back by popular demand (a request from one person equates popular demand in my book.  thanks, helen!  ), here are more pictures of the pretty outside.  these were taken earlier this week when mikey and i were playing in the park.  phil was post-call and stayed home with allie.  it’s very unusual to still be in shorts this time of year, but we’ve been having unheard of 80-degree weather lately.  gotta soak up every minute as the snow will be falling before we know it! mikey’s loooves this little waterfall.  he loves to watch the water rush by, he loves to throw leaves and sticks in and watch them float down,…

when we first moved here, we didn’t know a single soul.  phil and i used to say to each other how sad it was that we could die in our apartment and no one would even notice!  that is, until the stink of our dead bodies seeped into the hallway when someone would eventually discover us.  yes, quite a morbid thought. but!  the Lord graciously led us to a wonderful small group through bethlehem where we met seven other young couples.  most of whom had just gotten married around the same time that we did.  though that small group no longer exists, it’s a privilege to say that most of these people are still our…

after working 13 days in a row, phil finally got the day off yesterday.  so, we went to the arboretum to see some fall colors.  it was beautiful!  and the mid-70 degree weather couldn’t have been nicer.  such a happy day to be alive.  and together.  another cool thing was that we got to go for ~free~!  the minnesota libraries have a new program called the “museum adventure pass” where you can ‘check out’ free tickets to different museums/attractions in the area.  the tickets for our zoo trip last weekend were also free.  some pretty flowers.  don’t need to know their names to admire them, right?    mikey and i also got to…

ok, it’s been a few months since these were taken, but here are some pictures from jcp.  we went on two different days to get all these shots, but it was worth it as both photographers we had did a great job!  i was really happy about that since we’ve had stinky jcp photogs in the past.  needless to say, we went a little crazy and ordered A LOT.  but hey, they’re not going to be this little forever, right?  mikey at two years old…   allie at three months old…   brother and sister…   family shot…   allie’s ‘diaper shot’…   my sweet girl.  have i mentioned that i love…

i took allie in for her six-month checkup this past thursday.  she got two shots.     but all’s well with little girlie.  she’s holding steady on her growth chart at 25 1/4 inches tall (25-50%) and 16 pounds 5.5 ounces (50-75%).  we’re still amazed by her baby chubs since mikey was the polar opposite.  he was nearly a year old before he got to 16 pounds! and the day before that, phil actually got home early post-call.  so we took the kiddos to the zoo.  turned out to be a great day to be there as it was very uncrowded and the weather was perfect for walking around outside.  it also happened to be…