Celebrating Baby Neilson

Yesterday I went to a baby shower in celebration of my good friend Erin and the sweet baby girl she is expecting in April.  Erin and Phil are awesome people and will be amazing parents, so we are overjoyed to help them prepare for this big event!

The shower planners did a great job with a childrens' book theme, matching the food to books like: The Very Hungry Caterpillar (fruit salad), The Tale of Peter Rabbit (veggie tray), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (meatballs), etc.!  It was cute and tasty!

Many women came to show their love and support for Erin.  It was such a fun afternoon.  I was especially glad that Erin likes the sweater that I knit for Baby Neilson.  :)

Now we just have to be patient in awaiting Baby's arrival! 

"For you, O Lord, have made me glad by your work; 

at the works of your hands I sing for joy."

--Psalm 92:4 

Erin and her mom

Valentine's Day Weekend

 It's been a LOVEly weekend (pun intended) for us as we celebrated Valentine's Day and Jonathan had the day off of school for President's Day!  Fun times included:

• Going out to dinner on Friday (some generous friends offered to watch Benji--I think it was our first dinner out with just the two of us since he was born!)
• Enjoying a special Valentine's breakfast:

• Playing tennis in 60 degree weather while my boys went on a hike:

• Receiving these beautiful azaleas and some chocolates from my thoughtful Dad:

• Eating a delicious stir-fry dinner prepared by chef Jonathan:

My valentines!

•  Finishing my first ever sweater for a friend's baby shower...Benji is my model:

• And working on our taxes (a President's Day tradition)...  So I guess the weekend wasn't ALL fun and games, but it was wonderful to be home and spend lots of time together before the busy tennis season begins--tomorrow!

 With love to all of our valentines--

Yummy cookies from Mom!  :)

Snow Day!

If there's one thing I've learned about New Mexico in the winter, it's that you can't trust the weather forecast.  Once there was a winter storm warning and not a flake fell from the sky.  Last night there was not even a winter weather advisory, and we've ended up with several inches of snow--and a snow day!
 

Benji was so excited to have Daddy home all day!

This was a wonderful blessing, since Jonathan was sick and I felt like I was getting sick, and we all needed some rest.  We ate lunch at the Plaza Cafe and while Jonathan played basketball in the afternoon, Benji and I went on a snowy walk.  Rehoboth is beautiful in the snow!

Happy snow day, everyone!  :)

Benji's First Christmas

Our Christmas Break this year was a wonderful whirlwind as we traveled to Maryland, North Carolina, back to Maryland, then back to New Mexico, all in two weeks!  Benji was a great traveler and seemed to enjoy his first Christmas.

Our first stop was Walkersville to spend a few precious days with my Mom and Dad on the farm.  We took several nice walks and just spent quality time together.

On Christmas Eve, we drove to Greensboro, North Carolina to join Jonathan's family for Christmas.  Christmas morning brought fun surprises for everyone, but the best gift was watching Benji have fun with our family!  The whole Newman clan came the next day for a meal and gift exchange.  It was cool to have the "four Harolds" together for a picture!

Next, we spent about 24 hours in Winston-Salem and packed in a lot of good time with the Trollinger family, at Hope Church, with Larry and Susan Jones, and Genavee and her family.  We really appreciated all of their hospitality and loved getting to see everyone!

From Winston we drove to the mountains, where the Newmans spend New Years with the  Miller family.  The NewMillerman get together is always a big hit, and this time was no exception!  Highlights included board games, dinner at Makato's Japanese Steakhouse, a visit from Genavee, a beautiful snowfall, and (of course) ringing in 2015!

On our way back north we stopped at the Cracker Barrel near Elkin, NC to have brunch with Tim.  I wish I had pictures from this event, but our time was so short I forgot to take any!  We really appreciated Tim driving over an hour to spend this time with us; it was great to catch up.

Back in Maryland, we were joined by Emily, Wade, Caroline and Andrew for the last two days of our vacation.  We also got to see my grandparents, aunt and uncle, and Kelly and Jeff Money while we were there.  Benji had a great time with his cousins!  It was so hard to say goodbye to everyone, but with school starting on Monday, we had to head home.

It was a wonderful Christmas; we want to thank all of you who made it so special for us!

Benji's favorite part of Christmas dinner was sucking on a dill pickle!  :-)