Catching up!

at the park 23 months

Swimming lessons


Bath Time

Leo's Baptism

Leo was baptized today. He was wearing the same baptismal gown that Dru wore, with just a few masculine alterations. Leo was such a good baby during the service. He even laughed while being blessed. When they ask the children of the congregation to come forward and greet the newly baptized it is really emotional. They are usually allowed to touch the babies but now can only say "Welcome" or "Jesus Loves You" because of the H1N1 flu. It is still really sweet. Julie's brother and wife, Mike and Vicki, are Leo's god parents.

Family and friends came to celebrate after the service for lunch and cake.

Though he won't remember today , I hope he will always know how much he is loved.

Goodbye to 3438

After only 19 days on the market, we sold our townhome (it was priced to sell). Julie and I moved in Labor Day weekend of 2000. We have had so many memories here, it will be sad to leave. Because it only has 2 bedrooms we have now outgrown the space and are excited to be moving. We have spent the last 9 years making this place our own. I can only hope the new owner will take good care of our house. We close on our new house October 30th. I don't plan to post pictures of the new house until after we close, just to be safe.

Leo's Adoption

Today was Julie's adoption of Leo. It went smoothly and now both kids have 2 "legal" parents! Though this was a momentous day our feelings of our family dynamics haven't changed. I am glad to finally have the adoption behind us and no longer have worries about whether or not it would be granted. We want to thank everyone for your kind thoughts and words.

Dru at the table

Dru is now a big girl and is eating at the table!

Road Trips

We went to Des Moines for a pool party with our friends, Andrea and Lynn. Dru is walking around the yard looking at the beautiful flowers with Andrea. Lynn is feeding Leo. We have known them for almost 10 years!





The following weekend we took another 4 hour trip to Bemidji for our friends wedding reception. Heather and Brent were wed that afternoon in an outdoor ceremony on the shore of Lake Bemidji. The reception included a walleye fish fry and delicious cake! It lightly rained but not enough to damper the festivities. We wish them many years of peace and fulfillment!

This picture of Leo is also at the reception, and if you notice, Dru is in background. She spent the afternoon in the rain running around the yard with the other kids in attendance. She was quite wet but had a great time! :)

First Visit to the Zoo

Dru, Leo and I went to the zoo in July. The big exhibit was called "Africa" so we were able to get pretty close to this giraffe. The platform we were on was where people could pay to feed them. It was CRAZY with people so we just watched for a bit then moved on. The kids did great, we were there for about 5 hours! We hope to go back this fall.


We hung out for a while watching the fish, so we could be in the shade and I could feed Leo. It kept Dru occupied and she met another girl her age so they watched together :)