first hairstyle

Today I gave Matea her first hairstyle. I have been thinking that I need to start trying things since parts of her hair are getting really long. I really wanted to try to do twists, but I think the sides are still too short. I put it in six puffs instead. I definitely need to practice doing straight parts and getting her hair tied closer to her scalp, but I think it looks ok for my first time! I do prefer it to be out and wild though, I think.

I know these pictures aren't the best, but they get the point across. I love that expression Matea has in the last picture. She is constantly making faces!

This past weekend I went to a cabin with 3 of my girl friends. We had a blast doing absolutely nothing. Literally. It was really fun to be gone and not have any responsibilites or anything to do for the weekend! Aaron and Matea had fun - it sounds like they had a somewhat busy weekend which was the exact opposite of mine!

We have a busy week ahead of us with Jesse and Jodi's wedding on Saturday, but it should be a lot of fun. We're hoping to get Matea in the pool at the hotel this weekend!

Smile, its Friday

It's Friday. This picture makes me laugh. So, enjoy.

it's over!

Today was the last day of my "maternity leave." It's back to work tomorrow. It won't be too bad...I'll be working 3 hours a day, 5 days a week. It is just hard to believe how FAST this time went. Everyone said it would fly by, and I knew it would...but.... I feel like I was just starting to get in a groove of being a "stay at home mom." I guess starting tomorrow I'll work on getting in the groove of being a "mostly stay at home mom." :)

I haven't taken any good pictures of Matea lately, so, sorry. I'll try to get some pictures up in the next few days.

Till next time....stay strong. ;)

drain tile installation

Here are some pictures from our drain tile installation. Our front and side yard look horrible - thank goodness our neighbors don't care!! I'm getting excited to do some landscaping in the fall. I'm hoping to come up with a plan for plants and flowers over the winter so we can get started as soon as spring shows up.

We are so glad that the construction bit is over - and even MORE glad that our basement is totally dry!! We've had rain off and on over the last week which has been a total answer to prayer. We are getting new carpet installed tomorrow and it is nice to know that everything is dry and the carpet won't get ruined. We are really looking forward to working on the basement and getting it to be how we want it.

(On a completely unrelated note....if anyone knows how to get Picassa to blog more than 4 pictures let me know. It drives me nuts that I can save 8 pictures in the "holding area" and it will only upload 4. Also, I don't know how to add pictures to the BOTTOM of my post. Right now when I upload additional pictures they all go to the top and I have to rearrange them. Irritating. So, any help would be great.)

Ethiopian Food Crisis

Aaron and I sponsor a child through Compassion International so we get their quarterly magazine. The fall issue came yesterday and there is an article about Ethiopia. The famine, combined with skyrocketing food prices, is making things very, very difficult over there. Three other countries that are being hit hard by food prices are Bangladesh, Haiti, and Brazil.

I know these are tough economic times, but if you have the finances available, I strongly encourage you to sponsor a child. The work that Compassion does is amazing and your money goes to the children. If you can't sponsor a child, please consider making a donation to Compassion's Global Food Crisis Fund. They do have t-shirts available where all the proceeds go directly to the fund. (The t-shirts are pretty cool!)

up the shore

On Friday Aaron and Brandon took a half day off of work and we went up the shore to look at the fall colors. It was a really enjoyable afternoon. We went to Gooseberry Falls and hiked around for a little bit and then we drove a little further north to Silver Bay and headed back. I was disappointed that there weren't a whole lot of reds out - I think the maples are further north and/or further inland, but the yellows and oranges were really pretty. I unfortunately didn't get very many good pictures of the colors, but, that's ok! Matea was a trooper and did fantastically on her first trip "up the shore!"

sleeper!

So we've been having drain tile installed over the past week. It's been quite the process (pictures to come in a day or two). I normally am not one to brag, but I just wanted to say that Matea has been the best sleeper. She has slept through digging outside her window, trucks, and jackhammering in the basement right under her floor. She's done great. Anyway, I caught this video this afternoon, and it gives you a sneak peek of what our yard looks like, too. (ugh!!)
Enjoy. :)