We love the baffies*!

*More commonly known as baths.

Lazy Days

Today I decided to act like a stay at home dad. Interpretation: I didn't do much cleaning. I didn't do much of anything. I played with Maryn, I watched two movies (Mr. Deeds and The Truman Show), and I ate cold pizza for lunch. I hope I can get a little more accomplished tomorrow.

Yesterday we did so much, and I cleaned the house pretty much top to bottom. There just wasn't a whole lot to do today, so I figured it was a good day to take a break. It was, and I feel pretty good.

Tomorrow, I think I will start working out. Now that I am nursing a lot less, the weight is coming back on. I'm afraid I'll have to stop eating two to five brownies every day, and everything else in sight (last night I ate a bag of chocolate chips).

I know this is kind of personal, but I remember wondering before and during pregnancy about weight and all that stuff. So I'll share with you. I weighed 115 before pregnancy, and I weighed 150 in my 42nd week of pregnancy. Two weeks ago, I weighed 113 lbs! But this week I'm back up to 116. I know 116 isn't anything to worry about, but you know, eating a bag of chocolate chips isn't exactly healthy, and neither is sitting around watching movies all day. So I am going to start taking better care of myself. I don't have a weight loss goal in mind, but I would like to look and feel a little healthier.

"...let your mind dwell on these things."

"Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things." -Philippians 4:8

"...in everything give thanks, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." -1 Thes. 5:18

"Love does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered..." 1 Cor. 13:5

Nan Haines, a wife and mother from our church, spoke at one of our MOPS meetings some time ago and something she said has stuck in my mind. Some things stick in the back of my mind, but this thing she said I probably think about every other day or so. It has changed my attitude. It has changed the way I think about parenting, and the way I think about thinking and talking and acting and worshiping and praising and praying.

She told us that she and her husband would not accept a grumpy, sulking child at the dinner table. If they were acting anything less than "pleasant," they were sent to their room until they could at least act pleasant and mannerly at the dinner table.

This really struck me. I had sort of thought that we should always be honest, straightforward, and open about our feelings. In fact, I hear this a lot from Christians lately. It's admirable to be "real." Right?

I thought, "Mrs. Haines, isn't that teaching your children to be fake?" Oooh! Don't use the "F word" around Southern Baptists! At least not to our faces. That's what the world calls us, right? Fake. But you know, I have been thinking about it for a long time. Mrs. Haines didn't teach her children to be fake. She taught them how to be grateful.

One of the children I babysat would frequently come to the table for lunch with a grumpy face. She didn't usually like the meal I had prepared. Plus, she wanted me to ask her what was wrong. She wanted me to ask her if that girl picked on her at school again, and if her brother had done something mean to her, and if she was feeling all right. It was an annoying routine, and I was, frankly, sick of it. So I did what Nan told me to do. I sent her away until she could be pleasant.

But the first few times I sent her away, I went with her. We looked out the window together and thanked God for His beautiful creation. We thanked Him for her family, and for the fun day we were going to have. We thanked Him for the cool shirt and new shoes He provided for her. We thanked Him for her friends at school, and prayed for the mean little girl in her class. We prayed that her tummy would feel better and we prayed for her Mommy and Daddy, whom she missed so much.

She was usually able to wipe her teary eyes, take a breath, and go back to the table with a pleasant smile on her face. I wasn't teaching her how to be fake. I was teaching her how to be grateful.

I think that, as Christian women, we must remember this lesson I learned from Mrs. Haines. We often strive to "be real" in our blogs, sometimes at the expense of our husbands, our work place, our families, etc. Sometimes we get on the internet with a grumpy face and spill our grouchiness out on everyone who breezes by on our blogs or Facebook pages.

I am going to try to be less grouchy online and more pleasant. That doesn't mean I won't have the occasional sarcasm (which I STILL believe isn't always a bad thing), complaint, whine, etc. I will still be "real." I won't be fake. I'll just be trying to be more grateful.

"Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." James 1: 2-4

I Got Peeps

Here's Maryn with some of her peeps. Hope, who is about 8 months, Hudson, 9 months, and Alivia, 5 months. Cutie pies, aren't they? They were having a PUFF FEST just before this. It was getting pretty wild! Then Hudson and Hope starting kissing and that's when Maryn and I split. Don't get any ideas, little girl! :)

Cute Little Bully

Um, Maryn, I think this play gym was meant for tummy time!

Maryn loves to sit and play.

7 months ago today, little Maryn and I met face to face. I was pretty heavily drugged, which definitely was not my plan, but I remember it well. So well that I feel it couldn't have been seven months ago.

Yesterday and today I actually felt a bit sad about my baby growing. She's still so small and perfect cuddle-size. In fact, if I were to manufacture the perfect cuddle baby, it would be the exact size and weight that Maryn is right now. She hugs me back, she clings to me, and reaches for me. I've been wanting to hold her as much as possible before she grows up. Or at least until she reaches the not-so-cuddly size/age.

Maryn just started waving bye-bye. She does it all day except when we want her to. I'm not sure if she actually gets what she's doing, but if she happens to do it at the right time, we laugh and say she's a genius.

I worked in the nursery last night and found out that Maryn is a bully! It was actually pretty funny. To me. The other ladies in the nursery weren't quite as entertained. Maryn was very quickly snatching other kids' name tags (stickers) off of their backs. She was also stealing every toy that London (also 7 months) was playing with. But she did share a lot of Puffs with Hannah (who's almost 1). I really wanted to take pictures but I thought that might be frowned upon.

John was "commissioned" last night at church. So exciting! Some of our friends bought him a new Bible. He got a new Bible not too long ago, but it was falling apart. Really, really falling apart. His new one is beautiful, and it's the same kind as his other one (John MacArthur Study Bible, NASB), just new and a lot nicer. It will last a long time. Thank you, Lee and Cara! He was really excited.

Reading Baby

Guess what is one of Maryn's favorite things? Books! She loves to sit and read with us and she loves to look at books. It's so cute to see her turning pages. She knows which direction to turn the pages and she remembers which things on the pages are fuzzy or textured. I hope she keeps it up.

I would think that if you grow up with parents who spend hours and hours in the library or bookstore each month, you're going to like reading. That's what we do. Fun, fun! Maybe someday we'll make it to Chuck E. Cheese! But it's Books A Million for now.

Friday Funnies

Top Teeth Terrors

Here's Maryn playing a computer game online.
Start 'em early, that's what I say!
Video games are good for ya. :)
FisherPrice.com has a great Peek-A-Boo game for babies.

Here we are doing whatever works. Yesterday,
my cell phone made her stop crying. She chewed off the AT&T symbol.
I know. That's healthy.

Mornings with Maryn used to be so precious. Not so much for the past few days. While we still try to do our normal routine of baths, songs, books, and lots of cuddling, we are frequently interrupted by what must be tooth/ear pain (our doctor says teething also causes some ear pain). So we make lots of chamomile tea, try our teething tablets, Sophie, frozen washcloths, etc. And after all those things don't work, we have been resorting to Tylenol. Which doesn't work, either.

Maryn just started falling asleep and the garbage truck came. I hate you, garbage truck.

Penny Savers

Yep. I have a bag on my head. :)

I have decided to start slowly putting some meat into Maryn's diet. This week we will try chicken. Here is a picture of the stew I am cooking right now. It includes green beans, carrots, apples, a tiny bit of green pepper, a tiny bit of onion, and chicken breast. I really hope it turns out all right because I'm making it without a recipe. When it's done, it will be pureed (yummy!), poured into a Ziploc, squeezed into ice cube trays, frozen, and then the cubes will be kept in a Ziploc (okay, it's really not Ziploc--it's the off brand) freezer bag.

I like making our own baby food, but it is getting a little harder now that Maryn is eating a large variety of foods. And I still love using our cloth diapers and wipes, though it is a lot less stressful when I know I have disposables to fall back on if I need to. Right now, I think using cloth diapers is easier than making baby food. I guess that's sort of surprising to me.

Making baby food is great for two reasons. 1.) It saves us a little bit of money. 2.) I'd like to think I'm getting Maryn used to the taste and texture of fresh vegetables.

However, by the time Maryn is a year old, I think all we'll be able to afford is canned vegetables anyway! That's all right, though. God will take care of us, whether our food comes canned, frozen, or fresh.

I find it interesting to see how other families save money and in what areas they splurge. For example, John and I work hard to make most of our own meals, our own baby food, we use cloth diapers, and we do a lot of things to try to save money on groceries. But we still try to go out to eat once every week. It would probably save us a good bit of money if we stopped eating out, but it's important to us. I know some women, even though times are tough, still really treasure their once-a-month mommy day that may include a pedicure, or something "splurgy" like that. I, however, don't really enjoy things like that. So I don't spend money on them.

In these economically difficult times, I think it's easy to fall into jealousy. Especially when we women see our sisters spending money on things we consider wasteful. God's teaching me to be more loving and sensitive. He knows that I spend money on things that many would consider extreme luxuries. I can be happy for others, even when I don't feel like it. Because God blesses us all in different ways.

So I am curious to know, in what areas does your family work hard to save? And in what areas do you still try to find ways to splurge?

Oh, what a weekend.

Maryn's new favorite place to be is sitting on the couch with us. She'll sit and play with her toys for hours. Okay, not hours. But definitely minutes!
Maryn does not like to stay still on the changing table. Here she is pulling on the curtains.
I decided to get some pictures in her nursery that we (John, Bradd, Alicia, and I) worked so hard to paint. She may not remember it, but here's proof it was there!
I love this little outfit she wore on Thursday, but this is one of the only pictures I could get that wasn't absolutely blurred out.
Thanks for painting my room, Mommy! Good bye cattails!

It is now Saturday night and so far, it has been a pretty restful weekend. John actually had Saturday AND Sunday completely off, which hasn't happened in about a year (seems like a year). It has been a huge blessing. I can not even express how much of a blessing.

Mommy Loves You This Much

This little toy train is saving my life. Kind of like Gerber Puffs save my life. Ah. Life is so easy right now. I just plop Maryn down, she plays, and I do my thing. Wonderful! 6-7 months old: Piece of CAKE!
We were at a friends' house having dinner, and their baby laid on the floor playing with toys during the whole dinner. In another room (well, we could see her, of course)! Maryn was never happy lying around. Now that she's sitting up, life is so much easier.

Today at MOPS we talked about playing with our kids. At least I think that's what we talked about. I missed most of the meeting because I locked my keys in the trunk. But that's another story. I don't think playing with my kids is going to be TOO much of a struggle for me, since I have had practice at least with babysitting and everything, but instead I am guilty of the here-and-there syndrome.

Here-and-there syndrome is the Mommy disease that causes me to think of this and go do that, do something here and start something over there, and oh yeah, I forgot about that...wait, what did I come in here to do? Okay, now I'm ready. Oh, just a sec. Ah! Look how messy this is! Hold on.

I know that right now I only have one little baby, and life isn't too tough. But even as I was babysitting those four little ones, I scheduled in time to play with Maryn, and time to play with the kids. Right now, special Maryn time (no phone, no internet, no TV, no blow drying, makeup, cleaning, etc.) is from the time she wakes up in the morning (8:00) until she takes her nap (9:30 or 10). She gets changed, bathed (sometimes), and we have song and dance time, reading time, toy time, and feeding time. And somehow I already get the feeling she treasures these mornings. Now that she can sign "more," she always says "more" after each activity. She never wants it to end. And as I put her in her bed, she clings to me and starts to sob. It's so sad to let her go! But I know that she knows I love her, that she is safe and secure, because of the time we spend together.

Here are some phrases from one of her favorite books, I Love You This much by Lynn Hodges and Sue Buchanan. I used to read it to her when I was pregnant, and I thought it was kind of cheesy. I didn't really understand it then, I guess. But I understand it now.

"When you arise with sleepy eyes, my smiling face you see.
I always say, "Well, look who's up!"
You laugh and say, "It's me!"

How I love your morning hug;
you nestle in my touch.
You wait to hear me whisper low,
"I love you this much."

I love you best,
I love you most.
I love you high,
I love you low.
I love you deep,
I love you wide.
I love you this much.

I trust you know that God is so,
by what I say and do (shwew, that's a lot of pressure!)
I tell you He is safe and sure
And what He says is true.
He holds you in his loving arms;
you feel His tender touch.
You hear the heavenly Father say,
"I love you this much!"

I kiss you on your sleepy head,
with one last gentle touch.
The words still ringing in our ears,
"I love you this much."

Maryn, Mommy loves you.

Who thinks we should have a fire burning in the middle of our house?

John and I are looking into rental properties in Louisville, and several of them have fireplaces. Apparently, this is an amenity to most people. Most people, I guess, are more responsible than I, and a lot less freaked out by fire. So John and I are having a little tiff about it. Because arguments rarely occur around here, I thought it would be a good idea to let all of you blog readers in on it. Yes. A swell idea.

Here are my reasons for NOT wanting a fireplace:

1. Scary Movies. According to Hollywood, if you have a fireplace in your house, you are just asking to be brutally murdered.

2. Frightening People and Animals. According to the most common fairy tale (The Three Little Pigs), having a fireplace is not a good idea.

3. John and Chris. If you have ever been at camp with John and his best friend, Chris, you are very likely to have suffered from PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder), caused by the enormous fires they would build, endangering the lives of all the children in the tri-county area. In fact, I think some of my eyebrows were burned off that summer.

4. Chimney Sweeps. They may be cute in Mary Poppins, but I don't want anyone dancing around on my roof.

5. Cleaning. I will NOT be responsible for cleaning a fireplace. This means that it would NEVER be cleaned out.

6. Infants. Hello! We have a baby that will be WALKING soon. Let's just give her another tempting thing to go after so that we can spank her lots and lots and lots every single day for the next five years.

7. Rosa. Our dear cat has already had her tail lit on fire once. Face it. Our family and fire just don't mix!

And here are John's reasons for wanting a fireplace (from my point of view):

1. Fires are fun to build.
2. Fires are cool to watch.
3. We can save money by keeping the rest of the house 62 degrees while our faces burn off.
4. Fires are fun to build.
5. Fires are cool to watch.

So there you go. What do you guys think?

Resurrection Sunday and Easter Monday

The great big Easter egg hunt

First thing to grab in Easter basket: The book. Second thing: The purple egg. That's my girl!

I think I came up with a weird tradition.

Because I wasn't really comfortable combining fun pagan rituals with the resurrection of Christ, I decided to just make two days of it. Which would benefit us financially and maybe...a little...spiritually. So this is what we did. I didn't actually plan it this way, but this is the way it happened, and perhaps we'll do this again next year.

Sunday morning, we read the resurrection story from the book of Luke, since that's the book John and I are reading through right now. We go to church Sat. nights, so no church Sunday morning.

Then we went to Grammy and Grampy's house (John's grandparents on his mother's side), where Maryn got to meet her Uncle Mark, Aunt Dena, and cousins Ben (who reminds everyone he is 6 and a HALF) and Eva (who is four and a HALF), for the first time. Unfortunately, I have no pictures of this event because I forgot my memory card. Argh! Dena took some great pictures though, so hopefully I'll be able to steal some from her Facebook. Ben and Eva made Maryn some great Easter cards, and we had a wonderful meal. We also got to see Aunt Meghann (John's sister), who will be graduating from high school very soon. Yay!

Monday (today), Maryn and I did a little Easter clearance sale shopping. We hit CVS, Books-A-Million and Sweetbay. There were no Cadbury or Reese's eggs in sight! I did, however, get a bag of Snickers miniatures, a bag of Reese's miniatures, and Robin Eggs. At Books-A-Million, I bought two new board books for Maryn. So Maryn's first Easter basket cost under $10. Not bad. And, I plan on hiding away her new books in a couple weeks to be used again in next year's Easter basket. She'll never know (until she's older and sees the videos and pictures of the same books she got three years in a row). All the Jesus books were gone, so we got some good ol' pagan ones. Eh, I guess fertility is a good thing, too.

When we got home from shopping, John and I quickly made up Maryn's Easter basket, snapped photos, read her books, filmed a video, and hid her eggs around her exersaucer. Maryn found all four eggs hidden around her exersaucer. She is a genius, for sure.

Maybe I'll get the video on here in the next few years, but here are some pictures to get you started. My camera is taking very blurry pictures. Probably because the battery is nearly dead. I think I might have to start charging you all for my blog and pictures!

Pure Sweetness

Maryn has been doing this a lot lately, laying her head to the side. It's cute but it makes me wonder if her ear is bothering her.

I think she looks like me in this picture. Mom & Cathy, do you think she likes like the one of me when I was in pigtails wearing my Cabbage Patch dress?

Here's one of us dying eggs. She was obviously more interested in her panda.

Edit

I have been thinking about what I wrote yesterday and thought I should clarify. First, I apologize. My communication skills are lacking. Sometimes I write things on here without really thinking. It scares me sometimes how many people read this blog and probably think I'm a nut case.

To clarify the situation on the plane: I know that if I had asked John to hold Maryn he gladly would have, but I know that the plane rides were a good time for him to get a head start on learning Greek. Because he will be tested on it next fall, and I won't.

Secondly, I am always jealous of people. I am often jealous of people that go to school. I just love learning and pretty much everything about school. Schedules, classes, paper, pens, due dates, having papers to write, highlighting in textbooks...but I don't actually want to go back to school.

And, I know that stay at home moms need some sort of outlet. My outlets are blogging and babysitting. Fun, I know. But blogging gets the writing out of me, and babysitting gets the teaching/planning/creating out of me. When we are at the seminary, seminary wives are offered classes in the evenings for something like $10 per semester. The classes are taught by seminary professors and their wives, and the topics range from theology to hospitality. I think this will be a lot of fun, and hopefully John will be home with sleeping Maryn.

Plus, I will hopefully be babysitting there, too. Which definitely has its rewards! I felt like this last babysitting stint was a huge success. The three year old I was watching came to me not knowing a single letter. Now he knows ALL of his capital letters and their sounds, and most of his lower case. He is starting to sound out words, too. But more importantly, he learned and grew while having fun, and so did I.

It does seem like Southern Baptists are really gung-ho (SP?) about stay at home mothers. It really can be annoying. My mom wasn't a stay at home mom, and the year or so she tried, well, you can ask her how that went. I don't think kids that have two full-time working parents will definitely be screwed up, and I don't think kids that have a stay at home mom will definitely be better off. But now that I am a stay at home mom, I know I am where I'm supposed to be. But it isn't for everyone.

That being said, I do believe more mothers should really consider staying at home. Often times, it is not worth it financially to go to work. Once you figure in day care and the expenses involved there, work expenses, and also figure in convenience things you might need because of a busy schedule (disposable diapers, store bought baby food, formula, eating out, convenience foods, housekeeping, landscaping, etc.), it might be a better choice to stay at home and try to make some money somehow on the side. Lots of moms I know sell Avon, Southern Living, etc., or do photography, day care, taxes, or sell stuff online...

Plus, I grow more and more aware of the negative influences that surround our children. There are many things that I will not tolerate from our children. I think that John and I are the #1 people to be raising our little ones. And if I can find a way to do that, I think I should.

Yes. It can be horribly annoying to gaze out my kitchen window, wishing I could just do whatever I wanted. Or that I might be able to actually contribute financially to our family's needs. It would feel pretty good to have one of those $1,000 pay checks I used to get! But then I think of what it would be like to be sitting in my old classroom, at my old desk, missing my sweet baby's face. Missing our precious "morning times" of songs and dances, books, and trains. Being ready for dinner time, ready to turn my focus to my husband and my baby girl. Yep. I'm where I'm supposed to be.

Ministry Wife

So my husband has signed up for what will probably be a lifetime of ministry. What does this mean for us? It means a lot. It means nothing. It means everything. But everything, everything is pointless. I mean, in the grand scheme of things, what we really DO here on earth, basically, is pointless. Let's not give ourselves too much credit.

Anyway, I got a taste of what it may mean to be a seminary wife (which there are support groups for at Southern, thank God) on our plane rides home. John was studying Greek. I was holding Maryn, trying to keep her asleep, trying to keep her happy, trying to keep her fed.

I want to study Greek and Biblical Exegesis. I want to go to class with shiny new pens and notebooks and my little laptop. Hey, I'll just take being able to go to the gas station for a Coke whenever I feel led.

I am so grateful for friends like Bethany and Michele who have, in the past, shared tips with me on dealing with things like this, or have been honest about their feelings in these times of frustration. Even though I'm not that great at being a SAHM (like I can't really cook meals John likes, I don't iron, I blow up vacuum cleaners, I clog toilets and flood the whole downstairs) and would probably be a much better student, or teacher, I AM a "helper suitable," God HAS equipped me for what I need, and I am helping my husband, I am raising a daughter. And these things will help many others down the road. I don't know who, exactly, or what. I may not see many results at all in my lifetime. But I must have faith in His sovereignty. "Just have faith!" Shutup, Amanda! It's not that easy! Nope. It's not. Sometimes I feel like I am climbing a cliff with no rope, no shoes, grasping for faith. Where are you, faith?

So, here we go.

The Trip, in One Word...

EXHAUSTING!

All of my pictures are mixed up in this post, and I really don't have time to put them in order, so bear with me! So anyway, I haven't posted in quite a while because, first of all, I mainly post every day for my mother's sake, and we were trying to spend time with her and the family this past week. Although, we sure did do a lot of other stuff...like drive, and fly. Above, you see John and Maryn at his favorite restaurant, Penn Station. It just so happens that there are like, 50 Penn Stations in Louisville.
The main purpose of flying up north this past week was to visit our future home and John's soon-to-be school, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, in Louisville, KY. I could NOT stop envisioning myself laying in the grass, which is something I deeply miss here in Florida. I absolutely do not understand how I can raise a child without allowing her to sit, play, lay, and roll in the grass.
So this is one of the first things I did. Maryn likes the grass, too! Hopefully she won't be allergic to it like her daddy. :)
We also drove a couple more hours to visit Richard and Kendra and their three little girls. Here they are, cuties! This picture will likely go down in history. We had a great time there, as we always do, and Kendra fixed a fabulous meal.
Here's Maryn and my sister, Sara, at Maryn's first track meet. Jordan, my brother, is in eighth grade and ran a few events...and won a few, too!
Here's a picture of the Mall of America. Yep, that's in Minneapolis. We arranged a connecting flight there with a three hour lay over so we could have lunch with John's brother, Mark, and his mom. I did get pictures of them, but the restaurant was too dark. So here's a picture of the roller coaster!
Maryn was such a little TROOPER! I couldn't believe how good she was. She had one big crying spell on the way back from the airport (Pittsburgh to Orrville). But other than that, not one crying spell (you can read about our exhausting itinerary below).

Here's Maryn relaxing in the Charlotte airport.
Dr. Brown said we could start giving Maryn "Puffs," and that's what we did! I can't thank God enough for creating the person that created Puffs. These little things saved our lives on this trip. Maryn now thinks the sign for "MORE" means "Puff!" And she makes the sign ALL the time now. She could live on these things.

So here is a run down of what we did...

-Flew from Ft. Myers to Charlotte.
-Flew from Charlotte to Pittsburgh.
-Arrived in Pittsburgh around 11 pm, Maryn still awake, having slept hardly at all. She didn't cry, but she just likes to look all around..
-Drove two hours from Pittsburgh to Orrville, Maryn crying for about half of the ride.

-Stayed in Orrville with my family for all of Thursday.
-Drove two hours to see Richard and Kendra on Friday afternoon.
-Drove two hours back to Orrville on Friday night.
-Drove five hours to Louisville on Saturday morning (left at 5 am).
-Arrived at the seminary, showered, ate lunch, sightseeing, book store, dinner, etc.
-Sunday we went to Highview Baptist Church (loved it!), had a free lunch to find out about membership and stuff there, met lots of great people, exchanged some emails, etc. More sightseeing, looked at an apartment, looked for other options of living. Dinner at a Mexican restaurant...
-Monday we showered, packed up, went to lunch with an admissions counselor, and John met with a professor and had a campus tour while Maryn and I hung out in the campus book store.
-Monday at 1:45 we left for another 5 hour drive back to Orrville.
-We arrived back at my family's house for dinner at 7, had some family time, went to bed.
-Woke up at 5 am the next morning and drove two more hours back to Pittsburgh to catch our flight. Lots of snow, almost missed our plane.
-Stopped in Minneapolis for lunch with Mark and Grammy (John's mom). Maryn LOVES trains!
-Flew from Minn. to Ft. Myers (3 hour flight). Arrived, drove 30 minutes home, stopping for Chinese along the way.
-Exhausted.

Birthday Fun

John and Maryn in their farmer clothes.
John thinks Kansas wear applies to all farmers...

"And now, Maryn, I shall eat your head!"
I was bouncing Maryn on the bounce house dinosaur head.
I guess she wasn't as thrilled about it as I was.

Nathanael's birthday party was a blast! To see more pictures, visit Teri's blog!