Introducing Reagan Rose Arms

It is my pleasure and delight to introduce to you the newest member of our family. This is actually her second introduction as she appeared in an earlier blog post.

This introduction will be much more exciting I am sure. Reagan was born on May 15th around 7:30 in the morning. She weighted 7 lbs  and 4 oz and was 18 inches long. Her whole family had been anxiously waiting to meet her.

Dan and I drove up that morning to see her and she did not disappoint. I always have trouble remembering how little they actually are at birth and she was just a little peanut but so precious and cuddly.

 

Big brother Isaac was on hand to welcome her as well.

     

Don't you just love those lips!

  Cousin Elise thinks she is just so cute.

This past weekend we had the delight of watching her for a whole day while her mommy and big brother were in a cousin's wedding. How much fun to have her all to ourselves. She is a really content baby and entertained us royally. 

I am looking forward to watching her grow and pray that God will bless her life for His glory. What a precious gift she is. She is already one month old.

A Homemade Christmas

This year our family did something new at Christmas. We were each to make one homemade gift for one person. In August we exchanged names for the person who would receive our homemade creation. It was a fun way to do something special for one person.

Mikaela received a gift from Nichole. It was a glass block made into a little lamp. It works perfectly for her bedroom.

Kathryn received a gift from Mikaela - who can resist warm fleecy pajama pants.

 

Nichole  received a gift from Tom - (I think he received a little help from Denise). It was a camera strap for her new camera.

Brian received a gift from Denise. Who can't resist a warm fuzzy blanket.

Denise received a gift from Dan. It is her favorite letter of the alphabet to display on her house.

Tom received a gift from Joy. Guess who his favorite team is.

Joy received a gift from Kathryn. Festive coasters - just the thing for my morning coffee.

Dan received a gift from Brian - just the thing to hold his books.

I think everyone did a great job on their homemade gift.

The little kids had a great time as well. It was a wonderful Christmas.

A fun and wonderful day was had by all.

Highlights of 2011

Looking back over the last year I can certainly say that God has blessed me beyond measure. His faithfulness is abounding and His goodness beyond belief. A short list of things that has blessed my life are:

• Watching Tallen and Elise and seeing their cuteness
• Going through several books of the Bible in an inductive method.
• My Good Morning Girls Group
• Teaching on Monday nights to a group of women that many people would not care about. They have taught me many things and have made me thankful for the grace of God in my life.
• Friends who care about me
• Gaining a daughter in law, Nichole and grandson, Isaac
• Family - husband who is kind and caring, children, grandchildren, siblings, and mother in law.
• My church and neighbors. 
• The birds who come daily to my feeders
• Weekly time that I spend with Mikaela - she has been such a blessing to me

Beyond these everyday blessings there were blessings that do not come everyday.

We were able to enjoy a week out of the cold Minnesota weather and have a getaway to Arizona. Temperatures in the 80s were such a welcome relief and we enjoyed many games of Rook with Mark and LaVonna

A trip to St Cloud over spring break was fun. Brian took us to the fire hall and we got a close up look at all the fire equipment. Also made a trip to Grubers and purchased fabric for a quilt for Isaac.

  April brought Easter and a fun time of coloring eggs with the kids.

June brought the event that we had been looking forward to for many months. We are thrilled to have Nichole and Isaac be an official part of our family.

To celebrate birthdays this year we all took a trip to the Wisconsin Dells and stayed at the Wilderness Resort. We had a wonderful time and great weather to enjoy all the water parks.

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We experimented with growing some different things this year, namely pumpkins, sunflowers and watermelon. They all turned out pretty good. The kids came to pick pumpkins from my patch.

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We also were informed of a future member of our family, always a grandmother's delight.

The holidays were upon us and we enjoyed our 2nd annual Festivus with Thanksgiving the next day.

The Christmas season was a whirlwind of activity. Dan was Herod in the Children's musical at church and we enjoyed a day of celebrating the birth of Christ - what a blessing it was.

 

So thankful for this past year of blessings - a gift from God to us.

Just a couple more - they make me smile!

The Big Wedding Kicks Off the Summer

The highlight of this summer happened on June 18 when Brian and Nichole were married. We arrived in St. Joseph on Wednesday and proceeded to prepare for the big day. We had a wonderful time for a few days being together. Thursday found us girls at the nail salon getting our toes and fingers ready.

It was a moment of relaxation before the real activity began.

After leaving the nail place we took off for Sam's club to buy the food for the groom's dinner. The dinner took place at the fire hall and was a delicious spread of steak with hash brown casserole, home grown corn, mushrooms, salad, and bread with strawberry cheesecake for dessert. It was yummy!! We all took a guess at how much it was going to cost and were pleasantly surprised when the estimates were high. Yeah for saving money.

Friday came and it was filled all day long with decorating either one place or the other. Starting at the fire hall, moving on to the reception, and lastly decorating the church just before the rehearsal.

The big day dawned and the weather was great for taking outdoor pictures, everyone was beautifully adorned and the end result was that a new family had been created.

 

 

 

 

Congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. Brian Arms.

A Winter Get Away

Anyone who lives in place which experiences all four seasons knows that the winter season sometimes seems to drag on and on and we yearn for the day to be outside again and enjoy the sunshine and shirt sleeves. For a few years now we have talked about a winter vacation to a warm place so we decided to go to Arizona for a week. We had been there a few years ago and knew of some things we wanted to do and we could see Mark and Lavonna, Joseph and David all at the same time.

Our first full day there was Valentine's day. The day started out with breakfast at Cracker Barrel.

We drove to Tucson and went to the Desert Museum. Not much was blooming in the desert but we were able to see the raptor exhibit which was pretty cool. These are pictures of the Harris Hawks. They actually flew so close to us that they brushed the top of Dan's hat.

A few plants were just starting to bloom.

We attended a dinner theatre one night and enjoyed My Fair Lady along with a delicious meal. Another night we saw Hello Dolly which is one of my favorites.

Playing Rook is also an "Arms' family must" so we got a few games in. We played nice and both teams won a few.

We enjoyed the outdoors many days sitting by the pool and of course had some good food too. Spinoto's pizza was at the top of my list as well as Cheesecake factory. You can't go there without getting cheesecake. A trip to IKEA was enjoyed by Lavonna and I without the guys - much more fun that way. It was a restful and fun week.

We arrived back home just before a major snowstorm hit our area - reality has set in real fast. It was fun though while it lasted and we are looking forward to our own spring and summer. God is good to promise that spring and summer will always follow winter.