Missing in Action

Yes, I know! I am well aware of the lack of posts over the past couple weeks. However, in the midst of renovations, packing, caring for two children and visiting family, church responsibilities, an anniversary trip, etc. blogging has unfortunately fallen far behind. Hopefully in the next few days I can post pictures of the incredible progress that's been made, Peter's birthday, our trip to the Wilds, and lots of fun random pics of the kids. They're coming . . . I promise! :o)

Our little man turns two!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Peter!

It's hard to believe how you've grown and changed!

One day

One month Six months
One year
1st birthday

19 months

2nd birthday

Two years old!

We praise the Lord for the joy you bring to our lives with your sweet, determined, energetic spirit. :o) We love you, and pray that you'll grow to be a man who loves and serves God!

Daddy's Little Man

At just a few days short of his 2nd birthday, Peter's personality is definitely coming alive. :o) He's a hoot! :o) For so long I've had trouble getting him to smile for pictures . . . now when I bring out the camera he gives me this big, quirky, squinty eyed grin--I love it! :o) (And immediately following the click, he "pleases" to see the picture after which he proceeds to point to himself with a very self-satisfied smile.) :o)

On this particular day he was "helping" me open the jar of peaches--he finally resorted to pounding the can, leavng some rather significant dents in the top. When it comes to pounding, his arm and aim are probably more effective than mine!

Daddy is definitely #1, whether working or sleeping! :o)

And we now have two "talkers"! He's definitely been on his own schedule as far as speech is concerned, but in just the last couple weeks, Peter has finally started using words! :o) "Ma ma ma," "Da da da," "uh-oh," and "mys" or "mine" are now regular parts of his vocabularly, in addition to his signs for "please," "thank you," "airplane," "I don't know/Where" and "eat." There's probably a few more signs I'm not thinking of right now--he's been pretty effective at communicating without speech.

Since he obviously understands most everything we're talking about and he has been "communicating," we haven't been concerned over his lack of verbiage, but it's still rather nice to have him using some words in addition to his signs now. :o) We even got a (very brief) "sentence" yesterday--as Chris came up the sidewalk after work I distinctly heard a very excited "mys Da da!"

And one other thing, he's had "no" down as a full-body shake back and forth for quite a few months . . . but the answer was "no" regardless of the question--including questions like "Would you like some icecream?" or "Would you like to have Taggy?" Just in the last couple of days he's started to figure out "yes"--it, too, is more of a full-body bob than a nod, but we're actually getting mostly accurate answers to yes/no questions now!

We love you, Buddy! :o)

Creative Play

I absolutely love to see my children thinking creatively--especially in ways I never would have thought of! Saturday morning I noticed that Hannah had been rather quiet for an extended period of time, so I checked to see what might be so intriguing and found her putting together her new puzzle. (Breathing sigh of relief!)

Upon further inspection I noticed that the letter tiles which were intended for placement on top of the corresponding pictures in the puzzle had been very carefully layed out below it . . . in an exactly corresponding layout to the letter arrangement on the outside of the puzzle!

Wow! What a fun idea! Great job, Pumpkin! :o)

The Blessing of Hope

We serve a Risen Savior! What a blessing it was to consider that once again on Resurrection Sunday.

For me, the blossoms of spring are a wonderful reminder of the new life we enjoy in Christ!

If in this life only we have hope in Christ,
we are of all men most miserable.
But now is Christ risen from the dead,
and . . . in Christ shall all be made alive.
(1 Corinthians 15:19-22)

Weekend Progress

We made a bit more progress this last weekend on renovations. We also enjoyed just being together as a family . . .

Daddy's little helper in action . . .

"Is this the right spot for the shim, Daddy?"

Chris got a couple banks of switches wired up and some drywall installed, as well as half of the can lights installed in the kitchen. We also nailed up outlet boxes and started running some of the wire for those as well.

I love these pics! They're peeking through the hole for the switches. :o)

Our crew is actually returning next week to help with the finishing stuff (like drywall, paint, and floors.) After much consideration, it seemed to be the best allocation of resources, and they were more than willing to make the drive again (actually, they were more willing to offer than we were to ask! What a family!) So, Round 2, coming up!

CVS Foray

Well, I made my first foray into the world of CVS Extra Bucks this evening. I got the above items for $28.05 while saving $34.72. Yeah! I saved more than I spent! I must admit though that I also learned a few things:

1. Be careful about getting your hopes set too high on matching Manufacturer's Coupons with in-store deals. I had $7 worth of coupons which I thought I was going to be able to match up with these items only to find that they were the wrong size or something.

2. Don't count on items which will be "Free" after Extra Bucks being there when you get to the store. Everybody else wants those, too. :o}

3. Aldi and Walmart's everyday prices, store brands, and "ordinary" brands like Suave are pretty stiff competition against even "great" sales at drug stores and regular grocery stores. Yes, according to CVS, I "saved" nearly $35 this evening; however, that means I would have spent $63 for 60 diapers, 4 bottles of shampoo/conditioner, 1 can of mousse, 4 boxes of feminine items, and 1 stick of deodorant. Those same items in the brands I usually buy would have cost me about $38-40 at Walmart. So in reality, I "saved" about $10. Not too bad, but I'm not completely sure it was worth as much time as I spent on it this afternoon.

4. I think there's a learning curve to couponing, and I haven't humped it yet. :o)

Happy Thursday!

Fun Family Fotos!

We never thought to get an official "work crew" photo, but we got lots of fun random shots throughout the week, so here's a smattering . . .

A very dusty Grandpa

Uncle Bryan the Spaceman

Grandpa's Assembly Crew

Cleanup Detail

Mommy's Barber Shop is open for business (and none too soon!)

A pair of playdough scissors helped very slightly at keeping him still (Aunt Janie was much more effective!)

Working very hard

Working even harder! :o)

Grandpa likes holes.

Grandpa likes fire.

Grandma does not like wallpaper!

We think we have a hawk's nest!

Two cute kiddoes posing for some mugshots!

The best Uncle Bryan and Aunt Janie in the whole wide world!

Grandpa the Cleaning Wonder!

All good things must come to an end!

We are so thankful for all of our family! What a blessing!!

Thanks to everyone for all of your help!!!

The Fascia

One must be complete when one undertakes the task of documenting a rather large project, so here's one of the less interesting albeit still important side projects . . . replacing the fascia.

Thanks, Bryan!