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.

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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.

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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).

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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!

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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!

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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 :)

Say Cheese!

Suddenly, as of this evening, Mel smiles for the camera! She had just finished having about a potato's-worth of french fries - with her favorite, ketchup! - and was little miss poser!

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Also, tonight when we got home from daycare, I was holding her, and getting the milk out of the fridge. There was a Pizza King box in there from Friday night, and I moved it (okay, I took it out, planning to snack on a piece!) - and Mel yelled "Pizza!" and whined until she got a piece. We have no idea how she knew that box had pizza in it. Enough to make these two pizza-lovers proud!

Sleeping, Coloring, and other antics

Melanie is getting back on track with her sleeping. We went through about six weeks where she would NOT go to bed unless she was 100% asleep. No tricking her, no trying to put her down if her eyes were closed..... it was getting rather tiring for Mommy & Daddy. Plus, she changed her bedtime from 7:30pm to about 10pm. Well, over the last couple of weeks, she (knock on wood) has gotten a little better; usually in bed by 9, and, while she may cry for a few minutes when put down, she's usually tired enough to get herself back to sleep. I've caught some cute sleeping photos lately.

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Melanie follows directions well (when she wants to). Yesterday, she was helping me pull weeds, and I asked her to please put one in her "tunnel" in her playset (no real reason, just to give her something to do). She went right over and did it. She throws away her own diapers, and any other trash we give her, and amazes us that she knows the words when we ask her to do things (like how did she know what the "tunnel" was? She just got the playset 20 minutes prior). She shakes her head "no" when she doesn't want to do something - but can usually be persuaded to change her mind. She has been doing great with signing for "please," "thank you," and "all done" - she stopped doing "more," but I saw it come out again yesterday. So since she doesn't know "yes," I ask her - for instance - "if you want this, say please" - to which she signs (and usually says) please.

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She continues to love daycare; she will likely be moving rooms in a couple of weeks. She's currently the oldest one in her room - she's in the room above the baby room now, so the next room she will be in until she's 2, and then it's one room a year after that. She's a good little caretaker in her room, from all reports. Soothing crying kids, etc. Well, the piece that is missing is - she's probably the one MAKING them cry. But what I don't know won't hurt me!

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A new "hobby" is coloring (scribbling). She still LOVES books, and if she doesn't get at least one walk in per night, she is not a happy camper. Whether she's walking herself, or being pushed, she loves to get outdoors. She needs to socialize - she usually goes looking for puppies, or her friends Nathan & Noah around the corner.