a new kitchen and a cute baby...some would say I have it all

I am so blessed. For real. Mary is 6 months old as of yesterday and her doctors appointment went well today. She is 17 pounds 9 ounces and 27 inches long, for those of you keeping tabs on her weight;) I know I'm the only one who cares about that, but I love everything about her!

Here are my fav. pics from her 6 month photo shoot in the living room:
Playing hide and seek:
Very girly:
And now for my kitchen pictures. I know that's what you were really waiting for! I'm happy with it. You may not notice much of a difference, but it's so much more practical now and I have a lot more space. It's great!

It's practically summer

Today was warm and I was loving it. I was walking out the door with Mary to go to the Y and work out, but when I felt how warm it was we headed to the park instead. I'm so grateful to live in a place with cold winters, because it makes you appreciate the warm that much more.

She looks good in her backpack. She has a more expensive/nicer backpack than I do! Mine is from the 60's and has an external frame. Thank you grandma!!!

Now, I need your opinion. That's right: YOU! I wanted to get a good picture of Mary's feet because I love them. They are so cute and little. So tell me which one you like the best:




I thought this one was cute, but then it occurred to me that it's an awkward crotch shot. Sorry for the language, but I don't want to put this picture in her baby book if it's weird. Sometimes it's hard for me to know if things are weird because I'm weird. I figure if I like it then it must be strange...hmmm.

You can leave a comment below by clicking on comments. I know it's tricky. Another option is that they are all bad pictures! Don't be afraid to hate on my pictures. How else can I get better???

Family goodness

I have to say that I LOVE my family, and I'm so blessed by them. Last night Ian and I cuddled and watched 2 hours of The Office, thanks to Kurt and Marie for letting us borrow season 2! It was so great to just relax. And today Ed, Theresa and Tyler came over so that Ed could fix our kitchen counter. It was so great to see the Buehlers and for Tyler and Mary to get to see each other. Tyler is only 1.5 months younger than Mary. It's such a blessing to have good friends with kids the same age. I can't wait to take vacations with our kids!

I also think I'm blessed as a stay at home mom with days like this. It gets kinda boring sometimes (hence all the random shopping trips and the reason my credit card bill has been crazy for the past few months). So it's nice to have days like this where there are a lot of people around to talk to!

Jacob is working redoing our kitchen for us but I think I take up half of his time by talking to him. I always monopolize his and Amber's time because they walk in the door and I'm like "Oooo adult interaction!!!" And I make them talk to me. It will be nice in the spring when we can go to the park!

Also, tonight we had dinner with some of my favorite people! About 40 high school students who love the LORD and their peers. It's so great to be around them and to serve with them. I am always encouraged when we have gatherings with them.

There are really no complaints about life right now. Mary is healthy and doing well. Ian is a great husband. And my kitchen is almost done!! Woot! I'll probably post pictures when it's completely done because I'm excited. However, most of you wont notice a difference ;) The look is the same, just different types of cabinets for more space and a new counter top. Next up...new floors :) Then I will never want to move!

ps...check out Mary's chunky leg in this picture.

A great day...

Today was a good day. I often feel like I had a bad day when I didn't get much done. I voiced this to Ian and he said, "Man, I think this is a great day so far!" He went on to explain that he loved the nap we took and the time spent playing with Mary. He said that as we napped he just thanked God that we have time to be together quietly and stress-free. And that changed my perspective on the day!

Mark and Liz called this afternoon and wanted to get together so we met them at harbin park and played for a while, then we went out to the best Mexican restaurant this side of the Mississippi. Well Casadores would give it a run for its money but...Cancun is awesome! Then we came back home. I also got to see my mom and Brooklynn today. We put Brooklynn and Mary in the bike trailer/jogger that I got for Christmas and they looked so cute in it, but I forgot my camera for that part :( Anyway, here are pictures from time with Brooklynn, an impromtu photo session with mommy and daddy, and from the park! If you put your mouse on one of the images it will pause the show on that image!

Laughing up a storm!

Tonight I was making this weird gurgling noise with my mouth and Mary started cracking up. So of course I kept doing it for like 10 minutes. It was so cute! Then I remembered that we took this video a few days ago. Aunt Amber was making Mary laugh so much by clapping her hands and snapping her fingers. Mary kinda looks like she doesn't have eyebrows in this video. She does I promise! And they're cute, like the rest of her:

Grabs her feet

That would be her indian name if we were indian (the kind with the feather). Or drools alot. Anyway here are some pics I took this morning just after our morning reading time ;) She wasn't really paying attention to what I was sharing with her from Luke...she was fascinated by her feet!
In this one she gets a little out of line. Maybe she was tired of pictures I don't know. Check out her left hand: