Major Renovations!!! YEAH!!!

I am so excited and grateful to report that this last week has been entirely fruitful in the efforts of finishing the next section of our basement. Dana's family came to help out and what a lot of work they did!
In less than 72 hours the following was accomplished: fence posts set in concrete after holes dug, complete dry walling of guest room, bathroom: new flooring installed, new shower stall installed and plumbed, framework and complete dry walling, new sink put together. Now we can finish up the fence in our back yard in no time and we are also waiting on the mud/tape man finish out the dry wall.... Then we will be onto the next project: finishing up the washer/dryer room!
Our biggest, most grateful THANK YOU goes out to Rod, Ryan and Dana for all the work they did and to Jan for taking such great care of Amelia amidst all the work an my time away teaching.... We are truly blessed for the family we have!!!

12 weeks and growing! 1st Dr.'s Visit

Here Amelia and I are posing for "belly photos" you can see a hint of a belly on me (I can no longer wear my favorite pants)... But mine is nothing compared to that of my sweet little daughter, Amelia :) Look at THAT cute belly! She seems to be understanding the whole idea pretty good so far... As good as to be expected. Heck, I can't even comprehend the miracle of pregnancy sometimes....
Anyway, we had our first Dr.'s visit on Monday August 21st. It was great. We are working with the same doctor that delivered Amelia and is our family practitioner. She is wonderful and I'm so glad to work with her. The only funny thing about the appointment is that we found out that our Dr. Is pregnant too... Just due one day before we are. SOOOO, there is a huge possibility that she will not be there for this babies delivery....Only time will tell :) But at least we get to work with her in the time between!!
Overall the baby seems to be just perfect and has a heartbeat of 154. Some will say, that means a girl, but I am betting boy. I know chances are that I may be wrong and it wouldn't matter to me, either way. We're happy with whatever we get. I just have strong feelings that this little baby is a boy :) Again... Only time will tell... We'll all have to wait until March to find out!!! :)

A wonderful father

This is one of the sweetest things a father can do for his daughter... show her how to dance! Amelia is really enjoying "Beauty and the Beast", whether it be the story or the movie and often wants us to sing it with her and then she wants to dance as we sing. Don't they look great together?? So sweet!

Sharing the Baby News! August 11-15th

I had to share this photo of Dana's dear Mother, Jan. She is the only one we got to cooperate in our scheme of sharing the news while taking a photo.... Dana had us all get together for a quick snapshot and said "okay, everyone smile and say Chris and Dana are having another baby!" *CLICK* the photo really is priceless and I'm so glad we got at least one like this. Later we were able to share the news with my Grandparents and other family members...Here are a few photos of that trip north to Dana's familys home in Polson and a visit to Chris's grandparents home in Butte.
Besides sharing our news... we enjoyed time at the
lake, beautiful walks/runs with views of the lake,
delicious food and of course, wonderful company. Flathead is one of the the very most beautiful places on the planet... we are so grateful to get to spend time there with our family. Just breathtaking!!! Dana and Ryan enjoyed a little diving, shooting clay pigeons and working with the horses.

This time Amelia really enjoyed visiting the horses...she talks a lot about them now. She
also swung on the swing enough for us all....she
just can't get enough of it! It worked wonders on
keeping her in one place for more than a few minutes.
She kept saying "Faster! Higher!" Amelia also really got into the lake this visit...she sat in it and played for a long time with buckets and other water pouring devices brought along by Nana McNeil. However, out of all of us, Skyler would be the one with the greatest appreciation for the lake... it is #1 on his top 10 things to do in life: SWIM AND FETCH!!!!

Amelia is something else! August 6th, 2006

Gosh, to look at this picture, I am in amazement! Amelia is looking so much like a big person now.... She has this wild, untamable hair that is adorable on her. Those beautiful eyes and mischievous smile...The twinkle in her eye is unmistakable when she is looking to get into trouble! She is always on the move and ready to go. I am still blown away that we have this beautiful young person in our lives... Lucky us!!!

Amelia's first RACE!!! August 5th, 2006

Dear Amelia is such a sport! We asked her before hand if she wanted to do the Sweet Pea Children's 1 mile race, describing it as best as we could before we entered her in it... each time she enthusiastically said "YES!" So here she is getting all set and then putting forth her best effort. She did excellent! I would say she ran the whole 1 mile run on her own, putting a side about 18 steps that she was in my arms then proclaiming "DO IT MYSELF!" What a champ! At the very end of the race, we stopped and said "Amelia! YOU DO IT!" "WAY TO GO!" she stopped right there and looked around at everyone and started to clap her hands saying "YEAHHHH!" So sweet! Her cheeks were bright red and she was out of breath, but she kept saying to herself "I did it!" After the racing event, we enjoyed the Sweet Pea Parade then everyone came home for nap!!! Way to go, Amelia! We are so proud of you!!!