Visiting Great Poppie

One of the perks of living in Ohio is being near my Poppie (or Mark's great- Poppie). These pics document Mark's second time getting to hang out with his Great-Poppie---(the first time being when he was 1 day old!). I cherish the memories of watching them together. It was so sweet!!

Loie, Poppie, Mark, and Me

Chris's 25th and Papa's 50th Birthday

I haven't updated our blog in almost a month and quite a bit has happened. We have lots of fun pictures, so I'll let them do most of the talking....

Chris's 25th Birthday:

The festivities for the day began with German pancakes for breakfast. Chris woke Mark up for the occasion. Chris's gift was money for a grill. Both sides of the family contributed to the grill fund. ---He will get to shop for one when we move into a house--- fun, fun!! The evening ended with dinner and (of course) cheesecake....yum!!

Papa's 50th Birthday:

We had a wonderful time celebrating Papa's 50th birthday. It was good to reflect on the godly example and leader he is for our family. Our weekend filled with lots of love and laughter. We certainly missed Aunt Molly, but it was good that Mark's cousins (Olivia, Annabella, and Calvin) got to spend time with her!

Mark's 1st Swim- 7/7/09

We've been blessed with wonderful friends in Cleveland. I remember when we first moved here and our constant prayer request was to find friends. God has a neat way of giving us way more than we could imagine! That said, this summer I've been getting together with my "mom" friends a couple times a month. One of these friends generously allows us to use her heated pool when we get together. It's FANTASTIC!! We all love it--- including Mark. He lounged in the bath-like water for over an hour! It was a great afternoon!

Mark is 4 months old today!!

Wow! Mark is four month old today!! Time has flown by. It is hard to remember life without him even though it really wasn't that long ago that he was a mystery to us. We didn't even know that Mark was going to be a "he" four months and a day ago! Yikes! I was reminiscing of the fun we had with our family and friends the day he was born. The Lord was truly gracious to me by granting me an exciting and enjoyable labor process as well as giving us a healthy baby boy. Thank you to all of you who have shown us massive amounts of love and support in the months leading up to Marks arrival and the months since. We thank the Lord for you!! I have several updates for our blog--- Mark's first swim, Papa's 50th birthday, Mark's first bites of cereal (that was today!!)--- I hope to get to that soon. In the meantime... if you are praying for us, we'd love it if you prayed for wisdom as we raise this little boy the Lord has trusted us with AND if you could pray that the Lord would give us clear direction in our house hunt (whether or not to keep going with it). Thanks!!! If you have anything that I can pray for you... please let me know... Mark is a great sleeper, which gives me lots of time for praying!!

Keene Camp

Keene Camp has been in my family for generations. In short, my grandmother's grandmother bought about 100 acres in the Adirondacks which she has willed to her offspring through a trust. There are several cabins on the property that men in the family have built (my dad is currently working on one). Growing up, I don't think a summer went by when we did not go up to "Keene Camp" at least once. Chris proposed to me on the property...to be specific...it was at the "Look Out"--- that's the cabin built on a hill. It was beautiful!!

Back to this summer --- From Ohio, camp is a 9 1/2 hour drive. With a baby...it was about an 11 1/2 hour drive. The drive was interesting, but we made it and it was certainly worth it. Here are some pics from our week...

Here we are as a family at the same spot Chris proposed and we shared our first kiss. (almost 4 years later) It was fun to reminisce and to have little Mark along.

crossing the bridge on our hike up to the "Lookout"

Mark with his grandma at "Tail o' the Pup"---a fun bbq restaurant.

We have a rule at camp--- "You must put your feet in the brook if you ever want to come back." Here is Mark's first brook experience. We expected him to shriek due to the frigidness of the water, but he actually took it like a champ. He didn't even wince!!

We played lots of floor pong throughout the week-- so fun!!

Mark with his Aunt Kate

Aunt Beth

Mark took a lot of naps at camp. The humming of the brook was a fantastic sedative. Many times he slept along side his Poppie. Here they are after a refreshing sleep.

Uncle Jon was always looking out for his nephew.

Disclaimer: Mark only drove on the driveways on our property. (He's still a bit shaky behind the wheel, so we thought we'd keep him off the roads.)

"Hmm...If I aim just right I might be able spit up right in Aunt Beth's mouth!"

Can you spot the Adirondack chairs in the pic?? -- Don't they blend in well with the wall?

Of course we have many more pics, but we'll stop here.

Good times were had by all!!

First Father's Day

I am a blessed woman to have Chris as a husband and the father of our little Mark. He was understanding and incredibly encouraging during the pregnancy. He made the labor process exciting with his anticipation...(he was giddy with excitement)...and comforted the pain with his hugs and smiles. The Lord gave me more than I could have ever dreamed when he gave me Chris. I see this more each day as I watch him be the great dad that he is. It was easy to celebrate him today, his first Father's Day. To commemorate the occasion Chris and Mark had Father's Day pictures taken...

Aren't my guys handsome??

Mark's 2 Month Pictures

Making Calzones

We like to make calzones (or as our niece's call them... "pizza purses"). They were introduced to us by Jess and Curtis, friends from Chris's work and our church. They are a lot of fun to make since each person rolls out their own and chooses their own toppings. (Not to mention they are delicious!) Mark helped his dad make his calzone this past time.

Mark meets Ashley and Brandon Zangus

Last night Ashley and Brandon Zangus grove up from Pittsburgh to meet our little guy. (Ashley was one of my roommates from college.) We had a great time catching up and introducing Mark!

I couldn't get this picture to lay horizontally :-( Oh well!

Family Bike Ride

For Mother's Day, Chris and Mark got me a baby bike trailer so we could go on family bike rides. Last Saturday we went on our first ride together. We rode to the park where Chris and I played tennis. It was a blast!

Mark wins the Victory Candle

As we said earlier, Mark rolled over for the first time in the beginning of June. That night he received the victory candle for the first time. The victory candle is a family tradition through which we celebrate accomplishments ("victories") in each other's lives.

Mark laughing at his feet

Mark rolls over!

Mark rolled over for the first time on June 4th!!