more of what?

Anna has figured out a few signs, but since she is saying so many words, I don't expect we will need to teach her too many, but when she signs "more" it usually doesn't make any sense to us what she is trying to ask for more of.

We have plenty to praise God for; a means of communication for all.

wait for it...

yep, she has finally walked solo...and she is so proud of herself when she does!

rolling along

The roller got another workout.  I had been wanting to redo the half bath off our kitchen, here in Culver.  I had a tough job of scraping off the wallpaper and SCRUBBING several layers of glue off!  Yes, I loathe wallpaper now.

So, after all that, patching, priming and then painting, I am happy to say it's done.  I put of the finishing touches, pictures, new towel bar, and we are back in business.

the coupe lives on and on...

Anna is really into climbing in and out, in and out, in and out...she also loves for me to push her around the yard.  It works especially well to push her backward so that her feet don't get drug under the car.  Why don't the designers make a little shelf for the kids to put their feet up...that and make a bit more clearance for feet when the kid is pushing themselves...maybe the new one is designed better?  This car has been though 3 kids in the Unger family so far...who knows how many before that.

How do you beat the heat?

How about spending the morning at the beach and then taking an outdoor bath before bed.

time to play

Today is the first day I would actually say that they girls were "playing" together...Maria said that they were playing camping. They had a great time laying down "sleeping" on the floor.  Anna tolerated Maria moving her around and they seemed to enjoy the role-playing.

veggie tales

Our garden is in full force and most of our meals are composed of a minimum of one garden veggie, but usually more than that.

Here is a salad made entirely of garden yummies....spinach, green onion, grape tomato, carrot, pepper, cucumber, and sugar snap peas.

This is what our fridge looks like on a typical day.

We have also had a chicken vegetable soup, vegetable lasagna, Mexican rice with added pepper and zucchini, and stuffed peppers.

We didn't plant our own corn since it doesn't do well unless you can plant a significant amount and our garden is on the small side, however, we were endowed with quite a bit last evening.  We live across from the community garden, which is done by volunteers to benefit the food pantry.  Well, they had more corn than they knew what to do with, so I gratefully took the extra off their hands!

They girls were so eager to have some, that they didn't even wait for it to be cooked...Anna ate EVERY SINGLE kernel on her cob and finished up what Maria left.  Then they ate more of it cooked for dinner.  Larry and I husked, cooked, cut and froze 36 cups worth after the girls were in bed.  We will sure enjoy it in the dead of winter when it takes like fresh corn off the cob!

brown-eyed girl

SOCM

The girls and I headed off to Anderson University, my alma mater, last week for the School Of Christian Mission, which is organized by the United Methodist Women.

I had sessions on the History of Missions and we also studied the Epistles of John, while the girls went to the Children's Mission Camp, Chi-Mi-Ca.  Maria had a great time making crafts, learning Bible lessons, playing, singing, swimming, and of course snacking.  Anna was not all together too happy that I left her several times a day with strangers. 

 I did pick the girls up for meals and we stayed in the dorm, which led to some interesting evenings of sleep, or not sleeping rather!  It was a tough schedule for the girls as we aren't used to getting up quite so early and going to bed later than they normally do.  We survived and have some good memories of our time.

 One of my favorite places on campus, the Helios water fountain.  I just love the beautiful campus, especially the valley, which is lovely no matter what season.  I found it interesting how I noticed that the trees just newly planted when I was on campus were now large enough to shade the walkways.  12 years will do that to a tree I suppose.

 I was so excited to meet up with Professor Saltzmann, a math professor I have kept in touch with.

I also stayed an extra night with Shalimar, a friend whom I served as a youth counselor with when I was in college.  It was great to catch up with her as we haven't seen each other in probably close to 8 years.  Maria had a great time playing with EliAnna, and Anna loved chasing the cat around.

We have plenty to praise God for; new memories and old acquaintances. 

a fair day

off to the Marshall county fair last week.  We saw some animals, ate some ice cream and even stopped at a new(to us) playground on the way home.

doing the beach

What a great day we had.  Lee brought her kiddos and we hung out at the beach for several hours.  We barely saw Hayden at all...he was a fish.  Maria had fun the sand.  Lauren and Anna spend a fair amount of time in the water.  We came back to the house and the kids played in the yard a while and then in the house.  It was great to have some friend time, and watch the kiddos playing together.  Thanks Lee for the fun day.  We loved having you here.

snack and a book

One of Anna's new words...book.  So, Maria was "reading" her a book during snack time.  I love these girlies!

blueberry fun for all

We picked just over 38 pounds in a few hours.  The bushes were loaded, the berries were humongous and the kids were most definitely a pound heavier each when we left.  The kids were SO great the whole time.  Just having fun playing with each other, eating berries and running up and down the row.

We have plenty to praise God for; cousins who make fun out of work.

We have our second annual high school friends get together.  Robyn and Chris graciously hosted again.  Seems the men were scarce, do we scare them?  Anyway, almost all the girls were able to make it, even Jess came all the way from Texas ;)  It is always good to catch up with friends who have know you so long and knew you "when". 

We have plenty to praise God for; friends through it all.

have chalkboard will travel

I found this tutorial to make a travel chalkboard.  It was pretty quick and easy and it seemed to keep Maria occupied on our road trip Saturday to see friends. 

13 months

Our favorite one year old is changing and growing so much.  She is now more interested in walking with help and can stand for a few seconds before crumpling down to the floor.
She is talking SO much...not sure who she could be hearing so many words from...Maria is just SO quiet(ha).  Anna is often heard saying hi, drink, swing, uh-oh, dog(and she can pant like a dog), cat, shoe, hat, cheese, ball, doll, bubble, bird(especially likes to watch our hummingbirds at the kitchen window), Trey(after hearing Maria say her cousin's name about every 5 minutes last week), dada, mama(very infrequently), sissy, mmm(for something tasty), ooo(for something she likes or is pretty)
She loves to give kisses and hugs, blow kisses and dances when she hears music.  If you ask her to sing she will sway and hum something.
She can pat her head and belly, point out her nose, mouth, and feet.  She seems to understand simple directions when you ask her to get something or open or close something.

fashion diva

On our way home from a walk tonight I looked in the wagon and what did we see a fashion diva in the making...Anna had grabbed Maria's discarded hat and made herself look quite amusing.

on the road again

Yes, we had a very full, long weekend. After heading back to Culver Saturday night with Trey, we got up went to church and got right back on the road Sunday to head to cousin Joshua's 3rd birthday party. Trey had been at Grandma and Grandpa's all week and was picked up by his mom and dad at the party. Maria loved having him to play with and share her room Saturday night. Anna learned to say his name, so she must have loved it just as much. Maria always loves playing with Joshua too!

The full van load.

We have plenty to praise God for; cousins who entertain.