Look Who's Crawling!!

Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a crawler!!

Miss Lillianna Mae Archibald has mastered the art of crawling. She took her first "shuffles" last week and in just the past week has ramped up to warp speed. Her favorite activities are chasing after the dogs and pulling herself up on any surface she can find.

And now a lesson from Miss Lily. How to pull yourself up using any household object (even a cardboard box):

STEP ONE: Locate the object. In this case, a cardboard box. Initiate warp crawling speed toward object, getting as close as possible - perhaps even run into the object.

STEP TWO: Assess the height of the object. This is done by getting your face as close as possible and then looking up to the top of the object. Pressing your nose against the object can be helpful.


STEP THREE: Reach up and place hands on top of object, then pull up legs into kneeling position. Careful, this gets tricky!


STEP FOUR: Pull up and wobble a few times while moving from your knees to your feet. Don't worry if your balance fails - Mommy has pillows placed strategically all over the living room - and that diaper is pretty cushy, too. If you fall, get up and try it again!

TADA!! Look at what I can do!! Yes, it's okay to brag.

Wanna see that from another angle?

Now that I can crawl and pull myself up, I'm getting ready for my ballet lessons. I've already learned to point my toes - see? Prima Ballerina!

And of course one last Lillianna picture, just because....

Peek A Boo!

Miss Lily continues to get closer and closer to crawling...but still not quite there yet. The other day she was playing "peek a boo" with us in the doorway between the bedroom and bathroom. She was on the floor in the doorway and we were in the bathroom. She'd peek around the doorway into the bathroom. So of course we just had to share the pictures!!

Lillianna sends you all hugs and kisses - pucker up!!

Aebleskiver anyone???

July 18-20 was Danish Days in Viborg, SD. This is where Joy's dad and stepmom, Don and Karen Engelke, live. We'd never been to Viborg so we decided to pack up Lily and the dogs (yes, all 6 of them!) and head to Viborg for a weekend of Danish fun!

We had a great time. We had a traditional Aebleskiver breakfast - yummy! Curious what that is? They're little round pancakes baked in a mold shaped like a little ball. They were very good!

After breakfast, we helped Grandma and Grandpa Engelke put the finishing touches on their parade float for their church. We all got to ride on the float in the parade and throw candy. It was Lily's first time in a parade!

For lunch, we went to the Viborg school and had traditional open-faced Danish sandwiches and Danish desserts in the cafeteria. After lunch, Don and Karen took us to Yankton, a town on the South Dakota/Nebraska border. There was a beautiful lake and park with a dam on the Missouri River that separated the two states. We crossed into Nebraska - just to say we'd been there! :) From there, we stopped in Centerville, SD for dinner at a nice "Mom and Pop" cafe with a wonderful hometown atmosphere and the steak was fantastic - I think the best we've ever had!

On Sunday, we attended a community worship service that is part of the Danish Days celebration and is coordinated by all the churches in town. Each pastor takes part in the service and there is a sing-along where the congregation gets to select the hymns. That afternoon, we went with Don and Karen to the nursing home in Viborg where they gave a short worship service for the residents. After the service, Lily got to go around the room and meet the residents of the nursing home where, of course, she was adored. :)

We had a really great time in Viborg and are looking forward to taking part in Danish Days again. Here are a few pictures of our little mini "vacation".

The Float

The Parade

Danish Lunch at Viborg School Cafeteria

Worship Service at Nursing Home

Grandma and Grandpa Engelke's Church

Grandpa's BIG Truck!!

Lily enjoyed her first trip to Viborg and her time with Grandma and Grandpa Engelke. See her first dolly in the background of the picture below? Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for the dolly!

Happy Birthday Kellen!

On Cheri, Kellen and Cody's last night here, we decided to throw a little surprise birthday party for Kellen. The theme? Firetrucks! So Tom and Joy went out and hit the party store to find anything and everything with firetrucks or firemen and pick up a couple cakes (one regular cake, one ice cream cake). Then, while Cheri kept Kellen busy downstairs, Tom, Joy and Cody quickly put up the decorations and got the cakes ready. Then Cody went downstairs to get Cheri and Kellen to come upstairs. Surprise Kellen!! Happy Birthday! Here are some pictures of our little party.