Warming Trend

So today we experienced a warming trend in Flint. Enough so that Jonas was able to go and play with his new toy! Here are some pics and a video from the experience.

Christmas 2008

Well so far Christmas Day 2008 has been action packed. Jonas has already played so hard he is down for a Christmas nap so that is an opportunity for me to update the blog. Jonas received several presets at the hands of Santa Claus a.k.a. (A collaboration of Noni, Meme, Gran-Gran, Pa, Pop, Pop-Pop, Mom, and Dad). We are attaching a video of his first reaction to this bounty and I apologize to all for my Lovely Red Pajamas that I bought for fun not realizing that they would be making a cinematic debut this holiday season. Merry Christmas and Enjoy. 

A couple of videos

For those of you who enjoy watching Jonas in action, here are a couple of videos. The first is one of him with his cousin Luke just chilling and drinking some milk. The second is Jonas performance of Happy Birthday Jesus this past Sunday at church...for those of you having trouble spotting him, he is the african-american in the middle with the white mother (Our apologies for the cinematography, it was shot by a Jr. Higher).

Grace and Peace

Snow, Snow, Snow!

So over the past 24hrs we have gotten over 8" of fresh snow. We are learning the life of a Michigander the fun way as well. Most of you down south would view this much snow as a socially crippling device, but since the snow fall, I have been snowboarding, Crystal went for a hair appointment, we both went Christmas shopping, had lunch and seem to be carrying on with life as normal. It is amazing how easily one acclimates to different climates. But I thought I would post some images of the snow fall, oh but that's right, the Geek Squad is still working on our camera. So in place of what could be some really cool pictures of a lot of snow, here are some more pictures of Jonas from our trip down south. Enjoy

I never thought I would say this...

I have never been so excited about something in all my life...tonight..Jonas...POOPED in the potty!!!!  I never thought I would be this excited about something so gross, but I am.  He is in no way even close to potty trained, but it is one less diaper for me to change so YAY!!!

Viva Nashvegas

Well we have been back a week and it feels like a month.  We had so much fun in Nashville.  We went for the National Youth Workers Covention, but also snuck in some times with our friends.  We had so much fun.  Jonas had a birthday party and it was just great to have everyone together again.  After Nashville we went to Chatt-town for Thanksgiving.  We miss our friends and family so much.  We didn't realize how much until we were there.  Jonas had three more birthday parties in Chattanooga so it is safe to say that he is spoiled.  We had so much fun though and already miss everyone so much.  Here are some pics of our trip.  

Long Time...No Blog

So once one calls AT&T it does not necessarily mean that one will have internet the next day, nay even the next week...try next month. But here we are again and a lot has happened. We have finally moved into our new rental. We celebrated Halloween with Mr. T and we already got our first snow. So we are posting pictures of all of the above. But things have been fantastic and we are sooo excited to be visiting Nashville later this week. So this post is brief but enjoy the pictures and the video.

Grace and Peace

                                          

Home Free...WOO HOO

Well we finally sold our home...can you believe it?...it has never felt so good to be renters again in all our lives...we sold it on Friday thanks to Andrew Bradley (our awesome real estate agent), our church, and Uncle Charlie (our stand in:).  So it is officially sold and we are finally true michiganders.  We found a house to rent thats about 1 mile from the church and is next door to two of the sweetest people that go to our church.  Right now it resembles that '70's house..complete w/ carpet in the kitchen and bathrooms (ugh)...but we have been given full design license to rip up the carpets (which in the bedrooms have immaculate hardwoods underneath them..thank you Jesus) and in the bathroom and kitchen we are going to lay some sort of flooring...we are so excited to have a real house that Jonas (and the dogs) have room to run in and has a really nice backyard and is in a cul-de-sac...who says Flints the ghetto...so thank you to everyone who has prayed so hard all of these months...God's timing really is the best...We love you and miss you all...now when you come to see us you will have a great place to stay so no more excuses:)...we officially move mid october just in time for trick-or-treaters!!!

Who are these people?

And to think...People trust us with their children...

So we found this web site called www.yearbookyourself.com and needless to say, it is awesome. So enjoy the new Arp family photos.

High and Tight

Just in case any of you were curious...I (Andrew) do have a few skills when it comes to the trimming of hair. Although my attempts on my own have never been all that great. And I know that the great Crystal bangs debacle of 2003 is still a painful and humorous memory for some. But I am glad to put on display my latest triumph...The Jonas mohawk trim. While lulling my son into a stupor of popcorn and Jack Johnson I was able to grab the clippers and go to town. The attached images are the front and rear view. And as you can see, Jonas was pleased with the trim. He is now more aerodynamic and a bit lighter as well. Not to mention fully prepped for his soon to be first, of perhaps many, appearances as B.A. Baracus for All Hallows Eve. So enjoy the photos and know we miss you all greatly. 

Grace and Peace

ugh...sick babies are the worst

Well Jonas is sick and so are we...its just a really bad cold, but babies with bad colds are horrible...
It all started sunday with just a runny nose and some irritability but it quickly turned into all out yuckiness...complete with diarrhea and oh did I mention IRRITABILITY (his first and now mine) so yesterday we thought...lets take him to the doctor surely he has an ear infection, sinus infection, something requiring hard sleep inducing drugs.....no such luck just a "virus" whatever that means so here I am stuck with a runny nose, coughing, sneezing, and don't forget irritable almost two year old....I think he has already figured out the sick rule...you know the one where when your sick you can act like a total crazy and somehow you still look cute...I think God creates moms to be totally submissive to this rule even when they themselves also feel horrible...I just love viruses...oh and before you start to get visions of this weepy eyed little boy curling up with me in the bed your wrong...sickness for Jonas looks almost the same as when he is well except for now we get the luxury of antihistimines...and of course they dont knock him out like they do me (or andrew yesterday)...oh no they supercharge his energy level to gianormous proportions...so he is running around happy one minute then screaming the next...oh well I waited how many years for this....oh yeah almost four and it is still worth it...I can almost hear my parents saying "payback" under their breath for all those times I was sick and insisted I felt better only to play for two hours and throw up all over the living room floor...don't worry I remember....now more than ever...

Jonas First Movie

So Jonas begged to play with the video camera yesterday...and this was the result. (Sorry about the grainy quality)

Jonas' Learning Curve

So you may be surprised to learn that Jonas' learning curve is now going through the roof...and he is a devious little one. From figuring out how to unplug and plug in a box fan to flushing a bottle of face moisturizer down the toilet he surprises us every day. He is also a huge fan of music and likes to wave his hand up and down to the beat. He also likes to jump when appropriate (or not) as well as move in a frantic side to side motion. But all of this still beats my (Andrew) best move...the tucking the knee up and elbow behind the head spasm thing.

He also is really sweet at bed time, which he refers to as Night-Night. We say the Lord's Prayer after reading a story or two and he folds his little hands and says Amen "A-A" in his vernacular. Bath time is becoming more of an adventure as he now is getting quite an arm and likes to throw his toys out of the tub. Actually he throws just about anything that he can lift...I think Bosley is next. 

Crystal and I are doing well but we are so busy we hardly have a moment to ourselves. We are excited about this week as our new Sr. High youth pastor is getting here. Now I will actually have someone to compete against in Wii again since Jerry has been gone. We thank all of you guys for your prayers and support and with any luck we will have a room for you to come and stay with us come next summer (we know none of you are planning on coming up from November to April). 

Grace and Peace

Andrew, Crystal and Jonas

Beginning Bloggers

So this is our first of hopefully many blogs.  We hope to be able to keep everyone up to date on all the things that keep us so busy.  So here we go...

We have been crazy busy lately....our ministries are going well and I (crystal) am involved in almost every committee our humble church (of 2k) has to offer...but things are going GREAT!  we finally got an offer on our house and will hopefully close on the thitieth..yay!!...and we will hopefully be moving out of our teeny "apartment" soon...for those of you that don't know our "apartment" is three rooms in the upstairs of a house...talk about learning how little we actually need to live...it has definitely been an experience...

Jonas is doing great...he is talking like mad and he seems to learn a new word everyday...just today he learned the word pippi...referring to our friends dog named pippi longstockings...and when he is not speaking English he speaks Jonas...we cannot interpret this so much is lost in translation...he gets really angry with us though...I can just imagine inside his head he's like "I'm telling them what I want what is their problem"....but we are starting to be able to interpret his body language a little better...he is really cute and so sweet and cuddly...

well that is all for now we have to get ready for the back to school bash tomorrow....