My pretty-pretty princess.

Yesterday SJ and I had some errands-so we decided to pop into Old Navy and check out this infamous sale their having on baby wears.

An interesting thing happened. We got back to her section (after shopping for a gift), and she started expressing her opinion. This is the first time she has chosen one color over another or said no or yes.

Wow! I feel a real change in the winds coming... and I'll be reminded every time my little gal wears her aqua jelly shoes-that SHE picked out!

"Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise-the fruit of lips that confess his name. And do not forget to do good and share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased." Hebrews 13:15 & 16 (NIV)

"Let's take our place outside with Jesus, no longer pouring out the sacrificial blood of animals but pouring out sacrificial praises from our lips to God in Jesus' name. Make sure you don't take things for granted and go slack in working for the common good; share what you have with others. God takes particular pleasure in acts of worship—a different kind of "sacrifice"—that take place in kitchen and workplace and on the streets. " (MSG)

Schaeffer Jo's first pony tail

My Grandpa Jerry had a saying about little girls and pony tails... "Katie, do you know what's under the pony's tail?"

I can still hear him laughing as I'd yank out my elastic, "Grandpa!"

Cancun (+Packing fun with SJ)

As you can imagine, packing with Schaeffer doesn't lend itself to keeping too many items inside the suitcase.

Enjoy the pictures.

Schaeffer's 1st fluffer-nutter.

Yumm-O!

It's probably too good to be true...

You know what your mother said...
"if it sounds like it's too good to be true, then it probably is"
Well, that is what's going on here. I'm going to say that we're back in business on the blog, but I guess time will only tell.

As I say this, we're bulging to a family of 4 by tomorrow, so already my best of intentions could be waylaid. And, no, much to my mother's shagrin, we're not having another child.

Have you all heard about Linda? Linda is our new person-our new gal-she has been with our family almost two weeks now, living with Deb & Doug as their Foster daughter. That would make her my sister, yes? Anyway, while Deb and Doug are in Israel, LindaLou will be with us.
Should be a lot of fun.

In addition to the big news about Linda, we've also got big baby news! (see above, to avoid any confusion.) My sister, Nikki and her husband Josh found out the gender of their baby this week!

drum roll please...

It's a BOY! I've been told the name for now is Tobias ______ Austin (I know the middle name, but it's a secret) and they're going to call him Toby. Cute!
Congratulations, you two! We can't wait to meet your little guy in June!

Of course I'll leave you with one SJ story, to tide you over until my next post...

Griffin, Schaeffer and I are all walking downtown St. Joe. In the distance, we can see a large, burly man (in gym clothes) with two dogs, who are barking.
SJ gets excited, saying "woof, woof, dowg, dowg!"
me: "Yes, baby, those are dogs"
The dogs-and their owner get closer. Schaeffer still barking and screaming "Dowg! Dowg!"
Man and yippers (little dogs) now right next to us. Man stops walking, asks if SJ wants to pet the dogs-how nice.
Schaeffer looks up at man sweetly and says, "M-eeee-oooo-wwww". "Kitty."
Man gets red in face. Stomps off.
Me & Griffin: trying not to chuckle.

priceless.

Calling out from the cave!

Yes, we're alive (and relatively healthy)!

I apologize for the GREAT length between this post and the last-I wish I had a better excuse than I simply got out of the habit while on vacation and didn't get back into the habit when we got home.

We've been doing some crazy fun things-all of which I've failed to record for your reading pleasure.

I hope to get all caught up in the next few days... so, bear with me-I'll do my best to not leave out a single zany detail from the last month.

Love to you all,
Kate