Lake Michigan

Aunt Patty took Aunt Bonnie and me to the lake one day for photos. The other ladies (Mom and Gram) had gone shopping with her the day before for shoes, so this was our special treat. Much better than footwear in my opinion! These need no explaining. They're just fun shots.

Wisconsin

I'm going to just leave the photos in a mess again. It would take forever to arrange them. These are from our trip to Wisconsin. Harlie and I basically came home from Creation, unpacked and repacked and left the next day. She did great on the trip out. We drove, but split it up so we only spent about 6 hours in the car each time. She was a trooper. We had a great time - big surprise! The photos are of random things throughout our trip, most are self-explanatory. The one of Aunt Patty with her arms out is her making fun of Harlie doing the same thing all the time. The ladies made Uncle Ned birthday cupcakes (from a box, which is unheard of in the Novsam house). Harlie of course loved the dog (Kirby) and she was obsessed with him most of the time there. She is loving bath time even more now that we let her in the big tub. Oh and please look at the way Uncle Ned sits with his legs crossed. I don't know how he can even bend that way - I tried it and fell over!

Creation

Okay, so Creation was everything I wanted it to be. Of course the music was great and the bands put on such great shows. And once again, the group of kids we took was GREAT. We are so blessed to have such a good youth group. But what I didn't expect was how perfect they all were with Harlie. I never ever had to worry about where my kid was or who was watching her while I was cooking, etc. They all worked together to take care of her and it was so so sweet. I can't say enough how great it was and how much I appreciate them. And speaking of Harlie, she was a little angel! Every night during evening worship (around 7:00 or 8:00) she fell asleep in her stroller (usually with little struggle) and she slept through all of the evening concerts. And some of those concerts can get LOUD. Christian music is definitely not always soft and frilly. And she even slept through Skillet and TobyMac! (By the way, if you haven't heard of these bands, check them out - they are awesome. I can give you a very long list of good Christian bands if you want.) Anyway after the concerts we'd wheel her back to the car and load her up (around midnight) and she'd wake up a bit until we started moving. She'd sleep on the way back to the camper and we'd put her to bed until around 6:00 when we woke up and headed back to Creation. She was such a trooper. Enjoy the photos!

To explain the photos a little (I'm not going to try to put a line beneath each one) - the band is David Crowder, the kids are head-banging and goofy dancing in two of the photos, they found a baby bird and fed it the first day there, everyone shaved around the campsite - so funny to watch, Harlie loved hanging out in the baby carrier while her daddy walked her everywhere, the group photos don't include everyone that went with us - just the ones I could get in one place, and the photos of all of the people at the festival - that's really just a small portion of the people that were there. I think there were about 100,000 in attendance.

CRASH!

Well, I can't give you all of the photos I'd like. I crashed the computer last week, and I got everything back business-wise, but I did end up losing some of my scrapbooking. Which is actually what I crashed the thing with in the first place, so I guess I deserved it. Anyway I have my photos backed up as always, but I will have to restart a lot of unfinished pages, and I'm so frustrated by it that I'm going to leave them on hold for a bit. Right now it's too irritating to think about.

We have one more week here at home, and then my vacation starts! We are going to Creation (a huge Christian music festival) with the youth group from our church. Mike and I chaperoned last year and had a great time (even though I was 5 months pregnant and miserable at times) so we thought - or rather I thought - that it would be a good idea to go again this year and take the baby. So we're going to try it! Creation starts the 25th, and Mike, Harlie, and I are actually going to be staying at my Dad's camp close by, so we are going to leave the 23rd or 24th and camp a day or two alone before the craziness begins. One day after we come back, Harlie, Mom, Aunt Bonnie, Gram and I are going to Wisconsin to visit Aunt Patty, Uncle Ned, and Jason. Jason graduated from high school, and we're going to help celebrate! After those trips, I don't think I'll have time for more vacation this summer, but I'll try!

I took the baby swimming for the very first time the other day. I've been putting her in the sink a lot lately with the extreme heat we've been having, and she loves to just splash around, so I thought she might like the pool. Anyway I just walked us right in - nothing slow about it. I expected a little fright from her at first, but nothing at all! She just started splashing and laughing right off the bat. She didn't mind the water in her eyes or anything! She's a little too fearless sometimes, I'm afraid, but this time it worked well for us! After our swim, I just HAD to take some photos of her in front of Mom's flowers. Heaven forbid she go a week without a semi-pro shoot!

Anyway, I don't think I'll have time to update this anymore before we leave, but I promise I'll post pictures of all our fun when we return. Love you all!

Memorial Day and More

Here are just a few photos of my Patriotic Cutie from her first Memorial Day.














My dear friend, Heather, had Conner right around Mother's Day. His big brother Aedan is so good with him! They look alike, right?














Harlie had a special visit from her Uncle Scott before he went away for the summer. She'll still want his love and attention when he returns, though!

Mommy's Day

Well I enjoyed my first Mother's Day from the opposite side. It certainly does feel special, doesn't it? Things are starting to get hectic around here. Work is picking up - as it usually does this time of year. Mike is done with school, though, and we are loving having him around the house more. Soon we'll be opening the pool and planting the garden and it will really start to feel like summer. Even though it's still snowing every once in a while! Anyway I never did get around to taking those 6-month photos of Harlie, but I did take a bunch of cute ones over the past few days so they will have to do. These are all from Mother's Day and the Mother/Daughter banquet at our church last night. Enjoy! As always, we love you all!

Starting to look alike?

She loves her Grandma!

Very close to sitting on her own. She fell over a second or two after this photo was taken.

My two babies and me on Mother's Day

These photos are hilarious, and they need explained. Harlie is learning to give kisses, but who do you all think she's learning it from??? You guessed it - the dog! So that is why you see her licking my mom's cheek in this photo. She'll get it right eventually!

These last photos are from our visit to Aunt Bonnie's house. In one afternoon she practiced playing the piano, and playing Phase 10!

A Short Update

I don't have much time to write today, but it has been forever and I know I need to update you all on Harlie. Well, she is now rolling over in both directions and almost sitting up on her own. She has two teeth, and her hair is starting to grow! I'll post a few photos so you can see how she's changing. I plan to take some 6-month photos over the next few days, if I have time. Wedding season starts Saturday, so pray for us. Mike and I will be away from the baby nearly every Saturday from now until October. It's going to be tough. I will have to make some serious schedule adjustments this summer so that I can see her more. Anyway here are her stats from her 6 month checkup:
Height: 26.8 inches (85%)
Weight: 16lb 6oz (60%)
Head: 17.01 inches (72%)
So she's tall and medium-weight with a big head!
Enjoy the photos and I'll try to post more soon: