What Aunts and Uncles Are For...

Blake has these toy letters that he likes to play with in the bathtub. Every day, I would go into the bathroom to give Blake a bath and would laugh because John would form new words with the letters he had...which were the ones displayed in this picture. I think I know what I'm buying John for his 24th birthday!


Dad and Raun were laying the kitchen floor. It took them longer than planned to rip up the flooring the kitchen and then to lift up the plywood that it was all on. It looks so much better now.

John and Blake had some fun play time on Monday while Dad and Raun were finishing up the floor in the kitchen.

John and Molly got some alone time with Blake after the doctor's visit on Sunday. We needed to go pick up some things and it was too big to carry with Blake in the car. They graciously waited outside the doctor's buildling so they could take him home. They took these pictures to document what they had done while we were gone.

To explain the pictures, they took a video to help show the new game they had discovered to keep Blake busy and happy.

What we did...

So what did we do while Raun was laying the floor down all weekend? How did I manage to keep him out of the entire front side of the house and yet keep him happy? Did I succeed? You decide.

I'll end this post with pictures from my flower bed. Aren't they gorgeous?

Messy House?

This is what my house looked like one day between the two dogs and Blake. It was a wreck! I thought I'd share the picture so you can remember what all you came through raising a child and animals. Some days I think I have a baby and two toddlers!

Blake was sick two Sundays ago with the beginning of his virus. We were all ready to go to church, but not this little one. He was running a fever and just wanted to be held and cuddled. We never let him sleep with us, but Raun and I were so tired from working on the floor that we let him for the morning time. Raun got the camera to take a picture of him when he woke from his morning nap, which occured at 8:00 in the morning!

New Floor!

The upstairs---

The downstairs---

Blake did suprisingly well through the hammering and banging. Raun did the downstairs floor all by himself and it looks great! My brother and Molly showed up at the perfect time to help us move the furniture upstairs while Ruth kept Blake for us. John and Raun had the carpet all picked up by the time we got back. My mom and dad came to help us on Sunday and Monday, as well. Dad and Raun got the floor finished by Monday afternoon and Raun had the kitchen completed and stuff moved back in by that night. It's so nice to have my house back and to have things where they are supposed to go and not misplaced. It only took a year, but that's okay! It looks great. Now...if only Raun could walk! Even golf is a chore for him now.

Post one of several!

I'm trying to catch up on all of my posts before vacation because when I come back I know I will have lots of photos and stories, so we'll see how far I get today!

To start off, we got to babysit Kayden a few weeks ago, as I mentioned in an earlier post. We really enjoyed having him. He is so incredibly tiny and just plain adorable. It was weird to hold him, which I did, and then to look at Blake who was cruising around on the floor and pulling up and realizing that in 10 months Kayden would be doing the same. Crazy! I just couldn't believe that Blake is almost a year and we're about to be celebrating a birthday. But I'm not going there today because that's too many emotions for me at the moment! Anyway, here are some pictures of our time together. Suzzy was very protective of Kayden and made sure that Blake and Ellie weren't too rough with him. Blake liked touching him, but would rather use him as a prop to help him stand up. I had to make sure that didn't happen!

Dog Wednesday

This post is devoted strictly to my pups today! Blake still loves playing with them, but other than learning that he can push their crate across the floor, he hasn't learned any new tricks. I did get a video of the crate pushing, but it is five minutes long and I haven't had time to wait while it uploaded. Sorry! I'll see what I can do tomorrow.

As you all know, we have replaced our floors upstairs and completed our downstairs. We, as in Raun did with the help of my dad and brother. It looks so good! We absolutely love it, but if you ask our dogs how they feel about it, you would not get a positive response. They hate it! The first couple of days they would not even walk on it. We had to pick them up to take them outside. Today, Ellie has been braver and is even starting to play on it. Tug-of-war is easy for Blake now since Ellie has no foothold and is so light. Suzzy stays in her crate, willingly. She will circle her crate, cry to be picked up and placed on your lap because she's scared to jump up. It's kind of sad, really, and I feel bad about that. Raun said they will get used to it. I hope so. I think I'll take them on a nice long run tomorrow and see if that will make them feel any better.

Speaking of Ellie, that dog decided to high tail it out of the basement before I could shut the door yesterday. So, I had to go chasing her down the hill and to our neighbors house three doors down. I was so mad at the dog! I guess she was trying to teach me a lesson about the floors, but still. Thankfully, a nice lady came out and Ellie ran right to her....that was after 15 minutes of me playing monkey in the middle with her!

Fun with Girls!

I watched two out of four kids for my friend, Jill, while she had a dentist appointment to attend to. I had a blast! I had the 2 youngest ones, one that is almost 2 and the other is 5 months old. Blake loved playing with them. It's so neat for me to watch him interact with other children and to see his personality develop in such different ways. He's becoming quite vocal, but is so sweet! We had to go to the doctor again on Sunday for the same thing that I had told my doctor about previously on Wednesday. Apparently, he had hand, foot, and mouth virus. They said he caught it from some baby's saliva. We forgot to ask if it was contagious, but Raun and I both have sore throats and stuffy noses. We're not for sure if it's allergies or the virus. He had been running a fever since the Sunday before last, but it peaked higher this past Saturday and Sunday. He was so pitiful. You could see the blisters in his throat and how sore it was. He has since gotten the blisters on his arms, legs, and feet. He's at the end of the virus, which is good because we are going to Florida this weekend to visit all of our family. That's right! Family vacation time!

I'm reading such a good book right now. It's called "No Other Gods." She talks so much about our modern day idols and the things that we put in place of God. It was very hard to read during some parts because I realized that, sad as it is, I have put things in the place of God without knowing it. It's not that I purposed to do so, but our culture throws out so many things that can sound good and possibly even, be good. However, too much of it is not good. I highly recommend the book. I hate the fact that I placed things as my false god without meaning to. I hate knowing that I broke God's heart when all He wanted was my worship and my devoted love to Him. I want to strive to be the best godly example for my children and it starts with checking my heart every single morning to make sure that there are no hidden false idols lingering around. Read the book, then let me know what you think!