First Slide Ride ;)

RSV, Topeka and Skinny Jeans

It's been a while since I last wrote. There has been a lot going on in the Akre home it feels like! We just got back from spending a week at my parents house in Topeka, KS. Previous to that, Grace had came down with RSV so it was kinda crazy around here.

Thank God she got over it fairly quick and no hospital visit was necessary.

Anyway, the trip was nice. We could have used a little better weather, it snowed once, and rained most of the rest. Generally when we travel out to Topeka over spring break, its gorgeous springtime weather, so that was a little disappointing. But our last day the weather broke a little and we were able to hit the zoo! It's not a trip to Topeka without the zoo! I love that zoo!! :)

2010 Topeka Zoo, 17 weeks pregnant

2011 Topeka Zoo

The trip was a reminder of one year earlier when I found out I was having a girl, on March 31st! My Mom, Adam, Austin and myself went to a little ultrasound place outside of Kansas City so we could find out what I was having! Adam was the only one that said girl! :)

I was almost 18 weeks pregnant here! <3

We of course had to hit up Tad's Hawaiian Shave Ice while there. It is seriously the best! We were the first customers of the year, as they open on April 1st. We were there waiting! LOL

Here are some more pictures from the trip.

Okay, the following pictures are from Adam's birthday! Now, let me explain these first....my Mom and I had the idea to get Adam skinny jeans as a joke for his birthday. This idea was born after talking about how all the people from a concert we went to (men) were wearing either skinny jeans or jeggings. None of us could really   believe it, it was pretty funny. Anyway, we were talking about how funny it would be if Adam wore jeggings!! So, here you have it!! We let him know it was a joke after he came back out with them on and announced "they were too small" It was quite hilarious and something I won't soon forget!! He was so gracious though when he opened that package and saw "skinny" jeans!!

Grace sleeping with Larry Boy, she picked him out at the bookstore by answering twice in a row that "yeah" she wanted him. It was soooo cute!

Grace and Austin's Dedication

A Song of Ascents, of Solomon. Unless the LORD builds the house, They labor in vain who build it; Unless the LORD guards the city, The watchman keeps awake in vain. It is vain for you to rise up early, To retire late, To eat the bread of painful labors; For He gives to His beloved even in his sleep. Behold, children are a gift of the LORD; The fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, So are the children of one's youth. How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them; They shall not be ashamed, When they speak with their enemies in the gate. 

Psalm 127:1-5

So today we had the kids dedicated to the Lord at church. It was a great reminder that our children are in fact gifts from the LORD! Adam and I both understand that dedicating our children to Christ does not save them. They both will have to accept Christ as their own Savior when they come to an age of understanding. We acknowledged, as parents, before the body of Christ, the following:

• We will raise our children in the fear and admonition of the Lord
• We will pray for and with them
• We will keep them in the house of God and with God's people
• We will be faithful in our home life to Christ, as we live it before them
• We will do our utmost personally to lead them to a saving knowledge of Christ at an early age

It is such a wonderful feeling knowing that our church family will be there to support and pray for us on behalf of raising our children. They have already proven that prior to this dedication. We have been truly blessed by our family at Immanuel.

God Bless!! 

Nichole

Parkin' It

Well, the weather has finally broke above 40 degrees around here! In fact, this past week has been gorgeous! Took the kiddo's to the park on Thursday and it made it into the upper 60's. Austin wanted to wear shorts and a tank top of course....I remember those days!! I always wished I was that girl at school that had her shorts on in early April because it was 70 degrees out! So, I empathize with him, but like myself, he won't be wearing them for a while yet! Ha-ha!!  He made due with a "sweatshirt" for his jacket!

I of course picked a day to go to the park when all the town kids were out of school early, so it was nice and busy! Oh-well, gave Austin kids to play with, which he enjoyed! First thing he hit up, same as always, was the merry-go-round thing. That thing always makes me a nervous wreck, but he was on it alone that day so it wasn't too bad! I'm always afraid one of the kids are gonna go flying off....I know, I know...he is a boy!

 Miss Grace had her first ride in a swing! She wasn't too sure what to think of it...she didn't know if she wanted to scream or not, so she just sat there in a trance. I think it was actually making her really sleepy!!

So, now that we all have spring fever REALLY bad, it is supposed to snow tomorrow!! Oh-well....spring is right around the corner!

Museum Fun!

Monday I took Austin and Grace to a little boy scout museum. They had a traveling Abe Lincoln exhibit that I wanted him to see. He really enjoyed it, and to my surprise, we both enjoyed learning about the origins of the Boy and Girl Scouts!

Austin standing with W.D. Boyce, one of the founders of the Boy Scouts who lived in Ottawa, IL.

Austin doing some "scouting" of his own!

 It took me back to my days as a Brownie!! I never made it to the next level, Girl Scouts! ha-ha! Anyway, we are going to take a week and spend it learning a "little" about Lincoln and the civil war. He is starting to take an interest in history. History was one of my favorite subjects to study in school, although I can't say I remember studying it in 2nd grade, so I don't blame him too much for the lack of excitement surrounding history. He is definitely a hands on kind of boy, so this museum brought history to life for him a little bit.

When we got home, we read Just In Time, Abraham Lincoln. He really thought that was cool! 

Next up, I wanna take him to Medievil Times, since we just finished studying the middle ages. He should get a kick out of that, if anything it'll be fun! 

Austin's Bible Relay - 2nd Place :)

This past week, Austin had is 2nd Bible relay. He goes every Wednesday night to Children Desiring God at church. They get a scripture verse every week to memorize and then after so many weeks they have a relay. I didn't get to go see him this time, because little miss Grace is sickie poo, but he did great again! I'm so proud of him. This kid has a great memory, it's very impressive. He got 2nd place and won himself a $5 Dairy Queen card!! 

His favorite verse from this last relay is this:

"He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness." 

1 Peter 2:24a

Way to go Austin!!! :)

Happy "Half" Birthday Grace!!

Don't ya just wanna squeeze those chubby cheeks?

I'm a day late with this post, but YESTERDAY Grace was 6 months old!! I can hardly believe it has been 6 months since she was born.

My second post isn't what I thought it would be

I thought I would be able to sit down tomorrow morning and write about what an awesome night we had seeing one of my favorite bands....Sanctus Real. But unfortunately we just drove 2 1/2 hours to find out that the concert was cancelled. :( No one is to blame, they couldn't get out of Ohio because of a snowstorm. Austin is pretty disappointed, poor thing. Although he is handling it very well, sometimes I don't give him enough credit. It would have been very easy for him to pout and feel sorry for himself. (like perhaps the writer of this blog does sometimes! ;)

It makes it easy knowing there was a reason we didn't get to see the concert, scripture tells me this...  And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose Romans 8:28. That is a pretty comforting verse, no matter what we face. From something as trivial as missing a concert, to facing surgery on your precious little baby, which I know the lead singer of Sanctus Real is facing next week. http://bowensheart.com/  I have to try to remember that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love Him, not just me! It's easy to look at a situation, and question how can this possibly be good for me??? Well maybe the answer is as easy as, God  uses it to draw me to prayer...ultimately drawing me closer to Him. 


Tonight, I pray for precious baby Bowen (see above link) [He was born a few weeks after my sweet Grace.] I pray his surgery is successful and without complications, and that his family continues leaning on God for the strength they need to endure the next several weeks. 


How fitting, as I'm ending this entry......Lead Me by Sanctus Real just came on the radio!! 


God Bless!!!

Well, here goes nothing...

My first official blog entry! First of all, if your reading this then you most likely are my mother. :) Or maybe my husband, he will certainly get a kick out of this whole blog thing! I have pondered the idea of starting a blog since my daughter Grace was born this past August. She will be 6 months old in a few days, so it's obviously taken me a while to get this going. :)


A little introduction...my name is Nichole. I am married to Adam and we have a 7 year old son, Austin and as previously mentioned a daughter Grace. I am so blessed by my family, I thank God for them every day. I am a stay at home mom and I also home school. This is the first year that I have home schooled my son and so far I think it's going pretty well. It's all a learning process but it is getting easier as the year goes by. Lord willing, I will home school both kids as long as I can. Or at least until they start home schooling me! ;) 


My goal in starting this blog, is to keep anyone that cares up to date on what's going on with this little family. (see mention of mother above) Whether it be little milestones that Little Miss Grace is hitting,(she had her first bite of chocolate ice cream today at DQ) or something new Austin is learning in school(he actually SAID OUT LOUD today that he is starting to LIKE math!!) 


At the very least, the blog will serve the purpose of documenting moments that I never wanna forget! Maybe I am the only one who will ever read this, and that's okay! I can look back in the years to come and remember when Austin's first pinto homerun was, and how proud we were of him...or the day that Grace first said Mama..(it's certain to be BEFORE Dadda, so I have to document THAT!)


Hopefully along the way, I can maybe even learn somethings about myself and others I may not even know yet! :)


Thanks for stopping by!!


Here are my kiddos...I'm sure I'll be posting a ridiculous amount of pictures in the future...but I may as well start now! :)

Grace showing off her #14 Stewart outfit from Gramma Dottie