Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!!

We hope everyone is having a wonderful time with family, celebrating Christ. We wanted to share a couple of our family Christmas pictures we got at Picture People (for free!!) before we moved to WI.

Closer to Home

Now that we are living in Wisconsin, it’s so much easier to spend the holidays with our family. And since having Micah, it’s become even more important and special to be able to do so. I know this is a little outdated already, but for the first time in years, we were able to spend Thanksgiving with family!! Poor Micah wasn’t feeling too well, and wasn’t his normal happy self. But my parents did enjoy the rare treat of being able to cuddle with him…very rare since he’s become mobile. Also, my parents just got a Wii, so we logged many hours taking turns trying it out. Even though the time was way too short, we really enjoyed our time with my parents, Jeremy, Sierra and Ethan. Here are a few pictures of our trip.

The Big 1

Happy birthday, Micah!! On November 11^th, our little guy turned the big...1. It’s so hard to believe that he’s a year old already! We helped him extend his birthday celebration as long as we could. For instance, he opened presents with my parents about two weeks before. Then he opened presents on his actual birthday. And then we had cake the day after when Tim’s parents, aunt, sister and nephew came to our house.

The Lord certainly has blessed us by giving us Micah. He has brought so much laughter to our home. It’s been so fun to watch him learn and become more aware of his surroundings during this first year. He loves slamming his toys against the hard surfaces, especially the kitchen floor (the noisier the better)! He also loves it when Daddy chases him and lifts him through the air. He absolutely loves bananas! He can eat a whole one in one sitting… along with the rest of his meal, of course. His bottle is now a thing of the past… even that nighttime one. He’s officially graduated to a big boy sippee cup, and he’s even eating what we eat…and boy does he eat!!

Happy birthday, Micah! Your mommy and daddy love you so much and can’t imagine our lives without you!!

Happy Birthday!

Back North, Eh!

Wow! It has been a busy month! Where to start? Well, first, we moved! We are now living in Wisconsin and are getting settled in. We’re so thankful for the many friends who came to help us load up in Virginia, for Mom and Dad Ahtila who helped us move, for the safety on the roads, and for the friends who came to welcome us and help us unload here in Wisconsin. Micah did really well during the LOOOONG car ride, and somehow adjusted to the 2 hour time change (Daylight savings ending in there) much better than his parents did!! We also enjoyed a day layover at the Ahtila’s house. Mom and Dad Hill and my brother, Jeremy and our nephew, Ethan, were all able to visit as well! We had a great time visiting, resting and breaking the news that we were expecting Baby #2 at the end of May.

Tim is diving right into serving here at Timberland Bible Chapel. We’re enjoying getting to know the people of the church better. Tim is definitely keeping busy, but loving it!

Also, Micah turned one year old on November 11^th. He had his 1 year doctor’s appointment, where we were told he’s on the “skinny side”, which made me chuckle! I think that’s the first time anyone has called him skinny! We’re thankful for a happy, healthy boy (not so much a baby anymore!!), who’s developing well.

Happy birthday, Tim!!

I’m a little late in getting this post completed, I know. But I did want to say happy birthday to my sweet, amazing husband! His birthday (the BIG 3-0!!!) was on Friday, and we celebrated by going to Red Lobster for the all-you-can-eat shrimp special, which is Tim’s favorite! Then we enjoyed a movie later that evening. It was so nice having Tim off of work for a few days, too!! Saturday night, we had a few friends over for cake and ice cream to help us celebrate. We had a great time of fellowship with them! Happy birthday, Tim!! I thank my God every day for you! You are such a wonderful Dad and husband. And I’m so thankful that I got another year to celebrate with you!

A Micah Story

So Micah is an extremely inquisitive little guy! As he was finishing his bottle yesterday, he decided to start chewing on his fingers. No big deal. Well, this time, he stuck them so far back in his mouth that it made him gag! As he sat there, realizing what just happened, you could see the little wheels in his head turning. He stared at his fingers for a moment and then put them back into his mouth, gagging himself once more. So I pulled his hand out and told him no. I tried stopping him, but he succeeded in gagging himself about 3 more times. The last time, however, when he shoved those little fingers into his mouth, he threw up all over himself! I was cracking up, while Micah sat there with a look on his face that said “What just happened?” Hopefully Micah won’t try that again anytime soon!

On the Move

It’s official…Micah is on the move! Not just crawling, but walking that is! He’s learned to pull himself up on the couch or against a door, and then…look out! He’s off to scampering. Yesterday he was squealing with delight as he was walking all over the house. He makes us laugh! He’s just so happy when he’s walking around.

Micah at 9 Months

Can you believe Micah is already 9 months?! I can hardly believe in a few short months he’ll already be 1 year old! We just took Micah to his 9 month appointment, where he weighed in at 23lbs., 2 oz. and is 28 ¾ inches long (he might be a little longer, since he was not cooperating with the nurse! J) It’s so fun to see Micah learn new things! He’s at such a fun age! Oh, and thankfully, he finally got 2 teeth a couple weeks ago!!

Here are some things Micah loves:

- Crawling ALL over the place, especially to the bathroom to play with the scale

- Standing up and walk, by hanging onto our hands

- Eating (big surprise!) He especially loves his puffs, peaches and smoothies!

- Playing with his brown bear

- Throwing the ball to Daddy

- Going for a stroller ride outside

- Playing peek-a-boo

Here's an action shot of Micah crawling:

Looks like he found the mirror!

Cuddle time with Daddy before bed:

Amazing Deals!!

I love when Harris Teeter has their triple coupon event! Sometimes they have a Super Double Coupon event, where they double coupons up to $1.99!! Last time I didn’t really find many good deals at that one, but instead prefer the triple coupon. Last night, I found out that they were having their Super Double Coupon event, starting today! I looked through a few coupons, and quickly decided that it probably wasn’t worth my time (because last time we went sure wasn’t!) However, this morning, as I was looking through my coupons some more, I decided that we needed to go! We got all of these items for about $3.50!!! What great buys! Many of these items were free! We were so excited to get our good deals, and glad that we didn’t pass up this coupon event!

Date Night

I am so thankful for my wonderful husband, and for the time we were able to spend together Thursday night on a surprise date!! As Tim was leaving for work, he asked me to go get his wallet for him. There was a note for me with an invitation for dinner! I was so excited, and a little confused at first. He explained that a few weeks ago he had requested the evening off, and secretly planned a date night for us…even finding a babysitter for Micah!! Is he wonderful or what?! After bringing Micah to a family from our church, (they are so wonderful for watching Micah a few times for us!!) we headed to Cheesecake Factory, and then ended the night with watching a movie at home after picking up Micah. We were thankful for a short wait at dinner, a cute little booth for two, and half-priced cheesecake. (It was National Cheesecake Day!!) It was so great to be able to have a date mid-week, and be able to just sit and talk over an amazing meal. It was a little bit of a long week for me with a cranky baby who is teething very badly, so I definitely needed that refreshing time with my husband. Here's a picture of our evening. Thanks for such a fun surprise date night, Tim!!



And of course, I have to include a picture of our little cutie. Can you believe he's almost 9 months?!!

Blueberry picking!

For the past few years, I have really looked forward to going blueberry picking! This year we were a little bit unsure of how it would go since we had Micah with us. Micah did an absolutely fantastic job! He was such a good boy, and so content to sit and watch us from his stroller…as long as he had his pacifier, of course! He even had his first taste of blueberry while we were out there. He’s definitely not so much a fan of them. Not like his daddy! Tim could hardly wait to get back home to freshly baked blueberry waffles. The part that I love most about picking the blueberries is planning what to bake, and then baking things like blueberry coffeecake, blueberry pancakes, blueberry crisp, and blueberry bread. And Tim loves it. :) Here are a few pictures of Micah’s first blueberry picking experience.

Frugal Tip for the Day

Here’s a frugal tip I thought I’d share. One of my favorite frugal meals that we like to make is a fryer chicken. We usually get about a 4 lb. chicken, which runs about 89 cents/lb. at Walmart. (Sometimes there will be other stores, such as Food Lion, that has a sale on them for 69 cents/lb. ) They are so easy to make, and make a pretty good Sunday dinner, when paired with potatoes and a vegetable! After washing/pat drying the chicken, I will brush some olive oil all over the chicken, and then brush a Roaster Chicken Poultry Rub (from Food Network) on top. Then you just follow the cooking instructions for the chicken and then you have a delicious meal! Oh, and I forgot to mention, to make it even easier for clean up, I line the roasting pan with aluminum foil! TONS easier to clean!! After we finish our meal, I will take all the meat off…it’s easier to do when it’s still hot. Our leftovers will last us just about the rest of the week! Some of our favorite recipes we use the leftovers in include stir fry, chicken pot pie, chicken and dumplings, chicken wraps, quesadillas and salads, chicken tortilla soup, barbecued chicken pizza (AN ABSOLUTE FAVORITE!!!)…so many possibilities! So there it is! My frugal tip for the day. I just hope Tim doesn’t get tired of eating chicken anytime soon!

Michigan Adventure

Last week we returned from our yearly trip to Michigan—a time we thoroughly enjoyed with family and friends. Rather than drive the 20 hours up Mesick, MI, this year we were able to fly in to Traverse City. Yeah, we liked that a whole lot better. Micah traveled well on the plane, minus the times when the captain or flight attendants would come blaring across the pa system. He wasn’t so much a fan of that.

Micah enjoyed meeting his cousin Ethan and uncle Jeremy and seeing grandma and grandpa Ahtila again. Some of Kristen’s extended family were able to visit the Ahtila’s and got to meet Micah for the first time, too.

We enjoyed spending a few relaxing days with the family. We especially loved our trip to Lake Michigan and to Moomers to experience America’s best small town ice cream. (We both had a couple of scoops of Cookie Monster ice cream—smooth chocolate ice cream with chocolate chip cookie dough and Oreo cookie pieces. SOOOO good!)

On June 23^rd we headed down to Grand Traverse Bay to celebrate our second anniversary (see previous blog post).

Then we drove up to the UP. Tim’s sisters Rachel and Sarah got to meet Micah, and we got to meet our nephew Reagan.

We made a slide show of our Israel trip that we got to show in the Sunday evening service. Though we only had a few days, we had a great time hanging out with family and friends, playing games (like Apples and Apples and Rook), and seeing everyone again. Kristen even got a chance to bake some Cardamom sweet bread over at Rachel’s place one afternoon (while Tim played X-box :) ). We had such a great time.