Five on Friday (the Amalia-is-two edition)

1) Two years ago yesterday, our lives changed forever. The thrill of announcing "it's a girl!" made the labor pains worth it. She continues to delight us. When she and her terrible twos aren't driving us crazy.


2) We officially celebrated her birthday last week in Michigan with a pool party at our cousins' house. More pictures from that fun time to follow. Last night we enjoyed cake and ice cream with neighbors. The cake was butter pecan, not orange, but Mali survived.



3) Tina Fey has nothing on her. As past of her big-girl personality, she has been telling jokes lately. She loves to tease Jonathan by shouting "Ohio!" to his "Go Blue!". When we ask her if she wants apple juice or orange juice in the morning, she responds "Pumpkin Juice!". And after she somehow found an open container of curry powder in the cupboard today and spilled it on the sofa, she proclaimed "spicy couch!".

4) Growing pains can be tough...she did turn over the last of her binkies to baby Abigail on Wednesday. She was excited to do so, but the past few bedtimes and naptimes have been rough. Brinnly appears to be officially de-toxed from them, so there is hope to Mali too.

5) While we were in Michigan we also celebrated Father's Day. Unfortunately, Father's Day cards end up by the wayside due to all of the other hectic-ness around here. But, we are so blessed to have fathers, grandfathers, uncles and others in our lives. This is also an opportunity to highlight our girls' godfathers. We were able to spend time with Brinnly's godfather, Jonathan while we were in Michigan, and we are thrilled to be moving closer to him and his family. Especially as the newest little Meyer will be arriving around New Year's! And Mali's godfather, Derek not only serves as the sole IT resource for this blog and most other geek-things outside of our capabilities, he is one of her favorite singers. She often requests his original "Aunt Karianne" to be played in the car. Unfortunately, most of his other songs are over her head. Maybe that's a good thing for now.

Our baby girl...

Not displaced Midwesterns for long...

Yes, as many of you guessed, we are moving back to our home state of Michigan. Grand Rapids, to be exact. Jonathan has accepted a position as the Vice President of Leasing for Encore Development Group and will be starting August 1st. Things are moving surprisingly fast. We bought a house last week. Sold one tonight.

As excited as we are to be moving back home and close to our families, leaving Pittsburgh will be very hard. We will dearly miss our friends here and have lots of visits back here already planned. But we are looking forward to improving our Michigan accents (no yinzers here) and we will only be a ferry ride away from our dear Milwaukee!

No, not another baby, but here's a hint...

What's up with our lack of posting?

Here are are a few clues:

1) We are just returning from a whirlwind week-long trip to Michigan, full of celebrations. Pictures are on their way.

2) This week's goal: a binky-free household. Beginning today, Brinnly has officially kicked the habit and Mali has one more left to go. It was a noisy church service this morning without them.

3) We're too busy laughing at Brinn's new hairstyle.

4) We have even bigger news that we'll be ready to share soon...

Nine Months Old

Waiting for Abbie...

Our girls have a new playmate! Abigail Veronica Ryan was born on Saturday. We had the pleasure of watching her big brother Jack during that time, and here's how he spent that day.

Five on Friday

1) Happy 32nd Anniversary to my parents, Gregg & Sandy Shunkwiler! Enjoy your dinner out tonight.

2) Speaking of the Shunkwilers, the mayor of Valparaiso, Indiana has declared April 2008 as "Kara Shunkwiler Day" for her "hard work, dedication, and devotion to her neices, her students, and fellow faculty at Valparaiso High School".

3) From signing to speaking...this week Brinn making "Ba" sounds and quickly transitioned to "MaMaMa". No complaints here!

4) It's been a traumatic week for Mali here, with the Pittsburgh Penguins losing to the Redwings in the Stanley Cup finals. We've all jumped on that fan bandwagon lately, with Mali leading the way. The girl loves her "Pengos"! She even asked us to pray for them the other night at bedtime and interrupted us mid-prayer to clarify the "hockey pengos" as opposed to the "zoo pengos". She's been carrying around the newspaper pictures of the "sad pengos" from the day after the loss ever since.

5) We hoped to have a big announcement about our friends, The Ryans, and their new baby, but no such luck. We tried to explain to Mali today that Kellie was maybe a little sad because the baby wasn't here yet, but Mali thought we meant that Kellie too was sad about the "Pengos". Anyway, we do love the excitement of waiting for a "I'm in labor" phone call!

Date!

Mali and Mommy off to the Pittsburgh Symphony children's performance. She was a little restless on the drive there and kept saying "Date...where are you?" but we were both enthralled when we were actually there. It was completely interactive with singing, dancing, and the full orchestra. The only reason we didn't make it all the way to the end was that the urge for snacking was too intense, and she also decided she missed her "Daddy and DeeDee!". Still, not bad for a not-yet-two-year-old!