Jonathan's Birthday Cake

For those of my non-facebook friends and family, here are the pics of Jonathan's cake. I'll try to get some more of his birthday up in the next few days. But at least you can see the cake:

Back side:

Jonathan with his cake:

After the candle was lit:

Abi and Nate helping blow out the candle:

Walking...Walking...Here we go a Walking...

I can't say exactly what day it was that he started walking, but Jonathan was indeed very mobile on two feet before his first birthday.

These pictures were taken the 19th and he was going quite a distance rather reliably by then.

Sick Again...

Yep, we are having a hard time this winter with all kinds of sicknesses...we have gone through the head colds, the stomach flu, the aches, the vomiting, the runny noses, the coughing...

BUT...praise the Lord we have not had the fevers!

I think Jonathan has had it the worst...Marion says he can really see that he has slimmed down. A bonus of this though, is that I think we have discovered a potential milk allergy in Jonathan. Every time we try to give him whole milk, his cheeks get red...so it was good to find that out!

Flyin' Kites

For some reason - of which Marion and I cannot remember - Abigail became fascinated with wanting to fly a kite. I remembered that we had one upstairs in the attic that Larry had given Marion years ago!

So after nearly a week of her begging, Daddy got the kite out and assembled it. Then one day, when he had a few minutes on a nice day (still cold though - it is January) they tried to fly it.

They first tried it around the farm, but just didn't have enough wind and Marion was a little leery of the power lines, so we all went to the pasture.

Everyone took a turn flying it, except Nathan - we thought maybe he was a bit too young - and I guess Jonathan, who stayed in the pickup out of the cold!

Uncle Dean Passed On...to Glory!

My Uncle Dean - one of my dad's younger brothers - passed on January 6th after several years of battling cancer.

We made the trip back on the following Thursday for the Friday memorial service. With things being slower on the farm right now, we were able to stay through and come home on Saturday.

That may not seem like a long trip, but it was better than having to make the trip in two days...coming home after the funeral!

It was good to see the family...this was the first time since our wedding that the entire Converse Family was together! It was neat to see how it has grown...There were lots of little ones, including the newest member of the family, Dean's granddaughter, Adalynn who was born December 16th I believe!

Hopefully the next time we see family, it won't be under sorrowful circumstances.

Happy New Year!

Okay...so I am late...all those of you who check my blog know that I am late in getting these things posted, but I will attempt to get caught up here by the end of January.

We did have a good New Year despite the sicknesses that have been ailing us since Thanksgiving. No one had thrown up for about 24 hours, so we ventured out to church on New Year's Eve for the service and festivities there.

We only made it to nine with the kids, but that was fine. We have accepted that we won't be seeing midnight unless we are up with the kids!

Hope you all had a great New Years Eve and all!