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.