Dan and Jen’s Blog

In late October, Grandma Lisa and Great-Grandma Sharon came to visit. Thanks so much for coming to hang out with us!

Back in October, we needed the crib for Sophie, and we found this princess toddler bed at a garage sale for $7 (Thank you, Lord!), so Dinah transitioned to a toddler bed. Yay, big girl!

Back in late October, we went to the pumpkin patch to pick out some pumpkins. Dinah’s word for them at the time was “pumma.” As you can tell, Dinah had tons of fun and Sophie, well, she enjoyed being strapped to Mommy. It was a great time!

Our sweet friend Terri bought the girls fun summer dresses when Sophie was born, so last October before the girls grew out of them, we took some pictures. Yes, the pictures are really old! But they’re sweet and I wanted to share them.

We celebrated Dinah’s second birthday back on 12/16!  We had a Tinkerbell party and had a great time!

Here’s what Dinah was like at 2:

• Dinah’s a major talker.  She’s constantly adding to her vocabulary.  Today, she said “fireplace.”  I’m not kidding.
• She’s hilarious when she matter-of-factly tries to persuade you of something with her eyebrows raised and her forehead pointed at you.
• She LOVES Sophie and is constantly bringing her toys, giving her kisses, and tickling her.
• She loves playing “race cars” with Daddy on the PS3.
• She loves to color
• Time to brag: she knows 3 colors, is a whiz with shapes, and the other day counted to 7 unprompted!  We’re so proud of our smart girl!
• Her hair is now down to her shoulders and she’s such a big girl!

Dan and I have been in transition our entire marriage, mostly due to his educational track in Seminary. And yet this year may have been the most transitional yet.

• Dinah started walking
• Jen continued working for Zappos until Sophie was born
• Sophie (Sophia Grace) was born on July 22
• Dan became a pastor at Believers Church
• We moved to Hannibal, MO
• We bought our first house
• Jen gets to be a stay-at-home mom!
• Jen got appendicitis and had to have an appendectomy
• We had Thanksgiving in our new house

I love it when other people post great recipes, so here’re are our meal plans for October and November!

October
Pasta with Red Sauce (Barilla), Salad
Burgers and Italian sausage on the grill
Chicken Parmesan with pasta, salad
Chicken and Bows
Hash Brown Chili, corn on the cob
Chicken Enchiladas, rice, beans
Mimi’s Slumguillon
Wild rice chicken dinner (boo!), broccoli
Creamy Chicken burritos, rice, beans

November
Mostaccioli (I used italian sausage instead of ground beef), salad, bread
Burgers on the grill
Pulled pork sandwiches
Thai chicken with rice, broccoli
Baked ziti, salad, bread
Southwestern pork and pasta*, salad
Chicken with mushrooms and peas, broccoli
Pesto-chicken penne*, salad, bread
Italian spaghetti bake*, salad, bread
Chicken pot pie
Turkish beef stew
Hash brown chili, corn on the cob
French dip sandwiches
Chicken divine, broccoli

* = Haven’t made yet

Here are our amazing kids! Dinah’s a little older than 21 months and Sophie is 2 months in these shots. We’re so blessed and having a great time with them!

Please notice that she eats the cupcake frosting first. Her Aunt Mindy would be proud!

Dinah is getting so big so fast! Here are some fun shots of play time. Yes, she’s playing on her scooter under the dining room table in her super girl shirt and her daddy’s backwards baseball cap.