The I Love You Book

Jonathan found a binder ring and some paper in early June and decided to write a book for "as a gift" for me:




Yes, you read that right!  We are expecting a baby, due Christmas Day.  I'll share some personal reflection on this later on, but for now, let me say that we are grateful and humbled that we get the chance to be parents again.  What a huge and undeserved blessing.

Back

You may not have known, but we've been gone for a week!  Our family went on a road trip to some volcanic destinations, and we had a great time!  I scheduled some blog posts while we were gone so that the grandmas would not miss the grandkiddos too much!  We took around 380 pictures while we were on our trip, so I'll work on sorting through the best ones to share.

I have 477 blog posts in my Google Reader, so I'll also work on deleting all the "frugal blog" posts and reading the real posts from our bloggy friends...as well as reading emails.  We didn't have Internet access or cell coverage for a big chunk of our vacation, which was a great reprieve!  I do miss knowing what's going on with friends, and family, though.  I have just started catching up and got some great news...Tim and Jo got their referral!  We are super excited about their baby girl in Ethiopia.  I have seen her picture, and she is precious.  Congratulations to Tim, Jo, Graham, and Wesley!

Apparently...

Dish towels make for great dress-up props.




Two of her favorite things:  driving her pink car around the house, which she has enjoyed for quite awhile, and finding anything made of cloth (like towels and laundry) and wearing it.  Jeff says, "I wonder if she's going to like dressing up when she's older?"  I'm sure Ella and Delia could help out!

Lego Stuff

I haven't posted about Jonathan's Legos in awhile.  Not to worry.  He's still a building machine.  Here are a few things I've caught on camera.  I've discovered that taking pictures is one way to make sure he'll be willing to take his creation apart.

Here's an umbrella.


This is an engine for the inside of a train.


This is a little country of forklifts building stuff.  You can see the two forked creations with their corresponding loads, and the windmill.


A voting place.  Yes, I took my kids to the polling place with me.  I talked to them about how special that it is to have the opportunity to vote, but I didn't know that Jonathan was taking in his surroundings.  See his version of the American flag?


Note the ballot sitting on the table.  The lines are the words on the ballot.


This one is my favorite.  It's a puzzle.  Apart...


And together.  Did I mention it was my favorite?

When Your Mom Has Humongous Feet

A Hug

Grace is starting to learn to hug.  Just like her big brother, she's not a real snuggler and hugs only on her own terms.  But when she does, she says "ahhhhh."  It's very sweet.

Making Music

She likes the high notes the best.

And here's Jonathan playing piano with Emma Claire. He just happens to be the same age as Grace in this picture. You can see how much taller he was! We miss you, EC!

Fifteen Months

Grace turned 15 months old yesterday, so we went to the doctor today to see how she's doing.  She weighed 24 lbs., 9 oz and was 30.5" long.  To see how Jonathan was doing at this age, and how much better I was at taking pictures and telling the story from his perspective, click here.  (He was awfully cute, wasn't he?)  Thankfully, Grace is a couple of inches shorter than he was, and a pound lighter.  I forgot to ask the doc for percentiles, but it looks-from what I can see online-like she is below average for height and above average for weight.  I think this is the first time either kiddo has been below average for height, ever, so I'm not sure the measurement is correct.  At any rate, the doctor thought she was doing fine, although she has a funny diaper rash that we need to keep an eye on.  We'll go in for another checkup at 18 months. He hopes she is walking by then, and so do I!

Vicki

If you have been following Vicki's story-she is my dear friend Cherissa's mom-you should check her post today, here.

Lego Party Stuff

We're not planning a party right now, but I stumbled upon some great links to Lego party ideas, and I had to share them and some others I remembered seeing a long time ago.. Maybe I'll come back to them someday, and if not, I hope you enjoy them. We have yet to throw a "friend" birthday party around here, but I know the day is in our future! Just don't mention it to Jonathan. His birthday is still almost six months away.

Here goes:

Tip Junkie's list of Lego Party ideas
Ultimate Lego Birthday Party (hat tip to Rocks in My Dryer)
Lego Birthday Cake (hat tip to Design Mom)