365: 141

This morning as I was driving home from work, I was talking to my mom and my niece Mare-Bear. I can't get over how many words she knows and how much she is talking now! She tried to say our names ("Hi Ma-shew, Hi Stebby!") and kept saying "I love you!" It is so hard not be live by your family sometimes but thank goodness for computers, e-mail, digital cameras, and cell phones :). My sister in law and I exchange pictures every Thursday and it makes me feel like I got to see Mare-Bear that week :). Especially the good stuff like this:

Needless to say Mare-Bear cannot be left alone with the yogurt :)

365: 140

What can I say, this was our first taste of a weekend together now that I am no longer working weekends (we had all of Saturday and most of Sunday together) and we were very lazy after we got the house clean and the lawn mowed :). Here are some pictures from a day when we wandered out of the house and to the Louisberg Cider Mill:

(Purple and white, Kansas State colors! Go State!)

365: 139

Vegetarians readers, I would encourage you to look away and move right along to day 140... as for the rest of us carnivores, behold what the Hubs brought home during his grocery shopping:

10 pounds of hamburger that could break your foot if it rolled off the counter! And he was nice enough to mark it off into 1 pound increments for me (and they say chivalry is dead :) ). Now don't be worried that this was a slow news day in our house and I am boring you with a picture of a ground beef weapon, I also wanted to pass along one of the greatest tips I have ever gotten from Works for Me Wednesday. If you freeze hamburger and hate defrosting it, put it in quart or gallon storage bags and flatten it out. It defrosts much quicker and more even in the microwave.

365: 138

Today we headed to awesome place called Wonderscope with our friends Jenny and Davis. We'd set out to go to the KC Children's Museum and after checking their website, we pulling up to a mostly abandoned, scary looking mall with a sign announcing "Kansas City Childrens Museum, NOW OPEN!". We headed inside to find a sign that said "As of August 9th, we have merged with Wonderscope." Jenny and I agree that someone needs to find a ladder and take down the "NOW OPEN" sign outside :). Wonderscope is an old elementary school made into a hands on playing and educational center. The rooms have different themes and the boys had a great time!

(Davis's baby sister is hiding behind the purse, she will be joining the party soon!)

365: 137

Because I worked last night and was catching up on sleep, household stuff, etc, I decided to go back into my archives for today's pictures:
We had a coworker who unfortunately had a rough time staying awake for a 12 hour night shift twice a week and so my friend, Bus Driver Sara and I thought maybe some glasses like this would make her look awake from a distance...really, really awake and maybe slightly alarmed.

But the glasses were no cover for the slumped over posture and the give away "ding ding ding" of someone nodding off with their finger on the keyboard and so our drowsy friend was given the boot. So bring on the coffee, the soda, and the viverin and lets all stay awake at work today :).

365: 136

Just in time for football season, this is what Monkey will do when you say "Touchdown!"

365: 135

I woke up this morning to this:

CANKLES!
Now for an apple shaped fluffy girl like me, the only skinny parts of me tend to be my ankles and my wrists, so when one of those area grows three times in size, I know something must be amiss. However a lab draw and a pregnancy test later, it was determined that a) I was not prego, b) I did not have acute renal or heart failure and c) a little pill as needed would give me my shapely, non-cankle legs back again :). Plus I was told to not go to work, go straight home and elevate my feet. Sounds good to me!

365: 134

It's hard to believe a year ago today, I first saw the face of my little Monkey. I had no idea how sweet his smile would be, what a great father The Hubs would be to him, or how much our lives would change.

I decided the dishes and cleaning could wait today and just spent the day playing with Monkey. We went to the park and I got such joy just from watching him, seeing all of these skills he's learned in just 12 short months, seeing his hair blow in the breeze, watching him study the world around him, and marveled at how much he will grow in the next year and the years to come.

We drove to Topeka and met up with The Hub's family for dinner. On the drive, we reminisced about the chaotic events leading up to Monkey's arrival (long story short, he was 7 weeks early and it was an emergency c-section. I wasn't awake for it and the Hubs was taken out of the room when they thought there would be complications.). We had a great time at dinner with Monkey and his cousins providing the entertainment :). Monkey stayed awake the entire way home and was asleep within minutes when I rocked him. I sat there, holding him and studying his face, his little hands, and thanking God for blessing us beyond what I ever could have ever imagined.
Happy Birthday, my sweet boy!

365: 133

Ahhh, a great lazy Sunday! We got up early and took Grandma and Grandpa to the airport (always a tearjerker) and came home and took turns napping since we were out late with Erin and Ben and Monkey was up from 4-5 a.m for an early morning snack :). Monkey and I had fun playing wtih his new toys, taking his new wagon for a spin, and trying on his basketball romper Auntie Jess got him from her school:

I have a feeling his time spent with the Hubs while I was napping looked a lot like this:

365: 132

Wahoo, it's party day! We had a Saturday afternoon get together with both sets of Grandparents, Monkey's Great Grandma, and our good friends Quasi Aunt Erin and Quasi Uncle Ben. We had chili and watched football, Monkey took a power nap, then we started in on presents and cake!

The second attempt at Monkey's birthday cake came out MUCH better and looked much less like Greg Brady as Johnny Bravo!

Birthday Boy power nap with drum stick clutched tightly in his hand...

And the aftermath of cake destruction :)!

365: 131

We set off Friday to show Grandma and Grandpa Hupp some of our favorite places, including the Deanna Rose Childrens Farmstead. We enjoyed a wagon ride around the Farmstead, beautiful weather, were entertained by the animals, and grossed out by ducks eating poo. Then we happened across this billboard for dairy products with some familiar looking models...

Then we headed to one of my favorite places, especially in fall: The Louisburg Cider Mill. You can walk through and see how it's produced then comes the big decision of if you would like your cider warm, cold, or in slushie form :). I also picked up some Apple Butter for my favorite Apple Butter Cookies.

My favorite candid shot of the day, well hello Monkey!

365: 130

My folks (aka Yo Mama and Daddy-o, aka Grandma and Grandpa, aka Papa and Mimi) arrived in town today for Monkey's birthday party this weekend! We went and got them from the airport, had a great dinner at Olive Garden, and sat around visiting and playing for hours. It's so wonderful to have them here!

365: 129

Oh Happy Day!! I am a huge college football fan, namely Kansas State, but since I work weekends, I don't get the chance to watch the Saturday games as much as I would like. Luckily tonight I got to snuggle up with my favorite boys and see a game since they were playing on a Wednesday. They lost but it was still good times for me :)!

365: 128

What a beautiful fall evening! Monkey sat and watched The Hubs mow the lawn and helped me plant some mums in planters in front of the house.

We found him a snazzy little hat for his big day coming up, it's a good thing we got a picture of it because the next morning we found it pieces of it all over the house...darn cats!

365: 127

Oh stop laughing, it's my first attempt at decorative cake making!
This was my first attempt at Monkey's birthday cake and although I like the shape, I need to rethink the design a little bit...it looks like has side burns and a bad fro...kind of like:

Greg Brady as Johnny Bravo!
Oh well, back to the drawing board...or in this case, the kitchen :).

365: 126

Monkey is so close to walking! He cruises everywhere with his little push toy and we practice a lot going from Mommy to Daddy in the hallway. I can't believe my little guy is almost a year old! I've been overwhelmed with memories of his chaotic entry into the world and how lucky we are that he is here and fine as can be. To think, a year ago today I was in the hospital on bedrest with no idea that he would be coming 7 weeks early. I had no idea of what his face looked like, how sweet his laugh would be, or how you could love a person so much. It makes this year seem like the longest and shortest of my life.

365: 125

Because Monkey was staying with his grandparents, The Hubs asked me if I wanted to meet up for breakfast after I got off of work. Despite the fact that I was going on 24+ hours without sleep, after a 13 hour shift, no speck of make up or a hairstyle to be found, I still enjoyed a romantic little breakfast with the Hubs. I think we are going to have to do a date night more often :).

365: 124

So I was taking Monkey to stay with his grandparents this weekend because I have to work and The Hubs was on call for an install for work (aka: working from home unless called to go in, lots of furious typing, occasional cursing, and multiple acronyms that I don't understand). I was almost to the end of our 1 1/2 hour drive when The Hubs calls and says the install is being canceled due to Hurricane Ike. Since we were there, my in laws offered to keep him for the night and The Hubs could come get him the next day, which was a lot nicer than showing up at their door, saying Hello and Goodbye and leaving again :).

Monkey's new favorite thing is a toothbrush, not only does it help sooth the gums with his two new teeth coming in, it also makes an excellent drumstick!
His future dentist will be so proud...

365: 123

Monkey's Halloween costume arrived in the mail today and we had to try it on for size. Monkey was in no mood for picture taking today, hopefully trick or treating will go better...

365: 122

"We didn’t lose almost 3,000 people that day. We lost one wonderful person at a time, almost 3,000 times."

365: 121

Me and some of my friends have been having fun with a new website called www.yearbookyourself.com. You can photoshop your face onto yearbook pictures from 1950 all the way up through 2000. So I had to try mine first, then I had to do The Hubs' pictures (so I could see what he looks like with hair!), and last but not least was Monkey:

And last but not least, The Hubs as the Happy Trees guy!

365: 120

I got a phone call from my dad today that my grandmother had a heart attack and after a surgery to place two stints in the main artery of her heart, is in the ICU. As of now, she is doing okay and I am so glad that she has 4 of her kids and my Grandpa there to keep her company. I am saying a prayer for you, Grandma! A photo from the archives...my blonde days archive :)

365: 119

I am still in awe whenever I go to this particular Target store. It's brand new, the parking lot is very well lit and visable from a main road and the mall across the street. However, a little over a year ago, Kelsey Smith, a beautiful high school girl who had come here to buy a present for her boyfriend was abducted from here in broad daylight and later murdered. I saw the parking lot survellience video and she did not go without a fight. Every time I am here, I look around and see people and think "How did someone not see her, how did someone not hear her? How could something so terrible happen right here?" And I send a little prayer out to her family and friends...

365: 118

On one of the floors I work on we, we see kiddos with broken bones and external fixators and in traction and other fun devices. A while back we started working on a collection of dinosaurs that had wound up on our nurse's station counter. So far we have C-Collar dino, Halo traction dino (which met the approval of the Ortho docs), and multiple fracture dino:

And joining the pack we have:
Spica Cast dino!

I am still wearing my Ortho boot and as a result, I leave lovely little black marks everywhere I go at work. Not only do I get laughed at that they can here my peg leg coming down the hall, but you can look all around and see where I have been...good job security I guess, it shows that I am not just sitting down all shift :).