Weekend update

We were gone all weekend and I knew we needed to get back before night time just to catch up. I also tried to plan it so that we'd leave right when Jo needed to nap so she'd sleep most of the trip. That worked perfectly! For the first hour. But the trip is about 2 1/2 hours... can you imagine how much fun it was the last hour and a half? We had to stop twice because she was screaming and wet and starving. Boy traveling over an hour is fun.

I kept crocheting all weekend and have made no progress. At one point I had my hat completely done and a scarf half done, but I undid both of them and started over. Now I only have a scarf partially completed. But its looking way better! I promise! It's worth it. I think.

Josie didn't sleep too well while we were there so Mike and I felt tired pretty much the whole time. Sometimes, when Mike is sleepy, he likes to cuddle up with Josie's toys to remind him why he feels exhausted.

Precious, right? Everyone loves her puppy. It sings "Rock a Bye baby in the Tree Top" which is especially soothing to all. She practically has to fight us for it.

We bought a bow and berries/garland for the wreath I plan on decorating and hanging outside! I LOVE CHRISTMAS. And there is no snow yet, which is great. The longer we put off snow, the shorter winter feels. Shorter=better in case you were wondering.

We went to a Baptist church this Sunday and there were 10 people there besides us. They were also all at least 40 years older. Oh small town churches, how endearing you are. We definitely felt welcome!

I love weekends.

FOOD.

Its only appropriate that the weekend before Josie is 5 months old, she suddenly makes it clear that she is ready for real food (not that rice cereal garbage...waste of our time!). She was fascinated with our food when we were eating and waking up starving more than once during the night. We fed her bits and pieces off our of our plates and she couldn't get enough.

Tonight I mashed up green string beans and fed it to her before bedtime. I'd definitely call it a success... a messy success!

 And I'd say she liked it! 

Don't those blue eyes take your breath away? She's just getting cuter every day. :)

Hope you are still thankful!

Sunday best

Dressing up on Sunday is fun, but dressing Josie up on Sundays is even better.

How lovely is this? The bow matches perfectly and she looks so fancy.

On another note, my mom and sister and I all have matching wallets. NERD ALERT...

They really are my favorite people. This was after about 20 horrible pictures BTW. And a lot of laughing. And a lot of strange looks from the men. They will never full understand us.

Miss Piggy

cutest pigtails ever! I hope they last at least one hour...

EDIT: they did not last even 10 minutes.

Pictures of a thankful day

 

 We are spending the holiday weekend at Mike's aunt's farm in the middle of North Dakota. 4 days with a baby, a dog, and two "grown ups" joining 4 other grown ups and another dog. That is a ridiculous amount of packing to squeeze in on a lunch break! I wish I wasn't the world's biggest procrastinator sometimes.

Jo's biggest concern was that we remembered her Johnny Jumper. She really just loves that thing.

We are so thankful for this little lady this year! As always it is fun to look through her eyes and see everything for the first time. She's been here once before but of course doesn't remember it. When she woke up after we got here, she just looked around like "where the heck are we?" and sat with her mouth gaping open while taking it all in. Similar to the picture above. But with tired eyes and a blank stare.

Sample of our day: computers, smart phones, and games are taking over. Technology really does fill in some down time. Rest assured though, we did not spend the entire day doing this. Just most of it.

The old school game: Crossword puzzles. Don't you dare start this before he gets a chance to do it!

 

 Our meal was a healthier version with roasted vegetables and turkey and no bread or gravy. Mike was completely devastated at the lack of gravy, but I was relieved that my pants would surely still fit at the end of the day (they did, victory!)



We had apple crisp (made by my SIL and myself) instead of  pie and didn't even remember to eat it until after supper (Thanksgiving dinner=lunch). Crazy, right?? So unlike me.

 Josie got some quality time in with her stuffed dog. Buckley looked on with envy as usual. He just loves her toys, especially of the rubber or stuffed variety.

I always love seeing some quality daughter/father time. Pretty much the cutest thing ever, right??

Family photo (not for the Christmas card... we're hoping for something better than this impromptu photo session with funky hair and blank stares. Plus we want some Buckley in the official shot).

 Group shot of us enjoying the main meal. Oh did I mention that we get a good solid round two with Mike's other side of the family this weekend? So don't be thinking I got off scotch free with the eating. There is so much more to come.

So Thankful for family. :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

from my poor quality phone camera!

Uncle Greg is in the background at the farm... :) We were up nice and early to celebrate. Thankful for (lack of) sleep!

Run away

Last Thursday, I ran a mile in 11.11 minutes with the first two minutes being warm up aka walking. The cool thing is I ran at 6.5 for a while and averaged at around 6.0. Not impressive to you? Well just keep in mind that i a. never run on a treadmill and b. usually average at 5.5 or less.

After thinking about that run the rest of the night and the next day, I decided that running for people is just like running for horses. It's jerky and uncomfortable to run at a trot for long periods of time, but when the horse hits its stride and gallops, it is so much smoother and comfortable.

I've found my gallop.

I ran a 9.13 mile on Sunday. Read it again because it's pretty hard to believe. 9.13. I had to jump off and catch my breath a couple of times, but I definitely ran for the majority (97%) and now know how to truly push myself on that stupid old treadmill.

I'm back everyone!! I feel more myself now that I'm running again (although a mile every once in a while almost doesn't count... :) )

Bows and Boots

My friend/hair lady gave me some cute bows for Josie. We like, we like.

My aunt out in Portland got Jo some boots. I cannot get enough of babies and kids in boots. Let's be real. I can't get enough of boots in general. These might be a bit big, but she's got a (hopefully not too) long winter ahead to grow into them.

Just not cool

When we were looking for a church 3 1/2 years ago, we ran across some things that were frustrating. There were the usual things like people not being very welcoming, the message or sermon being less than biblical, the lack of Holy Spirit. But there was one thing that we ran across more than once that really just grinds my gears. AND this Sunday we ran across it again.

We decided to go to a church that is the same denomination as our previous church. I looked up online when it started and we left in time to get there about 5 minutes early. When we pulled up to the church, it was clear that we missed something because there were no cars around. Obviously church was not starting in 5 minutes. There was a sign on the door that said that there was going to be a group church at one time at the Ramada which is conveniently about 5 minutes from our house and not so conveniently 20 minutes from the church. I say "group church" because they now have two locations with 3 services, and this was going to be for all of the different services.

So we had planned on going at 9:40, and all of the other churches that we have been interested in attending either start at 9:00 or don't start till 10:45 or 11:00. What are we supposed to do for the next hour??

This is the most frustrating thing to me! I checked their website. It said right on the homepage what time church starts. I made sure that I was looking at the right location. I double checked the night before. I would never have thought to look at the bulletin PDF that was the last tab on the page. Why would I? So my conclusion is that this church must not be very "new people" friendly. Putting a sign on the door is informative, but it will not get the people that missed the memo to the church service on time. Not when it is a 20 minute drive away. I should also point out that it isn't like they don't update their website frequently. It is a highly detailed website with an answer to practically an question just a click away.

I know that it happens where someone just misses the boat and it accidentally wasn't updated online. But here's the thing. I don't think it was an accident. I really feel in my heart that this is a huge sign from God that their values and emphases  are not the same as ours. We both feel that we want a church that is welcoming and inviting with open arms to new people. That is a huge thing that God shows us in the bible. We are supposed to spread His love and share Him with everyone.

This was definitely not inviting. I don't have any desire to go back. Frustrating? Yes. But the good news is that now we know. We'll probably still check the church out just to see if it is different than the vibe I'm getting, but all in all I think listening to God's gentle guidance is the best route to go.

Thank you, God, for making things so crystal clear!

She's going to be so embarrassed

What is it about naked babies?? We had a mini photo session after a bath one night and I think she likes pearls as much as her mama.

I'll have to try this again with better lighting and better pearls. And maybe a baby that doesn't look like she got attacked in her sleep. (I've cut her nails since, don't worry).

Twilight

I absolutely loved the books and have seen all of the movies so far. I think the movies are only good because I know what was meant by each word or scene. The books are so good that I think it would be hard for any movie to get close. I think the first one was fine for how low budget it was. There are some scenes that are overacted  and you can tell the actors are young. The second and third definitely improve in special effects but every scene with Jacob is over the top cheesy and its hard to make people look realistic when they are flying through the air. Not to mention the people transforming into wolves. So this one... the fourth one.. 

1. It was like two movies. A romantic comedy, and a dramatic horror movie. Weird how they managed to work together.

2. So much emphasis on the honeymoon bedroom scenes! They spent more time on the skin shots than on the funny feathers everywhere and broken furniture scenes from the book.

3. There were ridiculously overwhelming amounts of one liners set up just to get a laugh. I have never thought of these movies as comedies, so it was kind of annoying how they were going for that. The dry humor wasn't so dry this time around.

3. The werewolves. Oooh the werewolves. Their inner monologue sounded like a mixture of power rangers and a sports announcer in a tunnel. As my friend put it while we were leaving, "I am pretty sure when I talk to myself in my head I sound the same." Why they thought that those voices were good enough is beyond me. I was so distracted by how poorly produced those scenes were that I am not sure I even paid attention to what was happening.

4. Edward (Robert Pattinson) is so good looking.

5. Bella (Kristen Stewart) was by far at her best this time around.

6. They did an amazing job at making her look on the brink of death. I had to look away a couple of times because her body reminded me of pictures from the Holocaust. 

7. The first shot of the scene with Jacob imprinting on the baby seemed ridiculous, but it was immediately redeemed with all the "future shots" of their life together and how he was her companion and not just her lover. If they would have emphasized the lover side it would have been creepy. 

8. I loved every  minute of it. It doesn't have to make sense or be high quality because it is just putting pictures to the story I have in my head from the book. I know what they meant, so it works for me.

Can't wait (a whole year... what the what?? They've already filmed it!) for the next one!

All Pictures from Google Images

Daddy time

Some moments don't need words.

Busted.

The story of the best meal ever

Today Josie got the best meal of her life (because it was from Daddy)

so. much. food.

At times, she was overwhelmed but the excitement of Daddy doing it kept her going.

"You are the best at this!"

The hand, at times, seems like a good alternative to food.

Daddy takes it away, but is always sure to replenish the little lady with more food before panic sets in.

To prove that he was the true feeder making her so happy.

I asked him to smile. This is what I got.

I asked him to smile with teeth. This is what I got...

Great family, agreed?