Jen's page
Sunday night. This is becoming a habit! Isaac is asleep and the house is peaceful. I was with my mom and dad for dinner tonight, as Isaac and I often are on Sundays. This weekend was the art fair in Decatur. Some good works, as always. Brian and I had a babysitter for Saturday night and we went to a violin concert. The concert was super. The violinist is the best from Chicago and she was joining the Decatur Symphony Orchestra. She played some solo pieces, too. She has an amazing story: while holding one of her prized Stratavarious violins, the doors of a crowded subway closed on it. She clung to the violin, probably out of instinct, and was dragged for a distance by the subway. She nearly lost her life, and now wears braces to walk. But she is still playing violin-- never stopped. She didn't mention the unfortunate event while in Decatur, not at the concert or the paper, which had a huge spread in the life section on Saturday (Brian works with someone whose wife is a piano instructor at Millikin). The violinist played a different violin at the concert. It was hand selected by Brahms for one of his best students in the 1500's. Wow!
Isaac news: his giggle makes me laugh. He loves to be tickled.
School news: the weeks are already flying by. School is going pretty well.
I finally did it... I cleaned out some of Isaac's toys; the baby ones. He played with them for such a long time, but we needed more space and he's ready for more challenging stuff. I suppose it was time to put up the mobile for the crib, rattles, and such. Tonight for the first time he put his leg up in the crib like he was coming over. I guess it's almost time to convert to the toddler bed. My grandma said, "You know, they often fall out of the crib." Yikes! I don't want to risk that!
Isaac can crawl the stairs because he watched another kid do it (I'm always right there), but just tonight he lost his footing (or kneeing, if you will), and rolled down 4 stairs sideways. I caught him, and he was only slightly shook up. He falls quite a bit. He wants total independence, but he's not quite ready for that yet. I'd say we have at least 17 more years.
Have a happy day.
Jen

Labor Day Weekend
This has been such a perfect weekend! We went to Hannibal on Friday after work, it's just about 2 hrs. away, and stayed in a hotel. Friday night after arrival we went swimming which was very fun (indoor pool). Saturday morning we got an early start. We went downtown to the Samuel Clemens sights. We took a trolley tour and it was really fun. We saw some neat parts of the area. Next we had lunch and then on to the riverboat tour. That was exciting and Isaac loved it! We decided to make Hannibal an annual event because we had so much fun. Sunday was a super sermon, as always, from Pastor Wray about letting other things become your idols instead of God being the center of your life. Great to hear. Today was our nature day. We went on a hike in the woods (Isaac and stroller included) and we decided that we are going to do something in nature every weekend this fall, like a picnic or a hike.
Sadly, Dairy Queen has closed near us! We were really surprised when we tried to go there. We'll just have to go to McDonald's right across the street for a McFlurry instead! I wish every weekend could be a long weekend. I feel so rested!