Visit from Papa and Gramma

We had a fun weekend. Andy's parents came down on Friday to visit us. On Saturday, we had a relaxing morning, then went to Cootie Brown's for lunch. Mmmm...delicious. If you haven't come to visit us yet, come on down and that's where we'll head. You're missing out until you do! That afternoon we did some shopping, then relaxed some more with naps, dinner and a movie.

Christopher showed Papa how he could sit in his rocking chair.
















And he showed Gramma how he could sit like a big boy and play with his favorite toys: coasters. He also showed off how he can now scoot along on his belly on the floor - something he's very proud of and works hard at doing.
















On Sunday, Papa and Gramma kept Christopher so Daddy and Mommy could have a peaceful Sunday morning service. We went to another church in the area and actually enjoyed this one. I think we'll go back next Sunday for a second try...we'll see.

Monday was Gramma's birthday, so on Sunday night, I made a cake for her: Cherry Chip - her favorite. We all sat around the table and had cake and sparkling grape juice to celebrate.

"Mmmm...Mommy...what's that? It's pretty."
















"I want it, I want it, I want it..."
















Tony and Mom left this morning to go home. Andy's at work, and Christopher and I are working on laundry, cleaning and posting a blog.

Didyk Family Reunion

Yikes...we've "missed" two Mondays...sorry. The good news is...we finally have Internet in our home, so it should be easier to keep up with this again. We know you all enjoy seeing the pictures of our son and having an easy way to keep up with us. Thanks for your continued support and prayers for all three of us.

Well...two weekends ago, we drove to Ohio for a Didyk family reunion. Dad Didyk's mother's side of the family got together for a picnic in the park. We had an enjoyable time.

Christopher had lots of fun playing with Grandpa.















It was a beautiful day in the park for a picnic...perfect weather and great shade trees.















Part of the clan eating lunch.






















Christopher enjoyed his lunch too.















"I remember you, Uncle Rick."















"You want me to do what with these, Aunt Barb?"















After lunch, the Didyk kids enjoyed some frisbee action.

Even DAD played! Look at that nice throw.






















And a graceful catch...why didn't you tell us you were so good at this, Dad? Now we'll have to play more often. =)






















Everybody wanted to take Christopher home, so we decided we had better label him. J/K...we all wore name tags so we could try to keep track of who everyone was and how they were related to everyone else.
















Christopher was sleepy in the afternoon and having trouble sleeping with all the noise in the picnic shelter, so he and Mommy took a nap in the car with all the doors open to catch the breeze.















After the picnic, we all took short naps at the house, then went to visit Mom Sobota's sister who also lived nearby.

"This is scary Aunt Carrie?...hmm...help?"















"Well, maybe she's not so bad if she'll read me a book."















"The girls" (Aunt Stephanie, Aunt Jennifer, and Auntie Meg) eating Smiley Face cookies, an old favorite from childhood.















Christopher with Uncle Denny and Aunt Barb just before we left for home. "Mmm...good spoon."





















We had a fun time, and Christopher did great traveling in the car and sleeping in a "new" house.

Well...I need to get the pictures from last weekend from Anna Leigh, then I'll post another blog about Christopher and Mommy's trip to Lexington. Have a great day!

Cute Boys

Over the weekend, Christopher got to spend some time with his cousin, Isaiah. On Friday night, "the boys" (Andy, Si, and cousins Aaron and Stephen) played games at Si's house, while the girls (Rachel, Faith, and Anna) and little boys (Christopher and Isaiah) hung out with Babu and Nana for an evening of pizza and "Huggermugger." We had a great time. Nana wanted to get a picture of Christopher and Isaiah, so we sat Christopher down in a chair, one he promptly tried to get out of as he reached for the lamp, the floor, etc...whatever he could get his hands on. Then, we propped Isaiah up next to Christopher, who ignored him and still tried to get down until we put his arm behind Isaiah. The following pictures were the result. Here are Christopher's thoughts on the photo shoot.

"Uh, Mommy, what's this?"















"Um, Mommy...he's really upset."















"Mommy, are you listening to this? What do I do?"















"Are you sure he's done?"















"OK...I like my cousin."















"I'm ready to play and have fun now."















Saturday night, Andy, Christopher and I went with Aaron, Faith and Isaiah to one of their friends houses to play games. We met several young couples and had a great time.

Monday was SaraBeth's "non-teenager" birthday...the big 20! Since Anna would be at camp for the week, we celebrated on Sunday. Here are more of Christopher's thoughts:

"Ooooo...I like the candles."















"I'll take that card, thank you."















"A stinker? Me?!? Hehe."















"Happy Birthday, Aunt SaraBeth. I love you."














We were able to get some more stuff unpacked on Saturday and relax on Sunday, so it was a great weekend.

~Rachel

Christopher's First Fireworks

*Bang* - blink blink blink, suck suck suck, squeeze squeeze squeeze; *Bang*- blink blink blink, suck suck suck, squeeze squeeze squeeze; *Bang*- blink blink blink, suck suck suck, squeeze squeeze squeeze.

And that pretty much sums up Christopher's first firework experience
.
On Tuesday night, July 3, Justus and Ellen came to visit from Wilmore, KY. After dinner, we went with them, Mama, Si, Anna Leigh, Stephanie and a family friend, Michael, to go see the Johnson City Fourth of July Celebration Fireworks. It was an enjoyable evening. We walked from our house (around a mile or so) instead of trying to deal with all the traffic - the long lines of stopped cars afterward made us very thankful as we just walked on by them. There were food tents, so before the show, we all enjoyed some funnel cakes / elephant ears, and cookies and watermelon that Mama brought.






























Christopher was quite enthralled with the fireworks for about 15 minutes, sitting on Miss Ellen's lap, staring wide-eyed at the sky, and going through the aforementioned routine. It was pretty cute.















Then he decided it was much more interesting to chew on the arm of the camp chair - at least until the grand finale which finally caught his attention again.
















The last minute or two was a little much and we had to cover his ears. It was hard not to laugh as the fireworks created a strobe light effect, and were so loud, that as we looked at Christopher, throwing himself backward, Ellen's hands over his ears, mouth wide open and screaming at the top of his lungs - we heard nothing - just saw flashes of a very upset baby. He was fine as soon as it was over, and happily began sucking on the arm of the chair again, and quietly observing the large crowd around him.

Wednesday was a wonderfully relaxing day. We ate a big pancake breakfast, then Andy and I went on a date to the bookstore where we slowly browsed the bookshelves, then sat and talked for over an hour. It was nice to remember who we married almost 4 years ago! That evening we finished watching "Gandhi." Fantastic movie - very thought-provoking. I strongly recommend watching it.

That pretty much sums up our "Holiday" - which we've decided should occur every Wednesday.

Feel free to post a comment or send an email and share with us what you all did. We'd love to hear from you.

Love,
Rachel

Update

Sorry...no pictures today, just an update.

Things are going well for us. We're pretty settled in to our new townhome. We have a few boxes in the office and then "junk" boxes to unpack, which might take a little while.

No news on our house for sale in Nicholasville. Things are pretty slow on the market there, and we haven't had any offers, so please continue to pray that it will sell soon.

I'm now looking for a job. I have two interviews on Thursday at the medical center on a couple cardiac wards. Please pray that I'll find a job that interests me and allows me to spend most evenings and weekends home with my boys.

Andy is doing well. We're both trying to get some discipline back into our lives...settling into a routine and focusing on contentment. It's hard when things have been so chaotic, but we're getting there one day at a time.

Christopher is a busy little boy. His current favorite thing to do is open and shut the cabinets in the kitchen. He'll stand on the counter and play for as long as someone will hold him there. He's saying "Mamamama, Dadadadada, Nanananana, Mymymymy, Nienienienie, and Bababababa" and blowing bubbles and popping his lips. He's sleeping through the night again, from about 9pm to 8 am, which has been a huge blessing. We're all much happier now. Christopher loves to sit and play with us with his toys. He's constantly wanting down on the floor to go after something, but once he's down he can only spin in circles on his belly which frustrates him. I don't think it will be much longer until he's scooting across the floor in pursuit of whatever he wants.

We're still searching for a home church...we've now been to quite a few and haven't quite found what we're looking for. Please pray that God will point us in the right direction.

I guess that's it for now. I'll try to post pictures later this week or for sure next Monday.

~Rachel