Vivian Rolls Over

Starting yesterday, Vivs has been rolling over every time we stick her on her tummy.  She still complains like crazy while she's doing it, but she's doing it.  We'll take it! 

First Solids

Overall, things went fine.  She definitely prefers a more soupy texture.  The tears came when I tried to give her a thicker bite, crazy girlie.  I think it scared her.  I'm curious to see how her particular-ness regarding eating will play out with solids.  I probably should start amping up those prayers for patience now!

Baby Vivian

Vivian Lorraine Bumgarner

May 21, 2013

9 pounds 14 ounces
21 inches long

Pioneers Park + Halloween Pics

We spent the afternoon today at Pioneers Park soaking up some of the gorgeous wild and windy fall weather.

It was so much fun! I can't believe I've never been there before - probably because I'm not really much of a nature girl at heart - but we'll definitely be going back...often! The girls were in heaven. Iris is always at her best when she can roam and explore and seek little adventures. And she's really into wild life at the moment, although we didn't actually see any except for one ginormous moose (elk?), and him only from afar poised majestically on a hill. The park also houses a small number of buffalo, but sadly, much to Lydia's disappointment, we didn't get to see any. She was hoping to meet some of Buffy's (her stuffed buffalo) relatives. I think she got over it pretty quickly, though, because there was so much else to see and do!

Iris demonstrating her "chinese" jump!

And in other news...Halloween was a success! Our neighborhood is so awesome - I wish I had remembered to take some pictures of some of the houses. A few of our neighbors go all out with decorating, and it really makes trick or treating so much more interesting and fun. I'll have to remember that for next year.

Todd took this picture before Iris' elementary school's costume parade. I love how they're all doing their own thing. Thanks Em for the boot covers! So much better than the spray painted boots I was going to do...

The elusive smile! We usually have to resort to tricky and devious means to get it, but it's worth it!

Isn't she a sweet flower princess? And I wish you could have seen her and her little friend Miriam bopping from door to door in their costumes. The cutest thing EVER!

Happy Birthday, Iris!

Our girlie turned six today. We are the parents of a SIX year old! I can't believe she's six already, although I'm sure I said the same thing last year when she turned five, and I'm sure I'll be saying the same thing next year and the next year and so on and so on... It really does seem like yesterday that she was this tiny baby, and now she's this passionate, smart, silly, imaginative, creative, thoughtful little lady -

Happy Birthday, sweet Iris! We love you!

Happy Birthday, Lydia!

Oh, Christmas Tree

We were so excited this year to be able to continue our tradition of chopping down our own family Christmas tree! Last year, what with being knee deep in packing boxes preparing for our move to Lincoln, we weren't able to do it. So sad. And because we moved right before Christmas, we just ended up getting one of the last forlorn trees from the grocery store parking lot by our rental house. Although, strangely, it was actually one of the better trees we've gotten. But anyways. Still not the same as cutting it down ourselves with plenty of hot chocolate and fun times afterward!

The tree ended up being a little hilariously on the ginormous side once we actually got it into the house. It's funny how they never seem to look that big, you know, when they're in a field surrounded by hundreds of other trees. And we really thought we were picking one of the smaller ones. Oh well, making up for our lost year, right? The girlies had a great time decorating, and it was so, so nice to be in our house.

Now onto finishing up my Christmas shopping so we have some stuff to stick under it...

For You, Dear Husband...

It seems like only yesterday that we were cruising around town in your blue Probe, young, wild, and free, with this song, our song, blaring on the radio....

Happy Anniversary Belovedest.

Weekend Trip

I thought I'd share a few photos from our weekend trip to Nebraska for my grandpa's 90th birthday party. Getting to see everybody was very nice - it's always so hard to leave when the time comes to head back!

We stopped for lunch on the way at a park just outside Kansas City. Apparently they didn't get the memo about the 90 degree weather we were supposed to be having because it was super chilly! We managed, even though none of were dressed appropriately, and the girls were glad for the opportunity to run around and stretch their legs a bit.

This park had the highest swinging swings ever! Iris was in absolute swinging heaven!

We had the nicest surprise waiting for us at Todd's parent's house when we arrived. His grandparents and uncle from Columbus were there to see us! Iris was just barely one the last time we saw them, so it was so lovely to get to introduce the girls and hang out with them for awhile.

Cousin Tory had a dance recital on Saturday, and Iris and I were so excited that we got to attend. Tory did awesome! Iris wore her special fairy wings and kept wondering, throughout the whole performance, when was she going to get a turn on the stage. It was pretty cute! Her heart's desire was met afterwards when she got to go backstage with Aunt Jenny to present Tory a rose for doing such a great job. She got to try out a few tentative moves on stage, which was pretty heady stuff, and she even got to pose for a picture with the star of the show!

Unfortunately, my camera batteries died at the theater, and so I wasn't able to get any footage of the actual birthday party event - the whole reason we went home! I'll have to snag some pictures from my sisters, I guess. But it was a success and very special to see my grandpa being honored. He's an amazing man!

Happy Birthday Todd!

We thought this video might make you smile. Happy Birthday!!

Love,
Your adoring family