10:00 a.m.

Hike in January

The McGregor family decided to enjoy the Texas January weather by taking a hike. We looked up hiking trails on the Internet and found a promising park 20 minutes away that boasted of over 13 miles of hiking trails. We arrived to find paved walking paths around the woods instead of through the woods. Oh well. We enjoyed our picnic lunch, fed the ducks, and "hiked" a few miles before we decided that the weather was a little cooler than we had planned. It snowed the next day.

Fun times!

 Logan, Madison, Joe and I went to a Cleveland Indians game. Grant enjoyed playing at a friend's home! We got a little rained on, but fun was had by all.

Kids coloring. Grant only ate the non-toxic crayons.

BTW, Grant still isn't walking, but he has mastered the stairs! I still get a little nervous and try to watch him when he is going up or down, but he's fast! As you'll see, he kind of slides down--he keeps his left leg straight and his right leg bent just in case he needs to stop (like if he sees something mouth-worthy on the stairs, or realizes that the fun is upstairs).  I just watched the video and can't figure out why it cropped his head off, or how to fix it. Sorry! He also is finally getting more teeth--four are coming in on top. We laugh when we see his tongue rubbing his upper gums--it would be weird to all of a sudden feel something hard and sharp coming out of those baby-smooth (and swollen) gums!

We're still planning to move. Life is feeling back to normal.  The sunshine and warm weather help keep our spirits up. I'm basically finished with my first three credits, and need only three more before September to keep my teaching cert. current. I called the Idaho State Dept. of Ed., and they said I could even take a class I had taken before. Life's not too bad! I actually am kind of excited, and told Joe I could work for a while and he could be the stay-at-home dad while he started up the practice. He quickly turned my offer down... must be he realizes that staying home with the kids isn't all play-dates and macaroni and cheese!

Joe is working away at getting a web page up and figuring out marketing stuff for the practice he hopes to get started in a month or so. Stressful? Yes. But he's excited, and even though we both have doubtful moments, we are hopeful and feel like this move--literally and figuratively--will be a great blessing.  

I'm a Believer...

For the last year we've been hearing about Patterson's apple farm.  I kinda' grew up on a farm, in farm country, and I thought, "apples shmapples."  But while Joe was having some serious  teeth pain, some great neighbors took the kids there and they had a blast.  So we decided to check this place out--and I'm a believer!  We left the house in a hurry (it was our turn to clean the church) and thus a little unprepared for the chilly autumn weather.  We stopped at WalMart and got some $1 hats for the kids and a long-sleeve shirt for Joe (who insisted he was fine in 50 degree weather).  We spent quite a bit of $ on fresh kettle corn, apple cider, apple yummies, doughnuts, and apples (which we picked ourselves).  We got to go on a tractor wagon ride down to the apple fields and back (confession: we went more than once just for fun!)  Definitely tradition-worthy!

Going to the ZOO (again)

We bought a Boonshoft pass this year, so we've been going to the Cleveland Zoo, and reciprocating  museums, on a regular basis so we can get our "money's worth."  Some friends invited us to go with them, and Grandma and Brent came too.  This was the middle of October, and as you can see, it was warm enough for shorts.  We forgot to bring the Benedryl for Joe, but he didn't brake out in hives while visiting the gorillas this time.  We even rode the train.

I love Grant's face here--he looks like an old man who has lost his teeth!

Canning

In the seven years we have been married, Joe and I have never lived closer than 20-30 hours (driving) from either side of our families.  (Joe--TX, Jenn--PA).  Since moving to Ohio we have been blessed to be able to see my side of the family (2 1/2 hrs.) more often.  My parents live in the middle of nowhere.  They own a nice chunk of land, have some sheep and chickens, a big garden, four-wheelers, and tractors.  There's lots of work to do and much fun to be had when we visit Grandma and Grandpa (and Uncle Brent).  In our September visit we canned tomatoes, rode four-wheelers, canned applesauce, watched some football, and canned some more.  (And we took a romantic walk without kids!)  Who knew that work and food storage could be so fun?  Parents are wonderful.  Not only did they share their knowledge of food preservation, but they gave up their Saturday, sent us home with almost all of the day's work, plus 25 bags of corn they had frozen for us during the week, among other odds-and-ends.  I was touched by their love for us, reminded of the love our Heavenly Father has for us, and encouraged to be a better mother to my children.

p.s.  They usually wear helmets when they ride the four-wheelers.  I just caught them as they were parking them back in the shed.  Also, Logan LOVES riding.  Madison is hit and miss.  She was really excited to go out, but then screamed the entire time that she was ready to go back home.  

p.p.s. Yes, Joe is pulling applesauce out of the water on the front porch!  We had apples and tomatoes boiling in the house, so my dad started a gas stove on the porch to do the rest.  It saved a ton of time.

Let's Play Outside While We Can!

Family Photos

It's that time of year!

Joe and Jenn: 7 years

Logan: 5 years (in 3 days)

Madison: 3

Grant: 6 mos

wHew! wHat A suMmeR!

YES, it has been a while! We've been using Joe's laptop from law school, and he turned it on a few weeks ago to the BLUE SCREEN of DEATH, which told us it was DUMPING the hard drive! We got it to work off and on for a few days, and then it said there was NO HARD DRIVE! It took a few days to order a MAC! and now we are re-learning how to use the computer. But that means we can BLOG!! So much has happened, so please excuse the many pictures and the quick recap.


As a family, we've:

• Gone to the zoo (pics below).
• Played outside in the warm (and cold) weather.
• Mowed our own lawn (first time in the seven years we've been married!)
• Planted our first garden, too!
• Been sick.
• Signed up for the library's summer reading program.
• Celebrated Father's Day.
• Slept through the night a little better (hooray!).

Logan:

• Is taking swimming lessons, and loves to swim... (He has been saying he wants to be a farmer for about a year now. On the second day of lessons he asked me if farmers could farm AND teach swimming lessons!)
• Continues to ask the funniest questions (like: why don't they make toilet seats that two people can sit on? Anyone?)
• Loves to learn. We just finished reading Charlotte's Web. Yes, he sat through the entire thing, wanted to read it, asked me continually if we could read more. I think he understood a good part of it.
• Really wants to go to preschool. Tryouts are on Thursday. Cross your fingers for him!

Madison:

• Plays in the baby pool during swimming lessons.
• Got her hair cut--about 6 or 7 inches. First time ever. She was very sad, but what do you do when your hair ALWAYS has food in it, you hate to wash it, and you scream when mom brushes the tangles out? She still looks beautiful.
• Got dad bubbles for father's day (see pic below). We all agreed it was the perfect present!
• Loves summer treats: popsicles, ice cream sandwiches, etc. She could have them more often if she'd eat her lunch and dinner....

Grant:

• Is 3 months old!
• Started sleeping through the night (well, 7-9 hours, between 4 and 6 a.m. I'll take it, though).
• Can roll from tummy to back.
• Had his first cold.
• Started batting at toys.
• Is officially the happiest baby.

Joe:

• Celebrated being the father of three. We love you dad!
• Is excited about growing basil.
• Is extremely busy at work, which is good because he's a hard worker, bad because we'd love summer even more with him around.
• Loves me a lot. :)

Jenn:

• Likes talking to the women at the pool.
• Is happier because she gets more zzz's at night.
• Can skip her own nap and read, play the piano, clean, scrapbook or WHATEVER (blog)! (see above)
• Loves Joe a lot.
• Is trying to do school more regularly with the kids.

HERE'S TO SUMMER AND FAMILY AND A GOOD TIME ALL AROUND!

My happy boy.

After the haircut, and the reason for the haircut (icecream sandwich).

The swimming pool is only 1 block away!

Dad blows his bubbles and the kids catch them.

The cards the kids made for father's day.

Trying to keep the sand in the box. haha.

Made straw necklaces in school. Madi's hair, still long.

Ice-pops better after running in the sprinkler.

It's so fun to hit the water with a bat!

Going to the zoo. Next time we'll remember to bring Benedryl for Joe when he starts to break out in a rash while visiting the gorillas! (True, it's true!)

Playtime.

What Grant does while we play outside.

Splash park.

Totally.