God's gracious Goodness

Yesterday marked the one year anniversary of Joel's interview at Ralcorp. What a year it has been! Joel and I have been reflecting on all of God's goodness to us. He has blessed us beyond measure with this job opportunity, wonderful co-workers, a solid Gospel-centered missional church, awesome friends, our house, this neighborhood, these neighbors, a second precious, beautiful little girl, the list goes on and on... We've had our struggles here and there, too, but God has just been so faithful and we want to praise Him for it. We don't deserve His goodness!

Cora climbed all the way up the stairs by herself this morning! Mommy was right behind her of course! She sure is trying hard to keep up with her big sister.

Miriam: the diaper changer

Our beautiful city

Do your ears hang low?

If you are familiar with the song or book, you'll understand what Mim's trying to do in the picture. A few weeks ago, I caught Mim sitting on the floor with Cora sitting between her legs reaching around to try to hold this book in front of Cora so she could "read" it to her. It was SO cute!
The last few days, Miriam has been pulling up her shirt and putting her dolly's face to her belly (attempting to nurse her baby) and also holding both of her dolly's hands so that her feet just barely touch the floor and "walking" her around. What a good little mommy she is!

My old buddy Jamie

The fourth of July weekend, our friends Jamie and Kim, their adorable daughter Emma and their dog Maddy came down to visit us on the way to see family. Jamie was one of Mim's first "crushes" (I think the affection was very mutual) so she really enjoyed seeing him again... even though you can't tell from the picture. :)

5 wonderful years!

Our anniversary weekend - WAY back on June 28th - Joel and I enjoyed a very fun 2 days alone which included a couple wonderful dinners out and the opportunity to visit a few local sights we'd wanted to check out and some shopping without children in tow. It was very refreshing for us but we missed our precious little girls! The pictures below are from our walk to Tower Grove Park [Farmer's Market] and the New Cathedral, which contains the world's largest mosaiac collection. All of those pictures were made by putting tiny pieces of colored glass together! It is incredible to see and if you come to Saint Louis, we would recommend visiting the Cathedral.

Update on Cora

I've got some more picture-posting catching up to do, but wanted to take a quick moment to update (for those of you who care) on Cora's physical development - aka the "new" things she's able to do. She started crawling about a week or ten days ago (she's 7 1/2 months old now). Within a day or two of starting to crawl, she started pulling up. Two days ago, the dishwasher door was all the way open to it's flat position and she crawled over to it, pulled up to her feet and proceeded to climb all the way onto the door. Joel and I have noticed how her balance has improved remarkably in the last week. Maybe she'll be an 8-month-old walker just like Daddy!

We've got a climber

Lately, Miriam hasn't been going to bed as well as she used to, which I think (hope?) is pretty typical for her age. One evening, about a month ago, after putting her to bed in her "big girl bed" then going through the "letting her cry for awhile and going back in and comforting her cycle" a couple times, we just let her cry until she went to sleep. When we went to check on her before we went to bed, this is where we found her. Remember... she's supposed to be sleeping in her bed now so that Cora can sleep in the crib. Fortunately, Cora was sleeping downstairs in the Pack'n'Play that night. I thought parents usually have trouble with kids climbing out of cribs... she has yet to do that but she's climbed in several times now.

Fort

Daddy built us this awesome fort that we really enjoy playing in!

No more monkeys jumpin' on the bed

"Baby" gear for toddlers

Cora's walker is a common place to find Mim these days. Evidently it's much easier to get into than out. She's even figured out how to run in it, then sit down and pull up her feet to give herself a little ride. Haven't caught that on video yet; sorry.

Genny's visit

Several weeks ago, Mommy's college friend, Genny, came down to visit and hang out with us. She's a great story teller!

Peek-A-Boo

See the similarity?

Cora on June 16, 2008

Miriam on July 3, 2007

Where did they get that flexibility? It sure didn't come from Mommy... and I don't think it came from Daddy either... ;)