The demise of the blog

You know you haven't blogged in a looonnnnggggggg time when you have to pause to remember how to log in to your blogger account.

The demise of the blog was perpetuated by:

• Having a lot of fun traveling: we went to Jamestown to celebrate the wedding of a dear friend, and then went straight to a lake in MN to spend time with family. Karis was hilarious on the boat and in her lifejacket, and she also really started crawling that weekend.
• Having a lot of fun celebrating: there's always something to celebrate, it seems. Father's Day, 80's themed b-day parties (picture below), early celebrations for Trevor's birthday, celebrating July 4th here with family.
• Having a lot of fun with company: We were blessed to have some of our best friends come up from IN to stay with us in June - our girls met for the first time, and wow did we all have fun together. We considered holding them hostage in our basement, but we bid them a sad adieu and hope to have more fun times like that in the future. My family was here this past week (including my great grandparents!) and they played like crazy with Karis, chasing her around and getting her to giggle.
• Having a lot of fun watching Karis reach milestones: she started crawling about a month ago, and I swear she moves faster every day. She loves to be mobile, to explore, to be independent (hmmmm, she sounds like her mom). She now has two teeth, waves, pulls up on everything, and we're waiting for when her "da da da" sounds have meaning. She can now go to bed without her mom (sniff sniff, I thought I wanted that independence and now that I have it I'm a bit sad), she's eating real food like crazy, and her new favorite thing is opening cupboards and climbing on her friends' carseats. She's still the most smiley and joyful little thing and I truly love being her mom.
• Having a lot of fun at a women's retreat: where I felt very challenged to start journaling the old-fashioned way. Which I have been doing and really loving. And thus the demise of the blog.

Side note: I started writing this on Tuesday. It's Thursday now. I am just going to post, as incomplete as it feels!

The lifejacket completely relaxed Karis (and trust me, she is rarely relaxed). Maybe I need to keep one around the house?

On our way to the 80's party . . .

first time leaving Karis at night and having someone else put her to bed!

The success made me both happy and sad.

A fabulous Father's Day bbq with dear friends (our daughters are the best of friends already)

I have this very strong affinity for talk radio, and I think Karis likes it too - she must wonder where the people are whose voices she can hear from this little box