More Cousins

We have had so many fun things going on and you know what that means...PICTURES to share with you. I am almost caught up.

Last week Daddy's sister and her girls came for a few days. We had a ball with them amidst the busy things that seemed to be going on that week also. We are so glad we got to spend some time with them. Peanut absolutely adores all of her cousins. She had a blast! There was lots of smiling, laughing, giggling, crying (hey...they're all girls!), chatting, and being silly! They all had fun meeting Pumpkin for the first time too.

The following picture totally cracks me up of our youngest niece. She is a hoot...check out that tongue! I guess Pumpkin was a bit heavier than she thought she would be. Ha!

Peanut loves her youngest cousin so much! They were wrestling and hugging by the end of their time together.






They spent some time swimming at our community pool and had a great time. Daddy chaperoned this one so I could stay home with Pumpkin and the furnace guy. Heehee! The furnace guy was installing our new furnace so someone had to be home.



All of the cousins helped Papa wash the dogs! They were VERY stinky!

We love our family so much!




Everyone was a bit tuckered out by the end of the visit. We always stay up late visiting and catching up.

Peanut had her first corn on the cob while they were here and now LOVES it!

She is also doing very well with potty training. Here she is showing off her success chart and her reward for getting 3 stickers...a piece of "tandy"!

And Pumpkin keeps working on finding her thumb. She has found it a few times. We'll see...

Two quick funny Peanut stories...
Last night we were in the car driving and Pumpkin was having a melt-down. She was crying uncontrollably. Peanut kept saying, "Shhhh," to Pumpkin. Finally Peanut said, "Mom, she's not obeying!" Ha!

And today after her nap, I put her right on the potty with no training seat cover. She was holding on but almost fell in the potty. She looked at me and said, "You flush me down?" Then I was telling Gigi who invited us to go with him to a local county fair and Peanut who was of course listening to me talk about her said, "Then I go in the pipes!" She cracks me up!

Here is a cute video of the little girls playing together!


-Mama

July 4th

If I didn't include a blurb about what we did on July 4th, I would be a bad wife. Daddy got tickets to a concert that was held nearby. He had planned on taking a friend, but the friend fell through so I got to tag along. It was my first long amount of time away from Pumpkin. Dobbie watched the girls so they were well taken care of and well spoiled! :)

Off we went to see John Mellencamp, Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson. It was a rather rainy evening, but don't worry, we had umbrellas with us. That was until after standing in the very long line waiting to get into and being told that our umbrellas could be used as weapons and would block views, we had to either take them back to the car or throw them away. Let's just say, we no longer own an umbrella...BUT we do own some nifty royal blue Bob Dylan ponchos! Ha!

(John Mellencamp)

It was a fun evening. Daddy was delirious with excitement to see Bob Dylan in concert. He has been quoted as saying, "Bob Dylan is my hero!" :) He screamed like a little boy on Christmas morning when Mr. Dylan took the stage...I was in awe of how old he looked and how much he resembles Cate Blanchett. (If you do not get that...Cate Blanchett portrayed Dylan in the movie I'm Not There.)



I was surprised by how many Willie Nelson songs I knew. That would be thanks to Mimi who was a country music fan. Daddy told me that he is still playing his original guitar! It even has a hole in it.


The evening ended with a fireworks show.


It was a nice evening and I did enjoy the music. Daddy was enthralled by the music...especially Dylan! :)
-Mama

Garden Quilt Tour

I'm back...two in one day! I'm on a roll!

About a month ago I heard about a Garden Quilt Tour going on a few counties away from us. I knew this was right up Dobbie and I's alley, so last Friday it worked out for us to go. The gardens were made up of beautiful flowers in a pattern that represents a quilt pattern. It was so neat to see them. Unfortunately we only got to hit only half as they were spread out quite a bit over the county. It was such a fun day with Dobbie and the girls. I have lots of pics to share with you from the day....it is too hard to pick just a couple...sorry!

Here is Peanut with the LeMoyne Star quilt garden behind her.


This was my favorite due to the bright colors used. It was McCormick Creek quilt garden.


This is the Harts of the Elkhart County 4-H Fair quilt garden.

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This one was really neat too. It was on a farm that was built in 1816. They used corn, soybeans, and herbs along with the flowers to make Grandmother's Fan quilt garden.


This is Center Diamond quilt garden.


This was in a GORGEOUS city park in a small community. Can you find Peanut in this picture? This is the Maple Leaf quilt garden. The yellow and orange flowers were in the shape of maple leaves!

(Peanut is in the lower right hand corner sitting on the rock ledge.)

This was the last garden that we took in. It is the Barn Raising quilt garden.


Halfway through our day we stopped at Das Dutchmen Essenhaus for lunch. This is a YUMMY restaurant with quaint shops and a beautiful inn. We ate our scrumptious lunch and walked around a bit...the Center Diamond quilt garden was here also. Peanut learned that she LOVES apple butter too!

Pumpkin enjoyed being in the sling for the first time. She fell fast asleep while we walked around.

Here are some pics of Peanut at the gorgeous park we stopped at to see the Maple Leaf quilt garden.


Pumpkin did super all day too. We are blessed with such good girls who love to get out and see things!

What a fun day! What great memories!
-Mama

Having Fun!

After the relatives came there was more fun to be had. Gigi found a cute little Jeep in the neighbor's garage that was being torn down. Things were just going to be thrown away so he got the Jeep and a bike for Peanut to play with. She loves her "tar" as she lovingly calls the Jeep. If you remember she had gotten a big pink Barbie Jeep from Gigi too but hasn't been very successful in driving it, so this will be her starter car. Ha!

She isn't too sure about the bike. It needs some training wheels. I am sure that after a few times, she will love it too.

Peanut's little friend invited her over for a tea party. They had so much fun in their dresses drinking tea from little tea cups and eating little muffins. They had even more fun playing together and being silly. It is so fun to watch them interact and be friends.

I think Peanut's friend's little brother had his eyes on Pumpkin...but she had her eyes on the light on the ceiling. Heehee! He is a cutie pie, though.




Two silly little girls who have grown up together these past 3 years....

The tea party ended with them insisting on taking a nap together. Ummm...well a pretend nap!

We also took in a parade in a local community. Daddy had to work, so we called Gigi up to see if he wanted to join us and of course he did. This parade is known as the Candy Parade. All of the entrants throw candy to the crowd. Peanut loved the very thought of this! She loves "tandy". She had a ball until the little boy beside us plowed into her and knocked her over for the piece of candy she was going after. I may have grabbed a couple of pieces from his side after this incident...or I may not have. :) Don't you mess with my little girl!



Pumpkin did wonderful considering she waited an extra 2 hours to be fed and the 30 fire trucks blaring their sirens in front of us. I still hear sirens in my ears and that was over a week ago. Ha! After the parade we took in the festival...the very small festival, but just as I remember it from the times I spent at it many years ago. It was like going back in time! I think they even had the same rides. Peanut got to go on her first ride called Dizzy Dinosaurs. She LOVED it. She has a strong stomach! She was giggling so much as we went in circles. The next morning she told me she dreamed about Dizzy Dinosaurs!

Little Pumpkin is now rolling from her back to belly (she started rolling from her belly to back a few weeks ago). She did this for the first time on Tuesday and now does it all of the time. Once she figures out that she can just roll to get places, I am certain she'll be rolling all over. Today in her little bath tub she tried to roll over on her belly. Geesh! She is going to be on the MOVE once she figures out mobility. We are pretty sure she will be an early crawler and walker. We wouldn't be surprised if she just skips crawling. Everyone that knows her says the same thing too.

I made a sling to carry Pumpkin in. We have used it a few times. She is already so big, so she isn't too sure about being squeezed into this thing. She did seem to enjoy it after she got used to it. We'll see how much we get to use it with her though. (BTW the sling is super easy to make!)

And a funny Peanut story...the other night her and Daddy were playing in the living room and just being silly. She threw a blanket over her head and Daddy started pulling it off. She quickly said, "No Daddy! I pooping!" She usually hides behind our recliner to do her business. We are showing alot of success with number one in the potty, but not so much with number two. We'll get there!

I'll be back soon with more pictures and stories from this week!
-Mama

The Relatives Came!

Have you ever read that children's book The Relatives Came by Cynthia Rylant? It is a super cute book and one of my faves. And we had relatives here last week. Daddy's brother's family was here. They stayed with Dobbie and Papa so we were at the cabin all week except for night time. It was a fun week seeing them. They got to meet Pumpkin and love on Peanut. Their4 kids range in age from 15 to 10. I wondered how Peanut would do since the kids are much older..it was wonderful. They played so wonderfully with Peanut and kept her very occupied all week. What a great bunch of kids. Of course, Peanut just ate up the attention. It was awesome to see her go from shy to totally extroverted in a matter of moments. She loved every moment of her time with them. Pumpkin got some serious loving on too! We were sad to see them go! I have some fun pics of our time with them.

Here is our one and only nephew holding Pumpkin. She was crying because she was hungry.

The cousins introduced Peanut to the fun of dropping balloons ("boons" as she calls them) down Dobbie and Papa's laundry shoot.

She had fun playing "dames" with everyone too. Here they are playing Clue together.

The older kids had fun swimming in Dobbie and Papa's pond. Peanut watched them in envious desire. Ha!

But then she decided running up and down a hill was fun while singing, "Climbing the mountain" over and over again. (She is very sing songy. She will just start singing about things she is doing or something someone says. It is very cute.)

This picture is so sweet. The kids had come over to help Daddy stain our fence and were sitting in living room watching a movie with Peanut afterwards. We heard Pumpkin start fussing and walked in to this....all of the kids around her, helping her!!!!

Pumpkin got alot of other attention too...


I loooooved watching Peanut with her only boy cousin. He is 12 and one of the sweetest, nicest boys we know. He was so patient and gentle with her. She ate up the attention.


One day Peanut asked him if he was her friend to which he replied, "Yes, I'm your friend, but I'm mostly your cousin!" Love it!

Peanut looks a bit forlorn because about 5 mintues before we took these pictures she was almost knocked down those steps by 2 golden retrievers. Luckily she didn't fall but her Mama may or may not have freaked out when she saw her 2 year old daughter tipping near the edge of those steps. I think Mama may have scared her more than anything. Mama almost had a heart attack.

I think this picture of Pumpkin sums up how we all felt after the fun week...


We also squeezed in a quick visit with my friend and roomie from college. She was home surprising her Mom and Dad with a visit. We had a lot of fun catching. Not sure how much she appreciated a cute 3 month old baby pooping on her though. Oops! Thought the Huggies would hold.


We have had a busy week with some fun things going on so I will be back soon with more to share.
Here are 2 cute pictures to close with....


One more...Dobbie took this pic of the cousins on a recent visit they had to their place. Isn't it awesome? I love the reflection in the pond.


Ok...so one more thing, I promise...here is a sweet little video of Pumpkin "talking" to Dobbie.



-Mama

She is Home!

Melanie got home yesterday!!!!  She is HOME!  I got this email update from her mom this morning and I just have to share it with you all.  It is so precious!

"So, for those of you who signed on as one of "Melanie's Prayer Warriors ", let me tell you about the most precious prayer I think I have ever heard. Last night at dinner, as we were gathered around the table and taking hold of the person's hand next to us, Lily and Owen were sitting on either side of Melanie. Owen had requested to offer the prayer for dinner......and so he began......"Our heavenly Father.....I love everything...I love my mommy, I love that my mommy is home.....I love that my mommy is walking, I love my mommy,and I love my mommy, I love that my mommy is home....I love that my mommy is healthy....I love that mommy is home (this "mantra" went on for a few moments and now at this point, those of us around the table determined that Amen was a long way off...so we settled in to hear a soon to be 5 year old praise God for the miralces of healing and restoration that God has and is doing with his mommy)....and I love my mommy, and I love my mommy doesn't have to 

be at the hospital, and I love my mommy is healthy....and I love that my mommy is home....AMEN! This is the condensed version of that prayer.....and our food had properly cooled by the time we got to the Amen. Since Owen had included that he loved everything at the start of the prayer.....I think he covered all the bases with God! AMEN!

Lily and Owen had announced that they would be snuggling with Mommy last night, and Mommy was all for that. Mommy had already begun with the, "the picture on the mantle of Jim and Dorothy (Tom's parents) is turned the wrong way........the wastebasket in the downstairs bathroom doesn't have the extra trash bags in the bottom.....etc....so we were satisfied that the transition home was successful. 

Melanie will be starting the new schedule of doctors and outpatient therapies next week, and Tom was doing the heel stretches as we left last night. As I kissed Melanie's forehead goodnight.....I was overwhelmed again with the knowledge of what an awesome God we serve, and the power of prayer. If you haven't been awakened to, bolstered by, or felt that same sense throughout this journey with Melanie, then call Owen........he will enlighten you."

Fun with Friends

We have had a very busy week. Daddy's brother's family was here for the week. Peanut and Pumpkin had a wonderful time with their 4 cousins. I promise to share pictures and stories very soon. I have some pictures uploaded to our Flickr account that I have needed to get on the blog...so here we go.

Pumpkin is growing in leaps and bounds. She is in size 2 diapers and moving into 3-6 months clothes! It is mind blowing to me how fast she is growing as Peanut was tiny for so long. I had to take the girls to the doctor this past week as they were sick and Pumpkin is already 14 lbs! She was 12 lbs. 10 oz. just a couple of weeks ago. She will be 3 months old on June 30. And I am proud to announce...SHE HAS ROLLED OVER! At 4:00 a.m. this past Friday morning, I found Pumpkin on her back and a bit confused. :) She has been rolling on her side for a few weeks now so we knew it was coming. She continues to be a little ham! I think she will be quite a character. If you make any kind of eye contact with her, you will be rewarded with a huge grin...this makes nursing interesting as I can't make alot of eye contact while she is eating because she gets too busy smiling at me. That is a sweet problem, though.

Last week we met some friends at a fun kid's place. It was an old warehouse that is now filled with huge blow-up toys for the kids to play on. Peanut had a blast with her buddies.


Pumpkin of course enjoyed being loved on and held.

After our fun play time we headed to new pizza place that was SUPER yummy for lunch.

We are loving our gorgeous daughters! They are so much fun.
Here is Peanut on a mission to our local park with Daddy.


I'll be back soon with pictures from our week with the cousins!
-Mama