Food, Church, and more Food

We've had such a busy weekend, starting with Friday. Melanie is in town. Friday evening we went to KC, Ks for dinner. There's a really cool restaurant at the Legends called T-Rex. It's very similar to a Rainforest Cafe but a Dino theme. Vance and Lilly had a great time! Andi, Penny and Justin met us there. Andi, I'm sure, had a good time too. ;) The restaurant has a "meteor shower" every half hour. We sat through 3 of them. The light go dim and some lights flicker and there's real loud noises and booms. Lilly really enjoyed the meteor showers. Grandma Brenda took her to walk around while it was going on.


After dinner we walked around the shops outside for a while. Vance was getting tired and as usual, he didn't want to sit still. He kept trying to escape from this stroller. Chris had to continue walking around outside while we shopped in stores. Daddy is such a great help! We only shopped for about an hour. The stores were closing soon so were were trying to get to all the kids clothing stores before they closed. We managed to get to carters and found what we were looking for. Both Lilly and Andi got matching dresses and Vance got pants and a shirt to match.



On our way back to the car, we stopped at the fountain. This one shot water into the air and had different spouts on the outside ring for kids to touch and play in. Of course Lilly and Vance wanted to play. Although, Vance wasn't happy with JUST touching the water. He wanted badly to get in. I'm guessing he thought it was a pool. I let him go in as far as I could reach, keeping a hold on one of his hands. He got down in the water and laid down on his belly. The water was very cold but it didn't seem to effect him.

Saturday Chris and I went to the Northwest Missouri State Vs. Pitt State Football game at Arrowhead. We left town around noon and didn't get back till around 9:30 that night. Northwest won! We had such a great time. Chris got to see most his friends from college. Vance stayed at Grandma Teresa's house. He was very tired once we got back. He was ready for bed.



Sunday morning was an early one at our house. I had to get up for church, I teach Sunday school. Chris and Vance were meeting me at the church for the regular service. Sunday was Vance's dedication service. Before Chris could get to the church, we was suppose to bring the outfit we bought for the dedication. Traditionally the baby wears an all white gown or suit. We are doing this a little late for Vance. He's in a size 18-24 month and most suits only go up to 12mo. I spent a lot of time getting his outfit together and had it embroidered. When Sunday morning came around, Chris couldn't find the outfit anywhere. He called the church to let me know he was coming without it. That wouldn't do! ;) I left church, telling the pastor that we'd be late, and headed home to find it. Just as I got there Chris, who had apparently stayed to look, called my cell and told me he found it... BEHIND THE COUCH! I have no clue how it got there, but we found it and were on our way back to the church.


The rest of the ceremony and service went smoothly. Of course, its now a big joke about how we found the outfit. A dedication service is a service where we, as parents, and the church as extended family, dedicate Vance to God and agree to bring him up in a Christian home. It was a very sweet ceremony. We had a lot of family come to support us. The grandparents were invited to stand up front with us during the ceremony. After Pastor Jon held Vance and prayed for him, Vance looked around at the congregation and started clapping. It was so freakin cute!


After church, we had some friends and family over for a cookout. This was planned back in August and landed on the same day as the dedication. It made for a crazy day. We have a birthday party for our dogs every year. Jamie, Chris's sister, owns a sister to one of the dogs we have. They turned 6 this year. Monday was Chris's birthday, Chris turned 33. We had a cake made for the dogs and a cake for the people. I made a big announcement that the cake for dogs was not people food. I'm sure it wouldn't hurt anyone, but it probably wouldn't taste very good.

Back on track

Chris and I now have internet access at home! I hope to make blogging a regular habit again. :)

Today was Vance's first day back to Daycare. For those of you who didn't know, we enrolled Vance in Parents Day Out at Wyatt Park Christian Church. He started in the summer. He attends on Tuesdays and Thursdays. At first he hated going, he did not like being left behind. After going a few times it was easier to leave him. It was still hard to get away at first because he always cried. But the nursery helpers reassured me that he quit crying soon after I left.

The new semester started today and was a bit different. He is now is "toddler A" and is with 2 and 3 year olds. I wasn't sure what to expect when I dropped him off. It was a new classroom with new teachers. Overall it went rather well. He did fuss a bit when we first pulled up to the church. He recognized the building. When I left him in the room, he cried for a bit but he quit before I left the hallway. Lets hope things continue to go that well on Thursday.

Saturday Chris and I went to Maryville for a cookout. Nycole, a friend of mine came with. She was a big help with Vance. It gave me one extra pair of eyes and hand on him. :) We had a really good time. The people the own the house also run a business that rents inflatables. They had a jumping castle and an obstacle course. Vance had fun in both of them. He wanted to play more in the obstacle course but it was very tiring for Chris and I. Nycole, being 7 months pregnant, even took him through a few times. He enjoyed it very much.

The Parents as Teachers lady visited a couple weeks ago. She is scheduled to return in another month to do Vance's development tests. As of now, Vance doesn't talk. Well, not English. ;) He is very vocal, saying his da da da das and other little baby talks. But he doesn't communicate much else. We have noticed a difference within the last few months and are hoping he is getting caught up. We'll see where he is in another month. If he fails his speech test, we will work with a therapist to try to get him to communicate better.

We know he is doing just fine in his physical development. He climbs on anything he can. He only has one speed right now, run. If he wants to get somewhere, he runs there. We don't worry at all about that part of the test.