and the dish ran away with the Spoon

We have plenty to praise God for; spoons!

To Do Lists

So each day starts with thoughts of what to accomplish today...so here is a bit of what I did today...and just so you know I never think to take pictures of "before" until about an hour into the project. I put up hooks for the bikes, brought down 4 shelves from the attic and put them up on the walls (I have more to put up, but ran out of suitable nails to use). Piled up moving boxes in the attic, organized items on the shelves, put up nails and hooks for other misc. items to hang on, swept up! In the bathroom I scored along the border that will stay, scraped off old wallpaper, cleaned up my mess. So, garage is done, but the bathroom is just beginning...I will post some done pictures, but don't expect anything for at least a few days. I do have a 15 mo. old that rarely sleeps 3 hours during the day for naps, like she did today!
So here is a during picture of the bathroom, the blue swatch on the wall is the color that I will be painting the striped part of the wall, the wallpaper was ruined from hairspray spots, but the border will stay.
And here is a picture of after of the garage, just think of a normal messy garage after moving your whole house! The stuff on the right of the car will all be gone after recycling day and when I take a couple boxes to the thrift shop, then the ladder can move over more.

We have plenty to praise God for; my love of organization.

To Market, To Market...

We decided to take a day and just get away by going to the county fair last week, which was in Argos, about 10 minutes away. Maria enjoyed the animals. She was able to pet a goat, some lambs, and see some cows, horses, rabbits, chickens and other birds. We went into the pig barn last and she wasn't very thrilled to see them. She was a bit frightened actually. She put her arms close to her side and would only walk right down the middle of the aisle. The only time she was very close to the cage was when we first went in. The pigs were pretty active and making lots of noises, I guess that was a bit too much for her. So I will have to break it to my brother Andrew, who works on a hog operation, that she isn't going to be jumping at the chance to see the pigs when we come to visit.

We have plenty to praise God for; pigs, mmmm, bacon!

baby Zane

We were able to head back to my parents for a couple days and to swing over to see baby Zane, born just 2 weeks ago. He is adorable and a very good baby. He was pretty alert and active while we were there and Maria enjoyed giving him some smooches...at our prompting of course! He is indeed a string bean with very long skinny arms and legs.

We have plenty to praise God for; beautiful newborn babies.

helping dad

Maria was helping Larry husk the corn for dinner, it was so cute.

We have plenty to praise God for; a girl who likes to mimic mom and dad.

Culver parade, Maria's first

We decided to check out the Lakefest in Culver, well, it rained and rained...

Maria was a bit frightened of the beginning of the parade, fire trucks, police cars and ambulances...they really know how to scare kids out of liking parades...but she didn't cry.
Culver Military Academy Culver Girls Academy
Culver Pipe and Drums

Maria's favorite part of the parade...suckers, that's all she could have, though she would have loved to try the rest.

It poured and poured...but Maria really thought it was fun to put her hands and head in the water coming off the roof of the tent.

and rained some more.

Maria was giving us some water.

We have plenty to praise God for; at least it was warm rain.

zoo fun

A couple Sundays ago, just before our big move, we met our friends Terra and Matthew, and their son Peter, in Lafayette. We went to lunch at the original Arni's, where Larry used to work, and then to the Columbian Park Zoo. We stopped for some ice cream afterwards too. It was nice to spend the day with friends and not think about boxes for a day!

The goat had escaped and then decided to visit the horse, he didn't like that!



We have plenty to praise God for; a great day with good friends at a FREE zoo!

the antics of Maria

Maria sure does like to make some interesting faces lately. She has also wanted to try drinking from a "big girl" cup. Here is video of it, she gets really excited when she does it successfully.

We have plenty to praise God for; an entertaining 15 mo. old.

Milestones

My Grandpa is turning 94 today, yes, quite a milestone, especially for all he has gone through in the past year. We thought we had almost lost him earlier this year, so it is a blessing to still be able to celebrate his birthday. I have such wonderful memories of growing up with wonderful grandparents. And since they lived only a mile away we were frequent visitors. I only wish I could visit him as frequently now. We love you grandpa. (These pictures were from a couple weeks ago on the weekend of the 4th)

We have plenty to praise God for; milestone birthdays.

any day now was Monday

Congratulations to Mindy and Joe who welcomed Zane David on Monday, July 14th at 8:28am. He was 7lb 8oz and has dark hair. Mom and baby are doing well and went home on Wednesday after lots of visitors at the hospital. Mindy said that Zane is a long "string bean" at 21 and 3/4 and is eating very well. Here are a few pictures they sent, we would love to visit, but maybe when things are less hectic for both Mindy and me.

We have plenty to praise God for; a healthy addition to the Trzynka family.

Moving Day

If you would please say a prayer for us today and tomorrow as we will be moving. It may or may not be a two day process with the movers depending on how long it takes and how tired the guys are, but at any rate it will be quite a while before we are done looking at boxes.



What a blessing that our neighbor Dottie, quite possibly the sweetest lady on earth, after my grandmothers of course, has willingly offered to watch Maria while the craziness is going on. We all agreed Maria might just be a bit too helpful if she were around! She also offered to bring over our plants that we are attempting to transfer to Culver in her wagon...hopefully they make it, there is some nice stuff already growing that we can't wait to eat! We will miss Dottie so much!

We have plenty to praise God for; surrogate grandma's when you need them.

any day now...

Well, we were able to get together over the 4th weekend with Joe and Mindy, a good friend and her husband, and Kelly, a friend from Florida, and her girls Paige and Sydney. Mindy is due on the 24th, but it could be anyday now. She said the other day she is ready to have the baby, but not ready to "have" the baby...anyone who's been through the birth experience knows what she means. We can't wait to meet the little one... whenever he comes. Pray for the labor and delivery.

We have plenty to praise God for; a healthy pregnancy for Mindy and baby.

meme

Another thrilling meme thanks to the tag from jen...because you just couldn't get enough information about me huh? yep, I'm a little slow Jen, but some packing/mission trip stuff just couldn't wait

5 things I was doing 10 years ago:
1. I had just graduated from Anderson
2. Looking for a real job, had to settle for subbing
3. Living at home
4. Helping Lee plan a wedding??
5. Uh, that's about it

5 things on my to do list:
1. Pack
2. Pack
3. clean the house
4. Pack
5. Pack

5 favorite snacks/food:
1. Chocolate
2. Popcorn
3. Peanut Butter anything
4. Fruit
5. MILK

5 things I would do if I was a billionaire:
1. I would scrap my wardrobe and buy all new too...I copied Lee's idea!
2. Tithe
3. Go to France with my hubby
4. Buy a yellow house with a wraparound porch and a big swing
5. get some great stuff for family/friends

5 bad habits:
1. Chewing my nails...yep, I still do!
2. eating too many sweets
3. nagging
4. trying to be a perfectionist! and succeeding at failing!
5. obsessive list making

5 Places I've lived:
1. Harlan
2. Anderson
3. Quito, Ecuador
4. DeMotte
5. Culver, in about a week that is!

5 People I'm Tagging
1. Krista
2. Rachel
3. Anna
4. Michelle
5. Molly...ha, Jen I got her first!

blossoming vocabulary and skills

Maria is starting to show signs of talking more and more every day, words like hat, hot, lots more animal sounds, and her latest word "down". She says it also when she wants up though, so I guess we will have to work on that a bit. And the way she says it is adorable. She draws it out and it sounds more like douuuuuwwnnnnnnn. She is also getting better about actually using some of the signs I have tried to teach her like "please", "more", "yes".

She has also gotten to where she knows when she has to use the bathroom, or maybe has just gone, at any rate we are impressed that she knows and lets us know too, by patting her diaper. Usually if we are paying attention we can get her on the toilet for a bm. Lovely blog information I know!! Maria will surely appreciate it someday. Isn't that what parents are for, to humiliate their children!

We have plenty to praise God for; a daughter who impresses us with the things she knows.

start 'em young

Yep, we thought the earlier we teach Maria she has to pull her weight around here the better!

We have plenty to praise God for; a girl who likes to help out.

Happy Independence Day

Grandpa is #1!!

Looks ready to pick to me.

May you enjoy the day as much as us.
As long as I can remember we have always gone to Defiance, Ohio to celebrate the 4th of July at my grandma's nephew's place. They have quite a bit of property and way back at the edge there is a pond, trails through the woods and a pavilion to shelter us in case of rain, we have had our share over the years and the pavilion is an upgrade in the last decade I believe. It is a family reunion on my maternal grandma's side, so lots of family that we only see a couple times a year. As kids we always swam, fished and played some volleyball or Frisbee. As adults we eat, and mainly socialize...a few of them still fish though not many. Maria had a good time trying to get to the water, eating some good food, and hanging with grandparents and other relatives.
We have plenty to praise God for; freedom to worship Him.