Happy Birthday Daddy

Today is my wonderful husband's birthday!

Happy Birthday, Joshua Karl Langemann!

I love you so much, Josh! I'm so glad you could be home for your birthday! You are so special to Hope and I. Thank you for loving us and helping us live the adventures that life brings our way!

I love being your wife, taking care of you, our home, and our little girl. You are the friend of a lifetime to me.

This year may our Lord bless you with increasing realness in your relationship with Him, increased life in His word, and increased joy in the Holy Spirit!

Cheering for you,

~Erin~

To celebrate Daddy's birthday, Hope did her very first colouring project! We hung this on the door of the nursery so Daddy would see it in the morning! He was very impressed. :o)

You can see she rather preferred the colour red. :o)

Here's the little one at work on her masterpiece. She was very glad to see her Daddy again yesterday. As soon as she realized who it was she wiggled out of my arms and clung to Josh and wanted to be in his arms as much as he'd hold her. She doesn't mind or notice at all that Daddy has a cold, though we hope she doesn't come down with it. The love of a child is so unconditionally giving!

That's how all of us should be. :o)

"Dear Daddy,

Happy birthday!

Daddy, what’s a birthday? I don’t think I’ve had one of those yet, but I think today is your birthday, because it seems that there’s a special feeling in the air.

What’s air, Daddy? I don’t think I’ve felt that yet, but I have special feelings around me all the time.

What’s time, Daddy? I know Momma tells big sister Hope “Time for a snack, time for a nap, time to play, time to wash hands, time to go to bed.” So many words I don’t know.

But one thing I know is that you must love Momma and big sister Hope very much, because they seem happy. I know, because happy is a feeling, and that’s what I do best!

One day soon, I’ll be able to do more than feel – I’ll be able to hear, and I’ll wonder what all those sounds are that I hear.

Daddy, what are you all doing out there? Whatever it is must make you happy, because I feel happy to hear you.

One day soon, you’ll hear me, and I’ll hear you without all these thumping and swooshing noises around me. But for now, I’ll stay warm and cozy in here.

I love you, Daddy.

Happy Birthday! I’ll meet you soon – on my birthday! Momma says that’ll be late November.

What’s November, Daddy? Never mind, you can tell me later."

Being formed,

Your new little one

A week without Daddy

Josh had to travel on business from last Wednesday through this Wednesday. Hope and I held the fort here at home. We kept music playing lots of the time, which helped it not seem so quiet and lonely.

Lorrie gave Hope a couple of these foam puzzles for Christmas, but I had been saving one for a special time, so I'd have a new toy to give her if she needed it. Josh's trip seemed like the perfect time. As you can see, she wants to share. :o) A good thing. :o)
Just cute.

Miss attentive, most of the time. :o)

Hope tried several new foods while Josh was gone, one of which was raw peas. She would gnaw on them like a cob of corn till she broke through the shell and got to the peas inside.
Or, sometimes she'd just take a bite out of the end!
She dropped one and the handy-dandy catcher tray on the bib happened to catch it. Trouble was, she just couldn't get it out. Peas can be such bothersome little things!
I picked it out and gave it to her, but here she sees there's still stuff stuck in the tray. Hmmm.
Ahh. Quenching that thirst of hers with some water from her cup! This cup has no "air-intake-return" so it makes the most hilarious squeeezing/gasping sound when she stops drinking and it takes in the air. It's quite funny!

At home with Hope, Vol IV

The adventure continues...

The look says it all!
"See what Dadda lets me do after supper, Momma?" No idea why Blogger decided to post this picture sideways, it's not that way in the original file. Sorry.
"Umph... I have to reach to get the very last ones before Momma takes me away to bed."
"Hmm, now that I'm brave enough to pull myself up, it's time to investigate Momma's cupboards!"
"The right side was boring, what might be in the left side?"
Ready to go for a springy walk with Momma. This flannel bonnet came in handy, because the winds are still cool up here. She sure turned lots of heads, bouncing along in her stroller with that bright and adorable hat!
"What's that squeaking sound, Momma?" (Hearing the chains as she swung back and forth.)
"I love this!"

At home with Hope, Vol III

Here we are, back in our own home again. She was playing with Josh and her book, so she was quite happy!
The swings at a nearby park are a big highlight. She points to them and gets all excited when she spots them from the stroller.
"I got this thing figured out..."
Giggle, giggle, giggle!
And here we are, making some noise in the kitchen.
And quite happy about it too!
Blowing kisses, I think.
"A-ba-ba-ba." Once she saw me with the camera, she started performing and doing all her little charms. :o)

Final few shots from the farm

Here's a final few random shots from the farm.
After dinner, Dad (Papa) and Hopey-Doodle would play together in the living room. They found all sorts of creative things to do with the crokinole pieces!

Uncle Ave and the little one. :o)

Hurray - Daddy came back to us! After a week away on business, Josh joined us at the farm. Hope was so glad to have her Daddy back, as was I. :o)
On Saturday, April 3, Great-Grandma came out to join us for a day-early birthday celebration for Avery.
Chloe made him this awesome chocolate mocha cake. Hard to believe my littlest bro is 15, and he's definitely taller and bigger than me now!
Taken with that sparkler.
An Easter present for Hopey-Doodle from Auntie Chloe and Auntie Lyddie.
A new dress with lots of growing room! How pretty!
Then, there was a second gift from Auntie Chloe, but Hope's a little concerned about what's happening to all the tissue paper she just tossed onto the floor from her other gift. Here she watches closely as Uncle Luke picks it up and throws it away.

Checking out the nice lettering.
Arch books - YAY! We Collin kids grew up on these Bible story books. They are written in poetry and all of us have good memories of having them read to us over and over again. My siblings even turned some of them into puppet productions. :o) After Hope opened her gift, Chloe ran downstairs and found our stash of books which Mum and Dad still have on their bookshelf, and we laughed and laughed as we reminisced about growing up times together. :o)

Of grapes, pickles, and hard-boiled eggs

The counter top at the farm was the perfect place to plop Hope, and she tried a variety of snacks while there. It was even wide enough for her to do a complete pirouette on, which she thought was great!

Trying a green grape. She usually eats red grapes, so this was different.
She decides she likes them enough to receive them from Granny's hand. :o)
Later that day, Granny was making lunch and remembered that Hope once enjoyed sucking the juice out of one of her home-canned dill pickles. She decides to try again and see if Hope likes it.
Which.... she did! And she did a little more than suck on it this time, since she's got all those teeth!
Then, Granny thought a hard-boiled egg might be a fun thing to give to Hope.

And.... Hope was delighted to make a mess of it. Eat it? Forget it!

The End. :o)

"Lie down, sit up"

Hope has gotten into this little practice of resting her head on things, and then picking it up again, which is sooo cute!

Here's a few shots of her "in sequence."