A Swing & Some Patty Cake

John's cousin's daughter had her second birthday party last Sunday. It was such a beautiful day, we were outside most of the time. They have a swing set, so Julia got to try that for the first time.

You can't see her, but she's smiling at Grandma Marlene.

Higher, Daddy, higher! What a cute smile! She would close her eyes when it went fast.

Her expressions crack me up sometimes. That little sideways look... what is she thinking? I often wonder.

Julia's favorite game with Grandma is patty cake. She always has big smiles when you do it with her. She can even bring her hands together herself if no one's paying attention, but when you draw attention to it, or try to get her to do it for someone, she just smiles and looks at you. Goofball. But I do catch her doing it when no one is around. It's adorable.

Very Vera (Bradley, that is!)

For those that haven't heard of Vera Bradley, you have now! They're cute, quilted, colorful purses and accessories. But, unfortunately, also very pricey. No problem for us! We took a road trip to Fort Wayne for the annual Vera Bradley inventory sale. They have a lot of overstocks and retired fabrics or styles, with prices slashed 40-70% off. We had a blast. There was a huge gymnasium-type room in a convention center packed tight with tables upon tables stacked high with piles of Vera. Not to mention mobs of purse-crazy women. I like the stuff, don't get me wrong, but some people are just over the top! I packed Julia part of the time because it was hard to navigate the stroller. (Plus, I must admit, we had the stroller full of all our purchases by that point. No room for the poor baby!)

I carried Jules, and she carried a purse. Hardly seems fair, does it?

We had to pose with our purchases outside.

My Aunt Kathy, Mom, and Janis made the trip. I won't tell you who spent the most. (Cough, Kathy, cough!) Hee hee hee. Sorry, I couldn't resist!

Mud, Mud & More Mud!

It's officially spring! I know this not because of the green grass, budding trees, or blooming flowers, but because of the emergence of one particular muddy Jeep. John made his first off-roading trip of the season to Badlands Off-Road Park in Attica, IN, about an hour south of here. His friend Brian Mola accompanied him, but if you're wondering how he got talked into that, you'll have to ask him! They went with some others from a club we belong to called Northwest Indiana Jeepers. Julia and I decided we'd let Daddy have a fun "guys only" day, and not tag along this time. Boy were we glad we made that decision. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the Jeep in the driveway, or saw them for that matter!

They started out innocently enough, climbing some rocks and posing for pictures.

But it wasn't long before they found the mud. This wasn't the particular spot that did them in, but a good photo, nonetheless.

Here is shot after the damage was done. I was told that "it didn't look that deep" (famous last words). Had they been driving with the doors on, they would have been fine. But... what fun would that be? They said that as the Jeep plowed through the mud puddle, it created this wave of mud that came around and in both sides. Note the mud level in key places like the gear shift console, or the fender flares. Keep in mind that the Jeep also has a lift kit and big tires.

Beautiful Mola! Congratulations on your blog debut. Well, your butt's debut at least! At least John was kind enough to warn you to wear old clothes!

The problem with this particular mud was it's authenticity. I must admit that sometimes we take awesome pictures and make the Jeep look impressively muddy when it's really nothing more than dirty water. But this was the real deal. According to John it was "pick-it-up-and-throw-it" mud! For this reason, they had to "bail out" by scooping one tiny cupful of mud at a time.

That's one ginormous puddle!

The best thing about Jeeping is that the fun isn't over when your day of mudding is through. The next day, you get to spend an equal or even greater about of time cleaning up your mess than it took to make the mess the day before. Much of the damage was beyond fixing this time. We said good-bye to the carpet above, which no amount of pressure washing could restore. I say good riddance. Notice his extra pair of shoes, and in front them, in an unrecognizable muddy heap, his favorite hat. When he held it up to show me, and told me what it was, I died laughing. But would you believe, it cleaned up in the wash and looks better than it ever has! High quality Army gear! His radio also stopped working after this trip. He ordered a new one today, a waterproof boat radio, good thinking Mehok!

The last casualty he's discovered so far is his alternator. It's still under warranty, though, so that's a blessing.

No, those aren't freckles. After a long day of power washing, he was again covered in mud. Only little speckles this time, though!

But after all is said and done, when you ask the man if he has any regrets, he would tell you he'd gladly do it all again tomorrow! Boys!

P.S. The aforementioned Brian Mola has since asked for his girl's hand in marriage. Yay Christie! Great job on the ring selection dude, and the pirate proposal! Congratulations to both of you!

Ten Years Ago

This picture was taken ten years ago this July. Amber Kepple, Jessica Gulley, and Meichelle Bagwell, all friends in youth group together. I'm going to make myself sound old, but it feels like yesterday! At 14 years old, I don't think I could have imagined where we'd all be now. Amber and I both married our youth group/high school sweethearts and stayed close to home. Meiche, always being the adventurer of the group, went away after high school and found the love of her life. She was in town last week and we all managed to visit long enough to give hugs, pass kids around, and take some pictures. It is so cool to see how far we've come!
Reverse order this time: Meiche is first with her husband Brian and son Christopher, then me with John and Julia, and Amber with her husband Blaine and daughter Autumn.

Useless fact: Each of our babies was born at exactly 8 lbs.

(I love interesting, yet useless facts, hee hee.)

Here & There

These are some pictures I took here and there over the last month. Enjoy!

Catch the water! The cup has holes in it, and when I let the water drip down on her, she reaches for the water and tries to grab it instead of the cup! Love it!

We were out to eat one evening and Julia was not cooperative at all. She was tired earlier than normal that night and she let us know it! I ended up standing up with her while Mom and Kristen ate so she wouldn't scream and annoy all the fine people in the restaurant trying to eat in peace. So, when Kristen finished eating, she kindly took her so I could speed-eat my chimichanga. And being the master Aunt she is, Kristen got her to sleep and even managed to sit down and not wake her. Thanks Auntie K!

We had dinner at Tony & Marlene's to celebrate all the April birthdays in the Mehok family. Tony tends to be camera shy, so this was a good photo op!

Who wants to kiss this adorable pruney face?! Julia is steadily making her way through "solids". She's had squash, grean beans, peas, carrots, sweet potatoes, pears, bananas, and prunes. Only applesause and peaches left and she will have made it through all the Stage 1 veggies and fruits. (You can only introduce one new one every four days or so to check for allergies.) Stage 2 foods will have combinations, so that will be fun. Another update: Julia has one little tooth poking through on the bottom. We're seeing a little more of it all time, and it looks as though his next door neighbor is right on his heels.

You should see Julia play, now, it would crack you up. Like a little monkey, her feet are as involved as her hands, usually. She'll have one toy in her hands, and be playing with another with her feet. This one she can kick and hold the string at the same time! The funniest thing, though, is how she rolls. She travels long distances now, simply by rolling over and over in the same direction until she gets what she's after or gets stuck. I can put her in the middle of the floor with no toys and she will roll over to her little toy basket, tip it over, and be surrounded by toys in the time it takes me to go to the bathroom. I crack up when I come back and she looks like that picture above, happily playing with a mess of toys spread everywhere. Balls are particularly hilarious because when she tries to grab one, it rolls away, and she has to keep reaching and rolling to get it. In spite of all the frustration they cause her, she never gives up on them. The not-so-funny aspect of this new trick is how frequently she needs rescuing. If the distance to her desired destination requires an even number of rolls, all is well. BUT, if it's an odd number, then she ends up on her tummy when she hits the wall (or coffee table, or whatever), usually with one arm still stuck underneath herself, and she shrieks until the situation is rectified. Not so funny if I'm trying to accomplish something like laundry or cooking. Especially not so funny when she continues to do it over and over, after every time I set her straight. Some motherly instinct is telling me that this isn't going to change as she grows up. Even as she gets older, I know she's going to get into trouble in spite of my warnings, sometimes making the same mistakes over and over again. My job is to keep teaching her the right way, and keep standing by to correct her when she makes another mistake. And above all else, to keep loving her through it all.

Playin' Outside

I can't tell you how nice it is to let my poor baby breathe some fresh air and see the sunshine. Mere weeks after she was born, the weather turned cold and she's been cooped up inside for most of her short little life. Welcome spring!

On this particular day, I came home from work and Julia was playing in the garage while Daddy worked on his Jeep. Good thinking Daddy!

On another nice day, I parked her out on the deck so she could watch John do some work out back.

We all went for a walk this week and she was asleep about five minutes into it. I love how she's still holding onto the toy though!

Kick back and relax, put your feet up! She almost always has at least one foot up when she's riding in the stroller. Nice hat Jules! She's thinking about pulling it off, can you tell?

Coming soon...

The updates are coming soon, ya'll, I promise! It's driving me crazy that I haven't been able to find the time to do it. In fact, just now I had to go into the other room to get Jules because she rolled herself into a corner and was screaming hysterically because she was stuck on her tummy. What was that, two sentences into the "sorry I'm procrastinating" blog, and I'm already interrupted? Goodness. I have a long mental list of all the posts I'm planning, though. That's the trouble... I haven't posted because we've been so busy, but I also have more to post because we've been so busy! Soon, I promise. Right now I have to feed Julia dinner and get off to Worship Team practice. Later!