Doug and Jessica are Engaged!

The other day I met up with Doug and Jessica to shoot a few engagement pictures. They live up in Ohio (Brrr!) but were down visiting Jessica's Mom for Christmas. And they are seriously one of the cutest couples ever!! They were so easy to work with, too. I hope you two had as much fun as I did! I can't wait for your wedding in June!

It's a....

GIRL!!! We're having a GIRL!! Oh, I am so excited! We had the ultrasound this morning, and everything looked great. She was definitely a mover - she wouldn't hold still for anything. But everything appeared to be in the right place and working fine, praise God! Seeing her on the screen was just amazing. It was a neat reminder of what a miracle it is! Only God could make her kidneys form, and create all the chambers of her tiny heart, and make sure that the blood is flowing correctly, and form each of her little fingers and toes. How anyone could see that and still not believe in such an awesome God is beyond me! I couldn't help but cry at the sight of my beautiful little girl! I can't wait to hold her in my arms!

It's a girl! That is a leg on top, and there is a tiny blue mark showing that it's a girl; her other leg isn't really visible in this shot.

Here's a profile shot...

Here's another set of profiles. She was too long to fit completely in one shot.. but those are her legs on the left, and her top half on the right. Her hands are up by her face.

Isn't she just beautiful?! I can't wait to go shopping!!

A Ton of Pictures! A Long Overdue Post!

Ok...this post is LONG overdue - and normally I would split it up into more than one. However, as I am desperately trying to get through an impossibly long to-do list, in order to kill a couple of birds with one stone I am going to do them all at once...

So about two weeks ago Mark and I headed over to St. Pete for my cousin Matt and his fiance Jessie's wedding. However, I knew that having Chris along would be too much to handle, so we planned on having Mark's parents come to our house to stay with him. Since it had been way too long since we'd had any sort of vacation, especially without Chris, we took advantage of the free babysitting and left a day and a half early. Since Orlando was right on the way, and since we had free Sea World passes... we left Thursday morning and went to the park. Unfortunately, the weather didn't quite cooperate... it was FREEZING cold and POURING rain! But I seriously could have cared less! Just being together was so much fun! However, around lunch time I had to admit that I'd had enough of being cold and wet.. so we left the park. And, go figure, no sooner had we left than the sun came out! So we grabbed some lunch, checked in at the hotel, and then went back to the park so that Mark could ride the roller coaster :) After that we had an AMAZING dinner at a Brazilian Steakhouse... I have NEVER eaten so much meat in my life! The waiters just walk around with skewers of different cuts of meat, and they will give you as much as you can eat. And it tastes incredible! The next day we slept in, had a leisurely breakfast, and then headed over to St. Pete to begin the wedding festivities.

The night before we left, we took Mark's parents out to eat to celebrate their birthdays. I snapped this picture of Chris with my new point-and-shoot camera (Merry Christmas to me!). I love his silly face!

Here's Mark on the roller coaster... in case you can't tell, he is in the back row closest to the camera :) I think this was the highlight of the whole weekend for him!

Once in St. Pete, it was a whirlwind of events! Friday night was the wedding rehearsal dinner. Saturday morning we got together with my mom, my grandparents, and my sister Kristin and her husband to exchage Christmas gifts. That afternoon was the wedding, and the next morning was a baby shower for my cousin and her husband who had just adoped a little boy.

This is my cousin Kate holding my neice Belle... she is a talker!



Here's me with another cousin, Laura.

The following weekend was another crazy couple of days! Thursday night we drove an hour down to Mark's parents house, spent the night and the next day, and then exchanged gifts with Mark's dad, who would be out of town for work on Christmas. While we were there we discovered that Chris had learned how to say "cheese!" for the camera! He only does it when he feels like it, though, but it is really really cute!

So then Friday night we drove home, and Saturday morning Mark got up and went to work while I unpacked and then repacked... that afternoon we loaded up and drove 2 1/2 hourse up to Jacksonville to celebrate Christmas with my family. Sunday afternoon everyone gathered at my sister Kristin's house to exchange gifts... it was fun, and a bit chaotic - a typical Weidner holiday!

I love this picture of Joy, one of my sister's twins.

My sister has a great playroom at her house - but there's a catch: she keeps a baby gate up at the door so the babies don't escape. Chris HATES being gated in! So he usually stands at the gate and cries until I take pity on him and rescue him ;)

The exchanging of presents! My stepmom Sherrie is on the left; my sister Jessica is next to her, my brother Luke is in front of Jessica, and the other five are all my sister's kiddos..

Here's Luke handing out more gifts...

On Christmas Eve Mark's mom and sister came up, and then we all went to church. I really wanted a picture with Chris... but he wasn't so much interested. This is the best we could get!

Doesn't this ornament just say it all?!

Christmas morning! Chris immediately saw the set we had gotten him, and of course right away he wanted the little train that was attached to the top. Once he had that he wasn't interested in opening anything else!

Since he didn't quite get the concept yet of opening presents, I actually had to open them all for him. I did it one at a time, and let him play with them as we went. He was so excited! In this picture he is playing with three different toys!

He got a TON of new trucks.. and he couldn't have been happier.

I made a book of pictures from the year for Mark's mom.

More trucks!

His favorite truck was the one that Mark's sister got him. It is a truck that holds a couple of cars in the back... he literally played with this truck ALL DAY. I am not kidding! He never left the living room all day! I had to force him to eat... and I didn't even dress him until about 5 that evening. He was just so engrossed in his trucks.

Mark was the videographer :)

However, for a short time his job changed, when I had him put together the train tracks we'd gotten him... Mental note: next year, put the toys together the night before! This turned out to be a more complicated set than we'd anticipated...

But Chris was quite happy with the results!

A picture with my baby :)

Here he is with "Grandmom".

A quick family shot... notice the huge goose-egg on his head! Just before we took the picture, he ran - hard - into our table. Poor guy!

Now it's time to get ready for the new year... there's lots of excitement ahead!

p.s. - stay tuned - tomorrow morning we should find out if we're having a girl or a boy!!

Merry Christmas!

"Now in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus, that a census be taken of all the inhabited earth. This was the first census taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. And everyone was on his way to register for the census, each to his own city. Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, in order to register along with Mary, who was engaged to him, and was with child. While they were there, the days were completed for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son; and she wrapped him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened. But the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.' And suddenly there appeared with the angel a mulitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.'

When the angels had gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds began saying to one another, 'Let us go straight to Bethlehem then, and see this thing which has happened which the Lord has made known to us.' So they came in a hurry and found their way to Mary and Joseph, and teh baby as He lay in the manger. When they had seen this, they made known the statement which had been told them about this Child. And all who heard it wondered at the things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart. The shepherds went back, glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen, just as had been told them." Luke 2: 1-20

I pray that this Christmas this story will touch your heart as never before! Have a wonderful Christmas with your family and friends.

Congratulations Matt and Jessie!

This past weekend I was over in St. Pete for Matt and Jessie's wedding. It was a beautiful wedding, and a fun reception. I think I most enjoyed getting to see family, though! Matt is one of my cousins, and so the wedding was a "mini-reunion" with my mom, grandparents, aunts, uncles, most of my cousins, and my sister Kristin. I haven't see most of them in a long time, so it was fun to catch up throughout the weekend.
I hope you enjoy the pictures! (As usual, until I figure out what is going on with blogger, you'll have to click on the pictures to view them larger.) The slideshow is at the end...

Four of my cousins; my sister Kristin with her youngest Belle; and me :)