The teeth have begun!

Well after seemingly months of drool, tender gums and night-time fussing, little J has 2 top front teeth! The pearly whites finally showed themselves a few days ago. After 3 nights of getting up and trying everything to sooth the poor little guy, I was definitely glad to see them. In a little while, our son's cute little grin will slowly start turning into that cheesy toothed smile - I LOVE IT! So with the new teeth, we have also noticed that he is not so interested in pureed baby food and now prefers little tastes of whatever mom or dad is having. Also, items on end tables, couches and chairs are no longer out of his reach, in fact they are an adventure awaiting (according to our son)! It is amazing to see his personality begin to come out and watch as he grows and learns. At least he is back to sleeping through the night again (which also means mom and dad get more sleep as well)! Yay!

First Pro Pics!

So we were blessed to be able to take little J's very first Pro pics. He did awesome; a natural in front of the camera! He was chasing the photographer trying to get his camera. Enjoy!

The Search Begins

So...I have been toying with the thought of picking up a part-time job to bring in some extra income and to get me out of the house a little more. There are not many aviation opportunities in the area right now, thus my search for something outside of aviation begins. Where to start? What to look for? Another hurdle to consider is childcare for little J. As J's work schedule is realitivly unpredictable work, his help at home will be sporatic. Logically, the best situation would be for me to find something that I can do out of the house and on my own schedule, or after our little one goes to bed in the evenings. Then childcare is not needed. Well, we will see where my seach leads me. Until then, if anyone has any good ideas, please let me know.

Our First Tomatoes This Summer!

Yes!!! We finally have picked our first home-grown tomatoes from our garden this week! As anyone who loves home-grown tomatoes knows, this is a savored time of year. After a very wet spring, we finally were able to plant our garden late in May. We not only planted tomatoes, but also beets, cucumbers, and yellow squash. The squash died all of the sudden about a month ago(this having nothing to do with my lack of a green thumb!), but the cucumbers and tomatoes went crazy. Needless to say I have been making pickles and tomato/cucumber salad alot. So, now that the tomatoes are coming in strong, we will be eating, canning, and freezing many more. If anyone is interested in some, let me know.

Farewell to a Friend!

This past weekend I was able to spend the evening with a great group of girls from pur church. The evening was celebrating a dear friend's last week as Children's Minister at our church. Jessica is following God's call and moving to St. Joseph, MO to accept a ministry position there. Fortunately, before leaving, we were able to spend some much needed girl time out on the town. Jessica, we will deeply miss you!

Wonderful Blessings!!!

"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return." Leonardo da Vinci




This is one of my favorite quotes, simply because, to the passionate aviator (and you know who you are) it speaks so much truth. If you have ever been bitten by the flying bug, it doesn't matter where you are or what is going on, but if you hear an airplane above, there is something inside that makes you look up to see if you can spot it before it moves on. Many of you know that my flight career has been put on hold to be able to stay at home as a full-time mom. This was a choice that both J and I were eager to make, having both known the enjoyment of stay-at-home moms growing up. This decision, though wonderful, has left me personally longing at times for the thrill of flight that was once part of my daily life. This week, I was wonderfully blessed to be able to accompany my husband and his colleague to IL to have some routine maintenance performed on the aircraft that they fly. Being the generous people that they are, I was able to sit up front and man the controls for both legs of the flight. From the rush of the takeoff, to the entrancing cloud formations, to the seemingly walk-on-the-clouds feeling as we descended, and finally to the touchdown, I literally had my head in the clouds. During our trip, I was able to perform one takeoff, two landings, part of an ILS approach and numerous cockpit tasks. My husband was willing to tend to little J during the flights (who actually slept the entire trips). I'm sure some of you are thinking, what's the big deal, but for me, not having been in the cockpit for 10 months, it was 2 days of bliss!!!

G.I.M.P.

Well, a friend of mine has introduced me to a new design and photo editing tool called G.I.M.P (GNU Image Manipulation Program). It is a free download from http://www.gimp.org/. I have been learning this new tool and really like all of the things that it allows with photo editing. I have never really played with Photoshop, so please forgive my ignorance if I am wrong, but this program allows me to do many things that I know that you can do with Photoshop. I'm sure that it is limited in many respects (thus the much smaller price tag!) Anyway, as I play around with this new tool, I hope to share some renderings of my newly learned skills in the future. At least that is my hope, that I can get back to blogging more. Thanks for being patient!