Oooh! A blog from Maggie! This doesn't happen very often! I definitely am not staying on top of this blogging thing. After three + years it is starting to lose some of its appeal. Plus, everyone is on facebook now so that's kind of taking the place of blogging for some of us. But, anyway, I thought I'd "blog" because we do have some pretty exciting news! We bought a house last week, and will close on August 31! The kiddos went to their grandparents' house for the week, and Joel and I looked at about a bazillion houses with a realtor (who was great, by the way!). So, what was supposed to be a relaxing mini vacation to celebrate my birthday and our anniversary, turned into a pretty big, unrelaxing, deal! But we're so glad that we found the house that we did and that we were able to do so while the kiddos were away. It definitely would've been much more difficult to house hunt without an empty nest for a week.

So, here are some photos! It's in a great location in Maple Grove, 3 bedrooms, 1600 square feet...nothing too big or fancy, but it's perfect for our little family! And as a bonus, we took Chad and Heidi over to see in on Sunday and there was a family out across the street with two little girls, and another one on the way (just like us!). Hopefully that'll be a lot of fun!

In other news, our 19 week ultrasound is tomorrow, but I guess it's not all that exciting because we're not going to find out the gender of the baby. Although, I am going to have the ultrasound tech write it down on a piece of paper, and then we'll immediately mail it to my friend, Traci Davies, who lives in Nashville. She really wants to know, and promised us a super cute gender-appropriate outfit after the baby is born. Oh, and she knows that if she tells me or anyone else what the contents of that envelope are, there will be serious repercussions. I'm threatening the health and well-being of her English Bulldog, Winston :-) I don't think I could ever make such an agreement with anyone who lived within a thousand miles of us.

Have a great month - because that'll probably be how long it is before I post again!

I love love love talking baby names, so when I saw on a friend's blog that the Social Security Administration has just come out with their stats on the most popular names of 2008, I had to check and see the status of Marie and Renee. We definitely try to stay out of the top 50(certainly the top 10), but have not intentionally stayed this far out. I really like our kids' names, but apparently not everyone feels the same way!

However, I have heard a few more Marie's lately. One of Joel's co-workers is naming his unborn daughter Marie, and we've run into a few at the grocery store. For the most part they are 60+. I'm kind of surprised that Marie hasn't made more of a comeback along with some other old-fashioned names that are suddenly cool again (Emma, Eleanor, Clara, Ava, Lucy etc.).


Popularity of the female name Renee
Year of birth / Rank
2008 / 734
2007 / 713
2006 / 580
2005 / 543
2004 / 476
2003 / 452
2002 / 418
2001 / 385
2000 / 362


Popularity of the female name Marie
Year of birth / Rank
2008 / 546
2007 / 557
2006 / 571
2005 / 508
2004 / 494
2003 / 506
2002 / 429
2001 / 403
2000 / 373

Here are a few that my mom took during her visit at the end of April. Once again, I forgot to take any photos of the girls with their Grammy. Sorry, Mom! We'll make up for it later this month when we come to Nebraska.

We fished all of Marie's old broken crayons out of her crayon box, and melted them in muffin tins in the oven at 350. They turned out like this, and are lots of fun for her to color with!

I really dislike blogging lately. Facebook just makes uploading and writing captions on photos so much easier, which is the main purpose for which I use this blog. I think blogger.com needs to make some changes if they want to keep up with the Joneses.


Some photos from our weekend with Chad & Heidi, at their cabin. Chad's family built this cabin with their own hands about 30 years ago. It was fun to see the land and the house that he grew up visiting, and to read the cabin's guest book, which dates back to around 1979! Weren't there dinosaurs back then?

Heidi is 23 weeks pregnant, for those of you who haven't heard. They are due around Labor Day (how appropriate!). She's quite a trooper! Still jogging, chopping wood, etc. She puts me to shame! Anyway, we had a terrific time. The highlight for me was definitely trudging through the muddy swamp land on Sunday morning with knee-high rubber boots. Joel and I (who are not experienced mud trudgers) got stuck several times. It was really a hoot!

Chad, Heidi & Joel planted 180 bushes and trees on Saturday to create a wind break on their land. It'll be fun to go back in a few years (if they'll have us) and see how they've grown!

Marie was very brave and climbed to the top of a deer stand with Uncle Chad. She also enjoyed "doing work" outside like hauling logs and planting pansies with Aunt Heidi, and picking wildflowers to make bouquets. What she didn't enjoy so much were the lovely wood ticks. In fact, I had to take her into the doctor this morning to get a tick head removed from her armpit! But she did great and the doctor told her that she was even braver than a 5 year old, which really made her smile.

"The whole goal of a baby's awake time is to bridge the gap as seamlessly as possible from one sleep event to the next."

A Joel quote from this evening. So true.

On that note, we are expecting another cute sleeping baby on 12/02/09.

From a couple of months ago. Marie has about half of her books memorized, which is nice because she can "read" them to herself! This is an excerpt from Fancy Nancy's Favorite Fancy Words.


"I have a knack for mixing and matching ensembles. Take it from me, lavender works with almost anything....

Now can I watch it?"

Renee doing her pig impression:





And here she is going going nuts:





And being cute:





Sweet:










Cereal Box puzzle:





Our favorite time - Story Time:





My french braiding skills are a little rusty:





Joel & Renizzle dancing:





And a few from their birthday party last month:

RANDOM.

My sister-in-law, Carissa, and I rarely wear make-up and don't really know how to put it on. So last night we went to the Bare Escentuals (you may have seen the infomercials) store at Southdale Mall and got makeovers! I forgot to bring my camera, so I don't have before and after shots of Carissa, but she looked great! Both of us just want to be able to have the option of getting more dressed-up if we're going on a date, or to an event like Dan & Kaylen's wedding in June!

These photos are a little dark because I used the webcam.

Here's my before:





And after:

Marie: "Mommy, let's make Chocolate Baby Soup for dinner!"

Sounds scrumptious!

JUST WAITING FOR SPRING...


Whew! The Minnesota Meehans have a lot going on right now! And I'm not talking about our little family of 4. Things are pretty low key around here (especially with the girls being sick on an off). Nope, Joel's three siblings have a LOT going on!

Tim & Carissa:
Expecting Baby #4, Put house on market last week, House sold in 2 days!, Found a new house last weekend, Moving mid-March to new house, Baby due in April. Whew. Makes me tired just to type it!

Heidi & Chad:
Expecting baby #1 in late August! She's going to make the cutest matron of honor in her best friend's wedding this June.

Dan & Kaylen:
Engaged as of Sunday! Probably getting hitched in late June or early July!


So, ya, there's a lot going on here in Minnesota. It seems like every time we talk to someone lately there's more exciting news! Highlights for our family over the past couple of weeks include: Joel enjoying the blessing of employment, Renee turning 1 on Feb 4 (she also can pull-up and is getting pretty good at sign language), all of us throwing up over the course of a week (not a highlight, but noteable nonetheless), Joel and Tim taking their eldest daughters to a Sweetheart Ball (photos below), finding a new church, Marie starting preschool 1 day/week.


On Valentine's Day this Saturday we're having a Triple Birthday Party for Marie, Renee and their cousin, Naomi, who all have February birthdays. My mom is coming up from Nebraska, which we're really looking forward to! She loathes cold weather, so hopefully it stays pretty mild for her visit.


Alright, enough yappin'. Here are the photos:

Joel and his mini-me.





She's almost 3!





It's exhausting being 1.





"I'm 1, Mom."





"Happy Birthday To You!" Even though we're having a family birthday party on Saturday, Marie insisted that we celebrate Renee's birthday on the 4th. She was so sweet and cute about it.





Cliche "baby stuffing her face with cake at 1st birthday" photo.





The girls.





Opening presents. Go Go Caterpillar is a big hit.





Marie had another new friend over last Friday. They played great together all day!





Tim & Joel took the girls to a Sweetheart Ball last weekend. On three: 1, 2, 3, "Awwwwwww...."





Marie and Naomi danced mostly with each other while their Daddies chaperoned.