Festive October!!

So much has happened this last month, or rather, these last couple of weeks. Even though we try to keep things to a minimum with our "extra-curricular" activities, we are still very involved and always "feel" busy. Of course, October brings its autumn colors and festivities, so we did not want to miss out on the fun. Although our plans to visit a local pumpkin patch were foiled a couple of times (due to foul conditions--one of which was the blustery weather and another a wave of our "sweet" girl's ugly behavior en route to our destination), we did not miss the opportunity to carve jack-o-lanterns with our friends.

Eating the seeds was one of the best parts!


Unfortunately, we still do not have the pictures of our final project...they were rather cute little pumpkins!!






The most significant of events was our little cub celebrating his first birthday on the 29th! Wow...a whole year has gone by already. Seriously, when you have children, the time starts going by at warp speed!!
We celebrated his big milestone birthday with a Yeehaw cowboy round 'em up party...lots of little people were there with their families. It was too cute seeing all of them dressed in their cowboy western attire!

The cowboy birthday theme worked well for our Halloween dress-up...we ended up with the best-in-the-west cow-poke pair! We first took her to trick-or-treat to 3 neighbor houses, and then stopped by our dear friends' house across town--where we ended up staying for the next 2 hours! It was so much fun! Aunt Jani and Uncle Den were way more fun than any carnival in
town!!

My 30th Birthday

OK, I've come to the conclusion that I like making something of my birthday. Many, many times I've wished that I could let my birthday just go by and not hope that someone remembers to wish me happy birthday and celebrate with me...wished that I wouldn't care. But, I do care. And I've come to terms with that.
In the meantime, Daniel has be very aware in the past year that it was my 30th birthday coming up. And he knows me well enough that he wanted to make a big deal out of it. He also loves me so much that he wanted me to know how special I am by giving me a big party. He also knows I love surprises. However, since planning big bashes incognito is not an easy thing to do (when all the spare time he has comes on unpredictable lunch breaks and late at night), and since his wife knew he was up to something, he had to get creative. It was fun to watch...I really didn't want to know what he was planning, although I did know he was planning something. He made comments last week like, "Ummm....I need to go to a mystery store and pick up some mystery things..." or just randomly starting cutting up potatoes 8:00 at night and seasoning them in foil...or suddenly need to make some phone calls...outside. It made me feel good to know he was trying to do his best to get a party together for me without me knowing what he was up to.
Finally on the day of the party, I had it figured out that it was a BBQ, we were having shishkabobs, and that my parents were most likely coming. (Although Mom did a nice job of covering it up---I just knew that Dan wouldn't put a party together and not have my parents know anything about it!)
It ended up being at a local park just outside of town on the most gorgeous day! Lots of people were there, representing many of the circles I've tread upon...my Creswell family, my MOPS friends, church friends, and then just some of our good friends we hang out with. He had people bring notes sharing a special memory or words about what I've meant to them. That was so sweet. And even though a couple of my closest friends were unable to attend (it was a busy weekend, I've been told), one of them gave me the sweetest note about our friendship. I felt so loved by so many...and most of all by my wonderful husband. He worked so hard and really did a great job (despite several frustrations he encountered in trying to get it planned.) God bless that man!
This all took place after he had taken half his day off work for my actual birthday, and arranged for a friend to take our 11 month old cub (already that old!) while we had a couple of hours together...I got to get my nose repierced--yea!!!--and we had a lunch date together. It was actually a lot of fun, and a wonderful way to spend my birthday.
All in all, I shall remember this birthday with great joy. I do not mind being 30 now...I feel like it is a milestone. As I reflect on this past decade of life, I have 2 thoughts: 1) I've accomplished a lot! Wow!! and 2) where did my 20s go? I can't go back? :-) Oh, well, life is worth living, and I'm trying to do just that.

more summer

We got to go camping with some friends of ours a couple of weeks ago. It was lots of work, but definitely worthwhile.

Here are the 3 girls--ours on the left--ages 2, 3, and 5. They (mostly) had fun all weekend together...playing games, swimming in the river, going for hikes, eating s'mores...





A stick...the best thing he found to play with all weekend!! He is boy, thru and thru...










His 2nd favorite camping pastime...tasting the rocks.

This guy--like his sister--loves the water.














camping...where playing in the dirt is an expectation.

Catch Up on Summer

It's been a good summer thus far for our family! Just as usual, once July 4th passes, the summer seems to fly by. I can hardly believe it is well into August already.


Here are some pictures from our busy Fourth of July. I was so excited to put the kids into the Children's Parade for the first time. She rode in the wagon with a friend, while the men carried the boys in backpacks. We mommies waited on the sidelines to cheer them on as they passed by. Since it was such a warm day, I was glad to be watching instead of walking!!




He was enjoying playing in the wagon while we watched the big parade...and it was the only shade near us on our side of the street! Next year we will either reserve spots on the opposite side or bring a canopy and make it a fun BBQ with drinks for everyone.







She was great at interacting with the parade. She became quite adept at clapping and waving at the parade participants. It was so cute to watch!














This was taken during the annual Church in the Park on the Sunday before July 4th. It was, once again, a beautiful, warm Sunday for sitting outside! However, I must confess that I had to take her to the playground to play about halfway through the service!









Here she got to play in the fountains across the street from Daddy's work! We've done that a couple of times now...







This is our 9 month old little charmer! He now has two teeth, which have contributed to a slightly more cranky disposition than his usually very happy self!!

June!

She really is happy here...playing in the sprinkler.







A Father's Day treat...reading first thing in the morning. What fun!











He is getting so mobile now!! He's figured out crawling, and here is his latest venture: standing up on his own. He is now getting into everything...but at least he is happy!!

Puppies For Sale

Aren't they CUTE??????

We want to sell them!! Five are remaining to get to new homes. One yellow female, one chocolate male, and 3 black males. They are all so fun, and have great temperaments. They have had their first shots, dewclaws removed, initial vet visit, and come from great parent dogs. AKC registered labrador retrievers. Let us know if we can make your day with a puppy!

On the verge...

He is just about to be crawling!

However, in the meantime, he gets very frustrated.

He scoots around with this one-armed army crawl that is rather fun to watch. In comparison to his sister, he seems to be moving along a little ahead of her. She was in the 8 month range when she began to crawl. But this is no amazing wonder, since he has ALWAYS been a moving around wiggly boy. He will only get busier I'm sure!

A Birthday Week for a 2 year old!

It started out almost a week before her actual birthday....Papa and Grammy visited on Mother's Day, and we celebrated by having a little early birthday party for her.



Here she is eating her birthday cake that she and Grammy made together, wearing her new dress from Grammy (and new pink croc shoes, even though you can't see them). That day we (Dan and I) picked up the perfect little wooden table and chairs for her birthday present...we had just found it on Craigslist for very little $$!! She was trying out for the first time.









Great-Grandpa (-Papa) and Great-Grandma came for a visit on Thursday, and dropped off her card and present--wow! 2 dollars! Great-Grandpa is reading her birthday card to her, telling her how great-great-great-great she is.

Of course, we all agree!!






These were her fun little cupcakes we made for her official birthday party on Saturday. A bunch of fun critters! The inspiration is in their "cups". If you look closely, you can see they are on feet! A great invention--silicone cupcake cups with legs. So, invariably, you have to make the cake into critters! It was a fun little task for me that day. :-)




Her brother, in all his festive birthday spirits!! He is creeping up on 7 months old very soon!











She and a couple of friends at her birthday party in the park.

She had been sick for the past day or two, and was obviously fighting the nasty bug that had plagued her brother and I all week. Her eyelids were droopy and her energy level was significantly diminished. However, she still appeared to have fun, and despite her illness, played on the playground and seemed to enjoy her party!

Since a couple of her best friends missed her Saturday party, we held a special one on Sunday with them. So, a week later, she was still blowing out birthday candles and listening to us sing "Happy Birthday" to her.








Here are the three of them, eating the critter cupcakes (these ones didn't have legs). By evidence of what remained when they were finished, it could be presumed that they thought the frosting was the best part. :-) It was lots of fun, and their giggling could be heard by all the neighbors, I'm sure! :-)

Spring activities

This was after a long day of playing with friends in the sunshine...water, sprinklers, picinics, trampoline, barbeque......what a fun day!!

Here she is chasing after baby emus at our annual MOPS trip to Gramma Lou's emu farm. She just wanted to pet one!

He got himself all rolled up into a baby burrito--all by himself! Needless to say, he wasn't all that happy about his little situation.

From Papa and Grammy's visit last week...she adores her Papa, and it took no effort to get her napping on his lap. How sweet!!

Sitting big

He turned six months old yesterday...so today we made it his first day to sit up in a chair and give his first college-try at eating some yummy carrots.

I don't know if any of it made it into his stomach! He had more fun chewing on the spoon! He was definitely very interested in the spoon as it moved towards his mouth; it was all I could do to get the carrots in before his hands grabbed the spoon! Very different from his sister! :-) I'm glad for that. I think he rather enjoyed this experience...and his sister enjoyed the entertainment from the sidelines!

Family update (incl. puppies)

Wow...the puppies are almost 1 week old now. It has been a busy week for all of us. I guess that is how time passes by so quickly. Puppies...middle-of-the-night vomiting episodes...visitors (many to see the puppies, of course)...MOPS consignment sale...Irish cream and Fat Tire with friends late on a Friday night...vet visits...all the other regular weekly activities...and here we are, another week gone by. Whew! Thank you, Lord, for your gracious hand upon us!!

Here are the group of puppies yesterday. Compare this photo with the one almost a week ago. Haven't they grown SO MUCH?????

This is our cute little chocolate female...I was trying to take a picture while holding her at the same time, and so the photograph is a little awkward, but hopefully you can get the idea. She is getting so big and is so cute! (P.S.--This is the only puppy so far that is absolutely spoken for and has a downpayment on her. Marc is so excited to finally get his puppy from Lucy!) Oh, and by the way, I discovered a few days ago that we do have a second female! I was rechecking the puppies "parts" and realized that we had double-counted the males, and we actually have a yellow female. Wahoo! :-) So the final count (believe me, I've checked them over several times now) is 6 males, and 2 females.

As for my little munchkins, I have to include a picture of them, too. Lulu was asleep, snuggling in next to her brother--how cute is that???

PUPPIES!!!!

Our laboring dog...
1/3 way through...
Here's all eight of them!
She's getting her turn to gently pet them...

We were up all night--mostly. I slept from 9:30 until 11:30, and then 5:00 am until 7 am. He didn't sleep at all until this morning (and is now at work!) We were anticipating that this would be the day for puppies since Lucy's temperature dropped below 99 (the sign that she will be in labor in 12-24 hours) yesterday. Sure enough, by afternoon, she was panting, and late last night she was showing obvious contractions. She kept trying to go outside (the urge to push!) Right between 1-1:15 am, puppy #1 arrived. A black first, a yellow second, and a chocolate third! We were thrilled that all three colors emerged within the first 3 puppy deliveries. By the end of it all, eight healthy puppies later, it was 4:30 am. There are 3 blacks, 3 yellows and 2 chocolates. It appears that 7 are males with one chocolate female. We are so proud of Lucy! They are all doing well, and I think the hardest work for us lies yet ahead. However, we made sure to remind Lucy that we really did love her since we stayed up all night with her. :-)