Pretty Pics

I just want all of you to know how much I love it when you comment on the blog. I really appreciate those of you who do so regularly. If you all had blogs (I think all of you should), I would be sure to comment all the time. I especially appreciated the comment by Alison earlier in the week about my picture taking. I absolutely love to take pictures. I obviously love to take pictures of N (who wouldn't), but I love to take pictures of nature-y things just as much. I figured I would go back and post a few of my favorites from the past couple of years. The last one is my all-time favorite nature picture I've ever taken. All three of these are from when we lived in Decatur. The top and bottom one are from Garman (sp?) Park. We used to spend almost every Saturday morning walking the trails. The one in the middle is from our front yard in Decatur. Red Dogwood trees are a million times prettier than white (in my opinion). I would love to get each of these blown up, framed, and hung in my house. I just don't know where I would put them. My goal is to have most of the "artwork" on our walls be pictures I've taken.

cute and cool

I have to share just a few of my favorite pictures from the past few days. I absolutely love taking pictures of this little guy!
This face makes me laugh. He wasn't crying. I'm not quite sure what was going through his head.
Snack time! Yum! Yum!
Check out my cool new sandals! They make me super cool.
This was hilarious. He was trying to climb up the slide and get up to B. He was trying so hard, and was going to keep trying. I finally carried him up.

Here a bloom, there a bloom, everywhere a bloom bloom

I thought I would share a few pictures of my flowers that I've been enjoying. They finally started to bloom about a week or two ago. There's still a lot more waiting to bloom. I am definitely thrilled that spring is finally happening.

Sorry for the absence over the past week. N has been sick (cough, runny nose, congested, hoarse, fever, icky diapers, the works) and teething the entire week. He finally seems to be getting over the worst of it, but it has taken much longer than expected. I've only been out of the house twice since Sunday afternoon! That's a long time to be trapped.

On a happier note, spring is here! We've had some great weather the past few days. The windows have been open and letting fresh air in. The flowers are finally starting to bloom!!!! Today is a rainy day, but I don't mind since it's not snow!

isn't there some saying about irish eyes? i don't know what you think, but i think these eyes are trouble!

happy st. patrick's day!

Mind Games

How hilarious/sick is this? We can begin to brainwash our children with our college of choice for them from the time they can watch a dvd (think baby einstein or praise baby with nothing but college sports/campus) or hold a wooden block. We had seminary friends (Aaron and Sara) stop by on their way back to Houston last night. We had the joy of watching the Baby Husker dvd. Their 2-year-old loves her football dvd. The blocks are adorable, but not for $35.95. Check it out at www.teambabyentertainment.com . The things they think of . . . .

Better than advertised

Today was absolutely perfect! It was warmer than they predicted and even set a record. We got up to 79 and had a good breeze. It was the ideal afternoon to spend some time outside. So, we did.

N did some swinging and sliding at the neighborhood park. His favorite part was watching the 14 month old girl play.
N also spent some time playing soccer in the front yard. He went nuts shouting and waving when another baby passed in a stroller.
Look at my cutie's feet. He's up on his tip-toes trying to see the little boy who lives behind us play baseball.
Momma gave into Nate at Wal-mart yesterday when she saw her baby boy's eyes light up at this ball. He chased it all over the back porch.
Although we still aren't sure what's up with these bubbles yet (notice his eyes are closed in case they come his direction), we've figured out how to make them. Time to come inside for dinner! What a great outside day!

This, that, and then some!

I've been thinking of a ton of things I want to blog about, but I am now finally getting around to doing all of it. Bear with me, I have several posts and pictures tonight.











We've finally started to make progress with the snow melting! The drift that Maggie is sitting on is in our backyard. It was so compact and frozen that her 60-so pounds didn't fall through it. It was actually taller than she is! The second picture shows there's hope in O for spring! It's not just dirt; there are 4 tulip plants coming up in the picture. I now have 20 or more tulips coming up and also some crocuses. Yea!

Uh-oh! (or as N says, Uh-uh) Is that a tiger on his hat? Could it be that N has inherited a bit of Detroit deep within? (fyi for those needing background information: I was born and lived in Detroit for 5 years) Might he be a Detroit Tigers fan instead of a die-hard Kansas City Royals fan? This could create some competition and tension in the house! Hmmm, who's better at winning: Royals or Tigers . . . .

Last post for tonight. Promise! Our small group had a great get together tonight. I have several pictures, and I'll post a few.

After pizza at Sam and Louie's we headed down to the park. Sarah and Valisa go for a wild ride. Hold on tight!
Nate loves swinging and all the attention the teens give him!
Ready, Set, Go! Derek looks on as Valisa and Faith have a race down the slide.
Oh, no. The guys have found what is left of the snow, and they just can't leave it be. Watch out! Luke, Kyle, and Brad get ready to peg some girls. Jenna and Lauren stay away from the guys and all their snowballs!
After topic/bible study, I asked them to get rid of the rest of the snow in the backyard. They were more than happy to have a 30+ minute snowball fight. Brad was the only one with gloves on - cheater!L-R Jenna, Lauren, Faith, Valisa, Luke, and Sarah plop down in the snow for a group pic. (Derek and Kyle had already left.)

Cupcakes and Giggles

Here are the promised video clips. The first is of N with his birthday cupcake. He was more interested in playing with the toy off the top of it than the cupcake itself. The other is of just a little later that night. Camryn was doing her best to keep N laughing till he dropped. I say she did an excellent job.
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Picture Perfect Finish

We're back! Our trip home was much less eventful than trying to get to Little Rock. It was a packed weekend. There were so many family things going on that I didn't ever get around to seeing any friends. (Next time!) I have a million pictures that I would love to put on here, but I'll try to narrow it down.

I got several inches of my hair cut off on Friday! It had been almost 10 months!
We celebrated N's birthday with my family since they won't be here next month for it. Camryn helped him open his gifts since he wasn't too interested.
Not too messy with his cupcake.
Getting a shot of these 2 together and smiling is nearly impossible!
B is battling it out to the very end and wins! He came in 255th out of 2219 in the half marathon with a time of 1:46:17. He was 25th out of 111 men ages 25-29! Go B!
N is filling Tori in on the fine art of eatting a wagon wheel.
Ginny's time was 2:56:52. She did a mix of running and walking along the way.
Mom and her friend and co-worker Brenda made it in 3:05:38. Not too shabby!
I had a great time hanging out with Tori all weekend. We were the official camera crew on marathon day. We even did a bit of running ourselves to get to see the right people in the right place at the right time. We both agree though that there is no 26.2 miles in our future.
Dad as he and the running partner he met along the way crossed the finish line. His time: 4:41:25. We were all so proud of him for running 26.2 miles.
N found the race more exhausting than anyone that day!
Family shot.
Camryn was in charge of passing out silverware packets at dinner. Finally we got to eat a meal that wasn't pasta.
Family shot, again.

So there's the weekend in a nutshell. There were other great things, they just didn't make it onto the camera. I do have 2 video clips from Friday night that I will eventually post.

It's nice to be home, but not back in winter. I miss the spring that had begun in Little Rock. Some of the drifts and plow created piles here from last weeks blizzard are amazing to me. I've never seen snow piled so high. There are also drifts close to waist high on the side of our house. Possible pictures later. We'll see if I get around to it.

Just thought I would give a little update.

We did make it to Little Rock despite the blizzard in O on Thursday. We had driven to B's parent's house on Wednesday night and they only got 3 or 4 inches of snow. We got going much later than expected Thursday due to the highways in SE Nebraska all being closed. It was rough going at first, and we actually spent a little time in a ditch, but things were great after we got a little bit into Kansas.

We are having some great family time. I love getting to see everyone! N is loving all of the attention that he is getting. My mom delivered on her promise to teach N to pull up to standing. She worked with him this afternoon, and he did it on his own right before bed tonight.

Tomorrow is the big day for all the marathoners. We've spent the weekend filling up on pasta and talking pace. Be sure to cheer them on in your mind tomorrow morning!

I don't have my computer cable for the camera with me. I've been taking pictures and video. I'll post those as soon as I get back.

I should so not be doing this right now. I want to though, so I am.

There are a million things that need to get done before heading out of town. Laundry, pack, pay bills, pack everything I forgot the first time, vaccum, pick up clutter, run to Wal-mart, pray for no sleet or freezing rain that they are predicting, pack everything I forgot the second time, clean up the car: all things on the to do list along with the rest that I'm forgetting.

My mom always had this thing about cleaning the house right before going out of town. That way, you came home to a clean house. Sounds wonderful, but how'd she ever get it done along with everything else that happens before leaving? She must have some super powers or something. That's the only way to explain it.

Speaking of super powers. Dad is running 26.2 miles this Sunday in the Little Rock Marathon!!!! I love that man! Along with him, B is running the half marathon (13.1 miles) and Mom and Ginny (my big sis) are walking the half marathon. Notice who's name isn't there! Tori (little sis), of course! Okay, my name isn't there either. I get excited when the treadmill at the gym says I went over 2 miles at the end of a workout. I'm almost at the point of needed to make the transition from running to walking though and that should help my distance.

Alright, before I ramble on for to much longer I'm going to quit. Have a great afternoon!

Play Ball!

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Where did the week go? I realized this morning that I hadn't blogged since Monday! Sorry! I took a couple of video clips this week. One is of N playing ball with his Grandma Kn. They were having a great time. Go figure that he lost interest as soon as I started to film it. (They'd been playing for 10 minutes or so before I pulled out the camera.) The other one is of N figuring out his Christmas present from Uncle Matt and Aunt Lindsay. He has loved playing with the hoop and balls independently of each other, but now he knows how to use them together. Enjoy your weekend!

opinionated little stinker!

Okay, I have to share these four pictures. I still laugh as I think back to this happening. They were taken on Valentine's Day as I was trying to get the perfect shot of N to post that day. These 4 were taken within seconds of each other, in this order. We often wonder what is going on a baby's mind. Here's what I think:



What in the world is Mom thinking putting a teddy bear in the picture with me?












I'm no softy. What is she thinking? Get this dumb bear outta here!










Bye bye Mr. Bear! This is my photo shoot! (He actually pushed the teddy bear off the chair!)

Alright Mom, back to picture taking. Cheese!

B, N, and I seemed to have a really good weekend. Here are a few of the highlights:

• B ran 10 miles Friday in preparation for running the half marathon (13ish miles) in LR in a few weeks! Run! Forest! Run!
• N is starting to pull himself up on anything he finds somewhat stationary. (He's learning that the dog isn't so stationary the hard way.) He gets up on his knees, but he still has to figure out how to get all the way to his feet. This started Friday night, but is a continual thing now. While talking to my mom this evening, she says she'll teach him how to get up to his feet in a couple weeks. (She was the one to teach him how to get out of a sitting position.)
• Saturday B and I spent the entire day in pj's and reading! (We did throw on some normal clothes for a few minutes so we wouldn't have to shovel snow in pj's at 2pm.) What a needed day of relaxing!
• The snow has started to melt! I've been looking out the window every 10 minutes or so, to see how much more of it is gone! We actually hit above freezing temps! Today it was in the mid to upper 40s! We even got to go on a walk outside as a fam! Awww, how cute!
• N also decided to reveal his is able to crawl on all 4. He just happens to prefer the army crawling. I've only seem him expose his new talent once before church this morning. Hopefully, I can get some video of all his new moves.

Happy day off to all you who get to enjoy tomorrow at home! Thank the presidents! Sorry to those of you who don't! Blame the presidents!

hugs

kisses

and

valentine wishes

love,

n

Happy Val's Day!

Enjoy watching Superman deal with endless love struggles. (We saw this at the National Youth Workers Conference when Jars of Clay came to perform. We thought it was amusing.)

Our baby is 10 months old today! It's impossible to think we are 2 months away from celebrating his first birthday. It makes me sad to think how fast time has gone by with him. I should be excited to plan his first birthday party, but I find myself dreading it. (I know it'll be fun though, just a bit bittersweet.) Both of these pictures capture exactly who our N-N is. Hopefully you've enjoyed spending the past ten months watching him grow and change!

N just discovered the trash can and the dog's water bowl as I tried to eat lunch.
Help!
Someone come baby proof my house!
Please!

my sunshine on a cloudy day

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I took this video of N this morning. The tie-dye shirt was made for him by my small group girls. They each had one on last night at the super bowl party. (They also made one for me.) N has been so talkative lately. His most common sounds/words are: mamamamama, dadadadada, guh (usually directly at Maggie but not always), nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh (a bit too close to no for my liking but seems to be his favorite the past few days), dat, dit, and buh-buh-buh (sometimes paired with waving bye-bye). He also has figured out how to go from being on his belly to sitting up. He's trying big-people food all the time now. In fact, I had to put him in his crib a lunch because he assumed he was getting some of my lunch. He starts to click his tongue every time he sees me eating to let me know he wants some. Cute, until he doesn't get anything and the screaming starts. He's learning things so fast! I'm constantly amazed. And his other front tooth is coming in! My baby's growing up! (too fast)

Sunny with a high of 75

It seems as if the topic weather is coming up quite frequently in conversations I've had with several people lately. What's the weather like there? Have you gotten any snow? Is it cold? Are you enjoying the weather? Let's just sum up winter in Nebraska in two words: this sucks! (sorry Mom, there was no other word that worked) The snow from a couple off weeks ago still has not melted! I find myself getting excited if the temperature is a two-digit number. I don't think the wind chill has been a two-digit number in weeks. Seriously, weeks! I had to laugh when looking at the forcast for LR today. KARK said it was going to be a very cold day today. A high of only 38. How tragically cold! I feel so bad for them. Wait! This is miserable! I hate it. Not Nebraska as a whole, but definitely hate the winter weather. I'm trying think positive with the passing of January. I try to tell myself that I am one month closer to spring. Can you picture it? Green grass, fresh green leaving coming out on the trees, gardens filling with flowers. Then someone has to remind me that winter here lasts much longer than what I like to think of winter as lasting (gotta love that AR winter). I have no choice but to put up with it, but I'm allowed to complain a little. Right???