First snow/Halloween

Last night and today we got our first snow of the season (an inch or so). Here are some pics from Halloween:

October Update

Ok so we are terrible at updating the blog now that Eric and I both have Facebook accounts, but for those of you who can't see pictures and check out updates on that here is what we have been up to...

I went back to work in September. I am teaching part-time at a Christian preschool here is Sioux City. I teach Monday-Friday from 9-11:30. It is perfect because I pick the girls up around noon and we have the rest of the afternoon together. Two of my good friends take turns watching Ella and Maddie goes to her own school/daycare. Eric takes Friday mornings off to stay home with them. It has really worked out great. I love teaching and I think it is really good for the girls to be with other kids their ages a little bit during the day.

Eric is keeping busy with work. He continues to love his job. He has also just started playing football on Saturday mornings with some friends. It is just a fun time to get together with the guys and play a game he loves. We are gearing up for our weekend in Denver in December for the Broncos vs. Chiefs game. It should be a really fun weekend. Maddie and Ella are staying here and Eric's mom is flying out to stay with them for the weekend.


Maddie is growing up fast. She is 2 1/2 and it a very independent and opinionated little girl. She loves to sing and dance and play. In the car the other day she said, "hey mom, let's listen to 'Your Grace is Enough.'" I have to say that it is awesome to hear my 2 year old singing Chris Tomlin praise songs from the backseat! Maddie just moved into her "big girl bed" last week which is going ok. She pops out into the living room or just calls for us to come "snuggle" with her in her room, so it is taking her a little longer to settle down at night. Maddie loves her school and comes home talking about her teachers and all of her friends. It is such a great school and I know she is in good hands with I can't be with her.

And little Ella Ruth..."Ruthie" as we like to call her. She is great...almost 10 months old...I know where did that time go right?! I keep telling Eric that it is just about time for a 3rd...JUST KIDDING!! We are enjoying our family of 4 right now. Ella loves to play peek-a-boo with her sister...actually she loves to do anything with her sister. Whenever Maddie talks to her, Ella just lights up. Ella is crawling EVERYWHERE and pulling up on stuff too. She may be walking soon! She continues to be the good eater in the family and may just out weigh her big sister soon.

That is a recap of the Rawdons. Hope all of you are doing well. We would love to hear from you and how all of you are doing.

Maddie's New Bike & Ella

Gramps (Kate's dad) got Maddie a new bike and it arrived in the mail yesterday...she was so excited. She is sitting on the bike in our basement watching a movie right now :) Thanks Gramps!! I love you!!!

Heading Home

Well the girls and I have been at my parents' house in Indiana for 2 weeks while Eric was on the mission trip with the high school group at church. He got home last night and we are flying home tomorrow afternoon. We have had an awesome visit but saying goodbye is always SO hard. It will be bittersweet. I miss Eric and look forward to seeing him but I wish that we lived closer to my family.

Pray for us as we fly back tomorrow...it is a little tricky getting through security and getting them both occupied on the plane when I only have 2 hands (not to mention that I will probably be sobbing through the airport. My sister was here at my parents this weekend and when she left on Sunday, we were all crying and Maddie says to my mom and I "don't worry!" so I am sure she will comfort me tomorrow too.

Here are a few pics of our time together. We went to the zoo, visited my grandparents in Kentucky, my Grandma Jane in Rockport, spent a day at my brother-in-law's family's lake house in Santa Claus, Indiana, and spent a lot of time swimming in my parents' pool. Maddie is a little fish and even jumped off the diving board a few times :)

San Diego

Last week we went on vacation to San Diego with Eric's family. We had a great time! We went to Sea World and the beach and spent a lot of time on "Papa's boat". Here are a few pictures.

Tornado

You may have heard about the tornado that hit the Little Sioux area, killing 4 Boy Scouts. Little Sioux is about 60 miles south of us, in between Sioux City and Omaha. This picture is not of the Little Sioux tornado, but is a real picture of another tornado that hit in Iowa...pretty amazing what nature can do.

New employee

Some of you may know that we have been searching for a middle school pastor since December, when the one we had got married and moved away. Yesterday, our candidate was voted in by the church and accepted the position. His name is Mike Henry and he will be moving here from Lodi, California, along with his wife and dog. I am super excited for him to get here and boss him around - wash my car, get me lunch, etc. :-). Mike will be my first employee that will report to me - lucky him!! The plan is for the Henrys to be here by August 1. But seriously, I am really excited that he is coming and look forward to working with him.

Facebook

I (Eric) entered the 21st century's social network by joining Facebook. If you are a fellow Facebooker, look me up and, if you're lucky, I might just make you one of my friends :-).

Everyone is Healthy Again!

Wow it has been a while since we last posted so let me catch you up...let's see on Mother's Day Eric got sick and ended up going to Urgent Care where they put him on a Z-pack for Strep Throat. We figured that by Monday he would be fine. Well Tuesday he was still sick...really sick. So that afternoon I took him to the Emergency Room. They hooked him up to an IV and gave him fluids for dehydration and some pain medicine. After several blood tests they figured out that he had a virus of some kind and there wasn't much to do but wait it out. So we went home and he laid on the couch for the rest of the week. He missed all week of work!! By last Friday he was feeling good enough to play 2 softball games (of course he is miraculously healed in time for the game :).

Then Monday, the 19th was our 6th wedding anniversary. We didn't really have big plans, but were going to go out to dinner and leave the girls with a friend. Well Maddie woke up crying with a fever. She seemed OK for most of the day but then after her nap she was burning up! I took her in and she had a fever of 104.3 and ear infections in both ears! So much for a romantic evening. We laughed and said, "6 years ago would you have ever pictured this to be our life??" So after Maddie got on medicine she went to be early and we put Ella down early too and Eric got Apple Bee's car side pick up for dinner instead!

Maddie was much better the next day and is done with her medicine now. So we are all healthy and feeling good. Unfortunately, my Mother's Day and my anniversary didn't go as I planned...such is life :)

Dummie of the year!!!

HANDS DOWN, ERIK IS NOW THE OFFICIAL DUMBEST PLAYER IN SURVIVOR HISTORY!!! Even if you haven't been watching this season, you need to watch this episode when it is put on cbs.com tomorrow. It will be episode 13; how ironic for Erik that it is unlucky episode 13. I hope he can earn a million dollars scooping ice cream.

DONE

Well during nap time today Eric and I worked for 3 hours straight. The swing set is finished and it looks great! The girls have been enjoying the warm weather and their swings. I am sure that this is just that start to a lot of time spent in the backyard!!

Almost Done

Eric spent a good part of the day working on the swing set again today. The swings are the only part left to attach. The fort, rock wall, and slide are in place and Maddie and Elway were both enjoying it earlier!!

Progress!!

We are making progress...unfortunately it has been raining all day so we have had to work in the garage but here is where we are now...

Swing Set

Well we bought Maddie (and Ella) a swing set a few weeks ago...some assembly required :)
The box said that 2 people could put it together in 5-7 hours. Eric and a friend worked all afternoon a few Saturdays ago...but it is still a work in progress. Eric is hoping to get it done this weekend (as long as it doesn't snow again like last weekend). We will keep you posted (ha ha..get it posted :)

Softball

Softball season is officially here and I am so excited! This year, I hooked up with a city team and will be playing more competitive ball. We played in a tournament yesterday and lost all 3 games. However, it was our fist time playing together and at least we got to play. We were supposed to play on Friday night but got snowed out (at the end of April :-)). I played a little outfield but mostly first base. My ankle is still bothering me from when I sprained it almost 2 months ago. I went to a chiropractor from our church 3 days last week and have an appointment on Wednesday. Hopefully I can be back in the outfield when city league starts in 2 weeks.

Who's Who

Ok which one is Maddie's baby picture and which is Ella's???

Final 4 Finish

Unfortunately for me, Eric picked Kansas to win the entire tournament and out of 64 teams they actually won! It came down to the final game for us. I was in the lead by a few points, but both of the teams I picked (UNC and Duke) were out of the final game...So it came down to Kansas. The victory meant that Eric got more points to finish as the winner.
Last Monday when they played he was cheering them on like it was the Broncos in the Super Bowl or something...I told him he was being annoying and then I went to bed.
So now he gets a Saturday morning to sleep in with no interruptions. Man I could almost feel that soft pillow under my head without the sounds of crying and "Mam ma come here" in the background...back to reality :) Hey at least their is always next year...Maybe IU came make is past the first round next year too!

Total Opposites!

The more that Ella grows, the more different she looks from her sister...one is blond and petite and the other is brunette and chubby :) Ella is well over 14 pounds now and is doing great! She loves to smile and "talk" to us. Maddie likes to make Ella laugh by dancing and acting silly.

Fun Week

My parents (Gram and Gramps) and my sister Sarah were here this past week to spend some time with us here in Iowa. Dad and Sarah hadn't met Ella yet so it was fun to have them here. We spent lots of time playing with the girls and Dad took Sarah and I shopping one day (I love the GAP!!). It is always sad when they leave but Maddie and Ella and I are excited to be going to see them in Indiana for 2 weeks in July while Eric is on a mission trip in New Mexico. Here are a few pictures of our weekend!

The Fam

I was noticing that the last picture we have of the whole family on our blog is from Easter last year! So here we are...

Now who's winning!!!

I just wanted to let everyone know that I am now beating Eric by 2 games!!! Unfortunately I have Duke and UNC in the final game and since Duke lost last weekend I am hoping UNC can pull it out...after all the winner gets a "morning off". Which means that when I win, I will be getting to SLEEP IN on a Saturday morning while Eric deals with the girls!! Wish me luck!!

Bracket busters

How is your bracket doing? I went 22 for 32 in the first round (yikes!). In the ESPN tourney challenge, I am near 1,600,000th place. However, as poorly as I did, I am still beating Kate by 1! I also did a bracket with the other pastors at church. I'm not sure where I rank there. Hopefully things get better for me.

MEGA-Surge

Last night we had our city-wide middle school event - MEGA-Surge. We had somewhere around 400 middle school students and 75-100 adults. We had 5 bouncy blow-up games, 2 courts of dodge ball, swimming, pizza and pop. Unfortunately I couldn't do anything but walk around because my stupid ankle is still pretty sore. We brought in Seth Franco, a former Harlem Globetrotter, to perform, share his story and the message of Jesus. We had several students indicate a decision to give their lives to Jesus. We'll be following up with them in the coming days. Overall, it was a great night!!

New boss

Yesterday our church voted to offer the senior pastor position to Lloyd Grant. Lloyd accepted the offer so that means I have a new boss. He'll be starting some time in May so I have a couple more months to do anything I want :-). Really though, I'm excited for Lloyd to come and am hoping our church will begin a new phase of making a difference in our community.

Madeline Day is 2!!!!

We can't believe Maddie turned 2 years old yesterday! We had a very special day. Yesterday morning I had MOPS so Maddie got to go and play with all of her friends at church. Then we came home for lunch and she got to open some of her presents and eat chocolate birthday cake and ice cream. After dad got home from work last night we went to Chuck E. Cheese's for pizza and games. Maddie had never been there before and we had a great time! She played "ski ball," rode the rides, and even got a sucker and some stickers with all the tickets she won :) We are going to get her a swingset for the backyard for her birthday when the weather gets a little warmer but she got some other nice gifts too...a few of her favorites include a microphone and keyboard set from Omi and Papa, Playdoh from Gram and Gramps, new boots from Aunt Sarah and Uncle Chris, and VeggieTales DVDs from Grandma Di and Grandpa Dennis. Ella enjoyed her first trip to Chuck E. Cheese's too and can't wait until she is old enough to play with all of her big sister's new stuff too :)

OUCH!

Thursday night Eric decided to go play basketball at open gym night up at church. Since we moved to Iowa he hasn't really gotten a chance to play sports like he did in Rochester so he thought it would be fun. He left about 7:00pm then at 8:30 or so he called to say that he was on his way home and that he had hurt his ankle. He thought that it was either badly sprained or broken. My first thought, "he is never playing sports again!!! :)" He got home and was in horrible pain and up most of the night on Thursday night...so I was too (of course that was the one night so far that Ella decided to sleep 7 hours straight!). On Friday morning we went in and got it X-rayed and it isn't broken so that is good I guess. In the mean time he is on crutches and has it wrapped. It is still really swollen and painful and he can't walk on it at all!
So we are praying for a speedy recovery and that he can walk on it again soon. At least it is his left foot so he can still drive and he isn't 8 months pregnant like I was when it happened to me...I am definitely having flashbacks to winter camp '06 when I broke my foot!
Maddie's 2nd birthday is tomorrow and we are planning on going to Chuck E. Cheese's for games and pizza. Hopefully "gimpy" can come along with us :) I will keep you posted...

Feb. 26th

Ok I know that Eric just updated the blog last night, but I got the cutest picture of Ella smiling today...just this week she has really started responding to us talking to her. Being a mom is so much fun!!

Family update

We've been slacking a bit on our posting so here is a family update:

Ella: Ella is a whopping 10+ pounds. She loves to eat and has gained 3 pounds in her first 6 weeks! At this rate, she'll weigh 8000 lbs. by age 13. She's a bit fussy, usually at night, but other than that, she is a good baby.

Maddie: Maddie will be 2 years old on March 4. It's hard to believe that; she's growing up so fast :-(. She has developed a love for music and loves to dance, no matter what style of music is playing. She is also learning to sing and loves to pretend just about anything is a microphone. She still loves Larry Boy, Mickey Mouse, Handy Manny, and Little Einsteins.

Kate: Kate is back on the treadmill and running again. She can't wait for the weather to warm up so she can run outside. She loves staying at home with the girls. She is part of the MOPS group at church and helps lead a small group of freshmen girls.

Eric: Eric is staying busy at work. The middle school director quit in December so he's been leading high school and middle school since January. He is also leading the search team to hire a new middle school person. In February, Student Ministries held their annual winter retreat, ECHO. There were over 100 students and 30 leaders at the weekend. The church is also looking for a senior pastor. This week we have a candidate coming and Eric has lots of meetings with him. Eric is hoping to get on a softball team this summer.

Doing Great

Ella has been home over a week now and continues to do great. She had her 1 week check-up yesterday and is back up to her birth weight of 7 lbs. Maddie is loving her little sister, but loving the fact that Gram is here more (at this point Maddie likes Gram more than me :)
Here are a few more pictures...

Coming home

Kate and Ella came home today. Both continue to do great! Elway will be coming home tomorrow as she's been with her dog friend all weekend. She should be very tired.

ELLA RUTH RAWDON

Welcome Ella Ruth Rawdon to the world! Ella was born this morning, January 12, 2008, at 11:26am. She weighs 7 pounds even and is 19 1/2 inches long. As you can see, Maddie loves her new little sister. Both mom and baby are doing great!!

In the hospital

We are in the hospital, waiting to have this baby. We got here last night around 8:30pm. Kate went from 2 to 4 cm in an hour, but didn't change all night. This morning, they started her on pitocin and the doctor just came and broke her water. We'll keep the progress posted as much as we can.