Wrapping Up the Challenge

Well, we've done it. We wrote something every day for a month. Yes, you might say we lost steam at the end there, but we still did it. Our little challenge was a good way to get this blog started and to get everyone into reading it. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately, depending on your perspective), we are not going to be able to write something every day from here on. In the future, you can probably expect 2-5 postings a month. I've said it before and it hasn't changed: We really aren't that interesting of people, especially when the girls aren't around. We just thought this would be a good way to keep everyone up-to-date on our minimal happenings. :)

In August the girls will return to school, Josh will be taking classes toward his BA and I'm going to be starting online courses toward a teaching certification. In addition, Josh and I have made a commitment to start reading (and studying) the Bible together, as well as have family sessions while the girls are around. When all of that starts, we'll try our best to keep this updated. If you should notice complacency on our part, feel free to let us know.

In the meantime, we love hearing from everyone, whether it is through e-mail (joshmel74@gmail.com) or comments on our postings. If you do place a comment or become a follower, please either sign it so that we know who wrote it or send us a quick e-mail. There have been a couple of times we have been clueless as to who left a comment.

Take care. We miss each and every one of you who are far from us. Remember you are still with us in our hearts. (<---evidence in support of Toby's initial post about cheeze.)

-Mel

Acting up

The computer is acting up tonight, so this is a short one. We'll write more tomorrow night.

-Mel

Miss Our Girls

Well, we didn't get to see our girls tonight. Due to unforseen circumstances, they didn't make it back to town in time for us to pick them up and spend the evening with them. As a result, you are currently reading a completely different blog posting than what was planned. We were going to ask one of the girls to write this evening, but now your just stuck with rambling Melody. Oh well, better luck next week. In the words of the late, great Paul Harvey, "good day!" (don't forget the weird pitch at the end of that statement... what was that all about?)

-Melody

Mel Forgot

Mel forgot to post anything tonight. So here's the post. The streak continues.

-Josh

Softball Playoffs - Round 2

We got beat. The season is over. Better luck next year.

-Josh

The Story Behind the Blanket

My mother is a wonderful, beautiful woman who I have tried to emulate in a number of ways over the years. One of those things involves making special heirloom crib blankets for new babies in the family. These blankets are painstakingly hand-stitched over the course of several months, perhaps even taking over a year to complete. The tiny little stitches in different colors create a fabulous picture on the blanket. Then padding and backing are sewn on and finally the edging and lace are added.

In 1999 I purchased all of the materials to make one of these blankets for a friend of mine. I took the blanket back and forth to Turkey and Saudi Arabia with good intentions, but I did not finish the blanket in time to give it to my friend for the birth of her little boy.

When I moved to England, I packed the blanket in a box and didn't pull it out again until my deployment to Bosnia. I thought I could surely complete it during my five months there, but I didn't even come close.

On my move back to the US (Florida to be exact), the blanket was once again placed in the bottom of a box and forgotten for several months. Since I always took it on my deployments, it was only right that I should also take it to Baghdad in 2005. But this time it was never even taken out of my bag.

Then in October, when we found out Cooper was on the way, I pulled the blanket out of the bottom of a box for the last time. I may be over-exaggerating when I say that I had been working on this blanket for nearly 10 years, it had been all over the world with me, and it was only about 10% complete.

When Mom and the rest of my family came to visit in December, I had the blanket out on the sofa. I confessed to her that as much as I would like to finish this blanket before Cooper was born, I didn't think I had the time or patience to do so. Perhaps subconsciously I hoped Mom would do what she did and offer to finish it for me.

We rarely spoke of the blanket again between December and this past weekend when Mom gave it to us. What a treasure; the love she put into this for our little boy.

Thank you, Mom, for having the focus and patience that I will probably never be able to emulate.

I Mitts You Aweready, Aunt Kiki!

Where'd you go, Aunt Kiki? I think Mommy and Daddy forgot you at da Huddle House... We can come back and git you if you want. I tawt you was gonna stay in ouwah batesment foe-ebbah, Aunt Kiki. I'm yo sidekick, Aunt Kiki. We did it all togethah, Aunt Kiki. Sit in da swing, sit in da reclinah, sit in da swing...

We had so much fun, Aunt Kiki. Wook, he-ah we are habben fun.



And I know Mommy wiked habben you he-ah, Aunt Kiki.



Just yestahday, Aunt Kiki, we took this picture.



I mitts you, Aunt Kiki. You come back soon as you can. We wub you, Aunt Kiki.

-Coop

Thank you, Kiki, for the tremendous help you have been the past five weeks. We miss you and can't wait to see you again. -Josh, Mel, Dani, Jessi, and Coop

Softball Playoffs

Tonight Callaway Christian Church's co-ed softball team moved on in the playoffs. Since I really only show up to socialize I have very limited knowledge of how the game went. I do believe the final score was 16-6. Regardless, it was fun for all of us and I got some pretty good pictures of my baby in action.

What's goin' on!?!?

Without the girls for two weeks, we really don't have anything going on. Here are the highlights of the Hapner house without the girls around:

-Cooper hit double-digits Wednesday; he's now 10 weeks old!
-We're sad to see her go, but I'm sure there are several people in Tennessee that will welcome her with open arms. Kiki is heading home this weekend.
-Tomorrow (Friday) night Josh is going to play in the church league softball tournament.
-Sunday Toby is going to have a bath for the first time in over a month. This is one of the areas where Toby isn't upset about being neglected.

That's about it for us. See, not so exciting without our girls...

-Melody

Sunday Pictures: Part 2

After church Sunday, we went to Veteran's Park for the church picnic. It was great food and tons of fun. The girls played in the water games. Here are some of the pictures.

Sunday Pictures: Part 1

As you may have already read, Dani was baptized this past Sunday. This is a significant decision for her to have come to and we are very proud of her for not only doing so, but also for being so eager and excited to do so. Let's not forget that almost as exciting was having Josh be the person to baptize her.

Some background: Our church, Callaway Christian Church, is an independent Christian church. We are modeled after the church Jesus Christ created in the New Testament. The act of baptism in the New Testament is a conscious decision by a believer to repent and confess Jesus Christ as their savior. This is what Dani did, with our church family as her witnesses.

Stay Tuned...

Yes, I'm cheating tonight. I'm tired and ready for bed and I forgot to write something. We have pictures from Sunday, but you'll have to come back tomorrow to see them.

-Melody

Guess What!?!?

Today at church, we had a very special event. Danielle accepted the Lord into her life and was baptized.

Here is how it happened in Dani's own words:

I told all of my friends that I was being baptized. They all got 'big-eyed' when I told them. Then Shawn (our youth minister) told me it was time to go downstairs. When everyone started singing, Shawn and I walked down the aisle towards Mark (he is our Pastor). Mark told everybody that I was coming forward to be baptized and we all sang another verse of the song in case anyone else wanted to come forward. After the verse, I repeated after Shawn the good confession of faith. I said it like a grown-up - nice and clear. After that, I went and got dressed; so did Daddy because he was going to do the baptizing. I got out of the dressing room, and Daddy was wearing big, rubber boots. When I got in the water, it was really warm. When I came out of the water I felt different, like I was a new person. Afterwards, everyone congratulated me. I already felt like a better person.

Josh's note: If I could go back to the 10 Questions post, my answer for Number 3 would now be baptizing my daughter... I've never been so proud. I would say this made up for all the disappointments we had this weekend.

Ugh...

What is it they say about the best laid plans? How about back-up plans? I suppose there should be some cliche about plans changing drastically and on the spur of the moment whenever children are involved.

After our plans changed due to unfortunate circumstances in Ohio, we decided to take the children to the Gateway Arch in St. Louis. The arch has a tram that takes visitors to the top where there are windows overlooking the city and the Mississippi River. There is also a museum and giant-screen movie theatre for the arch. We had hoped to spend a few hours there and stop at a Bob Evans on the way home.

Instead of doing all of this, we cleaned the house and the kids watched movies. Jessica woke up with a stiff neck and the pain was too bad to have her walking around the arch for a few hours, as well as being stuck in a car for an extended period. But all is well. One mermaid movie, one princess movie, and brownies and ice cream will make any little girl happy.

Church picnic tomorrow...

-Melody

This Weekend

We are all very disappointed that Grandma Buttery, Papa John, Aunt Kitty, and Cousin Gunner aren't going to be able to make it for their visit this weekend as planned. Sometimes other things take precidence and we are keeping Papa John's dad in our prayers. But we do have a backup plan; kind a little pick-me-up for the girls. So stay tuned for details and pics from this weekend!

10 Questions: Josh

1. What is your favorite food?
cheese

2. What is your favorite thing to do with your family?
just being with them

3. What is the best thing to ever happen to you?
beer (the kids and Mel are cool too)

4. Do you have any heroes; if so, who are they?
yes

5. If you could go anywhere for vacation, where would that be?
bed

6. If you could have any animal for a pet, what would you like?
another dog

7. What do you want to be when you grow up?
retired

8. Would you rather take the elevator, escalator, or stairs?
escalator - when broke, it is still stairs

9. What is one thing that very few people know about you?
Mel forced me to answer these questions

10. What is your favorite ice cream flavor?
it's all about the toppings

10 Questions: Melody

1. What is your favorite food?
Warm chocolate lava cake with vanilla ice cream and fudge sauce. Yep, that's where I get my hips. :)

2. What is your favorite thing to do with your family?
New experiences; love taking the girls and Josh to do things they haven't done before.

3. What is the best thing to ever happen to you?
Josh, Dani, Jessi, Cooper, God (Sorry, can't pin down just one, they're all awesome.)

4. Do you have any heros; if so, who are they?
My Mom and Josh. Maybe Reagan too. Could you image how much better off we would be right now if he were still in office? Of course, that is commonly referred to as a dictator, but we could really use a fiscal-minded conservative right about now. I mean, California is writing IOUs to pay for things! Seriously! Ok, off my soapbox now...

5. If you could go anywhere for vacation, where would that be?
Dubrovnik, Croatia. Look it up, you'll see why.

6. If you could have any animal for a pet, what would you like?
My Toby, of course!

7. What do you want to be when you grow up?
Happy and blessed. Looks like I'm exactly what I want to be!

8. Would you rather take the elevator, escilator, or stairs?
Stairs; definitely the stairs. The escilator could eat my toes and the elivator makes me nauseous.

9. What is one thing that very few people know about you?
I played the clarinet in grade school

10. What is your favorite ice cream flavor?
Mackinaw Island Fudge (I'm not sure if they even make it anymore, it's a Michigan thing... hmmm... does Ohio have anything like that? I think not.)

10 Questions: Danielle

1. What is your favorite food?
Strawberries

2. What is your favorite thing to do with your family?
Go on vacations

3. What is the best thing to ever happen to you?
Meeting Mel

4. Do you have any heros; if so, who are they?
Yes, my friends and family

5. If you could go anywhere for vacation, where would that be?
Going to the Eiffel Tower in Paris

6. If you could have any animal for a pet, what would you like?
Missuori fox-trotter horse

7. What do you want to be when you grow up?
An elementary school teacher

8. Would you rather take the elevator, escilator, or stairs?
elevator. I'm scared of escilators. Stairs, I'm lazy.

9. What is one thing that very few people know about you?
That I do triathlons

10. What is your favorite ice cream flavor?
mint chocolate chip

10 Questions: Jessica

1. What is your favorite food?
chocolate.

2. What is your favorite thing to do with your family?
play games.

3. What is the best thing to ever happen to you?
see my family.

4. Do you have any heros; if so, who are they?
yes, Daddy and Toby.

5. If you could go anywhere for vacation, where would that be?
Sea World.

6. If you could have any animal for a pet, what would you like?
big cats.

7. What do you want to be when you grow up?
a guard that guards the dolphies at Sea World.

8. Would you rather take the elevator, escilator, or stairs?
escilators are cool.

9. What is one thing that very few people know about you?
I'm silly.

10. What is your favorite ice cream flavor?
strawberry cookie dough. I'll make it when I'm older.

Let the Good Times Roll!

If you remember correctly, I promised a more light-hearted posting today. Well, with that in mind and the fact that we haven't posted any pictures in a few days, I'm going to tell you about Josh's birthday.

It was much like most our days: rush, rush, rush. If it wasn't so important for the girls to celebrate the event on the day of the event, then we would have waited for this coming weekend to celebrate.

As soon as we all arrived home, we started on putting the festivities togeter, while Josh joked with the girls that he could help if they needed it. The girls were working hard on a giant birthday card (pictured below) and I started on lemon cup-cakes with lemon whipped cream frosting.

After we ate supper the girls brought out the giant birthday card. It looked great, except that we forgot to sign Cooper's name, so we had to take it back right away and go in the other room to add Cooper. After the card was presented, they took turns giving Daddy his presents. Jess gave him a book by Tim Dorsey, Dani presented Josh with a card containing a receipt for a picture mouse pad. (Yeh, I know, I suck. We just didn't have time to get it by his birthday, but it should be in sometime this week.) Cooper gave Daddy a new shower head so that we can avoid fixing the downstairs bathroom. Ha! Helping Daddy and Mommy procrastinate already; what a great kid!

That's really about it for Josh's birthday. We had cupcakes and ice cream a little later. Hope you enjoy the pictures.


-Melody

One down... one to go....

I know I need to stop whining and remember to count my blessings, including this blessing to continue serving my country, but I can't seem to ease the longing I have to just be back home with my baby and husband.

I did figure out today, that I have just 107 drill weekends left (after this one) and I will be eligible for retirement. I'm thinking of making one of those paper chains and draping along the walls in our bedroom. Then everytime I complete a drill weekend, I can take one of the rings off the chain. Do you think Josh would allow it? :)

Is it ironic to anyone else that the very blessings I am most thankful for are also producing this ache in my heart right now? (<--waah, stop whining already!) Actually, it's the longing for those particular blessings, but that's beside the point; stop whining! :) I am truly blessed, in more ways than I can count and much beyond anything I am worthy of.

Now, my promise to all of our faithful readers: Tomorrow will be a more cheery, light-hearted posting.

-Mel

Drill Weekend

We're not looking forward to this weekend. Sorry to be such a downer, but this is what is on my mind right now.

Since this is a drill weekend, both Josh and I have to work (Air National Guard). He will be coming home both nights, but he will have to care for Cooper on his own (I'm sure Aunt Kiki will help if necessary). I will not be able to come home at night and this is going to be particulary difficult for me since I haven't been away from Coop overnight yet. Hopefully it will just go by fast and we'll all be back home together again.

On the bright side, a wonderful lady from our church is going to watch Coop while Josh is drilling and so Coop will still be going to church. So far, Coop hasn't missed church on Sunday!

Sunday will be a good day. Although I'm certain the drive will seem much longer than it really is, it will all be over and I will have my babies in my arms again!

-Melody

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Sorry if this one seems rushed, but we spent the whole night celebrating Josh/Daddy's 33rd birthday. We will write more about that tomorrow maybe...

-Jess

Approaching Two Months!

Cooper is eight weeks old today and every day, Josh and I are more amazed with him than we were the day before. Here is what we can expect in the week to come (as he approaches two months of age, Monday):

Week 9
Your baby's world is alive with the sound of music this week. Sounds fascinate him, especially high tones and pitches. He's also interested in hearing you talk, and will stare intently at your mouth as you speak to him. He may even reply with cooing or "goo"-ing. Though he's not ready for epic poems, start reading to him--he's already building a bank of vocabulary words.

This is especially interesting for us, because Jess has been reading to him for a couple of weeks now. (This was mentioned in a previous post.) She loves his reactions and he loves her story-telling capability. Although she swears that he likes the princess books best, we hope she keeps this up for years to come. Cooper is so very lucky to have such wonderful sisters.

Cooper has also been joining us for supper over the last week now. We put him in his high chair (thank you Aunts Chris, Carolyn, and Cousin Mindy!) and pull it close to the table, talking to him throughout the meal. He loves being there with the family. In fact, he likes being in the high chair in the kitchen while I cook or wash dishes too! He just seems to like being around all of us. And that's a good thing since he didn't get to pick us. :)

-Melody

Watching the Coop

So I have been babysitting Coop for the past 2 weeks and will be for the next 3 weeks. Today started out like any other day, until I let Toby outside, right before I started feeding Cooper. So, I finished feeding Cooper and went to let the dog in. Come to find out he decided to make a run for it again, just like he did a few days ago. So I called Josh and told him Toby got out again. He said ok and he'd figure out something to do.

I decided to go look for Toby.(but knew I couldn't look for very long because I can't walk that great today due to a knee injury I have recently aquired.) So, I loaded Cooper up in his stroller and started walking up the street. About 5 minutes into our walk I heard a familiar bark. So I look up and see Toby following the mail lady and barking at her. I called out for him to come here. After about the sixth time I called him he finally came.

When we got back to the house I was furious with Toby! So for about an hour, or so, he was in the basement. Meanwhile Cooper and I are having a great time with me feeding him, him throwing up on me when I attempt to burp him, and then him laughing about it. But his giggles and all the smiles make up for all the throw up. So that's an action packed day with Cooper.

-Guest writer: Aunt Kiki

The Finer Things in Life

Alright, so I under-estimated the difficulty of coming up with something to write about our family every day for one month. That is 31 postings in just 31 days! No, I'm not a math major, but even I could figure it out. Today, I'm going to write a list essay.

Back in Florida, I took a couple of graduate courses in Creative Writing (enough to convince me that I am not qualified to be a "creative" writer). One of our assignments in the Non-Fiction Creative Writing course was to write a list essay. I really enjoyed this assignment because it was super-easy for me. I picked my favorite subject (Josh) and since he was away from home I listed all of the things that would undoubtedly occur upon his return.

Now, right here, right now, I'm going to put my best effort into writing a list essay about all of the crazy, wonderful things I love about my newly anointed family.


The Finer Things in Life

The excitement and expression in Jess' voice as she reads Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed to Cooper.

Dani preparing to kill her sister.

When we wake up in the morning, there is no telling which child or children are already awake and what kind of havoc has already been going on for at least an hour.

Jessica calling her brother "honey" and Dani calling him "son."

The way Jess says the word "precious."

Make-your-own sundea nights

Coop laughing mid-way through a feeding when I am just about exhausted and spent to the point of tears.

Jess trying to kill her sister.

Dani's uninhibited trust for me and her ability to confide without fear.

Sitting around a fire on the deck and telling stories.

Danielle's constant pestering to play on the computer, watch T.V., or hold and feed Cooper.

Waking them up from a nap. Any one of the three. In the words of Jess, "it's precious."

Placing a pile of towels by the door and taking the girls for a walk in the rain.

The pride the girls have in all things family.

4th of July: Part II

In the morrning {on 4th of July} Mel told Jessica and I that Toby was missing. Me and Jessica were worried. So Mel and I started looking for Toby before the wedding. We went to the wedding at our church(Callaway Christian Church). After the wedding we started looking for Toby again.

Me and Jessica were going to take naps because we were going to stay up to watch fireworks. While me and Jessica were sleeping, Kiki, Mel, and Andrew put signs out that Toby was missing. After a 2 hour nap, me and Jessica went downstairs and watched tv with Kiki and Andrew. Ten minutes later Mel told us that Toby was found. When Mel came back with Toby, she told us he was found at a golf course and a bunch of kids were yelling "Toby, Toby!"

Toby was in a golf cart because he remembered Aunt Bobbie and Uncle Lloyd's golf cart that they have in Florida. So the people that found him drove him around and Toby played with the kids that were calling his name.

When he came home he didn't really give anyone hugs because he was so excited to be home that he kept running around the house. I was so happy that Toby was home that I chased him around the house to try and give him a hug.

We went to the fireworks by the Catholic Church School. The fireworks were big, bright, colorful, and loud! After the fireworks we had sundaes. My sundae consisted of Rocky Road, Vanilla, and Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream with caramel, chocolate fudge hardshell, pineapple, and a cherry on top. It was good. Then I went to bed. Bye Bye.

-Danielle

4th of July

We lost our dog, got married, found our dog. Just another day. That is all.
-Josh

My Toby

Toby is cute and gray. He thinks everything he can get to is his toy if you throw it. He always loves his girls all the time. He likes playing outside and likes to chase animals. He is wonderful. He is a good Toby.

Toby knows how to shake, lay down, roll-over, and sit. And stay. He sleeps a lot when we are not at home. Toby is the best dog ever! He will never forget his girls ever, no matter when we are around him or not. Toby likes playing with his toys with his girls. Done.

-Just Jess

Candid

All too often we (Josh and I) are confronted with the dilemma of taking pictures of the girls. This should not be a dilemma because both girls are gorgeous, but for some reason they feel the need to pose for all pictures. Sometimes posed pictures are good, but sometimes we would like to have candid shots.

Well, for Josh's Father's Day present (a picture DVD) I took them out on the back deck and began snapping pictures of them. A couple of these are by far the best pictures I have taken of them. In fact, we were so pleased with these candid shots, that we are going to print them as 8X10's and hang them in the livingroom.

If you are in town sometime, please remind us to show you the picture DVD, with these photos as well as several others of our little cuties.

What a run!

This one is a little late, but as the old saying goes, better late than never. Most of you already know that Dani competes in triathlons during the summer. It is a great time for the whole family.

On June 13, Dani competed in the TriJesus Triathlon in Quincy, IL (www.trijesus.com) While Josh helped Dani prepare for the race and I cared for Cooper, Jessi took pictures.

Dani was presented with the first prize overall for the girls. Although the website provides conflicting information, she's our winner. We were so very proud of the race she ran and look forward to next year's.

After the race, we went to celebrate at Steak N' Shake. Then we were back on the road for our 2-hour drive back home. It was a really great weekend. Here are some of the photographic highlights.

-Mel