Lucas meets Uncle Kelly and Great Grandma

Luke was able to meet Great Grandma and Uncle Kelly this past weekend!!! Kelly and Mal were in Jamestown on Saturday and while Mal worked, Kelly spent the day hanging out with us. He even fed baby Luke! :) Then Great Grandma came over to visit and what a sweet moment!! He layed in her arms for quite a bit and I just couldn't help but snap a picture!

MORE Lucas

Here are a few more pics from the last couple of days enjoying our son!!

Baby Luke

Welcome to our world, little baby Luke!

Lucas Shawn was born Sunday, January 23rd at 5:21 p.m. He weighed 6 lbs 1 oz and was 19 in long. He is absolutely PERFECT and is such a good baby!!! We had a whirlwind two days at the hospital and finally were able to come home this afternoon. Proud grandmas, grandpa, and two puppies were so excited to meet him! Did I mention he is PERFECT??? Mav and I were blessed to be able to be a part of his birth - I saw him the second he was born into this world and Mav was honored with the opportunity to cut the cord. We love him with all our hearts and feel like he has always been a part of us. What an amazing sacrifice two people made to give us the gift of having a family. Everyone, meet Lucas!!

Its a MAD MAD MAD MAD world...

I am not sure that I am even going to remember this week, its going to fly by so fast!! The movers are coming tomorrow to start packing and I think I have everything organized. Although somehow I have to triple the cargo space in my Honda Civic in order to fit all the stuff that I want to take myself!!!
We are also off to Fargo later this week to meet again with the birthparents. Mav and I are taking them out to dinner and hope to have a good evening getting to know each other even better. Everything is going well for birthmom and baby and check-up today confirmed that she could go into labor any time now!!! :) :)
And to top it off, we are closing on our house in Jamestown on Friday! What a crazy, chaotic time!! But I wouldn't change a thing!

We are going to be a FAMILY!!

I just wanted to post here with our most exciting news yet!!! Mav and I met Monday with a birthfamily, who have chosen us to become the parents of their soon-to-be-born little boy. We met the birthmom and dad, who are both very nice and intelligent people. Mav and I left the meeting feeling that it went well and were both just waiting for a signal from them on their feelings. We didn't have to wait long!! They called us within 5 minutes and on speakerphone told us to "get ready" for a little boy!! They seem very committed to their adoption plan but Mav and I know that the hardest part is yet to come. But we are beyond words excited and will hopefully be welcoming a baby boy within the next couple of weeks!!!!

Christmastime again!!

This past weekend Mav and I hosted Christmas for my family. We were all here in Beulah and had a perfect Christmas Eve. We decorated cookies, had a yummy steak dinner, went to Mass, took our Christmas pictures, and opened presents (of course the "kids" went first)!! It felt so good to be surrounded by family and we had a really nice weekend just enjoying each other's company!

Christmas with the kids!!

Mav and I went home to Williston this past weekend to spend an early Christmas with his family. We spent Saturday night with Mav's entire family, including six kids amped up on sugar and the prospect of opening presents. Simply put, this equaled smiling, running, screaming, laughing, CHAOS!! Oh but so much fun for us to watch!! We wanted to let the kids open the presents from us while we were there, so they were promised they could open them AS SOON as they tree was decorated. They all pitched in and hung ornaments and took time out to ham for the camera. It took all of 5 minutes for them to open the gifts but what a joy to see them so happy and excited!!! Their sweet little faces remind us what Christmas is all about and we love them to pieces!!

Our biggest purchase this year!

We found a house! As of today, Mav and I are the proud owners of a new house in Jamestown! (I am for the moment forgetting the fact that I still own a house in Beulah - ahhh!) We are soooo excited and are hoping to close in the middle of January. My mom has said she is already excited to paint and I am going to hold her to that! I have attached a few pics that the sellers had on the internet. It's a split level, 4 bed, 3 bath and on almost 1/2 acre. We can't wait to be settled in our new home!

I'll be home for Christmas

I love real Christmas trees!! And this year, I have two! Mav broke down and let me buy a small 2nd tree to put in the basement (only because we found one for $9.99). I love the way they smell and the way that they look all decorated! I am only posting a pic of the one upstairs as the small tree downstairs looks a little sad this year. I have to collect/buy some more ornaments to cover the tree and buy a worthy tree stand. Short version of this catastrophe: I decorated tree, tree fell down, all but like three ornaments fell off, we screwed tree stand to a piece of plywood, I redecorated, and then vacuumed for a total of FOREVER to get all the needles up. Silver lining: none of my ornaments broke AND because I didn't have many to begin with, it didn't take long to get them all back on.
Even after all that, I still love real Christmas trees!!!

So much to be THANKFUL for

Mav and I are in the midst of some big changes, starting with a new place to call HOME. Mav has accepted a job with OtterTail in Jamestown, so we will be moving/transferring there in January. We are excited about the change and Mav is excited to learn about a completely different side of the company (no power plant there). We are trying to muddle through all the things that come with moving but are also trying not to lose sight of the wonderful Holiday season. We are hoping to make it to Valley City tomorrow to spend Thanksgiving with some of my family and then visit Jessie tomorrow night in Grand Forks. No matter where we end up or how busy/crazy things are going to get, we are so grateful and thankful for our family, friends, and loved ones. You are the ones that we gather strength from and rely on and we want you to know that we appreciate and love you! THANK you for being amazing people and we know how lucky we are to have you in our lives! HAPPY THANKSGIVING!