Happy Days Are Here Again!

Saturday we gave Stuart up to his Oma and Opa so Janna and I could go to the MSU-Notre Dame game in peace. You can see here, Janna is slicing up tomatoes for our tailgate.
The Stanley Cup was on display outside of Spartan Stadium. Janna and I got to see the Cup and have our picture taken with it.
The glorious Spartan Marching Band during pre-game festivities. You can see the place is packed out, most folks wearing white for the whiteout.
Here our Spartans are setting themselves up for a touchdown. MSU would in fact score and go up 10-0 in the second quarter on their way to a 23-7 victory over the previously undefeated Irish.
Our Spartans just after they won the game, joy exudes from the entire team.
And finally they celebrate with the band and the student section. Happy days have returned to East Lansing.
And we return home to discover that Stuart and Seamus have taken over our bedroom.
Stuart and Seamus are clearly up to no good, you can see the guilty look on both faces.
Janna has figured out their plot, all while wearing a new dress from Macy's (clearance rack) and a Swiss Blue Topaz around her neck.

Vivian Edith It Is!

So we found out today the baby is going to be a girl. Her first name is going to be Vivian.

Edith is going to be her middle name, making for Vivian Edith Birn. I wanted to nickname her 'the Dingbat' but Janna nixed that idea unless she is in fact a dingbat. We suspect however that she will not be a dingbat and thus she won't get that nickname. In any event, please pray for this Covenant child and please pray for Janna during the last half of this pregnancy.

Spartans, what is your profession? Harroh! Harroh! Harroh!

Michigan State played it's first home game of the year today and Stuart got to go. It's his second MSU game, he went to one last year.
We took Ray and Linda to the game. Ray is a big football fan and Linda has never been to a game before. Much to my surprise, Linda declared that she wanted to go to a football game. We were more than happy to take her to her first game.
We enjoyed a breakfast tailgate along the banks of the Red Cedar River. Pancakes, fried mush, applewood smoked bacon, sausages and fresh fruit were on the menu.
We were literally on the banks of the Red Cedar. You can see Spartan Stadium off in the distance. MSU beat Eastern Michigan today 42-10. A good time was had by all.
For some reason Stuart just loved playing with Ray and Curious George. Curious George was tossing the football to him. Stuart was a perfect little boy today, tollerating a very long day (for a baby) and a warm day. All in all, it was a perfect day for football. Well, at least for September football. I freely admit I prefer 45 and rainy for a football game. In any event, we're glad Ray and Linda came with us. Hopefully they can come again sometime.

Congrats to Aaron and Bubbles

Just wanted to congratulate Aaron and Bubbles on their wedding this past Saturday. I didn't take the camera so I don't have any actual pictures from the event. I thought everything went fairly smoothly and for a wedding coordinator such as myself I couldn't ask for anything better. The cheese tray in particular was excellent, but I say nothing.
Janna and I hope and pray that they have a successful marriage with lots of babies. Bubbles is still young enough, she can easily knock out 7 or 8. So long as they trust in Jesus Christ and so long as they look to His word in their daily lives I have no doubt they will be successful together. They'll be even more successful if they move back to Michigan. Again, I say nothing.

A Night With Roast Pork and Green Peppercorn Sauce

Last night we had Aaron & Bubbles over as well as assorted Rozboom's and/or Rozboom relations over for dinner. Here we see the happy couple in a lovers tiff. Apparently they were fighting over the last piece of chocolate covered bacon.
We made roast pork with green peppercorn sauce for dinner, with roast green beans and corn. Desert was an amuse bouche of chocolate covered bacon and a main desert of chocolate lavender cake.
And here we have Bert and Kryna Pohl who drove in from Canada just for dinner. Yeah, I guess they're also in town for a wedding or something.
Aaron's sister Lanette is in town with her two kids, we can see the top of young James head here. Here is a woman who knows how to parent kids, I'm here to tell you. And the Birn's rejoice.
Here we have Mrs. R and Bubbles. Mrs. R seems to be the brains behind this wedding, from what I can gather she has lists of things for everyone to do and they will be done. We enjoyed having her over, as we did all the assorted Rozboom's and their relations.
And here we have young James playing with our Stuart. They seemed to get along quite well, which we're very pleased about. James liked the puppies as well, and the peasants rejoiced!
How about a fairly nice picture of the happy couple. We all look forward to Aaron and Bubbles wedding on Saturday. May the Lord bless them with many years of marital bliss and at least half a dozen children. Be fruitful and multiply!

17 Carats and Counting

On Monday we went up to my folks beach house in Ludington for the day. It was my first and only day off this summer. Such is the life of a lawyer. In any event, the lake was surprisingly cold, colder than it was earlier in the season.
Stuart wasn't to keen on the lake, the waves were a little rough for him and the water was far to cold. Maybe next year he'll be able to go for another swim.
Stuart's great-grandmother was in town for the week, which is why we headed up north on Monday. Stuart apparently was more interested in Zoe the dog than his great-grandmother.
Today Janna turned her back for one minute and this is the trouble Stuart got himself into. Not pictured is the dog bowl, complete with a towel placed in it that Stuart pushed all the way over to the sink area. High entertainments for Stuart, for the time being that is. Give him a year and he'll have to clean this sort of mess up. No, give him a few months.

Downtown GR

It's been a beautiful weekend here in GR so on Saturday we decided to head downtown for a little walk. Stuart was of course thrilled to see something other than our neighborhood.
We went to see the new hotel, which really isn't all that special. It's nice for Grand Rapids and all but let's face facts, it's a small town hotel. Nicer than the Days Inn but it doesn't hold a candle to any of the three star hotels in Chicago or New York.
We got to see my old apartment building. This December it will be four years since I lived there. I held my first party there, an election night extravaganza. Janna was actually there that night, she brought Tiramisu. We would laugh at and scoff at what she brought that night, it was little more than whipped cream, coffee and ladyfingers. No rum at all. But it was good back then. Ray stayed until 2am, declaring that he wanted to see 'his President' re-elected. I remember thanking God 2004 wasn't a repeat of 2000, Ray would have camped out in front of my television for a month. Fun times. Sadly there isn't anything else to share from the weekend. Stuart behaved at church today and we generally did nothing. Things will pick up a couple weeks from now I suspect.

Our Weekend

Our weekend began with a trip to a park out in Grandville. Stuart enjoyed going on the swing very much.
After we played on the swings for awhile we went for a walk and saw some ducks. Janna had some crackers with her so Stuart got to feed the ducks. Ducks are an interesting creature, not much interested in man unless he offers a cracker or bread.
After the walk Stuart couldn't resist a ride on the big purple dinosaur. This dinosaur is no wimpy Barney, he looks like a purple T-Rex to me.
On the Sabbath we had the Anderson's, Carr's and B over for lunch. We beg the Carr's forgiveness, I broke the camera out after they had already left. It's my fault, I admit it. I forgot all about the camera until after it was to late. Stuart got to play with Shawn, who proves to be quite the entertainer for the kid.
Dinner consisted of grilled lamb, garlic and olive oil mashed potatoes, haricot verts and a desert trio of chocolate creme brule, basil ice cream and burnt caramel with sea salt. It seemed to go over pretty well, I love the smokiness of the lamb grilled over a charcoal flame and Janna's desert was pretty darn good.
Let the record reflect that we do have a picture of B in what looks like new eye glasses. But we won't put the picture up because we don't want to outrage him. In any event, it was a great blessing having Christian fellowship at lunch today. We hope everyone had as much fun as we did.

Stuart Sits Through Church!

We have reached a critical point in Stuart's life. He has sat through church for the last four Sabbaths without being taken out and without making any noise. We are exceedingly thankful to God for this. We have worked hard for the last year to ensure that Stuart learned how to sit through church quietly. We have looked to God for guidance and He has blessed us.
It's very important for a little guy like Stuart to learn how to sit through church. Learning the skill of sitting quietly now will only help him years from now when he can actually understand what's going on. After all, if he doesn't learn how to sit quietly now, how can he learn to pay attention and understand later? I think we've turned a corner with Stuart, in the very least we now know that he can sit through church. I expect a few hiccups now and then, especially if he's cutting a tooth or not feeling well. But he can sit through church and now we expect him to every week.
All of the credit for this goes to the Lord, who has blessed Janna with the ability to diligently enforce the principle of sitting quietly in church to Stuart. Janna and I insist on our kids learning how to behave in church, after all we don't want our kids to disrupt other worshipers. Beyond that, we don't want our kids being disrespectful to God in His house. We have sought his guidance and He has blessed us. Like I said, Janna has been very diligent about teaching Stuart for the last year and now at 14 months he's able to sit through church. Aaron Rozenboom's grandfather apparently said that a one year old should be able to sit through church. We really were only about six weeks off. That's not bad. Maybe Stuart's new sibling will learn faster.

Family Trip To The Fair

Today we decided to see how the other half live by going to the Ionia County Fair. Lemme tell you, it's always fascinating to go to a county fair here in Michigan. First of all, it's an opportunity to see the people who keep Old Country Buffet in business. Second of all, it's an opportunity to see all of the people who are either growing pot in their back yard and/or have a meth lab in their basement. Thirdly, it's a chance to see a lot of animals which for Stuart is exciting.
Like the mini cow I've always wanted, live and in person.
Stuart loved visiting with the goats, which as far as he was concerned were dogs.
Stuart got to see some exotic animals, like this elephant that was hanging around out back eating hay. I'm thinking those little wires aren't enough to hold this sucker back if he went wild. We took our pictures and took off.
Stuart got to see a kangaroo, which in his world is little more than a hopping dog.
This camel seems pretty annoyed to have his picture taken.
Stuart spent some more time with the goats. At some point he needs to understand that goats aren't dogs. But at 14 months we'll let it slide.
So they had this circus at the fair that was just like stepping back into the 1880's. Here we see a white tiger caged up, what you can't see is his pal who isn't very happy to be penned up with this guy.
Here kitty kitty. The lions looked like they were picking out people in the audience to eat for dinner. Thankfully these guys are so high on cat nip that they won't actually do it.
Or won't they? I'm here to tell you, if those cats really wanted out of there they could easily take down that flimsy fence. Those kids sitting in the grass up front would have been the first to go, I figure Janna, Stuart and I could high tail it out of there while the lion eats those kids. Speaking of high tailing it out of there, we saw a clown and left the circus early. We were tired and had a long day at the fair. We're looking forward to worshiping the Lord tomorrow. Stuart's been really good the last two weeks, we're hopping he's turned a corner on that front.