Play Date

Melanie was supposed to have a new babysitter on Tuesday night, but came up with a fever! She was feeling feverish Monday night, but Tuesday at the very end of the day, daycare called and said she was registering a temperature, so she had the awesome experience of staying home with Gigi on Wednesday! She missed getting to play with Maggie (the scheduled babysitter) on Tuesday night, but she seems to be doing much better now!

-

Tonight (Wednesday), Melanie had two neighborhood friends over to play - Aya & Grace. Mel has had a couple of other playdates with Aya, and has also played with Grace, since we can see each other through our backyards. It was fun tonight to hang out with Lida & Aya while the girls played; between the three girls, there is a total of a 2 month, 12 day difference. It will be fun to watch them grow together!

Doesn't get much better....

Mel had a great weekend with Grandma & Grandpa Worzala. These photos capture some highlights of the festivities!

Petting Zoo

As the birthday party was wrapping up, Melanie and I took a trip to the petting zoo at the park. Mel wasn't a huge fan of the animals coming up to greet her, but she was a good sport.

Happy Birthday Charlie & Sammie!

Saturday afternoon we headed to Frankfort to help Charlie & Sammie celebrate their THIRD and FIRST birthdays! What little sweethearts they both are. Charlie had unbridled enthusiasm about every toy he opened - he was so genuinely grateful & excited!! It was so fun to see. Sammie of course enjoyed her toys too - but it wasn't setting in as much with her what all the festivities were about. She did not, however, like the Elmo pinata. Smacking Elmo around (and decapitating him) are things that Randy & Cory might be paying a therapist for in years to come. We had a great time celebrating with Charlie & Sammie, and look forward to many years of celebrating with them!

State Fair

Saturday morning, chilly as it was, we decided to head to the State Fair. Jeff's parents were in town, but otherwise engaged, so we headed down, tried out some deep fried pizza and chocolate-covered bacon, and enjoyed an otherwise-empty fairground! Melanie wasn't tall enough to ride anything, including the carousel, but she did enjoy the puppy show and the deep-fried pizza.

Yo!Yo!Yo!Yo!Yo!

When Mel feels like a homie, she says "yo,yo,yo,yo,yo!" while shaking her hand(s) in the air. Last night was just such a night......

Kitties & Ketchup

Melanie loooves her kitty. She tries to feed Lucas bottles, she pets him, giggles most times she sees him.... and apparently, reads to him.

-

She might, however, love ketchup even more than she loves her kitty. She will dip anything & everything in ketchup. Tonight, she was eating ketchup with a spork.... and then asking for "more, please." She then started just asking "please" and pointing at the ketchup. She loved this approach.

Fashion Plate Melanie

Mel's latest shiner

Melanie fell off the bench at the kitchen table on Sunday night, smacking her head on the hard floor. The pain - and the shiner - didn't last long, but it gave us a scare in the meantime! Not being able to find anything "normal" in the freezer, at one point she had sausages on her head, another point, meatballs. I think these were french fries. Melanie's tough - she is always bruising herself, and does not lose much sweat over any of her shenanigans. She was back up on the bench within a matter of minutes.

What?! I'm NOT sleepy!

Melanie has been battling naps for a while now. She does NOT want to miss anything! There are some days (usually, ironically, when I'm here with her by myself), that she will sleep for 3-5 hours at a time. Then, there are days when she does not nap at all. This weekend was one of the latter. She slept to Frankfort on Saturday, and home from Frankfort on Sunday - but was insistent that she was not otherwise sleepy. On Sunday, I tried yet again to put her in her crib with the idea that sleep would soon take hold. Less than five minutes later, Jeff had to go "rescue" her because she was crying & screaming so much. He found her on TOP of her crib!! So, apparently it's time to start thinking about a toddler bed. I'm SO not ready for that! She isn't even big enough to sit forward-facing in her carseat, and she's already (maybe) moving up from her crib?? So anyway, Jeff carried her downstairs, and she promptly fell asleep with him. He, too, actually caught a few winks, since she had kept him up a little bit the night before (she was sleeping, he couldn't - they were sharing a bed at Gigi & Poppy's). He then extracted himself, and she continued to sleep. I only wish someone would be so insistent that I take naps each day ~ what a rough life she has!

15 Years?!

While it doesn't seem possible that I'm old enough to have been out of high school for fifteen years, I guess looking back on it, I have gone through the appropriate life seasons since 1994! College, living in Chicago for six years, the suburbs for two, and then back in Indy for 2.5. Got married, had a baby..... Yep, I guess I'm officially an adult! BUT, not too much of an adult that a bicycle was not needed for my transportation on the night of my fifteenth class reunion!

-

Our class is somewhat lazy, so no one (including me) wanted to plan a big hoopla and track everyone down. Instead, we rented a shelter at the TPA Park in Frankfort, everyone brought their own food, and we had a little "family thing." Then, we headed back to Laura's and then onto the Scoreboard, where we met up with other classmates who didn't want to join us at the park. All in all, I saw about 15 classmates or so. About 10% of the Class of '94 - not a fabulous turnout, but fun, nonetheless! It was just a word-of-mouth event through Facebook, so we weren't expecting huge numbers.

-

PS - the girl I'm holding in the above photo is my classmate Jennifer's baby, not Mel. I don't think there's any room for confusion, but just in case....

Happy Birthday Charles Joseph

My first and only nephew turned THREE this week (August 11). I can't believe how quickly time goes. Just yesterday, I was sleeping on the floor of the Chicago hospital where he was born, anxiously awaiting the miracle about to enter our lives! We got to the hospital just after work on August 10, and Charlie decided to grace us with his presence around 4am the next morning! He was SO worth the wait (including the wait involved because he was "over"due!) Charlie is a treat to hang out with. He loves to solve mysteries like Scooby Doo, loves his baby sister Sammie and his cousins Melanie, Lola, and Annabelle, and is affectionate & sweet. When asked last Sunday when his birthday was, he replied - very emphatically - it was in THREE minutes! Happy birthday Little Guy! Thanks for being my favorite nephew!!

Weekend in Chicago

Our weekend started on Thursday night (although not officially - we had to work on Friday!) with an overnight visit from Randy, Cory, Charlie, and Sammie. Melanie had a nice mid-week distraction, and we're happy to report that Cory's dad is recovering nicely from his SIX-bypass open-heart surgery. Please continue to keep him in your prayers.

-

Saturday morning, Melanie and I set out on a mother/daughter road trip to Chicago. Our first stop was Carolyn & Bryan's, to meet Miss Elise, born July 17. The Haacks are in the middle of moving, adjusting to two children, and otherwise in a total sense of upheaval - but are very calm in the midst of things. It was great to see them, and the kiddos are gorgeous. They take after their mommy. No photos of Sadie, since she was down for a nap by the time my camera came out. At their house, Mel was excited to visit the first of three "puppies" for the weekend - Sierra.

-

Next, onto Gretchen's. I haven't seen G since her wedding last September (!!) so it was great to get caught up with her and visit with Marissa, Corey's 8-year-old daughter, who is so well-behaved and sweet it is awesome. Something about being the only two adults around prohibited us from getting our photo taken together - but this was House #2 where Mel enjoyed a visit from a "puppy" - a 13-year-old Nikita, Sammy. We stayed the night at Gretchen's (Mel had a bit of a hard time adjusting to getting put down for the night without Mommy, so I made a concession and let her sleep on the couch while G & I chatted, and then transferred her up to her pack & play).

-

Sunday morning, we headed to Rick & Sandy's for brunch, and also got to see Becky, Randy, Cory, and the kids. Puppy #3! JJ didn't get to play with Mel much, since JJ has more energy than a 2 year old on Red Bull. But we had a great visit with the family before heading "back home again in Indiana" for a nice play night & dinner with Daddy.

Friends and Anniversary

After Thursday night with the Elams, Friday night at Brenda's party (and an after-party get together with Laura & Jenny), the rest of the weekend was great as well! Saturday night we went to our friends the Bakers' house - Matt & Nicole have four kids, and it is one of the calmest houses - what great kids they have! Melanie loved playing with all of them - the oldest will be in 2nd grade, and the youngest is six months older than Mel. Matt, Nicole, and Jeff all went to high school together (before Jeff hopped the pond), and the Bakers go to our church. It was a great night!

-

Sunday night, our SIXTH wedding anniversary, had us walking to dinner to sit outside at Stone Creek while Gigi & Poppy Doan watched Mel. We stayed out after dinner, and sat outside for a while at P.J. O'Keefe's before walking home. It was a gorgeous night outside, and we enjoyed celebrating our first six years of marriage!

-

So, to recap our family celebrations over the months of July & August....

July 13 - Happy Birthday Molly!

July 31 - Happy Birthday Jeff & Sammie!

August 1 - Happy Birthday Brenda!

August 2 - Happy Anniversary Jeff & Angie!

August 3 - Happy 35th wedding anniversary, Mom & Dad!

August 5 - Happy Birthday Dad!

August 6 - Happy Anniversary, Julie & Matt!

August 11 - Happy Birthday Charlie!
August 13 - Happy Birthday Matt!

August 28 - Happy Birthday Randy!

So much to celebrate - so many blessings!

Happy Birthday Brenda!

We celebrated "Aunt Brenda's" 50th birthday on Friday night with a SURPRISE party for her (at her own house, nonetheless!) It was a Hawaiian theme, and it was a show of what a great network of family & friends Brenda has that there had to have been 100 people there! We were so honored to help her celebrate, and are thankful for her role in our lives - she is Cory's mom, and everyone who reads this knows how important that is to us! Happy Birthday Brenda!!

Happy Birthday Sammie!

Our beautiful niece Samantha Paige turned ONE on Friday, July 31. She shares a birthday with Uncle Jeff, which shows what a great day she was born! Sammie has brought so much laughter into our lives with her big blue eyes, her huge appetite :) and her sweet little personality. We love watching her grow up, and we are blessed that she will be such a great playmate to Melanie!

Weekend off to a great start!

We got the "weekend celebration" started early by having dinner with our next-door neighbors Paula & Tom on Thursday night. Paula was so sweet as to invite us to dinner for Jeff's birthday (which was Friday). We grilled out, and had a great time hanging out with them! Melanie looooves them, especially Tom, who she runs to with open arms, and on Thursday night was sitting on his lap, eating his cake with his fork.....They are going to regret the day they said that Mel was welcome any time :)