Muddy Commute

You probably know by now that Penny walks to work and we walk to church. It's wonderful! The only problem is that sometimes the "elements" make the commute a little challenging. Most recently the parking lot near our house has been covered in mud due to some playground installation the school is doing.

So I've driven the girls to church a few times, which takes longer by far than walking once you factor in warming the car, buckling in car seats, etc. Penny, on the other hand, has chosen to brave the mud and hope he doesn't go down in his nice suit, tie, and topcoat. Really, we didn't want to drive two cars to church when we live less than 20 feet away from the parking lot!

Anyway, here's his shoe savers - grocery bags tied up around his ankles. There's probably something more official out there that gets the job done, but we're not anticipating mud remaining in our path for too long. In the meantime, don't laugh, just kindly look the other way when you see Penny walking to church with bags on his feet!

Christmas Morning

I know... Christmas was several days ago. I just wanted to share a few cute snapshots of our morning.

The girls had a wonderful morning opening presents and often playing with them for a few minutes before they opened another one. This made for a long day of opening presents, but they had fun along the way.

They both got scarfs "just the right size for me," as Laine would say.

And we got some wonderful books. We've already incorporated The Complete Works of Winnie-the-Pooh into our night-time routine. I'm pretty sure Penny and I are enjoying it and laughing aloud more than Laine. Hopefully she'll grow to love it soon too!

One of Mead's favorite gifts has been this ball popper. As you can see from the picture, Laine enjoys it too and often crowds out the intended recipient of the gift. True to form, Mead sits back and watches, taking everything in and cautiously jumping in when she can.

And though we don't have a picture to show, some of Laine's favorite gifts have been board games: Guess Who and Candy Land. Penny and I grew up playing all kinds of board games, so we are excited to spend some time as a family playing - even if they're a little young for our preference! Laine loves them, and it's fun to watch her get excited about doing well. She's actually pretty good too - we may have a gamer on our hands!

Christmas Eve Service

Christmas Eve as a pastor's wife was a bit different than how it's been in the past. Penny had to be at church early, so I got the girls dressed up for church and out the door on a rainy night by myself. Both girls had colds, so they stayed with me during the service while Penny was sitting on the platform. Thankfully I called a family in the church ahead of time and asked them to help with "crowd control" in the pew. I was very thankful for some extra hands to help with the girls!

Penny was glad to help lead his first Christmas Eve service this year. He gave the children's sermon - to about 50 kids! He did wonderfully, and all the kids loved it. He also got to wear his pastor's robe for the first time since graduation.

Penny went back to church later that night to help during the 11:00 service. Someone had to stay home with the girls - I took that responsibility and laid down to sleep at my normal bedtime! Mead didn't realize that she was supposed to sleep in on Christmas morning, so she and I were up bright and early as usual.

Merry Christmas!

From our family to yours we wish you a very Merry Christmas!! We hope everyone had a wonderful time on this special day when we celebrate God's presence joining us here on Earth. Thank you, Jesus! May you reign in our hearts forever.

Gingerbread house

One of the wonderful things about having Kelly live with us is that she helps make memories with Laine too. I was just beginning to think about doing a gingerbread house with Laine for the first time this year when Kelly mentioned that she wanted to do that with her. So I passed the baton and let her take over. They had such a fun morning together!

You can see the excitement in Laine's face as she enjoyed the candies before putting them on the house. And then she got down to business and started concentrating on where to put each piece.

And of course there's no better outfit to wear while decorating a gingerbread house than a pretty princess dress!

The finished product turned out beautifully. Thanks, Kelly, for helping Laine build her first gingerbread house!

Practice, Practice

Mead is slowly practicing her walking skills. Down in the basement we have several toys that enable her to walk from one end to the other on her feet. She was dragging one of her feet, but now she's pretty good about keeping up the pace and taking quick steps.

She turned 11 months old yesterday, so we'll see when she actually breaks free of the walker and ventures out on her own. Initially I didn't think she would make it before a year, but who knows... this could be a big month in the walking department!

Christmas baking

I've never been into making Christmas cookies, but this year I decided to try something new. Laine and I picked up a few cookie cutters and some sprinkles and went to work.

Unfortunately I didn't realize that I needed to refrigerate the dough for a couple hours before trying to use the cookie cutters! So our first batch produced a sloppy stocking and "melted" snowman and a bunch of round sugar cookies.

Nor did I realize that butter cream icing tastes much better than plain powdered sugar icing. Fortunately I got great recipes for both sugar cookies and yummy icing from friends, so our next batch of cookies should turn out much better!

Good-bye Sweet Friends!

It is with tears that we say good-bye to our friends, the Smiths. Even though we graduated in May, we've still been able to hang out with our seminary friends because we only moved a few miles away. Well, seminary friends don't all take jobs in St. Louis, so now it's time for some to move away.

Corey and Janet were some of our first friends in St. Louis, and because of similar backgrounds before seminary we quickly bonded. We lived across the parking lot from each other for three years, and often one or the other of us would end up at each other's apartments on any given day.

Ty is Laine's first friend - they met when they were just weeks old. They got to hang out one last time yesterday, and thankfully I managed to snap this great shot of them together. I know they will miss each other and all the play dates they've had.


Janet, Rachel, and I have gotten especially close this year. The Novaks will be leaving in May (unless they take a job in St. Louis!), so that will be another sad day. Corey and Janet, we will miss you tons! Thankfully Indy is only a few hours away and phones work great too. We love you guys and pray for the best in your new ministry!!

Musical prodigy

Mead has been disappearing around corners lately. I think a new independent streak is showing itself. Just when I start to wonder where she's gone to, I often hear the piano playing itself. Or so it seems.

In reality Mead is standing on her tip toes hitting just a few keys and loving it! Watch out Mozart, we've got a young pianist on our hands.

A new love

It's finally here! Penny has been saving for months (and then waiting for days once he finally made the purchase) for this bag. It's his new briefcase, satchel, whatever you want to call it. And he's in love! He came home from work right away once it arrived to move out of his old backpack and into the new and much more aesthetically pleasing and long-lasting briefcase.

When I first saw it online I wasn't so sure about it - too rugged? too bulky? Who knows. But I have to admit, it's quite impressive looking now that it's here. As one friend said, "Wow! That's a nice looking piece of leather." Anyway, just thought I'd give a glimpse into Penny's new love. I'm sure you'll hear about it in a sermon before too long!

Sickness abounds

Well, our house has come under attack. So far three of the five of us who live here have been taken down by a severe head cold. Thankfully that's all it's been - no flu or anything. But Mead, Penny, and Laine have all had several miserable days, back-to-back-to-back. It's been going on for over a week now all told. Hopefully Kelly and I will steer clear of the yuck!

I originally took both these pictures for other reasons, but in looking at them again I realized both my kiddos look so ill! Oh well, look past the red noses and glazed eyes and you'll see a cute baby sitting in front of our Christmas tree and an adorable little girl sporting some pig tails that are slowly getting longer now that we're letting her hair grow out a little.

It's Christmas time!

Christmas is coming, and we are looking forward to it! Now that Laine is older and aware of things like Christmas lights and other decorations I felt like we had to step up a bit and help make the house reflect the season.

Though it's small, I'm excited about our outdoor lights. We have to start somewhere, right? And we also got some really cool stockings that I love.


I tend not to be a huge holiday decorator, but maybe over time I'll collect things here and there to help mark each upcoming occasion.

Watch and learn

Many times while I am getting ready I will stick Mead in this corner of our bathroom counter. She is surprisingly content to watch me brush my teeth, comb my hair, etc. It's a lot better than having her crawl around the bathroom floor! She always looks so cute sitting there taking everything in.