DYKSTERHOUSE NEWS: March 2011

I promised TMac that I would go back and find a picture that we had taken of the first time that he held Mary Laine. On first glance, it doesn't look that bad, right? This was after he held her out like a football, and I think that we had done some posing... notice how unnatural his hand looks. :-) If you go down a couple of posts and see the picture of him with Langdon, I think that you'll agree that we've come a long way! TMac has even offered to babysit!! I'm so proud!

By the way, don't you love the pacifier in this picture? It's about as big as Mary Laine!

And, on another note, I have to document something funny that Mary Laine said yesterday (wish that I would remember to jot down all of her funny comments). We were about to go upstairs for her bath last night, and as she started climbing the stairs, she turned around, looked at me very seriously, and said, "I'll go on up. You stay downstairs, Kathryn." WHAT?!? Did my daughter really just call me Kathryn? And say that she wanted to go on up without me? When did she turn into a teenager?? Thankfully, she went back to calling me "Mama" for the rest of the night!

February was a busy month that can be summed up with family, friends, and fun.

Here is Langdon with our friend TMac. We laugh at how far TMac has come. When Mary Laine was born, he came over and held her out in front of him like a football. And he looked terrified. Now he looks like such a natural, doesn't he???

And I'll put in a little plug for TMac. He is an amazing guy with an amazing ministry. I really need to spend an entire post on him, but for now, I'll just give you the link to his website (click here). A.maz.ing. And something that you'll be very blessed to be a part of.

'Nough said.

At the first of the month, we got to enjoy a visit with Pop-Pop and Grammy. We were all getting a little more sleep, and were therefore a little more sane for this visit than we were for their last one.

Langdon loving his one-on-one time with Pop-Pop

Snuggling with Grammy

The center of attention

Mary Laine was loving her blue lollipop. Check out the face.

I also have to point out the outfit. This is by far her favorite outfit. I let her pick out her clothes for the day (as long as they are weather appropriate), and the first thing that she asks when she walks into her closet every morning is if the "dots" are dirty. If she doesn't see them, she looks in the laundry basket - and it's always at the bottom because it's always the first thing that she wears after I do laundry. So, if you've noticed her wearing this alot, that's why. She wears it as often as it's clean.

Mary Laine in her "Cow-b-boy" hat. Don't know where she picked that up, but it's really cute, so we don't correct her.

L.O.V.E. this picture!!

As soon as Grammy and Pop-Pop pulled out of the driveway, we started getting ready for the big game. The Super Bowl, you ask?? Oh, no! This was much more monumental than the Super Bowl!! The big Kickball Game, of course! I mentioned this in a previous post, and linked to my friend Robin's article about the big event. If you didn't read it before, you really should now. As for my account, I'll let the pictures speak for themselves:

After a very disappointing defeat (oh, don't worry, the next challenge is already in the works. More to come on that later...), we somehow managed to get back to life as normal

Mary Laine loves it when we pull out her old toys for Langdon...

not sure if she exceeds the weight limit?

Since we missed the white Christmas that everybody else got to enjoy, we were thrilled to get about 4 inches of snow one week!!

I sent Gary and Mary Laine out to make a snowman. 6 hours later, this is Gary's finished product (ML lost interest after about 10 minutes).

Snow Ice Cream!!

This is what happens to Deacon's hair after he's been out rolling around in the snow :)

This is what happened to our snow lady after the sun came out. Gary said that she looked like a typical Wake Forest fan this season. Our neighbor said that she was praying.

Here's Langdon on his "four-month birthday"

We got to spend the day visiting my Great-Aunt Ada (my grandmother's sister)

and my Great-Uncle George

At the end of the month, we loaded up the car and headed to Michigan. Yes, you read that right. Michigan in February. All of Gary's extended family lives there and we hadn't been in about five years, so we decided it was about time, and this was the only time of year that we could get away. It was so good to see everyone, and we actually had gorgeous weather.

This is Mary Laine's new favorite mode of transportation - Gramma Great's walker!

Langdon's first time meeting his great-grandparents.

Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Kate came too.

Gramma-Great knew how to make Mary Laine happy - with food! She would share all of her food, and Mary Laine would even try to steal a bite when Gramma wasn't looking!

We met up with Mary Laine's 2nd cousin, Brandt, and the playground.

Here are the kids with their Great-Aunt Jan:

Loving some time with Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Kate

We spent one day over at Gary's counsin Jeff's house. Jeff also took Gary and Jimmy on a tour of their parents' school, Calvin College.

Gary and Jimmy on a frozen lake at Calvin. There was a story here,

but I'll have to leave that one for Gary to tell

Jeff's wife, Carolyn, is a professional photographer. What a treat for Langdon to be the subject of her photoshoot that day!

Too bad that we don't live closer - Lauren and Sarah were great babysitters!

On the way home, we stayed in Champaigne, IL and went to the Children's Museum.
Mary Laine had a blast!

When we got home, Gary and I caved and finally got smart phones. I'm still learning to use the camera. I almost deleted this one because the flash made the picture really bright and ML was moving, but I think that it ended up being a pretty cool picture.