Enjoying the day

Maria was enjoying the warm, sunny weather outside so much I had to have a photo shoot.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Mischievious is my middle name...

Look what I can get into when no one is looking! Maybe I will try my hand at baking.

I bet Dad will never find these markers in his shoes.

Big Shoes To Fill

Not what I pictured...

that's what Larry said about my birthday last night.
You see he has had a cold most of this week and just really hasn't felt good. So, my birthday was pretty lame! I had cold cereal with Maria for breakfast(Larry had to do something with Rotary Club at the middle school at 8), then lunch was leftover birthday party food from Maria's party that I ate with Maria, while Larry napped. Not that Maria isn't good company, just not much in the way of conversation. I spent most of my morning and afternoon getting junk(I mean really nice stuff) ready to sell tomorrow in our garage sale. Dinner was leftovers (yes again, only not from Maria's party!).
At least the best neighbor in the world, Dottie, made me some cheesecake with raspberry topping...and today I think I deserve a treat from DQ. I guess once you grow up birthdays just aren't what they used to be! I don't think having a McDonald's birthday would be acceptable, unless I just told everyone it was really for Maria.
I did get some nice cards, a couple phone calls, even one from Hayden, Lee's son singing me Happy Birthday, although he got a great kick out of "you smell like a monkey, and you look like one too" Ah, a 3 year old's humor! Gotta love it! At least I had one really good laugh for the day!
We have plenty to praise God for; just having another year of life to celebrate!

A "Sunshine" Day...remind you of the Brady Bunch?

Well, the weather didn't exactly cooperate all day on Saturday for Maria's party, but we had a great time anyway. It was rainy in the morning, and then cleared up after lunch just in time for cake and presents. Maria was surprisingly good for most of the day, although she only had a short nap in the morning and a bit longer one later once most of the family had left. She also surprised us all my really walking! She thought she would show off to everyone that was here.
We had both sets of parents, my grandmother, my siblings and a sister in law, Larry's sister and husband, our neighbor, and our two nephews. We were disappointed that my other grandmother and uncle couldn't come due to illness. (Hope you're feeling better Gramma!) Maria got some great gifts and is already enjoying them. We had a yellow sunshine theme since "Sunshine" is her nickname...it was fun to decorate a yellow sunshine cake and try to have as much yellow food as we could think of; mac and cheese, potato salad, cheeseburgers, lemons, grapefruit, apples, pears, popcorn, chips, cornchips, and lemonade.
Enjoy the pictures of our sunshiny day!
We have plenty to praise God for; a wonderful celebration with family.

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You ought to be in pictures...

I hope you enjoy this montage of Maria's first year...

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A year of firsts

At one month I had learned to smile.
At two months I slept the whole night(9 hours).
At three months I learned to laugh.
At four months I learned to roll and slept 12 straight hours.
At five months I had my first babysitter and learned to hold a bottle.
At six months I loved peek-a-boo and figured out rolling can get me just about anywhere.
At seven months I got 2 teeth and could sit well.
At eight months I had mastered crawling, learned to say Dada, and wave.
At nine months I had learned to stand and got two more teeth, learned to clap and say "Yea".
At ten months I loved to give kisses, feed myself all kinds of food, and walk with some help.
At eleven months I learned to say Mama, enjoyed playing peek-a-boo by covering my eyes, practiced dancing when I heard music, and said "uh-oh" a lot.
At twelve months I like to make animal sounds, have 2 more teeth(making 6!), and have really figured out walking(the day before my birthday).

Isn't it amazing what is learned in such a short time period. We have been amazed as each month went by what new and exciting things Maria was learning. It really makes you feel amazed at the miracle a child is.

We have plenty to praise God for; a year of firsts to look back over and remember with joy.
Happy Birthday Sunshine!

Where no man has gone before...

till now! Maria found out that it is pretty fun to climb in the cupboards. We decided to clear out one side in the bathroom and in the kitchen she can't really hurt the bowls, although she does make a BIG mess! She wants to keep mom busy by picking up after her.

We have plenty to praise God for; a daughter who has fun doing just about anything!

Holy Flamingos!

It's not everyday that you get to look out your window and enjoy the breathtaking view of 30 flamingos flapping in the breeze...I better explain. No, they are not real, much to the disappointment of the seagulls that thought they could fly in and make some friends...it was rather amusing watching them! We were endowed with the flamingos due to a fundraiser for the youth group at church. We were the first to get them and in order to get rid of them we pay a fee, but we decide who they get to bless next. If you do not want to receive the beautiful lawn decoration then you have to pay for "flamingo insurance" and you will be safe. We get rid of them today after having them for a week. I must say this is the most I have seen people look at our house and it has made more than a few smile too!

Before

During

We were very excited that the trustees from church decided to put on a new deck surface as the old one was very dried out and it was a splinter danger! My nephew Trey got a huge one a couple years back and it was an ordeal to get it out...we didn't want to experience that again. They tore it off Thursday, came to lay it on Saturday and finished it totally on Monday. It is a cedar colored composite wood...so no worries about splinters...ever! I took advantage of the good weather and the activity to keep Maria busy and raked the leaves that we never got to in the fall. I also got out in the garden and raked out the dead plants(finally). Now I just need to let it dry some more before we can burn it all. Maybe this year we will get the garden planted before Memorial Day...something (or someone) kind of had us distracted last year! We are excited for the new deck as we have a special birthday party coming up. Check back for a post about Maria's first year of life...has it really been a year already!

The finished product!

We have plenty to praise God for; a wonderful house!

"Old" friends...

Last week was Spring Break for most of the school around here, and for my friend from back home, Mindy. She came for an overnight visit, which she usually does during the summer, but she is expecting their first child in July (a boy!) and thought it better to make the trip now. Our friend Lee (who was on maternity leave) also came for a visit and lunch, plus we spent plenty of time talking about kids, pregnancy and anything else we could think of. Lee brought her son Hayden and 4 week old daughter Lauren. It was so good to be with "old" friends who know so much about you, maybe too much. I don't have to explain things from my past. Old friends are definitely the best friends!
We have plenty to praise God for; friends!

Christ is Risen!

He is Risen Indeed!

Videos Galore

Maria has learned to do some exciting things in the past couple months...getting it recorded isn't always as easy at it seems...she doesn't like to "perform" for us when we get out the camera, she wants to try to get to the camera. So here are a few of the ones we have been able to catch. Enjoy!

Sorry this one is kind of dark!

Peek-a-Boo!

She loves to read...so gentle with the pages.

Welcome Grace

Well, Baby number three of the year has arrived. My friend Jackie and her husband Will welcomed Grace Olivia on March 19th at around noon. She didn't mess around with being a tiny baby...no newborn diapers there! She weighed in at 9 lbs. 14.6 oz and 21 1/2 inches long. She really puts Maria to shame (6lb 4oz). Congratulations to the family!

Note: Baby number one never got a blog entry...it was a friend we knew from Fort Wayne that lives over this way now. She and her husband adopted Elizabeth in January. Baby number two can be seen here.

We have plenty to praise God for; more new life.

Oh, Spring where art thou?

Peek-a-Boo

Yes, we are getting cabin fever...so we have to amuse ourselves somehow, right?

Maria is just waiting for those first signs of Spring to appear(we didn't tell her she might be waiting for a while)...she (and her parents) can't wait to get outside, use the stroller and maybe try out our bike trailer. By the way that is snow that you see on the deck...maybe Spring is further than we thought

We have plenty to praise God for; that Spring will come!

Welcome Lauren

It seems like this is the year of babies. We thought we knew alot of people expecting last year, ourselves included, but this year will definately beat it. We got a phone call last night telling us of the first of many good friend's babies we can expect to welcome into the world. One of my best friends I've known since preschool had her second child yesterday. Lauren Elisabeth was born at 2:14 pm on Sunday, February 24. She has a big brother, Hayden and proud mom and dad Allisa and Brian. Congratulations to the family and welcome little one!

We had a chance to visit and meet Lauren last night. She is adorable and such a joy. So, I took my own picture since I couldn't get any others to post. Wednesday was Allisa's birthday, what a present to get...
We have plenty to praise God for; the gift of new life.

Happy Saint Valentine's Day!

Maria and I hope you had a great day...and felt loved by someone...if not, consider yourself kissed...well, Maria is puckered up, ready for her smooch (she actually has been giving kisses lately...if you can call the slobbery open mouth things kisses)Larry started my Valentine's Day last night with a big peanut butter cup on the kitchen table from the Albanese Chocolate Factory...they are based near Merrillville, but they have an ice cream shop in town, where they also sell their famous chocolates and gummi things.

Then on my bed I had another bag, chocolate covered caramel corn, then this morning in my sock drawer I had chocolate covered peanuts, then in the bathroom by my makeup chocolate covered pretzels,and finally in the kitchen near the cake mix I was going to bake today for Larry (there is a picture of that too), chocolate covered almonds...I kept waiting to find chocolate in more hidden places, but alas it had to end sooner or later! Then he brought me home some beautiful flowers too! It was a wonderful day.
We have plenty to praise God for; His LOVE!

Little cabin in the woods....

Well, if you are one of the lucky ones who was a part of a summer camp growing up you may remember the fun little "song" by this title? I do, anyway...we did stay in a cabin in the woods, it wasn't too little, but just about the right size to hang out in all week. Larry found out about the cabin from another pastor. This couple has felt that since they are blessed that they in turn want to do something to bless those in ministry. They own this cabin near Jamestown, Tennessee that they provide for those in ministry to have as a place of retreat. We were able to stay for a week for free. We just had to bring our own food. Pretty much everything you need is provided. We had an amazing time relaxing, reading, hiking, playing with Maria...it was just what we needed.

We did have a bit of excitement one night. It was blowing and a bit rainy, and the lights went out. We were out in the extra room playing a board game so we wouldn't wake Maria who was already asleep in the loft. It was PITCH black...and we had to make our way back into the main part of the cabin to get to the matches and candle we had happened to see that day. We at least were able to open the car door and use that light to help us see our way back in. When we got in and were lighting candles it started to get very windy and started raining. Then a extremely loud noise sounded, scaring us and waking Maria. It sounded like glass broke somewhere, but we never did find anything that it could have been, must have been a very loud branch snapping, since there were several on the roof the next morning, that we could hear all night lond scrapping and moving with the wind! Well, since the only heat was electric it didn't take too long till it started to get a bit chilly. The owners of the cabin, who live just a mile away, came to check on us and let us know we could come to their place if we got too cold. They had a fireplace and a generator they could turn on if the outage lasted much longer. Well, we were optimistic since it had surged back on several times, but alas, it was a very false hope. When I got up a couple times with Maria it was still out and getting colder inside! Maria shortly moved into our bed to stay warm, and we had all the blankets available layered on us. The next morning when the owners came again the temperature read 55 degrees....fine while bundled in bed, but not once you got up! So we decided to head over to their place and spent a couple hours there. We had breakfast, visited and then the power decided to come back on...over 12 hours later! We can't say it was an uneventful time, but no harm done!

If you know of a person in ministry who would enjoy this type of vacation (hopefully, minus the very chilly evening!) we encourage you to pass along this information. Here is a link to the website with contact information and pictures. Pastor's retreat cabin

Just a few minites hike from the cabin was this lovely waterfall...it was very peaceful and nice there.

We did quite a bit of hiking on what are really horse trails...we were in Tennessee horse country! This was Maria's first encounter with a horse, and it was a pretty friendly one! She wasn't sure what to make of it, but didn't seem too scared. Gee, isn't this a thrilling hike Maria??

After dinner Maria was hamming it up...making all sorts of faces and just being goofy...we think she enjoyed all the attention that she was getting all week from mom and dad.

Maria enjoyed her sink baths and was even trying to get a taste of the bubbles, which explains the bubble beard!

For some reason Maria was having the best time with this wet washcloth! Isn't is amazing what things can entertain a child...who needs store bought toys!

On the morning before we left during breakfast we were treated to a visit from three deer that were having their breakfast too. It was awesome to watch them feel so comfortable being so close to the house.

We have plenty to praise God for; the generosity of others to make our vacation so wonderful!

Note: sorry this post should have been up a week ago....but we had an unexpected trip back to my home...my grandfather was very sick, and we needed to get back to see him. He is doing better, but not out of the woods yet. He is 93, and even a little thing can be major for him now. Please pray for him and my grandmother.

Goodies...

I have been very lucky to win several prizes on some websites that I frequent. I heard about a product through my best friend made by a neighbor of hers, who happens to live in Valparaiso. I hadn't heard of her product the ToyWrangler™, but was impressed with her website, (check it out by clicking on the product name). I know that some of the prizes I have won often get some publicity on the sites and hopefully some orders. So I wondered if this mom also knew about this way to market her invention. So I contacted her and just gave her some ideas. She was so kind to send me a sample of her product as a thank you. Well, we tried it out twice and we love it! We used it on the stroller, when we went for a walk, yes a cold one. Our second time was at the grocery where it was perfect to keep Maria content while I shopped. It velcros onto a stroller, high chair, shopping cart...etc., and has three bungees with plastic rings to keep toys, pacifiers, a bottle or cup, or anything else you can think of off of the ground. She also has a Mini Toywrangler™ that we used in church today to keep a few toys close at hand. I actually attached the Mini to my wrist and then Maria couldn't fling things under the pew in front of us. OH, Maria turns 9 mo. today, check out her new picture on the sidebar...she was checking out Mr. Rabbit.
We have plenty to praise God for; a shelter to keep us warm during the very cold days we have had. (-3 when we got up this morning!)

Under The Sea...

We took advantage of the free admission to Shedd Aquarium in Chicago this week and met up with our friends Rachel and Daniel to see some fishies. We think Maria had a good time, since she would get pretty excited when one would come up close to her through the glass. It was a bit crowded with the free admission, but you can't complain when you get in free, right!

We have plenty to praise God for; such variety of beautiful (and some pretty ugly) aquatic life!

Turkey Run

We had a great time away at Turkey Run State Park this past weekend. All of the Indiana State Parks run a two nights for the price of one special during the slower winter season. We have done this a few times in the past and it is great. We were especially lucky since the weather was SO warm, almost 60! We actually got hot while we were hiking. Maria enjoyed the time outside too.

We have plenty to praise God for; beautiful places to enjoy nature.