I Have A Nephew...

He was born today, July 6 at 2:41 am.

His name is Peter Landon Masateru.

He was 8 pounds, 4 ounces and 20 inches long.

And he's absolutely adorable, of course.

I have a picture, only on my phone, so no pic for here!

I have officially reached a blogging funk.  I'd much rather spend my time this summer, playing with Avery, laughing with Avery, and when she's sleeping, spend time with my husband, who I love so much.

I'm still taking pictures everyday (for the most part), so I'm not going to forget these moments.  I just don't feel like blogging about it.

We're going to be going on a few trips later on this summer, so maybe I'll feel like writing about those things then.

Maybe.

In the meantime, I hope you're having a lovely summer!

Bloggy break, bloggy break....

Oompa Loompa...

Sorry about my last post. As my title stated, I was losing it. I was in a weak moment and needed to moan about it.

Not that everything's all better. I'll just try not to do that anymore. I don't enjoy listening to people complain about their situation, so I won't do it to you all.

But seriously, have you ever been in a situation where you just felt helpless? I feel this extremely heavy weight on my shoulders and I can't seem to shake it. It is encouraging to know that in 3 months and 14 days, my feet will be on homeland soil again. However, it has also made me impatient. I want to go home now!

Jeez, I sound like Veruca Salt.

And I'm sure that sometimes, Huzz feels like Violet. "Can it, you nit!"

Anyway, I'm really trying to stay focused and keep my head down. My memory verse last week was, "He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge. The fear of the L_rd is the key to this treasure." Isaiah 33:6

He is my foundation and nothing else can compare to that...even home. He is my home. Does that make sense? It makes sense in my mind, at least.

Everybody hop on over to Hannah and wish her a happy 1st birthday! She's so cute. We got her a stroller for her baby, since she's walking now. I hope she likes it!

Colorado...Part 7...Auntie Kelsi

One afternoon, I came downstairs to find this:
And my camera just snapped away...

Turn the page, Aunt Kelsi!

As a teacher, I LOVE it when babies begin to read...

Yes, Hannah is already a reader....

She knows how to hold the book, which way to turn the pages, and she studies the pictures...

Aunt Kelsi is F-U-N!!!

She listens to you, as you read the words...

She laughs and interacts with the books...

What a good reader!

Read it again, Aunt Kelsi! I love books!

Colorado...Part 6...

Huzz and I managed to make it to Mimi's not once, but twice, for breakfast while we were home.

What? It's tasty.

Even Hannah enjoyed Mimi's once.
Well, for the most part...

She is waving to all her people, down the table...

Isn't she so cute? She's so happy!

I don't like this picture of me, but it's so cute of Hannah...

Can you tell I love being an aunt?

Bro's Graduation Weekend

We drove down to Maryland again this past weekend to help my brother celebrate his great achievement of graduating from George Washington University with his Masters in International Studies, or something like that. I don't really know exactly what he was studying for two years. A graduate program that required a lot of reading and paper writing!

We got down there on Thursday, early evening. First things first: Guitar Hero III

Oh yes, we did.

As you can tell, my dad absolutely disliked playing.

My mom gave it a whirl and got better and better each time she practiced.

I know what Mom's getting for her birthday!!!

I completely showed them how it's done. Just a few pointers: Mouth open wide, tilt guitar at every opportunity, stick booty out.

Stephen proved that he is also capable of awesome moves. Plus, you get extra points for tilting the guitar.

Kyle and Stephen turned out to be quite the co-op career team, beating their nemesis: Metallica's "One." It was a doozy.

We made Grandpa John and Grandma Nancy watch us. As you can tell, they are clearly wondering where they went wrong.

Okay, I can sense you've seen enough Guitar Hero...

The next day (Friday) was Kyle's actual graduation. Stephen and I stayed home to baby-sit, since Kyle had a limited amount of tickets. Gotta say, I was pleased, as I would choose a baby over a graduation any day. No offense Kyle, I'm proud of you and all, but I think my niece is pretty cute.

I am such a nice auntie. I swaddled her all up and placed her in her boppy. She slept like this for a good three hours. Happy baby = Happy Uncle Stephen

Then, on Saturday, we drove up to Baltimore and

went to the National Aquarium. First, we saw the dolphin show, which was pretty neat. I like dolphins.

I was very happy because my good friend, Lizzie, was able to come with us. Y'all remember her from my wedding, if you were there.

Yes, this is us, being all newlyweddy and cute and stuff. We were in great spirits, being with family, friends, and lots of fishes and marine wildlife.

I fell in love with this turtle that the aquarium rescued that had an infection in one of her fins and they had to remove it. She just looked like a nice turtle. Picture did not turn out, though.

Mom and Dad, cuddlin'.

Stephen, once again, hogging Hannah from me. Which makes me realize that I didn't get any pictures of me with my niece on my camera. Mama, help me out?

Easter Weekend...Finally

I know Easter was about a month ago, but I just now got the pics off my camera and onto a cd. No, I'm not behind the times...Stephen's laptop doesn't like my camera program. However, we just ordered a new laptop for ME!!! It should be here in the next week or so and I'm very excited.

Anyway, here are some pics from our fun weekend in Maryland with my brother, Kyle and his wife, Alexis, and their new baby, Hannah.






We rented a car and drove down Friday evening and as soon as we got there, Hannah was in Stephen's arms - even before me! Thumbs up, Uncle!



Don't worry ~ I wasn't jealous. I was actually really impressed and I REALLY liked seeing him hold a baby. ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, everybody calm down! No, we are not having a baby, at least not for another 2-3 years. End of story. I don't want to hear about it.






ANYWAY, back to my Easter story...

We had a fun weekend. Kelsi drove up from North Carolina and it was also extremely cute to see her with Hannah. She surprised me with her nurturing side and how good she was with her. I'm mad at myself, though, because for some dumb reason, I didn't take any pictures of those two together.

Sunday afternoon, after church, we all came home and whipped up Easter dinner, which turned out DELICIOUS! Kyle has turned into quite the chef! Even though Mom and Dad weren't there with us, they bought us a honey baked ham, which is a Peterson family tradition for Easter. Always tasty. I made an apple pie, but I forgot to put the butter inside, so it turned out to be quite a healthy pie. I didn't eat any, though because we had to head back to the city. But Alexis told me it was good, especially with some ice cream on top!

Here is a picture of me with tiny Hannah. Isn't she so cute? She is all wrapped up in the pink blanket I knitted for her. She likes it.







Okay, and I couldn't resist putting the series of pictures of Stephen holding Hannah. He acts like he doesn't like babies and little kids, but I think it's all a front. He's going to be such a good dad one day. Everybody now....AWWWWW!!!

PS - If you have a blog and have been doing it awhile, help me out, please. As you can see, I am really struggling with getting the spacing right with pictures and captions and stuff. I've read the help section, but it hasn't helped me too much. How the heck does this thing work?

New Niece

I'd like you all to meet our new (and only - so far) niece! Her name is Hannah Elizabeth. She was born to Kyle and Alexis on March 3rd, a few weeks early and is a tiny 5 lbs. 14 oz. and 19 inches long. I guess she really looks like Peterson, except lucky for her, she has her momma's eyes!

Alexis and Hannah

Proud Papa

All the grandparents went to Maryland to see the new grandchild this past weekend. Here are some pics from their time there.

Grandpa and Hannah

Grandma and Hannah

We are heading to DC for Easter, we think, so we can't wait to meet you, Hannah!