Laundry Basket Fun

Who knew a laundry basket could be so much fun?! The other day Lily discovered all the potential of one of ours. First she started playing in it- piling anything she could find in it and on top of herself. But then she realized that it was much more fun to play on top of it! Here she is just having a blast. Shortly after this video she realized that it was even more fun to jump off of it. So we piled up pillows and blankets all around it and let her go for it. I love her little adventerous spirit!

My First Kiss

I got my first kiss yesterday...from Lily.

She's been giving hugs for a while, but when I ask her for a kiss she usually just hugs me or turns her cheek so that I can kiss her.

But yesterday she came right over and gave me a big kiss.

Melt my heart.

Playdough!

So Lily got to play with Playdough for the first time the other day! I had a bunch of cans of it from a Lifelines program I did a few years ago- and I saved it hoping that I would one day have a little one to play with it! Well, she had a great time! It was a little difficult, however, in the beginning to convince her not to eat it!:) I got out my meansuring cups and teaspoons so she could play with those too- and then on her own she went and got one of my frying pans- and we began cooking up some playdough! I loved playdough when I was little and now it's like I get to be a kid all over again! You want to play with some right now, don't you?!

An Up and Down Sort of Weekend

This weekend was sort of up and down, good and bad, all over the place. It started off good with the visit I wrote about earlier with our friends Friday morning. Then Lily woke up from her nap that afternoon and everything had changed. What I thought was teething at first turned into a nasty little cold- and she has been some kind of fussy ever since. Saturday was just mostly bad. With Lily being sick we were trying everything to entertain her- including a swim in her baby pool. That was cheering her up until she climbed out of the pool and sat down on the deck (to eat a few grapes I thought)- until I turned back around to see her playing with something strange- ok gross- ok, it was poop (that had squirted out of her diaper when she sat down). I quickly ran her up to the bathtub and tried to wrangle her soaked, clingy swim diaper off of her. Not only was her diaper full, but it was baby diarhea (which is the worst kind). And now it was everywhere-all over her, the bathtub, and all her bath toys. So, I quickly ran her to our bathroom downstairs to shower her off. Then I had to call Joe in from mowing the lawn to watch her while I dealed with the now 3 room biohazard. It was just about all cleaned up when I realized that we were out of bleach (we needed to soak her tub and all her bath toys). So I quickly ran to Hannaford to pick some up. Only as I'm leaving Hannaford I'm in a car accident. I was completely backed out of my parking spot (and ready to shift into drive) when I see someone back straight at me (totally oblivious to my presence). I tried to get out of the way, but of course she still hit me. Thankfully she was a very sweet lady and after she apologized many times (aparently her neck was bothering her and she hadn't looked all the way behind her) we exchanged numbers. Well, all I can say is that you've got to love a plastic car (a Saturn) because there was very little damage (just a little paint scraped away). Joe said that someone let him off once so we decided to return the favor and fix the paint ourselves. I think she was relieved. So, that was Saturday. It was just crummy. But Sunday seemed to turn around again and we enjoyed a fun afternoon at the American Folk Festival with our friends Brave and Jenny (and their two kids). The kids danced to the drum music at one of the performances (this is a picture of Lily dancing), did a few little crafts, and enjoyed some really good festival food. With the little ones it was hard to go to many of the performances, but that was ok because it was just wonderful being with our friends and especially watching Lily and their kids play and chase each other around- too cute! Thanks for a great time Brave and Jenny! So we ended the weekend on a good note. Unfortunately Joe is really sick today too- so we're starting off the week crummy, but that must mean that the good is yet to come!

Lily & Addie

Yesterday Lily and I had a wonderful morning with my friend Becky and her little girl Addie. We met Becky and her husband at our childbirth education classes, the girls were born just a few days apart, and we have been getting together here and there ever since! They are so cute together (although trying to get these two little girls to pose for a picture didn't work out so well- this is the best I could get). Anyway, we had such a fun morning swimming, playing with new toys, and enjoying lunch. Becky makes the most amazing chicken, pesto, and motzarella panni sandwich- so good! Thanks for the fun Becky and Addie!

It Starts Today!

As I write this Joe is leading a white water rafting outreach with 30 guys from one of the fraternities on campus! It's the unofficial start to our "Lifelines season." And I think it's going to be a bit crazy. We sure would appreciate your prayers for these trips- we want so badly for God to work in the lives of these students. So here is what's going on:

Tuesday- Rafting trip with the Husson women's soccer team

Friday- Freshmen arrive (we'll have a Lifelines booth so that they can sign up to come on a rafting, paintball, or rock climbing trip.

Saturday- Rock climbing trip with the U-Maine women's ice hockey team.

Sunday- Challenge Course outreach with all (600) of the incoming freshmen at Husson! Even if a quarter or half of these students come it will be by far the biggest Lifelines trip ever (anywhere)! Crazy!

And then classes start on Monday- and from there on out we have trips every weekend! All of our rafting trips are full, but we still have a lot of rock climbing and paintball trips to fill (Sundays)- so please pray that we would find groups that want to do these trips! Here we go....

Down To One

Down to one...nap. Yes, today I officially gave up the struggle to keep two naps. Lily wins- I knew it had to happen sometime- but oh how I loved those two naps! She has been sleeping later in the morning (and she sleeps 12-13 hours at night)- so I really can't complain. And yet this picture (taken at just a few weeks old) reminds me of when she would sleep often during the day. Crazy how quickly time passes. My little girl is getting big.