Activity Center

While we were in Hermann my parents graciously volunteered to stay at our house and take care of Hannah. They had a great weekend together! She loves getting lots of attention and they were happy to give it to her. I think they played with every toy she has and even introduced her to a new one: her activity center. She showed off her new skills to us when we got home.

Hermann

Finally, the long-awaited blog post about our Hermann weekend on July 24-26. Okay, it is only long-awaited by Jane. And she was there, so she already knows what happened and shouldn't be that excited to read this. I tried to convince her to write the post herself as a guest blogger. Alas, she did not. So I have to do it.

Anyway, it was our first weekend away from Hannah. We decided to meet the McGuires, Baileys, and Vroomans in Hermann. It was set up months ago and we all booked our rooms in the bed and breakfast and got babysitters for our kids. Then Norah got sick and the Vroomans couldn't go, so the Whites went in their place. Although we missed the Vroomans, the Whites proved to be a strong replacement.

Friday night it was just us and the McGuires. After staying at our house way too long to say goodbye to Hannah we finally got on the road. Steve made me stop at Graham Cave on the way there. He likes to do random things like that. When we got to Hermann we had dinner with the McGuires, but that was about it for Friday.

Saturday morning after convincing the McGuires to stop watching HGTV, we did a wine tasting at Adam Puchta Winery. It is the oldest family owned winery in the country...or something like that. We started listing all of the "fun facts" we learned about the city of Hermann, and I think that was Fun Fact #1 but I'm not sure. Luckily the McGuires have most of them on videotape. Saturday afternoon the rest of the crew arrived. We toured Deutschheim State Historical Site to learn a little history about the town. Then we had the bright idea to walk to Stone Hill Winery. We had to climb huge hills in the hot July sun. Luckily none perished on the way. We finally made it and did the tour and tasting. Fun fact #11 (?): Stone Hill was the 2nd largest winery in the nation before Prohibition. That night we decided to take a drive and eat dinner at Rivers Edge Restaurant. It was a long winding road and Steve took a couple of wrong turns. We finally made it and were very impressed with this great restaurant in the middle of nowhere. It even had a ferry. Unfortunately it was closed by the time we finished dinner. On the way home the GPS tried to route us in a circle, but we finally made it back to the B&B with only one person being carsick. As the McGuires said, "It's always an adventure with the Kerrs." Although I think that is just a nice way of saying that we get lost a lot.

We had a great weekend hanging out with friends and meeting some new ones. Most of all, it was nice to relax and have some time off from Hannah duty.

Please Sir, I want some more.

Hannah goes from smiling baby to a sad sack in 2.5 seconds.

Hannah Bowling

Hannah had her first bowling experience on Wednesday. Each year my school has an auction party and the teachers are supposed to donate their time doing an activity. Diane and I have done a bowling party the last few years. Since I was on maternity leave through the end of school, we just now got around to taking the kiddos bowling. I was a little apprehensive about Hannah coming, but she has been so good lately I figured I would try. She was excellent- no fussing at all! I was a very proud mama. My old students loved seeing Hannah, especially since she wore some hand-me-downs from one of the girls. But Hannah saved most of her coos and smiles for "Grandma" Diane.

Hannah Stats- Four Months

Hannah is now 13 pounds 11 ounces (55th percentile) and 25.5 inches long (90th percentile). It's hard to imagine she was under 6 pounds when she was born. She's sleeping 9-10 hours straight at night. She still loves "talking" to us, getting kisses, going on stroller walks, and taking a bath. Now she is more interested in books and sometimes helps me turn the pages. She still hates tummy time. Her new skills are rolling over on her side (not all the way over) and grasping toys. She laughs out loud at peek-a-boo, when Mommy sings to her, and when Daddy claps his hands.

Camouflage

Note: Her hair is a little crazy when she first wakes up in the morning.

Arrrr!

Norah and Hannah

Tyler and Sarah are moving to their new house this week, so I volunteered to babysit Norah while Tyler packed. The girls had a great time together!

Tiles of Freedom

Steve and I have spent a few Independence Days together. One time I went to Rolla. One year he proposed at the top of the rocket slide in Chillicothe. One time we had people over to our house. We watched fireworks in Parkville, MO by the river another year. Once we watched them from the sidewalk of 95th street. Last year we ran a 5k and made my extended family participate in a washers tournament that we named Washers O' Our Fathers (Meneelys for Freedom 2008). By the way, we won that tournament. This year we went to Steve's cousin's wedding in Lenexa, KS. It was a beautiful backyard ceremony by the pool. Hannah dressed up in her red, white, and blue for the occasion. We had a great time with Steve's side of the family and Hannah got to meet more 2nd cousins.

Also, since Steve had a three day weekend we went back to work on the bathroom. My mom babysat Hannah while Steve and I laid tiles (of freedom) in the shower and floor. We're not finished, but we at least made progress.

Happy Birthday America, here is Steve and Megan's bathroom:

Faces