Christmas reviewed!

We had a wonderful Christmas, although Maria managed to pick up a cold just as she did at Thanksgiving...not her favorite gift by the way! We spent time in Tipton (near Kokomo) at Larry's sister's house with his side of the family, where Maria enjoyed "playing" with Joshua and his new Christmas present. Then we got to visit with our friend's in Noblesville and their precious baby Peter. We traveled up to Fort Wayne after that to stay a couple days with my family. Maria didn't know what to make of us "letting" her rip up paper, usually a no-no, and she thoroughly enjoyed the various animals she got to see or get licked by! She brought in a bounty of gifts and is already enjoying them. We pray that your holiday was equally enjoyable and that in the New Year you see the many blessings that God grants you.

We have plenty to praise God for; a New Year in which to celebrate His goodness to us.

Merry Christmas!

We will be away a few days, but promise to show you how Maria enjoyed our Christmas celebration when we return.

We have plenty to praise God for; the birth of His son who would become our Savior! Praise God!

The weather outside is frightful...

Since Maria isn't quite old enough to enjoy the snow outside yet, I brought some inside for her to explore. She had a fun time touching it, holding it, and tasting it!

We have plenty to praise God for; a white winter wonderland.

Graduation!

Well, we decided that Maria can sit up well enough to be graduated to her next tub, an inflatable mini-pool is what it looks like, and she loves it! She also loves that there is room for her toys, especially the light-up rubber ducky. So many toys, so little mouth!

We have plenty to praise God for; a daughter who loves her bath now...she used to scream! see here.

What a way to sleep...

When Maria awoke from her nap yesterday I was confused by the red marks on her head until I remembered she had fallen asleep on her stomach after rolling over and must have had her hand under her head! I thought it was too funny, I could even see her little fingernails imprinted.

We have plenty to praise God for; a joyous season approaching to celebrate Christ's birth!

All I got for Christmas....

was my two front teeth! Look closely, they are there, but not very easy to photograph.

We have plenty to praise God for; a daughter who isn't too cranky even while teething.

A week away...

Since my sister and husband were on vacation in Aruba we (Maria and I) went to stay the week with Trey. Maria was kept entertained all week by the dog, Reggie, who thought Maria would throw his toy for him and by Trey, here he is reading her a book. We had fun, but were very glad to be back home with Dada.

We have plenty to praise God for; family!

Watch me scoot!

Maria has really figured out how to scoot backward, especially on bare floors. Here she is at Aunt Michele's house. She started where I am in the picture and scooted all the way back the hallway, now if she could just put it into forward...not that we are rushing her!

We have plenty to praise God for; a daughter not on the move too much...YET!

Our Baby Can Sit

Well, Maria has gotten the hang of sitting up pretty long by herself. Especially if she has a nice pile of toys to keep her busy! If we put a pillow around her, she will last even longer.

You may have noticed this bright, colorful sweater. Well, we received it from a sweet couple at church, Bonnie and Ron. She got it because it reminded her of our friend who is a missionary in Peru (shout out to Justin!). Well, the sweater is actually from Ecuador. For those of you who don't know I was there for 10 months serving in a missionary school as a 4th grade teacher. So how appropriate that she pick this one!

We have plenty to praise God for; the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday where we will be able to spend time with family.

I DO NOT like mashed potatoes

Well, after thinking we wouldn't find a food that Maria didn't like, we found one...mashed potatoes. She has eaten everything else so far; banana, avocado, sweet potato, winter squash, carrots, peas, mango, papaya, applesauce, peaches, pears, and of course cereal; barley, oatmeal and rice. But for some reason these mashed potatoes made her gag and she even spit some up...hmmm, maybe it's a texture thing.

We have plenty to praise God for; a daughter who eats just about anything.

Thar she rolls!

Maria has really gotten to be an expert roller...we're sure that is a sign of genius! But we're also sure she learned from her cousin Joshua...either that or dad! Stay tuned for adventures on the new tooth...once it grows enough for people to actually see it, but trust mom and dad you can sure feel it!

We have plenty to praise God for; a daughter who is developing quite well.

Happy Fall Ya'll

Daddy was out raking so Maria decided to help! Okay, so she is a bit too young just yet, but when she can she is going to LOVE raking leaves...heaven knows her mom doesn't!

We have plenty to praise God for; beautiful fall leaves that Dad gets to rake!

Maria goes Wi-Fi

We were pleasantly surprised a few weeks ago when I received an email stating I had won a contest I entered online to win a computer. After checking it out thoroughly we talked via phone with the company and decided to receive a voucher towards getting a laptop that Larry had been wanting. It covered about half of the cost and we feel oh so blessed...we have plenty to praise God for; providing for our "wants".

Hmmm....do you think they know I am here?

We think Maria has an obsession with putting things over herself. This is the first time she has done it with the playmat though.

We have plenty to praise God for; a silly daughter.

Favorite way to sleep...

Maria has started this unusual behavior of having her head covered partially or totally while she sleeps. She usually grabs this frog blanket, which Grandma Unger got for her. It has become her favorite (guess we had better get a back up in case something happens to it.) When she wakes up she usually talks to herself for a while and then I go in and she peeks out from under the blanket when she hears me, it is SO cute...

We have plenty to praise God for; a frog blanket that helps Maria(us) sleep well.

Maria's favorite hobby...

well besides eating, sleeping, playing and the unmentionable. While Mommy is getting ready in the bathroom she has discovered the fun of the shower curtain and looking under it. I am not sure what the fascination is, but oh is she loud about her excitement while she plays...good thing the hairdryer is louder! We have plenty to praise God for; a playful daughter.

Busy Weekend...

We traveled to Noblesville Saturday to be present for the baptism of Peter Alan. He is the son of Terra and Matthew, Larry's best friend from childhood. It was a special ceremony and Larry was honored to be his Godfather. He was born about 2 weeks after Maria.

Sunday we traveled south again after church to Carmel for the 100th birthday celebration of Nana, Larry's grandmother. Unfortunately I didn't break out the camera except for this shot of Joshua and Maria, cousins born just 6 weeks apart. He's still got all his hair; Maria was trying to get a handful to yank!
We have plenty to praise God for; a special celebration of a special grandmother.

She's here

Susanna Caroline was born at 11:37 pm on Oct 1.

She was 7lb 3oz, and 19.5 inches.

And she had an inch of hair!

We were so excited to get the news of our friends Mike and Reed's newest family member! Isn't she just beautiful! Congratulations friends, what an exciting journey you have ahead of you.

New Videos added...

Be sure to check out the videos I finally got loaded on the page...some in July and August. If you have dial-up sorry, it takes forever to load. And also I didn't rotate the video before loading so a couple are sideways...oops!
Hope your October is off to a good start.
We have plenty to praise God for; life everlasting.

Vacation in Texas

Maria was such a good traveler! (first plane ride)

Larry had a conference to attend in Dallas, Texas so Maria and I went along and we made it a mini-vacation. After finally getting to Dallas,(we missed our flight in the morning and had to fly stand-by that evening) Larry had the conference on Friday and Saturday. Maria and I hung out at the hotel on Friday; we borrowed the pool at the next door hotel (ours was closed for repairs). Saturday we went with Larry and after the conference ended we drove to Austin. My bestest friend from high school lives there and we went to spend a couple days with her and her husband.

We went downtown, by the Capitol, on the Congress Street bridge to see the bats leave at dusk. Lots and lots of people come to see the bats come out. The bridge, the grassy banks, and the river itself was full of people waiting for their appearance.
The Congress Avenue Bridge spans Town Lake in downtown Austin and is home to the largest urban bat colony in North America. The colony is estimated at 1.5 million Mexican free-tail bats. Each night from mid-March to November, the bats emerge from under the bridge at dusk to blanket the sky as they head out to forage for food. This event has become one of the most spectacular and unusual tourist attractions in Texas.

Waiting for the bats

Interesting Bat Facts
~The bats provide a valuable service to the Austin community by consuming between 10,000 to 30,000 pounds of insects nightly!
~Bats can live to be 30 years old.
~Mother bats give birth to a single pup each year. The pups birth weight is nearly 1/3 that of its mother.
~Bats are mammals and nurse the pups from mammary glands. Each female recognizes her pups voice and smell and will nurse only her pup.
~During migrations to Mexico and back, bats may reach an altitude of 10,000 feet and velocities of 60 miles per hour.

Me and my bestest friend Jessica, Moises and Jessica

Oh, and how could I forget to mention the great food we ate while in Austin...You cannot say you've been to Austin if you have not eaten a bucket of ribs and brisket at RUDY's COUNTRY STORE and Bar-B-Q (http://rudys.com/). The sign on the wall of the old barn converted into a "BBQ depot" reads "The Worst Bar-B-Q in the Country" but don't you believe it! It has to be the BEST. There are no plates at Rudy's and what they humorously do call "plates" are nothing more than sheets of waxed paper.

And Whataburger...it was quite a burger.

And Just Like You Like It!

We have plenty to praise God for; wonderful friends to share life with.