Where Did Spring Go?

I swear it feels like I blogged not too terribly long ago but the date on my last post doesn't lie. May, hmmm. Guess I'd better get updating.

Steve and Judah decided to plant a small garden on the side of the house this spring. It started out pretty well and we were able to enjoy some fresh spinach for a while but, due to neglect and too much rain, then not enough rain and too hot...the garden didn't fair too well. It was a fun father/son activity anyway and Judah learned a thing or two about gardening. :)

Judah and I dyed the last 4 eggs we had in the house for Easter. Judah had never dyed eggs before so he really enjoyed watching the eggs take on the food coloring and change colors. He was disappointed though when he realized the inside of the eggs didn't change colors, too. He had a great time, as usual, doing the annual Easter Egg Hunt with his cousins at Grammy and Grandad's house. Here he is with cousin Will.

This Spring the Mighty Mississippi flooded much of the Downtown Davenport area. These pictures taken from the skywalk show just how far it came up over the river bank. The normal river bank is just to the left of all the lamposts to the far left in the first photo. It was pretty surreal.

And of course some of the other signs that Spring has arrived...

Flowers and the Farmer's Market. :)

Birthday Party #2

After returning home from Elkhart, Teri's parents threw a birthday party for Judah at a local bouncehouse joint called Monkey Joe's with his cousins. Two hours of bouncing around went quickly and burnt a lot of energy so we headed over to Happy Joe's (Apparently, there are a lot of guys named Joe starting businesses around here.) for pizza, cake and ice cream. Judah got some fun gifts and had a GREAT time with his Grammy and Grandad, Aunt Becki & Uncle Matt, his cousins and, of course, his awesome Mom and Dad. Thanks Grammy & Grandad!

Judah Turns 5 @ Grandma & Poppy's House

Our little Judah turned 5 on December 30th while we were in Elkhart, IN visiting with Steve's family. We were blessed to spend time with Steve's parents, his sister Lynette and her hubby Dave and Steve's sister Karla and her kids Lily and Jack who were visiting from Hawaii. Judah got some really awesome BIG dinosaurs from Grandma and Poppy and a cool cake with little dinosaurs on it. The big dinosaurs were ready with spoons in mouths to eat that de-lish cake! Judah also got to visit the Elkhart Train Museum with Mom, Dad and Poppy. What a great time we had with Steve's family and Judah had a very special birthday. He even shared some of his cake with his feathered cousin, Claude. :)

Teri's Family

Teri's family got together over Thanksgiving and Christmas, which doesn't happen too terribly often. I think we have finally stopped adding grandkids to the mix--there are 11 total with 3 grandogs thrown in to keep things interesting...as if they weren't already. Due to the snowstorm on Christmas Eve, we weren't able to get together with extended family but my brother Dave and his family did manage to make it out to see my Grandma Bev with my Dad.

Christmas 2010 Eve and Morning

Christmas Eve is traditionally spent out at Teri's Aunt & Uncle's house in Rio, IL with her Dad's side of the family. However, this year's snow storm prevented that from happening so we spent Christmas Eve at Teri's parents' house with Teri's immediate family (minus Steve who had to work 3 Christmas Eve services at church). We all had a great time together but ate waaaaaay too much junk--At least Teri did! Before we headed over to Teri's parents', Judah wanted to sprinkle his "reindeer food" on the front lawn so Santa's reindeer would have a snack while Santa made his special delivery to our house. Here's a video of Judah leaving their snack.

Christmas morning is spent opening gifts at our house and enjoying a yummy special breakfast. This year we had cinnamon rolls with orange icing and egg/cheese/prosciutto biscuits with a smear of apricot preserves. YUM-O!!!!

Okay, so I'm a "tad" bit behind in updating (ALREADY!)...Here's Christmas 2010

The Meek family began it's Christmas preparations as we have the last several years...going to cut down our Christmas tree. The last two years have been at a local tree farm. Once home with our tree, we set the mood for an evening of decorating with a semi-junk food feast and lovely Christmas music. It's always a fun and festive day!

Sorry For Being Temporarily Out Of Service

Once again, I find myself playing catch-up on what's been happening in our lives. I guess that's good because that means I'm enjoying each moment but it leaves you out of the loop of what's been going on, especially with Judah. So I apologize for my absence.

A lot has happened over the last few months. Nothing earth shattering but we did celebrate Christmas and Judah's 4th birthday. Wow, my baby is getting so big! For Christmas we were able to give to Samaritan's Purse again and provide needy families with a couple of stocked fish ponds, 30 fruit trees and some honey bees. Thanks to Teri's parents and sister, Becki's family for contributing this year! We know that many of you give to those in need in ways that are meaningful to you so, thank you for giving, too! Judah received many wonderful gifts for Christmas and birthday but one in particular has been really exciting. Grandma and Poppy Meek got a neat wooden train set for Judah and we've all had fun setting it up and playing with it. It came with a train table but Judah seems to prefer to take the tracks apart and set them up everywhere BUT the table. He has lots of fun reconfiguring the track. I'm amazed at some of the cool ways he sets it up! There have been many days when I've heard him upstairs playing quietly except for the train sounds he's making. Woo Woo!

Judah celebrated his birthday at Grandma and Poppy Meek's and, while there, he also got to race Aunt Nettie's bird, Claude, up the stairs (see video).

While celebrating at Grammy and Grandad Barman's, Judah had his very own Vanna White (cousin Alex) to show off his gifts after he opened them. :)

Grandma and Poppy haven't been feeling well the last few months so we continue to pray for them and hope they feel better soon.

Despite the cold, snowy winter we've had, we try to get out with Judah to do things when our schedule allows. We've gone to John Deere to climb on the tractors, hiking at Scott County Park, playing in the bounce houses at Monkey Joe's with cousins Will & Maddie and Bald Eagle watching on the Mississippi. Besides that, Judah has been busy making lots of art projects at preschool. Steve has been keeping busy with his church responsibilities and the Triathlon Team. He even spoke to the kids at Judah's preschool this week about what he does as a pastor (they've been learning about community helpers at school). I've been keeping busy with Judah, keeping the household running smoothly and doing some design/copy writing work for Steve and a friend who's raising money to become a missionary in Poland. I also designed Judah's Valentine's cards for him. He wanted three kinds: The Incredibles, Lightning McQueen and Word Girl (from PBS). Life is busy but good! We are soooooooo ready for Spring!!