Gather 'Round the Campfire

When Matt and I got married almost 6 years ago it was the season of weddings and wedding showers.  What a fun time that was and now... a season of babies!  And boy do I love them.  We have had so much fun planning showers along the way to celebrate good friends and their tiny little blessings.  This last shower was no exception.  Our sweet friend Jana is expecting a little boy next month and we couldn't be more excited.  In honor of Jana's husband we decided to go with a manly theme of camping!  Weston and his brothers go on annual camping trips and so we thought it would be perfect.  It was so much fun to put together!  Here are some elements of the day and photos of the glowing mom to be.

Here are some of the fun details

 Let me introduce "the Guys!" They were greeting our guests when they arrived with a copy of We're Going on a Bear Hunt.

A marshmallow guessing game

"Take Home S'more Fun!" 

We decorated with burlap (of course), trees, lanterns, candles.  

Welcome Lil' Camper

 Happy Camper Crunch...

...and a hot cocoa bar

This was a fun activity. We picked up a package of diapers and sharpies and had guests write a funny note to Jana to read while changing her little guy's diaper.

This was my favorite part!  The camp ground!  We had tents and a fire pit, a clothes line, and a camping stove. The green tent was our family tent that we spent every summer in at Lake Tahoe. Oh the flood of memories that came back when I stepped inside.  I think the last time I was in that tent was over 10 years ago.  We had the food set up outside on the camping stove.  We did grilled cheese and soups..perfect for a cool day and definite camping food.  And yes! We roasted marshmallows and made s'mores. 

Taking a load off by the fire.  My Mama and Miss Ag are among the best hostesses I know.  They are tireless and make it look so easy.  It's a total blast working with them!

The growing Sutherland family!

 Sweet Ella!  She was all dolled up for the day and such a wonderful helper to her Mama.  

The desserts!  S'more parfaits.  DELICIOUS!

The finished diapers

And no blog is complete with a picture of the Coopster!

Enjoying our S'mores at the end of the day! What fun!

My nephew Nolan.  Unbelievably cute!

What a day it was! We can't wait to meet you Mister Sutherland!

Cooper John 6 months old

Mr Squishy, as he is often referred to with great admiration, turned half a year old just before Christmas.  This was big for me.  I had been looking forward to six months...just because…well maybe because we always celebrated our half birthdays growing up in the Cooper family.  Not a huge celebration, just an acknowledgement of the day, dinner on the red “You are Special Today” plate and a yummy special treat in our lunches.  Cooper is a little too young for all of the above, but we still celebrated! We gave him avocado!  I know what you’re thinking.  Wow Jenny, pull out all the stops.  But this was huge! Up until that point he had only tasted VERY bland rice cereal.  So avocado was pretty much up there with the chocolate chip cookies I used to get. 

What else has he done at 6 months?  SIT UP!  I was so excited for the half year mark and hoping that he would be able to sit in front of the Christmas tree for a picture. Here it is!  He started sitting up by himself at about 5 ½ months and we couldn’t have been prouder. 

He passed his 6 month check up with flying colors.  Except for one thing…sleeping through the night.  Yep, our boy formed a habit of getting up just once during the night for an extra feeding.  Just like someone else in our house...who I won’t mention...but it isn’t me… So it was time to break that habit.  How? Most of the books say you've got to just let them cry until they fall asleep again.  Not something I was looking forward to.  We made a decision to start letting him cry just after Christmas.  But guess what!  By the grace of God he stopped getting up and started sleeping all through the night.  What a guy, saving his Mama the agony of middle-of-the-night tears.  

And a few pictures of our little man at 6 months old...

The guy is noticing everything now.  Up until this point he never paid attention to the sticker I would put on him for these pictures.  This time he noticed and of course tried to eat it. 

We are crazy in love with you Cooper John.  When those big brown eyes look up at us our hearts swell with amazement that you have been given to us.

Cooper John - 5 months old

The big guy passed up 5 months!  He is growing by leaps and bounds. Each day that passes and new thing we learn about him or new skill he develops makes our hearts full.  We are so blessed and thankful the Lord has entrusted him to US for his life here on earth.  We continue to pray for the day he understands the sacrifice Christ made on the cross, repents of his sin and turns his life over to Christ so his life will continue in heaven.  

At five months we had a very wobbly sitter.  He needed a lot of guidance and help, but seemed very pleased with himself when he was able to sit up.

He continues to be a very alert kid and now reaches to grab anything near him..and pulls it toward him...and puts it in his mouth!

like his feet!

or his toys

This smiley and drooley face brings us so much joy! The past five months have flown by but we are continuing to savor the moments and stay in awe of the life created to be part of the Poladian family.

The Blogs I Never Wrote

COOPER'S DEDICATION

Our church does baby dedications to introduce new babies and for their families to commit to raising them in the Lord.  We said we would and they are going to hold us to it!

Here we are with Pastor Mike.  Matt is sharing a little bit of our story.  

COUSINS' WEEKEND 2011

It was that time of year again!  Where all the cousins get together to eat and hang for a whole weekend.  We love this time and look forward to it all year.  This year we had 4 babies join the bunch.  Last year..none..this year 4..pretty crazy huh! All born between May and August.  We traded the mountains for the beach, but it had no effect on our ability to have fun!

 What a good looking group of guys! 

(Especially the one in the orange shirt)

One day they will laugh at this..right?!?

The Group..all 24 of us..

This was fun for everyone!  We dressed the babies up and took tons of photos.

Featuring:

Audrey Elise as Minnie Mouse

Callie Jean as a Chick

William Joseph as Yoda

Cooper John as a Monkey

HALLOWEEN 2011

Our sweet Cooper went to Fall Fest as a cow.  He was too cute and had a ton of fun...despite the yawn

And the journey continues

We have BIG and EXCITING news!!

Cooper says..."My Dad is going to work for the Mouse!"

..and now the story

...as the Poladian family continues on this journey we call life, we are about to take a turn.  Or a veering in the road. Either way we are heading in a new direction...the one that takes us right back where we started from.  Interesting how it has happened.  If you will allow me, I would love to share yet another way the Lord has molded me, stretched me and shaped our family.  

(Ha! You have to allow me..it's my blog!)

It happened quickly, as it usually does when the Lord is about to ask something of us.  Matt came home from work, casually talked about his day and then said, "oh yeah, I have an interview with Disney this week."  I have trained myself to say in my head "ok Lord! I trust you" when Matt says things like this..because he does this to me often...before I say anything aloud. That way I have a joyful response to whatever his news is.  And believe me, my heart lept because we have been praying about his job situation and Disney is such a great company, but my head tells me to be patient, trust and not get too ahead of myself.  So the phone interview turned into an in person interview, which turned into another interview, which turned into a job offer! All within a couple of weeks.  

So I know what you are thinking...where is the stretching?  Sounds like a blessing that came easy? 

Well, saying yes to Disney means change. transition. moving. All things I don't do well.  On my own that is. Every ounce of me likes to cling to familiar, hold on tightly and not let go.  In the past this has led to discontentment and a complete lack of joy in my heart.  I am determined to change well this time.  To cling to my Savior instead of the temporal.  To find joy in the journey and not let it be stolen by circumstances. Please don't get me wrong.  There are so many blessings in this new job.  It is such a great opportunity for Matt in his career.  We can move back to be closer to family.  We have friends that are treasures this side of eternity already there.  We have an amazing church to plug into and receive great teaching. 

But it also means leaving an amazing church, friends and ministry that we have grown to love deeply. Our friends here have prayed with us through infertility, rejoiced with us and served us when Cooper arrived, helped us move, encouraged us in our faith and most of all loved us like we are called to as Christians.  

As you can see..this news is two fold.  

But in all things we give thanks and praise to the Lord for what He has done.  It is good. 

{pray for me please}