10 teeth!

     Marcus Paul has TEN teeth!  Mark and I felt his second molar this morning after he showered.  So far, I must say, he's been a pretty good teether.  The only time he was really fussy and seemed to be in pain was when his top two teeth made their first appearances, but other than that, he just seems to sleep more!  Yes, I know we're lucky..yada, yada, yada, but we'll sure take it!
     As you saw in the previous post, Marcus is also saying lots of words and really trying to communicate more.  I just love hearing his sweet little voice say, "Mama" or "Dada" which, by the way, is his new favorite person.  Twice this week, Marcus & I were home, Mark was at work and someone knocked on our door.  Both times, Marcus dropped his toys, ran to the door, and said, "DADA?!?!" and was disappointed when it wasn't.  He's definitely a daddy's boy right now and it just melts my heart. 
     He continues to love balls, animals, and any type of mobile transporter (ie: bus, truck, cars, bulldozers, etc).  Also this week, he just started making the car noise when he "drives" them around on the floor.  He still wants to be outside at all times, no matter how cold, and still throws a fit when we bring him in.  Since our basement has new incredible flooring (thanks to my dad and amazing husband), Marcus & I will probably spend many hours this winter, playing downstairs.  I posted pictures of the floor in earlier posts, but when we have everything redistributed and set up, I'll take more pictures.
     Finally, we are SO EXCITED for Christmas!  We will spend Christmas Eve with my dad's family, Christmas Day with my mom's family, then we're heading up to Canada!  We are thankful for the ability to spend the whole week with our Canadian family, but especially our nieces and nephew.  Emma is 6, Sam is 3, and Alyssa is 4 months old and this will be our first meeting with her.  I can't wait to hold and love on that baby girl!  But don't worry, there's enough Aunt Leah to go around and love on Emma and Sam as well!  We definitely love them like our own.
     So whether you're staying at home this Christmas or traveling far away, stay focused on WHY we celebrate Christmas.  It's more than gifts, food, and family.  It's about the birth of our SAVIOR and how he was born to die for our sins.  During all the hustle & bustle, take time to spend with the Lord in quiet meditation and prayer.  Read the book of Luke to remind you of how it all began (in an Earthly sense) and share it with your family.  Make it a yearly tradition to open God's Word and share TRUTH.  THAT is what Christmas is all about.

MERRY CHRISTMAS, Y'ALL!

Marcus figured out how to crawl up into the rocker by himself & read.

He's so proud of himself!

Marcus & Isabella at Wednesday Night Puggles

Mariclaire, Ahrianna, and Matthew - my sweet Puggles!

I couldn't find a "Christmas" stamp that I liked so I just settled on Ronald Reagan ones!

Here are a few extra Christmas pictures taken by Abigail Grindstaff

In front of the Christmas tree at our home.

In front of the Grove Park Inn Christmas tree

He called all the ornaments, "balls" - go figure

Our Little Chatterbox

Our weekend in pictures

Marcus thought Granddad was funny, right off the bat Friday afternoon.

They made pretty good time with the large area.

Then I had to move all of our "stuff" onto the new floor so they could start in the side rooms.

"Watcha doin Granddad?"

"This is easy."

DONE!  Well 75% was done by Saturday night.

Sunday morning the children led us in a program called, "Back to the Manger."

Mark was "Mr. Olsen" (and might I add...hysterical)

He got to bring The Gospel at the end of the show.

The whole gang

Holding "Baby Jesus" from the play. :)

Granddad stayed home while we were in church and upon our arrival, Mark helped him put in the last few rows of flooring.

The face of two tired, but PROUD men!  Thanks fellas!

I began wrapping presents while Marcus was sleeping, but he woke up earlier than anticipated.

Yeah, it ended pretty soon after he was awake.

Uncle Daniel and Aunt Bethany stopped in on their way to Virginia.  They live in Alaska and this was the first time they'd met Marcus face to face.

New Flooring!

     As we speak, my dad and Mark are downstairs banging away, putting new flooring into our basement.  This has been a long time coming, people and I am ONE-HAPPY-WOMAN!  Surprisingly, Marcus is still peacefully sleeping (it's 8:40 now) so sleep on baby boy!  Now, I apologize for being a slack blogger, but hopefully this puts me back on track! 
     In other news, Marcus and I enjoyed time yesterday with some other mamas and their children from our church.  This house was absolutely destroyed after they left, but it was the best kind of mess there can be.  The children played really well together, decorated cookies, ate their lunch, then one by one, you could see who was fading fast.  One even asked if she could lay down in my bed (and she DID! but only for 5 minutes). I put Marcus to bed and it didn't take five minutes before he was OUT and it wasn't much longer before Granddad arrived!  He spent the night with us and got up to put in the flooring with Mark.  They are currently MOVING downstairs (that means they're super fast) and I'll need to go take more pictures to document their progress. 
     In the mean time, enjoy these pictures that I took of Marcus this week.  He just just amazing and growing up too quickly.  I am CHERISHING my time with him at home and especially love to see his little eyes light up when he sees his daddy.  And by the way, he's soooooooooo a Daddy's boy nowadays. :)

Last Saturday we sold the car that we brought our baby home from the hospital in.

Marcus and I both love cauliflower nuggets!

"Splish, splash! I was takin' a bath!"

He has his mama's chin

Rocking beside our tree (decorated only halfway up on purpose)

Looks like this will be the last time he wears THIS outfit...

Happy Birthday Mama Schuurman!

     Today is Mama Schuurman's 29th (wink, wink) birthday!  This post is dedicated to her!  We are so blessed to call her mama because there is no one with a more generous heart that her.  She constantly sends us packages with little goodies in them and has successfully clothed Marcus since birth. She is a devoted wife of MANY years, mother of boys (that's enough right there), and an amazing grandma to four grandchildren.  Not only that, but she's still plays a huge role in caring for her mother who will be 90 in January.  This woman is a jack of all trades!  She cooks, helps out at the greenhouses, and can cross-stitch with the best of them!  She has a huge heart for her family and that's obvious to all. 
     Mama Schuurman we LOVE YOU and hope this has been one of your best birthdays yet.  We look forward to seeing you and the rest of the family in a few weeks.  We especially look forward to Marcus playing with you and Grandpa, and making him laugh like you did before.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

This was the first time she ever held Marcus.

Can you see the JOY in her eyes?!

Four Generations

Three grandchildren at the time, but Alyssa was born about a week later.

Feeding Marcus at Weaverville Elementary for our special delivery.

Sweet laughter

Reading to Marcus - a treasured time for them both

Marcus' First Birthday Party

Birthday Blog

     Well, it turns out that 30 isn't as bad as advertised.  In fact, it's fantastic!  Yesterday, I got up and babysat a 5 year old from 7:30-11:30am.  While there, I asked her about age and she said she thought I was in my teens.  Good girl!
     When I got home around 12, Marcus was on the front porch by himself and the front door was wiiiiiiide open.  I was semi-concerned, but when I started walking up the stairs a girl from our Sunday School class was in the doorway, watching him.  "Oh hey!  What are you doing here?" I questioned.  While she stammered for words, I noticed another girl from our class pulling up into our driveway.  It all started to click!  As I walked inside, Mark was quickly scurrying around the house displaying a PLETHORA of my favorite foods.   He had ordered & picked up chick-fil-a chicken nuggets, BBQ, chips, cookies, and all types of drinks (including a case of CODE RED! - The man knows how to get to my heart...).  All KINDS of women poured in with their children and then our friend Dustin even arrived, bringing a tray of different dessert crepes from his restaurant, Twisted Crepe.  It was incredible.  There was nutella on all of them, but one had strawberries, one had bananas, and one had peanut butter.  They were WAY better than a birthday cake! 
     It was quite the surprise, but I'm glad Mark pulled it off!  It was great because Mark had the day off and all these people could come in the middle of the day.  I never expected it.  All and all, there were 8 adults and 8 children and in a 910 sq ft house, it was LOUD!  Marcus (and all the other children) absolutely loved playing with each other and pulling out every toy.  I enjoyed just BEING and talking with all of our friends, who I lovingly call our "church family."  They are great and I'm so thankful to have them. 
     As the get-together was winding down, our best friends Matt & Mary Clark Hauser showed up with their 7 week old baby girl, Madison.  They briefly got to see Marcus, but by this time he was soooooo tired, so I put him down for a nap and he fell asleep almost instantly.  He slept over 3 hours!  We enjoyed the rest of our afternoon talking with the Hausers and holding Madison.  It made Mark and I both think about baby #2 pretty soon.  She was just adorable, so we'll see! 
     In closing, I forgot to mention the biggest birthday present yet!  The night before my birthday, Mark, Marcus, and I drove to Winston Salem to pick up our new vehicle!  Well, it's new to us, but it's a 2003 Toyota Highlander!  Our sweet Camry has done us well with 268,000+ miles on it, but it was time for an upgrade.  Mark got a great deal and I couldn't be more pleased with our new ride!  It's nice to have a little more room yet still not have to pay $80 every time we fill up.  It seems to be absolutely PERFECT for our family. 
     Thanks again for all the birthday wishes, calls, and cards.  It, by far, was my favorite birthday yet.

We put Marcus in footie pajamas the other night and the 18month ones were already too small!

But they're so CUTE!

Wrestling with Daddy after a long day at work.

He thought this was hysterical.

Mmmmmmm! Crepes instead of birthday cake?  I think so!

Mark and 5 of the 8 children in attendance.  He was holding 3 month old Davis.

Sweet Scarlett is 6 months old and fell asleep, despite the noise.

Sweet Madison looking at our Christmas lights.  Sorry for the red eyes, but she's still so pretty!

This morning, Marcus got into a fight with the diaper genie after I changed the bag.

The diaper genie won...