What we've been up to....

Well, this post is just going to be a hodge podge of all the things that we have been up to this summer.
The highlight for us this month were the special visitors we were able to have. My grandpa Clark and his new wife Janis came to visit us along their way to Pennsylvania. It was a wonderful visit. I was so grateful to get to talk with Grandpa and get to know Janis so well. We had a fun time going and visiting the Amish with them.


This spring we debated back and forth on whether or not to do a garden. We finally decided to get the ground tilled and now we are seeing the beautiful fruits of our labors. It is so fun to see and are excited to have fresh vegetables later this summer. It has been hard work though.

Our little Liddy baby is growing like crazy. She has not stayed a little newborn for long. She is holding her head up pretty good, rolling up on her side, sleeping at least 6-8 hours throughout the night and smiling with all her dimples. She weighs 11 lbs. 4 oz. and is now 3 1/2 months old.

I had another first time experience here in lovely Indiana. Stephanie my sister-in-law invited me to go blueberry picking at a local little blueberry patch farm they have. We picked blueberries all morning. The blueberries were huge and delicious. We left with our bellies full of blueberries because you could eat all you wanted for free while you were there, but had to pay by the pound for ones that you took home. It is fun times like these that help me feel more at home here. I definitely like huckleberries more, but my bucket got filled 20 times faster with these quarter sized blueberries.

Porter is definitely becoming a good big brother. I know he loves little Liddy so much and wants to be a part of whatever is going on with her. He always wants to be in on the action.


I pull out the camera to take a picture of Liddy and here comes Porter mimicking the exact position or action that Liddy is.He has started wanting to hold her a lot and pick her up. He can hold her pretty good, but it is the picking up that is a little scary. He about pulls her arm off trying his best to get her up. There has been a lot of teaching going on in our house in the past few months and being a good example has put on a whole new meaning.I sometimes wonder if their little jabbers and coos are understood between the two of them. Because like in this picture and the next I just find them talking face to face like this. Porter will often cup her face in his hands and just talk to her so sweet.

A little piece of heaven for me when I see this. Everything seems to be calm around the house and I am able to get so much done. Terry thanks for all your help and being such a great dad!!

Another fun thing we have done this summer is take Porter to his first movie in the theater. The local movie theater here in town has free kids movies every Wednesday morning. We wondered how our little Porter who is such a tornado would do. He surprised us because he did great as you can see in the picture above he was glued to the big screen. He is following in his dad's footsteps. He loves movies. The movie was Horon Hears A Who. It was a pretty cute movie.

Porter got a little swimming pool for his birthday. We blew it up and Porter jumped in the freezing cold water and loved it! He played for as long as we would let him and then of course cried when he had to go in.

Our smiley little girl is starting to be able to sit in the Bumbo. She is always so smiley in the morning after a good nights sleep and a full belly.

Porter sporting his hot new boots. This picture is definitely going to be good blackmail.

Porter and Liddy

Liddy at 3 months old.

I just had to take a picture of this. I was getting in to my car after being at Walmart and came out to see an Amish cart in the parking lot. I thought it was pretty unique.

Porter takes care of Liddy and of course wants to give her anything he has. Like sharing his food. He got a new little woody doll that has a parachute on it and has been playing with constantly for the past little while. One day I was on the computer and had Liddy laying on the boppy when I was done I was surprised to see that Liddy had a very precisely placed friend laying on the pillow next to her. It was so cute. Porter had put his little Woody doll there to keep her company I'm sure.

CHICAGO

Terry decided a couple of months ago that he was ready to take a road trip. I was definitely up for it and really wanted to go to Chicago. I had never been and it is only 4 1/2 hours away. So we started planning and found a fun exhibit to see at the science and industry museum. It was all about Harry Potter. Terry was really excited and of course it was really neat to see a lot of the actual props and costumes that were used in the actual movies. My favorite thing was the car that Harry and Ron drove to Hogwarts.Here I am standing in the replica of Hagrid's shack. I am standing in front of Hagrid's clothes. He was a giant.

We stayed in a hotel right along the Chicago River and Lake Michigan. It was beautiful and a wonderful vacation.We walked down Navy Pier and took a picture next to Lake Michigan. It was beautiful, but looks and feels more like an ocean. I forgot my camera and had to just take pictures with our camera.

Terry was able to go fishing with some of "the boys." This is a picture of his prize winning fish, a mere 4 inches long.