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With the warm summer weather we’ve been spending more time outside in the evenings. It helps to get outside and keep Owen entertained after days stuck inside because of the blazing heat. The other night we set up the water table and Os went to town playing with it!
A quick pic with the Os…no makeup at the end of a hot day makes for a not so nice photo. :)
Who needs a water table when you have a lens cap?
And now for some father/son humor…
Really only Lucas thought this was funny as evidenced by his laughing in the background…
Boys will be boys…
-Shannon
Over a month ago Lucas and I traveled down to Springfield for our second weekend without the Os. Our first weekend away happened back in February and we were ready for another weekend to ourselves. We came down to Springfield so Lucas could attend the Annual Conference of the Methodist Church so we didn’t exactly have the entire weekend to ourselves. We checked in out hotel on Friday evening and I was pretty impressed with it. I went so far as to say it was one of the nicest hotel rooms I’d ever been in. Lucas then proceeded to make fun of me for saying that for the entirety of our trip. :) But seriously it was pretty nice and new and shiny. And I was impressed because it is the first LEED certified hotel in Missouri! So here are some snaps of our home away from home…
Oh one more thing, the bed could be adjusted to firm or soft!
I don’t know why but after this point I took no more pictures during our weekend away. :( But later on Friday night we went over to the Butrick’s house to have dinner and finally meet their little guy! We had a great evening together!
On Saturday I thought Lucas was going to be busy with Annual Conference stuff all day so I invited my mom to come up for the day so we could spend the day shopping. I haven’t been shopping with just my mom since long before Owen was born so it was really nice to spend the day with her. However, it turns out Lucas had extra time and I ended up missing time with him. At the end of the day I felt bad for not seeing him more but I was glad to have time with my mom.
Sunday morning we went to church at Schweitzer (where we used to work) and then headed out to lunch with our friends the Roberts. We had never met their daughter so it was great to see them as parents! After a quick lunch we both headed off to Annual Conference where Lucas presented on campus ministry at CMU. He did a great job! Right after his presentation I whisked him away to the airport where he was catching a plane to meet up with the high school group he was going to chaperone on a east coast trip.
I dropped him off and headed over to my friend Jennifer’s house to visit with her. The last time I saw her we were both pregnant and I had never met their son face to face. (It turns out this was the weekend of meeting people’s children!) After a nice visit with her I hopped in the car and drove back to KC to be with Owen. When I arrived in KC at Lucas’ parent’s house they said to call him. I thought that was odd since he was supposed to be in Philly by that point. It turns out his plane was cancelled and he was staying the night in Springfield! I have to say this is one of the very few times when I wish we would’ve had cell phones. Actually Lucas had a little go phone but since I didn’t have a phone we had no way of contacting each other. Ugh! So Sunday night was spent apart with him in Springfield and myself in KC. Monday morning Owen and I headed back to Boonville and Lucas finally made it to Philly later that day.
It was an eventful end to our weekend away and I hope that next time we have some time together we can actually spend it that way…together. :)
-Shannon
Yesterday we enjoyed a nice 4th of July at home by ourselves. We started our day off by sleeping in until 8:45! That has never happened since little Os has been around and it was a welcome surprise. We spent the day doing a mixture of family fun and house projects…but mostly family fun. :)
Owen had to do some modeling in his 4th of July outfit…
Paca tried to steal the photo shoot but Owen worked around her…
After all that modeling he got a little hot so it was time to cool off. Thankfully we had several fun water options…
And yeah, we might be from Missouri!
So what if I let my child play around outside with only jean diapers on?!?! :) (*Disclaimer: My mom bought these for Owen)
After all that playing outside it was time for a nice long nap from the Os. And with waking up so late that morning meant it was the perfect time to try a one nap day! He still goes back and forth between one and two naps but yesterday he took a 3 hour nap after lunch! I think I could get used to this.
While he was napping I was getting some food ready for dinner. We enjoyed grilled hotdogs, baked beans, corn on the cob and these bad boys…
My favorite…FUNFETTI! And even better…4th of July Funfetti!
Once dinner wrapped up we decided to enjoy a few fireworks. We weren’t planning to get any but I couldn’t resist. I picked up a few that I thought would be “kid-friendly” and we tried our luck.
First up…smoke bombs!
Next we tried some black snakes but Os was a little too interested in them. Meaning he wanted to pick them up while they were on fire!
Next we threw some snaps. You can barely see it but in the bottom right-hand corner you’ll see a snap. Os learned to take them and throw them but he was never too fond of the popping sound they made.
We ended with the grand finale…a fountain!
“Ooooooo!”
“Ahhhhhh!”
“This is TERRIFYING!”
“Ok I’m all better.”
So Owen wasn’t a huge fan of the fireworks and we were left with flashbacks to Disney World when Os would get scared at all the loud stuff around. It may be a few more years before he really enjoys the nighttime part of the 4th but I’m pretty sure he enjoyed the day.
-Shannon
I really have no idea where to start. The past few weeks have been a bit crazy for us so to start the ball rolling I’m going to list everything in bullet points. Hopefully many of these bullet points will turn into their own blog posts but we’ll see…
Let’s start at the beginning of June…
June 3 – Lucas and I travel to Springfield by way of Joplin to see his hometown after the devastating tornado
June 3-5 – We spend the weekend in Springfield where Lucas attends Annual Conference for the Missouri Methodist Church
June 5 – I drop Lucas at the airport where he flies to the east coast to chaperone a trip with high school students interested in theology
June 5-11 – Lucas is gone and my mom comes up to visit and keep the Os and I company
June 10 – Owen has a pediatrician appointment and we find out he is lead free!!!
June 11 – I go by myself to pick Lucas up at the airport. On the way home he says he has something crazy to share with me. While on his trip to the east coast he connected with several students from LPI (the school we visited on our spring break mission trip). They tell him some heartbreaking stories about college plans falling through. He feels a stirring in his heart to bring them to CMU. In the 2 hour drive back to Boonville we decide to open our home up to as many students as we can!
June 17 – Five days after feeling called to bring students here, Lucas has already raised over $45,000 in scholarship money for the students! One student is ready to come and we’re seeing about others! So this fall we will have a student living with us full time. We will be her room and board and Lucas raised funds to pay for her tuition! We can’t praise God enough!
June 15-25 – We realize that it would be best if we lived in Fayette instead of Boonville.
June 14-28 – We find a property in Fayette (a loft on the square) that could work for our situation. We visit it several times.
June 26 – We put an offer on the loft (several days later they counter with full asking price plus more earnest money)
June 26-29 – We have a work crew of my mom, Lucas’ parents and our friend Gaby who help us do several projects on the house to get it ready to sell.
June 30 – We put our house on the market!
July 1 – We have our first showing with calls for others!
July 2 – We look at another house in Fayette that would need major renovation but we could finish it how we like it.
WHEW! Do you see why I haven’t been blogging?!?! :)
So, dear friends, the biggest thing I ask from you is for prayer. We need lots of discernment during this time as we have many decisions to make especially with the housing situation. Our goal is to be in Fayette by the start of the school year but the worst case scenario is we stay in our current house a bit longer. And really we love this house so that wouldn’t be too bad. :) So there is our life in the past month.
We’ve felt kind of nervous sharing our plans with others because to be honest it’s a bit crazy. But we feel God’s leading in all of this and we’re doing what we feel called to do. It might not always make sense but when did Jesus say following him would make sense? I’m sure there will be many more posts to come about all of this stuff but at least now we have it all out in the open. More updating to come…
-Shannon
If you know me then you know I hate posting things that aren’t in chronological order. So with all the blog catching up I need to do we’re having to go back in time to February 25-27. It was over this weekend that we had our first weekend away without Owen! And I guess if I was being completely chronological then I’d post about the whole weaning process but that will have to wait for another day. :)
That Friday Lucas was able to get off work early and we loaded up the car with Owen in tow and headed to KC. The first thing we did was drop Os off with Lucas’ parents. I really wasn’t worried at all about leaving him since I knew we would be just 30 minutes away. And they are so good at taking care of him I knew I had nothing to worry about. We headed to the Plaza and checked into our hotel at the Homestead Suites. It was way cheaper than any other hotel in the area and it was only a 5 minute walk to the Plaza.
We were hoping for a spring weather weekend but instead we got a light dusting of snow. We still enjoyed it and pretended it was Christmastime. A quick shot from our hotel…
And some snowy shots around the plaza…
We had a really low key evening and spent most of our time at Barnes and Noble. I guess we didn’t spend that much of the evening there because we were both asleep by 9:30! On Saturday we woke up refreshed and headed out to check out some stores. We wandered through home stores and a Williams Sonoma…we were both drooling over all the fancy kitchen stuff. For lunch we headed to McCormick and Schmick’s to enjoy some yummy seafood.
Lucas enjoyed the salmon…
And afterwards we both enjoyed this mini chocolate box! It was so delicious!
Look at how handsome my lover is… :)
After lunch I went out shopping by myself for awhile and then we headed back to the room for an afternoon break. This is where I made my fatal mistake of taking a nap. Because of said nap I didn’t get to sleep that night until after 3:00am! So on one of my two nights away from Owen I only slept for 4 hours! Ugh!
Ok back to our Saturday…that evening we headed over to Oklahoma Joe’s for some BBQ but the line was to the door and we just didn’t want to wait so we drove around Westport and came across World Market. If you haven’t been to one of these before then you haven’t lived. It’s kind of a mix between Pier One and a grocery store. I know that doesn’t sound very appealing but trust me, it is. We bought several things there (none of which were needed) and then headed back to the Plaza. We found a noodle restaurant for dinner and enjoyed the rest of our evening together.
On Sunday morning we woke up and headed to church in Westport. My cousin goes to school around KC and she suggested the church Redeemer Fellowship. Imagine our surprise when we find out the head paster is a Regent alum! We attended Regent at the same time although we weren’t close friends or anything. We enjoyed the service and then headed to north KC to be reunited with Owen.
It was great to have some time away from Owen so Lucas and I could just be together. And I’m thankful that we have family in KC for more city getaways in the future!
-Shannon
Last Sunday we decided to go on a hunt for the perfect Christmas tree. We knew of a local Christmas tree farm so we loaded up the family and headed out to find our tree. When we arrived at the farm we hopped on a trailer for a ride out to the Christmas trees. Owen loved the ride as he hung out on Lucas’ back in the carrier…
The hunt was on…
After searching for a bit we settled on this beauty…
Owen helped by staking our claim…
And Lucas did the real work…
The Os and I pretended to help but really we just took pictures. :)
I am in love with this little guy!
Lucas hauled our tree back, we had it measured (over 8 feet tall!) and baled, and then we headed back home.
Thanks to our sun roof I was able to keep an eye on it all the way home…
It’s now enjoying a new life in our living room. We are loving the smell of having a real tree after going 5 years without one. Here’s to finding our perfect Christmas tree!
-Shannon
Last Sunday we decided to head to the mountains for a hike. Ok there aren’t really any mountains around us but we had seen a conservation area that we wanted to check out so we decided to give it a go. First we had to get ready and Owen was dressed in his hiking outfit…
Next Lucas had a talk with him about how he had to be tough if he was going to make it in the wilderness. Here they are trying to be tough…
Finally we were out in the wilderness.
Owen seemed to love it!
This conservation area is right along the Katy Trail and it goes up into the surrounding “mountains”. Actually there were quite a few hills and a nice view at the top…
It was a little windy and the camera strap almost took us out…
We all enjoyed the leisurely afternoon hike…
At the end of the hike we crossed a little creek and decided we needed some pictures with Owen. So one with mom and one with dad…
Yay for time with our little family! And for having lovely areas nearby to explore!
-Shannon
Every once in awhile Lucas does something out of the ordinary. It always makes my day/week/month! Recently he walked in the door carrying these…
Thanks for loving me, lubber!
-Shannon
We are still adjusting to the fact that we are now mom and dad. And even though Lucas and I take turns being the most tired I still can’t believe that this is our little family.
-Shannon
This year is the first year we won’t be with family on Christmas Day. Since I can’t really travel we will be staying in New Jersey throughout the holiday time. This actually works out well since I’ll be needed at church to lead a Christmas Eve service and we’ll then have plenty of time to relax while we’re off from work and school. Plus if you remember last year, we hopped in the car right after the Christmas Eve service and drove 20 hours straight to Kansas City. Fine for one year, but not something I want to do again.
We are looking forward to waking up in our place on Christmas Day and celebrating Christmas with just our little family. However, after the morning ends we are going to head into NYC to stay the night at the Metropolitan Hotel!
We decided it would be nice to have one last getaway before the little one comes and we found a great deal on the room. Plus there is nothing like Christmas in NYC. So off we’ll go for a few days in the city…
-Shannon
