Eleven months

somebody is very excited to tell you all that 

she is eleven months old today!!!

turning into such a big girl right before her mommy's very eyes!

I will always say her smiles are my sunshine because they truly are...

in fact she has a little book with illustrations to 

the song "you are my sunshine", and she just loves

when we sing to her as we look at the pictures.  {grin}

every morning I wake up to her little voice calling me...(sometimes at a reasonable hour

and other times at a not-so-reasonable hour)...and yes, sometimes I sigh a bit and moan as I crawl sick out of the comfort of my warm bed, but the very minute I walk out and catch a glimpse of my darling's welcoming smile, everything is suddenly brighter, and all I want to do is sweep her up into my arms and whisper "good morning, sweetie" against her sleep-ruffled hair.

so it turns out this mommy was wrong when she thought that her missie was just growing in two new teeth, turns out she was working on four new teeth...at the same time...yes, I guess that would account for all of the grumpiness and odd ellie behavior we have been experiencing lately...I mean, really, I bet I would be a grump too if I had that kind of pain in my mouth!  {grin} oh, and that raises her total teeth count to eight teeth so far!

I don't know if you can see in any of these pictures, but her top teeth are so cute...they are actually quite big, and change her from baby to big girl so quickly.

Ellie girl loves her Bible, and we have Bible story reading and prayer twice a day at least...we always sit in the green chair (the one that Ellie is standing by in the first few pictures in the post) to read together, and she just gets so excited to sit in my lap and hear a story, and thank Jesus for Daddy, and Mommy, and Ellie, and the new baby!  As you might have guessed, Ellie is pretty busy, so right now our Bible time is maybe five or six minutes at the most...but, hey, it is a start!!!  {smile}

life continues to keep up its crazy pace around here, but hubby is planning to take a week off of his electrical work starting next week to work on our house!! I am pretty excited.  hopefully he will be able to finish up the painting,and get a good start on framing the upstairs...anybody want to visit???  we'll put you straight to work {totally teasing, well, sort of anyway}

Happy Day to You, dear friends!!!

Kalispell Fair Parade

Last Friday Rachel and I went to a parade.  

Actually Steve went too, but he didn't stand with us.

He wanted to be in the shade!

Here are the town folk all lined up waiting for the parade to begin.

This is Main Street in downtown Kalispell.

We live two blocks away.

There were clowns.

Cute little horses.

Lovely larger horses.

And the strangest thing . . . 

Bands on big trucks rather than marching.

Hmmmm?

Rachel and I got a stash of candy.  

It was a nice parade.

 And, we didn't have to fight with 3 million people for a parking space.

see baby rickel

our first glimpse of baby number two!!!

we are so grateful that all seems to be well with our little one thus far...
{happiness}

an apology

Hi there, dear friends, I owe you a humble apology for my severe lack of posting lately.  Thank you for still loving me.  I love you too.  {grin}

little Ellie girl is growing into such a little person every single day...

she is such a delight!

she now has five little teeth, and is working on a sixth.

she took her first couple of steps two weeks ago

and confidently marches around when holding

on to our fingers.  {grin}

sometimes, I can hardly believe how much personality this little missie possesses...seriously...she is such a people person

We have had such a busy, full, fun summer so far

I hope it will stay for a while longer {smile}

We have been for many long walks, trips to the park, and just fun time with family...barbeque's on our back porch, and a myriad of other outdoor adventures.

Rachel has accomplished quite a bit of the painting on the outside of our house!!! 

Yeah!!! Happy KC {grin}  Our house is a lovely shade of buttermilk yellow, with white trim, and eventually taupe shutters and doors.  Happiness.

As for me, well, I'm learning to take joy in the small things, and extend grace as much as I have needed to receive it. 

Learning that along with all the bad days,

there are just as many great days ahead...I have days when I feel awful, but then there are days that I feel absolutely able to accomplish anything and everything...I am so grateful that so far, this pregnancy has been far easier than my pregnancy with Ellie.

I have my first appointment with my doctor tomorrow.  I am so looking forward to hearing my new little one's heartbeat, and knowing that all is well.

I will close with a quote that has both helped me and chastised me

oh so often...my Mama has this quote on a slip of paper in her Bible.

She showed it to me one day when I was just a bit of a girl,

and it has stuck with me ever since.

"If a sudden jar can cause me to speak an impatient, unloving word, then

I know nothing of Calvary love.  For a cup brimful of sweet water cannot spill even one drop of bitter water, no matter how suddenly jolted." 

(Amy Carmichael)

Oh that I would be so filled with Christ's love that regardless of the shakes and bumps life brings, nothing would spill forth but His love, and His beautiful love alone...

BEE-ware

Our Saturday night adventure involved this.

This is our bathroom ceiling . . . with holes in it.  Holes just large enough to fit the spray cap of the bee spray.   That's right; the bees decided to take advantage of our family's warm hospitality and set up residence in the ceiling of our bathroom.  Unfortunately for them, we didn't want to share.

After our courageous father sprayed the bees, they have been finding their way into our house through different air ducts, vents, and any other outlet.

We discovered them when we kept hearing the sound of milk being poured on a bowl of rice krispies.  Apparently, that is the sound of their wings on the ceiling.   Mom looked out the window and saw bees coming in-and-out, in-and-out, in-and-out.

After some research on the internet, she quickly realized that a beehive in your attic is something that you need to take care of sooner rather than later as a beehive can weigh 20 - 80 pounds in less than 3 months.  Can you imagine that falling through the ceiling during one of our morning showers?   AHHHHHHH!!!!

So bee-ware of the company you might receive if you move to Montana.

They Grow Things Different Up Here

Ellie and her Grandma watching and waving "hi" to the duckies.