Christmas Card 2010

Faith Hope Family Religious Christmas Card

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"It's the most wonderful time of the year!" Christmas is a time for family gatherings, special programs, and renewed contact with friends and family whom we have not heard from in possibly a year. I love receiving Christmas cards from family and friends, seeing and hearing about how their lives have changed throughout the year. I especially enjoy getting photo Christmas cards to see how kids have grown. I also love sending out Christmas cards and letters to my family and friends, including photo cards, so that others can see our beautiful kids and how they have grown over the year.

This year I am ordering my cards through Shutterfly. They have many unique designs, and layout options that other sites do not offer. My cousin ordered her cards through Shutterfly and she was so impressed with the quality of the photo paper. She said her cards came out way nicer, thicker than other cards she has seen this year. I am looking forward to receiving mine, knowing they will be done with such great quality! Check their cards out here.

Two years ago, I ordered a photo book for Evan as his baby book. I was able to design pages conveniently, choosing backgrounds, fonts, etc. The book is a nice hard cover book with clear pictures and journaling or captions that go along with the pictures. It is a permanent reminder of Evan's birth and how precious the beginning of his life is. I loved the way it turned out and it also arrived promptly after I ordered it. I almost forgot! I also ordered Evan's birth announcements here too!

In addition to photo Christmas cards, I enjoy giving other photo gifts to parents and grandparents, as visual reminder to pray for us and our family. They offer other great projects such as calendars and other personalized gifts too. In fact, I may use them for our baby announcements next spring! I am looking forward to these quality, memorable gifts and trust you will enjoy them too!

Christmas 2010

I know it has been awhile since I posted. 2 boys have sure been keeping me busy this year. I can only keep up with one thing at a time (so usually choose to do FB).

So I thought I better update with some Christmas pictures.

Our Family (which is growing!)

Evan & Mommy kisses

Evan & Ethan

Ethan saying, "Hi Baby!"

Another family photo (sorry this one came out blurry)

Misc. fall pics...

Here are some misc. pics from the past couple of months:

Ethan riding the Awana float for Labor Day, wearing his Puggles shirt.
Me, Evan, my cousin, Rachel, (home from her husband serving in the Army), my sister, Alisha & Elijah

Some of the 3rd cousins...

Me & Evan hanging out at the float assembly evening.

Ethan petting the horse at Geers Farm.

Mommy with her two paci boys

Mommy with the boys riding on the hay wagon at Geers Farm.

Ethan & Evan in the pumpkin patch

Evan, Me, Ethan S.(Ethan's friend Ethan), Samuel & Ethan

Evan & Mommy walking through the pumpkin patch

Evan chewing on Ethan's booster seat strap. "Look Mom, no hands."

Hayley & Ethan playing on the ottoman

Celebrating 6 Glupker Birthdays: I gave Bart a surprise birthday party this year - pulled it off!

A counter full of meds. Bart was sick for about 5 or 6 weeks. He was taking a little of everything and really nothing much helped. He had a cold/flu, cough, fevers/chills, tight chested/difficulty breathing, etc. He may have had the H1N1 (Swine Flu) or maybe not, but either way he was quite sick for several weeks. NO FUN!

Mommy & Ethan enjoying a cool afternoon on the front porch.

Evan's eating puffs and Cheerios now (such a big boy!). Ethan was over a year before he ate any "solid" food.

Ethan is praying here. Such a sweet boy.

All dressed up for Church, looking way too cute!

Evan all dressed up for Church too.

Celebrating our Marriage...

We had the opportunity to attend a "Celebrate Your Marriage" Conference at The Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island this month. This summer we celebrated our 12th Wedding Anniversary. We are truly thankful to God for blessing us with such a wonderful marriage! This was intended to be a surprise get-away for my husband, but due to a few circumstances, he found out early. Anyway, we enjoyed getting away even if only for 24 hours. The bad thing was that I had come down with the stomach flu the day before we left and Bart got the stomach flu the day we came home. So we ended up leaving the conference a little early, since he got sick. It wasn't the greatest of getaways, but we were thankful to be able to do it.

Getting ready to go home, on the front porch of the Grand Hotel. (Bart's smiling, even though he doesn't feel well.)

The beautiful sunrise, from our balcony, lake-front room.

The Grand Hotel, is always a beautiful sight!

Friends that God seated us next to for dinner Friday evening, Joey & Holly Kline. She recently became pregnant, via "Snow Babies" Embryo Adoption. We were able to share our journey of infertility with them as well. It was definitely a God-appointment. We were thankful to be able to enjoy our 5 course meal as well (with 12 pieces of silverware!)

Enjoying our yummy dinner in the Grand.

Riding the Ferry boat over to Mackinac Island. Mom & Dad G. so graciously came and stayed with Ethan & Evan for the day. The bad thing was that Mom Glupker also came down with the stomach flu that morning. Apparently I shared. :-(

Happy 40th Wedding Anniversary, Dad & Mom Glupker!

We planned a Surprise Dinner Open House for Mom & Dad Glupker for their 40th Wedding Anniversary, on Friday, July 3rd. We invited the entire extended family. There were about 35 people in attendance. It was a great time to celebrate with them and show them our support and love for them, as they have encouraged and loved us all also.

(Once again, the pictures are being put in reverse order... can't figure that one out!) This is why I just use FB. It is SO much easier, and faster! Sorry everybody!

Sharing their Anniversary Cake. Mom looked very worried at first, but they were both nice!

The family all gathered together. Close friends, Ed & Mary Ellens, joined us as well. (They're practically family.) ;-)

Mom & Dad enjoying their Pasta dinner.
We made a pasta buffet with:

Spaghetti, Fettuccini, Meatballs, Chicken strips, Marinara & Alfredo Sauces.

Then they could make their own pasta dishes.

We also had breadsticks, Caesar salad, tossed salad, fruit salad, and Anniversary Cake.

They were VERY surprised!
We decorated in Red & Black for the RUBY 40th Wedding Anniversary! It looked so nice!

Congrats, Dad & Mom! We love and appreciate you both, very much!

Memorial Day pics...

Well, life with 2 boys is definitely BUSY!! I'm sure you realize that since I have not updated my blog in 2 months! I must confess, I do use Facebook more than Blog now for my updates. It is much faster and easier, so to see more up to date pics and more often you'll have to check our wall on FB.

For Memorial Day weekend, we got away for a 4 day weekend, and we went to my Grandparents cabin on the East side of the state. My grandparents were there, my parents, Bart and I, Ethan and Evan, my sister and her family, and two of my Aunts & Uncles (at different times). It was nice to see everyone. My Aunts & Uncles had not seen Evan yet and he is 5 months old!

Here is another 4 Generation picture. Evan was sleeping, I think.
Ethan is almost 26 months old. He is VERY BUSY! He is SO SMART! He is learning SO quickly these days! He knows all of his letters by recognition, he can count to 5 (when he wants to ;-) ), he knows all of his colors and shapes. He loves music, jumping, dancing, moving. He loves to play ball: basketball, soccer, any kind of ball. He's just getting into "baseball" now that we can play outside a little bit. He loves to read books, color, and "write his name". (Well he just scribbles, while we write his name for him.) He makes us laugh (and scream probably at times), but we LOVE him dearly! We just pray for patience as we continue to train him that he will grow to love the Lord. I'm sure with all of his energy he will do GREAT things for the lord!

Grandpa & Evan sharing some snuggle time.

Grandma, Evan & Ellie

Evan is 5 months old already! I can hardly believe it. He weighs about 18 pounds and loves to eat cereal! (But he still will NOT take a bottle, stubborn boy!) He loves to JUMP in his Jumperoo, just like Ethan did when he was little. He just goes and goes! It sure keeps him busy though. He is a strong little guy too. He chews and drools like crazy. We're waiting for those first teeth to begin to make their way in. Ethan was 6 months old when his first 2 popped through. We'll see how quickly Evan will get his. He is a joy to us also and we thank him for our little sweetheart! He looks JUST like his Daddy did when he was little too! He's going to keep those baby blue eyes, I'm sure, unless they turn gorgeous green, like Daddy's.