Shoes

Madilynn has been all about shoes lately. When she remembers she'll go and get into mine and Michael's closets and start trying on shoes. It's so funny! I caught her and was able to get a few pictures and a video a couple of weeks ago. Daddy's cowboy boots...

Here's a video of her with my dress shoes!

I realized we don't get any pictures of her sleeping anymore. Napping with Daddy this weekend.

I painted my toenails this weekend and Madilynn wanted hers done too. Here's the result...so cute.

Pretty toes!

Joy

It's me again. This time I thought that I might be a bit more serious in my post. So if you are allergic to smelly sticky sappy stuff run now before you get a nose bleed. Miranda doesn't know that I'm posting this.

I was inspired by watching the movie Juno the other night. It got me thinking about how precious life is. I wanted to write my thoughts down about my daughter. Her 2nd birthday is coming up and I'm not ready. I want her to be as little and sweet as she came out. I feel like it was yesterday when we found out we were expecting. I remember when I first felt her move in Miranda's tummy. I was so excited I almost wrecked the vehicle in Greenland. I cry when I think of all the things Madilynn has done and will do.

Lately I've been really busy with school/work/research, but everyday I come home she smiles the biggest smile and I melt. She says "hey" or "hi" and screams "Daddy!" She is getting so big. I'm afraid I'm missing so much. Miranda tells me all the cool stories and activities they are doing. I miss napping and watching football in our white T's. I pray she accepts Christ as her savior and follows Him all of her days. I pray she marries a godly husband and remembers the things we teach her.

I remember all the silly stuff I did to entertain her and keep her from crying. It really has brought me to a new level where I don't put myself first. I appreciate how I'm humbled everyday. I remember tricking her into eating carrots by switching to sweet potatoes in between bites. I love tying her shoes and giving her a bath. I know one day it will stop but I'm going to enjoy it for now. She is our baby and I love her. Thank you Miranda for all the sacrifices that you went through and what you endure today. God has truly blessed our lives. We have the best support group.

Grandparents thank you for your patience and wisdom, Friends thank you for your kindness, Family thank you for your generosity

Well enough of this sissy stuff. Go Hogs Go.

Family Visit

Check it out. Big Bad Dad MP is making a post. I really wanted Miranda to keep doing this but I thought I would give my artistic side a chance to shine. She has been shaming me for a couple of weeks maybe after reading this you can convince her that she needs to be making the posts.

Let's check in on our Arkansans that we transplanted in Iowa. It is said they always make it back to their native home range. So far the transplant has been somewhat successful with a few migrations back to Arkansas each year.

The vegetation is quite thick this time of year. Watch out for poison ivy.

Breath taking natural beauty.

Look! We've spotted them. Here is the Large Hairy Back Male exploring the park.

Interesting some of the original troop from Arkansas came for a visit. Memaw, Pepaw, and Uncle G have come for the weekend.

Ladies and Gentlemen, here we see the Grand Matriarch (Memaw) showing her grandbaby how to throw rocks in the water at Ledges State Park. Fascinating! Oh look, as we pass through the park you will see the transplant troop congregating at the water hole (Des Moines River). We see that the troop is made up of the young one who I've named Madilynn and the parents (Miranda and Michael). I feel as though I'm becoming one of their troop.

Madilynn is now running down hill. Oops, I think she has detected our presence. Let's back away so as not to alarm her.

Madilynn is advancing everyday. She has mastered the jungle gym.

Isn't she sooo cute!

Kisses, Uncle G?

Oh you made her sad!

Madilynn is very keen on our presence. It's as though she is pointing at us.

Funny faces!!!

She's played hard this weekend. Time to go night, night.

Labor Day Weekend

On Saturday we took a trip to the Omaha Zoo. We had so much fun! We spent several hours at the zoo and we didn't even get to see everything (an excuse to go back sometime!). Madilynn enjoyed seeing all of the animals. Here are some pictures from our day...

Madilynn wanted her Daddy. She was a daddy's girl all weekend.

Pointing to the fish





Petting the goats
Here are the gorillas. It was crazy being so close to these animals with just a piece of glass in between us. I guess this gorilla is stretching his legs.
This gorilla was funny he started picking his nose and then putting his finger in his mouth. Everyone was saying "Ew..gross"


On Sunday afternoon we took a bike ride at the park. About half-way through our ride we stopped where we could walk to a large pond in the center of the park. We had never gone to the water before, we normally just ride our bikes on the trail around the water. Madilynn enjoyed our time there and didn't want to leave. She liked throwing rocks into the water.

Here a some videos from our weekend. The first two are from Sunday at the water. And the last two are from the Zoo in the Aquarium. They had a tunnel that we walked through with the aquarium all around us. There were even sharks. That was a little crazy too, to be so close to the sharks and large fish with glass all around. Hopefully you'll be able to tell from the videos.