School Days

Jonah is officially a big kid. Today he started a year of preschool for 2 hours 15 min a day for two days a week and as you can tell, he was excited! So excited, in fact, that he managed to stay awake most of the night in anticipation. But, this morning finally came, he picked out the perfect shirt, put on his backpack, and off he went.

Abby refused to be out of his first day of school pictures at first, but who can blame her. Look how gorgeous she is!

The solo pose.
It was a very rainy day, so we didn't manage to get a picture of Jonah in his backpack on the front porch as planned. A garage pose will have to do.

Jonah showing off his very own backpack/coat hook. And as you can see, his teachers this year are the very lovely Miss Kelli and Miss Stacy.

Cousins Ethan and Lexi are in the same preschool, but different class. So cute.

Jonah walking into the room and finding his name on the carpet...

Jonah was very excited to be sitting on the dog. Everyone said "bow wow" when it got to him he said, which was awesome.

And here he is at the end of class, so excited to tell us all about his morning.

I suppose this is the beginning of the fast track of his growing up! And I only managed to drive by once peeking on him. :) We are so proud of Jonah and the big guy that he is becoming. It is our prayer that we would be the parents that God desires for him and that he would grow "in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man" (Luke 2:52). Love you, Jonah!

Nyffeler Sweet Corn

Nyffeler Sweet Corn is the best veggie known to man. If you don't believe me, come over sometime in late July/early August and see for yourself. We look forward to eating it every summer and this summer was no exception. Mommy even took the time to blanch and freeze some so we can enjoy it into the fall.

Usually we just pick it up at the farmer's market in Columbus, as seen below. Hudson and Jonah are stocking us up.

But this year we were able to make the special trip out to the farm (which happens to be just down the road from the farm my dad grew up on) and pick some ourselves. Oh my goodness was it delicious. And fun! Jonah still talks about his farming experience.
Jonah the farmer.

Abby is making good headway on her raw ear of corn. After my cousin Mark insisted we all take a bite of it raw, she wouldn't stop munching it.

Abby finished it off by the time we got home. Wow, she's cute.

And Jonah also got to catch butterflies with a net, which he thought was the coolest thing ever. I'm investing the $2 into two of these for next summer. Hours of entertainment!

Nash-Vegas

**Please note this post contains no pictures of kids. Please feel free to skip over if needed**

The first weekend in August my college friend Molly and I (Jenny) were blessed enough to be able to take a trip down to Nashville and visit longtime friends Traci and Judd. It was 4 days, 3 nights, and 16 hours of sleep. We had a good time. Brian was sweet enough to watch the kids for the time I was gone and had fun (he claimed), but was equally as exhausted as I was by the time I came home. Our whole house slept from 7:30 pm to 7:30 am that night. That may never happen again, but oh wow was it awesome. :)

Nothing like starting off the trip seeing if Traci can still beat Super Mario Bros. with one life. She didn't this time, but I don't doubt her ability.

The first night we headed out to the Honky Tonk strip downtown. It is exactly what you would expect. A lot of bars with live music and intoxicated karoke.
We figured if we were going to be seen on the strip, we better look the part.

I ALMOST couldn't leave without this shirt. It makes a statement I think. I think it says "I know this shirt doesn't make sense, but I just really like cats."

This is more honky tonk. Better.

Saturday we headed on the "Nash Trash" tour bus. It was quite the experience and pretty funny, but for the record, I don't recommend it. They did have cheese and crackers though.

This poor bride to be in front of us got a hard time, but she was a good sport about it.

Funny! And they could sing too!

Then that night we stumbled on this amazingly adorable big band dance. It was so much fun! Wish we had something like this around here, but we enjoyed it while it lasted.

Warming up a bit.

Sure wish we knew how to swing dance.

... But then they did line dancing! Finally, we joined in. It was extremely fun and we didn't even knock people down with our mess-ups, which was a bonus.

What a fun weekend! Thanks for having us Traci! Brian is impressed with how much taller I am than you two.

Oh, What a Duck Race

A few weeks ago we actually had the first Saturday of the summer ALL at home together. It's pathetic that it happened at the end of July, but what can you do. Anyway, we decided to make the most of it and head downtown to the farmer's market. Little did we know, it was also the day of the "O, What a Duck Race" for the Omaha Food Bank. This included tons of free food and activities, which are highlighted with photos below.

Free lunch! Hot dogs, lemonade, panera bagels, Old Chicago chips and artichoke dip, Ted & Wally's ice cream.... all free!!

"Can we get a puppy, mommy? I want this one!" Nope. Sorry, Jonah. Face painting! Husker baseball for Jonah and flowers on the hands for Abby.

Winning a stroller full of prizes.

Standing in the super big awesome fire truck!

And finally feeding the ducks.

(Which were actually geese)

Daddy's Catch

Check out what daddy caught a few weeks ago at the lake. (Please note, this is NOT the lake we swim in... it's a lake across the road). It's a gar and if you don't know what that is, google it. They're sick. He was delicious though. Just kidding! Brian and his friend cut the line and let this guy go. We thought he deserved his own blog though.

So nasty!!

First Haircut

A few weeks ago we felt it was about time for Abby's semi-mullet to get a trim. Abby disagreed.

But surprisingly (note sarcasm) a sucker cheered her up. I think you can see a bit of her sassy side in this picture. Once it was over though, she was feeling better.
The finished product. A picture of Jonah for good measure. Mommy cuts his hair. And from the front. What a beauty!

Chatty Abby

My good friend Sarah (along with her husband) requested a video of Abby talking. Ask enough times and I'll cave. Even if it takes an hour to load the silly video. Here you go Mark and the Sarah formerly known as Loyd.