The Double-Daters, the Party Animals, and the Babysitters

On Tuesday night, we had a wonderful double date with our dear friends and coworkers, Tim and Ruth Bixby. We enjoyed dinner at Olive Garden and then dessert afterward at Panera Bread. This was one of our last hurrahs with Tim and Ruth before they leave for France next Wednesday, so we were grateful to the Lord for the time with them. Here we are, the Double-Daters:

Meanwhile on the homefront, Micaiah, Miriam, and Viviane partied themselves out! When we got back home, they were having a blast running all over the place. At one point, I heard Miriam and Viviane thoroughly enjoying themselves in Viviane's bedroom and went in to find them both snuggled up in Viviane's bed. I told them to stay there so I could get the camera and then heard Micaiah say, "Wait, I'm coming!!" When I got back with the camera, they were all three in the bed! Here are the three Party Animals:

And, last but definitely not least, our dear friends the Hursts were the gracious babysitters for the evening. They were so kind to provide a pizza dinner complete with sugar cookies to frost for dessert! Thank you, Hursts! And, for our final photo, here are the Babysitters with their "subjects":

Viviane's (and Mommy's) MegaBloks Creation

Hmmm--what would you call it? A resort? A palace? Not sure, but we had fun building it!

Baby Cole #2!

Here is one of the promised pictures showing our exciting news!!! God has blessed us immensely with the news of Baby Cole #2 on the way. The estimated due date is December 19. We're grateful to the Lord and trusting Him for safety for both Liz and Baby.

Sorry for the delay in posting the pic. We had technical difficulties with our scanner, so I actually had to take a picture of this picture (not the best quality). We MAY be able to post a few more in the future if our scanner will cooperate!

We have some exciting news....

Pictures are coming soon! Hopefully tonight :-)

Viviane and the squirrel

Shaun and Pam have a good bit of wildlife in their backyard. Viviane has been especially thrilled with the brown squirrels (she calls them squirlts). One day this past week I took her outside to let her run off some energy. We noticed a squirrel in the next yard over. Viviane called for the squirrel to come over--and it did. She vacillated between interest and fear as it drew nearer and nearer, but her excitement won out. She pulled up her shirt (I think that is a nervous action) and called out: "Come here squirlt! The funny thing is that the squirrel actually took two bounding steps toward her just after she called out. Viviane responded by whipping her shirt back down and shouting out to the squirrel: "Don't get my belly button! She then turned and ran back to me. I wish I had been thinking to get that on video. The photos in the collage will have to do, however. If you follow the shots from left to right/top to bottom, you will see a little bit of the squirrel's progression.

Shaun and his "parrot"

Just taking a quick break from the work of the day to post this funny photo. Tally loves to sit on Shaun's shoulder. She'll even sit there as Shaun walks around. Although I can't really picture Shaun as a pirate, this photo makes me think of a pirate with his parrot on his shoulder. It has been great to be around Shaun. His enthusiasm is refreshing and we've had some really good conversations. Leaving will not be easy.

Moraine State Park

On Saturday, Shaun and Pam took us to Moraine State Park for a picnic and fun time in the sun. The weather was gorgeous, the company was great, and the park was gigantic. We ate our supper with the lake in view. The lake gleamed in the sunlight and provided us with a constant breeze. To Viviane's great delight, we also ate within sight of the playground. The thought of playing stole her appetite, and after a futile struggle to get her to eat, we let her loose. She had an absolutely great time.

After a bit, we all took a walk down a scenic trail. We were able to talk, exercise, and enjoy the beauty of God's creation. Viviane especially enjoyed giving Sophie a walk. As the sun began to set, our families parted ways. We headed for Kittanning and they headed back to New Castle. All in all it was a wonderful trip that provided us great memories with our dear friends Shaun and Pam.