Party for Dave and Sarah

We had a goodbye party for our friends, Dave and Sarah, on Friday night. (They didn't have their camera so I promised I'd post pictures.) They are among the first few people we met when we got here and were so friendly to us. They invited us to a be in a marriage group at their house with another couple every Friday--we went through the book Love and Respect (by Emerson Eggerichs, highly recommend it!) We grilled out, talked and played (lots of kids!), prayed over them, and then later played games. Fun times.
We'll miss you guys! Keep in touch!

We stole the Hospitality House way of sending people off by sharing memories and then praying for them. (Don't worry, we gave you credit Matt and Tina :)

Lisa and Jess

Noble and Lisa
Dave, Sarah, Heather, Alan and their daughter Makki

Psalm 23

Ralph and Stacie (from Cedarville days) just found me on this and then I just found this on their page. Too cute not to pass along to more people. Can't wait til I can help Natalie and Blake learn Sripture. Hope it blesses you all and that you have a great weekend! We love you! :)

Our Little Helper and Future Baseball Star

Natalie definitely likes to help. She is my kitchen helper the most although she helps in other ways too--often unwanted: today we found her changing Blake's diaper- she had taken it off and was wiping him with a wipe! Too bad we didn't get a picture!Reading him a storyMaking a coaster and paper sandwich. Yum.

Here she is adding bay leaves to the big batch of pizza sauce. (She grabbed it out of the cupboard and poured half and when I went to get the camera, she poured in the other half. I guess there are worse spices she could have found, huh? :)

Helping season our plates with garlic powder so the burgers will taste even better. (Took these off the camera so I couldn't turn them, sorry!)
Our little man is getting so big. He is trying to roll over and even makes attempts at crawling--I'm not ready for him to grow up that fast!! He kept lifting his arm and he would topple/roll over and then get upset.
The outfit is from Aunt Bethany when she was here--can you believe he can wear it already? :)

Trick or Treat

Our friends, Jason and Jess (and her mom) came back down to pass out candy with us. Carter was Superman, Natalie was a bunny and Blake was a pumpkin. Natalie loved it all and was most excited about the huge bowls full of candy. I don't think she actually ate that much "tandy" but she definitely liked playing with it. Blake was around for pictures but then got tired so he went to sleep through it all. Maybe next year. Hope you enjoy the pictures. We had fun! :)

Ms. Jess did her nose and whiskers. Cute!

"I'm not too sure about this..."
Trying to get a picture of all three of them. Not happening.

It's a little hot in Hawaii so we had to push up her sleeves/pants. Aren't I the cutest bunny you've ever seen?
Ballerina Bunny"I'll take this one, thank you!"
Brian trying on the gummy teeth. Scary!
Pretty generous handful Bri was giving out, huh? :)
Jason, Carter and Jess (and Katie who will be here in just a few weeks!)

Out of the mouths of babes...

I know I already wrote today but Natalie said the funniest things this afternoon that I have to write them down before I forget.

I was sitting on the couch feeding Blake and she put on Brian's shoes and got a bag and started walking down the hall waving and saying, "Byebye, byebye" I asked her where she was going and she said, "Dondalds." She hasn't even been to McDonalds very many times but I guess enough to remember that she likes it. :)

She loves sweets and calls all candy "Daddy's tandies"--to get her to not ask me for it during the day I tell her that she has to ask Daddy when he gets home and that is good enough. We're sort of working on potty training (well, she was really into it for awhile and has now decided that she wants nothing to do with it-she tells us but then as soon as we go into the bathroom she yells "No...diaper!" and runs to her changing table. I guess she'll do it when she's ready.) We have a clear jar of skittles on the bathroom sink to use as rewards if she goes. Anyway, I was brushing her teeth tonight and she pointed to them saying "tandies." I said, "What does Natalie have to do to get candies?" Her answer, "ask" :)

Let me teach you everything I know...

Natalie loves Blake and is always near him--usually being nice but sometimes a little too rough. She can say "Bake" and "Bee-bee" and "Bakey" which is usually used when he's crying and she says with all kinds of concern, "Oh Bakey Oh Bakey Oh Bakey" or else "Oh BeeBee Oh BeeBee." She will bring him toys or blankets or his pacifier or else she'll look at me matter-of-factly and nod and say, "Bah-bull" (bottle) since that must be why he's crying. :) (For those of you that didn't know... I wasn't able to nurse again this time. They're calling it a "lactation disorder" with no real explanation, just no milk! I'm so grateful that there is formula so he doesn't have to starve!)

Here's Natalie showing Blake what she thinks he needs to know to survive. Enjoy.

This is how you play on the floor with toys. Shake shake shake!

This is how you undo your car seat buckle so you can escape.

This is how you hide in a really small place (the bottom of Daddy's closet) and scream "Mommy Mommy Mommy" at the top of your lungs until she searches the house and finds you.

This is how you drink out of a sippy cup. (No, nothing came out) This is how you count...One...two...
Let me check inside your ears. All clean!
And your mouth...say ahhh!

This is how you wash the dishes. Try not to get too much water on the floor. Mommy doesn't really like that. This is how you clap your hands when you sing She was actually singing to him--"If you're happy and know it..."

Couple more of the kids.

He sleeps like this all the time-I think he's going to be rolling over soon!

Natalie and her pals Carter and Quinn. Carter is moving this weekend-we're sad but at least they'll be on the island so we can still play together.

Hope you enjoyed Natalie's lessons. She's very determined about the way certain things should be done and doesn't mind telling you about it... maybe she has some teacher in her?? :)

Our Happy Boy

Sorry it's been awhile since I posted anything...especially after writing so much during the competition. We've been busy but it's so good to have Brian home. He made it home then was sick all last weekend. He's better now though and has a 4-day weekend so we're really enjoying some family time together. Lots of football and baseball games, grilling and homemade pizza, sleeping in and lots of playing. We're so glad Daddy's home! :)

Here's some pictures of Blake. He's finding his voice and giggles/squeals all the time. So fun.

I had a baby shower for my friend, Jess, yesterday. Brian was going to take the kids out but ended up watching them plus Jess's 15 month old, Carter, in the back room. When we went to "release them" this is what we found: Amazing what 2 kids can do, huh? (the other two boys were at the shower.) He had it all cleaned up before we could get back there to help! Everyone was in awe...what a guy I have! :)

Natalie thought it was pretty cool that all the chairs were away from the table (for the shower) so she parked herself under it for awhile.
Go Penn State!