Our John Deere Girl

Ellie's Dedication

Yesterday, July 22, was a big day for us! In addition to celebrating my grandfather's 80th birthday, Ellie took her first steps (see post, 'Big Ones n' Little 'uns, below) and was dedicated! Nathan's brother, Stephen, gave a challenge and blessing in yesterday morning's church service at Crosswalk Fellowship.

Ellie was the typical squirmy child

Ellie's Illinois Great-grandparents (Grandma Whiteford was under the weather and couldn't attend)

The Waggoners (minus Caleb & Josh) and vanOrmans

Grandpa Van turns 80

Here's Ellie last night with Grandpa Van and Marilyn after a dinner at Kelly's and a party afterwards at their home in celebration of Grandpa's 80th birthday. In spite of the fact that the vanOrman clan is small, we don't see them very often so it was good to reconnect with some of dad's cousins, as well as my only cousin on that side of the family, Justin. It was the first time any of them got to meet Ellie!

A Visit to Springfield

Here we are at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum! When I worked for Congressman LaHood 10 years ago, this library/museum was just a dream! This place is amazing and I can't recommend it highly enough. I can't wait to go back.

Aunt Hannah's and Gigi's help allowed Nathan and I to enjoy the museum in more detail.

Outside the entrance to the section of the museum devoted to Lincoln's early years.

Leah and Caleb play with a dollhouse replica of his Springfield home

Scene's from a week on the farm

Ellie thoroughly enjoyed her time in the sweet corn field Saturday morning

Watching Mom shuck corn later that afternoon

This seed corn needs to tassel!

Taking a walk with Gigi on Jacobs Road

Stirrin' up the seed corn pollen after last week's 3" of rain

Big Steps 'n Little 'uns

Pretty soon she was walking forward simply so she could enjoy the backwards freefall into Daddy's arms

We still have a long ways to go in the 'steady' department

Sweet Corn Season!

Here's 85-years' worth of experience studying this ear of corn

Is it ready yet?

Shuckin' corn with Mom Waggoner and the nephews and niece at Steve and Rachel's home

Yes, we're in Illinois for a week's vacation. I [half] jokingly schedule my summer trips to visit family in Illinois to correspond with sweet corn season. Here are some picts from Thursday. The best is yet to come!

What We've Been Up To

The last several evenings and most of Saturday have been spent doing some fix-up jobs at the duplex between tenants. I wanted to post some before-and-after photos to brag on Nathan's skills in this area! He's been working hard and has a tender head from bumps acquired during many hours bent under cabinets and under sinks. Above, you can see Ellie 'driving' the shopping cart at Lowes. Below is a sampling of a few of the projects we finished...

I love the new floor! Though the old floor looks like it was in decent condition, it had turned some funky gray/blue around the toilet. The new floor is Armstrong peel-n-stick tiles. Amazingly easy, and it looks even better in person. The hard project was fixing a place in the shower where the backer board and tiles were caving in behind the inset soap dish. Though Nathan had never fixed anything like this before, he figured out a solution, in spite of not finding the exact replacement pieces.

I'm pretty sure this chipped porcelain sink and gold-dusted formica countertop (above) were older than I. It took several rounds with the jigsaw to get the opening cut large enough for the new sink (below), but I think it looks GREAT!

I learned a thing or two about cutting and installing counters watching and helping Nathan. Here's the completed kitchen. The floor was last year's project. We're slowly bring the place from circa 1971 to the 21st century! I told Nathan my wish list was quickly coming to an end for this side of the duplex, but he doesn't believe me.

Let me play with rocks

This is what happens when one spends the first 18 months of life in a crib.
No muscle tone = hyperflexibility. I'll say.

Since returning from Hungary we've been working nights over at the duplex making some improvements between tenants. This morning while we were cutting countertops in the backyard, Ellie crawled right over to the end of the driveway and began sifting rocks through her fingers. On Wednesday her Occupational Therapist had just recommended filling a large plastic tub with dried lima beans as a sensory activity she thought Ellie would like. Sounds more comfortable to me than playing in rocks! We'll have to get some of those next time we're at the store...

Meanwhile, we'll post some before-and-after photos of our projects later tonight or perhaps tomorrow. I have a feeling we may be pretty weary tonight! It's going to take all we have got to go back and finish everything after Ellie's naptime!