Sleeping ALL Night!! Yeah!

Just had to send the latest update for baby Liv. She is officially sleeping though the night now... mommie couldn't be happier. She started 5 nights ago, sleeping 7 hours straight... and for the next 4 nights has slept 8-9 hours each night. I'm still up early (between 4 and 5 a.m.) but at least I don't have to be up at 1 or 2 a.m. in between!!

We're also officially on Summer Vacation! Thor had his last day of school last Friday. It was a wonderful morning today, not having to think about what to pack for his lunch, making sure he's dressed and ready to go by 7:15 a.m. Getting Anika and Liv loaded up with Thor to head out the door to meet the carpool at 7:30 a.m.!!

We had a crazy amount of rain (praise the Lord!) last night, just 2-3 tenths short of 2 inches! So Thor and Anika haven't been outside much today. We are on our way out the door to Thor's 3rd baseball game of the season. He's in coach-pitch this year... which is like the "mature" version of T-ball. They have to hit a ball pitched to them, by thier own coach, and run the bases, try to get players out. But there is still no score, and innings end when each player has a turn up to bat. The players can't "strike out" either... so every gets equal chance, even if it takes 20 pitches before they hit the ball. You can definately tell which coaches are more gifted with patience!! Even with a few slow moments the games are quite entertaining! Thor still loves the positon of catcher the best... although last week I watched him immitate his coach as he was pitching ... so maybe later (years) he might want to try out the pitcher postion?

Liv's Dedication Service

We have just finished a GREAT week with (most of) the Morrison Family here in the Hills. We finished the week of family fun with Sunday Morning at our church, Dove Christian Center, and a special moment during the service for Liv to be dedicated.

Liv wore a new outfit given to her by our friends, the Roisums -- a sweet sky blue sun dress with matching sandals. I think the grandma's thought maybe Liv should have been in the traditional white frilly dress... I guess we're just not as traditional as we used to be! But the morning service was lovely - Pastor Gary shared about the precidence of Hannah dedicating Samuel to the Lord, and that when we dedicate our babies in the church we are bringing them into the extended family of believers. Pastor Gary challenges the congregation to support the family and the new little one, to pray for them and encourage them in being raised in the Faith. Liv was a perfect angel during the service, mostly because she had fallen alseep in my arms right before we started... but she is usually a good baby all the time. We have been so blessed by our Dove family -- so many gave us gifts for Liv, I'm still writing the Thank You notes!!

Let me go back and start at the beginning of our family time, last Monday. Lance, Gretchen, Tori, Logan and Grandma Lillian took a ROAD TRIP from their northern home. They arrived much earlier than I expected that day, and found that travelling west across ND was much quicker for them than driving south on I-29 through Sioux Falls. When we got home from Zion School with Thor, they were just pulling into our driveway!! What timing!!

On Wednesday evening Justin arrived from Astoria - with plans for turkey hunting Thursday and Friday (maybe also Saturday) with Lance and Dirk (if he could get out of work). Our little house was filled to the maximum... thankfully my mom and dad have an extra bedroom too, so Grandma Lil slept at thier home each night. It was also nice for her to have a little quiet space away from all the children ... having 5 kids under the age of 6 in one house can tend to get a little crazy!!

Gretchen and I got to have a little "GIG" time, (girlfriends in God) taking in my last MOPS meeting for the year, as well as our first MOPS outing to Bear Country, one latenight grocery store run when we just happended to find a DQ along the way.... It was so nice catch up with Gretchen, just mom to mom... (no kids!!).

The boys did get in a few turkey hunting attempts, but no dead turkey's this time. The weather was much hotter than usual this week, which might be part of why they weren't visible. But we did do some family fun stuff too -- went mini-golfing at Pirates Cove (big hit with ALL the kids!), watched Thor compete in the Annual Christian Schools Track and Field day at the School of Mines Track, and watched Thor's first coach-pitch Baseball game; not to mention hitting two of our favorite places to eat - Fudruckers and La Costa (mexican).

Everyone knows I love to talk... and blogging isn't far off... So I just had to join in the fun and create a blog for our family. Having a chance to update family and friends with pictures of Liv, Thor and Anika will be fun... as well as our regular but busy lives here in the Hills.

Smiles and Blessings
D, N, T, A and L