Loooooong week

Oh mercy, this has been one long week. Last Saturday, Daniel and I both came down with a virus. Upset stomachs, sore throats, head congestion. Ugh! You moms out there know what it is like to be sick yourself, but to have to keep going and care for a sick baby. It's not fun, especially when the baby decides not to sleep much for about five days. Anyway, we made it through, and today I woke up feeling revived. Unfortunately, I focused in on the house and realized what a wreck it had become! Imagine that! After mopping the floors and doing about ten loads of laundry, things are starting to improve.
Here are a few photos I snapped this week. In this first one, Daniel is enjoying the recent issue of The Furrow, a magazine published by John Deere. He was looking at all the tractor pictures and saying "Vroooooom...vroooooom!"


Below is our sick little boy watching Finding Nemo with his daddy.

And finally, here he is with his new favorite food...popsicles!

Time for school!

This morning Daniel and I were playing in the yard when I happened to notice our teenage neighbor walking down the street with an armload of books. My, he is up early, I thought to myself. And then I realized...today is the first day of school!!! Daniel and I also saw our little five-year-old neighbor boy, who was getting in the car with his parents and going to his first day of kindergarten. As we walked around the yard, we saw several mini vans and two buses all headed toward the school. I was suddenly swept away with that anxious, excited feeling I always have when school begins. I could almost smell the squeaky clean hallways and the sharpened pencils! I wished I had some new school supplies to open and put my name on. Ahhh!

And then the sudden thought struck me. In the blink of an eye, it will be a five-year-old Daniel climbing into our car, as we head off to the first day of kindergarten. Lump in my throat. Yet another reason to treasure every day we have here at home, just the two of us.

Daniel and I enjoyed some back to school fun at the library. We went for the very first story time of the new school year. The librarian read several books about fall and school, and I came home wanting to make a big pot of chili and attend a high school football game. I love fall!

Summer

Summer is not exactly my favorite time of year. In fact, it is my least favorite season. Yesterday, as we drove in the car, I was complaining to Brian about the heat and the sweat and the mosquitoes and a host of other things I dislike about summer. Brian was nodding in agreement, because he too likes the fall best. But then I decided to change my train of thought. I told Brian we should take turns naming things we like about summer. Here are some of the things we came up with...and you know, summer doesn't seem so bad now.

Watermelon
Fourth of July
Fireflies
Fried okra
Garage saling
Homemade ice cream
Daniel in swimming trunks
Hammocks
Locusts singing at night
Fresh tomatoes
Fireworks
Cannas blooming
Sweet corn
Smell of fresh cut grass
Barbecues
Fried fish and wilted lettuce
Thunderstorms
Fall is the next season!

Brian said this last one shouldn't count, but I think it certainly should. What do you like about summer?

Back in the saddle again!

When Brian and I were first dating, he had a motorcycle. I loved riding on the back of that thing with him! He sold it before he moved to Washington, but on nice days we still often say, "This would be a great afternoon for a motorcycle ride!" Well, recently my brother bought a motorcycle, and he brought it home from college yesterday. Oh, Brian had such fun taking it for a spin! I also got to ride on it, but I must say, I have changed somewhat since my college days. I am so much more safety conscious. When Brian got going over 40 mph, I started yelling for him to slow down. You feel (and are) so much more vulnerable on a motorcycle than in a car. First of all, you are balanced on two narrow wheels instead of four. You are completely out in the open. And it only takes a little loose gravel or a squirrel in the wrong place at the wrong time for things to go awry. I kept mentioning helmets to my brother, but notice how I hopped right on without wearing one myself. Good grief.


Daniel just loved sitting on the motorcycle, and I am already beginning to pray about his future desire to have one of his own. Sigh.

I love this photo of my brother and Danny. Everyone says they look so much alike. They do have identical hair and eye color, but my baby photos look more like Daniel than Jonathan's do. And Daniel definitely has some of his daddy mixed in there too.

Sneaky snake

When I opened my front door on Tuesday morning, this is the sight that met my eyes:

I hate snakes. I absolutely detest them. So needless to say, I was not thrilled about this little critter on my porch. Brian was at work, but I called him anyway to voice my displeasure. I didn't think it was poisonous, but I emailed Brian a photo of it, just to be sure. When Brian saw the photo, he said, "Oh, it's a cute little guy." Now, this is where Brian and I have extraordinarily different views. Baby ducks are cute. Puppies are cute. Daniel is cute. But a snake...NO WAY! Brian said it was a harmless corn snake and wanted me to trap it in a jar so that he could "play" with it when he got home. Yeah right. The only interaction that snake and I were going to have was me taking a hoe to its neck. As my dad says, "Get it right behind the ears." :) But, Brian convinced me to leave it be. Of course, when he got home from work, the snake was long gone. However, yesterday it showed back up again and hung around awhile. Much to Brian's delight, it was still there when he got home. He caught it, and we took it to the country to be released. I certainly hope that it doesn't have any brothers or sisters still hanging around my front porch!

This photo shows how very small it actually was. That makes no difference to me. Little snakes grow up to be big snakes. Yuck, yuck, YUCK!

New little critter

Last year for Christmas, my parents gave us two bred Herefords. They each had a healthy calf in the spring, and now one of them recently had a second calf. Check out the photos of this little critter. Is it just me or is this calf smiling at the camera? The markings on its face are so funny. I think we will name it Smiley!

Smiley

Smiley and the mama

Our little visitor

Tonight we ate supper on the deck because the weather was just beautiful. I could hardly believe the temperature was so mild in the middle of August. Our dog, Annie, was roaming through the back yard. She suddenly began sniffing around like something was out there. Brian went to check things out, and he found this tiny baby bunny. The little guy was so adorable! And our gentle Annie did it no harm. Most dogs would have eaten it up for an after-dinner snack, but Annie seemed to just want to play. However, Annie's "play" has been deadly for many a grasshopper and beetle, so we put her in the house. I hope the little guy finds his way back home!

Our new wheels!

Ode to the Sunfire

Brian and I bought a new (to us) vehicle today!!! We had been researching and thinking about getting something different for almost a year now. My little 2-door Sunfire was not exactly the optimal car for our growing family. Getting the car seat into the back was always a fiasco. The trunk was hardly big enough for the stroller. Recently, it began showing signs of its age too. First, some of the plastic molding on the door came unglued. Then, the battery died because the alternator was bad. A few days ago the rear view mirror fell off. The time had come for something new. And even though I am incredibly excited about our new Ford Escape, I am also very sad to be trading in my Sunfire. I am surprised by the amount of emotion I suddenly feel toward my little car. How can I explain it? I have been driving my Sunfire for over nine years. It is the car that drove me to my last day of high school and my first day of college. It is the car that I buzzed around in during those glorious days of falling in love with Brian. It took me to the airport to pick him up, it took me to the church on the day of our wedding, and it took the two of us to Eureka Springs for our honeymoon. This little car also drove me to my first day of teaching my first class of students. It has been such a good car, taking Brian and I to and from many different places. It even took us to the hospital when we had Daniel, and it brought our new little family of three home again. So many memories...so many life changes...so much more to come!

Say hello to our herd!

For quite some time, my brother and Brian have thrown around the idea of starting their own herd of cattle. I thought these musings were fun to discuss, but would probably never happen... at least not anytime soon. However, this Christmas proved me wrong! My dad took matters into his own hands and gave Brian and I two bred Hereford cows for Christmas. My brother received a matching pair as well. It looks like our herd has started! See how pretty they are?

In other news, I had another sonogram today. The technician estimated that our baby already weighs 5 pounds, 14 ounces! That is almost a pound larger than average. Whoa! All of his measurements were about two weeks further along than he actually is. I think we are going to have a big boy on our hands! I have the feeling he might arrive before his due date too. We will see!

Odds and Ends

Not too much going on around these parts. Brian and I have been keeping busy with the normal work-home routine. Tonight we are at my parent's house, and Brian is helping my dad install new kitchen flooring. They are almost done!
Last week, Brian and I started perusing the enormous selection of baby items at various stores. I am just amazed by how many things that babies apparently require. And most of this stuff is completely foreign to us. For example, what is the difference between stretchies and onesies and rompers? Do we really need a bouncy seat, a swing, and a play yard? Did you know there are about a hundred different kinds of strollers? We are so confused! Feel free to send helpful hints if you have them. :)
As I drove to work this morning, I just praised God for the beauty of this season. Fall is my favorite time of year. I hope all of you are enjoying the cool weather and beautiful trees too!

One itchy family!

Every summer, I (Melinda) manage to get poison ivy. Most of the time, I have no idea where I came in contact with it. This year I actually made it to October before the dreadful poison ivy struck. And to make matters worse, Brian got it as well. He noticed the tell-tale patch of red bumps on his arm first. He had never gotten it before and had previously assumed he was not allergic. Guess he was wrong. Praise the Lord for Zanfel! If you ever get poison ivy, I highly recommend it.

Annie must have felt left out because she promptly began scratching like crazy too! The vet diagnosed her as having grass allergies. Can you imagine a dog being allergic to grass? We got her hooked up with some doggy Prednisone, and she felt better almost immediately. I snapped the pictures below while Annie and Brian were napping together. They were both wiped out from a hard day of work...although I am not exactly sure what kind of work Annie had been doing. :)