Lillia Mae

Our sweet little surprise was born on November 16th. She came into the world a month before we were anticipating, but thankfully was a healthy 7lb 11oz. Chris and I are still in shock that we are cuddling our new little GIRL!! Our transition to a family of four has been smooth and exciting. Mark is a fantastic big brother! He loves kissing and hugging his little sister and he's getting pretty good at pronouncing her name. Praise God for his graciousness to us!!

Ben's GCC Interview

A couple weeks ago we had the pleasure of a quick visit from Mimi, Aunt Emily, and Uncle Ben while they were on there way for Ben's interview at Grove City. We woke Mark up for the occasion. It was especially exciting to see Aunt EMILY because Mark had just learned how to pronounce her name-- "L" and all!!!

33 week belly shot

33 weeks pregnant with our second little one. Praise God!!---only 7 weeks left until we get to meet this baby!!

Happy 30th Anniversary, Mom and Dad!!

We had the joy of visiting my parents for their 30th wedding anniversary. It was a quick weekend, but there is nothing like getting to all be together.

49, 48, 47...

49 Days to go...

We pray that this baby will seek to glorify God with his or her life.

48 Days to go...

We pray that baby Harrington will be a prayer warrior.

47 Days to go...

We pray for a bond of love and friendship between Mark and our new little one.

50 Days

50 days (give or take) until we meet this child we've been dreaming about. Chris and I are both second children. We joke about how there are only 1/2 as many baby pictures of us than there are of our older siblings. I always joke about how I got the blue clothes and the Kid Brother doll while my older sister got the pink clothes and the Kid Sister doll. (You do remember the Kid Sister and Kid Brother dolls don't you???) There probably isn't much truth in our joking but it makes us laugh so we do it any way. That said... we've been particularly sensitive to this baby, our second child. We want to celebrate this pregnancy as much as Mark's, but I have to admit it's much more fun to post pics of Mark's new adventures than it is to post pics of my belly expanding. I do want to document this child's effect on my belly, but I thought a more meaningful celebration of these last 50 days of pregnancy would be to try to post a prayer for Baby H2 each day.

50 days to go...

Lord, we pray for the health and safe arrival of this new child you've blessed us with.

First Masterpiece

For the first time Mark colored more than he ate the crayons. Here is our boy showing off his masterpiece. I'm glad we got a picture when we did --- shortly after this photo was taken he crumpled his picture and politely asked if he could throw it in the trash. His new hobby is finding garbage, showing me, then standing in front of the trash saying "Peaze, Peaze, Peaze"--eagerly awaiting permission to throw away his little treasure. I hope we never forget these sweet moments :-)

Visiting Aunt Molly

During the summer months Chris gets to participate in what his work calls "summer hours." He works an extra hour each day of the week and gets a half day once a week. We have loved this special schedule as it allows for longer family day trips during the work week. Our last summer hours half day was spent visiting Aunt Molly at GCC. We all had a blast together going shopping, feasting on Mexican food, and catching up on all the details in each others' lives.

We love you Molly!! Thanks for a fantastic evening!!

Mark couldn't get enough of Aunt Molly--- lots of hugs and kisses :-)

I Like my Men Clean Shaven :-)

Daddy's Little Helper

Chris likes to take work and turn it into a game. It's remarkably smart because #1: It makes the work fun and #2: It's a great way to recruit people to share in the labor. Here's his new recruit for yard work...

Have I mentioned lately how much I love the boys in my life??

"You are the Light of the World..."

Our sweet little boy is repeating new words every day so we decided it was time to get some Bible verses on CD playing through our house. Yeah for Steve Green's "Hide 'em in Your Heart" CD's!! The song for Matthew 5:14 & 16 has been the prayer of my heart for Mark (and our family). Mark, this is why Momma and Daddy want you to share and to be kind....

"You are the light of the world. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven."

I couldn't decide which picture was sweeter of our little light :-)

Family Fun Fest at Patterson's Fruit Farm

If you live in the Northeast Ohio area and have kids, you MUST visit Patterson's Fruit Farm for their Family Fun Fest. It is a child's wonderland of fall activities: hay bales, mazes, tree forts, crazy long slides, pony rides, pumpkin painting, pick your own apples, riding tractors, etc. etc. We had an amazing Saturday morning!!

a tractor ride takes you back to all the activities

Mark in the tee pee

one of the several tree forts

one of the many crazy-long slides

For $2, we shared an apple fritter as a family---it seriously was bigger than our heads!! And it was delicious.....mm mmm good!!!

Who's that in the pumpkin??

horse drawn carriage ride

Dad and Mark go to get their second round of fresh apples

We let Mark pick out his own pumpkin to bring home. We quickly had to let him know that it was NOT a basketball and should NOT be thrown.

one very worn out little boy

Fun at the Park

The weather has been gorgeous this pre-fall season and we have been fortunate enough to have had the time to take advantage of it. Here is a documentation of our fun.

Idlewood Park

Stow Park: (...Voted by our family as our new favorite park.)

He is doing the zipline by himself!! hanging on by himself!! I was freaking out.

This was the sweetest moment... A group of middle school boys came to play basketball. Mark stopped what he was doing and watched them longingly until they were done.

Sunnylake Park

Family Picture: Mark- 17 1/2 months, baby H2- 27 weeks

On the way home Mark discovered his nose...more specifically, picking his nose. He would stick his finger as far up his nose as he could then break into hysterical laughter. We regrettably encouraged his shenanigans with our own laughter.

He also learned the more useful skill of saying "cheese" for the camera. We'll settle for one good habit learned in exchange for one bad.

Elite Keeper League Draft

Once a year Chris's friends from college get together to daft for their Elite Keeper league. This year we had the pleasure of hosting the draft. The crew is rapidly expanding-- 2 new members of the league were voted in for this year: Jason Spanogle and Dave Crosby... AND... two babies are on the way (The Pearce's little one and our little one!). It is such a delight to have everyone together and to catch up on laughter. I may joke that these boys take this league WAY too seriously (a binder of official rules?!?); however, I'm glad they do because it ensure that we will have these special weekends filled with memories.