Amber Waves of Grain

After 2 1/2 hours of wondering how Keegan was doing (and ultimately if he ever quit crying)... I went to pick him up. I arrived at his classroom a little early to spy from the hallway but the kids were out on the playground. I waited in the hallway with the other parents and then we saw the cutest little line of kids, single file, coming down the hall back to their classroom. Keegan looked happy and he just lit up when he saw me. The teacher said he quit crying soon after I left and that he did well. This week they are learning about shapes and colors, so here is his red circle and other circle project. I know, I know... clearly he's a natural Picasso. I had a babysitter for Kennedy so that I could just give Keegan all my undivided attention when I picked him up. I let him pick where we went for lunch. Of course, McDonald's was it since they have a playground. And, for those of you following his food issues.. we have him eating nuggets there if he's hungry enough a...

Well, I did it. I just dropped Keegan off at his first day of preschool . Nathan went too since it was on his way to work. I'm glad he went with us. The preschool is at a church nearby (13 min drive today). We don't attend this particular church but they are well known for their annual fish fry. We figured any church that could fry food well was worthy of providing our child's eduction. We'd been mentally prepping Keegan for this day.... talking about all the fun things they'd be doing, telling him about school, and so forth. I also let him pick out a shirt at Target for his first day of school. Here he is in his new shirt today: And, Nathan & I picked out his skull and crossbones backpack from the Gap because I refused to let Keegan pick a character one from the other stores (ie: no Spongebob!). And, here he is wearing his bear name tag that he has to wear all this week: We arrived at the school and he seemed somewhat excited. I think that's before ...

I forgot to mention in our weekend blogs that Nathan and I got to go on a real date Friday night. Our dear friends, Carol & Russ, babysat in return for me giving their granddaughter a golf lesson. And, Carol even babysat during the golf lesson too. I really made out like a bandit on that deal!! It was fun giving a lesson, although I haven't picked up a club in a long time myself. I had fun just analyzing her swing and hopefully giving her some helpful pointers. I found this picture which I thought would be fun for me to share. This was me in my high school yearbook; I played for the varsity golf team back in the day. What was with that hair!?! ha! :) Anyway, so Nathan & I got to go on a real date Friday night while our friends babysat. They are the perfect babysitters-- just so good with our kids. Nathan & I grabbed some Chinese food and then went to see the movie Night at the Museum 2. We hadn't been to a movie theater in forever so it was really...

We squeezed in another trip to the State Fair yesterday. We learned this year just how hard it is to take small children to the fair, so we only made it twice this year. Let me start by saying that yesterday's high temp was only 71. That's right, it was 71 degrees in the midwest at the fair. Unbelievable. There were a few times there was some misty rain but nothing big and we were always able to duck into a building for shelter. It was a perfect day! We did a couple of things different on this trip. First, this is our first year for having official fair fashion . Keegan & I wore John Deere stuff and Nathan has a Farmall shirt. Second, we decided to be ' fair accountability partners '. Our job was to make sure that our partner did a good job eating as much as possible so that we didn't leave disappointed that we missed something. When Nathan didn't show much of an appetite at first, I was able to tell him to suck it up and eat more. It was an...

Kennedy turns 8 months old today! She is an absolute delight. She smiles all the time and continues to have such a sweet disposition. She now has 2 bottom teeth. She will taste any new food and likes the majority of them. I give her bites of whatever Nathan & I eat for dinner and she enjoys the new tastes. In fact, she loves table food so much that I can barely get her to eat any baby food purees; she just wants table food. I think her favorite so far would be strips of baked sweet potato. She is also very mobile now and moves very fast. She isn't using the official 'crawl' method yet, but she army crawls and can get anywhere. Keegan loves to play with her and she follows him wherever he goes. Here are some photos of my little 8 month old sweetheart. It is getting so hard to take pictures of her now that she's on the move!

I somehow managed to paint the kid's bathroom yesterday. That's right, 2 coats of paint... all while also doing laundry, running the sweeper and mopping, doing laundry, cooking and cleaning up after meals, and keeping both kids alive and happy. I even threw in some baseball in the backyard for Keegan. I did the painting while Kennedy took her naps and Keegan played well on his own. He just came in for conversation now and then.... Keegan : "Mommy, there's a present on tv." Me : "A present? What kind?" Keegan : "Barack Obama" Me : "You mean President, not present." Keegan : "No, I like present better." (a little later) Keegan : "Mommy, there are dead dinosaurs in my microwave. Do you want to watch?" Me : "Right now mommy is trying to paint. Maybe I can see the dead dinosaurs when I'm done." (wondering if she should be concerned) The orange was much brighter than I thought it was going to be, ...

Just sharing a couple of photos from today! Enjoy! I love the way Kennedy is looking up at Keegan in this one:

We were supposed to go to the fair today (big surprise) but I'm not feeling so great and the thought of taking the kids to the fair was exhausting. Can you believe we didn't go!?! We did something else that I love though. We took a drive through the ghetto. I love finding urban/ghetto backdrops for taking photos . I found some backdrops that I love. The only problem was my squinty, less than cooperative model . So, please ignore Keegan and see if you like these backdrops! I plan to take him back when it's not so bright so he can open his eyes and lower his hand. Again, ignore Keegan. He said it was too bright. Does anyone else appreciate these urban backdrops for photos?? Maybe I'm just odd. Then we went to my grandma's house. She just loves seeing the kids. I love how they make her smile. Tonight we went hiking using the trails that connect our subdivision to a local park. Here are pics from the hike and then at the park: Kennedy's 1st time on a swi...

Nathan & I got engaged exactly 9 years ago today. We had been dating since December 1999. Well, sort of. I was in denial and told him they weren't dates and that we were just friends . Looking back, they were dates. Fine, Nathan, I admit it. We were dating. :) After dating, it was clear that God was telling us to get hitched. Here's how it all went down. .. One night I riding with Nathan in the car and he asked me if I'd like to go out on a date with him a couple weeks later. I found it odd since he no longer asked me out. It was pretty much assumed that we'd spend time together on weekends at that point. I said yes anyway and he told me to get dressed up because we were doing something special. I got dressed up and he picked me up at my house, which was also unusual since I usually went to his apartment instead since he lived near a lot of restaurants and activities to do. Here we are when he picked me up for that date at my parent's house: As we w...

We had a FAIRTASTIC time at the great state fair today. It was sunny, hot, and fabulous. This was Kennedy's first ever state fair. She did quite well: We arrived just after 10am when the gates opened. We started off with breakfast. I opted for a cream horn and Nathan got the cream puff. The cream horn was OK but I thought the crust was a little dry and the filling left something to be desired. I still ate it, of course! :) Nathan's cream puff was great with a nice homemade whipped cream inside: Then we headed to the DNR building for Keegan to look at the fish. Oh, and he ate popcorn (it's the only fair food he likes). We also went to the horticulure building and I got honey ice cream for the first time ever. It was only $1.50 and it was really good! I'll be getting it again. Keegan really enjoyed the bees at the honey display: We took a long break for a feeding and diaper change for Kennedy. Here we are: Then Nathan got the gyro (this one's for you, Andrea...