Opening Day

It's the first day of the basball season. Anna and Zeke wore their Cubs garb to the sitter's. Since she is a White Sox fan, we had to give specific instructions that Anna and Zeke were to come home in their Cubs clothing.

Chillin'

I think it's safe to say they like each other.

And now a visit from Connie and Sarah

Two days after Caleb left for more singing on the road, Connie was in town! Connie came up from St. Louis to visit and as usual, she stayed with her BFF Sarah in Chicago. They stopped in to say hello and get a free meal from us (we ordered pizza).

Anna loved playing with Connie's phone.

Arron didn't score any bonus points with Sarah when he questioned her choice in headwear.

As they were leaving, Sarah was still not happy with the comment and didn't want her picture taken.

Anna waved good bye for both her and Zeke - he was sleeping in the swing for most of the visit.

Caleb came to visit!

Caleb is in the A Capella Choir out of Concordia University - Nebraska. Since they had a stop in Valparaiso, we went to go see them sing. As an added bonus, Caleb came home with us to spend the night!

We came home late and stayed up even later talking. The next morning was busy getting ready, eating breakfast and out the door to make it back to Valpo in time for his bus departure.

But we did manage to take a couple quick pictures.

Train up a child in the way he should go

...and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

Anna's Hog

Okay, so maybe it's really not a Hog, but Anna loves it just the same. Anna and Daddy took the trike for a spin today. Anna's still a little short for it - she has a hard time reaching the pedals, but she's more than willing to give it the old college try. But can she really do a college try since she's not in college yet?

Poor Zeke missed out on all the excitement.

Guess who's been here?

Anna certainly loves her letters. It's nice to see her share with Zeke.

Peek-a-boo

A Mystery

Today I came up from the basement only to find this in the kitchen:

So then I went into the living room and found this:

Recycling

Most of the gear that we're using for Zeke came compliments of his big sister. For the most part, Anna's fine with what Zeke is doing and where he's doing it. But there are times when she really wants to take over - or at least be included.

Bitty Tongue

Zeke has discovered his tongue, so most of his waking hours are spent sticking it out at people (mainly me). Let's hope he gets this out of his system by the time he starts school, otherwise he'll be getting into trouble a lot!

In other news, somewhere in the bowels of our washing machine is a pair of socks, exactly like what you see below. Zeke only wears this pair when you can't see his ankles.

Swingin'

Zeke enjoys his time in his swing - thank goodness for rechargeable batteries!

The Bomber Hat

Last winter we got Anna a new hat for this season. She wasn't too happy when we pulled it out the first time to wear it, but after that first night, she's been pretty excited about wearing it. She puts in on herself - considering that it's a bomber style, sometimes the ear flaps are in interesting positions.

Maybe she likes it a little to much...

Zeke - Two Months

It's been two months and we still haven't lost him. That's good because he's really smiling a lot now. Whoever found him would probably want to keep him for themselves - especially now that he's developing dimples in his cheeks.

Whatever could it be?

Yes, we were out and about last month and realized as we were heading home that kitty was left behind somewhere. While we have 4 of them and generally give Anna a clean kitty daily, there were a couple reasons we were compelled to get a replacement.

First, we felt bad. It was similar to when Tom Hanks lost the volleyball Wilson in the movie "Castaway." Poor kitty was laying abandoned somewhere, seemingly discarded and unloved and we felt horrible (and responsible).

But we also wanted to replace him because we were afraid that whole scheme would come tumbling down like a house of cards. Now that one kitty was gone, we were going to lose a second and a third. That had to be stopped and quick!

The replacement kitty has arrived, and Anna is none the wiser.

We're watching you....

Anna loves to grab a banana and run around with it. If you don't watch closely, she may just eat it - peel and all.

Just goofing around