This was Addie's first real Easter and with GG and Papa in town, she had no shortage of fun filled events! We had a blast watching her learn how to hunt the M&M filled eggs, but they didn't stay in the basket for long. Here are a few pics from the day.

We haven't posted a blog since late February. I guess we've been busy blowing our noses and taking care of one another. Somehow in the past 3 weeks we have managed to:

• have 6 colds or bugs between the three of us - 2 a piece
• fill 3 prescriptions
• pass 1 kidney stone; it was a nice looking one if I do say so myself Jim and I have browsed pictures online before and these suckers come in all shapes and sizes.
• visit the emergency room 2 weekends in a row
• get Jim treated for an acromioclavicular (AC) dislocation which is basically a separation of his right shoulder joint after what was surely an awesome snowboarding jump went south in a hurry. Yes, he's okay just in a good bit of pain.

All in all we are counting our blessings and grateful we are on the mend. My parents are flying in this Thursday. I'm hoping between now and then we will all manage to stay well and get Jim further down the road to recovery.

When we were expecting Addison we initially called her Squirt just to make it easier to talk about her. Then once we had our 5 month sonogram and discovered Squirt was a girl our friends asked if they could give her a more feminine name. Thus she became Buttercup, a name that she still gets called occasionally.

This time around Jim named the baby Squirt-duex knowing that we'd probably pick a more gender specific name at a later date. When we found out we're having a boy the brainstorming began. First Trevor suggested Floyd. Then Jim threw out the name Froto (like the hobbit from Lord of the Rings). Addie picked up on that one quickly, put her own twist on it, and started talking about "Baby Fro-row" while patting my tummy. I'm sure you can understand why I insisted on a new name in fear that I'll one day have a son that still gets called Fro-row. Therefore, our little guy has been officially deemed "Baby Bam Bam" - something we all agreed on! Much better.

Okay, so my baking and cooking activities have been put on hold since late November when the preggie sickness kicked in. Recently though I turned a corner and started looking through my cooking magazines and books again. The other night I came across a cinnamon roll recipe in my March Bon Appetit and I became obsessed. And I do mean seriously obsessed. Thoughts such as, "I NEED these cinnamon rolls" and "I MUST fill my tummy with some ooey gooey goodness" bombarded me. So Monday I tackled the somewhat long process of making homemade cinnamon rolls in an effort to get my fix. Boy was it worth the time and effort! Big fans of breakfast night, Jim, Addison and I enjoyed Jim's omelets and my rolls for dinner. The recipe makes 18 so we've been indulging everyday since!

I don't have much experience baking with yeast. Usually finding the word "yeast" in a recipe translates to "no way" in my mind, and I flip to the next recipe. Much to my delight, the rolls rose perfectly. I will definitely make these again though I may play with the icing a bit. It was a bit cream cheesier than I prefer. Maybe yeast and I can be friends after all!

Baby dolls or trucks? Cinderella or Superman? Ballet Slippers or Football Cleats? Pink or Blue? Girl or Boy? These were the questions at hand yesterday as we went to Calgary for our 18 week sonogram.

First and foremost, Baby McCulley is looking good all around. At this point the measurements match up perfectly, the baby looks healthy, and the due date is estimated around July 9th. The technicians said our little guy was very photogenic. Yes, Addison is going to have a baby brother! I must admit I was pretty shocked as I was convinced we were having another girl. It was a fun surprise!

Thankfully, we were able to see many great shots of him wiggling around. Here are some of the 4d shots they sent us home with.

Addison loves to peel back the curtains and check on the snow. Yep, it's still there! Yesterday, she and I collected some fresh snow from the deck to make snow ice cream. Growing up, both our families enjoyed mixing up batches. Specifically, it reminds me of visits to my G&G's house in Amarillo (yes, it does snow in Texas). Addison refused to touch the snow until it was transformed into creamy sweetness. We froze a cupful for Jim. This led to the discovery that popping it in the freezer for a bit makes it even tastier if it's too sweet.

Ironically most of our Canadian friends have never had snow ice cream. It's just a mixture of fresh snow, milk or half-and-half, sugar, and vanilla. I've never tried it but have heard that by adding some Nestle's Ice Java you end up with a concoction much like a Tim Horton's iced cappuccino (a Canadian favorite). Homemade iced caps? Now that's worth looking into, eh?

We have just sent out our most recent print newsletter along with an updated prayer card. For those of you who aren't sure if you are on our master mailing list, drop us an email with your address and we can send ya the goods. Download the January Newsletter

Enjoy a few of the funny moments we get with our little Addie

Congratulations Thomases! On Jan 6th precious little Maren Grace Thomas finally arrived! Even now at just a few weeks old you can see how sweet she is. Joe and Suzanne are doing great and Evan is a fantastic big brother. Addison is very interested in Maren; she takes every chance she can get to hug and kiss on her. She is quite smitten by babies these days. Little does Addie know that she too will be a big sister before too long. Here are some photos from Maren's Birth-day

It's been over a month since our last blog post. Yes, we are still alive and kicking; we've just been busy, and I'm still getting past the preggie sickness (I'm finishing week 16). Earlier this month our friends Derek and Chantal came for a 3 day visit. They used to work at our GoodSeed office in Idaho and are now both attending Dallas Theological Seminary in Texas. We hadn't seen them since May of 06 so it was so fun to catch up and hang out. D&C are expecting their first little one in May. They will be such excellent parents; Addie just adored them! We only wish we could have had more time with them; we count them as dear friends.

July is my favorite month of the year, especially now that we live up in Canada. By the time July rolls around we can pretty safely expect some nice warm weather. The days are extra long so we can enjoy every ray of sunshine. The flowers are in full bloom and the neon yellow canola fields are gorgeous. We always make lots of homemade ice cream and enjoy cookouts with friends. But even though July is just wonderful in and of itself, this July will be extra special because we will be anxiously awaiting the arrival of baby McCulley the 2nd. Yep, that's right we are 10 weeks pregnant with a due date of July 14th!

Everything is looking good at this point. Up til now we've been on a roller coaster of sorts due to some reoccurring bleeding and the presence of a hematoma (sac of blood) adjacent to the gestational sac. But today after 5 or so weeks of "taking it easy" I had a 3rd sonogram that showed a happy, growing baby and only traces of blood so the hematoma is more or less gone. Praise the Lord!

Now we are just trying to get through all my afternoon/evening sickness. JIm has been Mr. Mom these days, taking excellent care of both Addison and I. Hopefully before too long I will be back up to par.