what's new

Alea and I are officially over our colds. It's been two weeks of nose blowing, coughing, fevers, and itchy, watery eyes. I honestly think I'd rather have the flu. Poor Alea had an ear infection then turned right around and got her cold. Now the poor girl is cutting her lower cuspids and woke up with an itchy rash this morning. Even with all that she still manages to behave normally, doling out the hugs, kisses and smiles. I received a call from my friend Becky this morning informing me that her little boy has a stomach bug. Alea was just with him yesterday for several hours. Let's pray that Alea doesn't add that one to her list and that Vincent will get better very soon.

We are celebrating the 3rd birthday of our niece McKinley this weekend. It doesn't seem like it's been 3 and a half years since we found out that she was coming. Shirley, Wren and Natalie came to visit us in Massachusetts. We picked them up from the airport in Manchester, New Hampshire then went to eat a quick dinner on our way home. While we were eating dinner, Natalie told us she was going to have her first baby. Natalie was only 8 weeks pregnant at the time and in the hardest part of her first trimester. Wren, of course being Wren, had a hundred things planned for us to do during their brief visit and Natalie plugged through most of them with good spirits. She sat happily through a 5 hour drive to New York City on a rainy day in a small car packed to it's max with people where we visited our friend Heather in Manhattan then went to see Wicked on Broadway that night. She, then, got shuttled around the city for several hours on a sight seeing tour the following day (again, in the small car), but it was so rainy and foggy that no sights were seen. I think the hardest part of the trip has to have been dinner at the Mexican restaurant in Connecticut. Poor thing couldn't even finish eating but was still able to have a good laugh at the situation. The time has gone by so fast and McKinley is now turning 3.

Wren and I are finally settling into our new church. It has taken a while since we are driving to Tulsa on Sundays. It makes it a bit harder to get plugged in while so far away from the church community. We've had to make a special effort to attend different events and I am now singing with the music leaders which has helped me get to know a few more people. I've also been driving in for the Women's Bible study once a week and have met some ladies my age who have children around Alea's age. It's helped me to feel less isolated and alone in the world of stay at home moms. I also met Becky who is new to Oklahoma and has a son Alea's age (mentioned above) . Vincent and Alea became friends in the nursery on Sunday mornings. We noticed they singled each other out and tended to stick together so Becky and I thought it would be fun to schedule a play time. It was fun to watch them play together, share their snacks, tattle on each other (Alea kept taking Vincents toys away from him) and chase each other around the living room. We caught Alea trying to ride Vincent like a horse and later saw Vincent try to use Alea's head as a drum. There was lots of shirt grabbing and screeching from the kids and lots of laughing from the moms. We had so much fun. After they were thoroughly worn out, Alea and I went to her Nama and Dapa's house for a nice long nap then were treated to Hideaway pizza for dinner.