The latest news & pictures

For those wondering how things are going with my pregnancy, it's been really uneventful. Thank God for small blessings! Mackenzie is moving around a lot and growing normally from what can be determined. She's currently healthy, and so am I!

In other exciting news, we are in the process of buying a house! We have had an offer accepted and down payment made on a house in Eagan. An inspection will be completed by the end of this week! Our closing date is March 9 and we expect to be moved out of our apartment by March 31- not too much time to spare before Mackenzie is due to arrive!

We're still our same busy little family these days. Jim has been working hard at work and things are going very well. He's turning out to be a wonderful Director! I'm still participating in bible studies and activities at church. I no longer work, but will likely find another part time job at some point when Mackenzie is a few months old. Ally has been busy with gymnastics and cheerleading. She will be starting soccer again very soon. She recently qualified to participate in a spelling bee at school (that's this coming Friday). We're very proud of her!! JJ is his usual rambunctious self. He's a big fan of dinosaurs, and gets excited about "poofrints" (or footprints) thanks to watching "Blue's Clues".

Not as many pics to post starting in 2011... haven't been quick enough with the camera most of the time! But here are a couple...

Holiday season!

Merry Christmas!! It's a busy holiday season again this year! We're involved in a number of things through church and there are the usual family get-togethers and time spent with friends. So far, we've been having a blast! We hope you have also been enjoying the time remembering the blessings of the year and enjoying the blessings of the season.

Busy summer

Well, here we go again! These posts seem to be getting fewer and farther between! It has been busy and to be truthful, I've been a little lazy. Busy is kind of an excuse in reality because that's just life with a family and it's not going to get less busy any time soon. Unfortunately for those of you that actually enjoyed the stories I tried to pass on, I probably won't get any better about updating the blog. But, I'm not ready to give up yet!!

So, since the last post in June, we had a visit to Ohio, a number of trips to the zoo, opportunities to gain new friendships, and the kids continue to be as cute as can be! That has been life in a nutshell!! The specific stories are much more entertaining and I will renew my effort to make short posts when the fun stories come up. Here are a few...

This tiger at the Columbus Zoo kept walking along in front of the glass and every time it walked by JJ, he screamed with delight! The tiger licked the glass once or twice and it made me grateful that we were safely on the other side of that glass!




JJ discovered the fun of the riding lawn mower at Grandma and Poppa's house...


JJ turned 3 on August 7 and we had a party with lots of family and friends crammed into our apartment. It was great getting to see everyone and JJ enjoyed himself a lot! There were lots of bubbles, tools, and a great deal of Toy Story toys to keep him and his little guests entertained.



One of the more difficult things for Ally when she visits here on the weekend is her lack of friends her own age... that changed a few weeks ago when she met Madison. Maddy is the daughter of our new friend Amy and she has a sense of humor and personality much similar to Ally's. While both girls tend to be slow to warm to new people, they were soon playing together and getting into their own brand of shenanigans! While Maddy had to return to North Carolina, we're hoping they will be moving to Minnesota soon (and they still communicate via facebook!).



And of course there is the simple daily goofiness that occurs on the quiet (yeah, right!) days...