1st Birthday!!!

It is hard to believe our Little man turned one-year-old on Thanksgiving Day. We have been so blessed by our sweet and precious bundle of joy, and so grateful the Lord allowed us to be his parents.

The morning of Sheldy's birthday

His cart from Granddad and Mimi

We decided to just do him a family party at my grandparents Thanksgiving evening. I did a Peter Rabbit theme as Sheldy loves to watch Peter Rabbit. It all turned out so cute and he had such a nice birthday. I well let the pictures tell the rest... there are a lot of them ;)

Our one-year-old

Pumpkin Patch

Daniel took today off from work to do a little more studying for the Professional Engineering Exam (which is tomorrow, please be in prayer for him) . Anyway, after some study this morning he took the afternoon off to relax and just spend some time as a family. I had been wanting to take Shelden to a pumpkin patch, so that is what we chose to do. Shelden enjoyed the trip by having his first wagon ride, getting a little pumpkin, playing with some hay and just having fun being with Daddy and Mama.

In other Sheldy news... Daniel and I were playing with him last night getting him to go back and forth between us when he took two steps totally by himself! He also stood for a good while tonight without holding on to anything (which he had not done more then a second or two), you could tell he was standing there debating whether to take a step or not. He must have decided "not" because after awhile he sat down, but Mama and Daddy are very proud of his efforts.

Craft project

Last night was Daniel's turn for prison ministry, I like to try to do some little fun craft project on these nights. Not that I do one every time or even half the time for that matter; but I did accomplish one last night. Well, the project this time was a Fall/Thanksgiving shirt for Shelden. I got a plain white shirt and painted three pumpkins on it using cookie cutters as my outlines. It turned out a lot better than I thought it might and I had so much fun doing it. Sheldy wore it today when we went to have lunch with Daddy and I think he approved. Below are a couple of pictures, he is losing his baby look and starting to look like a big boy.

Consignment sale

This weekend is a Just Between Friends consignment sale near me. So yesterday Sheldy and I went to see what we could find.

Sheldy Bug wasn't really needing anything as a friend had just pased on a bunch of stuff to him, but of course I looked and of course I found something. :) I was looking for him a Christmas outfit and I found the cutest set - pants, shirt and a vest that looked new for just $7.50.

I also looked for baby girl a few things and found some really sweet little outfits.

Baby girl's name

In June of this year, we discovered that we were expecting our second child. Shortly after, it seemed apparent that a miscarriage was inevitable, and were told by our medical service provider that there was nothing that could be done. “Nothing” however, did not include prayer, and it was the Lord who answered these prayers and has allowed us to continue carrying our “little girly” to date almost four months later. To this end, the name, Jenae meaning, “God has answered,” was selected to memorialize this and honor the One who answers prayers.

Jenae is also Lauryn’s middle name. This stimulated the idea of providing a unique combination of her parent’s names for our daughter, which seems to be an uncommon tradition. We have therefore chosen to give her the name:

Jenae Danielle Falkenstine

Having sustained this small fragile life through such turmoil to date, we firmly believe that the Lord, by answering these prayers has a special purpose for the life of this little lady. Jeremiah 29:11-13 was chosen as the verse to go with her name, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.”

Daniel, Lauryn and big brother Shelden

It's a...

We found out this morning who our little one is. I made a cake in the color to fit the gender and this evening we had a reveal party for our family. We had a lot of fun. Mom and Dad were here as well as Daniel's family that was in town (Uncle Stephen and Uncle Tom). I had everyone choose a napkin in either blue or pink before we cut the cake. You have to look at the pictures to see the color of the cake and find out what we are having. :)

Our little girl!

Play area

I have been trying to do some organization and a little rearranging. One of the things I have done is to fix Little Man a play area. His toys have been scattered around our living room making it seem more like a playroom. Yesterday I got the idea of fixing an area between our couches, so I moved the bookcase and set him up with a few more little baskets so his toys aren't all piled into one. Now he has little baskets for his blocks, balls and books as well as the two (one for his stuffed animals and one for all the other toys) he had before. Hopefully now toys won't be the first thing that hits you when you walk into the house. So far he seems to love it, he always has liked that corner anyway :). I don't mind him playing in the middle of the room either, but I am hoping to contain it a little.