What is that noise?

For several weeks, I have awoke to the sounds of construction around my house. No, Dad has not started another project - even though it looks like he will soon. Much to my parent's happiness (note the sarcasm), yet another subdivision is being built around us. But this time instead of houses, Fourplexes are being put in according to the local rumor. So far, they've been moving the dirt around, but making a lot of noise during the week and providing ATV riders a place to play on the weekends.


But then last week, we found out the road in front of our house was going to become a three lane road - a turning lane in the middle - all the way from Running Horse to Fourth Street. They were starting down at the creek and working up to Running Horse, then coming from the creek to the hill at our driveway. They plan on cutting our hill down about five feet. Thankfully, our yard is big enough losing 20 feet or so won't be that bad. Even more, we won't loose any of our trees. But our neighbors across the street weren't so lucky. They had an evergreen tree right by the road that was probably planted before Gramps was born. It always reminded me of one that would be decorated at the White House or something, because it was so perfectly shaped. One day last week when Mom and I drove home from work/daycare, it was just gone. Mom and I both almost shed a tear, and Mom wished she had a photo of the large beautiful tree.

I know development is good, but why do they have to cut down all the wonderful trees?

So this morning, we woke up to find our road has been officially shut down. We have to detour through the subdivision across the street to get into town. I'll keep you updated on the construction...
Funny side note, around lunchtime, my mom opened the front door to let Turk and Ophelia out bathroom. She was shocked to find a couple Mack trucks parked IN THE YARD and about five to seven workers sitting in the shade of the trees eating lunch! Luckily, Mom was able to corral the dogs and quickly manuever them to the backyard. I wonder if the workers will still pick our yard to eat lunch tomorrow knowing these two big dogs are waiting for them?

Meyer's Dedication

As you might remember, a few months ago, I was dedictated at my church with a huge celebration with family and friends. It was a wonderful day, and now I was able to help celebrate with Meyer! On Sunday, he was dedicated at his church; many of his family and friends were there, and of course, I was by his side. I had to show him the ropes since I had done it several months earlier.

I explained to him how him and his parents would be asked to come up to the front of the church to stand in front of everyone. I told him not to get camera shy, because bulb flashes would be more abundant than Lightning Bugs on a warm June night.

Then I explained to him that all the friends and family would be invited up to pray with him and the family. Not only does this make him feel loved, but prayer over you always feels great!
After all of that, I explained to him how everyone would go back home with him and eat tons of food. Why? Because we are in America and food is what we do!

After the whole day was done, I asked Meyer how he felt and he said, "I"m pooped!"
After Ben made sure his stomach was filled with food, he snagged me up and we were chilling on the couch for awhile. He's says I am awefully cute; he might just be my new favorite boyfriend, especially if he keeps playing with me. He did threaten me not to spit up on him though. Alison passed by and couldn't resist, she placed Meyer on Ben's lap, too! And what do you know, my mom wasn't far behind with a camera. (But Alison was there with a camera, too - I bet she has just as many photos of Meyer as my mom does of me!)

Patio Furniture

Over the weekend, Lowe's had a clearance sale on Patio Furniture, so my old folks decided to take advantage of that sale! Our back porch has a great concrete slab, perfect for sitting outside. And because the back porch faces North and has a long line of trees planted to the West, it has the perfect shade in the afternoon and evening. The only problem....no chairs out there! Well, that problem has been remedied. Remedied? Is that a word? The problem has a remedy. That still doesn't seem right, either. Where is an English teacher when I need one?

Either way, I'm looking forward to years of adventures on the back porch now!

Take me out to the...

BALLGAME! Take me out to the crowd, buy me some peanut and cracker jacks! I don't care if we never go home, cause it's ROOT, ROOT, ROOT for the HOME TEAM. If they don't win it's a shame! But it's 1, 2, 3 strikes your out at the old BALL GAME!

Unfortuntely for me, I live in Kansas City, home of the Royals. So that means almost every night is a shame. But we can still root for them and enjoy games! This past Tuesday (July 24) was the 24th anniversary of the famous Pine Tar bat incident with George Brett at Yankee Stadium. I got the inside information, you see, George Brett hit a home run that night in 1983, but the Umpire ruled that George Brett had more than the 18" allowed of Pine Tar on his bat and threw Brett out of the game! (I tried to post a video link of the famous scene of Brett rushing the field, but it is under copyright claim to MLB and cannot be duplicated on the web!) The ninth inning had to be replayed a few weeks later, after it was decided that Brett's home run counted.

Side story... On July 24, 1998, which happened to be the 15 year anniversary of the incident, my mom was working at KCI Airport. During a break, she bought the newspaper and was reading the large front page article about the incident, when she looked up into the face of GEORGE BRETT himself!! She was so shocked! She asked him to sign the article, and surprising enough, he did. The autographed article is now framed and hanging on Uncle Eric's bedroom wall...

So of course, when we heard that July 24, 2007 the Royals were playing the Yankees...and that the first 20,000 fans would get commerative T-Shirts for the Pine Tar bat, we decided to go to the game! It was my first ever professional baseball game! Mom bought me a pink Royals outfit just for the occasion! I couldn't wait to go! I piled into the Suburban with Abby, Ben, Mom and Dad to head out to the K. Sadly, the game was sold out and it took us almost 45 minutes just to get into the stadium because of the large crowds, so we didn't get one of the free shirts. But we met up with several friends on the inside include Nate, Dan, Laura, Rachel, Andrew, Julie, Jeremy and Sarah! There were a few others in our group , too, but I didn't know them. I never cried the whole night, I just took in the sights, sounds and smells of the packed stadium!Here are some of my friends.... Laura, Dan and Nate!
More of my friends - Julie, Jeremy and Andrew!
Here's Ben and Dad!

Whoops, my mother sure messed up this photo! I thought she was supposed to be a good photographer! But I do look cute... Laura thought it was funny when Mom showed her on the screen...
And here I am with Mom and Abby!
I was slightly intrigued in the next photo. You see, most men that hold me have some sort of facial hair. So I couldn't resist touching Dan's clean shaven face. It was so smooth and soft.... Watch out Laura, Dan was making googly eyes at me, too! (Or maybe he was imaging that day in March when he'll get to hold his own baby!)Swing batter, batter! Swing! (check it out, you can see the ball!)
The highlight of the evening for me was near the end of the night. I was playing with Nate, when my mom suddenly noticed Slugger about one section over! Slugger is the mascot in case you didn't know. So Nate and Mom made a beeline for him! When he saw me, it was love at first sight! He grabbed me out of my mom's arms and posed for several photos! Then when Mom reached out her arms to take me back, Slugger turned his body away and shook his head at my mom like he was going to take me home to marry him!! Everyone watching cracked up! I love my newest boyfriend. Daphne + Slugger = True Love!

Andrew worded it best though... The 7th inning stretch hit me three innings early. Much earlier than anyone expected, I feel asleep in Abby's arms. I would have liked to stayed awake longer, but sleep overcame all other emotions.

All in all, I had a great time at the game! When can we go again?

Quasi Photoshoot

Sometimes when I get a new outfit and I haven't had a "photoshoot" in a while, my mom will set me down and take a bunch of photos. Here my mom bought a cheap outfit at Baby Gap make out of that same soft material as towels! It's a summer outfit, but it has a hood, so mom said something about taking Jedi style photos. Jedi? What's Jedi? Sounds like I need some education about this Jedi world... Somthing tells me I will learn much about Jedi over the next couple of years...

Anyway, here's some of the photos... First one is dark, but mom said she liked my expression.This one is called, "Here binky, binky, binky."

Yes! I found it!
I found it, but I think it's in wrong....

My mom loves this next photo, I'm not too sure what is so special about it; I'm just smiling!

Look at that sheer joy, I thought she was putting the camera away! I found out .021 seconds later I was wrong.

Look at me and Mom! I wonder if I'll ever have as much hair as her?????

Lunch Dates

This week I've been BUSY! It's only Wednesday, but I've had two lunch dates already! TWO. I'm popular, I know. Everyone loves me; who can resist these chubby cheeks!? On Monday, I went to Schlotsky's Deli ( <-- I have no clue how to spell that!) with friends from bible study including my mom, Laura and Amy.

My mom is on a diet right now, so she didn't get to enjoy any of Schlotsky's good famous food, but instead enjoyed a chicken ceaser salad. She said it was really good. I enjoyed some grapes in my mesh bag. And of course, I got past around the table to all the girls! Below Laura is holding me, as practice!!! She just found out she's pregnant!! So next March, our bible study will have TWO babies! Now I won't be alone! Secretly, I hope she has a girl so I can have a girlfriend. Everyone is having boys right now, so another little girl would be nice.

Then today, my mom's friend Sarah came into town! Her husband is out of town at a conference, so Sarah came in to spend time with HER mother. And of course, who can pass up lunch with me? So we met up at the local Mexican place and I got to see Sarah. She lives several hours away, so I don't get to see her that often.

Lazy Sunday

Sunday morning, Aunt Leah and I were just chilling on the couch... Baby in her tummy was making Leah feel a little queasy. So mom handed me the little mesh bag with a grape in it, and I settled back into the couch with Leah. Normally I try to go to church on Sunday's, but this week I decided to be lazy.

Lookalike Contest

This morning I held a "Lookalike Contest" to see who could most look like my Dad and Ophelia....

And here is the winner!!!! Look close, that's not Dad and Ophelia, but Uncle Myles and his dog Otis!! They came down to visit for Dad's birthday. Grandma and Aunt Leah also came along for the ride. This afternoon, we went shopping at Zona Rosa, where Leah bought out half the store at Gap Maternity. She hadn't went shopping yet for maternity clothes, but she will pretty much be set now. Tonight we are taking Dad out for a big birthday dinner. I wonder where we will go?

Jackson

A new week, a new boyfriend! Allow me the pleasure of introducing you to Jackson Reed Bailey born on July 20, 2007!!! (which also happens to be my Daddy's birthday!) I can date younger boys, can't I? Jackson is the son of Rachel and Gabe, some of my parents close friends! We all went over to the hospital last night to help welcome Jackson into the world. He is adorable! Here are a couple of photos of him.

I can't beleive that next summer at the Lake, I'll be swimming with Olivia and Jackson... Three kids all one year apart. Maybe by then Nate and Devon will have a newborn, then the four couples with the traditional Lake trip will all have had kids one year apart.

Here's the interesting part. Nate and Devon got married on Gabe's birthday. Gabe and Rachel got married on Dad's birthday. They also had a baby on Dad's birthday (so, yes, that means the birth of their baby was also on their anniversary!) And then Meyer was born on Mom's birthday. Meyer's mom and Jackson's mom are cousins! So now to complete the circle, my mom and dad have to have a baby on either Nate or Devon birthday!

Red Dress/White Dress

This past weekend, my family traveled up to Des Moines for the celebration of Kate and Charlie's wedding. Grandpa bought me a beautiful red dress for the occasion, which I wore gleefully.

For some odd reason, recently I have developed this new behavior pattern of a distaste for men. My dad hopes I will keep up this distaste until I am at least 30, so he won't have to worry about me dating or wearing more orange bikini's. But in the next two photos, you will see more proof of my distaste for men. The first one is Uncle Myles holding me and you can see Aunt Leah trying to console me.

After Leah calmed me down, Ben wanted to hold me. As soon as I realized a man was holding me, the tears started to flow again. So Ben passed me over to Stacey and suddenly I was calm again!

Midway through the reception, lets just say I had an accident. It's called bladder control people, and I don't have it yet. Don't laugh at me, it could happen to any of you! Thankfully, my mom had a spare dress for me in the diaper bag. I'm overjoyed she is always prepared. Adorned in my new dress Aunt Leah bought me, I danced with her a bit. Really I was talking to the little baby in her stomach, I'm letting them I already love my little cousin!

The next morning, I couldn't resist some good quality time with Grandma!!! (note to Grandma, when I saw this photo on my computer screen, I got a huge smile on my face and started to talk to you! My mom looked at me and asked if I saw Grandma! She was shocked that I reacted to a photo of Grandma!)

Bumbo Growth Chart - 5 months

Here is a progress of my growth...

One Month

Two Months Three Months Four Months

Five Months

Here is my five month Bumbo Growth Chart photo...and I am so embarrassed that I was caught with my tongue sticking out!

Proof

Here is proof that I can sit on my own!! I just started and everyone is so proud of me! Because we've established the fact my mother has a superfluous passion for picture taking, I'm sure there will be many many many more of these photos in the future!

I can SIT!

Well, of course I can sit. Everyone can sit. But I can sit without anyone touching me!! Okay, well, almost. I can sit for about ten to fifteen seconds before I fall over. But still, that's a start, right? Soon I hope to have a photo of it, and also my five month bumbo growth chart photo.

COUSIN!

GUESS WHAT??!?! I'm going to be a cousin!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I know, I already have lots of second and third cousins, but I finally am getting a FIRST cousin!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so excited!! I wonder if the baby will be a boy or a girl? I hope March comes quick!!! My parents are also looking forward to being Aunt and Uncle, new titles for them!

At the Lake 5.1

My cousin Ethan is going to be a senior this upcoming school year, so while we were down at the Lake, he wanted Mom to take some senior photos of him. Makes sense, you have all seen how quick on the draw she is with her camera! Here are my two favorites... A goofy one (he said something about the Borat pose....I'm not sure what that means) but that dead catfish grossed Mom out. She couldn't believe Ethan got that close to it! The second one is his true smile... Everyone has that smile they use for photographs, but she was able to capture his true smile. Ethan thought this photo looks like one of those that are in photo frames when you buy them. Hahaha!

I just wanted to post these two photos of the cabin, because of the upgrades to the cabin! Gramps made that lamp!! He used an old fishing tackle box and if you look close in the box (you can click on the photo to see it bigger) there is a Snoopy bobber that used to be my mom's when she was a tot! And then the second photo is showing off the new wood floor! The cabin used to have this 1960's hideous fake tile floor that was cracked and peeling. The new wood floor is in the living room and the kitchen, and then the bedroom has CARPET now!!! The cabin is looking so nice now!

Hey, I just realized this post has no photos of ME! It's almost a nice break...