Double Digits

I'm having a little bit of trouble wrapping my mind around the fact that today Lauren is 10 months old. It's not so much the 10 months that have already passed, although they seem to have gone by in the blink of an eye. But it's more the proximity we are to her first birthday that makes my head spin. I'm not sure that makes any sense, unless of course you're a mom who has witnessed this warp speed thing that seems to go on with the small people who have stolen our hearts. Somehow they go from this bundle of blankets that you hold in the hospital to a moving, babbling, amazing little person.

At 10 months, Lauren is amazing me with the things she's trying to do. Here are a few highlights:

• She has strung together between 2-4 steps on enough occasions that I would say is a developing pattern. You can almost see her gaining in confidence and control as the days have rolled by, even just this week.
• She is learning quite quickly how to handle table foods. And the more she realizes what is on our plates, the less interested she is in baby foods. She loves Yo Baby yogurt and actually cries each evening when the container is empty. Interestingly enough, we've seen a resurgence in Joshua's interest in the yogurt as well, so he's been having some after his dinner is done. I knew I should have bought stock in that company when Joshua started eating it! Her other favorites are Puffs and muti-grain Cheerios along with fruit cups of diced peaches and mandarin oranges. She's not loving veggies as much, but we'll keep working on them.
• Sleeping is a disaster. Let me be clear about the emphasis here.....a DISASTER. We'll just leave it at that because of the pain it causes me to even think about it.
• She is trying to mimic sounds now. When asked what a duck says, she uses a low raspy voice and says "whaa whaa". She's starting to pick up on the cow and sheep sounds too. She gets so proud of herself when she's done it, and flashes you this grin.....eyes squinted shut, wide open mouth smile with her one little tooth showing on the bottom. Jason calls her "Tooth" when she does it. I can't get enough.
• Anything her brother is doing, building, drawing, eating, drinking or playing with is automatically what she NEEDS to be doing. It makes Joshua absolutely crazy. We hear a lot of "Lauren, cut it out!" I know that eventually they'll learn to play nicely, but I would not summarize it that way now.
• From a personality standpoint, I would use these adjectives to describe Lauren: Determined. Strong willed. Perseverant. Instigator. Snuggler. Silly. Cautious. Independent. (I'm now wishing I had done this at each month so that I could see how the list has changed. Hindsight.)
  

I had no clue what it was going to mean to have a daughter when Lauren was born. Truth be told, I had actually been praying for another little boy because of the amazing experience that mothering a son had been to that point with Joshua. God truly knows how to bless us best, though, doesn't He? The way I feel about this beautiful little girl is almost too much to describe. So, happy 10 month birthday Lauren!!

And I can't leave you without sharing the picture I took of Joshua the other day. I am embarrassed to tell you that I can't for the life of me remember what it was he was trying to be. But consider it a safe bet that you'd never guess it either by looking at the get up he concocted. There are a million reasons why I love him to the ends of the earth...

We're headed off on an adventure this weekend to Lake Tobias. Something tells me there could be stories to tell before it's all said and done. See...something to look forward to on Monday, right?

My sippy is your sippy.

Pictures were few and far between this weekend on our trip. I'm afraid there's no good reason for it, either. But I did manage to snap one of the girls as they were sharing their sippy cups with each other--- Lauren had swiped Brooke's cup of water from her hands, and Brooke (being the sweet girl that she is) just sat down nicely beside her and began to drink from Lauren's cup. I guess one cup of water is just as good as the next.

And one more of our little mischief maker in action. She loved taking all of the books out of the basket. Lauren is much less of a reading fan than Joshua was at this same age---- and not for a lack of trying on our part. We read every night after baths just like Joshua and I did, but Lauren is more impatient and seems to be more interested in touching the pages and chewing the book than she is about reading it (or sometimes she'd rather be monkeying herself down from my lap or climbing up over my shoulder to touch the ladybugs on the wall). I've started getting some of the texture books for her so that she can be entertained by touching the pages while we're reading. Between that and the Sandra Boynton classics, we're getting at least a few books read to her each night.

Happy Tuesday all!

Baby Steps

I wish I had a few pictures today, but I'll save any good weekend ones for tomorrow. I just thought I'd post a quick update about our past few days.

We headed off to the big city of Lewistown on Saturday morning to spend some time with Nana, Pap, Aunt Libby, Uncle Zig and Brooke. Lauren rode like a princess in her new "pink tank" as Mommy calls it. (I'll try to get a picture of her in it!) The thing is like a LaZBoy for the car, I swear it. I'm still trying to figure out how to fit back there and sneak a ride. She slept all the way to Lewistown with nary a peep...and all the way back home again yesterday. I can hear the Hallelujah chorus in my head! Making the switch to the bigger, convertible seat was a good, smart move. Installing a rear facing seat last week (not easy under the best of circumstances) in 100+ degree temperatures was just about insane, but the ends have justified the means. Thank goodness.

It was too hot to do anything on Saturday, so we enjoyed Nana and Pap's air conditioning while the kids played. There was much giggling. All things considered, the three little munchkins played pretty nicely together. Lauren, I think, is ready to explore some bigger toys since she was enthralled with all of Nana's selection of Fisher Price goodies. Joshua did sneak some big boy time with Pap to hose off his tractor and take a ride, which I think he enjoyed. The only outside time for the kids came after supper when they went out with their watering cans and dug holes in the mulch pile and then filled them over and over and over again with water. And even without serious running around, there were a bunch of sweaty heads when it was time to come inside for tubs.

We slept at Nana and Pap's on Saturday night (all three Dugan vistors in one room.....an interesting set up!) and then went to church at Maitland on Sunday morning. It was a bit of a family reunion, pre-family reunion since that's in 2 weeks, but we had a blast seeing everyone. Joshua was a big boy and went to Children's Church with the big kids while I ended up in the nursery with Lauren (surprise surprise).

Other weekend developments:

1. Joshua spent his first night away from Bear since the puking episode that landed Bear in the washing machine and me with a heartbroken boy with a nasty stomach in January of 2008. We had gotten to Beaver Springs on Saturday morning, about 20 minutes from Mom and Dad's, when Joshua asked me "Where's Bear?" He was at home, where Joshua had left him. I braced myself for tears, but evidently my very reactive, "Bear is at home with Daddy. He's going to sleep with him tonight to keep him company. We'll call to check on him in a little bit, OK?" did the trick. Phew. The two were happily reunited yesterday afternoon.

2. Lauren is going to be a biter. Not good. She has left tooth marks (still only has one) on her brother twice in the past 48 hours. Once provoked. Once not so much. The good news is that I think she's going to be able to stand up for herself...and that's a good thing since Joshua has a tendency to dish it out pretty hard. But the not-so-good news is that I'm not entirely sure how you teach a 10 month old (did I really just say that) not to bite. She has laid down the gauntlet, and I will rise to the occasion.....just don't know how yet.

3. And saving the best for last....we've seen several instances of 2-3 wobbly baby steps being put together by our little girl! I'm not sure how it's possible, but she's gaining more confidence every day. She's been doing a whole lot more letting go when she's standing up, and is starting to let go, turn around, and walk towards us. She's working on standing up without holding on to anything, although that's a pretty tricky skill to master. She's persistent and determined, though. It's just as amazing to watch the second time as it was the first. Go Lauren, go!! We're so proud of you! But can I just ask you, where did my baby go??????

Nothing on the schedule...

I have a list. Actually a lot of them. But at the beginning of the summer, I started a list of things that I wanted to do. Most notably was to give myself permission to sneak away from the office for some afternoons to do some things with Joshua without the juggling act that ensues when we make it a threesome with Lauren. Although I love her with my whole heart, she's not exactly low maintenance at this point (and the more I get to know her, I don't suspect we'll ever describe her that way!).

So I found myself with an open calendar yesterday afternoon and decided it would be a good time to go to the pool. I'm almost embarassed to say this, but Joshua had never been in a big swimming pool. Just hadn't had the opportunity. Although I spent just about every summer afternoon at the Rec Park pool as a kid, situations are a little different since I'm not a teacher and my clients expect me to be around from time to time from June-August. But given his reaction to the pool yesterday...I think I may be playing hooky a little more frequently to take this handsome little man in the crab swimming trunks to the pool.

I fully expected him to be petrified. He was timid, and a little cautious, but he loved it! Thanks to the "swimmy thing" (as he calls it) that Aunt Libby found for him, he wasn't as scared as he might have been without it. The swimmy thing must be the hot swimming item this summer given that about 5 other kids were also wearing them. I was glad....didn't want him to be the only kid who needed a helper not to sink!

It didn't take long at all for him to gain some confidence and begin to walk down the steps by himself. When we were out in the open water, he insisted on hanging on to me for dear life. But, it didn't take long until he was wanting to jump in the water like the other kids. Only once did he do a header and go underwater by accident, but I guess it was good for him to learn to trust that he would come right back up again.

The hardest part of the afternoon? Getting him out of the pool and into the car to go home. Lauren needed to eat. Joshua suggested that we not worry so much about that and stay at the pool longer! So compassionate.

Where to begin?

I have that feeling that I often get when it's been too long between blog posts...like I'm about to set sail on a very disjointed trip between here and there, jolting everyone else along with me. I was well intentioned about putting up more frequent posts last week. I could go on with a list of excuses as to why, but I'm betting that's not really important to anyone, and frankly I don't know that I have the energy to do it anyway. So we'll just move on and make another Monday Resolution (I'm FAMOUS for these) to get more frequent posts up this week so as to avoid this kind of confusion next Monday.

Sleep has been a rarity at our house the past few weeks as Lauren has set out on a mission to kill me. I've always been grateful for the fact that she has been, for the most part, a much better sleeper than her brother. Well, ever since our trip to Benezette (where I fear a few bad habits were created), it's not been a good scene. I've spent more hours half-asleep in the rocking chair in Lauren's room than I've spent in my bed. I've been in a fog, truly. So maybe you should all be glad I DID NOT post over the past week because it likely would have been a big sob story about my exhaustion and perhaps may have included a "child for sale" offer that I would later have regretted.

But life has moved on despite my toothpicks-in-the-eyes-to-keep-them-open state. After all, there are bikes to be ridden! See the handsome man on his big boy bike? He's doing pretty well and has even begun to master the art of braking, which I think we all agree is a good thing. We're quite thankful to have the church parking lot within an easy walk/bike ride of our house, and find ourselves there quite a bit to practice riding where it's open and flat. I hear it's a good place to learn parallel parking too, although I don't think my heart can take the idea of him being big enough to learn to drive, so I won't linger on that.

While Joshua rides his bike, Lauren eats a lot of Puffs and practices her gymnastics stretches from the comfort of the stroller. Doesn't she look intense? She'll be a real competitor, I just know it.



Before I get into the weekend photos, I should report that Lauren had her 9 month checkup at the doctor's office on Tuesday of last week. They were shocked at her growth, but pleased. She had been 13 lb 4 oz at her 6 month appointment, and was 16 lb 12 oz on Tuesday. Way to go Lauren! She had also grown 2 full inches from 25.5 to 27.5 inches. She showed off all of her tricks (clapping, waving, saying "ma-ma-ma"...my personal favorite, standing up, crawling, pulling up, picking things up with her little fingers, etc.). After a good report, it appears that we're going to get to keep her, at least until her 12 month checkup in the fall. The only moment of comedy was my conversation with the doctor about Lauren's sleeping. I should frame it by saying that I was in the throes of the worst sleeping week I've seen in about 3 years, and wasn't really in a good place about it. But when I mentioned that we were still getting up definitely once and usually twice or more for Lauren to eat during the night, he said to me, "You know...it would be better if she was sleeping all night." To which I replied, "Really? I hadn't thought of that." If I thought it wouldn't have been rude to smack him, I might have. He suggested we let her cry it out, but not to let her fuss for more than 20 minutes. (Which sounded like such an awesome suggestion with a touchy 3 year old sleeper about 30 feet from Lauren's crib. Sure.)

Anyway, I was scheduled to be off on Friday to have a little visit from Libby, Nana and Brooke during the day. So I decided that I would try this little cry-it-out technique with Lauren at nap time rather than during the night. So I laid a very sleepy baby in the crib after nursing her for a few minutes to get her groggy. As soon as I put her in the crib, it began. The wailing. But I pressed on. I told her night-night, kissed her little head and left. I sat downstairs trying to drown out the screaming with a little TLC and watched the clock. At 20 minutes, I went upstairs to check on her. She was a mess. A mess. But after seeing that she was OK......heartbroken, but OK.....I went back downstairs. I let this go for another 20 minutes at which point I went back upstairs. She was at that point, gagging and banging her head against the side of the crib, then attempting to climb out. It was then that our little experiment ended in failure. Broken arms (or worse) isn't a good tradeoff for her learning to put herself to sleep. By the time Nana and Aunt Libby arrived, I was frazzled...and Lauren was still exhausted.

We had some very gourmet Spaghetti-O's for lunch and they were a hit. The kids finished up with some of Nana's cupcakes, and were quite happy! They played some Play-Doh while Lauren napped and we unloaded some treasures from Aunt Libby's car that we haven't seen in a while. I had every intention of putting this play kitchen in our office/play room or even down in the basement for a little while, but Lauren has been at it NON-STOP since Friday. It's served as such a great toy for her already that I think it might stay in the living area for a while. We had gotten this for Josh for Christmas right after he turned 1. Already, Laure has played with it more than he did. Brooke liked it a lot too, so it's good to see that it was $60 well spent.

It may appear that Joshua was attempting to strangle his sister, but he was not (at least not at THIS moment). Aren't they cute? Lauren had been tickling Joshua while he laid on the couch with Daddy. There was much giggling.......music to my ears.



And I just couldn't resist posting these pictures of Lauren that I took before church on Sunday morning. She was dressed in the sweetest, girliest pink dress and even let me put a tiny pink bow in her hair. She just couldn't have been any more precious.




But even though I had her dressed up, it didn't take long for her to be back to her usual antics. Her favorite mischief spot in the past few days has been ripping apart the drawer that has my Ziploc bags, Saran wrap, foil, etc. in it. I can't tell you how many times I've found her with Saran wrap all the way across the floor and 50 freezer bags scattered around her feet. The bad news is that our drawers aren't big enough for the little drawer latches (which I now have to return to Wal-Mart), so we're going to have to MacGuyver something. Perhaps Joshua can think of something! HA!



I'm proud to report that I am more together today than I've been in weeks. After a quick rocking chair session at 10:15 last night, Lauren slept until 3:57 this morning. I fed her and she was back to sleep by 4:30. She didn't wake again until 6:30 and played happily while I got dressed for work. After she nursed again, I sat her in her high chair while I ate my cereal. I gave her a handful of multi-grain Cheerios which she promptly devoured, so I gave her another handful. Down the hatch they went. So I followed it with some bites of banana while I was eating mine, and she loved it. So I guess we could say she had her first big girl breakfast with Mommy this morning. She's doing great with table foods, and really seems to be having fun exploring different things. She's still nursing at least 6, usually 7 times a day, but she's adding to that repertoire a little more every day.

More soon......and I really do promise this time.

The summer's first trip to Knoebel's!

As we pulled out of our driveway yesterday to go to church, I saw nothing but blue sky. Not a single cloud. And I knew then that it was going to be way too nice to have an around-the-house day. Shortly after lunch, we all decided that it would be a good day for our first trip to Knoebel's as a family of four. We ended up calling Jeff and Judy to see if they'd like to join us since it was super short notice and we had been talking about making a trip to the park together sometime this summer. Next on the schedule is a combined trip with the Richard side of the family! We left our house around 3:30.





We tried out the third row seat in the Highlander. Let's just say that it's not exactly meant for fully grown adults, but we'll probably be glad we have it when we're hauling around two children and a friend for each of them on a family outing. I'm still having trouble fully extending my legs after riding back there 25 minutes to and 25 minutes from the park.



Joshua had an absolute blast, as he does every time we go. He's getting braver and more daring, although it's not good for Mommy's heart to see him so willing to go onto the big rides. I just know that any moment, my half of his genetic makeup is going to rear its ugly head and he'll be puking his brains out. But so far, that has not been the case. He rode the big Whip with Grandma, the kiddie roller coaster (almost stopped my heart) and a few other rides that weren't kiddie rides. He decided that he wanted to go into the haunted house, but exclaimed in no uncertain terms after leaving there that there would be none of that EVER again. He was repeating to us (but really to himself) multiple times on the way home that none of those things were real, it was just for pretend because some people like it when they feel scared like that. I had envisioned many middle of the night meetings, but I think tired won out over scared last night, thank goodness.





Lauren is still a bit too young for the fun, but she did seem to enjoy the hustle and bustle of the park. She sat in her stroller some, but seemed to prefer being held (surprise surprise). She snacked on some cheerios and puffs, had some baby food and even had a feeding in the car while we were there. She did get to ride on the big carousel with me and she was smiling from ear to ear while we were going round and round.





We got home just in time for tubs last night and had two sleeping children before 10:00. I think it's fair to say that a good time was had by all. Can't wait to go again soon with Nana and Pap and Aunt Libby, Uncle Zig and Brooke!!

One of his favorites-- the mini-whip!
Trying desperately to keep his little rump from sliding across the seat!



In case there's any doubt that he's grown, check out the photos I posted here from our first trip to Knoebel's when Joshua was not quite 2!

We all got a kick out of the fact that, in true Joshua fashion, he spent the duration of the ride trying to figure out how it worked. He'd stare at the gears, levers and mechanics to try to see how it was doing what it was doing. Analytical personality, huh?

Lauren and Grandma enjoying a bench in the shade and a few sips of water.

Helicopters this year.......Helicopters on first trip to Knoebel's!

Riding with Daddy on the roller coaster

The BIG Whip with Grandma...he loved this!

And Miss Lauren, riding like a big girl in the Maclaren stroller. Forgot how much I loved this thing until we got it back out last night. She actually rode better in this one than she does in our big stroller. Next year, she'll get to ride a lot more!


And you can't go to Knoebel's without riding the carousel. I was really stupid and forgot to give the camera to Jason so that he could take a picture of Lauren's first horsey ride. That's what happens to you with Child #2......your brain is so occupied with keeping track of everyone and all of the junk you have with you that picture taking gets complex.

The day that grossed me the heck out.

I am scarily behind in my posting. There's something about summer that just has us going so fast that it's hard to keep up sometimes. And the past two weeks have been a bit overwhelming as far as schedules go.

This past week, Daddy has been on vacation. He took (and passed....YAY!) a major test on Monday morning and then had a few days to play golf and spend time with the kids before we headed off into elk country at Benezette. (Don't miss that post below. Oh how this OCD Mommy doesn't like posts to be out of order, but it couldn't be avoided this time!) Joshua has been so patient with Jason while he has spent a good deal of time in recent weeks preparing for this monster of a test. And the promise at the end of it was that if we could just help Daddy by being quiet or going somewhere without him, he'd be all ours for the rest of the summer.

Jason didn't disappoint after passing his test on Monday. Last Tuesday, he made plans for a special day with Joshua. Of all places, they decided to go to Reptiland. In all honesty, it was 100% fine with me. It's a really cool place that's very closeby, but I have absolutely no interest in ever stepping foot inside the place. My skin crawls just thinking about it. My rules were that there were to be no souvenirs.....nothing dead, alive, stuffed, rubber or in a cage. Daddy did let him bring home a stuffed snake that Joshua has been thrilled to torment me with. He affectionately named his new friend Shakey the Snakey. Jason assures me that it was all his idea.

Joshua's highlights as you'll see in the photos below were touching an alligator and touching a boa constrictor. Gross. Ew. And gross again. Ick. I almost can't look.

The Richard/Wray/Dugan Clan Takes Benezette By Storm

After being away for a few days enjoying the simpler life, I feel refreshed and re-energized. Maybe it's the family traditions of spending quiet, lazy days at Poe Valley that makes me appreciate the beauty and serenity that we've found the past two years in Benezette. Maybe it's just the privilege to be with my parents and my sister, brother-in-law, and love of my life niece for a few days that I enjoy. Maybe it's all of it! There was so much good and so little bad to report from the past few days at Winslow Meadow Lodge. Let's see if I can walk through some of the pictures and sum this all up.

If you ask Joshua what he liked the best about our trip this year, he'll tell you that he liked digging in the dirt and being able to play with his squirt gun. He also shared that he really liked it when Daddy squirted Aunt Libby over and over with the squirt gun because he "liked to see her jump". Not sure if Libby echoes his sentiment, but a few good giggles were had by all parties.

There was lots and lots of snuggling time with Nana and Pap and Aunt Libby for little Miss Lauren. She finally seems to be warming up to the rest of the family, which is good on a number of levels. First of all, I'm glad that she's beginning to realize how cool they all are and how much they love her. Second of all, it's good for my arms to be able to share the burden of holding her. During the past couple of days, there were even a few occasions where I had the privilege of going to the bathroom and taking a shower without having her either screaming her brains out or sitting right beside me.

We spent a good deal of time on the deck with the kids and had a number of activities planned to keep them busy. You see, what we adults love most about Benezette is that there is literally NOTHING to do. You have no choice but to relax. There's no option of going anywhere--- not out to eat, to shop, to wander the town. Once you get there, your odometer on your vehicle is not likely to move one tenth of a mile until you pack up to go home. It's wonderful for adults who are used to the go-go-go that is our normal daily lives. But when you're little, that's the makings of pure disaster. After experiencing a little of what could happen under those circumstances last year, we planned ahead and packed many things that could keep Joshua and Brooke busy and interested. The pool was a huge hit and we spent a good number of hours out there splashing around.

One afternoon we had a "picnic" on the deck. The kids appreciated the change of scenery from eating inside.

Lauren looked as cute as could be in her little pink swimsuit and sun hat. With the 17 thousand layers of SPF 100+ that I put on her pale self, we even managed to leave there without sunburn on either of the kids.

The pool wasn't big, but it was big enough to get wet in, and the kids seemed to really enjoy it. Next year, we'll definitely either need a second baby pool or a larger one. But this did the trick this time!

I lost count of the number of hours that were spent blowing bubbles in the driveway! That big green jug of bubble stuff was all but gone after Brooke and Josh had their fun with it. $10 well spent if you ask me! We are now the proud owners of about 237 bubble wands of every shape, size and variety. So if you're wishing for a bubble fest of your very own, please let me know. I'll be glad to share!

We let the kids paint one afternoon and had the entire deck railing covered with their masterpieces at one point. Joshua can paint for hours on end, and Benezette proved no different than normal. It was Brooke's maiden voyage with paints, but she really seemed to have a good time.

Lauren used the last few days to really perfect her moving around capabilities. She was into everything.....literally. She loved to explore the lodge and found all sorts of trouble to get into. She's walking effectively behind things, and is starting to show signs of letting go of one thing to move to another. She's cruising without effort. We introduced some solid foods to her from our plates this weekend and she really seems to be enjoying that. Cheerios are a big hit, along with pieces of baked potato, peaches and little bites of graham crackers. Is it me or is she growing up just a little bit too fast? (I don't think I mentioned it since I've been sadly behind in my blogging lately, but we have a tooth on the bottom now. She's really working on a second one and I expect it to pop through any day now.)

Looking at the kids this week was almost unbelievable. Last year, Brooke was Lauren's age. Now she's walking and talking and hamming it up all the time. I just couldn't get enough of her, honestly. If Lib would have let me bring her home with me, I would have done it in an instant. She's got to be the sweetest little girl ever! But to think that Lauren will be doing those same things next year, making us fall in love with her even more, I just couldn't believe it. Joshua was such a little man this year---- playing hard, loving the dirt, quietly watching the elk graze in the yard, letting his imagination run wild without anything to hold him back. I was so proud of how he behaved and the way he dealt with the serenity of the lodge. Minus a few little typical 3 year old issues (like reminding him to share, be nice to Brooke, be patient, eat his dinner), things really went pretty well. Whatever amount of energy went into worrying about the kids in the weeks leading up to our trip could have been spent on something else.

Of course, as all good vacations go, we ate way too much. My dad's grill (really more of a smoker) is the stuff of legends...and he certainly did not disappoint on this trip! Our new favorite was a grilled ham and cheese sandwich on his grill that knocked our socks off. Actually, I believe we ate them every day for lunch! He also made biscuits for our breakfast sandwiches on the grill that were to die for. Add to that the hot sausage sandwiches, steaks and halibut fillets that he cooked for us and trust me when I tell you that no one went hungry. While Dad held down the grill responsibilities, Mom certainly had enough other goodies to flash us back to camping days past. We all loved her whoopie pies (as always). Joshua and Brooke especially seemed to love them. Josh has been asking for another of Nana's "whippie pies" ever since we got home. Mom must have worked so hard to think of everything because there was really nothing that we needed that we didn't have at the lodge. It's just like my mom to have everything organized and planned out...and she works so hard to make sure that everything goes off without a hitch. I want to be just like her when I grow up, honestly.

I can't thank Mom and Dad enough for inviting us to be a part of their vacation, and for the opportunity to make memories like this with our "big" family. We're so blessed to have each other, and times like this just make it so blatantly apparent.

Mom and Dad remain in Benezette for a few quieter days without the hullaballoo that we brought to the party. Something tells me that they're having a great time!