And the Van's name will be..........

I've really enjoyed reading the suggestions ya'll came up with for the van's name! I especially liked the Bullseye II, Vanny Mae, and Van Go! Ultimately I've decided to go with my first inclination which is......(oh the suspense!).....Minnie! YEAH!!!!!

(o:8 that's supposed to be Minnie Mouse. ha

Anyway...so the van's name is Minnie now, just plain Minnie--not Minnie Driver, I don't want her to have to shake off any bad press a celebrity may cause. My Minnie is a good girl. :) ha

Fishin' Fishin' Fishin'

Brian and his Dad fished allllll weekend. They went out early in the morning until about 8 or 9 and then again from 5 until dark. Mr. Larry caught a 5 and 1/4 pound bass and he was soooo excited!!! We were too! They caught over 30 fish and we had a great Southern fish fry Saturday. We also fried dill pickles, onions, deer meat, and hushpuppies and threw in some fresh homemade coleslaw to get our veggies. It was delicious! They did great had had a really good time. I think this fishing trip will be talked about for years to come! :)

Jack's Weekend at the Lake

This past weekend we went to the Randall's fishing camp outside of Starkville and had a relaxing, peaceful, and fun weekend with Brian's parents. Brian's mom and I just sat around, played with Jack, and cooked all weekend while the guys fished fished fished! We didn't watch any TV or have internet access, and had very little phone service, and it was great to be unplugged for a while.

Jack had a great time running around the house, eating a ton, and most especially riding on the four-wheeler with Brian.

This picture was priceless! I had put Jack down for a nap and then went outside for a little while. When I came back in I could hear this crinkling (sp?) sound over the monitor, so I asked Mrs. Nancy if he'd been making much noise or what. She said he had groaned and babbled a little and then this crinkling sound started. So we waited a few more minutes until the sound got louder and it sounded like he was dismantling his pack-n-play. I finally went in and met this sight. He had somehow gotten ahold of this pack of wipes and was pulling them out one-by-one into 2 piles. The piles were several inches high when I got in there and he was happy as can be! We cracked up! So much for his nap!

15 (almost 16) months!!!!

Jack had his 15 month checkup today. We took the mini-van to Little Rock for the first time, and it was fabulous, as was Jack. He was sooo good! He slept almost the whole way there and was such a good boy the whole time. He played and walked around in the waiting room and then he flirted with the nurse like crazy! He's so adorable.

He weighs 25 pounds, 4 ounces and is 31 inches tall (or 2 foot 7 as Papa said), his head is 49.5 cm around. The doctor said that he's "perfect" and in the 50-75th percentile. She's really happy with his eating and his growth. He does have some eczema on his foot and elbow, so we got some samples for that, but other than that everything is perfect! Praise God! The next time he goes for a checkup we will have another tiny passenger with us--How exciting!

One of Jack's favorite things is dancing. Here he is breaking it down to some Latin music. We discovered that he likes Latin music when we went out to eat Mexican with my parents and he kept dancing! So now I put on the Latino channel to get him to dance! He's so funny! And you should see me and Brian dancing with him--priceless!
The doctor gave him a book about his favorite things--TRUCKS!

Grandpa and Grandmamma Chisholm had this play house in Gulfport and sent it home with us. Jack plays with it for hours! It has a doorbell, a lightswitch, mailbox, radio, and so much more! Thanks so much Grandpa and Grandmamma!

Jack likes to put things on his head and walk around. This is a towel he got out of Mommy's laundry pile.

We think he's starting to slim down and grow a little, but he obviously still has those CHEEKS!!!!! I'm so glad! I'm going to be sad when they go.

Aunt Amanda and Grandmamma came up to see us this past weekend. They kept Jack while we went to Memphis for a wedding. We had a blast hanging out with them, and we were so glad that we got to go to the wedding. It was beautiful, and we got to see tons of friends from MSU.

Jack absolutely positively LOVES his Aunt Amanda! They are so cute together!

Expanding

The Chisholm family is expanding in more than one way lately! :)

Here's the belly at 30 weeks. I feel HUGE! And there are some other pics that Brian took that make me look HUGE and WILL NOT be appearing on here! :)

We're all doing great. The baby is moving like crazy and getting bigger. I had a checkup last week and the doctor said everything looks great.

I've been having some lower ab pain, but she said it's just the muscles stretching. I'm feeling good, but a little uncomfortable. With only 2 months to go I've definitely been nesting. I've been organizing, cleaning, baking, and getting some of the little bitty baby clothes out. They're so tiny!!!

Jack is growing up so fast and we're having so much fun with him. He's learning and noticing more and more every day. Brian is great too, he's getting excited about going fishing this weekend with his dad.

Here is our new mini-van!!! Isn't she pretty! I really like driving her, though I do miss bullseye. We have much more room now, and getting Jack in and out of his car seat is SOOOO much easier! I went grocery shopping in her for the first time yesterday, and it was great! So I'm settling in. I keep accidentally calling the van bullseye, and Brian keeps laughing at/correcting me. oops! Sorry van. So, hope the picture helps with the naming of her. I've thought about calling her Minnie--you know for mini-van...but I don't know, I want to hear what ya'll come up with. :)

Our Fourth of July

We were on the road this Fourth and got to see soooo many people that we love, it was GREAT! We drove to Yazoo City on Thursday afternoon and spent the night with Grandmamma Merkle. We had a blast playing with Jack, watching him, and talking to Grandmamma late into the night.

We didn't bring any toys in, so Jack improvised. He took these potatoes from the white tub in the background to the basket, one by one. He also handed them out to us, Grandmamma, Ruth, and Ann. He was hilarious!
When Uncle Mark came over Jack handed every single potato to him. He was such a good sport, he sat there and held all thirty or so of them for Jack.
I think Grandmamma liked having her great-grandson around. She wanted to hold him at every possible opportunity. How sweet they are!
Friday morning we drove down to my Grandparents' house in the country. Jack has a great time playing outside, chasing the dogs around, and being oohed and ahhed about all day.

He loved this ball! Katie, Emily (my cousins), and Elizabeth all entertained him for hours! I wanted to kidnap them and bring them home with us! :)

Saturday and Sunday we spent some time with Brian's parents, saw his good friend Justin and his wife Elizabeth, visited Pap Paw Chisholm, and saw my godmother before meeting my parents and caravaning to Madison where we rested and then headed to Rison.

It was great to see everybody! I don't have any pictures, because I'm a horrible picture-taker when we're travelling, so, sorry.

We also bought and drove our new minivan back! So now my vehicle is a minivan!!!! WoooHoo! I really like it! We got to know eachother pretty well on the drive home Sunday, and we're tight now. Jack likes her too. I don't have any pics of her yet, but they are coming.

I do need ya'll to help me--I need some ideas for a catchy, clever, descriptive, and cute name for my new ride. So think of some for me--I'll post a picture of her soon so you'll have some inspiration. I can't wait to hear your ideas!

Some of Jack's favorite things

Some of Jack's favorite things: Riding on his truck, reading with Daddy, playing in the sprinkler, and swinging on his swing set. He's becoming such a big boy! I'm realizing more and more that he's not a baby anymore. SAD! :) but really HAPPY!!!!

In these two you can't really tell, but he's standing in the water fromthe sprinkler getting soaked! It was so funny! He just stood there and laughed.