Pictures of Willie

Well, we are more than enjoying having a nephew/grandson! I thought I would post a few more pictures of him, but it's so hard to pick just a few.

He loves to smile, but even when he's not smiling, he has a very sweet and pleasant expression on his face.

He has to have his hands outside his blanket or he doesn't like it at all. I wonder if that means he will talk with his hands a lot? Hmmmm...we'll have to wait and see! Our entire family has now been able to see him. Uncle Joe was blessed with a day off from college which allowed him to get out to Iowa. Uncle Zach and Aunt Lisa were the cutest when they got to hold him. Their expressions of awe were priceless!

Willie has been an exceptionally good baby and loves to snuggle and sleep! Mommy and Daddy have enjoyed snuggling.

Becca is getting better slowly, but surely. Nana Mouse is still out in Iowa making sure Becca behaves herself (and enjoying her grandson!). But then, who wouldn't think of an excuse to stay with this little cutie?

William (Willie) Lee Barta...need I say anymore

Jared and Becca gave birth to a delightful baby boy at 5:45 PM on January 16th, he is a whopping 8 pounds and 9 ounces and 22 inches long. All are doing well after a long 22 hours of labor. Here are a couple photos...check out their blog also there is a link over on the left of this.

OK.....so Tomorrow is a relative term

We have now been in our new home for 4 weeks as of today. Moving day was such a blessing, we had over 25 friends and family that came to help. Sandy's brother Alan, Philip and Amanda came back a few days later to help unload the POD. Some shots from moving day....there were boxes and people everywhere you turned.

They were loading cars, pick-ups and vans in addition to the moving truck. That allowed us to only need to do two trips with the moving truck.

I was really thankful for the "young blood" that was there to do the heavy lifting.

There were folks unloading in the new kitchen while we were still loading the truck back in Bolingbrook.

We even found some time to fellowship over a couple meals that day with our precious family and friends. They will never know what an encouragement they were to our family that day.

No time to waste - Christmas is just over a week away. HollyBeth got to crown the tree with the angel this year.

Then it was time to bake the cookies for stockings. Mom and Dad Carter were able to come and stay with us for the holidays and Alan came over to help bake cookies.

Valerie was quick to jump on decorating for Christmas. It was only about a week until Christmas Eve and the Carter clan was coming over. Here are some pictures of the progress.

Valerie did a great job at turning our new house into our Home.

We had 31 for dinner on Christmas eve...and we didn't even need to move any furniture to be able to sit down for our meal.

As always the food was great and plentious.

We took a few family pictures...this is Scruffy and Becca....and yes we are still awaiting our first wonderful grandchild. :^))

Our first Family photo in the new house.


Granddad, Grandma and Aunt Margie were a blessing to have over the holidays.



We have been enjoying the new fireplace and extra space.

On Christmas day we were able to go over to Bill's sister Kathleen's for another special time with the Mueller side. We even took the time to call Becca and Raymond over the phone and sing to them...that brought back some sweet memories.

Aunt Lucille and Aunt Roselina were able to be with us again this year. Each year comes with its challenges as they continue to age and we are thrilled to be with them when we can. They have set a wonderful heritage before us and we love to just sit and talk with them.

Through all the activity the children still found time to get out in the new yard and play. No, this is not an ice skating pond...it is our backyard. After some snow and then freezing rain the little ones were able to go out and ice skate in their boots and enjoy their time.

That's all for now....hopefully I can share about a new grandbaby next time I am able to update this blog.

Finally Connected...Yippee

We are finally back on line with High Speed internet. We will try to make some updates tomorrow.