Sleeping Through Wheel of Fortune

This picture is from last night. December never sleeps on us, so I was thrilled to have her fall asleep on me while Brad and I watched Wheel of Fortune (I like that show)! She hadn't taken her second nap yesterday, so that was why she was so tired -- she probably would have gone to bed at 5:30pm yesterday.

It is so wonderful to hold your baby while she sleeps.

Here is December this morning, after we waved bye to Daddy as he headed off for work. Right now it's best to play outside mostly in the morning, because it's been so very hot during the day, like 30 degrees Celsius, and humid.

I Guess It Needed to be Cleaned Anyway...

Here's a beautiful park that's right across from our church. I've always wanted to go here and take pictures since I first laid eyes on it, and yesterday, we did!

Brad and December on the bridge

December standing by some of the pretty flowers. In the background, you can see our church.

Ignore December and I -- she was trying to wrench herself out of my arms, and I was trying desparately to hold onto her. I just wanted to show you the pretty gazebo.

December is tuckered out after a full morning of church and pictures in the park.

Brad and I went out on a date on Friday. It was fun! I like going on dates with Brad...he's very gentlemanly. We went to the Spinnaker, a nice restaurant in the Hilton hotel. We had gotten a $50 gift certificate there for ourselves for $25 (a birthday present for Brad) -- AND it came with a free room overnight at the Hilton! Woohoo! There is some well-known chef at the Spinnaker right now, and his specialty is seafood, so we got seafood. I thought it was great! It was a fancy restaurant, and I enjoyed wearing a dress and pretending we were all high society, hehee. The Hilton room was beautiful, with a king size bed, overstuffed chair, shiny wooden desk, and even a small, padded bench that we had no idea what to do with (Brad's best guess was that it's what you sit on when you want to put on your shoes). Then we really showed our high-society status by flopping on the bed, turning on the cable tv (yay for cable!), and watching America's Funniest Home Videos. However, we didn't spend the night there, because Mom and Dad were watching a sick December. She had a fever, so we took her back home so she could sleep in her own bed. I don't know why she had a fever, though...my best guess is that she's teething her eye teeth, which I guess are the WORST ones to teethe.

Motherhood is not the cleanest job. I discovered this in a whole new way last night, driving home from church. I was sitting in the back seat with December, and I had given her two bites of a brownie, which she surprisingly didn't really want to eat. That is strange because she ALWAYS loves chocolate! As I was licking some chocolate off her fingers so that she wouldn't get her car seat all dirty, she gave one little cough...and then she threw up. AHHHHHHH! (that was my first reaction) She threw up all over me, my clothes, herself, her clothes, her carseat, seatbelts -- you name it, it was grossified. Then she started to bawl. Those last 15-20 minutes home were the longest ones in my life so far. Baby wipes out of the diaper bag don't work the greatest in that situation, but they helped until we got home. There wasn't a whole lot any of us could do until we got home! Then December got taken out and swiftly dumped into the bathtub. After that, there was a major, full-scale cleaning operation in the car. Everything is all better now! Brad and I aren't sure why December threw up, either. Maybe it's also teething-related??

Anyway, some days in motherhood are cleaner than others.

Independence Day

Yesterday was Independence Day. We went over to my parents' house for breakfast, then we joined Kelli and Craig for a parade. I think December likes parades, but in this one she was constantly trying to walk into the street. After that we went back to Mom and Dad's house and hung out there for the rest of the day. Brad and I took the canoe out on the pond while December napped. I forgot the camera, though, so I have no pictures to show you. Instead, I took a quick video of December just now.

Brad and I are sad right now. Brad had asked the city for something called a use verification -- basically for the city to say whether our house is a one-family or a two-family house. We were praying that it would come back two-family (because that's what it really is), and there are interested buyers waiting to hear if the city will give it two-family status. We just heard that the city has decided it's single family. The implications of this mean that we now have to appear before a zoning board (which is ALOT of work because they require soo much legwork/documents/etc), and it costs $400. So, we are bummed. In life, some days are easier than other days. Today is not one of those easy days. I hope you like the video, though!

The Creation Museum

This past weekend my family went to the Creation Museum, just inside the Kentucky border. It is a museum that testifies to God's work in creation and throughout the history of mankind. It combines theology with science, paleontology, cosmology, biology, etc. It is an awesome place! You can learn more about it at creationmuseum.org. I enjoyed how it was so God-centered and so well done. Here are some pictures of our vacation:



This is how we got down to Kentucky -- my parents took their truck and camper, and they also rented a van, which Brad, December, and I were in. Here was our view for the 8 hour drive. Us three are in the back seat, and that's Emilia's foot and hand poking out of the left side of the picture.

Here we are entering the Creation Museum

Markus, Makenzi, December, and Emilia are inspecting the different cool fish and turtles in the aquarium (this was December's favorite place to be)




December loves pushing the stroller and let us know very clearly that she didn't want to be riding in it. She's not a very good driver, though, and she bumped into more than one stranger's feet. Here, Brad, December, and I are starting to walk through the exhibits. December did NOT appreciate the exhibits as much as Brad and I did, so we soon gave December to Grandma (who had just finished going through everything).

They had many mannequins like these, so well done that they looked real (Brad says they looked freakishly real). Some of the mannequins moved, too and even blinked their eyes. On the left is Isaiah with the scrolls, and next to him is Moses with the 10 Commandments.

Here are Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden

Here is Brad in the Garden of Eden

Here we are, all gathered in one of the hotel rooms.

It was such a fun time! We drove down on Thursday, swam in the beautiful hotel pool on Thursday night, went to the Creation Museum on Friday, and on Saturday we drove back. On Saturday morning, Brad and I both said that we could go to the museum all over again. There's so much we got out of it, but there's alot we missed, too! What a great place. I'd like to show you more of the exhibits, but we have a puny memory stick on our camera. Hopefully I'll get some more pictures from Mom, so you can see more.