HARVEST 2014.

started off bad, bad, bad. ended up good, good, good.

 

it was really, really sad without mike. like, a big crappy reminder of his death. as if we could forget, but man this really shoved it back in our faces.

 

 

and then the combine broke down and the semi got stuck and dave was getting really frustrated and i almost broke the tractor. it was so awesome. but we had this great, mature moment where we gave each other lots of grace, accepted apologies and moved on.

 

 

 

it took eight hours to get one load of corn. it was a long day.

 

 

 

but then (!) yesterday went without a hitch. so that's good. and they are in the fields now, so please everyone say earnest prayers that nothing breaks down or gets stuck. please and thank you. your prayers mean so much, you have no idea.

 

 

harvest is always my favorite time of year, and definitely henry's. his dedication to the combine is second to none, and my dedication to his dedication is very...dedicated. case in point: it was hot, hot, hot yesterday and the ac is out in the combine. it felt like the pits of hell had opened and were fanning the flames in our direction. i don't know how chad sat in that inferno all day long. IT WAS HOT.

 

 

but henry was happy to sit in the heat, occasionally saying, "uncle chad! corn!" and pointing.

 

 

i am grateful for this harvest time. it brings us all together. it's hard to miss mike, but it's bearable when we are together.

 

 

 

 

HOORAY, THE WEEKEND!

i am so happy it's the weekend. we have nothing tonight (!) and plans for a fun saturday at the steamshow, every little boy's delight. and then hallie and dave have a father/daughter sleepover with some of our favorites, which should be hilariously interesting.

 

a note about hallie's finger: it's healing nicely. i would categorize it as a really yucky nail now. the bone will heal on its own and the stiches will dissolve. she has the "cage" around her finger for another two weeks and then she can take it off as long as it's not too sensitive.

 

a note about henry's potty training: the boy is rocking it. no poops yet, but i'm confident we will be in full-on underwears in a month. A MONTH?! yikes, but yes. he was dry all day yesterday and even told Irma three times that he needed to potty. he figured out how fun it is to pee on tires, grass and gravel, so he doesn't completely have to interrupt his play to take a whiz. he sure does love to play with that thing though, so it's in a constant state of erection. hilariously uncomfortable.

 

a request: books! i need book recommendations, please! I've figured out how to use our nanny's library card to borrow ebooks from the library. i'm so happy. i'm back into my full-fledged bookworm status, much to dave's dismay :)

 

happy weekending!

ELEVEN.

we've been married for eleven years. which is truly remarkable, when you think about how we almost killed each other the first year or so. it was rough, figuring out how to live together.

 we've been through our ups and downs, but have a marriage built on a foundation of faith and love of the Lord. so, we work on it. every day, we're working on it. marriage is work, man. but there's no one I would rather work on it with than dave.

 even after getting into a massive argument on our anniversary date night (good timing!), we WORKED ON IT and managed to make up and have an awesome night.

 

 

  

i don't know what I'm trying to say. sometimes eleven years sounds like forever, and then other times i know it's just a drop in the bucket for us. we've got lots of years ahead of us.

 

 

 

  

we're happy, and i really, really like being around him. and the love, of course. lots of that.

 

 

also, we take terrible pictures together.

 

 

SIX FLAGS 2014.

we took our annual trip to six flags. we shook things up this year by taking henry. i wasn't sure how it was all going to go down, but it ended up being great. we split up - me & henry, dave & hallie. they rode the coasters and we stayed close to the bathrooms (potty training).

 

he did great, btw. i took his little potty ring and he went every time i put him on. now he just needs to tell us when he has to go! and poop. we have yet to have a successful poop on the potty.

 

he took a nap on the train. it was pretty cute. he was 100% sacked out.

 

hallie loves the rides, but needed some time to recoup in between. they took lots of breaks for nachos, slushies, etc. we met back up with them and followed them around. it really was fun to be there with just our little family. we have a pretty good thing going.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

we stayed at phil and kath's and henry was obsessed with their dog, Charlie. i bet he said her name a thousand times while we were there. "charlie! charlie! you need a hug, charlie? you need to go outside, charlie? charlie? charlie!" it was really cute. 

 

 

 

DOWN BUT NOT OUT.

this girl is a TROOPER.

 

her wrist is just about healed, so she thought she should just go ahead and break her finger.

 

dave shut the closet door with hallie's hands near the hinges. good stuff.

 

poor thing has an open fracture of the top knuckle of her middle-right finger, severely damaged the nail bed and created quite a gash on the side.

 

the result was a trip to the local ER for four hours, and a trip to the springfield ER for another two and a half hours to have a plastic surgeon fix things.

 

she had to have five stitches for the nail bed and two on the side for the gash. it was nasty. they had to take the nail off. GROSS.

 

she was really, really, really scared, but was so brave and didn't cry. she got teary when they were talking the shot and then whimpered a bit when they were doing it. but she was so, so good. love that girl.

 

 

so tired. it was so late.

 

no more broken bones.

 

SIBLING LOVE.

BURGOO SCHMURGOO.

i don't have any normal pictures of the burgoo. i stole these from Melissa.

i was the one taking the pictures, hence, i didn't make it into any pictures of the grand marshalling. but i was there. promise.

 

 

 

so yes, we were grand marshalls of the arenzville burgoo 175th anniversary parade. in honor of mike. it was pretty amazing.

 

and that night john michael montgomery played and we got to have a little private meet and greet which was fun and then watched the show. they dedicated a song to mike and i may or may not have sobbed.

there was one part in the song where he is talking about getting a letter from his dad (the son is in the army), and how his dad writes about being so proud of his son and how he never said that before and i just...lost it. many tears. and kirk, their front of house guy, turned around and gave dave a very meaningful fist pump.

 

whew.

 

it was emotional.

 

 

 

and then i took hallie home and went back to ajs where dave got to play some drums with the band. which is always fun to watch. he's so good :)

 

the end.

 

 

 

LAUREN'S WEDDING.

lauren chronister got married a few weekends ago. only one chronister girl to go! nell, you're next. anyway, the wedding was at some amazing cathedral in downtown st. louis. st. patrick's something, something? info here.

 

it was amazing. and so close to the arch. kiddos were not invited (rude), which meant i had a glorious night to myself in a huge hotel room (amazing). and i got to hang out with kurt, who can be seen here pounding trail mix.

 

 

it was a great wedding and i love my family.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 (look for kurt photobombing the pictures. i have never laughed so hard in my life)

 

 

 

 

 

 (the bride!)