Christmas in DC

Here are a few highlights from Christmas at my sister's in DC. When we got there they still had almost a foot of snow on the ground, so we all bundled up to play in it the first day we were there. The best part was when Krieg would dive stomach first onto the pile of snow in front of him. He loved it and didn't seem to mind the cold at all. You will also see one of his favorite presents- none other than Elmo! Of course, this is not a tickle me elmo or any other singing/dancing elmo, of which he is terrified! Just the plain old stuffed animal. We had a great time with my sister, brother-in-law and my parents! Krieg has been spoiled having playmates all day, every day.
On Tuesday we left my sisters and made the 10 min drive downtown for Campus Outreach's annual New Years Conference. There are about 500 students here, and around 40 from Western. It seems like God is doing a lot in our students' lives through the different speakers and seminars. We are hopeful that He will bring many of them to saving faith, and mature others as they learn to walk more closely with Christ.

A few more snow pictures

Let it snow...

We had the biggest snow today in the four years that we've lived in Cullowhee, and it's still not finished! There was a period of sleet and rain around 10 this morning, so I sent Kevin and Krieg out to enjoy it before it melted (or so I thought, since that is always what happens in the thermal valley that we live in). However, as you will notice in the picture, I could only find one mitten, so out Krieg went with one mitten on. I finally found another one, but obviously a mismatched one. Oh well, his hands were still warm after throwing snowballs. Surprisingly, he was most fascinated with the footprints he was making all over the driveway. Tomorrow should be a lot more fun, since there is about 6 inches out there right now, and it is great packing snow- snowballs and snowmen! Maybe Krieg will actually let me come out an play tomorrow. Today he insisted on it just being Daddy that accompanied him, which is why I only snagged a few quick shots of him out there.

Trip to Mama Polly and Pa'Gs house

While Kevin was out of town for the week, Krieg and I made the 5 1/2 hour drive to Nashville to visit my parents. He had more fun playing with Mama Polly and Pa'G then he has in a long time. He had constant playmates for 4 straight days. What's not to love! They played in tents, built lots of block rooms, bowled, sang happy birthday songs to anyone and everyone, and ate tons of fresh fruit! It sure made me wish we lived a little closer!

Christmas Tree Cutting

This will be Kevin and I's 5th Christmas together, and we have never had a Christmas tree. We decided this year we would get one, mainly because some of our good friends own a Christmas Tree farm, but also because we thought Krieg would enjoy it. So, today we all headed up the mountain and cut one down. Cutting down our own tree used to be one of my favorite family traditions when we were younger, so I was excited for us all to go up there. Here are a few pictures of Krieg and Ivy (Ivy's family has the tree farm!) Krieg had fun "driving" the bailor, and then even got to go for a ride on it with Mr. Matt! And just fyi for any of you who aren't from around Cullowhee, there are TONS of Christmas tree farms in the mountains around here. I had no idea that Western NC was such a big supplier of Christmas trees!

Fun times

I have been somewhat absent from the blog world, mainly because I haven't taken any pictures lately-which is my primary reason for posting. But tonight we had a really fun moment at our house that was blog-worthy. Every Sunday night Krieg's little friend Ivy comes over to play with Krieg and a babysitter while I meet with some friends downstairs in our small group. The babysitter had to leave early, so I came upstairs to take over. The two of them, (Ivy is 3, so she initiates a lot of their playing) asked to get into Krieg's crib, then had me turn the lights out and go out of the room so they could go "Night-Night." Then I would run back in the room and turn the lights on, and they would cackle SO loud and for so long, then tell me to do it again. This is the first time I have really ever seen Krieg play with any other kids like this. He was having so much fun. All I could think was, "I can't wait until Krieg can play with his little sister like this!" They will be about the same age apart as Krieg and Ivy are, so it was easy to imagine. It is making me more and more excited about having two little ones around here

Our little dinosaur!

Krieg made his appearance at our church's Fall Festival as a dinosaur, thanks to Kevin's mom! To my surprise, he actually really liked wearing the costume, and even insisted on keeping it on once we got home. The only thing he didn't like was the tail. When he had to sit on it in his car seat he kept pointing to it and saying "All done!" At the festival, he had no interest in filling his bag with candy, but occupied himself playing cornhole and "fishing" for as long as we would let him.
Here are a few pictures of him in his dinosaur, one with our good friends Amanda and Ivy (Pocahontas).

Surprise!

BABY #2 IS A GIRL!!

In the Kitchen

One of Krieg's new adventures as of late has been helping me cook in the kitchen. On occasion when I am baking, I will let him help me stir something, or dump an ingredient in the bowl. But his version of cooking usually consists of pulling out the baking soda, cinnamon, and vanilla (all ingredients he can both reach, and have secure tops on them that he can't open yet!) and pretending to pour them in a bowl and stir. So just about any time that I say I'm going to the kitchen to cook, he follows right behind me and begins pulling out his ingredients. I love it and think it's so cute. I want to encourage him to enjoy cooking since it's one of my favorite things to do, and consequently I spend a lot of time in the kitchen! I can't wait until he is big enough to stand on a stool and actually help me!

October Afternoons

Just about every afternoon after Krieg's nap we head outside to walk to the mailbox and play with his outdoor toys. I am so thankful for the fall and dreading when it's too cold to go outside for an hour or two!

Why I love consignment sales

If anyone knows me, they know I love finding deals. So, consignment sales have become my new favorite place to get deals on things for Krieg. The one in town was this weekend, so in order to be the first one to get in, I volunteered at it for 3 hours. It proved to be a good decision. I came out with a little Tykes basketball hoop for $1, a 4 foot tall chalk board/dry erase easel for $2, and a huge bag full of Black and Decker tools for $5 among a bunch of other things. I am saving the first two until winter, when we are tired of playing inside and need some new entertainment. But I gave Krieg the drill from the tool set yesterday since Kevin was drilling in the bathroom. He thought he was so cool to have a drill just like his Daddy! Kevin calls them "Drill Buddies!" I can't wait to see him with the rest of the tools. Now I'm on the lookout for a tool bench. Let me know if you find a good deal for me!

WCU Staff Team

Our staff team is finally growing! Ashley just arrived, so we now have two out of the three new staff up here. We are all thrilled to have the extra help. It sure does make Kevin's load a lot lighter. So in celebration of Ashley's arrival this week, I thought I would post a picture of our team.

Potty Anyone?

It was a big day at the Arrowood house yesterday. Krieg did his first pee and poop on the potty!! And he decided to make it a nightly ritual and went again tonight before his bath. But in case you are wondering, we are NOT attempting to potty train already. I caught him right before he was about to poop as I was putting on a new diaper after a bath last night, and thought I'd let him try to go on the potty. He did, and loved it. So, out we went to Walmart this morning to buy his very own potty seat. Low and behold, he decided to go again tonight. I have no expectation that he will continue to be so cooperative, but just figured if he was enjoying using a big boy potty, I would encourage it. Who knows, maybe we'll be lucky and he will be a quick learner. I would love to be done with diapers!

Splashing in the puddles

Krieg loves wearing his rain boots in the house, so I finally managed to get them on him to go stomp in puddles. Unfortunately there weren't many puddles on our street, but we found a few little ones. And Krieg's two favorite neighborhood pets came out to join us! He was thrilled.

Krieg in the Creek

Our friend Frances took some awesome pictures of Krieg last month playing in a creek at our staff fellowship time. He was in true form, throwing rocks, getting wet and extremely muddy. Here are a few samples. Thanks so much Frances!

Don't Waste Your Life - Lecrae

We took 15 students from WCU and met up with another 25 students from PC and Furman at the Don't Waste Your Life Tour in ATL. I shot 3 videos before the battery on my video Camera died. Here is the first.

Trip to DC

Krieg and I made a trip to Washington DC this past weekend to visit my sister and brother in law. We got to check out their new house, see some of our cousins, and go on a White House tour, which included the West Wing (thanks to my cousin Christina who works for Obama!) The highlight of the trip for Krieg was playing with their dog, Hunter, who tolerated Krieg wonderfully! In keeping with his love for sports, Krieg also managed to find a vacuum part and turn it into a baseball bat within minutes of arriving, and played baseball wearing my brother in law's hat all weekend! We had a great time with them and wish we lived a little bit closer. We love you guys!

Baby news and a few other things

Just in case anyone hasn't heard the news...Baby #2 is on the way. I am 11 weeks pregnant and due March 9th. That means Krieg and the new addition will be about 23 months apart. I am feeling the effects of being pregnant more than I did with Krieg, and I am hoping that the second trimester will bring a little more energy and a not so queasy stomach! 

And for your enjoyment, here are a few pictures of Krieg from last week at our staff fellowship. We went to Linville Caverns one day when it was raining (hence the hood) and Kevin gave Krieg his first sword to play with! He had lots of fun last week playing with the other staff kids. It was fun for us to get to watch him actually play with the other kids, not just observe like he usually does. We wish we lived closer to all of them so they could see each other more often! Other fun news in Krieg's world: He is definitely left handed! We have been playing ball, baseball, basketball, you name it, and he always uses his left. He's actually gotten pretty good at swinging a bat lefty too! 

Lastly, school is starting back up; freshmen move in on Friday, which means our life gets a little crazy again. Pray for Kevin as he undertakes leading the ministry by himself again until the other staff finish raising their support. We are trusting God to complete their support quickly so he has a few extra hands to help him this semester. 

"The harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few..." so we want all the laborers we can get up here!

Krieg's favorite song

Every time Krieg hears this song he goes nuts and starts dancing.  We have tried to video tape him doing it but every time we get the video camera he stops dancing and wants to touch the video camera.  if we get a sneak attack filming him we will post it.  It is awesome

Flame ft. Lecrae, John Reilly - Joyful Noise from Adrian Hidalgo on Vimeo.

stephen the levite performing an accapella on humility from Biblethumper productions (germs) on Vimeo.

During one of our last days at the LP we got all of our students from WCU to play softball. This worked great because there were 21 of us and we had 13 gloves.  The girls wanted to play guys vs girls.  The guys won 17-2.  Then we divided up the teams and played again.  It was so much fun, Krieg had fun too and kept wanting to go swing the bat.  These are the WCU students at LP09.  Be praying for their time at home to be restful, worshipful, and filled with growth.

Hair Cuts

Before the cut...

After-after the 20 minute scream fest of a haircut and a stop at McDonalds for ice cream and the play place, that is. This was haircut #3 for Krieg. The first went great. The second was bearable. He didn't like it, but there was no screaming involved. This one, however, was awful. From the minute we tried to put the cool fish cape on, to the second I finally said all done and stood up, he cried and screamed! If anyone has any suggestions for making future haircuts more bearable, I would love them. I am sure that if we lived closer than 2 hours to one of those kids cuts places where they have all kinds of distractions, I would pay the cost for it!  And by the way, Kevin and I always think Krieg looks like a totally different kid after his haircuts. 

On another note, we are headed back to the Leadership Project tomorrow for the last week. We are both looking forward to catching up with all the Western students and hearing all the things God has been doing in their lives. 

Weeding

Since we got back from the LP, Krieg has become an expert weed puller. You can imagine how out of control our weeds were after being out of town for the whole month of June. Needless to say, the two of us have spent many hours outside pulling them out, and Krieg actually asks to go pull them now. He has even gotten strong enough to get some of the smaller ones out of the driveway. Gotta love my gardener in training!