Sweetness...

Well, today is my birthday. I'm not saying that for attention, promise. When I was asked what I wanted, I thought about it for a long time. Never in my wildest imagination could I have dreamed of a better day so far (and it's only noon). I worked last night and was fretting a little about being too exhausted to enjoy today when I went to bed (at 1:30 this morning). Oh well, right? Anyway, Bryan waited on his schedule so that I could go read with Jack's class this morning. I REALLY enjoy that and so does Jack, which makes my day too! I will treasure every moment because all too soon he will "too cool" or "too old" to be so excited about my coming to class! On Mondays, I volunteer in Grace's class, so I got to see her this morning too! And all three of the older kids gave me the most beautiful cards and pictures this morning! My mom came over and made a cake with Katie and Mary while I was at Grace's class and had beautiful sweaters for me. Katie and Mary and I are going to go shopping for a little bit (they are my shoppers :)). My "aunt-in-law" wrote a beautiful note to me that brought tears to my eyes, and so many friends have wished me a happy birthday. Bryan is making me a wonderful dinner tonight, and we have NOTHING else planned for the evening! It just makes me feel so special and so blessed! So THANK YOU to everyone!!! What a PERFECT day!!!

Welcome, Noah!

Welcome, Noah!!! You are absolutely adorable!!

James and Celeste, Congratulations!!! You are both amazing parents! Noah is very blessed!

The kids haven't stopped talking about Noah and when we get to see him again.

Isn't it amazing the difference one year and three days makes (that's the age difference between Mary and Noah)?!?

The unexpected excitement at Mary's birthday party was our friend's water breaking! How neat is that!!! Noah Edmund Chapko was born on November 10th. We have been waiting and waiting for him :). His mommy and daddy are our good friends, and his mommy is Jack's guitar teacher. I took the kids up to see them and meet him on Wednesday.

Again, welcome, Noah!!!! We are so excited you are here. James and Celeste, welcome to the wonderful world of parenthood! It is so much fun (Jack's words)! Now, Noah, let Mommy and Daddy get some sleep! :) (and realize, REAL sleep will come sometime in the very distant future, but you'll learn to cope with little to no sleep and it is SO worth it!!) Praise, God!

Happy Birthday, Mary!!! A pictoral tribute to Mary's first year "on the outside"

We found out we were expecting on Katie's 2nd birthday. This is how we told our families. Some caught on right away. Others needed it spelled out. I won't say who was who :)!

And the big day was here before we knew it! Mary Louise Mumaugh was born at 7:45 AM on November 7th, 2007. She was born on her Great-grandma Mumaugh's 80th birthday, and she is named after both Mary Lou Mumaugh and my grandma, Louise Johnsen. Add in Mary, the mother of Jesus, and she has some awfully big shoes to follow, but she is doing a great job so far!
And because I am feeling nostalgic today as we celebrate our friends' son's, Noah Edmund, birth:

This is Mary at one month old:

Mary at Christmas time:

All of the kids at Christmas:

Mary's baptism:

Mary two months old:

Mary surrounded by her "lovies" at 2 months old:

Mary at three months old:

Mary at 4 months old: She loves her thumb! She started at about 1 month old... The fact that it is her LEFT thumb gives me hope that we'll have ONE left-hander!

Mary 5 months old:

Mary at 6 months old:

Mary at 7 months old. Bryan took this picture in our family room. It is one of my all-time favorites and just captures Mary's sweet disposition.

Mary 8 months old at the Railcats game on Celeste's lap:

No, that's not a sign of an ear infection for Mary. She holds her ear when sucking her thumb. We think it may be the lack of hair to twirl :).

Mary on Grandpa's lap in Wisconsin at 9 months old. We have a picture like this of all the kids!

Mary 10 months old:

Mary 11 months old:

Mary at *almost* 1-year:

Mary on her FIRST BIRTHDAY!! She REALLY enjoyed this ice cream!

How awesome are those tights?!? And, yes, she had not one, but two cakes!

The cakes up close:

Of course, she had to feed herself the cake:

She REALLY liked the cake!Wow! The changes in the first year are so amazing!
We love you, Mary Louise Mumaugh! Happy Birthday and many, many more!

Or as our family sings:
Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday, dear Mary!
Happy Birthday to you!

May you have many more!
May you have many more!
May you have many more!
May you have many more!

May the dear Lord bless you!
Shower graces on you!
May the dear Lord bless you, Mary!
May the dear Lord bless you!

And congratulations if you made it through this whole post :)!!!

Indian Summer and Halloween

Indiana is well-known (at least among Hoosiers) for its unpredictable weather. Well, we had a beautiful patch for the last week of October and first week of November. Everything else needed to stop so we could just be outside. Luckily, school cooperated with a half day on one of the prettiest of the patch. Joey came over and we had a wonderful afternoon outside. Mary went from curling her toes up at the first touch of grass to crawling all over the yard and letting the kids bury her in the leaves. And of course, I have some pictures :). You would never guess it was November looking at these pictures!


Once Mary had a taste of "freedom" outside the stroller, she wanted no part of sitting in the stroller while I finished mowing the grass. My wonderful next-door neighbor had the kids all come into her yard while I finished. Have I mentioned that we have great neighbors (and friends!)?!?

For Halloween the week before, we managed to not buy any costumes. Our previous next-door neighbor was also very nice. When their daughter outgrew her Disney princess costumes, she thought of us and our growing number of daughters. Grace was Cinderella. Katie rotated between Belle and Sleeping Beauty. Mary wore both Jack's old jack-o-lantern costume and Katie's butterfly costume. Both of them were so proud of sharing "their" costumes. Jack was a Pokemon trainer. He designed and put together his entire costume.

Deep River continued...

Sorry about the abrupt stop on the last post! I needed to get to work and then, well, life got in the way. But I'm back to finish about our day :)...
We got to the hike and joined up with our pack - the Garcias, Bolognas, Jeff, Joey, Ben and his grandpa were a GREAT group to walk with. We got the map (oh, boy, a 5-MILE hike! Maybe that was a typo? Um, no) and tried to figure out where we were starting (here's where I started thinking this might be harder than I thought!). We found the start of the path and began our journey. We got about 10 feet when Grace decided she was thirsty. Mom went back to the van to get the water bottles (I had planned for that at least). Dad decided to wait for her. We went around the first bend on the nice, mulched trail. The boys and dads found walking sticks. Then we came to a little creek. It had a piece of wood across it. Everyone slowed down to cross. Oh boy, this might be a rougher trail than I was thinking. AND how is Dad going to cross with his cane? Well, Jack and Grace and the rest of the group got across no problem. When it was my turn, I thought it better to go across and then lift Katie to me. I had Mary in the front sling. Well, one step and I landed in the creek. Thanks to Jeff's quick hands, it was just my foot. He carried Katie across for me, which was a MUCH better idea :). Then we continued on our way. The rest of the first leg was pretty and a easy trail. It even had wooden bridges over the river! (we learned to really appreciate those bridges)

We got to an open field, and I was thinking we were about halfway. Not even close! It was the old saw mill. The kids had a great time climbing all over it. We walked around the gazebo and visitor's center (closed on October 31st - this was November 1st - there went our hope for a "real" bathroom). After a little break and many rocks thrown into the river, we started the next leg. We quickly discovered the terrain was going to get rougher. A couple hours and a few creeks later, we came to another clearing. This time it was a plowed soybean field. That was a neat lesson in nature. I hadn't seen one up close and it was fun explaining to Jack what was in the bean pods. Then we re-entered the woods. It was still so pretty, but Katie was getting a little tired. Mom carried her until we came to another creek. :) All in all, it took about 3 1/2 hours to walk the 5 miles. We were tired and sore when we finished. But it was invigorating! I had such a good time and am so looking forward to going on the next hike and taking the kids on more hikes like this. Just ask Bryan, over a week later, and I am STILL talking about how much fun we had. It was so awesome! The group from our pack was sweet and wonderful and we all stuck together and helped each other and bonded over the mud (yes, we brought home PLENTY of mud!). What was also very cool was the fact that these were Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts from all over -from Cal City to Valpo and everywhere in between, and everyone was helping everyone. And the funniest part was the last leg where we were all dragging a little, but as we rounded the last curve and the PLAYGROUND equipment came into view, every last one of the kids took off and suddenly there was no tiredness, no soreness, no hunger (except among the parents and grandparents!).