Summer Sunshine! It's hot here!

How it is going here in Tornado Alley:

Clara!

* Only one siren-sounding since we've been here, and wow do people take those tornado warnings seriously! I (Kimberly) was out but close-by at a women's book club, and when the sirens went off I drove home quickly to make sure Archer wasn't outside with the girls instead of in the basement. Well, he was in the basement, with the door open standing outside watching the wind and sky and listening to his weather radio.

* Lately our girls' favorite pastime must include hearing, watching, or singing/pretending to be "Dee-Doe," which is "Do-Re-Me" from the Sound of Music.

* Clara has entered the "I've rolled over and I can't get up!" phase of movement! She loves playing with toys, and sometimes complains when no one is entertaining her (and sometimes when the entertainment is a bit too rough!), but mostly is still a very contented baby with a cheerful smile and lots of giggles and coos!

* Noelle is talking up a STORM! She is quite understandable (at least to us), and verbose. For example, recently asking her what she wanted to do that day, Noelle launched into this monologue for about 5 minutes (mostly repetitious after the first few things):
Me: "What do you want to do today, Noelle?"
Noelle: "Pay La-lee." (play with Lily) "Pay Cahlah Jane. Watcha me Dee-Doe. Simmy me poo. (Swim in my pool.) Pay out-sy. (Play outside). Pay La-lee. Pay Cahla Jane. ... etc."

* Lily just got her first real bicycle with training wheels yesterday and is LOVING to ride! It is, of course, a princess bike, so there is double excitement there. She really enjoyed Vacation Bible School a couple of weeks ago, while she still feels shy when I drop her off (either at VBS or at Sunday School"), she said to me that "I didn't like it at first, but then I did." She's enjoying playing with some new friends, and asks me almost every day "when is the next people coming to visit?". She loves having house guests, especially old friends!

* Speaking of visitors, we have been thrilled to get so much use out of our new guest room in our first month here! Both sets of grandparents, two sets of friends, and one great-aunt and cousins have come through Omaha since July 4th! The upcoming August would seem dismally boring if we weren't traveling mid-month to two weddings towards the end of the month!

* We're getting settled into church (Coram Deo), and have been thoroughly enjoying getting to know the families in our "missional community" (akin to a small group in our part of town) through play dates, a ladies' book club, and a men's Beer & Bible night! We're also really looking forward to hanging out with these folks at our MC camping trip this weekend!

* Archer is feeling productive in his new job now after a couple of weeks of mostly learning the ropes, and has been working on a demo for some higher-ups for the last couple of weeks and enjoying the technical work (of building the software he's demo-ing) and polishing his presentation skills for a new kind of audience.

* I (Kimberly) have been struggling with the effects of post-baby blues since just before we moved, but have seen some great improvement in my outlook and overall health since I joined the YMCA and have been taking advantage of the "free" childcare while I hit the treadmill (with some non-boring Jesus music on my iPod and Bible verses on notecards) for a few minutes on a regular basis!

* We've also had some revelations wrt our parenting strategies (thanks to some insights from friends and family), and feel like we have some new effective (i.e., sanity-helping) parenting ideas that have not only helped us keep the chaos of three babies in check, but also have enabled both big girls (especially Noelle) to feel more secure and cheerful, as well as obedient!

* We're praising the Lord for our new community, have rejoiced in continuing relationships with "old" community via Skype, Facebook, and best of all visits!

* I took a very prepared (a little too prepared) trip to Costco a couple of weeks ago, and I finally finished preparing all of the perishables (yesterday!) into freezer meals, and our freezers are officially full to the brim! I was hoping to make a monthly Costco trip, but it looks like I may have to wait until September to have room in my freezers for more food. Unless we have guests every night... anybody want to come over?

* Yesterday we organized our garage - the final step in the unpacking phase, so we are officially unpacked! It feels good to have "everything in it's place", and we are enjoying our new home immensely, although we still miss "me aye-yah home" in Michigan, where both children have requested that we go back to in the last couple of weeks.

Girls on one of the swings Archer and Butch made in our backyard.