Gigs In Prague #13 October '26

 It's Nicholas's birthday month (October 6th), and he turned 20!  

He's now serving in Prague and loving this beautiful city.

BUT he's had to learn Czech, which is different from Slovak, 

the language he has been speaking and learning.

So that's been difficult, but he's doing it.

Best of all, he's loving the people and friends he meets,

serves, and teaches. 

Enjoy Gigs in Prague in October:

Friends:

Prague: (Fall time!)

Food:

Baptisms:

Friends:

Video Calling Home 

(Chatting with Minnie throughout the month)

Random:

(IYKYK)

I LOVE YOU GIGS!

Glow Stick Baby

 

There is a family that we go to church with, and they have

six kids... like us!  Except UNLIKE us, this family

is all musical, and has a family band!  

Tonight, Christian and I took Minnie, and we went to see

the family band play in the park.

Minnie LOVED it!  She bopped her head around and made

all sorts of noises.  We got her a glow stick, which was 

the cherry on top of her evening.

AND she slept really well!

Meltdown & Blowout

About 10 seconds after this photo, Minnie had a meltdown

and a big blowout.

Those are two bad things to happen at once.

BUT it's the weekend, so everything will be OK!

Sleeping Like A Baby

 

Minnie has two reliable places where she sleeps "like a baby".

1. In my arms (nursing)

2. In the car.

I've spent a lot of time parked in my driveway 

with the car running so Minnie can have a decent nap.

A lot of those times, I nap too.

Did You Hear The News?!

CLAIRE IS GOING TO BE A MOM!

MINNIE IS GOING TO BE AN AUNT!

I AM GOING TO BE A GRANDMA!

CONGRATULATIONS to Claire and Nate!

Baby girl due in late February.

I've known about this little secret since July!

I've been dying!

Pretty Epic

 

This morning, between naps, I worked on Minnie's Halloween costume.

She's going to be so dang cute, and I'm so excited to

dress up a baby for my favorite holiday!

My baby even!

I've been working on our Halloween dinner menu, too.

Minnie doesn't know it yet, but Halloween around here

is pretty epic... just like her costume is going to be.

Let It Be

This morning, Christian, Minnie, and I met a friend

at the grocery store in Chapel Hill (where Minnie died

with all the pumpkins. She's obsessed with pumpkins).

Anyway, I met E through this very blog.

She’s Danish and so thoughtfully brought me back a few 

treasures from her last summer vacation there.

She spends her summers in Denmark with her gorgeous family.

She taught me new words, shared recipes, and gave me some

authentic cooking tools and a Dyne, which is a baby duvet and comforter

for Minnie.  I am LOVING it!

Then we talked about her coming to Stillestead to teach me her ways

in the kitchen- especially since 90% of our 

Christmas cooking and traditions are Danish.

I'm really excited for that.

Last Friday, I saw a lizard crawling along our wall.

There are lots of lizards outside here, so I wasn't too surprised

by its presence, and I did try to catch it- unsuccessfully.

As it scampered away, I smiled. 

It reminded me of Gigs.

I actually smiled and laughed.  

As I was making dinner tonight, I noticed the lizard was in one of my bowls,

just chilling under my decorative pumpkins, ironically next

to one of my very favorite paintings of Gigs from when he was four.

Still alive.

I let it be.

Gigs would want me to let it be, too.

Before bed, the lizard was crawling in Minnie's toy basket.

I picked up the basket and took it outside, where

he jumped off and crawled under the house.

But I kind of felt sad and wished he would come back.

I told him out loud that he could come back inside anytime he wanted.

Gigs would have wanted me to tell him that.

Sunday Walks

 Usually, on Sunday evenings, we go for a walk.  

It's starting to get colder, so we have to bundle up-

especially Minnie.

The seasons here are glorious, and fall is no exception!

Everything is turning vibrant colors.

 The weather and the seasons change so slowly,

and I love it.

We came home and made the first fire of the season!  

And yes, cow #26 finally went into heat.

Bless Saturday Helpers

This morning, we woke up to rain.  

Lots of glorious rain!  Minnie and I had a slow morning.  

We read books, which is my very favorite part of having children.  

Children's books are my weakness.

Especially Halloween children's books.

Then Christian, Minnie, and I went to our church

building to clean it because our family was assigned this week.

(Why do I always get the bathroom job?)

Back at home, we cleaned up Stillestead 

I also made bread, baked fall cookies, 

and got ready for the big BYU vs. Notre Dame game.  

Wow, you might think she really got a lot done, and the truth is, 

I got a lot done today because I had plenty of help at home.

Bless Saturdays.

Minnie watched the first half of the game and then fell asleep.  

It was one of the best games I've ever seen, and we won.

*Thanks to Jane, who took these cute photos of us reading.

I will treasure these photos!