Pictures of the Grandkids

After the wedding, we went back to my parents house to pack up and head back to Wahoo as Mike needed to preach in the morning. Before we left, my parents tried to get some pictures of the grandkids as my sister and her husband and their two girls were home as well. The task of corralling a 2 1/2 year old, two 14 month olds, and a 12 month old is quite difficult. I don't know that anyone got a picture where everyone was looking, but it sure is fun to look back at all of the attempts.

LOVE this progression of pics:

A Quick Trip Home

After my parents left (see previous post), I worked an extra day and then we headed to Minnesota for just two short days so we could be at the wedding of my neighbor girl from when I was growing up. Along the way to Minnesota, we stopped in Orange City, Iowa, to see some friends of ours from Southern Seminary who had just moved to Orange City that week to begin pastoring an SBC church there. I spent my first two years of college at Northwestern College in OC, so it is always fun to be back in that little Dutch town as it brings back lots of fun memories. As we pulled up to our friends' house and got out of the car, my former chemistry professor just happened to be walking by on the sidewalk. What a coincidence! He recognized me as well and even remembered my name! A couple of friends and I tried to make general chemistry as enjoyable as possible that year, and I guess it paid off as our professor seemed to recall a few of our antics. We had a wonderful time visiting with our friends. The weather was beautiful and so we just stood in their yard and let the kids play together. Hopefully we will have more opportunities to see them as we occasionally travel back and forth to visit family.

We got to Mountain Lake very late that night. The next day we just hung out at my parents' house, picked some produce from the garden, and went to a few shops with my mom. In the evening, we roasted marshmallows over a little fire pit and let Jonah try his first gooey marshmallows. Yum!

Eating mulberries

Eating raspberries - no picking to save for later

Even Sy went crazy over picking raspberries!

Marshmallow Mustache

No marshmallows for this guy - just exploring Grandpa's deck

That Saturday, some dear friends of ours from MSU came over to my parents' house for lunch. They were going to the wedding as well. We hadn't seen the Petit's in nearly a year. It was so good to catch up with them! We hired one of my parents' neighbor girls to watch the boys during the wedding. It was so great to get dressed up for the evening and attend a beautiful wedding without having to worry about the boys. Jonah had a fantastic time with the babysitter and continues to ask if she can come to our house!

The wedding truly was wonderful. The bride was my neighbor growing up. I babysat and played with her and her sister very often. Their family are dear friends to ours. It was so hard to believe that she is now grown and married! She met her groom at a church camp a number of years ago. The wedding was very Christ-centered. It was great to see people from home and to attend a wedding in the same church we got married in as it brought back so many memories of our wedding. 

The beautiful bride and her sister/maid of honor

I miss my long ago coffee/lunch dates with this girl.

We love this couple and enjoyed having a date night with them again!

A New Floor & Some Fun

My parents came to visit on my birthday (July 7) and stayed for a few days. My mom watched the boys a couple days that I worked. My dad stayed busy tearing out our old carpet in the living room and dining room and installing laminate flooring. He did an AMAZING job!!! It looks so nice and is a hundred times better than the stained, smelly carpet in the living and dining rooms. We also took down one paneled wall in the dining room. Thankfully, the paneling was not glued to the wall and there was a nice, sheetrocked wall behind the paneling. We didn't know what to expect behind the paneling, and we were pleasantly surprised. Now, we just need to paint the wall which we will do as we paint the rest of the dining room/kitchen. I have two kitchen walls done so far.  It has been so fun to see our house transforming and becoming a bit more of our style instead of the 1970s! Hopefully I can get some pics taken soon. Even though we were busy that week with work, the boys, and house projects, we still had time to have some fun!

Birthday #28

Opening Silas' birthday present from Grandma and Grandpa

The first night Jonah played in it more than Sy, but Sy loves it now.

My garden less than a month ago. The tomatoes have at least doubled in size since then!

Sy loves his Grandpa "Bapa"

Jonah discovering the fun of having sand in your shoes

We made a trip to the Children's Museum with Grandma

Gotta love that smushy face!

Silas had fun in the toddler area

Jonah tried out being a Husker football player

So much fun!

The Fourth of July

We enjoyed our first 4th of July in Wahoo by taking in some of the community events. We went to a hot dog picnic lunch in the city park with a family from church. Our plans to attend fireworks in the evening depended upon the boys' naps. Jonah slept until after 5:00. I had to wake Silas up at 6:00! After supper, we watched an old-fashioned baseball game. Then, we went home, put the boys in their pajamas, popped some popcorn, and headed back out to the park to watch the fireworks. The park where they shoot off the fireworks is just a couple of blocks from our house so we were able to walk there. Both boys were a bit scared when we first got to the park, but with a little bit of popcorn and some cuddling, they both did really well and enjoyed the show.

Silas Turns One

Silas is over 13 months now, but July 3rd we were able to celebrate our little boy turning one year old! It is amazing how fast each month, each week, and each day go by. Our celebration was small - just our little family - but it was a sweet time of thanking the Lord for the life he has created in Silas.

Silas is one!

Silas was give $1 for birthday #1 by a nice man from church

Ooooohhh!

It didn't take long for Silas to dive right in

Silas didn't get too excited about opening gifts but loved what he found inside.

Silas had his 12 month check up shortly after his first birthday. He weighed in at 24 pounds, 8 ounces and was 31 inches long. He continues to be a big boy! Silas isn't walking yet but is able to cruise and walks across the room holding on to a push toy or our hands. He can stand for 5-10 seconds without holding on to anything and can go from standing to sitting in a very controlled way. Silas has a handful of words and signs that he uses regularly. He gets very excited about things and loves to giggle and be silly. Cars and trucks continue to be favorite toys, but he is also really liking stuffed animals these days. He loves to hug his monkeys and dogs. We have really enjoyed seeing Silas' personality develop over the past few months. He and Jonah mostly get along really well, and it does my heart so much good to hear them laughing, giggling, and playing together. We are a blessed family and thank God every day for giving us another day together. He is good!