Bradley's Blessing Day

We were able to bless Bradley last week in church.  We were fortunate to have all of his living grandparents there to participate.  Here are some pics of the special day:

Our little man

So handsome!

The whole family

Update from January & February!

This year started out great!  Dan got to go to his cousin Scott's wedding in San Diego.  Here are some pics. of the happy event.  I stayed home with Josh and Maggie and a extremely sweet young woman from our ward stayed with me and helped me out, Bryonna.  We had a lot of fun watching chick flicks and laughing after the kids were in bed!  She was an absolute angel!

Scott & Brittany, the happy couple

Grandma & Grandpa Colton showing off their moves

Then BAC (Beautiful Aunt Carolyn) came to stay with us for 2 weeks to help out with the kids while I rested.  The kids loved story time with BAC and especially dancing!  We had a wonderful time with her here!  Thanks BAC!!!


Then a week later the Jarvis family came!  Josh and Maggie LOVED playing with their cousins!  They all played so well together!  I had a great time playing games and laughing with Jenna and Jared.  While they were here they took the kids on some excursions to some local castles, IKEA and Grandpa's house in Frankfurt.  It was so much fun spending time with them, I am really missing Jenna's cooking!  Thank you so much Jarvis family!  We love you!

cousins playing dress up in the castle

Next my mom came a few days before Bradley was due.  She was such a great help!  It was so much fun to have her here.  She stayed for 3 weeks and took great care of me during the recovery and the kids loved having her to play with.  The last week my mom was here my dad flew out.  It was so much fun having Nana & Papa here to help!  THANK YOU!!!

definite family resemblance!

Nana loves the grandkids!

Between family helping out my dear friend Bonnie has been helping me.  She has taken Josh to school, cooked meals, and been my absolute angel friend!  She is the greatest!  She has a little girl Hadley who is Josh's age, they are in the same class at school.  Josh is quite smitten and is already planning their marriage...we told him he needed to wait until after he grows up, serves and a mission and has some money.  To which he responded, "alright, that's good news, I need to be taller anyway."  The two little love birds even had a New Year's kiss on the cheek.  My little 4 year old is already a Cassanova...yikes!  He does have excellent taste in girls though!   

My weekly excursions were to the doctors...for me and for the kids.  Maggie was sick with croup twice in January and then got it again the beginning of February.  Josh was sick with a double ear-infection and strep throat while Jarvis' were here; and I got the bug and am still fighting it, and shared with my mom while she is here.  Little Bradley was very anxious to come early with more contractions than I would like...luckily through prayers and priesthood blessings he made it to 37 weeks.

After a few scheduling issues (the hospital didn't have record that I was supposed to have a C-section, even though it was planned for months) we did get in on Feb. 14 and had Bradley.  He is doing great!  He is a little jaundiced, but nothing too bad.  He is a great sleeper, which his parents especially appreciate!  Last night he slept 8 hours!!!  WOW!  He is an absolute joy to have in our home!  Josh and Maggie adore him and love to give him kisses, hugs and show off their dance moves for him!

While I was resting I was able to do some projects for our house.  I decorated Josh and Maggie's room with a fairy tale theme, we are in Germany, the birth place of Grimm's Fairy Tales!  Here are a few projects that I've been working on:

Every Knight needs a castle...

Maggie's big girl bed.  (I made the tree on the wall)

Our guest room/ play room

Bradley's Nursery (I painted the pics)

Welcome Baby Bradley

Bradley David Colton was born on 14 February at 1430 Central European Time. He was 6 lbs. 10 oz. and 20 inches long. He and Holly are doing great. Bradley is a sweet tempered little boy who hardly cries at all and loves to sleep. Here are a couple pictures from yesterday. More to come!

Happy Birthday Maggie May!

Out little girl turned two last week. I can't believe it has been two years. Time has flown by. Maggie has the sweetest personality and is constantly making us smile. Happy birthday princess!

Grandma and Grandpa came down from Frankfurt for the festivities.

The birthday girl enjoying her pizza!

Holly's birthday masterpiece.

Maggie blew out her candles all by her self (with a little help from her brother).

Dad and Grandpa putting together Maggie's kitchen.

Family pictures

Here are some shots from our family photo shoot taken by our friend Jenny.

October in Germany

It has been so long since we've posted...so sorry!  Life has been a little crazy here.  Dan has been extremely busy with his job, I've been busy keeping up with the kids and being pregnant, Josh has been busy in preschool, and Maggie has been busy keeping up with Josh, and daily adding to her vocabulary.  Josh and Maggie have had so much fun celebrating Halloween.  They had a great time helping me decorate for Halloween by making little paper pumpkins to put in our window.  At school Josh did lots of fun Halloween activities and went on his first field trip to a pumpkin patch.

Josh with some of his classmates at the Pumpkin Patch (the girl in purple is Hadley, Josh's best friend here)

 

Josh and Maggie with their new pumpkin from the Pumpkin Patch

We had a fun filled Halloween week.  On Monday for Family Home Evening we carved a pumpkin. Josh didn't like touching the guts, but Maggie sure did!  Our church had a trunk-or-treat on Tuesday, then Josh got to dress up at school on Thursday. Friday we had a party with some friends at our house, then Saturday we went up to Grandpa and Grandmas and celebrated Grandmas birthday and Halloween German style.  Yes, Germans do celebrate Halloween.  They do it a little differently though, they all dress up as scary things, no cute costumes, all scary ones.  When they come to the door they say in German "Sweet or sour" instead of "trick-or-treat."  Here are a few pics from our fun week!

Dan's masterpiece!

Josh as a musketeer, Maggie as the princess he's protecting

Playing in the leaves by Grandma & Grandpa's house

My little princess!

Josh the brave musketeer off to find some treats!

Captain Colton!

Captain S. Daniel Colton

Dan got promoted to Captain on the 6th!  I am so proud of him!  It was a really amazing experience which I actually got to be a part of!  Dave (Dan's dad) and I both got to "pin" on Dan's new Captains' bars.  We had a little luncheon after as a congratulations Dan and good-bye to the Colonel who is PCSing (moving) to a new base.  It was a fun day!

Dan getting pinned on Captain

We're so proud!