Big boy bed and birthdays

I promised pictures in my last post, so here is the first official picture of Luke in his new big boy bed. He looks so tiny in that big bed! As you can see, the walls turned out pretty bright, that was a little unexpected, but as we add more things to the walls they should tone down a bit (I hope!). The room has a frog theme, and an artist friend of mine is going to help me paint frogs on the blue ("the pond") wall. More likely scenario, she will paint the frogs and I will watch with a little bit of envy as I am not at all artistic. And yes, Luke has a pink pillow. Ava and Luke's cousin Maggie gave that pillow to Ava and Ava wanted to share it with Luke one night. He got quite attached, and I haven't been able to get it away from him. I think I might need to find a blue one just like it...

The past couple of weeks have been so busy! My dear friend Laura Rechkemmer spent a night with us and I took her to the airport (at 4:30 a.m.!) as she is going to Montana for 4 months of training with International Messengers (a missions organization). After training she will be spending the next 2 years in the Ukraine doing missions work. It was great to see her and hard to send her off, but we know God is going to use her in wonderful ways. We miss you Laura!

Andy's family spent last weekend with us and we celebrated birthdays! Ava requested a swan cake, Luke would have loved it if we sang "Happy Birthday" to him a hundred times, and blowing out the candles was a big hit.We had a great time with family and as mentioned before, Andy's ordination service was Sunday evening. It was a great time of celebrating with family and friends, and so great to see so many people who mean so much to us all in the same place. Thanks to all of you who were able to make it!

Ava and Luke are keeping busy coloring, painting, playing with play dough and their birthday and Christmas presents. Ava is becoming quite the artist. Here is her first family portrait!
She also enjoys "reading" to Luke. She has whole books memorized word for word and she and Luke will sit and read together for quite a while. It is nice to have a break sometimes!
On top of all of this, we have been busy with dentist and doctor appointments, doing premarital counseling with 3 engaged couples, and Ava recently started gymnastics, which she LOVES. I'll have to take my camera to the next gymnatics class, what a riot. She is learning a lot, last week they had them walking up the wall to do handstands! Something she does not need to teach her brother! Until next time...