Already, I wonder where the time has gone. Today, August is 3 months old, and he has commemorated the day by laughing for the first time. This morning, as I was kissing his little neck, he totally surprised me by sort of giggling and chuckling at the same time! I laughed myself, it was so surprising! I then spent the next 30 minutes tickling him gently, doing anything I could to elicit that precious little laugh. He loved it. What great timing he has!

It is also notable that this time in Brooklyn's life, I had to go back to work, so she started spending the days with DD. I had enrolled Brooklyn in daycare, but we wouldn't have a spot in it until she was six months old, so she spent months 3-6 with my mom during the days. It's NEVER easy to leave your kids, but I felt better knowing she was with my mom. I still hated to leave her. It killed me, knowing I was missing out on things as she grew and developed.

This time, I haven't had to count down the weeks to the end of a maternity leave. I'm here for my Brooklyn and August indefinitely. I get to be the one who sees August do all his firsts and Brooklyn, the rest of her firsts! I can't tell you how special that is to me, especially having experienced the other side. I really did love working full time. I had the greatest job in the world, and had I not these two precious munchkins, I'd be there working my tail off again, still loving it! But God has so greatly blessed us with these little olive plants (see Psalms 128) and I wouldn't change a thing. For now, this is where He has me, and I still get to stay a part of DD&F on a contract basis. God is so good. I'm living proof that our ways and plans are not necessarily God's ways and plans, but if we surrender to HIS plans, we'll be so much more content than if we force our own into existence.

In case you miss the Fair this year, I am making sure you get a glimpse of those cute little pigs streaking down the sawdust track in hot pursuit of a single Oreo cookie. Brooklyn looks on with utter seriousness.

As I was blogging the other night, I googled Charlie & Lola, one of our absolute favorite cartoon shows/books. On their website, I discovered games and some clips of the show which IMMEDIATELY caught the attention of Brooklyn who knew exactly who those British accents belonged to. She crawled up on my lap and begged to see more and more. I worked on teaching her how to hold the mouse, using it to navigate across the page and even to color on a coloring book built into the Charlie & Lola website. She had so much fun, and I confess, so did I. If you know anything about C&L, you'll know they are a hilarious brother/sister duo. Lola is a fiesty little thing and her big brother is so patient and kind with her. I think Brooklyn identifies with Lola, or maybe I just identify her with Lola. Here are some pictures of her attempting to master the mouse.

This is what our bed looked like early Sunday morning as we reluctantly dragged ourselves out of it to go take care of our nursery kiddos at church. It doesn't start out with all of us in it, but by the time we wake up in the morning, we're all jammed in there together. Snug as bugs in rugs.

Every year around this time, this kerfuffle of an event moves into town and brings with it the eternal conundrum- is it really worth it to go?? We all know the answer is no, but it still presents a dilemma. Particularly when the fan base (my kids) are so little. And as it turns out, too short. Well, August wasn't in question, but Brooklyn has yet to reach the magic height required by most kiddie rides: 36 inches. She is 35 inches. Dern.

Initial thoughts of the fair conjure up several things: cool, fall nights, ferris wheels, fair food(!!) such as corndogs, fresh squeezed lemonade, monstrous turkey legs, fried candy bars, cotton candy and caramel apples, stalls of sheep and cows (always a favorite of mine) and of course we can't forget the biggest attraction of all - the hordes of scudgy people who come from nowhere to attend the fair. Seriously, WHERE do these people come from?

Yesterday, Kyle and I faced such a dilemma. Most of my family was planning to go, and they wanted to get as many family members there as possible, with the thought that it would be good family bonding time. More on that later. For over an hour, we wrestled with the cost, the exhaustion we knew it would bring, the foods we knew we shouldn't consume, the hassle we knew it would be...and yet, we found ourselvs agreeing to go. In spite of all the cons. We didn't tell Brooklyn where we were going, not that it mattered. She has no idea what "Fair" means. As the rides and attractions became visible beside the road as we pulled into the field turned parking lot, she gasped and said, "What is THAT!!!??" Well, Brooklyn, that is your evening!

After walking excitedly with other fair-goers to the ticket lines, the inexplicable excitement that the Fair brings swept over us. We purchased our tickets and were swept through the doors with the crowd! And immediately Brooklyn fell silent. It was just pure and simple sensory overload. She had never in her life encountered more flashing lights, moving bodies, clanging machinery and smells in her young life.

We quickly discovered that Brooklyn was too short for all but about 2 rides, which turned out to be ok. She screamed and cried on the little bulldozer ride as it whipped around its turn. (It did go faster than I would have thought...) And even the familiar carousel didn't seem to excite her. She alternated between crying, clinging to Kyle and trying to wave at me and her Uncle Michael cheering for her from the sidelines. But she did enjoy the pig races. Who doesn't!

The funny thing about the "family time" thing is that from the beginning we had trouble locating my family members. No one had their cell phones, except for Michael who ignored our first 10 calls. When we did meet up, we quickly split up to do our own kiddie things, Michael and his friend, Jessica joined the Floyds while the rest of the group hit the adult rides. So, there goes the family time. We didn't see each other again until several hours later.

In the meantime, we perused the attractions along the midway, searched forEVER for fried candy bars (finally found them a few minutes before we left), petted some sheep, admired the cows, gawked at the people streaming around us, and generally wore ourselves out. It was all the Fair should and could be. Not worth the money, but still fun.

Just a little glimpse of August in his over-alls.

A semi-family photo on a Friday afternoon. Semi, meaning Daddy's still at work.

I have MORE than gotten my money's worth with my Peanut Shell sling. I wear the thing all the time. If August is the slightest bit fussy, I just plop him in it and all is well. In fact, he's gotten to the point where I lay him on the couch or some other relatively soft surface to don my sling, and he immediately calms down upon seeing me straighten out the folds and slip it over my shoulder. It's as if he knows that his snuggly time with Mommy is imminent! But my favorite and my best, as Charlie and Lola would say, is when he cranes his neck back for the sole purpose of gazing into my eyes and smiling at me with the most smitten of expressions. And let me tell you, this admiration is so mutual. We get lost in each other's smiles and coos. I will be honest here and tell you that I was less than enthused at the thought of having a boy. (I didn't know in advance WHAT I was having). I was just so used to having a little girl that I couldn't imagine enjoying a little boy as much. And I know, there are still things about little boys that I do not look forward to - I know boys all too well, having been raised surrounded by them. BUT, what makes THIS different is that this little boy is mine, all mine. And we adore each other. And there's something about it that is unique to my adoration of Brooklyn. Brooklyn and I are more like two pieces of a whole, while August is like something different that has completely soldered itself to me and now I can't imagine not having it there. He rounds me out somehow. I look at him and am just smothered and drowned in waves of love. Kyle has expressed relief at my love for this little fella. I guess I was silly to worry. When you carry a child inside you and pray over that unborn life more minutes out of the day than not, than you just have no choice but to be consumed with love for that baby once they're born. And that is definitely the case here.

A little over a month ago, I received an email from a girl I knew in college. I hadn't talked to her since we graduated, and was totally delighted to see her name pop up in my inbox! Back in college, during our junior and senior year, we had been in a Bible study together and I'd always really liked this girl. She was thoughtful, intelligent, had an incredible heart for the Lord and a desire to grow in her knowledge of Him and relationship with Him. A person with serious depth. But it was one of those things that as your college life speeds to its conclusion, other things crowd out your best intentions, and I moved back home with no way to keep in touch with her. Almost 10 years later, this random email sparked the renewal of that college friendship.

Turns out we both have 2 kids, a girl and a boy, of similar ages. Her daughter, Hollis, is 3 1/2 and gets along great with Brooklyn! Her little boy just turned 1 and someday, he and August will be able to leave a trail of destruction behind them together. Emily and I have turned our reunion into a weekly playdate where the kids benefit from kid time, and she and I slowly fill in the blanks of our lives. Our sentences are frequently broken as we rush off to prevent a baby from eating a candle or to give our girls a snack, and it's taking longer to cover that ground than I would have thought, but it does give us continued excuses to keep seeing each other!

Speaking of that, it is seriously hard to really have an adult conversation these days. And it's not just with Emily - with anyone where the kids are present. I wonder if every other mom has this problem...even if your mind is focused on the conversation you're having, your attention is splintered by thoughts of where your kids are...what they're into now...does the silence indicate they've just found your makeup bag and are painting the walls with lipstick? I really hope normal conversations can resume one of these days. But I may be wishing away my kiddo's childhoods and I certainly don't want to do that.

Anyway, I am so glad to have my weekly moments with Emily and her kids. I know Brooklyn looks forward to her girl-time with Hollis!

One evening this past week, whilst my brother Chad and I pored over our Bible study notes in preparation for the next lesson, Brooklyn had the chance to do some hanging out with two of her aunts, Melissa (in blue) and Lauren. Two very wonderful girls that I'm delighted to call sisters. They are both each other's best friends and have been for YEARS, grew up and, lo and behold, married two Dennis brothers.

These are definitely times that test your faith. And not just in the sense of questioning what you believe about God or is there a God. We say we believe God is in control, or at least I say that. And as cliche as it sounds to even type, it really is easy to live like we believe when times are good. But say the DOW dives below 10,000 and your stock portfolio's daily change is displayed in bright red negative numbers. And you know it's not cause you picked bad investments, but just because there is so much uncertainty out there that people are panicking and pulling out their money and it's dragging you down with them. So you hem and haw and almost click "sell all" a thousand times, but hold on to some and then do sell some and still you wonder, will it drop more tomorrow? What if it does? Come ON! And then I remember who the money all belongs to, and it's not really me. Not, it's not Uncle Sam, either, although he seems to think he has rights to it all!

But dern it all, if it doesn't all belong to that same God whom I profess to trust in. He says the cattle on a thousand hills are His, and so they are. And if cattle was the currency of the day, then in modern language He'd say every single penny moving up and down and around the globe belongs to me. And so it does. Which makes the volatility a little less frightening. Because if He is who He says He is and He does what He says He'll do, then He'll take care of me. He promises to do so. And my job is to be the best possible steward that I can be (which still is no easy task) and to not join the mass of panic. To literally possess something called "peace which surpasses understanding." It goes without saying (yet I still say it), that exhibiting peace in today's financial crisis will most definitely surpass the understanding of everyone around you.

So, I sit here tonite, calling on the accountability of all those I call friends, families and a few strangers and tell you that I do believe this God of mine. He's come through in miraculous ways before. And if the world reaches such a state that we all go become beet farmers in rural America, then we'll have to learn to be content to eat lots of beets. They do have nutritional value, after all...

Ok, so these days I really am only a contract employee, but somehow, it seems to keep me plenty busy. Which is good at times and bad at times. Yesterday, August would NOT be content away from the warmth of my body, so I put him in his sling and sat down to work. He promptly fell asleep (after the picture was taken). Behind me, Brooklyn busied herself looking through books, playing with August's baby toys and just creating general mayhem. She got a reprieve when Uncle Michael stopped by to say hello. They played together (it was hard to tell just from listening who was 2 1/2 and who was 23) for an hour or so supposedly to let me get some work done. I think I scolded the two of them for running and screeching more than I would have two little toddlers! But it is always good for Brooklyn to play with her big uncles, so I'm not complaining.

Kyle had to attend a dinner for work - and it was at some fancy seafood restaurant...ah the perks of employment. So it was just me and Brooklyn for dinner. I pulled out my Accidental Vegetarian cookbook and whipped up some blueberry pancakes - made with cottage cheese (and I threw in some flaxseed). Brooklyn is crazy about blueberries, so I was lucky to salvage some from the bag before she consumed them. Here's a shot of the pancakes in the making.

My mom called me this afternoon to let me know about a "can't miss" estate sale. This house contained more glassware than I have EVER seen in one place. This woman must have been either a compulsive shopper or a compulsive collector. Tons of milk glass, fiesta ware, carnival glass, and I can't even begin to identify the rest of it. This woman apparently had her attic filled to the top with her glassware collection. I could have spent a ton of money there, but was limited by space in my own house. And I'm not yet to the point of filling my own attic like this woman. But I did manage to walk away with some very cool items for $30! I was pumped!

Is there anything more yummy than these sinfully sugary delights? Not this time of year...unless it's caramel apples...

Went kind of crazy experimenting with Kyle's camera yesterday. Using filters and adjusting the flash levels. I have no idea what I'm doing, but it was fun to experiment with my happy little subject.