tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-369481042012-02-16T06:02:33.021-05:00The misadventures of a (formerly) young mom just trying to get through life one day at a time.xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.comBlogger7611100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-69259665705028292542011-08-23T21:57:00.001-05:002011-08-23T21:57:39.116-05:00

There's always a surprise when I upload photos now...Jacob helps himself to the camera when I'm not around. And here is what I find. You have to look closely to see what this is, and at first glance it will appear that the watermelon is simply resting on the couch, but I promise you, it is not. That is the coffee table with a blue waterbottle (top off) on it, and then a whole watermelon

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-40073030914612138952011-08-19T21:43:00.000-05:002011-08-19T21:43:48.617-05:00

Dear Summer,     You're two weeks and a few days old now.  At one point you were down to five pounds even, and probably less than that in the days between weigh-ins.  From that point you started to get the hang of nursing and gained 13 ounces in three and a half days!  That was ten days ago, so you're probably nearing seven pounds by now.  The weight is starting to show in your face, is forming

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-39475230004351419122011-08-05T12:41:00.007-05:002011-08-06T15:31:25.084-05:00

    Here's our girl, Summer, and pictures of her first couple days of life.  Everything is calm and under control for the moment, but we could lose it at any second!  Meeting her big brother and big sister See who she gets her knobby knees from?  Jacob helping with her first bath What toosh?                                                        This is the Going Home outfit.  I came home

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-59625599491630703622011-08-04T15:47:00.001-05:002011-08-04T15:51:26.787-05:00

Dear Summer,     You were born two days ago, on August 2nd, 2011.  The time was 6:22pm and we had just gotten to the hospital about 20 minutes before that.  One push and you were out!     Since it's still fresh in my mind, I might as well go over how the day went.  12 hours before you were born I was still asleep in bed.  Around 8am I told Daddy that maybe he should stay home from work, to be

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-68874211455451867152011-07-29T20:21:00.001-05:002011-08-06T15:44:21.921-05:00

Dear Jacob,     I didn't actually plan to be writing a letter to you right now.  I planned to be in a crazy cycle of nursing a baby, changing diapers and sleeping.  But we are still baby-waiting here so I find myself with a lot of time and a tiny bit of motivation to do this thing, so I'm going to try to pop it out because you really deserve some recognition.     I looked back to see when the

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-40432086120788276622011-07-20T15:30:00.001-05:002011-07-20T20:25:49.838-05:00

Dear Sabine,       You are three years old!  I can't believe it!  And I'm writing this letter just one short month since you've turned three.  Last year it took me two months after your birthday to take official '2 year old' photos, so I think this is an improvement.  Plus we've got a lot going on in our family life right now.  We are, of course, about the become a party of five.  This baby

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-39615954585617733972011-03-28T14:23:00.000-05:002011-03-28T14:23:39.597-05:00

I'm going to try to be on the lookout for signs of spring - even though it's 15 degrees below the normal temperatures for this time of year, and snow can still be found on the ground in many places.  In the meantime, here's Sabine's potty as of a couple weeks ago.  Earlier in the year I had a wave of inspiration about the whole potty issue (I was not having much luck getting Sabine to use it). 

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-91686704478992317632011-03-27T20:30:00.000-05:002011-03-28T14:00:04.573-05:00

OK, so I sort of slipped behind in my daily photos...again.  It's really hard being pregnant, and having kids, and maintaining all the things I need to do during the day.  I'm just going to go ahead and continue the day count and ignore the fact that I missed a couple weeks because if I try to do it perfectly then I'll completely miss out on recording our days. I thought it would be fun to have

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-10383755399571264032011-03-13T21:10:00.001-05:002011-03-13T21:11:27.962-05:00

I bet you felt so sorry for Sabine in that last photo, so sad looking, waiting for her taste.  So I have to offer some resolution with this next post.  Eventually the fighting over whose turn it was become so bad, that I had to go get another straw and adopt the two-straw method.  They look like they belong on Happy Days.  Aww. Seriously though, those shakes were four bucks a pop and I wasn't

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-33944941674246103612011-03-12T20:51:00.007-05:002011-03-13T21:01:06.767-05:00

After West Virginia we hit Hershey, Pennsylvania and took a tour of Hershey Park.  Jacob got a milk shake in the food court and Sabine was sitting there patiently awaiting her turn.  They were so darn cute I couldn't help but take a bunch of pictures.

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-45435678094826922632011-03-11T20:47:00.003-05:002011-03-13T20:50:45.513-05:00

Later in the day, after leaving Virginia, we made a pit stop at the teeny, tiny West Virginia Welcome Center.  While we were there, I realized that it was a new state for Sabine.  Since it was her first time there, I decided we needed a good photo op.  I let the kids run around and stretch their legs; here they are climbing the rocks.

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-79333831968305362382011-03-10T20:23:00.006-05:002011-03-13T20:46:13.753-05:00

Before we left on Saturday morning for our long journey home, we took come cousin pictures.  Here is everybody under 10 sitting on the front steps.

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-18867012565593600612011-03-09T22:37:00.000-05:002011-03-09T22:37:59.290-05:00

l We made ice cream later that night and when Sabine was finished, this is what she had to say.  She's using the sign for 'all done'.

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-75950761419835925582011-03-08T22:13:00.002-05:002011-03-09T22:29:40.082-05:00

This was taken in the afternoon when everyone was getting up from their naps.  Emma came in to help us wake up and get going.  Jacob snuggled with her for a while before she got sick of it and started to cry.  I love the pictures I took of them then.  I love Jacob's big lashes and Emma's big cheeks.  I actually think she looks a lot like her mother here. Sabine keeps asking me if she held Baby

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-75596027479891126022011-03-07T21:48:00.000-05:002011-03-09T22:12:05.041-05:00

We took a walk in the 55 degree weather while visiting Baby Emma.  The kids were splashing around in the puddle and I didn't even have to tell them to stop or else they would freeze.  It was beautiful out, no jackets needed!

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-59004981128183961752011-03-06T22:12:00.000-05:002011-03-06T22:12:17.511-05:00

This is the last donut picture.  They just made such good pictures.  Jenny doused them in cinnamon and sugar when they came out of the oil(?) they were cooking in.  She used Crisco, but my mom remarked that of course back when she used to make them with her grandmother, it was lard they used.  Mmm, mmm.

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-34723898377044360292011-03-05T21:55:00.000-05:002011-03-06T22:06:46.005-05:00

When you make donuts, you get donut holes.  They were really good!

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-72340921590314927482011-03-04T21:36:00.000-05:002011-03-06T21:46:00.279-05:00

I think that's how Dave put it when he was standing there observing Sabine.  We had just made donuts as our first big activity when we all got up for our day in Virginia.  My mom, Jacob, Sabine and myself made a trip to visit and meet my cousin Jenny's new baby, Emma.  We didn't get there until very late the night before because the drive took 10 hours, but the kids were remarkably good in the

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-13189817463234279222011-03-03T12:08:00.000-05:002011-03-06T21:36:35.425-05:00

  During vacation week we had a get together at Cracker Barrel with all the kids who used to hang out at playgroups, but are now in different schools.  Here's my kids and Beckie's kids out front as we were leaving. This was the day that I painstakingly gathered up all the barely-used crayons, putting one red, one blue, one yellow back in each box so that they wouldn't get thrown out when the

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-62168808207967409762011-03-02T20:36:00.000-05:002011-03-03T10:59:51.395-05:00

Ok, so I missed a few days, or a week.  I sort of forgot to take in account that we were going out of town for a while during vacation week.  So I'll just pick back up where I left off, there's no use trying to catch up on a whole week's worth of posts.  Now it's Wednesday again, so I can just pretend that the days in between didn't happen. Here's a photo of Jacob with all the things he came home

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-82314104864453064262011-02-22T21:37:00.000-05:002011-02-22T21:37:36.145-05:00

Here's Sabine messing around in her jammies.  She thinks she's so funny.  These are my favorite pj's of the kids'.  They are organic cotton from Under The Nile.  Jacob wore them when he was younger, and someone else will get to wear them after Sabine.  I was planning to let Sabine wear these till they couldn't reasonably be fit on her, but now that I know they will be resurrected in a couple

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-44345761465709278652011-02-21T22:19:00.000-05:002011-02-22T21:27:38.110-05:00

This is Jacob playing with our friend, Mallory.  Sabine calls her Baby Mally. This is the way Jacob was with Sabine when she was a baby, and I think it's so cute that he's this way with Mallory too.  He is really into babies, which is adorable.  I will be in luck come July.

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-78104293453221045462011-02-20T15:47:00.000-05:002011-02-21T15:51:02.871-05:00

Need I say much here?  This is Reggie, our one rabbit that has house bunny status.  He roams around the house, messes with the dogs, and goes to the bathroom in his cage.  Also, he doesn't chew stuff that he shouldn't, which is the main reason it makes it so much more difficult to let the others run around the house.  The other day I caught Reggie hanging out on an empty spot on the toy shelf. 

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-37949456525756341042011-02-19T19:34:00.001-05:002011-02-20T20:05:32.384-05:00

 So here I go with another round of pictures a day...I'm trying to decide how long I'm going to pledge to continue this stretch for.  I want to say until the new baby is born because I know that will probably be the last time I'm near the computer for a very long time, but that's almost five months away.  Maybe until I see the first flower sprout up from the ground?  We'll see. Anyway, these are

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-14820336985670782562011-02-18T13:38:00.000-05:002011-02-20T13:38:27.072-05:00

  Sabine was struck earlier this week with the stomach but that's been going around.  She threw up four times over the course of a day or so, with each one being more severe or more hilarious than the one before.  The first two times were while she was in bed.  The first one was not so bad; I thought it could have been a fluke.  After the second, it was clear that she was ill.  This picture shows

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-11034360290230189682011-02-17T14:53:00.000-05:002011-02-18T15:19:59.127-05:00

I've been promising for a couple weeks that I would post these pictures of Sabine's very first self-inflicted hair cut.  The pictures actually don't do justice to her non-talent in the hair-cutting department.  It's just sort of looks like normal bangs.  They're not though; all those 'bangs' are the top part of what was Sabine's right braid when she took the scissors to her hair.   This all

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-31143766915993135792011-02-16T14:12:00.000-05:002011-02-18T14:44:13.936-05:00

It's been quite a while since I've caught up with things in a long-term kind of way, so I decided to back-track a little bit in order to keep track of our memories.  It looked like October was the month where I started to lose hold of recording the days.  So I'll start in October and finish up the year in pictures.    Jacob turned 7 at the end of the month.  I made his cake again this year

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-17780171287176876482011-02-15T09:12:00.003-05:002011-02-18T14:47:38.179-05:00

 Well it's been a couple weeks since Punxsutawney Phil declared six more weeks of winter weather.  At least I think he did?  I figure it's pretty hard to pop your head out of a hole in the ground when that hole is covered with three feet of dense snow.  So I'm just going to assume that by the presence of snow on the ground that he made his decision remotely this year.I've lived in the northeast

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-4150080798043645392011-02-03T20:24:00.001-05:002011-02-06T20:50:23.202-05:00

Remember back in December when Jacob had a loose tooth and a cast on his leg at the same time?  I never followed up with that post, so I will now that I'm trying to get back into posting more regularly.  At the time I wrote about three big things happening in that one week.  I wrote about Jacob's tooth being the third thing, but it was really just a cover for my finding out I was pregnant. 

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-17166720392465264052011-01-31T20:23:00.000-05:002011-02-06T20:24:18.239-05:00

Dear Sabine, You are something else these days.  You still won't talk much around people who aren't in your immediate circle, yet at home you won't shut up.  You long ago had the phase where you picked up a new word each day.  Now you're repeating everything you hear, and as soon as you've heard a word once, that's all it takes for it to become part of your vocabulary. A while back, maybe six

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-40726432256401970412011-01-24T17:41:00.000-05:002011-01-24T17:41:23.530-05:00

Dear Jacob, I wish I could jump ahead into the future so that I could establish if all that nagging I did back when you were seven was really necessary.  Because it seems that's all I do right now, and I feel very badly about it.  You see, sometimes it's just so hard to be in the same room, scratch that, the same house as you.  You are so annoying these days.  I don't know how long it's been

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-47940434942196507112010-12-12T14:26:00.000-05:002010-12-12T14:26:14.897-05:00

That's the line, right?  Things tend to come in threes?  Last week, in the course of 24 hours, three big things happened.  The last one isn't such a big deal though, unless you're a seven year old kid. A week ago on Friday afternoon I was at a complete stop on our road waiting to cross a lane of traffic in order to take a left-hand turn into our own driveway.  There were several cars behind me

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-27577122011154728872010-11-23T09:51:00.001-05:002010-11-25T09:56:02.010-05:00

Jacob had his 7 year well-child visit on Monday.  It may be some time before I get around to updating the baby books, so for the record, he was 45 pounds, 46 1/2 inches.  Oh, and of particular note was that they couldn't complete his hearing test because he had too much ear wax.  Ew!  I felt like a totally negligent mother, but as the doctor was flushing out his ears with water, she told me that

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-91871869675210533332010-11-21T08:12:00.001-05:002010-11-23T08:26:37.508-05:00

This is what Sabine says to me every day.  She wants to see Baby Emma, meaning pictures of her on the computer.  Emma lives several states away from us, so it will be a while before we get to meet her in person, but in the meantime we've been keeping up with her daily progress via photos on the internet.  Actually, it's been a couple weeks since we've had to check in daily with Emma's photo

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-37768299997625325992010-11-20T19:05:00.018-05:002010-11-23T08:11:20.481-05:00

Laying in bed this morning, I pretended to still be asleep as Jacob and Sabine were snuggling with each other.  I had been working on teaching her to say, "I love you" and she's finally gotten the hang of it. I heard Sabine say the magic words, "I ofv ouu, JeJe." and little parts of my heart started shooting all over the place. After a little bit they found out I was awake, or rather, they

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-9679599336980316222010-10-07T21:20:00.111-05:002010-10-15T10:24:14.307-05:00

I wrote this post on 10/7 (as the date above indicates), but one or another things kept it for getting published until now. As of this writing, 10/15, there have been some developments in the Baby Saga.  Stay tuned for updates.  Because I know you have nothing better to do. This is Sabine's baby.  It's been three weeks now since she could not be without her.  I know where she came from, and it

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-33363829876078092012010-10-04T23:04:00.000-05:002010-10-04T23:04:03.388-05:00

Dear Emma,       I know you were probably trying to arrive on my birthday and you simply fell short by a few hours.  Don't worry about it, I, of all people, certainly understand the difficulties of being on time.  I'm also interpreting your time and day of arrival as a slight nod in my direction, as if you were saying, Yeah, I could have come on the 2nd of October, but hey, instead of honoring

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-12768523918268168392010-10-03T22:19:00.000-05:002010-10-03T22:19:37.820-05:00

So I turned 30 yesterday.  Yikes.  If you'll notice, I changed just a few small things on the front page of my blog, including the brief description under the blog title.  When I started this blog I was still sort of a young mom; 23 is young these days in terms of having kids.  But now most of my old school friends are having kids and so 30 is not really such a young age to have kids.  I'm still

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-88771222638058239042010-09-21T18:03:00.001-05:002010-09-22T12:47:50.779-05:00

We went to an apple orchard one day last week after school. Jacob was so excited to go apple picking; we go at least once every fall. We were admittedly going a little early in the season, but this year's crop isn't a great one and isn't going to last a very long time. So there were only one kind we could pick on that particular day. And the pickings were slim. We had to get creative and

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-79797849176796124672010-09-20T14:31:00.002-05:002010-09-20T22:32:04.882-05:00

This is Reggie, sitting outside of the backyard rabbit pen that we use for them. We've mostly had him living upstairs, as opposed to the basement where the other bunnies live. Because of this, and because he has such a mellow personality, he does really well around the dogs, and likewise, the dogs pretty much ignore him, other than an occasional sniff from Mango. So we used to let him run

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-32003025489000051412010-09-19T07:58:00.003-05:002010-09-19T20:18:50.032-05:00

Jacob is playing Fall Ball this year. He had the regular season in the spring, which was his second year, and this is just a short season, about six weeks long. Anyway, Nate is also playing Fall Ball, but this is his first team baseball. The boys ended up on different teams, but happened to be playing each other in the season-opening game. They also both happened to get #1 (mostly because

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-52090749604444178932010-09-18T19:47:00.002-05:002010-09-19T07:57:34.408-05:00

This is Jacob (in case you couldn't tell) during the sanding of the floors. What a mess that was and thank God it's over! Zach's dad came up a couple days to help out. Thank you again to him. We're slowly cleaning things up and moving furniture back in. Today we got our living room back into shape, but slightly rearranged. We almost switched the dining room and the living room, but ended up

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-78753386493705590482010-09-17T20:04:00.002-05:002010-09-17T20:16:18.973-05:00

At Joey's third birthday party the kids got goody bags (sorry Jen, but the noise-makers never saw the light of day) and this candy necklace was one of the goodies. I don't know how Sabine knew what that thing was, because it was my intention to give hers to Jacob, but when she saw it in the bag she went right for it. I couldn't pry it out of her mouth for anything. The candy necklaces came with

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-56208527234798768142010-09-16T21:57:00.001-05:002010-09-17T20:05:57.943-05:00

(Picture to come)

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-34690381384300850652010-09-15T20:25:00.003-05:002010-09-15T20:33:40.301-05:00

It's not often my siblings and I are in one place and we don't think of killing each other, or maybe that's just me? But here we are, photo proof that we were at Camp together and everyone made it out alive. We're even smiling! And touching each other. It was just one night that my brother was there with us, but my sister and I spent a record five nights in one place. I made everyone sit for

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-20002601560727935742010-09-15T19:55:00.004-05:002010-09-15T20:21:34.550-05:00

That's what Jacob likes to call this place that we walk to from Camp. I don't really know what it is other than a giant pit off of the railroad tracks. I used to think it was a landfill when I was younger. We visited there a few times this trip, as it was a nice retreat from the crowd at Camp. Jacob built and elaborate system of houses for the mice to use when winter hits.This day's photo was

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-11714609132660362322010-09-13T18:25:00.002-05:002010-09-13T18:32:22.557-05:00

Since I posted that really bad picture of my sister, I felt like I should post a good one to be fair. This photo was taken not at our lake, but over at the 'swimming lake', and adjacent one that we sometimes go to. I took the photo earlier in the week, you know, before my sister was inebriated, because she wanted one of herself and Marisa in their matching bathing suits. It took an awful lot

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-67658422196826453722010-09-13T18:06:00.003-05:002010-09-13T18:25:36.934-05:00

Even though this isn't a really great photo, it's still going to become a family classic. Right after my brother hit the ball that was the one a bunch of us headed out in three different boats to collect as many balls as we could. There's a significant sand bar in the middle of the lake, due to it being man-made so several of the balls we actually within reaching distance.The ball my sister was

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-72357452695470159122010-09-11T22:10:00.003-05:002010-09-11T22:17:45.085-05:00

Another picture from Camp...there will probably be at least a few more since it's my favorite place on Earth. This is my brother's immediate reaction to the ball he just hit as it landed on the island (just above his head in the picture), which is what he was aiming for.For some reason I just really like this photo, maybe it's the composition. I like Jacob and Marisa in the foreground,

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-83259609828847715782010-09-10T20:17:00.002-05:002010-09-10T21:41:30.411-05:00

While in Cape May, we took Jacob to the arcade. At the end of the week he cashed in his tickets for some prizes. For Sabine he got this ball. For himself he got the same thing, only the bigger version and in blue. Who could have guessed that it would become the new object of Sabine's affection? She can't be without it. When she's looking for it, she'll either say, "my Bah?" or call it "

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-85663079405413612902010-09-09T21:40:00.002-05:002010-09-09T21:49:25.728-05:00

This is the juvenile eagle whom I think I wrote about earlier in the summer. We saw him (I'm just guessing at the him thing) out many times on this visit up to Camp. On this day I was alone at Camp with Jamie and my two kids. We watched the eagle just sitting out there on this stump for the longest time. He'd go off the stump onto the sandbar in a few inches of water and roll around taking a

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-79068995201343575392010-09-08T11:10:00.000-05:002010-09-08T13:00:49.418-05:00

Jacob started school today. It's the day I've been dreading for a long time. He was so happy and excited, and I know he's going to do fine. It's me I'm worried about. I'm so sad without him, the house is too quiet, and every time Sabine asks for him I have to tell her that he's at school - which feels to me like the 'S' word. Also, I feel like my big dream of homeschooling him is over, like

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-45228308966332182412010-09-07T08:09:00.005-05:002010-09-07T08:09:00.315-05:00

We got back home last night from a week at Camp. The kids and I left the house in order for Zach to take on the huge project of redoing our hardwood floors. Needless to say, because he's a perfectionist, Zach turned the project into something way bigger than originally planned. He tore down all this wood paneling we had in one room, and put up sheet rock in it's place. So now he still needs

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-51199807413747604672010-09-06T08:09:00.003-05:002010-09-06T08:09:01.051-05:00

.Because I'm running out of pictures to post, here's the after picture. I'd taken the before pictures, told the lady that I would need a lock of the hair and then stayed glued to the whole process. And in the end, the hairdresser had to scrape together little bits of hair to put in an envelope, and when she put the hair in the palm of my hand, I looked down at it and said, "Boy, I feel pretty

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-34403022095085907692010-09-05T08:08:00.002-05:002010-09-05T08:08:00.858-05:00

Shave and a hair cut, 2 bits. I think in that case 2 bits applies to the amount of money? I'm not sure, but my grandfather used to always sing that to us. But literally, that was it, just two tiny bits of hair. I got Sabine's hair cut for the first time the other day. I wasn't crazy about having it done, but the ends were all snarly and she was starting to not like getting her hair brushed

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-22857054927353188302010-09-04T08:08:00.002-05:002010-09-04T08:08:00.881-05:00

The first thing we did when we got home was check the garden. Even though Zach and I had each told a couple of our friends to come by and take whatever was ready while we were away, there was still a plethora or veggies. This is what we picked the morning after we arrived home (because it was dark when we pulled in the driveway).

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-73044689253601119742010-09-03T08:08:00.006-05:002010-09-03T08:08:01.081-05:00

Before we left on Friday, with everyone gathered nearby, we took the opportunity for some group photos. Here's the one of us I like. Click on the photo for some more, which will bring you to my flickr page.

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-19440084441383039002010-09-02T08:07:00.005-05:002010-09-02T08:07:00.685-05:00

I think this was our first day at the beach. We did the obligatory sand burying and I gave Jacob a shirt under his head to be comfortable, as well as the hat over his face to block the sun. The Yankees would be proud?

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-34953041258825526852010-09-01T08:06:00.004-05:002010-09-01T08:06:00.153-05:00

Actually, Cousin Jenny, I already had this photo in line to be the photo of the day for today, so good call! I pre-set the Cape May photos to publish one day at a time. This was one of my absolute favorites. There was one night where Jacob and I snuck off and watched the sunset on the beach. Didn't have my camera with me that night, so I said we had to get back there for sunset one more time

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-60142629756880127842010-08-31T08:06:00.004-05:002010-08-31T08:06:00.534-05:00

Jan bought a kite with Jacob, an octopus, and he had a lot of fun flying it on the beach. Jacob actually did really well with the kite. I wasn't involved with the whole process so I can't say if it was easy or not, but I was a little jealous that Jacob took to it so easily. I have no talent for that kind of thing.This photo was taken on the day we went up to Sea Isle City to visit with the

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-30606015207694237662010-08-30T08:06:00.003-05:002010-08-30T08:06:00.436-05:00

I'm not clear on the entire story, but then again, I'm not clear on most of the things that happened on our trip. This (the missing tooth) happened before we got to Cape May, which accounts for why I don't have my facts straight. Apparently Richard was in the ocean when this happened? He either lost his bridge, or lost the tooth. Either way, they both came out and one was lost, the other he

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-71366248572305365272010-08-29T08:05:00.002-05:002010-08-29T15:54:48.301-05:00

On Wednesday of our trip, it rained. It was a nice change of pace. We did some different things that day, one being a trip to the arcade. Some of the older, more established (ie, people with money) friends we were staying with had given Jacob hand-outs during the week, ranging from bits of change to a five dollar bill (from Terre on the day she left - listen up kids, it literally pays to be

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-74774289484925637472010-08-28T08:05:00.005-05:002010-08-28T08:37:57.523-05:00

On Tuesday of our trip Jacob and I climbed the Cape May Lighthouse. Instead of posting a photo of the actual lighthouse, I thought it would be funnier to post this. My reason being: I was fine until I saw this sign at the base of the lighthouse. I really hadn't given the height or enclosed-ness of it a thought. Then I read the rules and all because I'm a rule-reading kind of person. As we

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-50103880094206531512010-08-27T06:57:00.004-05:002010-08-27T07:18:04.566-05:00

I have a ton of beach pictures, so it's really hard to choose. I'll just take it day by day and go with my favorite. So here is Sabine at the beach. This was the first sunny day we had at the beach. She loved it, obviously. That's the John Deere hat that Jacob passed on to her. My kids were probable the only two kids who wore a hat at the beach the whole week. Sabine loves wearing a hat,

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-4301161281043311792010-08-26T21:09:00.002-05:002010-08-27T06:57:34.707-05:00

Some more of Zach's family was staying at another beach town nearby. We got together with them one night for a big family gathering. Here are our kids (the ones with veggie burgers on their plates) with all of their second cousins on that side of the family. The kids all had a raucous time with one another, such a fun bunch. Eight kids between the ages of two and seven...surely some multiples

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-26352694997991492362010-08-25T20:26:00.000-05:002010-08-26T21:09:26.560-05:00

Zach's mother turned 60 this year, so in celebration, she and Richard rented a house in Cape May. And that's how we ended up vacationing there for a week. Jan has gotten into making jewelry in the past few years. Here are all the flip flops that she made for each of the women who were going to be staying at the house that week. Well, she didn't make the flip flops, but embellished them with

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-75912398744300272092010-08-24T23:42:00.007-05:002010-08-26T11:46:20.330-05:00

Dear Jacob,It seems like lately every night when the day is coming to an end or you've just fallen asleep, I start to think about the day and feel bad for being too hard on you. I feel like that most days, and I'm so sad for it. We're constantly butting heads, and I'm always walking on eggshells around you. We have really awesome times in between all that, but the rough patches somehow

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-51869661393393264522010-08-24T22:02:00.004-05:002010-08-24T22:53:29.351-05:00

I'd been waiting a whole year to go back here and take a picture like this. Click on the photo to see the one just like it from last year. Last year they look all bright and cheery; this year they look tired and sullen.We really loved Dutch Wonderland last year, and it's a good thing that we did have an enjoyable first experience because if this year's trip was our first time, we probably

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-3893110218277305102010-08-23T23:05:00.005-05:002010-08-24T19:18:41.280-05:00

Our first stop on our trip was Dutch Wonderland, in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. We first went there last year, and we loved it. So this year when we found out we had an opportunity to go to Cape May, I got my heart set on going back to Dutch Wonderland on the way. We decided to stay at nearby campsite. The tent was actually my very first tent camping experience, save for our back yard. It was

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-21051269699270073332010-08-22T07:31:00.001-05:002010-08-22T07:31:00.396-05:00

This is just one of the great shots that I wanted to post of the April trip but this is the last day I'd prepared to be posting them. This photo won out because I liked the title I gave it. It's from the hotel in Virginia on our way back home from Myrtle Beach. We like to get our money's worth when we stay at hotels so we squeezed in this visit to the pool and here is the cuteness Zach captured

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-84958266579163539012010-08-21T00:31:00.002-05:002010-08-21T00:31:00.500-05:00

I can't remember is this ole girl actually had a name, or if I was just calling her Bessie. Either way, I think sitting atop this cow outside the ice cream shop was the highlight of the trip for Sabine. She freaking loves animals and sitting on a cow was the end all, be all for her. Not to mention the fact that it's a really, really cute photo of my kids.

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-23014458456188316692010-08-20T00:22:00.004-05:002010-08-20T00:22:00.604-05:00

Here's Sabine playing in the sand. She was so cute and peaceful, and her hair was blowing in the breeze; I absolutely love how her hair curls up at the beach and in the humidity. This was one of our favorite photos of Sabine at the time. Zach took this picture (she actually just in the sand of the volleyball court) while I was playing tennis just a few yards away. He was so proud to have

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-19964092109827992522010-08-19T00:21:00.004-05:002010-08-19T00:21:00.786-05:00

Here we are back at the miniature golf course. This picture was taken after we were done golfing, after I'd almost thrown the kids in the water half a dozen times.We bought this shirt for Jacob last year in a Cracker Barrel while we were traveling to a wedding in Virginia. As soon as I saw the shirt I knew they'd made it for Jacob; aside from the fact that he would never actually trade her.

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-12191191261905163342010-08-18T00:21:00.003-05:002010-08-18T00:21:00.673-05:00

Here we are again back on the golf course, but I liked to think of it as the backyard. Sabine was really into the geese and she liked to follow them around. This is my brother again in the photo, he followed her following the geese. He just thinks Sabine is the best thing since sliced bread - I've never seen him like that about a kid. I am trying to figure a way to get his affections for her

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-78154548579418457762010-08-17T09:47:00.003-05:002010-08-17T09:47:00.703-05:00

Ok so I just realized it's Zach's birthday (no, not just now, I'm doing this 5 days ago and post-dating) so I had to come up with a photo of him. So here he is, carrying Sabine in the Ergo Carrier (Kevin and Bethany, take note), and walking with Jacob and Marisa to go miniature golfing. We took those crazy kids mini-golfing twice on that trip and I swore I'd never do it again. They cannot

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-17855599332358458172010-08-16T10:47:00.003-05:002010-08-16T10:47:00.506-05:00

This is the one and only picture you'll see of me on this trip because I was always the one taking them. So this is Jessica, daughter of my step-sister, Kelly. And if you can't tell, that's me in the reflection. I take a lot of sunglasses reflection pictures. I don't know why.

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-71387141701361158572010-08-15T11:45:00.003-05:002010-08-15T11:45:01.011-05:00

OK, here's a picture of Jacob, along with Marisa and my brother. He got up from the sun-bathing for a few minutes to participate in the obligatory Uncle Time. I don't think they built anything really amazing though because otherwise I would have taken a picture of it.

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-61719649759079541252010-08-14T12:44:00.003-05:002010-08-14T12:44:00.098-05:00

Myrtle Beach is where we went in April (with my family) and since I never posted pictures of that trip, I am doing it now, while we are at another beach (with Zach's family). This photo was taken from the back patio of the place we rented, it looks out onto a gold course. Here's my sister playing with Sabine. I wanted to post a picture of Easter Sunday when everyone was dressed up, but none of

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-21442321630272522862010-08-13T13:43:00.003-05:002010-08-13T13:43:00.723-05:00

This picture was taken back in April, while we were driving our way down to SC. I'm posting it today because this is pretty much what we're going to be doing today. Not much has changed since then. Sabine is still rear-facing in that carseat, I just stitched up the outfit she's wearing because it's still too big on her, and that John Deere hat has officially been passed down to her from Jacob.

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-70841999998276826632010-08-12T22:36:00.003-05:002010-08-12T22:53:51.067-05:00

Zach's been doing This Little Piggy with Sabine a lot lately. It's cute, he has his own little twist on it, appropriate to our family, one of the piggies has a veggie burger instead of roast beef. Two nights ago Sabine was laying on Zach in bed with her feet up by his face and he was running through all the piggies and it's one of the cutest things to see. So the next day when Sabine was '

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-47095578581047636602010-08-11T23:28:00.001-05:002010-08-11T23:28:34.564-05:00

We've been doing a lot with cardboard boxes this summer - we always have. Currently we have a deluxe cardboard house residing in the front room. Just days after its assembly, it received a back addition, and is patiently awaiting the arrival of a two-car garage. But in the meantime there was this tall, narrow box that was just asking to be turned into some useful. So when Jacob requested a

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-71364159848069861122010-08-10T23:28:00.005-05:002010-08-11T22:52:17.213-05:00

Drafting this post in my head earlier today, it felt like I could make it short and brief, but who am I kidding to think that brevity has any rightful place in my life? So buckle up, or hold on, because the description that goes with this photo may contain boringness and you may fall asleep and bang your head on the desk if you're not careful.Today my therapist asked me if I could journal it.

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-30271332859060063592010-08-09T22:07:00.004-05:002010-08-09T22:53:01.808-05:00

Sabine and I have a line that we say - I ask, "Who's my girl?" and she says, "Me!" Now Sabine's got a girl of her own. I ask her, "Who's your girl?" And she answers with a coy smile, "Honey..." This refers to Baby Honey, so named by Jacob when he was Sabine's age. He would sit and rock the doll while repeating, "Honey, honey..." to sooth her. So when I asked Jacob what her name should be,

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-52113349088870315062010-08-08T20:41:00.000-05:002010-08-09T08:55:34.293-05:00

This guy here hopped onto my watering can while I was watering the flower boxes the other day. He wasn't there, and then all of a sudden, he was right there on the tip of the spout, less than a foot away from my hand. Creepy. One would think I'd be happy to have a beautiful creature such as this to grace the day with is presence, but I screamed and nearly dropped the pail. I am fascinated

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-86355866736365651382010-08-07T23:29:00.004-05:002010-08-07T23:59:33.929-05:00

On Marisa's birthday earlier this week, she and my sister stayed late and had supper here. Since we're a non-meat-eating household, my sister had gotten a little chicken (whose parts I couldn't even stand to look at) for the omnivore crowd. We ate outside, as do the wasps. Long after Marisa had given up on her meal, this little guy kept coming back for more. He'd sit there and nibble for a

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-47915812662840714342010-08-06T15:50:00.005-05:002010-08-06T17:12:11.352-05:00

You like? It's a new toy I'm going to be pitching to Mattel. I think they're going to sell like hotcakes!Not really. Last weekend after Marisa's birthday party my sister and I sat down to go through her (Marisa's) closet to make room for new stuff. First off, simply opening the closet is risky enough; it's waist-high piles of clothes and toys. But we made it through, with minimal refereeing

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-53039839152164136422010-08-05T15:38:00.003-05:002010-08-06T15:49:54.435-05:00

When we were driving up to Camp with Jen and Dan, we had to go through Lake Placid to stop at a grocery store. Super Shoes is on the main road and when we passed it this is what we saw. I laughed my ass off about it, and when we arrived at Camp, Zach and Dan (who were in the other car following the moms and kids) said they'd seen it too and had been cracking up. I know this kind of vandalism

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-20556793659636171792010-08-04T12:34:00.001-05:002010-08-06T15:37:43.025-05:00

I took this picture of Sabine while she was brushing her teeth at Camp on the day we were getting packed up to leave. Sabine was wearing a shirt of mine (from when I was a baby) so I wanted to get some authentic Camp pictures of her in it. I recently dug into my box of old baby clothes and will be putting more of my old clothes on her.My sister said this looks like a picture she'd put in her

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-79003224643530411782010-08-03T22:56:00.000-05:002010-08-03T22:56:00.141-05:00

This isn't really the best picture of any of the kids, but it's cool because none of them are crying yet, and there's Camp in the background. You see, this was just before the shit hit the fan. We were in the row boat, me rowing and my sister in the front. Benny the bug-eyed dog was with us too. I snapped this photo just before my sister thought it would be a good idea to throw Benny

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-21425991424574045582010-08-02T15:52:00.005-05:002010-08-02T22:12:16.544-05:00

Jen and I were on our way to bring water to the kids, who were playing outside at Camp, when I came upon this sight. I was totally transfixed, as was Jen. I was so happy to have company while I observed the tiny insects because usually no one else cares. Jen is a science teacher so I think maybe that is why she took more of an interest.We watched these guys for 15 minutes or so - there were

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-83053945606543394332010-08-01T22:21:00.000-05:002010-08-02T10:28:36.572-05:00

This little lady was spotted along the old railroad bed up at Camp last weekend. I don't know much about ladybugs...like for instance, are they really all 'ladies'? And there are a bunch of tiny creepy crawlies on the plant next to her (seen on the left in this photo). Are those perhaps ladybug nymphs? I have no idea. Also, is the saying about the number of spots they have true? Taking

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-16187334822372785462010-07-31T09:42:00.003-05:002010-07-31T09:47:26.583-05:00

While we were picking blueberries in the woods, Jen found this little guy and pointed out the eggs on the back of him - I guess I should say her? I don't really know much about the reproduction of inchworms. Look how cool that is! He/she was kind enough to stand still for me so I could get this nice photo. I just had my regular lens on so I couldn't get in as closely as I wanted, but it looks

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-53677454908698339772010-07-30T09:17:00.000-05:002010-07-31T09:42:09.193-05:00

So we went to Camp again for an extended weekend . This time our dear friends, Jen and Dan, and their two boys came with us. It's always more fun when we have company. I ended up taking more pictures of the kids and all the playing around, than I did of the bugs this time, but I couldn't resist this photo. It's a damselfly caught in a spider's web and the spider is getting ready to chow down.

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-63937828500171155512010-07-29T15:47:00.000-05:002010-07-29T15:47:00.162-05:00

Last week I walked out onto the deck for something and was struck by what I saw. It's a bunch of doll clothes and tiny baby clothes that Jacob uses for various members of his gang. I did not put those things there, which can only mean on thing: Jacob did. Sometimes I get so mad at him and so upset when it seems like he's no longer a sweet little boy. How I needed reminding on this day that

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-15992859977837425242010-07-28T15:01:00.004-05:002010-07-29T15:38:24.151-05:00

We love power outages. And if you can guess what this drunk-looking toddler has to do with the power going out, then you win. Woohoo! Anyway, we really do love it when the power goes out because we get to do things that we'd never have the excuse to do in real life. Like, for instance, eat really mushy ice cream in bed at 10:30pm (or who knows, maybe it was even later, you don't know, your

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-23626814209764913102010-07-27T15:01:00.005-05:002010-07-29T15:22:17.731-05:00

A few weeks ago I had a playgroup here for some of my high school friends and their kids. I've gotten together with high school friends since we graduated, and I've spent time with high school friends' children since they've been in existence, but this was the first time this number of us had been in one place with all of our kids at the same time. Not to mention the fact that one of the moms

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-61519001379673134422010-07-26T21:03:00.001-05:002010-07-28T23:15:12.838-05:00

I had been posting updates about My New Closet back in May. I never finished that topic up in this forum and it's one of those blog things that's always bothered me the way it was marked 'draft' on my dashboard. So here I am keeping the original title (because Zach finished it the night before Mothers' Day) but changing the date and sticking a "Day x" in front of it.Anyway, I had that closet

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-45839328989107056292010-07-25T23:14:00.001-05:002010-07-28T22:54:30.813-05:00

I took this photo back in the spring out at 'The Farm', which is what my mother has taken to calling the land where they're planning to build a house. I was taking bluebird pictures that day, and this little guy, an American Goldfinch, was flying around too. This yellow fellow was easier to get close to on account of the fact that he didn't have any young ones back at the nest like the

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-29818639863228693182010-07-24T15:25:00.002-05:002010-07-24T15:25:00.444-05:00

I took this photo a couple months ago. Sabine was enjoying yogurt out on the deck, just sitting there hanging out in the nice weather. Her feet were so stinking cute, I couldn't resist taking this photo. Makes me wonder about how we adults look like to little kids on a daily basis.

xmashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12284179091754800477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36948104.post-55205656901388834222010-07-23T10:58:00.001-05:002010-07-28T22:32:39.845-05:00

I get so locked into being anal about the house and keeping it clean, that sometimes I have to stop and consciously make a decision like I did on the day I took this picture. I told Jacob about how when I was little, running through the sheets drying on the line was one of my favorite things to do. And then I encouraged him to try it. I think he thought it was a trick, that I would yell at him

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