatively short trip so we had to fit as much excitement in as possible! But still attend Bible Study on Wednesday- so that kind of cut into our visit a bit.

We went to Maymont- one of my moms favorite places and Jane hadn't seen the farm yet so that was an easy choice for us.

Checking out the Donkey- Normally he gets a little worked up by Echo, but this time he ignored them completely.

Gabriel still loves to chase birds.

Luckily, they are fast than him!

The goats were not sure what to think about Echo this time! Every goat in the pen came to check him out... and finally the smallest one started head butting the bars to try to scare them away!

Hanging out with Grandma and Echo- checking out the Hawk.

One of the only pictures with Jane!

Gabriel has a way with Goats! He was the only one who could get them to come to the fence with out food!

As it was time to leave we realized that Jane had locked her keys in the car! This is her speaking with the locksmith!

The next day we decided to wear the boys out at The Inflatable Palace!

I am pretty sure that Bastian won this game!

Of course- in a room full of inflated awesome-ness Gman plays basketball!

We also had to take them to Sweet Frog (once you bring an out-of-towner there, it becomes an important part of every trip!)

And we had some fun just staying home and wrestling on the floor!

I'm not sure if it is seeing someone that we haven't seen in a while, or the jam packed days or the frozen yogurt... but we really seem to like company!

Peace,

Nikki

National Zoo

2011-10-16T15:33:00.002-04:00

This was probably our last trip of the year to the National Zoo. Although it rained and was freeeeezing, we still had a blast!

One of Gabriel's favorite things to do right now is sit and look at our Encyclopedia of Mammals, we were pretty sure that this would be his first super exciting trip to the zoo. We were totally right! He loved every minute of it! The hardest part was to convince him to leave one animal, but he soon realized that this meant getting to see another cool animal... then our transitions went much more smoothly!

Because we bought this hat at the zoo (last year) Bastian insisted on wearing it. He had it crammed on his head as far as it could go! It was really funny and super cute!

Bastian has mixed feelings about the snakes apparently...

We went on Big Cat day, which was pretty neat! We got to see them toss a bunny to the tiger and although we couldn't see it once the tiger took the bunny to it's den we did hear someone say "Oh yeah! It ripped off the head!" It was really cool to see what we did get to see and I don't know that I would have liked explaining anymore than that to Bastian!

The lions didn't get to eat anything cool, but they were more playful than we have ever seen them. Gabriel loved watching them! He kept saying "Lion, ROAR!, Lion ROAR!"

This was also the first time that we've ever seen the Ring Tailed Lemurs on Lemur Island (This was our 5th time at the zoo this summer, so we had pretty much given up!)

The main purpose of our trip to the zoo was to catch up with friends who had recently moved to the area! It was really cool to see them and now we are looking forward to our next visit with them!

It was a fun day and 3/4 of our car celebrated by sleeping the whole way home! (Poor Tone Tone!)

Peace,

Nikki

Check out these Muscles!!

2011-10-11T15:33:00.001-04:00

Check out the muscles on this dude!

He is so intense that a vein pops out on his forehead!

Peace,
Nikki

Comunity Bible Study 2011-2012

2011-10-06T15:33:00.001-04:00

Since CBS is pretty much the closest thing that we get to the first day of school- we take the day pretty seriously!

Here are the boys getting ready for the first day!

Bastian was more than excited and Gabriel had a rough time being left in his classroom. He is going through some serious attached to momma issues right now... so I have missed a few opening messages trying to get him to play so that I can attend my core group! Once he settles in he is good and each week is getting easier!

I love to see how much they learn from such an awesome program! Bastian could talk your ear off about Moses right now!

Peace!

Nikki

Preschool Extravanganza!

2011-10-03T15:47:00.000-04:00

Only not really an extravaganza... more like I haven't posted anything in a while so I am going to cram it all into this post!

We started our Preschool Homeschool the last week of August and it has been going really really well! Although, I am not certain how people homeschooled before the internet... if I had to rely on myself to come up with project ideas and fun things to keep the little minds stimulated we would all be toast!

Here's a rundown of what we ar doing this year...

Five In a Row- This is an awesome little curriculum! We "row" a book for five days and explore different parts of it. The possibilities are endless! So far we have read; The Story about Ping, Lentil, Madeline and the Rag Coat. We are enjoying Madeline so we are going to spend another week on it! There are way to many cool projects to do in one week! The best part is that Gabriel can take part in just about everything that we do!

We are making a Passport for all of the Countries/States that we visit when we read books. Bastian and Gman are coloring the flag from China- which we visited when we read The Story about Ping. We have also visited Ohio,The Appalachian Mountians(no state was mentioned) and France!

Here Bastian and Gabriel are making a rag coat out of paper scraps for our book "The Rag Coat"

Bible Study/ Scripture Memorization- We are using My ABC Bible Verses for this as well as Big Truths for Little Kids. We use these scriptures often and it really helps. I can't tell you how many times I have had to remind Bastian about the being a peacemaker or having a joyful heart... the best part is that we can always bring it back to Jesus through these books!

Gospel Lights Kindegarten Puzzles- These are more of a post circle time fill in the spare time activity. But he loves them and we get to review scripture with each and every page! Instead of using th whole book and buying a new one later, I took all the pages out and put them in sleeves in a binder. we use dry erase markers to work through the books and then wipe it off for the next time/child! This was not my idea, I read it from a blog... but I am so excited! It is cheaper and cuts down on so much waste!!

Nature Study- We have pretty much decided to follow a Charlotte Mason style of learning/instruction. She recommends lots of outdoor play as well as journaling your experiences. Each day after our outdoor time we ask Bastian about his favorite thing and then I write a sentence in his journal, which he rewrites and then he gets to draw a picture! He still loves to draw so this works well for us right now!

Math- We have a few math workbooks, and we use them twice a week (Tuesdays and Fridays) but we are trying to focus our math time more on manipulatives and actual work... rather than a work book. We have been doing puzzles, tangrams and then lots of counting, sorting and measuring around the house. Next year we might dig a little deeper into math...

Devotions- Each day we begin our Circle Time with a prayer and a devotion. The devotional that we use right now is a Precious Moments one.. I cant remember the exact name.. but It works well for us.

Circle Time- We do our bible study, devotions and book reading during circle time each morning. We sit on the floor in the play room and we read and play. After all of our "school work" is done we read more. I think our biggest goal this year is to help cultivate a love for reading in the boys!

Project Days- Twice a week we do a project related to our book from Five In a Row. (This is where the internet has saved my buns!!) This is where I see the information stick the most with Bastian... it is also the most work but the most fun! I would like to try to do a few more projects in the future that are more seasonal and not related to our books.. but that really depends on time.

During our first few days of Madeline we explore popular architecture in Paris. Afterwards we constructed an Eiffel Tower out of wafer cookies! The boys had a blast and then devoured it when Tony got home from work! Tony made fun of me when the boys went to bed about my pathetic 2D Tower! It was pretty pathetic, but Bastian can tell you all about the Eiffel Tower now! I am more than happy with that!

We try to squeeze in other fun projects too.. like painting!

We also froze some fruit in layers( with food coloring) and then we worked on excavating the ice to remove the fruit without damaging it. This was really fun.. although next time we will do more fruit and less ice!

Pretty much all of this flows like a normal non-school day. It is barely like we are doing school, except that I feel guilty if we forget to do something! I think this is a great first step toward school for all of us.

Peace,
Nikki

Trip to Gettysburg and Time with Grams and Gramps!

2011-09-15T05:55:00.001-04:00

I JUST REALIZED THAT THIS NEVER POSTeD! I'VE HAD THIS POST DONE FOR OVER A MONTH! SORRY!

Grams and Gramps came in Mid July (yep, I am that behind!!) for a few days and after spending a few days here in sunny ol' Virginia we all packed up and headed to Gettysburg!

Tony, the history buff that he is, has wanted to go for a loooooong time, so I was really happy that he finally got to see Gettysburg and all of it's majesty!

We decided to do a 4 hour long drive while checking out the monuments and historical sites. I thought that this was going to be a disaster, but the boys actually enjoyed it for the most part! We were able to get out and run around like crazies at quite a few of the stops and this really really helped!

This was Bastian's friend. He called him "Friend"... boys don't need to learn names anyways, right?

They had tons of fun running around the monuments and because his family was doing the same tour that we were, we met them at a couple of other stops too! They just picked right up where they left off!

This was a "see who can jump off first" game...

Gabriel and Gramps stopped for a picture.

For some reason I like this shot... it is nothing special but I like it!

Bastian was enjoying the rocks in the woods by Little Round Top.

Gabriel just loved being outside!

The boys with Grams and Gramps at Little Round Top. These rocks were an amazing use of some pent up energy! It is a good thing that boys like to climb!

We finally got Bastian to get rid of the grumpy face.. .only to have him replace it with a crazy one!

We thought that it would be better to try to keep Gman on some smaller rocks rather than the cliff-type ones that Bastian was scaling!

This picture makes me realize how furry Tony is! Something about getting out of the military makes a man want to grow as much hair as possible! The crazy thing is that when we met his beard was longer and his hair was to the middle of his back! I didn't think he looked like a mountain man back then...

Bastian climbing some rocks... these ones didn't have quite the same drop off as the others. For me these were much less scary!

This was taken at a monument that had last names of those wo died during the Civil War. It was really neat.. and we climbed all the way to the top to look out which was way cool! We also found a E. Whitehead on the wall!

The boys made Tony carry them back to the car on his feet! He made it the whole way too! I was amazed!

We were in a huge field ( I believe where Picketts Charge took place) and Bastian started firing off the cannons! It was really funny! He even made me load them properly, before he could fire them off!

Definitely not the greatest photo of me, but all my men look great so I'll take it!

The next day Tony and his dad decided to go check out more sites that might be boring for the boys... so his mom and I went to a Miniature Horse Farm called "The Land of Little Horses" needless to say the boys LOVED it!

This was seconds after the horse tried to rip Gabriels hand off!

This goat wanders the farm, Gabriel thought that was the coolest thing ever!

Gabriel really liked getting to feed all of the animals! He couldn't quite understand why they didn't just want to be petted.. they kept lunging for his food hand!

We went into an arena for a horse show... and when they asked for a boy volunteer Bastian stood up! I was shocked! He has not been into strangers or large crowds lately, so we definitely encouraged and applauded his bravery!
He got to play basketball against a border collie! It was super cute! The only bummer here is that Gman eats, sleeps and breaths sports! So he was freaking out so bad that after Bastian was done playing basketball I had to leave with him until the show was over! He couldn't understand why he couldn't play too!

Im pretty sure the boys were laughing at the turkeys, but I LOVE their smiles! Pictures with real emotions are so much better!

After The Land of Little Horses we went to a really neat Children's Musem.

This was a cool craft with milk, food coloring and dish soap! When you touch a toothpick with the soap on it to the food coloring (which is dropped in the milk) it spreads out! It was really cool! We need to try this one at home!

I am in love with this! PVC with magnets, you make a series of tunnels and drop a ball down it! Gabriel thought that this was the coolest thing ever! His mind is definitely geared more towards this type of thing!

We spent a lot of time here!

We decided to head home after this... so we said our goodbyes and we headed south and Grams and Gramps headed north!

It was a great trip and the boys had no trouble sleeping on the way home!

Cornstarch Painting!

2011-09-13T11:08:00.000-04:00

I heard about this idea a while ago from one of the Learning blogs that I follow...
She had a recipe, but you know me! I just decided to wing it.

So here's my recipe.

A Bunch of Cornstarch in a bowl
A Few drops of Food Coloring
Enough water to make the cornstarch paint textured
Stir it up and then paint!!

We only had Green and Blue food coloring, otherwise we would have made more paints...

It was surprisingly fun! The boys were entertained for over an hour! What can entertain 2 boys for over an hour...? Oh right- a MESS!

It was pretty messy, but luckily it all washed out (even out of the laundry)

It was easy enough to just spray off the patio a few days later as well.

Gabriel was upset that he had paint on his hand and he wanted me to wash it off!

Our Masterpiece! Even after the paint was spilled we still had fun!

We will definitely be doing this one again!

Peace,
Nikki

Anniversary Trip to the Outer Banks!

2011-09-02T05:55:00.001-04:00

In the past 5 years I've had;
7 addresses in 5 different states
4 pregnancies
2 mortgages
3 churches
lots of home improvement lessons
4 dogs
4 cars
2 rats
about 100 fish
lots of cooking/grilling lessons

ONE AMAZING HUSBAND, who has shared it all with me!

I love my Stud!

Our 5th anniversary was on the 19th and Tony had planned an amazing surprise for me! (He's such a catch!)

He planned a trip to the Outer Banks with our friends Lavon and Brian! Even though I messed up the surprise and found out early.. this trip was still awesome!

We drove down on Friday (which was our anniversary) and met our friends on the beach! After some beach playing and kite flying we headed out for dinner and then to our hotel! Our room was amazing! Tony booked the Presidential Suite! It was gigantic! And Awesome! I have no photos.. you will just have to trust me!

Gabriel was not a fan of the water on Friday, but by Saturday he had warmed up to it and was having all kinds of fun!

We had a ton of fun playing on someone else's awesome sand frog!

Unfortunately, the wind was not cooperating, so we never actually got the kite up and flying! The Boys still enjoyed watching Beebop run around!

The next day (which was my birthday) was another fun filled day! We went to the beach again! This time we went to Jennettes Pier (which was way cool!)

We swam, saw tons of fish and Tony even got hit by a bunch of tiny fish that were trying to escape the jaws of some slightly larger fish!

We spent the whole day in the water or on the beach collecting shells... so I don't have many photos! We have a ton of shells though!

Bastian and Tony watching some jet skis ride by as we waited for our lunch!

Beebop and Brian at dinner.

Gabriel was so tired after all the swimming that he passed out as soon as we got in the car on the way to the restaurant!

He woke up about half way through dinner with crazy hair and a few gigantic yawns!

He woke up just in time for his shrimp dinner to arrive! What a way to wake up!

After dinner, we had some homemade ice cream and then headed to our hotels for bed!

The next day we all said our good byes and headed home! It was such a fun trip! We learned that the Outer Banks are amazing and we can't wait to go back!

When we got home I found a huge box in the living room. I assumed that the trip my anniversary gift and birthday gift... because Tony had been talking about how we can't spend any unnecessary money (Stinking Dave Ramsey!) but it turns out that Tony had also bought me a huge tent! We've been wanting to go camping for a long time, and we have most of what we need, but just not the tent! and now we have one!

I can not wait to go camping now! Hopefully I will get to post a blog about that before the summer is up!

It was such a fun trip, Tony is so good to me! Sometimes I can't believe it has been 5 years, and sometimes it feels like we've been together forever (in a good way)! I just have to find a way to surprise him with something amazing now!

Thanks for reading!

Peace,

Nikki

Hurricane Irene!

2011-08-28T17:39:00.000-04:00

Nothing really exciting here!

We were pumped and ready for an amazing Hurricane, and while it was quite rainy and windy... nothing really happened!

Im not sure if it was the general gloominess of the day or what, but I was not motivated to do a thing! I was able to can some tomatoes, but only because if I didn't they would have gone bad. I just prayed that the power stayed on the whole time... I would have been real bummed if we lost power in the middle! Luckily we only lost power for about 2 minutes and the tomatoes were successfully made into sauce and canned and are now on a shelf! Whoo hoo!
After I was done canning, I went back to doing nothing!

The boys loved to watch out the window and yell everytime the wind blew really hard!

The most exciting thing was that our crab apple tree in the back yard broke in half! But it was a sickly tree that was only about 20 feet tall. We might just plant another one there... only this time a real apple tree!

We are glad that nobody was hurt and that we are safe and with electricity... but we really expected a little more excitement from a Hurricane.. especially when it is just days after an earthquake!

Maybe I'm just weird though... maybe.

Peace!
Nikki

Another Trip to Belle Isle and Lewis Ginter

2011-08-28T17:14:00.000-04:00

Bastian's Birthday and Party-ness

2011-08-10T09:31:00.000-04:00

Bastian was sick sick sick on his birthday! Actually he was sick the day before and 4 days afterward! The poor guy had a headache, body aches, super high fever and he was vomiting! He was pretty pathetic and he made it even worse by asking me "Does everyone get sick when they turn 4?" He thought this was a normal part of the aging process!

Once he was finally feeling a little better we had some friends over for pizza and cake. I dont have any photos of that.. Sorry!

On Saturday we were finally able to celebrate his birthday! We have been wanting to go canoeing for quite some time so we finally went! It was so much fun!

Tony manned the back of the canoe and Bastian held down the middle!

Even though he almost fell in a few times, Gabriel had fun too! As long as he had a stick!

The best way to entertain kiddos in a canoe is to give them a stick and then let them play in the sludge!

Bastian kept pulling the stick out to check out the slime! This was not the cleanest water ever!

Whatta MAN!

The state park that we canoed at had an AWESOME water park! So we played there after canoeing, it was a great idea! We had so much fun!

Sweet baby Gman! I had a hard time getting photos of him, he never stopped moving!

Bastian enjoyed getting to hit people with water!

About 3 minutes into our drive home, this is what our back seat looked like! They were exhausted!

Team Whitehead Goes Bowling!

2011-07-05T05:03:00.002-04:00

We signed up for a summer bowling pass at some lanes near our house and it has been awesome!

Tony loves to bowl and I am pretty sure that he would go every day if he had someone to go with... and that I wouldn't be upset that he was never home... maybe.

We were pretty pumped to see that the boys like it too!

The boys with their bowling balls! I think that bowling shoes in size 7( G-man's size) are the cutest ever!

(The marks on Bastian's face are from his first case of Poison Ivy this year... )

Gabriel's balls took forever to get down the lane! Tony insists that our kids learn to bowl properly and not to use the slide thing... Gabriel doesn't seem to mind much!

Bastian was excited from beginning to end! We did have to battle some grumpiness because he had a hard time waiting for his turn... but he recovered quickly!

I am sure that we will be bowling again in the near future, so there will likely be more photos!

Peace,

Nikki

Steve and Kristina Come to visit!

2011-07-03T19:45:00.002-04:00

Soon after Grandma Beth and Jane left we welcomed more house guests! Seriously.. it was less than 48 hours!

We had a blast, and now we know what it would be like with 8 people living in our home! AWESOME!

Steve is a friend from high school (Actually we didn't like each other in high school at all! But after high school we reconnected at a mutual friends wedding and discovered that neither of us are jerks anymore! Now he and his wife are some of our closests friends!)

They stayed with us for 4 crazy fun filled days.

We were able to check out;

VA Beach- Where a huge storm caused us to run and carry (yes carry!) strollers into a nearby hotel because 70 mph winds and sand do not make for a very kid friendly afternoon! It was really scary, but after about 30 minutes in the lobby of a beach front hotel all was calm and we decided to head home!

National Zoo- Again! good thing we bought a pass this year! It is such a fun zoo! And we get free zoo cookies every time we go!

The National Mall & Smithsonian- Bastian got to see dinosaurs and a bunch of dead animals right after we left the zoo. Awesome, right?

Here are some photos !

My favorite beach photo of Bastian!

Bastian and Joshua

Kristina braving the waters with Joshua and Bastian!

Bastian checking out the amazonian fish at the national zoo!

My men in a South American Rain Forest, looking for monkeys!

I think that G-man and Tony look a lot alike here!

Th McGraths! Steve with Joshua and Kristina with Connor!

Gabriel- who is having an awesome hair moment!

Team McGrath at the Zoo!

We picked the parking lot with the giant steps all the way to the zoo! Don't park in Parking lot C if you have a stroller!

Kristina her way down the steps with another sleeping baby!

The big boys rode with the daddies and the little boys rode with the mommies... Bastian and Joshua were lucky enough to watch movies during each road trip! He is still talking about Wall-E!

We can't wait to see them again!

Peace,

Nikki

Grandma Beth and Janey Poo come to visit!

2011-06-30T19:24:00.007-04:00

We recently had my mom and her friend Jane come for a few days!

The boys love "Grandma Beth" no matter what... but since she met Jane she has become quite a bit cooler!
Jane loves reptiles, lizards and all things creepy crawly! So now Grandma Beth loves them and owns a TON of them! When we skype Bastian justs asks to see the lizards and snakes! It is like a virtual trip to the zoo!

During the visit Bastian had lots of questions for both of them and loved to ask questions and try to impress them with his knowledge of all things gross!

While they were here we were able to see:
Maymont... Where I had to take Jane down a horrifying flight of windy cobblestone steps in her wheel chair and I thought we were both going to die the whole time!

The National Zoo - Where Bastian, my mom and Jane all talked about lizards and had a blast!

and an amazing restaurant on the southside called Benny's BBQ. If you like BBQ- you have to check it out!

Here are some photos!

Under an awesome tree at Maymont!

Playing on a hill at Maymont.

Gman and Me in a Butterfly house at the National Zoo.

The Big Male Lion at the zoo. He currently has 7 babies with him and they are super cute!

Bastian checking out Lizard innerds!

Gman and Daddy making Crazy Faces!

Bastian, Jane and Grandma Beth checking out a snake.

Checking out the meerkats. They freak out over my mom's service dog Echo!

Grandma Beth, Jane and Bastian again.

Bastian and Gabriel looking at some tiny mammal.. I can't remember what it is called...

We had a blast and can't wait for them to come back!

Peace,

Nikki

Bastian is 4!!!

2011-06-28T05:55:00.002-04:00

It blows my mind that 4 years ago my Bassie Boy was born!

Not to sound like a nerd, but it seems like yesterday! Although so much has changed in our lives since then!

He is such a goof ball and such a fun guy! Bastian loves to have fun no matter where he is!
He is becoming such an amazing helper and he loves to help Gman do things... although Gabriel seems to be less enthusiastic about it!

He loves to spend time outside. He loves to garden with me.
We have 10 tomato plants planted this year and he can not wait to pick the tomatoes that he can already see on most of the plants!

He loves to look at and catch (and sometime squash) bugs. When I ask him not to squash bugs his defense is " but mom, I'm just a bug killer!"

He LOVES dinosaurs! He can name over 20 different species of dinosaurs and some he can tell you the time period that they lived during. He loves for us to describe a dinosaur and he will guess what kind it is. When we were playing and I was trying to get him to guess "Pliosaurus" he corrected me and said "excuse me, mom a pliosaurus is a marine reptile NOT a dinosaur!"
His favorite kind of dinosaur is Lambeosaurus and of course the T-Rex!

His absolute favorite thing to do right now is draw! If I find an old notebook around the house, I can give it to him and he will have it loaded from cover to cover in less than a week. I have no idea how well kids his age should be able to draw, but I am pretty sure that Bastian is a future Monet. Not that he is drawing lillies in a field or anything, but he seems to be pretty good at it to me. His most recent drawings that we have thought were amazing were; A bunny (he wants one for his b-day!), A Chef with a birthday cake, A Stegosaurus, and a Lizard with a bag on his tongue that helps him catch flies! There are literally hundreds more!

He is still taking a 2 hour nap each day in addition to sleeping 11 hours each night! I don't want to curse it by writing it here... we know that we are some lucky folk to have a 4 year old who still takes a regular nap!

Here are some photos of my handsome 4 year old!

He is currently in a headband phase.. that we think is AWESOME! He likes to wear one every day and now he has discovered that it is cooler for them to match his clothes!

The Aligator Snapping Turtle his favorite animal!

He still loves the beach and any water in general!

He still loves to be goofy!

Happy 4th Birthday my little Stud!

* Be prepared- Some of these pictures will show up again in the future in other blog posts.

Belle Isle, Our First trip of the year!

2011-06-27T20:59:00.002-04:00

Tony surprised me with a trip to Belle Isle with the boys on Mother's Day.
(Which was after I whined to him, because I wanted to do something fun and I didn't think we were going to! ) I'm not sure what it is about that place but we LOVE it! We went no less than 7 times last summer and we have already gone 3 times this summer!

Bastian's favorite thing to do is to throw rocks into the water!

You have to pick the perfect rock.. Tony is taching him what size/shape rocks skip the best.

Apparently, after throwing a rock in a river you have to strike a manly pose! Check.

A cute photo of my men!

Enjoy!

Playing Catch Up!

2011-06-26T18:55:00.000-04:00

Yikes!

Nothing like a 2 month blog break!

I will be playing some catch up for a few days... Because believe it or nit we didn't sit on the couch this whole time!

But until I write a real post here is are a couple of shots of my Gman looking goofy!

Military Photos!

2011-04-01T17:42:00.000-04:00

When we were cleaning off our old Desktop Computer I found a bunch of photos from Tech School. I thought they were too cool to not share!

This is me working in the cockpit of an A-10. Pretty much the coolest aircraft ever!

Tony and Me. I was about 20 weeks pregnant with Bastian at this point!

This is my Tech School Graduation!

Here are some random shots of our tech school experience. The group around the table is playing poker at one of the many poker tournaments that Tony and I arranged to raise money for an Organization called Airmen Helping Airmen (AHA). I was the president and it rocked!

Hooray Air Force!

What is Lent?

2011-03-14T16:09:00.001-04:00

None of this is my writing. It was shared by my church- Redemption Hill on our website.

Not only is is fascinating to me, but it proves to me that this RH is our home. We have never been around a more genuine and forward thinking crowd. The Gospel is the life of so many in this church and we feel so blessed to be a part of it

Anyways!- Here is some information about Lent!

Lent is a period of 46 days (40 days not including Sundays) between Ash Wednesday and Easter, originally a period of preparation for those to be baptized at Easter. It later became a time of penitence and self-examination for all Christians. Lent is a word that many people associate with deprivation, self-denial, and drudgery. But this is far from it’s actual and intended meaning!

The word ‘Lent’ actually means Springtime! Faithful Christians through the ages have always used the 40 days of Lent to restore vibrancy, life, passion, and vision in their walk with God.The tradition of Lent reflects the wisdom of our Christian ancestors who understood that we seemingly can’t help ourselves when it comes to accepting substitutes for God. C.S. Lewis, in his famous sermon The Weight of Glory said it well: “We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because we cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at sea. Weare far too easily pleased.”

The forty days of Lent are meant to be symbolic of the forty days spent by Christ in the wilderness being tempted by Satan. By observing Lent, we follow Jesus into the wilderness, resist temptation,pray, and proceed “on the way” to Jerusalem and the cross of Good Friday. However, unlike Jesus, our Lenten journey is one of repentance, that is, changing directions from self, self-serving patterns anda myopic focus on our life, toward the others-focused way of life of following Jesus. On this journey, we follow Jesus in laying down ourselves for others and trust that the power that raised Jesus from the dead is enough to guide us in repentance and renewal. The intervention of God’s gracious Spirit makes life-long changes become possible. Turning from the old self and experiencing a dying of old ways prepares us to truly experience the joy of Easter.

The season of Lent our prayers have repentance astheir focus. First, we own our sin as it shows itself in the different aspects of our being, wrong thinking and attitudes, wrong affections and aspirations, wrong behaviors and actions. Second, we turn from our sin to Christ for forgiveness and strength to change and grow to be more like Him.

Lent is a sober reflection upon our condition, which leads us to faith and fresh trust in and leaning on the finished work of Christ. The reflection on our sin, our brokenness and all the ways we are tied to and contribute to the brokenness in the world, should serve to increase our gratitude and wonder at the love of God.

For so many, Lent only carries connotations of fasting and self-denial. To be clear, there is a place and call for fasting— from food, from situations, from elements of our environment. However, as Thomas Chalmers reminds us in his sermon, The Expulsive Power of a New Affection, the rooting out of the sinful elements of the world is best accomplished by replacing that desire with something more powerful and desirable—the Gospel. Maturity is not just turning away from sin but rather it is the declaration of a dependance upon all that God is for you in Jesus...it’s the power of grace becoming a renewed affection for you.
You can never replace something with nothing. With that in mind, it is better to not be so caught up in the idea of giving things up for Lent as much as leaning into the disciplines of grace—prayer, fasting, acts of mercy, meditating on the Word of God, the sacraments and the communion of the saints.Thomas Chalmers also wrote: “In bygone days when God’s covenant people sought to strengthen their piety, to sharpen their effectual intercessions, and give passion to their supplications, they partook of the means of grace in all holiness with humble prayer and fasting. When intent upon seeking the Lord God’s guidance in difficult after-times, they partook of the means of grace in all holiness with humble prayer and fasting. When they were wont to express grief—whether over the consequences of their own sins or the sins of others—they partook of the means of grace in all holiness with humble prayer and fasting. When they sought deliverance or protection in times of trouble,they partook of the means of grace in all holiness with humble prayer and fasting. When they desired to express repentance, covenant renewal, and a return to the fold of faith, they partook of the means of grace in all holiness with humble prayer and fasting. Such is the call upon all who would name the name of Jesus. Such is the ordinary Christian life.”

The following outline for this period of prayer and reflection is intended to assist you as you along the way. It is not meant to be a new legalism. But let’s face it, we often need help in focusing on what is truly important and in laying aside distractions... and this guide is designed to provide that help. Use as much or as little of this as seems appropriate for you.
May this season be a “springtime of faith” for us all. Our Lord has written the promise of the resurrection, not in books alone, but in every leaf in springtime.

—Martin Luther Our Lenten Rhythm: A New Twist on an Ancient Practice
This season let’s try something new...not for the sake of new or because the old way is broken. But in an effort to be more holistic and intentional, let’s strike an intentional rhythm to the steps of our journey to the cross.

This year our Lenten journey will look like:
Weekly Fasts
Each week, we’ll be fasting from a particular pleasure. Lent Sundays are “Feast” days when in celebration of the goodness Jesus brings, we break our fasts. Do each fast for the week and only for that week; or, consider letting them build on each other, so that by the end of Lent, you are doing all six weekly fasts at the same time.
Daily Readings & Prayers
Our daily rythmn will be reading & reflection one day, prayer the next. On one day, you’ll read a passage of Scripture and reflect on a specific aspect of it. On the next day, you’ll use the Lord’s prayer as a guide to pray through what you’ve discovered about your heart the day before. For example, on Day 1 there is a reading on simplicity with questions designed to help you wrestle with what things end up ‘owning you’. On day 2, you would pray through the Lord’s Prayer with the intention of letting each petition shape and challenge what you discovered in your heart the day before.
Corporate Prayer/Feasting Days
On Lent Sunday, feast days, we will all be using the Lord’s Prayer as a guide to pray for Redemption Hill. When possible, do this with members of the Redemption Hill community in connection with feasting in anticipation for the ‘great feast’ that is Easter.

As a way of being accountable:
Share your intentions for Lent on The City, with your housemates/family, with your community group
or a friend.

As we observe Lent, here are some other helpful practices to put into
the rhythm of your daily life:
• Read through one of the Gospels between now and Easter.
• If you don’t already journal, begin now. Reflect on your readings,
prayers and questions.
• Find a way to go to bed earlier, get enough rest and rise earlier.
• Make a list of people with whom you need to be reconciled. Pray for them
and let Jesus guide you in your thinking and feeling toward them.
• List the priorities in your life at the beginning of Lent. Revisit at the end.

If you want to read any more or just check out an amazing church Check out Redemption Hill

Never too early for 3 Lakes Nature Park!

2011-02-27T07:05:00.002-05:00

Since the weather is amazing, we've been spending a lot of time outside! Last Friday we decided to head to 3 Lakes Nature park for some fun!

I was sick so I slept in the car with Gabriel, while Daddy and Bastian played Soccer!

Cutest miss ever!

Finally Gman and I left the car for a walk on the deck to watch the ducks and turtles! Gman was amazed!

Bastian held tight to his hand for the entire walk to the deck!

Aren't my men handsome?

What's the deal with the crazy faces!

What a fun day! We love 3 Lakes!

Peace,

Nikki

More of my goofy boys!

2011-02-26T12:57:00.001-05:00

While trying to get some normal photos of my men, I got these! I do like some of them and I love that they both show lots of personality!

Peace,

Nikki

ANGRY BIRDS!!

2011-02-18T18:03:00.000-05:00

Angry Birds is a big deal around here! Everything becomes either an "angry bird" or a "pig"

When jumping on the couch or bed or trampoline Bastian loves to crash into pigs.

When in the bath he crashes his boats of angry birds into boats of pigs.

When drawing Bastian likes to draw pictures of pigs with collapsed houses.

And DOWN THEY GO!

To make the most out of this current obsession we decided to make actual towers out of our wood blocks and then trash them with Angry Birds! We pay attention to the height, shape and colors so that we can attempt to make it an intentional learning experience!

Bastian LOVES our new game!

Peace,

Nikki

Team Whitehead Recycling

2011-02-11T15:14:00.002-05:00

Bas pushing Gman in the Paper Bin!

In an effort to educate Bastian about the importance of recycling and being a good steward, Tony and I have decided to make sure that we know what we are talking about!

We've been recycling and composting for quite some time, but I couldn't tell you the real reasons. Other than the normal "It saves energy" or "it keeps it out of landfills"... I want to know how much energy we are talking about here and since paper breaks down relatively quickly is it actually better to recycle it, compost it, or toss it in the trash?

Gman's new favorite place to play is the recycle bin!

For anyone who is interested.
Paper Facts:
*Environmental Protection Agency claims that producing recycled paper requires 40 percent less energy than making paper from virgin wood.
* Recycling paper instead of making it from new material generates 74 percent less air pollution and uses 50 percent less water
* Recycling 1 ton of paper saves 17 mature trees, 7,000 gallons of water, 3 cubic yards of landfill space, 2 barrels of oil, and 4,100 kilowatt-hours of electricity — enough energy to power the average American home for five months.
So Score one for Paper Recycling!

Metal Facts:
* Recycling aluminum saves 95% of the energy needed to produce new aluminum from raw materials. Energy saved from recycling one ton of aluminum is equal to the amount of electricity the average home uses over 10 years
* Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a 100-watt bulb for 20 hours, a computer for 3 hours, or a TV for 2 hours
*Americans throw out enough iron and steel to supply all the nation’s automakers on a continuous basis
* The 36 billion aluminum cans landfilled last year had a scrap value of more than $600 million. (Some day we'll be mining our landfills for the resources we've buried.)
Pretty Much a Good idea to recycle Metals as well!

Glass
* Glass never wears out -- it can be recycled forever. We save over a ton of resources for every ton of glass recycled -- 1,330 pounds of sand, 433 pounds of soda ash, 433 pounds of limestone, and 151 pounds of feldspar.
* *Americans throw away enough glass bottles and jars every two weeks to fill the 1.350-foot towers of the former World Trade Center.

*Most bottles and jars contain at least 25% recycled glass.

Toss the glass in the recycle bin! (Unless you are like me and save every last bit of glass that you can get your hands on!)

Plastic

*Americans go through 25 billion plastic bottles every year.

* According to Dr. Mike Biddle, President of MBA Polymers, recycling plastics uses only roughly 10 percent of the energy that it takes to make a pound of plastic from virgin

materials.

Much better than not recycling- but cutting down on plastics is best!

Styrofoam

* Un-recyclable. Stop using it!

Unfortunately as recycling technology increases, the number of items that are being recycled is not growing at the same rate. This is because consumers assume that by tossing that last water bottle in the recycle bin that they are at peace with the world and can snag another bottle out of the fridge. Recycling is not a 1:1 ratio... most of the time plastics are down-cycled and turned into something that can not be recycled. Many companies that use plastic packaging know this and use recycling to push consumerism. Why not, you can just recycle that old bottle anyhow! This combined with the fact that 74% of plastics are NOT recycled at all, is creating a downward spiral of good intentions ending up in the garbage!

The best alternative here is to reduce consumption overall.

Alright, that last picture is unrelated... but I Like it!

Peace,

Nikki

Welcome to Whitehead Farm!

2011-01-29T23:12:00.002-05:00

Phew!- Finally posting about Gman's birthday bash!
Not too shabby considering I've been posting things about 4 weeks after the fact!

Gabriel's Big Birthday Bash was awesome!

I realized how much harder it is to throw an big party with 2 little ones, and that means that we will probably be scaling back on future parties. (I know, I am SO lame!) But I am realizing that other things need to be as exciting and important as planning a party and so as I struggle with my priorities, something has to give. And can you believe that it's a party?! Of all things!

Anyways- We had so much fun with our friends and we definitely had a full house!

Here's the run down on the festivities!

Theme- Whitehead Farm (we never really did decide if we were a cow, horse, pig.. farm so I guess it was just a Farmy farm)

Food- Pretzel Sticks for Hay, Chex Mixy Snack for Chicken Feed, Animal Crackers for... Animals

We also had Mini Apple Pies and Apple Pie Pockets. Tony also made some rockstar Ice cream! and we had No cake!

Activities- Farm Animal Toss- Tonya and I made a barn out of foam core to toss farm animals through (I think 2-3 people played it) We also had a planting station where each child could plant either a pumpkin, a sunflower or corn in a small plant-able pot. (2-3 kids did this as well) We are just getting to the age of party games and fun... so I'm not real shocked that the activities didn't each have a mile long line. And I have a bunch of small plant-able seed starting pots for the garden this year! Woot!

Party Favors- Homemade Granola with a snazzy label!

Due to the time of the party (2-4pm) Gabriel was pretty tired toward the end of it and he actually fell asleep in my lap at about 3:30. So we did not open gifts with guests. :( We loved everything though and we just started our Thank You Cards- so they should be to you soon!

Peace!

Nikki

Factor Tree for Free!

2011-01-27T20:02:00.000-05:00

We recently found a website called Factor Tree- which is apparently a better way to teach kids math.

It is pretty neat site that makes math fun for the little ones!
Here is some info from the website.

A better way to learn math

Every student learns differently — shouldn’t your child be taught math in the way that works best for them? The team at The Factor Tree think so. Which is why their online supplementary math education platform adapts as your child learns, to ensure your pre-K to 6th-grader is always taught in the way that gets the best results.

What makes the Factor Tree so effective?

Provides the practice and repetition needed for a child to truly master key math skills
Use a skill-adaptive progression algorithm to pinpoint each child’s true skill level
Provides parents with helpful reports, metrics and notifications to track their child’s progress
Combines a state testing-compliant curriculum, world class educational theories and innovative technology to create a better learning tool

Visit thefactortree.com to learn more about its distinct approach to education and sign up for your free one-month trial.

Use the code "bzzagent" to get 2 weeks free!

It's neat enough to try for free- and see if you like it.

Roles, Goals and Mission Statements!

2011-01-25T22:27:00.000-05:00

I have been following a few blogs that have been talking about the importance of a Mission Statement. I started one a while ago an just took the time to finish it.

The easiest way for me to get started was to define my roles and then outlining how I would like to perform in each of those areas.
My Current Roles are;

1. Daughter of the King

a. Spend Time in the Word Daily (As a Priority, before TV or Computer time)

b. Spend Time in Prayer Throughout the Day

c. Attend Church Weekly

d. Attend Bible Study Weekly

e. Attend Small Group Study Weekly

f. Read No less than 1 Book per month

2. Wife

a. One on One time daily

b. Devotional Time together (3 times a week)

c. Make lunch for Tony to take to work

d. Make Breakfast for Tony to eat each morning

e. Date Night once a month

3. Mother

a. Read Bible each night before Bed

b. Purposefully pray throughout the day

c. Daily devotional before breakfast

d. Singing & Praying each night before bed

e. Model Godly character in all areas

4. Teacher

a. Highlight God’s Glory in every possible way

b. Aim to make teachable moments everywhere we go

c. 30 Minutes in Lesson Daily & Lesson focused play daily

d. 30 Minutes of reading daily (Before any TV/Gaming is allowed)

e. 1 Library Trip per week

f. 1 Educational Outing per week

5. Homemaker

a. Prepare Quality Meals for my Family

b. Maintain order throughout the house

c. 1 Load of Laundry Per Day

d. Plan Week each Sunday Night (Meals, To Do’s, Lessons)

6. Friend

a. Host dinner for friends at least twice a month

b. Send Cards/Encouragement to at least one person weekly

It looks like a long "To Do List" but really this is pretty much how we live and it is nothing to "Do" but really it is just aiming to be purposeful in all that we do. For me as a list person, I really like having my "duties" all written out... it's a really easy way for me to organize them mentally!

Now for the mission statement. It seems to work well for now, but The Lord has been strong in conveying that he wants Tony and me to live simply and to focus our life on the Mission of God and less on ourselves. We feel like He is pushing the need to be purposeful in everything and wasteful in nothing.... so here is my mission statement!

· To Love the Lord with all my heart, soul, mind and strength and follow His commandments.

· To live purposefully and simply in all aspects of my life.

· To Love my husband and encourage him constantly, To submit to his God given authority and to be his partner in all things

· To be a good steward of all of the gifts that the Lord has trusted us with

· To cherish our children and show them the Love of Christ. To teach them to live intentionally for the Lord and with good character

· To be a blessing to others and to constantly encourage

· To Live my Life for the mission of God and to actively serve the Lord and Others.

I plan to print a few of these to place around the house, in my bible and in my journal to keep me mindful of the Lord's directions and where he's pulling me so that I will not get lazy and forgetful.

I highly recommend this exercise to everyone it is a great way to ensure personal accountability and to give more direction to your daily life!

Peace,

Nikki

Sanctity of Life Day

2011-01-23T20:29:00.001-05:00

I didn't even know until today that National Sanctity of Life Day existed... but I'm glad that it does.

It is something that I probably wouldn't have given a second thought to, but having lost a baby through miscarriage has really change my perspective. I have a much deeper appreciation for life now, I can not imagine (for ANY reason) choosing to end a life. I have faith and God has a plan and I have faith in that plan!

I think it is a shame that every president, every year has issued a Sanctity of Life proclamation for the third Sunday in January... except our current one. But perhaps he's just saving his proclamations for June & LGBT Month. What a guy! (Sorry, I didn't intend to get political here!)

Any ways- Hug your babies, and don't take them for granted.
We love a God who gives and takes away, and at the end of the day He is still good. We owe him everything.

Peace,
Nikki

Happy Birthday To Gmanny!

2011-01-15T23:54:00.004-05:00

Apparently the first year with your second born child flies by! It seemed like I had 10 years to plan and prepare for Bastian's first birthday... and Gabriel's hit me like a ton of bricks! His first year went so fast! I guess it just shows me how much busier I am this time around!

To celebrate my baby dude's big day we went to Kangaroo Jacks! He loves to go to the Inflatable Palace and so we figured that we would take it up a notch for his special day. We had a blast and Gabriel even tried to bounce in the bounce houses and had a great time chasing me around in them. He was even daring enough to take a couple of the slides solo!

Bastian had a ton of fun as well, he still asks to go back just about every day!

Here are some baby dude stats:

Favorite Words- Momma, Daddy, Eat and and something that sounds like "That" but I don't think it's what he's saying!

Favorite Toys- For Christmas and Birthday we received some toys where you drop a ball down a ramp and it falls on another ramp then another... you get it right? That's our go to toy these days! He also LOVES the stacking rings. His hand eye coordination blows me away!

Walking?- Heck yes! He took his first steps the week before he turned 11 months! And now he is trotting around the house like a man!

Signs?- We are pretty confident with the "Eat" sign, the "All Done" Sign, the "Milk" sign and "More"

Sleeping?- Much better than Bastian at this age! We are still co-sleeping crazy folk, but Gman will actually fall asleep while cuddling Tony. Which is something that Bastian NEVER did. It is kind of nice!

Random Info-

* Gabriel loves to climb! (yikes!) He loves to sneak up the stairs, climb on boxes to get closer to the fish tank, and even climb on the couch (unassisted) to look out the window!

* While he is normally a mellow fellow, he has quite the temper! Once he's angry, he's angry! And his angry cry is not one that anyone wants to hear!

* Gman has 6 teeth and he has 2 more working their way through now.

*He loves to breath out his nose at people (weird, I know!) but if you do it back he will crack up every time!

* He loves to watch Bastian, I love how he watches him. He clearly thinks that his big bro is the coolest guy in the world. It is really neat to watch. Although I think that once they can start teaming up against momma, I might be singing a different tune!

*We are still having tummy troubles! We have ruled out allergies, but all that means is we have no idea. Milk/dairy still causes him to puke and so do grains. As long as we remain off of grains and dairy we seem to be ok. Someday we may sort it all out.

There you have it. All the best info about Gabriel. He is an amazing little guy and we are super thrilled to get to hang out with him as often as we do... for the most part!

Pictures from the party coming soon!

Peace,

Nikki

A January Christmas Post

2011-01-14T22:36:00.000-05:00

Better late than never right?

Our Christmas looked like this;

We left our house and headed to my sister Jamey's house...

We stayed there for 2 days and on Christmas Eve we headed to my dad's house.
We stayed with my dad until the following Tuesday. The Monday after Christmas we made a day trip to Battle Creek MI to visit some friends.

At Jamey's house we made cookies, played video games and enjoyed the snow!

At my dad's we played more video games and wrestled and enjoyed a bunch of new toys!

We also had an awesome Christmas Dinner! The ham was amaaaaazing!

The car rides were tough! G-man is not a guy who can snooze away a 10 hour drive like he used to be! Our drive to Jamey's (which is only 8 hours) involved 7 stops! Hopefully by the time our next road trip rolls around we will be able to relax a bit. It should help that he will be forward facing in his car seat by then.

He really had a blast visiting family and it was nice to spend time with my dad and step-mom that was relaxed on no super hectic!

One change that Tony and I made was less "stuff" we are trying to teach our boys that life is not about "stuff" but that our joy should come from The Lord. We also want to keep our focus on the true meaning of Christmas... Check out my new video game, oh yeah Happy Birthday to our Savior... wait, what?

So our first step was to buy less. Tony and I also decided that we like the idea of giving "Wise Men Christmas Gifts" so we adopted that plan this year and will continue to use it in the future.
The idea is that you receive Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh.
The Gold Gift- is one that you really want.
The Frankincense- is one that will help you grow spiritually
The Myrrh- is something that you can wear or put on.

For us this works amazingly! It helps me reign myself in from getting them every cool toy out there (pretty much because I like and want the toys just as much as the boys do!) It also is a super simple way to keep our Christmas centered on Christ the way that it should be.

Next year we plan to stay home for Christmas- we want to try a peaceful holiday alone with just us for once... hopefully something exciting happens or we'll be bored by noon!

Peace,
Nikki

Playing Catch Up! Christmas Concert & Bethlehem Tour

2011-01-01T22:13:00.000-05:00

Ok, so my computer is back and we are back! My computer is still funky... so I have to post the H out of this blog before good ol' Mr. Vaio buys the farm again!

Here are a bunch of photos from December!

Bastian had his first Christmas Concert at Bible Study!

He was super pumped to have the bells!

It may not look like it, but he had a good time! Especially the songs that he knew well.

It was super adorable!

Another Awesome December Event was The Bethlehem Tour!

What an amazing idea, we will definitely go back every year! We really wanted a way for Bastian to actually see all of the stories that we've told him over and over! As soon as he saw a man dressed up walk past us he yelled out "hey mom, I'm pretty sure that man is an Israelite!"

First, we walked through Bethlehem after paying our taxes to the Romans. We used all of our money so we couldn't afford a room... but as you know, there was no room at the inn anyways.

Mary and Joseph at the inn trying to get a room.

Our guide trying to convince the innkeeper to let us stay... unfortunately we were sent to the fields with the sheep.

While in the field, we heard from the angels that a child was born.

and then we found Mary cradling Jesus shortly after his birth.

The wise men showing the gifts that they brought for Jesus.

Mary presenting Jesus to the Lord at the Temple.

Listening to the teachings of Jesus.

Listening to the story of His death.

The empty tomb.

Listening to Nicodemus before the tour ends.

It was such an amazing night! I highly recommend going next year!

Christmas post will be up in the next few days!

Then on to New Years!

Peace,

Nikki

Computer Camp- Again!

2010-12-12T21:15:00.000-05:00

Sorry to all of my faithful readers! (Or Mom... since you might be my only reader!)

My computer is back at Computer Camp... getting a new hard drive or getting replaced (I'm crossing my fingers for this one, Momma wants an Ipad!!)

It'll be a while for a new blog post... unless I have to start uploading photos on Tony's computer.

Bead for Life

2010-12-05T05:55:00.002-05:00

BeadforLife eradicates extreme poverty by creating bridges of understanding between impoverished Africans and concerned world citizens.

Ugandan women turn colorful recycled paper into beautiful beads. Women in Northern Uganda gather shea nuts and press them into shea butter for cosmetics and soaps. And people who care open their hearts,homes and communities to buy and sell both products.

The beads and shea butter become income, food, medicine, school fees and hope. It is a small miracle that enriches us all.

I recently signed up to Host a few Bead Parties for the organization and Thursday was our first!

It is tough to have all this jewelry here and not want to keep every piece!

I also want to keep all of the lip balm!

The prices are super reasonable (and listed on the website)...

The greatest part is that more than 70% of all money collected goes directly back to the communities that the beads originated. The host of the show does not receive any free jewelry, any discount, or any money for hosting a show!

Let me know if you are interested!

Thanks,

Nikki

Grandpa Bill and Grandma Beth visit VA

2010-12-03T16:44:00.000-05:00

Unfortunately we didn't take photos until the last day of the trip!!

Thanksgiving with Friends and Family!

2010-12-02T23:19:00.000-05:00

We were lucky enough to have my mom and Bill and my 90 year old Great Grandma!

Not only that but we welcomed our friends over for dinner as well.

Matthew, Alyssa and Nathan

Joan and Bryan

We had tons of food!

And dessert, including Pretzel Jello!

We also dressed the boys up for the occasion!

And after dinner the men went outside to play football!

And the turkey sets in and everyone gets sleepy!

Looks who's learned to love the camera!

Gabriel and his Great Great Grandma!

Bastian with "Grandma Grape!"

And finally a family photo after 100 tries!