It's been crazy!

Sorry I haven't written in a while or posted anything. Life has been crazy. I just finished with my musical production (which went very well) and then we had Thanksgiving. And remember when Arianna was so sick, well, guess who got sick next, ME! So, once again, sorry. Here is what is going on with the Nikkel family. Our Thanksgiving was so wonderful. We had dinner with my family and then on Friday my mom and I and my sister were with all the other crazy people shopping. It was so fun. Then, on Friday afternoon, we went with my family to a local tree farm to cut down our Christmas tree. It was FREEZING! But, a tradition is a tradition! Arianna loved riding in the backpack and looking at all the trees. And of course, she loved being with her cousins. You can see our family photo and also the one with Claire, her and Arianna love to be by each other. :)

Now we have a few videos. The first one is Arianna eating her table food. She's just starting to get the hang of "real" food. She doesn't always like what goes in her mouth...

The next video is Arianna playing her FAVORITE new game, peek-a-boo with daddy while he chases her. She loves Jason so much and has really turned into a daddy's girl. She cries when he leaves! She loves it when he chases her around and then scares her, you can hear her laughing with delight. This video just makes me smile and reminds me how blessed I am. Hopefully, her laughter brings a smile to your face too.

PTL!

Thank God for modern medicine. After two full days of antibiotics, Arianna is feeling like her old self again. She finally slept through the night last night...first time since Friday. It was a beautiful thing. She's still on medication, but she's MUCH better. Thank you for all of your prayers and concern!

So sad...

Arianna is sick, again! She has a double ear infection, eye infection, throat infection AND sinus infection. I swear, when this girl gets sick, she gets sick. She's been pretty miserable all weekend and still not herself. Anyway, the upcoming few weeks are super busy for Jason and I. I have musical tech rehearsals and Jason is starting basketball try-outs. So, please pray that Arianna gets better soon! We have lots of babysitters coming... hope you're all doing well.

Trick or Treat...

Here are some cute photos of Arianna as a kitty. The first one is of her "finding" the candy dish. Her favorite part of Halloween was dumping all the candy out of the bowl. She thought that was so much fun!

Arianna also led her cousin, Claire, astray. Once Claire saw all the fun Arianna was having dumping out the candy, she thought it looked fun too!

Here is Arianna and me. We were hanging out outside waiting for trick-or-treaters...she liked to talk to all the big kids.

Finally, what you've all been waiting for! Arianna has taken her first steps. Actually, she's been walking for a few weeks. Well, I guess walking isn't what you would exactly call it...wobbling on her feet from place to place is a better description. Here she is...

When life hands you lemons...

So, this week has been another busy week. We have parent teacher conferences this week. So, last night my conferences were from 4pm-8:30pm. When they were FINALLY done, I walked out to my car only to find it dead. So, a few of the teachers from school tried to jump it, but that didn't work. I called Jason, who called my brother, who came over to sit at our house while Jason drove the 35 minutes out to my work at 9:15pm. When he finally arrived at 9:50pm we called my dad who gave us one more suggestion and it worked. The car started. Jason and I then made the long trek home. Now, I guess we could all look at that situation like it seriously sucked. What horrible timing and WHY DID THAT HAVE TO HAPPEN? But, I think God wants us to always find good in life so this is how I'm thinking of it...thank God for two very kind co-workers who were willing to sit with me and try new things to get my car started, even though they were very tired and very cold. Thank God for a kind brother who was willing to come and sit at our house while my husband had to come and rescue me. Thank God for a dad who can fix a car, over the phone. Finally, thank God for a husband who was willing to drive all the way to my work, at night, exhausted, and not say a word when the car started one minute after he arrived. See, there' s always lemonade when there's lemons. Have a good day!

Mixing it up...

So, I'm trying a new template...let me know what you think!

Football Girl

Here are some photos of Arianna "bonding" with daddy and his greatest love (besides his girls of course)....FOOTBALL! The first picture is of Arianna getting ready to go to Unity's football game on Friday night. They don't make actual UC sweatshirts small enough for her, so me being the crafty person I am (hehe) decided to make one! I think it turned out pretty cute!

This next photo is of Arianna and daddy watching football. Yes, she's actually watching the game on TV. Of course, it was of the Hawks winning so everyone is happy!

Finally, the last photo is of Arianna wearing an actual Hawks football jersey. It was given to us as a Christmas gift last year before she was born. It came with football pants, but she looked a little too much like a boy in the whole outfit. Jason really wanted her to be a Hawk football player for Halloween, but I had to draw the line...seriously? A football player for Halloween? She's way too cute for that. So, she's going to be a kitty in memory of our two cats...I"ll post pics when I get the outfit.

And at last...a video. It captures her waving, kind of. It's as good as it's going to get. Hope you're all doing great. Every day we are reminded how blessed we are with Arianna and it is my hope that you are reminded daily of the blessings God has given all of us!