ok, so a lot has happened in the last week or so. let's start with our trip to columbus last tuesday. we woke up to a gorgeous day -- not too hot, not too cold...plenty of sun. so we decided to head up to columbus for the day. we went shopping at easton, i got a haircut, and we had dinner with my cousin holly. here are a few pics from dinner...






then wednesday night there was a free concert at the fraze with the air force band of flight. the weather was decent, so we decided to go. we took our awesome lawn quilt that teresa made for just such a purpose. we had a really great time hanging out with charis in the park, listening to music. derek said later (and i agree with him) that it was kind of the first time he really felt like we were a family, the three of us. it was a very relaxing evening, as you can see below...








then there was the 4th of july...it was obviously her first. we had a great little cookout at my mom's with some close family. charis was a bit fussy that day. maybe she was communicating her frustration at the rain and storms that might have caused fireworks to be canceled (they didn't). well, we didn't do fireworks anyway, because we thought they'd scare the be-crappers out of our little girl. here's a pic of her in her little 4th of july outfit:


so this week has been good so far. derek started his job on monday, and i started being almost laid off on monday. i'm technically on "lag" which is a precursor to being laid off if they don't find you work in a month or so. i will likely be laid off in a month or so. which means that monday, i officially became a stay-at-home mom. it's not like i wasn't home before, obviously. but derek and i have been home together for pretty much the better part of the last three months. it's a bit of an adjustment. now i have all day with charis, and no one to hand her off to when i can't get her to stop crying :) i had my mom come stay with us on monday so i didn't feel so alone. she helped me get a few things done around the house. derek finished all the painting we were hoping to get done, so that's great...now we have to re-settle things in the aftermath...and believe me, there's aftermath.

also, some big news -- the night before derek started his job, charis slept 7.5 hours straight!

big weekend coming up...charis' baptism!