Valentine's Day

25 years ago today, one of the few male role models that I had in my life, my grandpa, went to be with Jesus. I only had him in my life for 4.5 years, but in that short time I have many great memories! I remember when I found out he had died. I cried a lot! I was so sad and angry that I bit the arm rest in between the front seats in our car at the time. Typically this day has been such a sad day for me in the past. I always made it a point to reach out to my grandmother, who is now also with Jesus, on this day. As a child, I spent many years praying for a man of God to love me with the love he was supposed to! I thought I was praying for a grandfather like Grandpa or a father that I have never had. Little did I know, God had something else in store for me! God was preparing my heart for Stephen. I have enjoyed my day with my family. Seeing my daughter innocently enjoy this special day gave this day a different perspective for me. To most it is just a "Halmark Holiday." To me it is a day to reflect on the things that really matter to me. It is a day to remind me that I need to acknowledge the importance of these people in my life. Not just today, but EVERY day! So to my family. I love you all dearly! I am so thankful for each and every one of you! I have enjoyed the last almost 11 years (if you count dating) with my Stephen and I look forward to the MANY years to come! Happy Valentine's Day!

This is a little of how we shared our love for each other as a family today!

 Daddy's valentine for Jesstine. The chocolate pop has Wushock on it (the Wichita State mascot).

Our valenteeny all ready for school!

 My funny Valentine!

 Socks from Grandmom! She liked them SO much she wore them to bed tonight!

 Kids and I made this for Daddy. In pink are Jesstine's handprints and in white are Emmitt's footprints.

 Swimsuit and glasses are for Emmitt from Mommy and the hat and swimsuit cover are from Grandmom to Emmitt! He is going to be the cutest little boy in the pool and out! :-)

 Jesstine got this cup from Grandmom. It has a button that sets some blinking LED lights on. She put it in front of the fish tank to let Cookie Monster enjoy it!

Guess what? Football butt!

 Entertaining Emmitt before we eat dinner...

 Entertaining Emmitt DURING dinner (Thank you Daddy for rigging this up for him! Amazing what you can do with straws!!!)

 Enjoying her chocolate from Daddy after eating all of her lasagna after complaining that she didn't like it! Silly girl!

Mommy's chocolates from Daddy. Aren't they pretty???

In Him,

The Hutchins Family

Preschool Valentines

Since Jesstine is in preschool this year, she gets to take valentines to school!!! I really wanted to do something different than just go buy the kinds with characters or candy. I wanted them to make an impression on the little three year-old kids in her class. Most of all, I wanted to send something that had a Bible verse or something to emphasize that this isn't just a commercial holiday! Since it is a Christian preschool, I KNOW that it will be perfect! I saw this on a friend's blog HERE, and thought I would give it a try. It also gave me the chance to have Jesstine practice writing the J for her name and coloring in the lines. She really needs practice with holding a crayon properly. So this is what our favorite three year-old girl has been up to.

 Here is what I started with.

 Cut the little rectangles out.

 I then cut the hearts out and wrote, "Love, Jesstine" on the inside.  The J was written in a way that she could easily connect the dots and trace it. She did a FANTASTIC job!

 She also colored the noses and lips that I drew on each one. She was a little confused with the rectangles cut you and the sunglasses missing. She thought there needed to be eyes.

Here is the inside. I actually wrote a Bible verse on the side with the sunglasses, "The eyes of the LORD are in every place..." Proverbs 15:3 (Thanks to my wonderful Mother-in-Love for helping me find a verse that fit the inside saying on the card so well!) OH and the sunglasses were FREE!!!! I had planned on doing this before I even had the sunglasses, but happened to get some free ones at the health fair that was held at our school last week!

In Him,

The Hutchins Family

Emmitt 3 Months

Well, believe it or not, it is that time again! Emmitt is another month older! He is really starting to let his personality show! Quite the sweet little boy! Currently he weighs about 15 lbs. He wears size three diapers and 3-6 month clothing (although not for much longer). He is eating 5 ounces every 3 hours. The doctor said we could start feeding him rice cereal, but we may wait until at least 4 months.

He is getting really good at smiling and especially likes to smile at his mommy! :-)

 He has also recently found his voice! It is so fun to listen to him talk and giggle! He even carries on conversation (such as it is at his age).

 In the last month he has had his first trip to the zoo.

And he has been sleeping a lot better during the night. Although his bed of choice still seems to be Mommy or Daddy's arms, we have started to put him in his crib more often. 

As a matter of fact, last night we moved him out of our room to his own bed! He slept from about 10:30PM-8AM! Keep it up son!

 No more sleeping in Mommy and Daddy's room!

He is starting to not only bat at the toys on his playmat, but is actually GRABBING them and giving them a little shake!

Here are a few of the monthly chair pictures!

(Believe it or not, he has NO interest in what I am doing because soccer is on the TV behind my head!)

In Him,

The Hutchins Family

P.S. Stay tuned to see what our favorite funny three year-old has been up to!

Lucky Exit

Tonight we were on our way to church, Stephen looked over at me and said, "Can you guess who my favorite three year-old girl is?" I started to hem and haw. I asked if it started with a J and lots of other clues (as if I didn't know). In the back seat Jesstine kept saying "It's ME!" After a while I finally said it was Jesstine. I told Stephen he was a lucky guy to have such a cool three year-old daughter. Jesstine of course heard me and matter of factly stated, "Like Lucky Charms!!!"

Lucky to have such a witty little girl too!

We have been trying to teach Jesstine to read words by sounding out words she sees often. I recently taught her the word EXIT while sitting in the waiting room at the doctor's office. When we walked into church for dinner tonight, Jesstine was just ecstatic that her friend Sydney was there. She was jumping up and down saying, "MOM! Cindy is here! See it's CINDY!!! Can I sit by CINDY?!" (She can't say Sydney yet no matter how hard we try to help her!) In the midst of her excitement about "CINDY," she looked up and noticed something on the wall. She stopped mid sentence and said, "Mommy, look; EXIT!!" (Reminds me a bit of the Pixar movie , "UP," with the dogs that can talk and they are constantly being distracted by squirrels!

In Him,
The Hutchins Family

Just a day in the life of the Hutchins family.

 Trying to strengthen his neck and smiling about it!

 Bedtime stories from "BabyBug" magazine, narrated by Daddy.

 Drying off my baby bumble bee. (You're singing the song now aren't you?!)

More neck strengthening exercises with the new toy Grandmom got Emmitt for Christmas.

 "Whatchu talkn' 'bout Willis?"

In Him,

The Hutchins Family

More From My Funny Three Year-Old

Today we were getting ready to go to the zoo with Jesstine's best friend, Kylie. I have been challenging Jesstine to be a big girl by doing things for herself that I KNOW she can do. So lately we have been teaching her how to get herself buckled into her carseat so all that we have to do is tighten it. Today it was taking a LONG time and it was making her cry. I asked her to stop crying because if she didn't, we wouldn't be able to go. As she was still crying she said, "I TRIED but the crying wants to keep coming!!!"

When we got to the zoo, Jesstine and Kylie were running. We had stopped to see the bear sculptures. When we were done, Kylie started to run and yelled, "WUNNNNNN! (RUNNNN)." Jesstine saw her and immediately chased after her yelling, "TWOOOOOOOOO!" (She thought Kylie was counting instead of saying "run.")

In Him,

The Hutchins Family

When It Rains....

Jesstine likes to put on her raincoat and boots, grab an umbrella and go for a walk!!!

 Emmitt stayed inside with Daddy wishing he could go too!

But he was so happy when Mommy came back in to say hello!

(Either that or because he got 8 hours straight of sleep last night!)

In other news, we made our first trip to the dentist today. Jesstine tried to push herself up with her feet on the counter wall so she could see better at Freddy's last night. Imagine how much I fumbled describing to the dentist that we were getting frozen custard when she chipped her tooth and that she had Crunch berries for breakfast this morning.....GULP! He was probably seeing cavities in her future! Good news is that it just appears to be cosmetic. Nothing to do about that since it is a baby tooth and she will lose it in a few years anyhow!

In Him, 

The Hutchins Family