Allen County 4H Fair

Saturday evening after dinner we went out to the Allen County Fairgrounds to enjoy the animals and rides. It was a beautiful night - not too hot or humid with a nice breeze. We took Harris around to see all the animals. We saw cows, horses, llamas, pigs, sheep, goats, chickens, ducks, and rabbits. I bet I'm forgetting some, but there were lots to see. I think this was the closest I've ever been to these animals too. I was little nervous about the large ones for fear that Harris would break free but he was very mindful of us. Strapping him into the stroller most of the time helped too.

When we went to see what kind of rides they had we were very excited when we saw one that Harris could ride by himself. They had a kids train decorated in a circus theme that was so cute. He rode it twice. Watching him on the ride by himself, he just looked like such a big boy. I got a little choked up thinking of how much he's grown up.

Dana was once again a sweet casual observer of the evening.


Harris had his very own strawberry sundae to celebrate the fun evening. He did so well. Brian did eventually help by holding it most of the time while Harris scoped out bites.

1st Movie - Love of Trains

Harris had his first movie trip a couple of weeks ago. There's a series of movies for kids that play at the Rave. The month of July they were showing Thomas & Friends: The Great Discovery. It's a movie that will be released to DVD in September. I thought if there was any movie that Harris would sit through, it would be a Thomas movie.

We had such a great time, but we did leave before the movie was over. The movie started after about 30 minutes of preview & cartoons. I had Brian walk him around the lobby before the movie and then I called him when it started. I didn't want to waste all of Harris' sitting time on fluff. He sat really well for about a half hour all the while munching on popcorn. It was so cute to watch him eating it and offering it to us by his little handfuls. "Dadda popcorn? Momma popcorn."

There were only 2 other families in the theater so when Harris was talking I felt like he could easily be heard by the others. I didn't worry about it too much since it was a kids movie. After he started walking up and down the aisle numerous times and stopped paying attention all together, I thought it was time to go.

I'm glad we gave it a shot even though he didn't make it through the whole thing. We went to Barnes and Noble afterwards and played with the train table in the children's section.





Harris received a train table from his grandparents for his birthday this year. It's now in the basement and he ask everyday to go down and play. Here's some pictures of him playing.



Even though most all you hear about is the character Thomas, I think Gordon is his favorite. He talks about Gordon most of the time, but never says Thomas by name. Gordon is called "go-done" and Thomas is called "choo-choo."

Dana's 1st Bikini

We went to Chain O Lakes a couple of weeks ago when my sister was on vacation. Jana lives a mile down the road from there, so we picked up her and Kayla to join us. They were such a big help to me since there was no way I could manage both kids at the lake. All the kids loved playing in the water.

Here's Dana's bikini swimsuit spread. I found this at a garage sale with the tags still on it. I just thought it was too cute.

3 Rivers Festival - Midway

We went to the Midway with the kids when the 3 Rivers Festival was going on. I think going downtown might have been more interesting, but I wasn't up for the crowd and finding parking on that hot day. Harris went on two rides both of which were with Brian. I thought he would be able to do something by himself but he was still too little. He was really ticked when he couldn't go on the car ride, but luckily it was so loud there that I couldn't hear his tantrum.

He went on the carasoul ride and the dizzy dragon ride with Brian.




Brian's looking like the dragon ride got to him more than Harris.


Dana and I just hung out and watched. While my friend Michelle was visiting, she mentioned that Dana looked like Sinead O'Connor since she has such big eyes and a bald head. I think she's right.


At home, Dana is all smiles for her Daddy.

Kayla's 9th Birthday

A couple of weeks ago was my niece Kayla's 9th birthday. She had a small party at my parents house on a hot Saturday afternoon. Here's a few pictures from the party.

My cousin Tonya is holding Dana who's mood seems to be affected by the heat.


She'll chew on anything.


Harris tries to shovel water out of the fountain.

My nephew Hunter climbing a tree.

Of course Harris has to try.

Dana fell asleep while Tonya's oldest daughter Mackenzie held her. Mackenzie is so sweet with the babies.

The cake I made for Kayla. I had done similar butterflies for my friends cake that weekend, so I just used what was left. I didn't have wide enough lens on the camera, so the edges of the cake got cut off.

Everyone sings Happy Birthday.

Happy Birthday Kayla! I hope you had a great day.

Surrounded by Beautiful Boys

I was able to spend some time with my good friend Michelle the last couple of weeks. I've known her since middle school so we go way back. She works for USAID and moved to Kenya at the end of September last year. Recall my visit to DC before she left. Shortly after leaving Michelle announced that she was pregnant and I was so thrilled for her and her husband Dou. She came back to the US to have their baby and enjoy her maternity leave.

Fortunately she and Lansenou James were able to make it back to Indiana for a couple of weeks to spend with her family. I really enjoyed visiting with Michelle and her son. I also was able to spend time with Michelle's sister Elaine and her newborn son Leo. Of course there was lots of "mom" chit-chat. I also wanted to do some pictures of both boys while they were here in town. I just wanted to share how adorable they are.

Here's Leo. He is such a sweet smiley baby.


Mom's holding his adorable feet.


Here's Lansenou James. Love the hat.

His little hands on Mom's comforting shoulder....

...and his little feet.

A cute picture of them together.

Michelle's back in DC and will leave for Kenya shortly. I miss her already. It makes me sad so see them go especially since I'm never quite sure when I'll be able to see them again. Thankfully there's email and digital photos all of which make it somewhat easier.

For Daddy

Since Brian is dying that I haven't updated the blog lately, here are lots of pictures of our fam for him to enjoy at work when the day gets too difficult. We all love him so much.

Harris sleeping during his nap. He still doesn't put his head at the top of the bed but at least he's long ways instead of across when he first started sleeping in it. I'm not sure how he sleeps with all those stuffed animals but he wouldn't have it any other way.





One of the rare photos when he's actually trying to be with his sister.


Big kiss for Baby.

Harris loves sharks and will even stop playing when he sees them on TV.

Here's Dana's Hello Kitty outfit I bought at the H&M in St. Louis. I was tempted to hold off and try to buy it in town in case I had the sizing wrong, but I bought it there anyways. I'm glad too because I didn't see this outfit in the Fort Wayne store when I went there after my trip.


Chewing on her bottom lip. I think she's on the edge of fussing in this picture which is my cue to stop taking pictures and get to work.

My St. Louis Trip

Kim was very kind and sent her photos from my St. Louis trip. I didn't take my camera because I really didn't want to lug it around. Then when we went to St. Charles, I really regretted it. Like I mentioned earlier, Kim sent me copies to enjoy and share.

The first day I was in town, we went to a small city called St. Charles. As stated on their website, St. Charles was the "organization point of the Lewis & Clark Expedition in 1804 and serving as Missouri's first state capitol." It was so cute with all the old building and shops.

We stopped for a rest along the Missouri river. John snapped a picture of Kim and I.

The next day Kim took me by her new job which is about an hour of St. Louis. It was so pretty to see all the hills out there. It's the start of the ozarks which I had no idea what that was until I went out there.

Later that evening we went to the John Mayer concert at the Verizon Amplitheater. Kim snapped some pictures with her phone. We reframed from licking his picture on the trailer but it was difficult.

I had such a good time at the concert. It was cool and breezy and had such a summer feel in the air. I'm going to have to talk Brian into taking the family out there on a mini-vacation and enjoy some time with our friends.