Weekend adventures...

Danika and I went to Cleveland for Labor Day weekend and spent the night in a hotel with my Mom, sister and her two kids. It was a little bit of chaos, but a lot of fun. :) I thought the hotel might throw us out but it all turned out okay. :)

We took the kids swimming, celebrated my Mom's birthday, and just sat around chatting. Joanie is still recovering from her broken ankle, so sitting around is a requirement for her...not really an option.

While we were together, I took pictures of my sister's baby girl, Josie. Oh how she is growing! I will post pictures when I get a chance!

I miss them already.

He picked a WOMAN!

Okay...I don't really do the politics thing too much....that's Doug's thing, not mine. But I have to tell you, I was so moved today when McCain announced that he picked Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate, I actually started to cry.

What a historic election....either way, we will have an unbelievable "FIRST" for our country in November....we will either have a black man as president, or a woman as VP....isn't that COOL???? I am still really moved. What a cool thing.

Custom Bookshelves in Progress

Doug has been working on several side jobs lately. The current job is a set of custom bookshelves. I thought I would post pictures of them as he makes progress.


This is where he was at with them on Saturday morning:



This is the "box" of the bottom part of the bookshelves. I don't understand how it all works, but I remember that this is what our bookshelves started out looking like and I thought they turned out GREAT. :)
Oh yes....this is Doug's "side kick". :) She was given a new hat and she LOVES wearing it around.
Have a great day!

Bierer Bikini Belly

I already told you all about the trip down to the peninsula over the weekend. I wanted to post a picture of Danika in her bikini. :) Hope it makes you laugh like it does me. :)

On the road again....

So....if you think of Doug...pray for him. :) I have to travel again this week and he will be a single daddy with Danika until I come home.

Fun stuff that happened over the weekend....

...Friday we added new people to our small group for church. So fun! We are taking an awesome group and expanding the fun. :) Every Tuesday Doug and I leave our small group and say, "I love our group." The people we are adding will bring even more fun and flavor to it, so I can hardly wait until tomorrow night to meet. When we started coming to McLane and heard them talk about small groups, we often heard the phrase "doing life together" as a way to describe the relationship you have with your group-mates. I think it is perfect...I can't think of a better way to describe it. These are the people that we set aside time to meet with every week to talk about the "guts" of life. It is so good for my heart. We pray for each other, discuss big decisions, and get advice. Sometimes we just need a sounding board, other times we just need to laugh. It is this place that we can talk about life, relationships, and God's word. Tough questions welcome. Broken hearts welcome. Celebrations welcome. All I can say is TOO COOL. I love this.

....Saturday Doug spent a good portion of the day working on a custom set of bookshelves for a side-job he took. That evening, we met several other couples down at Presque Isle for an evening of boating and socializing. Doug got to wakeboard, Danika got to play in the sand and pet doggies, and Andrea got to sit outside with some wonderful women and laugh. It was a great night. OH....and Danika was looking just stunning in her little bikini swimsuit. That unique little physique is hilarious....I have never seen such a huge belly on such a little person!

....Sunday, we went to church, which is always a highlight of the week. For real. I LOVE our church! I look forward to going and try to never miss. It is just too cool to miss out. I love to learn and be challenged and to sing and to worship and to socialize...all wrapped into a tight little 1.5 hour bundle. It's great. Doug and I were part of a recruiting video for the children's section called "PowerZone" and it played this week. It was the first we had seen the finished product. I learned that I am definitely a STAGE actor, not a video actor. I over-act SO badly on video! I am so used to being on stage where everything must be WAY OVER EMPHASIZED in order for the audience to see it. I had to stifle the laughter because I really wanted to laugh out loud at how ridiculous I looked. :)

After church we all took naps. :) What a glorious way to spend a Sunday afternoon. I love naps. They are such a happy thing. Then we ran various errands and finished off the weekend by renting a movie. It was just an overall wonderful easy-going weekend. I love those kinds of weekends.

But....now it is a busy week. You might not hear from me much...I've got a lot on my plate between now and Labor Day. Hope you all have a marvelous week. Leave a note and let me know how you are doing!

Love,
Andrea

Better late than never...

So....in case you didn't know, I am often late.

That would be the case with Danika's 1-year picture. We never really took one. But, I am trying to redeem myself with a 18 mos picture. Here you go. :) Immediate family, your wallet-sized picture is in the mail/on the way.

For the Grandparents, however, I put together a small collage. I tried several versions, and I would like input from you blog readers on which layout I should select for printing. Please leave a comment and vote on which 8x10 you like the best:

Option #1:

Option #2:

Option #3:
Option #4: Vote for your favorite. :) The picture that Susan and my Mom get will depend on you! ;)

There are days...

There are days when I feel like I can do anything. It just seems like everything is manageable. Not like everything is perfect, mind you, but just like everything is going to be alright. All the plates are in the air, all the wheels are turning like they are supposed to. It is a good feeling.

But then...there are other days. Those days, I am fairly convinced that I would be better off if I had never left the house...no make that if I hadn't left the bed. Those days, it would just be better to roll over and say that I will not be joining the human race today, I will pass and join again during the next 24hr rotation. Sorry....I'll just have to try again tomorrow.

How bout you? Do you have "those" days?

I have had a few lately, and I have to tell you....after a while they get kind of hard to take. I can't always figure out what makes the difference between the "do anything" days and "those" days, but when I do, I'll let you know.

Here's hoping tomorrow is a "do-anything" day.