Our Minot house

Jake is on the way to Minot to check out our house. According to neighbor two doors down who works with our tenant, our house got about 3" of water on the main floor and the basement is most likely full. His basement is full, and he got a foot of water on the first floor. He also had to get rid of all the sheetrock, even upstairs. At least people are ripping stuff out and rebuilding instead of just demolishing their homes. I have no idea what something like this costs, but I am really thankful that Jake will be there tomorrow to get started on some of the work himself. One of our friends from church is going with him, so they will have a few days of working together before Paul flies out. I'm thankful that Jake doesn't have to do the first few days work by himself, and I pray that someone else will be able to help him after Paul leaves.

Jake left this morning--and Salem learned to clap and took one crawl step today. Isn't it crazy how that works? I got a video of the clapping that I'm going to try to post, but Blogger hasn't been letting me post videos lately. I don't know if they are too big or what.

Recent pics

Strawberry picking in Charlie, TX in early May. Wow, those carrots sure are good!

Aunt Kelsey lived with us for awhile, and she became really special to Salem, her godchild.

Seth outside the Hostetler home in Buffalo.

Adora likes to sit like this and play with Salem.

This is what May in Wyoming looks like. We are in a tent in pouring rain to "watch" a soccer game.

Adora had been whining while we were searching for family but calmed down once she got in the tent and had a brownie.

Salem snuggled with Nana to take a nap.

Back at the Hostetler house, Salem met her Grammy Grammy.

Daddy was teaching Salem to play soccer.

Silas's birthday party

Here is a picture from Silas (the kid in the front)'s birthday party yesterday. It was at a martial arts studio, and Adora had fun even though she didn't really know what was going on. She also came home with a sword. . . . Prior to this party, she didn't know what a sword was. I had fun explaining that one!

Adora crying

I felt like posting a video of Adora--here is one of her from July crying. She was just throwing a fit because she didn't get her way about something. We took it so we could show it to her so she could see how she looks when she is throwing a fit.

Baby Bet!

Want to guess about the baby?

Album 09/30/2010, by Melanie Hostetler

I'd like to share my Walgreens Photo Center photos with you. Once you have checked out my photos you can order prints and upload your own photos to share.

Adora's artwork

Daddy drew the head & neck--Adora drew the rest.

"Look like fat"

I had to share this pregnancy experience. Everyone seems to think it's ok to tell pregnant women that they look as if they're about to pop, or they look as if they swallowed a basketball. I assume everyone thinks it's ok to tell pregnant women this because everyone thinks it's ok to tell me these things (or to say them to Jake about me), and I am still weeks from being full-term and have gained only minimal weight. Anyway, I was wearing a bikini at the waterpark Monday, and a little boy (about 4-years-old) slid down a slide and started staring at my belly.
Boy: You have a baby?
Me: Yes, I do! I have a baby in my tummy.
He came up and touched my belly.
Boy: Look like fat!

In all reality, I don't care if kids say stuff like that because. . . well, they're kids. It's pretty hilarious. But grownups should know better, don't you think? No one likes being told they're huge by someone who should know better, even if they really are about to "pop", whatever that means. I didn't walk up to all the obese people at the waterpark and tell them they looked like they were about to pop or they looked like they swallowed three basketballs. That would just be plain rude.

First Day of Preschool

Adora's first day of preschool was today! They actually use a preschool curriculum (Little Saints), so I am calling it preschool--it's actually called Jump Start. She was so excited to go, especially since she got to wear her pink backpack and go play with friends at church.

The first two pictures are of her soon after she woke up--Jake had to go to work before we got out of jammies. The next picture is of me with her at school. The next is of her wearing her backpack, and the last is of her with her teachers, Ms. Hailey and Ms. Heather.

Jake is working on his masters and needs the computer to write a paper, so that is all for now!