Welcome Bernadette!

Our baby Bernadette arrived early Tuesday morning.  She came out healthy and hungry, and we are very grateful!  Here are just a few of the pictures we've snapped during her short life already.  She is much loved by mom and dad, but especially by her brother.  As you can see, he is very sweet with her and loves giving her kisses.  He is interested in the baby, or as he says, "Ba"and gentle.  Life with two kids so far is really good, but also very full.  Thanks to everyone for all your love and prayers, and please continue to pray for us as we make this fun transition to a family of 4.

 Gus comes to visit his new sister in the hospital.

 With daddy.

 Leaving the hospital Wednesday morning.

 Family photo shoot with my mom before she left on Saturday.  Look at those eyes!

Thanks again!
Nancy, Gus and Bernadette

Visiting Uncle John at Seminary

Friday Gus and I had a fun day over in St. Paul with my brother.  John is in his first year of seminary.  I wanted to get over there and spend some time with him and see his life before I had two kids in tow.  John showed us around, treated us to lunch and introduced us to some wonderful men.  John and I had some good time to chat, and Gus enjoyed sitting on his uncle's lap.

Great pictures, huh!
Thanks for a great day, John.
Hopefully the next post will be a post with pictures of the new baby.
Bill and I are ready--and Gus has no idea what is coming.  I guess we might have to change the name of this blog!

We'll see!
Nancy and Gus

Halloween--30 years in the making!

Another week gone!  Wow!  Life feels like it is moving both really fast and really slow.  Lately the slowness has come in waiting for this baby.  I know I am only 38.5 weeks, but my OB told me yesterday that I was dilated to a "strong 3" already and could go any day...so naturally I thought any day would be yesterday...but that didn't happen.  And then there were more signs of getting close today...but again nothing yet.  Hummmm...  And, keep in mind that Gus came right at 38 weeks, so I'm not used to having to wait!

Oh well, I have a few minutes to finally get these pictures up here.  On Halloween we dressed up Gus in Billy's old Raggedy Andy costume that his mom made for him 30 years ago.  So cool that she still had it!  We had fun getting him dressed up...and he eventually tolerated the costume.  Here is a picture of Billy and his cousin Becky dressed up in their costumes 30 years ago.

And here is Gus this year:  As you can tell, it took him awhile to get used to the wig.

We hope you all had a wonderful Halloween!

Nancy and Gus

Our Toddler Halloween Party...

I learned one thing yesterday, it is difficult to get good pictures of active little boys, especially when you are trying to get them to wear goofy costumes!  We invited a few friends over to show off halloween costumes and we ended up with 7 active little boys.  It was fun, but it was a little crazy!

The guests arrive!  

Tricia and the shark (Jacob)

Micah as Tigger

the whole crew--Holden, Brandon, Everet, Wyatt, Gus, Micah and Jacob.

Bill and Gus:  PS, Gus is the old man from Up and Bill is Russell, the boy scout in the movie.  Gus was not a fan of wearing his glasses.

And I was the bird from the movie Up.

Once again, it was difficult getting a picture of Gus in his whole costume.  Here is the closest we got.  Note his cane, glasses, and balloons.  Cute kid, and even though this picture didn't turn out that great, it took a lot of trying to even get this!

Happy Halloween!  On Halloween we will be (attempting) to dress the little guy up once again.  Bill's mom sent us the Raggedy Andy costume she made for Bill when he was a year and a half.  Super cute costume...let's just hope Gus is a little bit better at standing still!

Nancy and Gus

Kelly and Tom's Wedding!

We were blessed to be present for our good friends, Kelly and Tom's, wedding this Saturday.  It was a beautiful event, very holy and powerful.  We were double blessed because we were able to enjoy the wedding and reception without Gus!  He had a blast hanging out with another little boy, and we had a blast without him!  We didn't get a ton of pictures, but I thought I'd share the few we did get:

Kelly and her dad.

And then, I was inspired to take a few pictures of the couples...because since we all started having kids I realized that we just take pictures of our kids.  We are becoming those people!

 Even though not everyone was able to make it (we miss you JoAnn and Tom) we did get everyone from Men's and Women's group together for a quick picture!  We feel very blessed to be part of this group!  And now everyone is either married or ordained!  Wow.

A few days at the farm

Well, I guess with the baby coming Gus and I are trying to cram in as much as possible.  Once Tina left, we packed up and headed down to Marshall.  My dad was laid up with a bum knee and my mom was still in TX helping my sister Maria.  And plus, Gus's idol, cousin Dave, lives in Marshall.   We had a lot of fun and it is always good for me to hang out with my sister Ruth.  She is laid back and so realistic...which I often am not!  Even though I was there for 2 days, I only took pictures one morning.

Nothing better than a couple of sweet boys and their kitty!

Nancy and Gus

Aunt Tina Comes to Visit

I am WAY behind on posting pictures, so buckle up!  Gus just went down for a nap and I am determined to get these all posted before he wakes up!

First up, Aunt Tina came to visit last weekend!  We had lots of fun...although we mostly just played around the house.  On Sunday we headed out to a pumpkin patch to pick some pumpkins.  Everything was great....except we had a cranky little boy who was more interested in just about everything than the pumpkins.  We tried to take some good pictures...but he can run now!  Also, note the pictures where his head to cropped out...this is not a mistake!  He was not a smiler, despite the beautiful weather and wonderful company we had!

Out attempt at a family picture...oh, I hate pictures of myself pregnant!

Momentary interest in a pumpkin.

Hauling back our pumpkins.

Guess what he is looking at....a tractor!

Tina stayed through until Monday.  Gus took a whopper of a nap that afternoon and woke up much happier!  I think his Auntie wore him out!  We had just enough time for a big snack and a trip to the park before Tina headed back home.

This is Gus's new thing, jumping...although as Tina can attest, he doesn't get much (if any) air time.  but, he still finds it pretty exciting!

Thanks for coming Tina!

Nancy and Gus