#2

Hey everyone! New announcement: we are expecting baby #2 to arrive at the end of October. We found out last week that we are having a little girl, and we are going to name her Corrie after Amanda's favorite author, Corrie Ten Boom. If you haven't heard of her, please ask Amanda about her, but only if you don't mind her talking your ear off and trying to send you a copy of one of Corrie's books.

How to Eat a Snack

According to Mac, the best way to eat a snack is to first grab and squash as much of it as you can in your hands. Then, if it is in a bowl (the best way to get a snack), dump the snack out and spread it all across the floor. You now have a fun toy to play with (bowl) and a treasure hunt to complete as you find each piece of your snack and eat it. Here is a demonstration:

The hunt is on!
Yummy success!

Dr. Ellis Boisvert Johns

We had such a great weekend celebrating the momentous occasion of Ellis' graduation from Duke Med. The festivities began with a fancy dinner at the Durham Marriot, and then we moved on to the class photo and Hooding/Hippocratic Oath ceremony on Friday night at the Duke Chapel.

We took some photos w/ family and friends before the class photo:

Auntie Keme was about to become Dr. Auntie Keme!
Ellis had fun showing Mac some of the Medical School buildings:
Duke University School of Medicine Class of 2010!
Meanwhile, Mac had fun crawling around...
Picking wild flowers...
And eating them, of course!
Next, we moved into the chapel for the hooding ceremony and the Hippocratic Oath:
Ellis receiving his Doctorate hood:

Dana was there to celebrate with us:

Our family arrived late Friday night, and we enjoyed a full and lively house for the weekend. Lil' Mac loved the chaos and noise of having so many people around, and he especially enjoyed the quality time time to play with his cousins.

Mac & EJ had fun demolishing the kitchen before breakfast:
Sweet Bella took a nap in the big bed:
We had cake and celebrated Dr. Ellis Boisvert Johns!
EJ & Reed were ready to help cut and serve the cake

Mac & Bella enjoyed eating in the high chair section:

The weekend came to a close with the Duke University graduation ceremony on Sunday morning and the special Duke Medicine graduation ceremony in the afternoon. The most exciting part of the whole weekend was when Ellis received his diploma and was announced officially as "Dr. Ellis Boisvert Johns." (No, Ellis did not tell them how to pronounce his middle name).

View of the main university ceremony:
The Kimmels enjoying the nice view:
Family photo before heading off to the Medical School graduation ceremony:
View of the courtyard in front of the original entrance to Duke Hospital where the Medical School ceremony took place:
Matt & Ellis moments away from becoming Doctors:
Receiving the official diploma:
All of this celebration made Mac really thirsty:
One last family photo!

1st B-day

Wow. We really cannot believe that Baby Mac is already 1 year old. We had a little party with some good friends, and mostly spent our time watching Mac dive into his cake and get his first huge sugar rush.

We loved celebrating this special day with you Li'l Mac! You are a blessing to us!

Strawberry Squashing

I had envisioned titling this post "Strawberry Picking" like most parents do when they tell others about their child's visit to the strawberry patch, but in Mac's case, that just wouldn't be anywhere near an accurate description. It's a little hard to tell just how messy he got from the pictures below, but he did take at least an early attempt at taking a bite of a couple of the strawberries. He quickly spit that bite out and decided it was way more fun squishing the very ripe strawberries in his hands...and then rubbing the juice and bits all over his body, arms, legs, etc.

I wanted to take more pictures to show you just how crazy Mac got, but it quickly became too much for me to handle trying to keep Mac under control, pick my own strawberries and take pictures. Too bad I couldn't get a final shot of the car ride home, where I resorted to stripping Mac down to his diaper in hopes of keeping the brand new car seat at least a little clean.

He ended up looking like a big strawberry himself, because even though I tried to wipe him, I couldn't get the red strawberry hue off of his skin.

You DID say squash...

So, Mac has been doing pretty well with the finger foods these days. I would describe his eating habit as something like a hobby or an art form to him. By that I mean, each piece of food is not just something to put your mouth, but also something to try squeezing in your hands, smashing into the tray, squishing into your hair, and holding in your mouth while you make weird noises. In between all of this, you take a bite and swallow it. I don't know what he calls this activity, but he sure likes making a mess. Ellis always complains of having food stuck on his feet every time he walks around in the kitchen after Mac has "eaten." (And I do use that term loosely). Thank goodness he doesn't know how to throw foods on purpose yet.

Anyway, we had some yellow squash the other day and Mac really liked it. In between making food for me and Ellis, I glanced over and saw him take some bites..."phew!," I thought. Then a couple of minutes later, I looked again and saw that he had discovered how "squashy" it was. He had gathered a handful of it and was just squeezing it and squishing it everywhere! His hair was so slimy! Also, he had a cold and tons of green snot was mixed all over his face along with the squash...I won't gross you out by pointing out the boogers in the pictures, but you can see that he was having a good time.

Mac & Jake

This weekend Mac got to spend time with his new best friend: Grandma and Grandpa Belding's dog named Jake. He is a Golden Retriever, but is the size of at least a Great Dane. Mac is like a peanut compared to Jake, but Jake is very patient with him.














Jake treats Mac like a little puppy - letting him crawl over to him and play with him. Mac loves sticking his hands in Jake's mouth and trying to stick his fingers in Jake's nose.