Argh, Matey!

Hi again!
I'm going to do a few shorts posts to catch up from early fall to early January! Here are some of my favorite pictures from Halloween. The pirate theme has really taken over our home! Just wait until the Christmas post... :)

We even had pirate pumpkins! :)

Captain Jacob Hook!

Mr. Zachary Smee!

What a handsome pirate!

The pirates in their "ship!"

Fun in the fall!

Hi everyone! I know, 2 posts in a day...wow!! Here are some pics of late summer/early fall. Enjoy!! :)

Sorry, Jacob... :) But it's cute! So a new phenomenon has come over our house, much like last fall and the rise of Batman-mania at the Strahan home. This fall pirates have been the theme! If you can't tell Jacob is being a pirate with a hook for a hand. What does he want to be for Halloween? Captain Hook, of course! What does he want for Christmas? A pirate ship and pirates, of course! :)

We spent a beautiful day at Six Flags in September with our friends, Kelly, Steve, and Josh Fritz. Fun, fun!!

Last weekend we went to Grand Rapids, Michigan to visit our good friends, Jason, Tamani, and Bethany Jenison. It's a yearly fall escape and we always go to an excellent apple orchard (Klackel's, for those of you from MI!). Here are some pics from that fun, but cold, drizzly day.

Enjoying apple cider donuts and pumpkin donuts...yummy!!

Zach was very upset that he couldn't have another apple cider donut!! :)

Fun with mom at the park while Jakey was at school!

We took a trip to Cincinnati, Ohio a couple weeks ago to visit some dear friends, Andy, Angela, Audrey, and Austin Litteral (and soon to be Annabelle!). While there we took a ride up and down the Ohio River on the riverboat, the Belle of Cincinnati. Thanks, Litterals, for a great weekend! :)

Here's a prego picture of the two of us! Me at around 18 weeks and Angela at around 30 weeks.

It's a Girl!!!

Hi everyone,
I can't believe it has been a month since I started this blog and last posted something!! :) The little things get away from me sometimes...ok, I'll be honest, a lot of the time! So I'm going to try to better at being more intentional with the blog and updates.

On Tuesday morning, Dan, Jacob and I went in for my 20 week ultrasound and appointment. I almost didn't make it in because the boys both had the stomach flu the previous 2 days and that morning I woke up sick as well. But I was NOT going to miss this appointment! :) I had been impatiently waiting for this day for a very long time. So, hoping that it was morning sickness and not the flu, I still went. Jacob was excited to hear the baby's heartbeat and to actually see it on the TV screen. He told the technician he was going to jump up and down if it was a girl. :) After about 40 minutes of the ultrasound and about 3 checks on the heart (which alarmed me, but it was fine), the baby moved a little and the technician was able to see what was our long awaited moment...was it a boy or a girl?? With Jacob and Zach it was so obvious to me that they were boys, and this time around I hadn't seen anything that was obvious so I still had a little hope. So she went over that area and said in a very medical voice what she was seeing (the 2 lines) and that it meant it was girl! I warned her beforehand that I might tear up if it was a boy, but I still cried even hearing it was girl. It was just a shock because I had been tring to convince myself it was going to be another boy. So exciting! Jacob did in fact jump up and down and gave Dan a bunch of high fives. He knew it was going to be a girl and he was right! He had fun calling the grandma's and poppy's afterwards and telling them he was going to have a sister.

We've prayed for a little girl for a long time and a lot of others have, too, so we thank God for this little blessing in our lives. We're looking forward to painting the room pink (and taking down trains!) and of course I've already been researching girly baby bedding! Thanks to everyone for the congrats and shared excitement. We continue to pray for a healthy pregnancy and delivery. Maybe the second half of this pregnancy will fly by finally knowing what it is! :)

Oh, I forgot! We had 2 names picked out for a girl (none for a boy, so luckily that worked out!) and we decided on Tuesday which one we'd choose. Her name will be Molly Jane Strahan. Jane for mine and my mom's middle names and the initials MJS are after Dan's mom's initials. I just like the name Molly and have only known sweet, cute Molly's! :)

My camera is broken once again (just got this one 2 months ago!), so I'll post a prego pic soon when I get a new one. Luckily I bought the plan this time so I can get it replaced for free. For the record, I actually did nothing to break this one! :)

Jacob's First Day of Preschool

Jacob had his first day of preschool today! I was actually really excited for him, not sad like a lot of my friends seem to be this week, sending their kids off to preschool. Maybe it's because I'm a teacher and I know how great it'll be for him, or maybe it's because I'm looking forward to having one at home three mornings a week.... :) I do think I'll be sad next fall as he goes to kindergarten because my precious time with him during the day will be gone...but I won't dwell on that yet! At least I have one more year! I better make the most of it!

Jacob had no problem going into his classroom, finding a seat, starting a puzzle. No tears, no clingyness, nothing! So that was awesome. Zach on the other hand thought that he should be going to school, too. I think in his mind he's the same age as Jacob since they can do everything together now (except he can't go on the bigger rides yet at Six Flags like Jacob!). So he cried all the way out to the car and halfway home. He wanted to go to school and he wasn't going to let me forget that. It was actually pretty cute. I couldn't help but smile! :)

Afterwards he was pretty quiet and I had to ask a lot of questions to hear about it. He was most impressed with waterpainting and reading, "The Kissing Hand." Great book, for those of you with preschoolers! I actually found it on youtube later and we listened to it together. But now he's been starting to bring up things he liked, so I'm slowly learning more and more about his morning.

Here are some pics from this morning and from preschool orientation last week. Enjoy! :)

The preciousness of life!

I've been starting to dwell on a few topics that I might want to share in this new blog and settled on this one: the preciousness of life. This past year has been both a year of tragedy and death, but also one of hope, renewal, and new life. I was reminded of both this past weekend when Zachary had a scary run in with a pool. Let me give you a little background of Zach before I explain. Zach is a very sweet, loving, smart, energetic, and curious soul. However, he tends to always find the most dangerous thing to do in his surroundings and try it out. This can range from climbing on the edge of railings above stairs, jumping from high places, dunking himself time after time in a pool without trying to come up for air...you get the point. This past weekend we were at a bonfire and the kids were running around the yard in the dark. The people whose house we were at have a pool. Well Zachary started crying and we couldn't see him. Then someone spotted a figure at the top of the stairs to the pool, and of course it was Zach. He had climbed up the stairs and had actually stepped up onto the pool blanket and was starting to sink. By the time someone got there the water was about up to his knees. Needless to say he was very scared, and so was everyone else there. We pray for God's protection and I think we definitely got it that night! What could have been something unthinkable (I'm really trying not to think about it), helped me to be appreciative of my boys and how God has blessed us with them, and hopefully it put a little fear into my previously fearless boy.

So since that evening I have been thinking about this theme of our year...the preciousness of life. This year we lost some dear friends and family, such as our good friend, Bonnie, my grandmother, Ruth, a family member recently had a miscarriage, and two couples that we're friends with tragically lost babies as well. Cancer has also been something that has shaken up a lot of people we know, unfortunately, and two friends' children were diagnosed with a terrible, terminal genetic disease. It is so easy to dwell on the negatives, to blame someone or God, to be bitter or angry. But what's amazing is that most everyone listed above who have been affected by these tragedies and hardships have all been unbelievable witnesses of God's grace, mercy, strength, and love. They have all continued to point to God, praising Him, despite their pain and loss. So these friends have taught me a lot about appreciating life and seeing in color how precious it is.

On a positive note, we have also been blessed with new life. After trying for almost six months (I know, this is nothing compared to the struggles of a lot of people we know trying to conceive), God blessed us with another child. With other pregnancies we haven't had any problems conceiving, but this time seemed much longer. This small wait alone also helped me to put into perspective and empathize how others feel as they wait month after month to hear the words that they are pregnant. But since I've been pregnant I've been more uneasy and anxious. Just today I had my 16 week appointment and I was nervous when the nurse tried to find the heartbeat because of this uneasiness I've felt. She did find it, by the way, thankfully! With Jacob and Zach I was in la la land, thinking everything would be fine, not worrying, etc. That is great, but I sort of feel like because of this past year and the sad things that have happened around us, that it will happen to me, too. I know this is so silly, because in my mind I know that I should trust God and trust in his will for my life, and I do trust Him, but it's still been hard. It will be so nice to "see" the baby in a month and to know that he or she is healthy. I've been preoccupied with "what sex will it be??", but really I know what's really important is for it be healthy, girl or boy! :) But anyways, I am much more appreciative of this blessing of new life this time around, and unfortunately it took some loss and heartache to do this.

Welcome to our new blog!

Hello friends and family!



Welcome to our blog! I've recently been inspired to finally become a "blogger!" I'm realizing that I'm only 30 and technology is quickly passing me by. Anyone else feel like that? I have a very simple cell phone, we finally got a laptop this year in which I only use the internet, download pictures, and use Microsoft Word, etc. So I've decided to up my limited knowledge a little bit and start a blog for our family, mostly to post pictures and talk about what's going on in our lives. So I hope you'll check it out every now and then, or not, that's the beauty of a blog. Like my friend, Kelly (who is an experienced blogger now), said tonight when I was asking her some questions about it (and I'm paraphrasing), "It's much better than Facebook, you can express yourself in more than 2 sentences and people who want to read it can read it, not the whole world." Well put, Kel!



Also, I've never been much into journaling, so I figure this can help me preserve some memories without having to get out the paper and pen and journal. :) So I'm not sure how often I'll end up updating, but hopefully every now and then.



Thanks for reading, in advance! :)