Five Zees

Happy 7th Miss Ashley!

2009-05-11T22:10:00.007-04:00

Can you tell that I was loving that cake... and my baby girl, of course! Ashley picked the cake out herself at a local bakery. We usually go for a Costco cake-- very tasty, but so much waste! Those cakes can feed an army! So this year, I splurged a little and got this one. Cute and yummy, but the girls missed their Costco cake-- uggh! Oh well! So on Friday, Ashley is having an "almost sleepover" party. She invited a few girls from her class. The idea is that they will come over in their PJs at 6:00 and "almost" spend the night. Parents will pick them up at 9:00. The idea is that it will be low key-- but with 5 seven year olds, I can't imagine anything will be low key! The only thing I have planned is to paint their nails, have them decorate picture frames, and take a quick picture of each of them with Ashley for the frames. Pizza, popcorn, cupcakes... done! I'll report back later on how it goes!

Oh, and her big present was a week of horseback riding camp! She opened clothes and her face was frownie, she opened the horsie game with the certificate attached and her face was smiley. I don't think she has any idea how lucky she is-- but then again I don't know many 7 year olds that do :)

Aloha from Oahu!

2009-04-21T00:52:00.003-04:00

Just wanted to post a quick picture and video from Hawaii.

My little nut!

2009-03-31T12:36:00.008-04:00

So does the picture on the left remind you of the baby daddy from Juno? I posted a photo at the bottom-- check it out :) My little nut! He cracks me up everyday! Every headband, hat, and pair of sunglasses he finds-- he puts on his head! I think we really should buy him some manly gear, don't you?

On another note, the girls have officially started softball (even though their last two games have been cancelled due to the weather). Hopefully, I'll get some photos of them playing at their game this weekend.

And a ME fact! I FINALLY joined a gym. Thank you Havalynn :0 One question the personal trainer asked me yesterday was when the last time I had worked out was... and when I told him 12 years ago in college, he seemed a bit surprised. I told him that I would take that as a compliment! It is hard to balance work and family and still manage to take time for yourself. Hopefully, I'll use it 3 times a week or more (my goal) and get a little healthier in the process! I am honestly so sore today that I can barely make it up and down the stairs of my house! And poor Jacob has cried every time I've tried to put him in the kids club there, we'll see how long it takes him to get used to it. It breaks my heart to come back and see his puffy, teary, little eyes :(

Anyway... here's some recent photos:

For those who haven't seen Juno:

"Love" Letter

2009-03-31T12:32:00.002-04:00

This morning I was putting some things away and I found this card. On the front it said "To: Ashley From: Sis". I almost threw it in the garbage thinking that it was just another card that the girls had been playing school with. But I opened it up and here's what it said:

I chuckled all morning!

A crafty new book...

2009-03-19T16:59:00.006-04:00

I AM an obsessive reader-- that is why I don't read very often. When I pick up a book and get interested in it, I do NOT put it down until it is done. This applies to a magazine, a 100 page book, or a 1000 page book. It is very frustrating and annoying to all around... so I simply avoid getting interested in a book, if possible... or buy books that don't require a cover to cover read. This is just one of those books. A CRAFT book by one of my favorite fabric designers, Heather Ross. I know that it has a cool PJ bottom pattern, I'm hoping it has a twirly skirt or Apron, too. I'll be sure to post examples as I find a little time to sew them!

Happy Birthday Jacob!

2009-03-05T13:23:00.004-05:00

My baby boy turned 2 last week! We celebrated with a trip to Chuck E. Cheese's at his request, no less. I had intended to take photos while we were there... apparently I forgot what it was like taking a 2 year old to CEC... my camera did not make it out. I tried to snap a few on my camera phone... but all you can see is a blur! He was too excited. The downside is that he and Hannah ended up with a stomach bug over the weekend. I KNOW it was from that tube thing. Since Jacob doesn't go to daycare and he was the first one to get sick-- that kinda seals the evidence :) And yep, I got sick on Monday-- Ashley and Marc were the only two spared... so far! Marc's still afraid to touch any of the toilet seats!

So... I'll post some photos of the little man soon! For now, this one will have to do ;)

Blue...

2009-03-05T12:53:00.006-05:00

So I have had enough of winter! This is the first time in 33 years that I have felt seriously "blue" during the winter! The snow was great-- didn't get enough, and didn't last long enough... but I love snow. It is just the dreary days leading up to and following the snow that brings me down. This weekend is supposed to be nice, yay! Then next month Marc and I are celebrating our 10th anniversary in Hawaii. That should bring some serious cheer when it is desperately needed!

So passing my time this past week, I decided to learn something new. I learned to knit last year... made a couple hats, then spring and summer came and I let it go for a while. I picked it back up in the fall and have since made a ton of cute things, mostly hats...here's a few (yes, there is more if you can believe it):

Most of the yarn I use is hand-dyed yarn. It's expensive and sold in quantities much greater than what I need for a little hat. So I stumbled upon a tutorial showing how to dye your own yarn with Wilton's Icing Dyes (yes folks, that stuff that you put into food can permanently dye wool-- that is scary-- wonder what it dyes on the way down to your stomach). Ironically Michael's had a 50% off yarn sale that same week... so look what happened:

Now in order to set dye, you have to use vinegar... a lot of it... and heat...so our kitchen smells like a mix of wool and vinegar. Marc says it smells like chicken wings... which in theory isn't so bad. Anyway, I think I have enough to keep me busy for at least another year!

It's Ladies' Night!

2009-02-09T15:23:00.002-05:00

Last Friday, a few of my girlfriends and I celebrated friendship and my studio space... and in honor of Valentine's Day... we put ourselves in front of the camera rather than behind it taking photos of our kids! It was fun... and of course, I couldn't make a serious face to save my life!

This was so much fun for us that I'd love to offer it as part of my studio offerings... so if you know anyone who might want to gather up 5 girlfriends and have a fun evening... let me know :)

EXCUSE THE MESS!

2009-02-04T13:44:00.001-05:00

I accidentally deleted my widgets! Oops... I'll fix them soon :)

Happy Chinese New Year!

2009-02-04T12:10:00.008-05:00

Hannah and her 2nd grade class celebrated the Chinese New Year with a singing performance yesterday. It was supposed to be last week, but the snow day delayed it until this week. She was so excited about it and practiced her songs all the time at home. She thinks she will be on American Idol someday :) I didn't get many pictures of her with her Mandarin outfit and chopsticks in her hair... because I had the little guy... I was lucky to get the couple I did, shoot the flip video, and keep him beside me. I kept expecting to see him run out in front of my camera towards the kids. Now that would have been a funny moment! Enjoy :)

SNOW at LAST!

2009-01-27T22:23:00.003-05:00

Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! The kids stared in disbelief as they rolled out of bed expecting to get ready for school this morning. Hannah was a little disappointed because they were supposed to perform for us this morning a special Chinese New Year musical presentation. Hopefully they'll reschedule! The kids waited and waited for the grass to be covered and when that didn't happen by lunchtime-- they decided they had waited long enough. We set out to play in the snow... but, oh no! The sled was in the attic and I'm too short to reach... so alas they had to wait until Marc got home to get it down. Jacob didn't quite know what to think... he didn't want to go out, didn't want to step in it, didn't want to touch it, didn't want it on his pants, didn't want to sit in it.... but then after a while he didn't want to leave it behind to come inside! I suppose his second time out in the snow might be less drama! Nonetheless, I was able to get some great shots of them goofing off and playing! Here's a few-- they are all posted on my facebook profile! Keep it coming-- the snow, that is!

Fun at the Garden!

2009-01-27T10:16:00.008-05:00

Jacob and Abigail had a blast running around last Friday when the weather was warm-- I think we were in the mid-50s. They didn't even need coats. Just getting out of the house was a fiasco... but Havalynn saved the day. We made plans to take the kids on a trip to MD to check out a photography shooting location and let them run around outside. I got the girls off to school, and then got Jacob and me ready for a day out... this in and of itself is exhausting... it has only gotten marginally easier since the girls are in school :) The advantage to that, at least, is that it gets us moving early! So we get in the car, get buckled in, Jacob is chanting "Abby, Abby"... and what happens? Nothing--- the car won't start! UGGGH! So tears streaming down the little guy's face, we get out of the car to call Havalynn. She volunteers to drive and off we go. It was a beautiful day, and I really think that this place will be a beautiful backdrop when the weather warms a bit. In the meantime, they have a couple conservatories that are inside. However, we learned the hard way, that children must use inside voices while in the "greenhouse". The kids were having a blast running back and forth across a little bridge, but Ms. Garden lady put a stop to that as she stomped after me (as we were leaving, no less) to ask if I was the mother of the screaming children. As she continued to scold me, it was on the tip of my tongue to tell her that she was almost as friendly as the staff at Meadowlark Gardens in Vienna. Don't get me wrong, I do appreciate the planning, labor, and skill that is required to operate and maintain these county parks. However, I do not understand why every person I've encountered at both aren't nicer to the patrons. I'll save that theory for another post :) On to more beautiful topics... pictures of the kids!

Oh and one last thing to add. I got a giggle when a man and his wife walked by us taking pictures of the kids running across the bridge. It was in the sun, but we were just snapping anyway. Heavens knows if I had gone back to my bag to get my flash, the moment would have been gone! Anyway, the guy must've been a photographer or knew something about photography because I heard him mumble under his breath-- you need some fill light. Yep, we did....oh well :)

Happy New Year!

2009-01-07T12:38:00.004-05:00

Since the cards are out, I'm posting a few pictures here that I had been holding onto of the kids. I wanted the holiday cards to be something nobody had seen ;) Hope everybody is having a great 2009!

What, no Christmas pictures?

2009-01-04T11:36:00.000-05:00

Nope NONE! Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, Ashley and half of her class had been sick with a stomach bug. She actually got it twice and passed it on to both of Marc's parents. We thought it had run its course, but guess who it struck on Christmas Eve? Yep, ME!!! Luckily it was sometime during the night-- after Santa had come and gone, thank goodness! I have never had an illness come on more quickly and violently! Yuck! I just remember praying that I would please get to see them come down the stairs on Christmas morning... and I did... but I looked like this...

I started to feel better later on Chrstimas Day so lucky for me it was short-lived, so much so that I thought it might be food poisoning. I didn't eat another Christmas cookie and candy the entire holiday!

So all photos taken during Christmas were compliments of Hannah and Ashley. Santa brought them both a real digital camera this year. Hannah's pretty good with hers. Ashley has deleted all her pictures accidentally several times-- and she had some really cute ones from Christmas Day-- boohoo!! So here's the extent of our Holiday memories :)

Hannah's 8th Birthday!

2008-12-20T11:50:00.000-05:00

I'm doing this in reverse order-- but it doesn't really matter. For Hannah's birthday this year, she decided to forego the crazy whole class celebration at Chuck E. Cheese, Pump It Up, or one of the Little Gyms for a sleepover. This was hard to plan (kids today have busy schedules)... but we made it work. I allowed her to invite 2 of her friends-- I figured that including Ashley, that would make 4 girls and if I've learned anything about girls through growing up and raising my own, it is that an even number of them is the best way to go. That way, nobody gets left out. So our agenda was to get nails done after school, eat pizza, and then head to the movies to see The Tale of Desperaux. Keeping them busy up until bedtime was my goal-- and it worked! They were so tired by the end of the night that they zonked out to old school American Gladiators! BTW - Check out Ashley's combination of a girly little make-up case, freshly painted nails, and her New York Rangers Hockey jersey! Isn't that a hoot? It actually was jersey day for their school, but I did ask her if she wanted to change!

For Hannah's actual birthday, we were at my Mom's house in Tennessee. We had cake and she opened her most favorite present of all time-- a Ninetendo DS! Who knew there could be such peace in a chaotic house?

And we made another stop on Thanksgiving to my Grandparent's house in Kentucky! Busy trip! Here are the kids with Papa Eddie, Paw Phil, and Granny Lucy! My dad was able to get off work early to surprise us-- we didn't think we'd get to see him since the day after Thanksgiving is the busiest day of the year for Wal-Mart!

And one more of the kids with Papa Eddie and Nonna!

A rare occasion

2008-11-18T10:49:00.005-05:00

It is rare that I have a photo that has one of the kids with Marc or myself, let alone Marc and I together. Two huge reasons... this time of year, I draw a firm line between work and home. The camera is work so it doesn't come out much for personal reasons. The other, I (and Marc, too) like to be behind the camera, not in front. For me, it reminds me of how old I look... people tell me often that I do not look old enough to have 3 children (I think they really mean not old enough to have an 8 year old), but I disagree. Just like Hannah, my immediate response to a camera used to be a huge ear to ear grin. Now that smile makes the wrinkled area around my eyes show that much more. So if you see me with a serious look in photos-- it isn't because I'm sad or mad... just avoiding the wrinkles. Wonder how long that will work? Aging SUCKS!

BTW-- we can thank Hannah, future photographer, for the lovely photos :)

PINCH ME!

2008-11-12T21:06:00.004-05:00

I feel like I'm living in a dream-- ok maybe not since there is no cleaning service involved. I did not think that I would have an actual studio space. Sure it was in my longer term plans-- but now? Terribly excited, a little scared, but charging full speed ahead! Mark your calendar, I'm planning to have a little get together on Friday, December 5th to celebrate! More information and, most importantly, photos to come very soon! For now, here's my little nut posing for a little test shot!

I Made It!

2008-11-04T08:22:00.005-05:00

While I have zero time for big projects this time of year... I still need time for myself sometimes. I found this quick and easy hat pattern-- took me about 4 hours (even though, the pattern said it took about 2). Hannah and Ashley were actually the ones that suggested they model the hat for photos. I guess I hadn't asked them to sit for a picture in a while!

Happy Halloween!

2008-11-04T08:10:00.005-05:00

This year, Halloween was a blur! We realized at the last minute that Hannah needed boots for her costume so at 4:30 on Halloween eve, we set off to find a pair of boots. Luckily the first store we checked out had some that she liked in her size...and they were even on sale! Driving home at 5:15, Friday, and Halloween...was another story. The girls quickly got dressed and we spray painted their hair... this was their favorite part of their costume! Jacob didn't really know what was going on, but was enjoying the show. Our neighbors had a front yard bbq trick-or-treating pre-party. It was such a great night to be outside, thank goodness. The kids ran and played for a hour and then it was time to trick-or-treat. This year Hannah and Ashley went with our neighbor, Emmie and her mom. Jacob, Marc, and I followed close behind. Jacob thought it was fun to ring the doorbell and say "TEAT". He got 4 packs of M&Ms and a lollipop and was ready to call it a night :) He was happier just running around in the street. He did get a little scared at one of the houses when a creepy decoration with glowing eyes popped up out of the ground and started laughing. They all had fun, which was the most important.

I know a little monkey!

2008-10-02T12:10:00.002-04:00

He climbs to the top of ladders, he stands on top of toys, he falls, no throws himself head first out of his crib (another post, another day), he tries to eat the girls' little beads (which sends me into a panic)-- truth be told-- he does some pretty crazy things lately. 75% are pretty funny after the fact when we know he's ok. Here's a little antic that he pulled last night that was funny all around! He insisted on wearing this little girl's bicycle helmet. He watched tv in it, he ran around the house in it, he rode his tricycle in it. Now I'm thinking that this is the smartest thing he's done in a long time! Maybe he'll wear it to bed tonight!

Hannah's New Room -- A work in progress

2008-09-11T16:17:00.002-04:00

So we aren't done yet. Its just not in the budget to finish it right now...but we'll get there. We turned this lilac room upside down last weekend. Marc painted it a beautiful shade of pale blue-green (it was supposed to be that old-timey vintage color). Eventually I'm hoping to retire the reds and browns that she chose and go with white...but for now I let her do the pickin'. I think we did a pretty good job. We got a desk today to match the bookshelf. So we just need to get an off-white night stand, dresser/mirror, and possibly a headboard for the bed. In the meantime, I'll be painting the oak ones that we have in there now to match :) So if anybody wants to make me a deal that I can't refuse on any of these pieces... I'm all ears! I will have to make the dust ruffle for the bed as this is a storage bed from ikea and you can't use a standard dust ruffle on it.

Back to school!

2008-09-02T12:02:00.006-04:00

Away they go... off to school. I was talking to them last week-- sarcastically saying, "I just don't know what I'll do with all my time while you girls are in school. I'll miss you being here with me all day long (which of course was true-- but it was getting old with me trying to work 3 days a week, and them wanting to do activities 24/7). What will I do with my days?" Ashley, being the little smarty pants that she is, replied "Hmmm, maybe you could clean the house?" Well, I didn't do that today! Maybe Friday! I have a ton to catch up on before then!

So Ashley is off to the 1st grade. Her first year going to school for the entire day. We met her teacher on Friday and I think they'll hit it off. She memorized her lunch number so she's all set!

Hannah is an old pro and is very excited this year about 2nd grade. She is hoping to learn cursive handwriting and was already looking at the class schedule to see what new subjects she would have.

Toothless!

2008-08-26T14:16:00.002-04:00

My baby girl is toothless-- well not really, but she's got a very large vacancy!

Happy Birthday Brit!

2008-08-25T19:55:00.002-04:00

Today is my lil sis's 25th birthday! Happy Birthday!

After two girls...

2008-08-25T19:41:00.004-04:00

Two things about these pictures never happened with either of my girls. I always heard stories about little girls (or boys) sneaking off, being too quiet, and mom or dad discovering a child covered in lipstick, eyeshadow.... or magic marker. Through raising two girls, none of this happened. Monday-- today is a day off from photography for me-- so I try to spend the day with the kids. Jacob didn't nap today, so I was trying to catch up on some email while he was sitting quietly reading in a chair. He was very quiet, but I kept checking on him and all was well. The last time I checked on him, I saw him quickly toss something and when he turned to look at me-- I didn't know whether to laugh or scream. Here's what I saw:

And this was the culprit:

As you can see, I took him out to the deck to take these pictures... but the only way I got them was to let him bring his favorite toy and most prized possession, his metal Disney Cars backpack lunchbox full of his favorite cars. I have never seen a child so completely in love with something with wheels. His latest is to line them up in a row and make them crash off of whatever they are on-- in the picture above it was the grill ledge. He went to bed tonight in his cars pajamas with cars in the pockets of them!

Playdate at the park

2008-08-25T16:03:00.002-04:00

Last week we joined some friends for a play date at a park in Great Falls. This was the first time the kids had seen a Merry Go Round. They spent over an hour running and jumping on the big metal catastrophe in motion. Both of them ended up with banged up shins from running as hard as they could to get it going and then jumping on but not quite judging the distance and speed correctly. I tried to sit with Jacob in the middle, but only lasted a couple rides. My stomach is a bit weaker than when I was a kid! As you can tell in the pictures, they had a blast. However, a tired little guy took a tumble off the edge of one of the pieces of equipment and gave me quite a scare. It was no taller than a bed and he landed in mulch, but I wasn't quite sure whether he hit his head/neck on the pole on his descent. All was well, thank goodness!

Hiking on the Appalachian Trail...

2008-08-25T08:34:00.006-04:00

We've planned to take the girls for a nice hike for the past month. Marc actually took them to the C&O canal a couple weeks ago for a nice flat hike... but we wanted something a little more scenic this weekend. Marc had found some information about a great hike with beautiful waterfalls and waterholes for swimming on the Cedar Run Trail in Shenandoah National Park, but we both agreed that it might be a little difficult for us with the girls. So after seeing my friend Trace-Ann's post about her recent hike to Weverton Cliff near Harpers Ferry, we decided to give it a try. It was perfect for us. We ate lunch, hiked up to the top to see the view, and then back down to the Potomac for a swim. It took us a few hours and the girls, while tired, had a lot of fun. We all slept well last night!

What, you have time to digiscrap again?

2008-08-20T10:06:00.002-04:00

Well, not really! But since I do take a ton of pictures, I have been determined to find a way to use them more than just on a blog... and I only have so many walls :) So... over the past few weeks I've been researching book vendors for my photography business. Obviously these books are nice, but too expensive for me to print several copies for family or do books of every event. Anyway, in doing research I found some really nice templates available at a site called Oscraps. In particular, these two scrapping designers have quickly become a favorite: Taylor Made Designs and Paislee Press. I love the classic, clean, and simple designs that they create. So I made my first Shutterfly Book using some pictures I took from the Outer Banks and a Dream template. When I get it next week, I'll let you know how it turned out.... but for now here's a look.

Click here to view this photo book.

Looth Tooth turns snaggletooth...

2008-08-16T20:50:00.008-04:00

Last weekend Ashley announced that she had a loose tooth. I didn't really believe her, but when she showed me, sure enough one of her top teeth was loose. She wiggled and wiggled it over the weekend and by Sunday it was pretty loose... but not quite ready to come out. We went to pump-it-up on Wednesday evening and Ashley banged into Hannah's head. She was crying, her mouth was bleeding, I was just sure that the tooth was gone... but nope it was still in there. She had a bloody lip, but nothing serious enough to keep her from playing. Then last night she was eating a tootsie pop and again she came running to me crying that her tooth got stuck in the lollipop... but it was still in there. Finally this morning I looked at it and it was just barely hanging on. I barely touched it and it came out. Wow! That's the first tooth I've pulled since I was a kid! I usually leave that to Marc! She looks pretty cute as a snaggletooth, soon to be first grader!

I can't make a post of Ashley without including pictures of Hannah and Jacob! Here's a couple from today.

Blast from the past!

2008-07-21T00:37:00.003-04:00

Some friends might remember way back when Marc and I first got Copper (our 10 year old dog), we had a small problem with our first baby. Pugsley, the fluffball cat didn't adjust well to having a crazy puppy in the house. We thought that time would change that, but day after day Pugsley slept in the sink. We felt really bad for Pugs, so my mom took him for a while... but that didn't work out after he started messing up her rugs. Our good friends Grant and Shannon adopted him. Little did they know that his issue with going to the bathroom on my mom's rug would continue... the rest of his life! Sorry guys :( So when I visited last week, who should I meet? Mr. Pugs, of course. I don't know if he remembered me, but he did let me pet him for a while and he even posed for a couple pictures. This one was my favorite!

BEACH OR BUST!

2008-07-08T14:37:00.004-04:00

We made it and are really enjoying the Outer Banks. Other than a slight sunburn for me, we're all having fun in the sun, the pool, the house... and we even got to hang out with some friends from home yesterday!

Hannah's new haircut!

2008-07-03T16:00:00.005-04:00

So Hannah decided that her hair was ratty and that it was time that she got it cut. So she told the lady at my salon exactly what she wanted and while it looks adorable, she looks so grown up. Instead of a little girl, she looks like a big girl-- 7 going on 17! We know we've got trouble on our hands!

So we're headed to the beach on Saturday. It will be Jacob's first trip. I'll try to post pictures while we're there... but no guarantees :)

Happy 4th!

Lollies for Little Man

2008-06-12T13:12:00.005-04:00

Jacob loves lollipops, but like all little kids, he makes a horrible mess out of them. Since it is the end of the school year, the girls are bringing treats home all the time and so he's had more than his fair share of lollipops over the past week or so. This day was particularly funny as he kept "dipping" it in the grass and then trying to eat it. I'd go to take it away to wash it off and he'd dip it again. I finally gave up and decided that a little dirt never hurt anybody (I don't think). Then in that last picture, you can tell how much he really loves his sisters!

Oh me, oh my, its caterpillars and butterflies!

2008-06-12T12:59:00.008-04:00

For Ashley's birthday, Grandma got her a butterfly garden. It was such a great gift for her. She's so interested in science (planets, bugs, animals, flowers-- you name it). In her classroom they had been studying the stages of life for butterflies and frogs. As a part of that unit, they had gotten tadpoles in the classroom. Ashley came home one day and asked if we could order a caterpillar kit. I didn't know what she was talking about at first, but then I found it online and since it was right before her birthday and everybody was asking what to get her, I told Grandma and Papa about it. So it arrived with little caterpillars in cups. They crawled around for about 7 days eating and growing, then one day they crawled up to the top of the cup and started spinning their cocoon. After the cocoon was complete, we moved them to the butterfly tent. In about 7 days, we woke up to little butterflies fluttering around. The girls were so excited! We watched them for a few days and then let them go. These pictures show the kids releasing them in the backyard.

Narrow escape...

2008-06-12T12:52:00.002-04:00

Well, if you've missed me-- I haven't updated the blog in a while because I had a computer crash. They always say its not a matter of if your hard drive will crash, but when. I was pretty lucky as I did get some warning and was able to get most of my stuff off of the computer. The crash forced me to make some decisions that I had been hoping to put off for a while... I finally made the switch from PC to MAC... well sorta :) I purchased a Dell pc and a MacBook pro. The biggest thing that this taught me was that while it is important to have data backed up... keeping a listing of all the applications and GETTING THEM ON DISK rather than downloading them is important. That's been my biggest nightmare and I'm still not fully back online with photoshop. Its been a costly process BUT I know that I am coming out stronger and more knowledgeable. Now as a result of the crash, I ended up corrupting an external drive-- so I still need to recover that data.I had focused so much attention on backing up what was on my internal hard drive that I missed backing up the external. That's mostly my personal files (which you can't put a price tag on)-- luckily I have most of these in other locations, but I still want that what's on there! Anyway, I'm slowly digging my way out and will be back to posting soon!

Real Men Wear PINK!

2008-05-13T13:43:00.004-04:00

Sunglasses, that is! Jacob loves sunglasses-- he really doesn't have a preference for one color over another. They could be pink, blue, brown, purple, or red! As a matter of fact, he has broken several pair of brown and black ones already, much to my dismay. His little fingers have recently found his sisters glasses stash! And they have amassed a bunch over the years. Most of them are PINK, too! The best thing about little kids glasses is that they are pretty indestructable which makes Jacob a very happy camper!

And Ashley's birthday just keeps on going! Weekend before last we had the party with her classmates and buddies (thank goodness as this past week and weekend was a rainy mess)! So these pictures were from her actual birthday on the 11th-- she picked an ice cream cake-- its her favorite! Can you tell she's happy?

A stranger...

2008-05-06T23:41:00.003-04:00

Where did my little girl go? Who stole her away in her sleep and replaced her with this moody big girl? The one that rides a bike with no training wheels (see banged up elbow in photo), the one that doesn't need kisses at bedtime, the only one who ever knew what it was like to be an only child (even though she doesn't remember). Wow do I feel old today!

Happy Birthday Ashley!

2008-05-05T11:50:00.008-04:00

When we were trying to figure out what to do for Ashley's birthday this year, the only request she had was that she could invite ALL of her friends. No big deal, right? This time of year with soccer and softball and nice weather, I had no idea whether 3 would come or 20... so after batting some ideas around, we finally decided to have the party at our house. We rented a moon bounce and prayed for nice weather since after about 20 RSVPS we knew having it inside would be extremely chaotic. Toward the beginning of the week, Saturday was looking grim... but by Friday it was looking beautiful. Thank goodness! Ashley has never had a better time. I've never seen her wearing a bigger smile or genuinely giggling as much... and for that all the stress for me was worth it. Needless to say, I was so busy with the party execution that capturing it with my camera suffered. I did manage to snag a few pictures. Hopefully you can see what a great time she had! Thank you to everyone who made it so special for her :)

Time to sing Happy Birthday!

Ice Cream Pinata Time

After most of the line takes a whack...the top of the pinata split...

and with the next hit....the candy drops!

Daddy has a new hat!

Ashley opens presents!

Of course Jacob couldn't let Ashley have all the fun! While she was partying, he was scoping out the ladies at the party... and finally decided that Sydney was his girl. Check this out for all the juicy details:

Sydney and Jacob's First Kiss

And a picture of the little guy to close.

Firetrucks, tulips, and fashion...

2008-04-23T12:07:00.002-04:00

Finally warm and dry enough yesterday to go back outside. Jacob is on the go... doesn't like to be held at all. We found some super cute shorts and tops at Kohl's (super price, too-- buy one get one free-- can't beat that!) and at our house when we look cute-- we take pictures!

First Baby Pool!

2008-04-19T23:30:00.001-04:00

Jacob took a dip in his baby pool for the first time today. He loved it! Even though he was cold, he cried when we took him out. Warmer days ahead and he'll have lots of fun!

First Soccer Game!

2008-04-14T11:55:00.004-04:00

Ashley had her first soccer game on Saturday. Technically it was a game, it looked more like a bunch of 5 year olds chasing a ball around. No goalie, they don't keep score, its just fun and she did have fun :) This first picture was her sideline break-- her team had an odd number of players to start so one had to sit out and she wasn't happy when it was her turn. Luckily, they came up with the idea to "give" one of their players to the other team so that each of the teams had 8. That worked out great... nobody had to sit out. They had two games of 4 against 4.

And even though they didn't keep score-- Ashley did score a goal-- yay!

A nifty knitting project...

2008-04-09T22:39:00.005-04:00

I wanted to try to knit a stocking cap for the kids for next Christmas. Given the amount of spare time that I have to dedicate to "fun" projects, I figured I'd better start January 1st in order to have 3 done by Christmas. And the last hat I knitted was too short in the crown, so it didn't even cover Jacob's ears. Hey, I'm just learning :) So as my second project, I was brave... I based it off this free stocking cap pattern, but I changed it up a bit. I'm not so good at purling, so I decided that for the brim, I would just knit so that it would be a rolled brim. Then I used a pompon rather than a braid and tassel. I think it came out pretty cute. I did end up with a knitting injury-- I pinched a nerve in my left ring finger and couldn't feel the tip of it for about 2 days. Crazy! So 2 more to go. I'm thinking I'll do one in red and gray and the last one in either pink and green or dark green and light green. As you can see in these pictures, they are stretchy enough (its an adult pattern) to fit all three of them... so I thought it would be neat to take their pictures in their hat each year to show how they've grown.

New tricks...

2008-04-07T18:54:00.003-04:00

Jacob still isn't walking, but he's climbing... on everything. Here's a few climbing on the firetruck in his room.

This last picture was on the bed... right before I fell off a stool and Jacob fell off the bed. I was ok, but of course more worried about him. After overreacting all day to everything he did-- I'm almost convinced that he's ok. However my heart is still hurting. I can already see that this little man is going to make me show my age!

Hey batter, batter, batter... SWING!

2008-04-05T23:05:00.009-04:00

This was Hannah's very first softball game. So they lost this game badly-- I know the scoreboard in the photos makes it look worse than it really was. Final score was 9-4. In all honesty, I don't think they set up the teams quite fairly. Hannah's team was brand new this year. Some of the teams consist of mostly 3rd graders and they've played together in past years... so the cards were stacked against the Cubs as they took on the Ponytail Posse today. But they played their little hearts out and learned so much... and Hannah got a hit. Yay! She only made it to 2nd base, but we thought that was great! She also got to play 3rd base, pitcher, shortstop, and outfield. Now Ashley has her first soccer game next Saturday-- we'll see how that goes!

Powderpuff Derby 2008

2008-03-30T21:50:00.002-04:00

So Hannah's car didn't win... but it didn't come in last either! Man were there some creative and cool cars. Here's a few-- I think there were 75 cars total. Notice the lipstick one on the bottom left, the pencil, and then there's even a ballet slipper. Now most of the fast ones weren't fancy looking at all. It is really a science that you can spend days pondering. I think we'll be a little more competitive next year :)

So here was one of the races, they start by lining the cars up at the top of a ramp. Then they hit the red switch you see in the very bottom of the picture and all the wooden pegs in front of the cars drop.

Here's the finish line. Hannah's car raced 6 times, once in each lane. Most of the time Hannah's car came in 4th...

But there was this one time that it came in 2nd. The car that is 1st here actually was the 3rd fastest car in the whole competition.

Here Hannah is getting her participation patch and trophy.

This is her attempt at a smile...

...but this is how she really felt!

I did too!

Shake, rattle, and rolll!

2008-03-28T14:11:00.005-04:00

So this is out last minute effort to make Hannah's Powderpuff Pinewood Derby car. Her race is tomorrow morning and they have a "pit party" tonight. I just hope her wheels don't fall off :)

This was what we started with:

And here's our finished car:

Happy Easter!

2008-03-23T21:39:00.010-04:00

Somehow the little man elluded my camera all day today... but don't think for a second he didn't enjoy his first... ok second Easter :0 He got an Elmo Bunny basket filled with Elmo treats. I'll be sure to post pictures of him and his basket later. Now the girls were excited for their baskets, but they are getting smart! We put out their baskets from last year... just in case the Easter Bunny wanted to "think green" and reuse. He did, of course... but he got the basktes mixed up. Hannah's treats were in Ashley's basket and vice-versa. They figured it out immediately. I'm just happy, for now, they they aren't asking more questions... I'm sure that will come soon. Here's a few pictures of the girls... first with their sleepy morning egg hunt faces...

then with their dolled up, ready to paint the town RED easter attire! And I have no idea why Hannah wanted that terrible red bow in her hair.

A fun blustery day in March...

2008-03-05T14:21:00.011-05:00

So as I'm folding clothes upstairs this morning, Ashley announces that Jacob wants in his crib. Yep, the kid must love that thing-- he's our best sleeper in it yet (please don't let that jinx us). Anyway, sure enough he wanted in to play. So next thing I know I have two babies.

Last night after the girls took their bath, Ashley asked if I would dry her hair straight. Usually I barely can get a brush through it and they are out the door. So I gladly obliged her request. It looks so cute... but of course we walk out to the bus stop and the wind was blowing like crazy. It'll probably be curly again by the time she gets home. Anyway, I wanted to make sure I got a picture of it because she may never ask me to fix it again!

And I was so bummed about this last picture. It was actually the first picture I took when we walked out the door to test my settings--which were, of course, not right. As luck would have it, it was my favorite picture!

Now there is no way that I could post the straight-haired pictures of Ashley without the curly-haired pictures of Hannah. After drying Ashley's hair last night, Hannah thought it would be funny if she wore hers curly today. I told her that she would have to get up an extra 20 minutes early. I thought for sure that there would be no hair-curling this morning... but sure enough she came into our bedroom extra early, all ready for her curls. Anyway, she looked really cute. She had picked out this stylish Mary-Kate and Ashley shirt from Wal-Mart earlier this week and decided that it would look nice with curled hair. My little sweatpant queen was a little lady today. I was so proud of her :0

Future Chef?

2008-03-04T13:41:00.004-05:00

Jacob has discovered pots and pans. He sat on the floor for a good 15 minutes yesterday beating and mixing and "drinking" from the pots and pans. Notice that he thought his sock was better off in the bowl than on his foot :)

Life with sisters....

2008-03-04T11:26:00.004-05:00

Jacob doesn't have a prayer :) This picture sums it all up!

Jacob's First Birthday Slideshow....

2008-02-27T11:14:00.009-05:00

A little commentary before the show... the hit of Jacob's birthday was an Elmo Birthday balloon that Daddy brought home. He LOVED it, I wish I had my video camera ready when he saw it for the first time. His eyes lit up, he squealed, and got so excited. He hugged it repeatedly and kept bouncing up and down. You'll see in one picture he was holding on so tightly with a look in his eyes that dared anyone to try and take his balloon! The rest of his gifts paled in comparison. He drug it around all night and was so excited this morning to see that it was still here!

As for the cake, Jacob wasn't really into making a mess with the cake. He touched it, tasted it, but there was no hardcore head smashing, up the nose, in the hair kinda action.... at lest from Jacob. Hannah and Ashley; however thought putting a face in the cake was fun. Ashley was the subject of a cruel joke by mommy and was too upset to have her picture taken. After watching them put their face in the cake a few times ever so delicately, I decided to push her head in a little further. She didn't think it was so funny. I felt really bad afterwards... Hannah tried to make her feel better by letting me do it to her, but it was too late. The damage was done.

Anyway I wanted to try this out... take a look as I'll probably make the photos in flikr private in a few days. I have no idea how to fix the order... so they aren't sequential, oh well!

It's my party... and I'll cry if I want to!

2008-02-26T10:11:00.004-05:00

Happy Birthday little man! I can't believe a whole year has passed since he was born! I feel like it was...well, yesterday. For breakfast, we made pancake birthday cakes and sang. We're trying to get him ready for the messy cake tonight. I don't know if he'll be into it or not. Anyway, we failed miserably at using the heart mold to make heart shaped pancakes... but still had some pretty darn good pancakes nonetheless! Unfortunatley, Jacob has been sick with a cold all week and his eyes are still tearing. So he was not really crying, but still looks a little pitiful!

And here's one with Ashley... it was her idea to make the pancakes (and yep, she and I have a cold, too-- we're pathetic).

More of the day later!

World Thinking Day

2008-02-26T09:59:00.007-05:00

On Sunday, Hannah's brownie troop participated in World Thinking Day. It's an event where each troop picks a country and presents it to the other troops (yep it's mostly the parents doing the work, but the girls did help). The toops rotate around to all the countries, making crafts, tasting food, learning facts, and getting their passport stamped at each country. Hannah visited 16 countries on Sunday. After a few rotations of learning and crafting, the girls got a break to spend their coins at the food table tasting food from selected countries. It was really cute! She had a lot of fun, but she was exhasted when it was over!

Here's her troop with their Italy sign before the opening parade.

Here Hannah is making a noise maker at the Kenya table.

Here she was making a paper lantern at China.

At South Korea, she smelled the kimch'i. I don't think she liked it!

Here the girls were learning about New Zealand.

After they were done, we asked them what their favorite country was-- they all agreed it was the "food table" (although Hannah later said it was Barbados because you could wear a bathing suit there). Such a fun day!

Our First Geocaching adventure

2008-02-18T16:04:00.019-05:00

Geocaching is a high-tech, treasure hunting game where you use a GPS to hide and seek containers. Some containers have simple logs that you can sign to show that you were there, others have pogs or treasures that you can take, others allow you to take something but leave something in return. You can find treasures close to you on this site:

Geocaching

We chose what we thought was a simple hunt... but since we didn't quite know how to use our GPS it was more difficult than we anticipated. A beautiful day turned windy quickly so we had to bring Jacob home. After some lunch we tried again. We went to the spot, but convinced ourselves that the tree containing the cache had been cut down. Luckily, Hannah is a good detective because she is the one who spied the cache in a nearby tree. It was fun and got us out of the house! Here's our detailed account of the hunt:

We start out at a local ballpark, the hint was that it was close enough to the park to be a challenge to find if there was a game going on, but secluded enough to still be able to find it without interfering with the game.

Marc realizes he's not quite sure how to work the GPS.

Shortly after this, the wind picks up and we go home for lunch. Marc downloads some updates to the GPS and we go back...

Here Ashley is ready to give up.

Hannah finds it!

This is what it looked like:

And here's the whole gang (minus me)!

And just the girls!

Free Rice for the hungry...

2008-02-18T11:03:00.004-05:00

My sister-in-law introduced me to this online "game" that tests your vocabulary and allows you to help the hungry at the same time. Read up on it, it's legit, and a lot of fun.

Free Rice

... and since I can't post without a picture... here's one from when Jacob was first learning to eat, what else, RICE! I thought it was appropriate :) Have a great Monday!

Paper Crafting...

2008-02-12T16:23:00.001-05:00

So my girlfriends and I have started a "craft night" to be held once a month. It is really an excuse for us to get out of the house, chat, drink wine, and hopefully learn something new. To kick things off, I signed up to teach the first one. In honor of Valentine's Day, we made these cute paper topiaries as found on my new favorite blog, Heather Bailey's "HELLO my name is Heather" blog. She is just oozing with creativity and talent. So here's the link to the Globe Valentine Ornaments, but if you click on the "How To" tutorial link in the right column, you'll find the directions for the topiaries which aren't limited to Valentine's day, they're very cute for anytime.

Paper Globes

This globe turned out so cute (thanks to Trace-Ann generously giving me some of her beautiful paper) that Hannah wanted to take it to her teacher... she was so proud walking it to school today!

And the cute Valentine's tags can be found at Heather Ann Designs:

Valentine's Cards and Tags

We printed 10 to a sheet, cut them out, punched a hole in the edge, and tied them to little paper treat bags that the girls put together for their classmates. I know, I somehow turn even the simplest things (buying store bought Valentines and signing a name would have been too easy) into a project :0 We had fun, though!

The first ride on the swing!

2008-02-08T16:39:00.000-05:00

Today was pretty nice weather-- surprisingly! So we went to the park down the street for Jacob's first ride on the swing. At first he wasn't too sure about it. I actually pushed him a little too hard and it scared him-- poor baby, bad mommy! Once we got the speed under control, he was hooked. When it was time to go get the girls off the bus, he kept pointing back at the swing-- that's his way of telling us what he wants, the kid may never need to speak! Of course I had to post a couple more from the slide (although you can't really tell he was on the slide).

Oh and here's one of those natural and real shots when siblings are really enjoying each other. It is rare to catch two smiling at the same time at our house. One's usually having a laugh at the other's expense.

Little Tomboy...

2008-01-29T22:48:00.000-05:00

Where did I go wrong? From birth, they've been dressed in the girliest clothes I could find... and now at 5 and 7 all they want to do is wear jeans and sweatpants... they do however love to chase and call boys. We're in big trouble :)

At least the hat was purple!

The crafty side of me...

2008-01-22T11:34:00.000-05:00

I've been so busy with work and life...that my sewing machine has collected inches of dust. So over the weekend I cleaned it off to make the girls some headbands. I used a couple patterns, but the one below by Heather Bailey is my favorite. The girls' love to wear ponytails with headbands, so the little tie at the bottom is a really cute touch. You can't really see it if they wear their hair down, so it works either way. I have one more to try that is more tapered toward the ears-- I think that one might be a great choice for little heads, too. This little bit of sewing is making me want to try quilting again.... stay tuned!

Heather's Pattern

I tried to get a picture of Ashley with hers on, but she wasn't much on modeling and this one is actually a little big for her.

First Haircut

2008-01-19T16:31:00.000-05:00

It's with mixed emotions that I write this post. I was recently acquainted with the old wives tale that its bad luck to get your child's haircut before their first birthday. I never thought about it with the girls. I wanted their hair to grow-- so we didn't get a haircut until close to their 2nd birthday.... but Jacob's hair was WAY over his ears and collar and getting pretty messy. When I tucked it behind his ears, it was cute... and when Brit or Hannah spiked it up, he looked like Gwen Stefani's little boy. Yesterday on a whim, we got it cut. Here's the before....

And the after....

Snow Day?

2008-01-17T12:00:00.000-05:00

No snow as Hannah marched off to school at 7:30 this morning.... but by 9:30 or so, the flakes were falling fast. Ashley was excited, she thought that school would dismiss early and she wouldn't have to go...nope! They went as scheduled and the latest information is that they are staying until normal dismissal. I hope it "sticks" around long enough for the kids to play a little in it after school!

Happy New Year!

2008-01-07T16:32:00.000-05:00

For the first time this year... I picked up my camera! Since the girls were at school, guess who the subject was... yep, Mr. Jacob. We all have a new year's resolution this year. I'll post those in tomorrow's post. For today, just some pictures:

Christmas Gifts!

2007-12-28T17:12:00.000-05:00

Santa (and santa's helpers) was good to our family this year. The girls got Barbie mp3 players, webkinz, clothes from their favorite store (Justice), a telescope, and.....

....a Wii with lots of fun games! Our whole family spent way too much time bowling, playing tennis, dancing to dance dance revolution, and singing high school musical! It was a lot of fun!

Jacob had the most fun with the paper, ribbons, and bows!

One of the best presents was that Nana and Aunt Brittany spent Christmas with us. We were so happy to have them here to share it with us and sad to see them go on the 26th.

We hope everyone had a terrific Christmas and has a wonderful New Year!

We got Elfed! Merry Christmas!

2007-12-22T15:02:00.000-05:00

Love this program-- so we recorded several :) Click on the titles below to view. Enjoy!

Elf yourself 1 with Ashley, Jacob, Hannah, and Marc

Elf yourself 2 starring Hannah, Ashley, Jacob, mommy

Scrooged starring Ashley

Scrooged starring Hannah

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

2007-12-11T11:39:00.000-05:00

Every year, as Thanksgiving dinner settles and everyones focus moves to Christmas, I find myself secretly dreading many things about "the season". Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Christmas as much as a kid.... but now that I'm adult, I have many of the less fun responsibilites... like cleaning up after decorating, stressing over how I'm going to get that perfect, hard-to-find gift, and dealing with stupid people in mall or store parking lots!!! But I digress, we started our decorating frenzy last weekend. I am a believer in artificial LIGHTED Christmas trees--easy peasy and looks nice, too. Marc, however, is not. I choose to pick my battles, and this is one that I really don't think I could win. The unfair part, though, is that even though I'd prefer the other route-- I get stuck putting the lights on the tree. I understand why, if anyone else did it, I would not be happy. And if mom's not happy.... I'm picky, I like my lights wound in and out of the branches to add depth-- with as much cord hidden as possible. Nope, no wrapping the tree with lights like a rolled up rug-- big pet peeve! So off we went to cut down our tree at a local tree farm. We got there, browsed the varieties of trees, and decided that we needed the Fraiser Fir. Go figure, this is the one tree that was hauled in from North Carolina around Thanksgiving already cut. I thought about it for a split second, looked at the mud and thick fog in the air, and told the men to head to the barn where the pre-cut trees were. I think they were secretly relieved. It had rained that morning and after looking at my once white van as we got out, I was already dreading the "search for the perfect tree". Once in the barn, there were dozens of trees lined up all around. We easily decided on the height we needed which narrowed the selection down. One of the workers held one up, I looked at it for about 5 seconds and said, "I like it, sold, wrap it up". He looked at Marc in amazement and said, "That never happens". We look around to see families that looked as if they'd been in the barn for half an hour-- one lady was holding a glass of wine-- she knew it would take a while! Needless to say, I got overruled by Hannah-- she liked an equally nice tree right next to the one I picked. So we took an extra minute, and got the second tree we saw. The lady with the glass of wine, pounced on our reject :) It was a fun trip... every family needs a little tradition, right?

Happy Birthday Big Girl!

2007-12-11T11:28:00.000-05:00

Hannah turned 7! Her birthday was on a Thursday, so we let her pick our dinner destination...and guess what she picked... Chuck E. Cheese's. Needless to say, she didn't do a lot of eating there. Our neighbors went with us and the kids had a blast! Her birthday celebration resumed on Saturday with friends, family, and classmates at Pump It Up! I know the kids enjoyed bouncing and playing! Rumor has it that Aunt Brit, Mommy, and Daddy had just as much fun as the kids... recovery time was much greater, though :)

This picture was taken earlier in the day as she played dress up-- notice the obviously "painted" lips.

Be a Goodmama

2007-12-03T15:31:00.000-05:00

I promise to post some Happy 7th Birthday Hannah pictures soon...but for today, I had to brag a little about another photo contest. When I heard the announcement for this one, I tried to think of something creative to do... but with Thanksgiving approaching and my photography Chrstimas crunch setting in, my brain was dead. So the girls and I stood on all sides of the bed and watched Jacob crawl from one side to the other. I was lucky enough to capture one cute shot-- but low and behold, my white balance was off (this makes the picture have a funny yellow cast to it). I fixed it the best I could in photoshop and shipped it off to Suzanne at Goodmama. I came back from vacation to find that-- we won the contest! Yay! So we get a new diaper, how fun! Here's the picture and below is the link to the website and blog for the company that ran the contest.

Goodmama Blog

Goodmama Website

Happy Thanksgiving!

2007-11-21T11:27:00.001-05:00

Have a safe and yummy Thanksgiving! Since I can't post without pictures... here's two of my subject that can't get away... at least not fast enough :)

This girl can knit!

2007-11-21T11:16:00.000-05:00

Hannah went to a knitting class last weekend with Grandma and she is a natural. She's so proud of what she can do. At this rate, she'll be done with that pink hat in no time.

Bring a Mom to School Day

2007-11-16T10:07:00.000-05:00

Ashley shared her day at school with me. We made dream catchers, played games, read poems, and drew pictures. It was a special day for both of us. Here she is drawing a picture of her Native Amercian alias-- Riding Horse.

Jacob's Crawling Debut...

2007-11-16T09:59:00.000-05:00

So I think I've finally figured out how to use the video portion of our point and shoot camera. I was using either the really big setting or the really small-- i think I've found a happy medium... so I managed to catch Jacob in action. Please don't mind the "wooly bear" that walks in front of him-- its the only way Copper can get any attention these days-- poor puppy. And I'm sure (like most excited parents) I sound like an idiot on the sound clip that goes along with this video-- so turn your sound down if you don't want to hear me talking :)

Six Fat Turkeys

2007-11-14T08:22:00.000-05:00

Hannah's first grade class had a Thanksgiving play yesterday. Each first grade class was a different fall themed person or thing-- Hannah's class was a pumpkin patch. Then they had one representative from each of the classes as a Turkey-- thus 6 fat turkeys. Hannah was a little disappointed that she didn't get picked to be the turkey-- but she was very cute nonetheless. Here's a mini clip of one of the songs. I know it is a bit blurry-- I had to use the compact version in order to upload here.

She's got a way...

2007-11-09T11:26:00.000-05:00

about her, don't know what it is...sorry Billy Joel is in my head...

So I'm waiting on the bus with Ashley. It's a rainy, cold, gross day. We usually sit on the porch and act silly while waiting on the bus. Today I have my blanket covering me in the rocking chair... all I need is Marc's knitting needles and nobody would ever know that I'm a 30 something mom :0 Anywho... so I decide that since the bus is always late, I need something to keep me warm... what do I do? Run inside and get my camera, of course! Ashley and I were acting silly on the porch and I snapped a few. I always seem to embarass her when I sing and dance... I have no idea why other than I do both very badly!

Morning Sunrise Surprise!

2007-11-09T09:14:00.000-05:00

So this morning at 6:30 I heard happy shouts from Jacob's room. He usually doesn't cry in the morning, but shouts LOUDLY so that we know he's awake. Even without the monitor we could easily hear him throughout the house! So I pull my lazy butt out of bed. Normally I would already be dressed and showered by this point, but I'm working at home today-- no traffic, no commute, no need to get up early! Anyway, back to my story-- I sleepily walk into Jacob's room expecting to see this:

But what did I see?

What? When did he learn to do that? Papa just put the crib down from its newborn height two weeks ago (long overdue). He had some little red marks on his forehead-- probably from trying to do this before I discovered his standing position. No worries, they aren't bruises-- but based on what we've seen from him so far--I'm sure we'll have many of those to come.

It's on...

2007-11-08T14:21:00.000-05:00

Ok so while we were in New York-- I stopped in a knitting cafe called Knit New York to pick up some yarn for Hannah. She's learning to knit with Grandma. It was raining and I had to get a lesson on choosing yarn... so we were in there a while. Long enough for Marc and Steve to peruse the yarn and pattern books and decide that they were going to learn to knit so that they could make a pair of Alpaca boxers. If you have never felt Alpaca wool... it is the softest thing I have ever touched... ok minkee might have it beaten... but it is pretty soft. So Marc quizzed a Russian lady that was knitting to figure out if it was feasible and decided it was. Its only natural for siblings to turn it into a contest... so first one to knit a pair of alpaca boxers wins... what? I have no idea... the right to brag, I guess. So here's Marc during his first lesson-- learning to cast on and the knitting stitch... purling came later... oh and you don't see the beer that was sitting next to him-- very funny site! Please laugh hard and make sure you send Mr. Crafty an email inquiring about his newly found hobby!

Autumn... here and gone before we know it...

2007-11-08T14:11:00.000-05:00

Today I noticed that our neigborhood trees that had been so beautiful just a couple days ago were almost bare-- well except for ours, for some reason our house is one of the few that has trees that stay green and most of them don't even lose the leaves until long after the rest have gone! How sad-- I love the fall, but it never seems to last long enough. We always tend to have 80 degree weather one day... a few days of gorgeous fall weather in the 60s... and then straight to winter. At least I have a camera to capture it and a subject that can't get away...yet!

All I want for Christmas....

2007-11-07T12:52:00.000-05:00

Well besides Hannah's two front teeth... I've been asking the girls to start thinking about what they want for Christmas and birthday... I'll keep adding to the blog as I find out things.

Hannah is a high fashion queen lately and refuses to wear anything that I pick out for her. She's out of her skateboarder/camo phase and only wants to wear clothes from a store called Justice for All. Great-- the only catch is that there's no way to order online and the closest store here is 30 or more miles away-- so with 3 kids a 1 hour drive for clothes is not something that we do often! There's one near Nana-- so Hannah makes all her requests through Nana-- isn't that conveniently cheap for me (sorry mom). Anyway here's a link for inquiring minds:

http://www.justicejustforgirls.com/

She also loves to read. She's reading at a 4th grade level, so chapter books are best for her. She loves Junie B. Jones and has discovered a couple other series of books that she enjoys. I'll post those soon.

For Ashley-- she keeps talking about this doll called Betty Spaghetti:

Probably one of those toys that will go to the bottom of the toy box, but she has asked for it several times.

For Jacob-- well he's too young to really care... but if there really was a Santa, he would bring him these a pair of Crankypants. I say that only Santa could bring them because they are handmade by this very talented lady in small quantities. She has a waiting list a mile long-- so the liklihood of supply = demand factor in the near future is miniscule... so until then we'll be happy with mass production. Check out the site-- we love the monster booty ones:

As for me, if I had to splurge on any one thing right now, I'd go with this throw from Garnet Hill. Marc says this is a crazy gift-- so until he learns to knit one for me (another story entirely), I'll probably just be eyeing this one in a catalog :)

And Marc... well his latest request was the movie Transformers... he just got a NASCAR package, so I don't think Santa is coming for him this year!

Driving School

Movies and Pizza with an interesting ending...

2007-11-03T13:35:00.000-04:00

Last night we took the kids to see the Bee Movie with several of our friends and their children-- 15 of us to be exact-- 9 adults and 6 children. The kids were very good at the movies, they sat there side by side, intently staring at the screen. Every now and then, Hannah and Ashley would cruise down to check on Lex, Olivia, and Andrew two rows down.

After the movie was over, we were hungry, so we headed next door for pizza. As we entered the smallish dining area, the staff scrambled to put the few remaining tables together for us. I glanced around apologetically to the "childless" patrons. It was late for a group of mostly 4 year olds and they were all on the verge of a break down. The first hurdle was determining where everyone would sit. After a game of musical chairs, we arranged ourselves with the kids at the end of the table closest to the back of the restaurant, the women in the middle, and the men at the other end.

The ordering process was uneventful, other than the quick shower of tears when Ashley thought she wasn't going to get a Sprite. Andrew and Olivia squared off next over a napkin. Samuel hit his head on the table and there were more tears. All the ladies ended up making several trips to the bathroom with the kids-- I think I probably had the prize for the most trips-- but then again I was the one with 2 kids-- everyone else was paired with only 1. Somehow we made it through dinner with few outbursts. I couldn't help glancing around every now and again to see if I could catch any stares or eye-rolling from the other tables. Our table was definitely the loudest, but I think the kids behavior was pretty darn good.

So fast forward to the check. The server brought us our check and explained that the man sitting at the table next to us when we first came in had bought our first round of drinks and pizzas. We all sat there in complete shock and amazement. Why? Did he feel sorry for us? Was he writing a book on "when good parenting goes bad"? Surely he wasn't impressed by our well-behaved children and exceptional parenting skills :) The server explained that he simply said that he liked what we were doing. Try as I may, I couldn't remember what the gentleman looked like. Marc and Havalynn said they remembered him and that they had exchanged glances... but didn't think anything of it. We all sat pondering, in dumbfounded appreciation, trying to figure out why in the mad chaos of everyday life someone-- anyone would notice and make such a kind gesture. With no answers, we gave the server a big tip and took our tired little ones home.

Hannah and Ashley fell asleep before we got out of the parking lot. Still Marc and I thought back to the restaurant and continued speculating as to why he would pay for our meal. This is definitely something that doesn't just happen everyday. I felt bad because I couldn't remember him-- I should have at least noticed. I wanted somehow to thank him-- but how? I decided that the only way I could was to tell the story here. I'm hoping that if you made it this far, you are smiling and thinking that there are still some good people in the world. And to the kind and generous gentleman who crossed our path last night, thank you.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

2007-10-31T21:25:00.000-04:00

Ok, for the first time since Jacob was born I felt like something was harder with three. We went over to our neigbor's house for pizza before trick or treating and we looked like we were going out of town for the weekend! We had a huge shopping bag, a camera bag, a stroller... and still ended up coming back home for things we forgot! The girls were so excited --they'd been counting down all week! I think we made it all the way around our neigborhood in record time-- if only I had known that all it took was a piece of candy on every doorstep to speed them up-- I would have lost pounds by now :) Anyway-- tons of pictures so here we go!

Pre-trick-or-treating: Ashley (Supergirl), Tanner (Frankenstein), Jacob (dragon), and Hannah (Bratz Pirate)

Striking a pose!

The gang with Taylor (Bride of Frankenstein and Tanner's sister in real life)

Jacob and Daddy catching the last glimpse of the setting sun! (Love Jacob's orange, sweet potato face)

"But I don't like the hood!"

"I do like the bucket--where's the treats?"

"Oh no, the hood again!"

Checking out the loot!

"So where is mine?"

"Argh, a pirate's job to enjoy the booty (that doesn't sound right, does it?)!"

Hope everyone had as much fun as we did!

Long time, no post...

2007-10-30T22:41:00.000-04:00

So things have been busy! We've had field trips, visits from family, visits to family, mixed in with a lot of work! I'm really not complaining :)

So let's kick it off with Ashley's field trip. I was so excited to go with the Kindergarten class to the pumpkin patch this year. As Ashley excitedly told me that I could go with her class-- I thought to myself, "Its only a matter of time before she's going to want to be dropped off at the end of the street so that nobody sees me-- enjoy the time that she's proud of her momma!". So I did-- we did-- Ashley and her 3 friends that were "assigned" to me for the day tore the place up! I know it doesn't look like she was having much fun here-- but she was actually intently listening to the instructions for the corn maze. I can't post any of the cute ones because other children are in them-- and since I don't know the parents-- I can't ask permission ;)

Then the following week, on my birthday-- who is counting?-- I went with Hannah on her field trip to the D.C. Zoo. It was a great day for the zoo- at least if you wanted to see the animals. It was an overcast day-- actually sprinkled a few times while we were there. I think the animals like to come out when the sun isn't out. For the first time ever, we saw something other than the Panda's bootie! They were strolling around playing and eating! Yay! Of course, the highlight of the kids day was seeing the monkeys with the funny bottoms-- ugh! Ok, they did like the seals, too!

And one more picture of Hannah studying this week's spelling words and enjoying the fall weather!

As for an update on Jacob, he has 8 teeth now! He went from 2 to 8 in just a few weeks. He now has 4 on top and 4 on the bottom. He's moving around everywhere-- not really crawling-- but scooting. I think he may walk before he crawls. Who knows?

Marc and I went to New York last weekend for a visit. We stayed with Steve and Oxana (Marc's brother and his girlfriend) in Manhattan. Even though it was rainy... so no pictures (shame on me), we had a great time. We even had dinner next to Woody Allen. I love visiting the city-- but as much fun as it is to visit, I am a country girl at heart and could never live there-- at least not in this chapter of my life.

So tomorrow is Halloween! I'll have pictures of my little spooks soon :) Stay safe and have fun!

Kings Dominion or bust!

2007-10-13T22:14:00.000-04:00

Last Saturday, Marc took the girls to Kings Dominion. I was supposed to go, too... but I was still recovering from my chest cold. I sent the camera along hoping that I'd get to see a little of what they did. Like a good daddy, he took some pictures throughout the day. Hannah rode the Rebel Yell coaster and loved it! They drove cars, went to a magic show, played games... and won some "little" stuffed animals. Did I say little-- check it out below... and she did it all by herself! Marc said she carried it from the park to the car and since getting it home, she has slept with it in her bed every night! Nana and Papa Buddy came for a visit and were waiting when they got home, so they spent the rest of the evening and the next day catching up with them. They even went to the Pumpkin Patch on Sunday! Talk about a weekend of entertainment... no wonder this weekend has dimmed in comparison! A few pictures and I promise I'll update more later since I'm feeling better!

Finally on the mend... I think

2007-10-03T20:02:00.000-04:00

We've had a terrible cold at our house. First Hannah, then me, now Jacob. I think I got it the worst though, I can hardly talk without coughing. Not fun. Anyway, lots have happened since my last post. Hannah lost ANOTHER tooth. I can't believe it-- this kid has no teeth!

Jacob is getting a top tooth. It hasn't poked all the way through yet, but we can tell it is only days away! He's also started waving bye-bye and saying ma-ma-ma-ma. The first of our children that haven't started their vocabulary with da-da-da-da.

Papa brought home pumpkins yesterday and Jacob loves to sit and pat them. We played with one in the yard today-- and when we came in, guess what I found between his thumb and forefinger? A tick!! At first I thought it was dirt, but after it didn't brush off, I knew it was a nasty little bugger. I had one last week and Hannah had one last month. It was barely attached and easily removed, thank goodness!

Ashley is doing so well with her writing and numbers-- it seems that she may turn out to be a pretty good student. However, she did have to remove two of her smiley faces at school today and conveniently doesn't remember why.... hmmmm!

We're going on a trip to Kings Dominion on Saturday-- they've never been. I think they'll have fun!

I think that's about it-- here's one last picture of Jacob with his "Hoos your Daddy" UVA football shirt on-- I know you can't really see it :) It was Hannah's when she was his age-- Marc had a matching one which has somehow made it to my t-shirt pile.

Hopefully tomorrow will be a healthier day for us all! I know my neighbors at work hope so. I've annoyed them all week, and I don't think Marc has gotten an uninterrupted night's sleep yet-- between me, Ashley, Hannah, and Jacob--- we're lucky we get any sleep!

Cast your vote...

2007-09-24T21:08:00.001-04:00

Jacob is in a photo contest at the following site-- check him out and cast your vote (last I checked there was something wrong with the voting link). I've included a sneak peek at the picture below.

http://happyheinys.com/contest/contest_result.php?cid=12

Under my Umbrella...ella... ella...

2007-09-24T21:05:00.000-04:00

These pictures remind me of the Rihanna song-- had to share them :)

Crawling soon?

2007-09-24T21:03:00.000-04:00

So who wants to make bets on how long it takes for the little man to start crawling. He's already up on the hands and knees trying to figure out what to do next. But so far he just crashes face first into the ground or toy.

Rub-a-dub-dub...

2007-09-12T22:15:00.000-04:00

Three Zees in the tub :) Jacob took his first bath with his big sisters the other night. He loves water so as you can see, he had a blast. I'm a paranoid mom-- so I censored Ashley--hehe!

You've got the cutest little baby face...

2007-09-12T21:41:00.001-04:00

This little guy makes some of the funniest faces. I've yet to catch him doing this slurpy tongue thing. It's so cute and funny. These made me laugh!

A slew of appointments...

2007-09-12T09:48:00.000-04:00

On Monday and Tuesday, I met myself coming and going! Let's summarize the schedule:

Monday:

7:35 get Hannah on the bus for school
10:00 Optometrist appointment for me
11:35 get Ashley on the bus
1:00 Jacob's 6 month checkup
2:45 Get kids off the bus
6:00 Feed kids
7:00 Homework
7:30 Bath
8:30 Bedtime

Tuesday
8:10 Annual well-woman appointment for me (which was rescheduled to 9:00 because the doctor was running late)
11:35 - get Ashley on the bus for school
12:30 meet Marc at the tile place to select tile for the kitchen
2:45 get kids off the bus
5:00 highlights and haircut (I had 2 inch long roots, yuck!)
7:35 home 5 minutes and Jacob threw up all over his bed, me, and the bathroom floor (yummy!)
8:00 finally have time to sit down and help Hannah with her homework

Well by the end of all this-- my Wednesday in the office is seeming like vacation :) A couple notes.

Jacob's 6 month stats:

weight 21 pounds 2 ounces (off the chart)
height 29 1/2 inches (off the chart)
head circ. - can't remember (off the chart)

He got 3 vaccinations and a flu shot-- poor baby! We also learned that he can go off of his Zantac after this week. He has had a rash on his bum for a month or longer-- not a painful looking rash-- more of a contact dermititis rash-- looks a lot like Ashley's eczema spots. We've tried changing diaper brands, using sensitive wipes, using only water to clean his bottom. I don't know what it is that he's allergic to, but I'm determined to find out. I finally decided yesterday to purchase some cloth diapers to try. Have you seen cloth diapers these days? They certainly aren't the same as when I was a kid, that's for sure. First of all, I had to call the store to get an education on terminology, what to buy, how to clean, etc. The lady at Jillian's Drawers was just the most helpful lady ever! The diapers have fun names like Happy Heineys, BumGenius, and Fuzzi Bunz and they look super cute with all the color choices. Now when Jacob makes his first stinky and I have to do more than wipe his hiney and throw it away-- I may change my tune :) At first, I'm planning to only use them at night to see if they work for us or not... then I'll evaluate next steps. I'll keep you posted!

Update on Ashley and school

First of all, so many people wrote to tell me that they felt so sorry for Miss Ashley after reading my post last week. I'm happy to report that after the first day, we had no more tears! In fact- she loves school and loves her teacher. Unlike Hannah, she's very excited to share everything about her day-- which makes me smile. I can already tell an improvement in her handwriting. I can't tell you how happy I am that she likes school - I was worried about it a little!

Update on Marc and my diet

Marc has lost 12 pounds-- as of this morning, he weighed in at 180. He's a champ at sticking to it and encouraging me to exercise. I, on the other hand am a big fat cheater! I have lost 6 pounds-- I'm down to 133. However, I cheat every day! I'm a picky eater and those nutrisystem meals just don't do it for me. And how many salads and fruit can one person eat? I'm doing well about controlling the sweets and carbs, though-- so I think that's my saving grace :) We're planning to drop nutrisytem after this month and just incorporate the healthy habits into our regular meals. With a little planning, I know we can do it!

Shhh, don't tell Daddy...

2007-09-06T23:26:00.000-04:00

I'm in love with another man! He's short, chubby, and drools like crazy!

World's funniest pictures :)

2007-09-06T23:13:00.000-04:00

So my girls picked up the camera the other night and proceeded to terrorize me with it the way I do them-- I played along and they got the biggest kick out of the results. I promised them that I would post a few less incriminating ones. Most of the pictures are badly out of focus, but I think they are too fun not to post!I hope you laugh as much as we did!

First Day of School and a surprise from Jacob...

2007-09-04T12:42:00.000-04:00

Well, today was the first day of school and it definitely had its ups and downs.

The Ups

Hannah was so excited about 1st grade she could hardly sleep last night. She even made a checklist of the things she needed to do when she got up this morning. It read:

Get dressed

Brush teeth and hair

Eat breakfast

Kiss family goodbye

Get on the bus

So needless to say the biggest challenge about getting her off to school will be the getting up at 6:30! She's alreadly pretty fond of her teacher and even though she only knows a couple kids in her class-- we know she's going to love it! We hear that they will have homework every night-- she's going to be a tired kid!

The downs

So next came time to get Ashley on the bus. She acted excited and not really nervous. She watched TV and kept asking when it was time for the bus. So I took her outside a few minutes early to take a few pictures beforehand. That's when I should've seen it coming-- looking back at the pictures it was written all over her face. She was NOT looking forward to getting on the bus. The bus pulled up and I saw the look of fear in her eyes. I was crying inside for her-- but I couldn't let her see that. I walked her around to the steps and she clutched my arm even tighter. I told her that I couldn't come to school on the bus with her and that's when the tears started (hers, that is). I walked her up the steps and started to sit her down next to a little boy named Nicholas-- I could see she didn't like that. So I saw a little girl sitting alone and sat her down next to her. They all wear name tags so I introduced Ashley to the little girl and told her that I had to go. I kissed her and got off the bus-- I know she was crying, but I didn't want to look back at her. For a split second I thought about taking her off the bus and driving her to school, but that would only prolong the inevitable. Luckily our house is the last stop before the school-- so hopefully as soon as she got to the familiar classroom, she settled down. I guess I'll see this afternoon. I'll update the post then!

Jacob's Surprise

And I'm pleased to report that the little man is sleeping in his crib at night and for naps. He slept all night in his crib last night and has taken two naps in the crib today! This is a MAJOR accomplishment. For those who don't know why... he slept in his carseat until he was five months old (with his reflux this is the only place he felt comfortable). Only in the last month has he started sleeping at night in the bed-- but it was our bed. We knew the day would come to get him into his crib and reclaim our bed-- I've had way too many kinks in my neck over the last month and some pretty funky bed head :) Anyway-- he's graduated! Yay! Oh, check out Jacob's arm "muscles" in the picture. How many do you count? That's only cute on a baby!

The last days of summer...

2007-08-29T09:49:00.000-04:00

Marc's brother and his family are spending the week at our house, so we took the kids to the pool at Lansdowne yesterday. Cathy actually got a room there just so they could use the pool-- it's so pretty there! They swam for a solid 2 hours. The only thing that stopped them was a basket of chicken fingers and french fries. Hannah and Ashley were so tired when we got home that they actually asked to go to bed-- that's rare!

Oh, and I can't use a point and shoot camera to save my life :( I took Marc's camera with me since I didn't want to add any bulk to the 3 bags I already had. I had the hardest time with it-- give me a complicated SLR anyday!

Jacob's redneck side...

2007-08-28T08:54:00.000-04:00

Took these before the kids went swimming the other day. They make me smile :)

Happy Friday!

2007-08-24T14:32:00.000-04:00

So today I feel like complete crap! I'm tired (Mr. Jacob isn't sleeping all that great) and Aunt Flo has returned after over a year. To be honest, she wasn't missed at all! I quite dread her company and since its been so long since we last visited, she's really pulling out all the stops this time. But I'll be looking forward to her monthly visits from here on out, I suppose. I'm hoping next time she'll pack lightly and only stay for a few days! Ok, I'm cracking myself up-- on to the point of my post. Guess what, no pictures today! I have two things:

Marc and I have started the Nutrisystem weight loss program. We both have about 20 extra pounds that we need to shed. Yes, folks-- I weigh more now than when I put on the freshman 15. As a matter of fact if you combine Jacob's current weight and the 20 pounds that I haven't lost-- that's what I gained during the entire pregnancy-- 42 pounds. So... since it has been 6 months, I've stopped nursing, and I'm still +20... I decided it was time to take a bit more action. The heat and our crazy schedules put a quick halt to our jogging routine-- but we are determined to pick it back up. So a HUGE box came yesterday for Marc with all of his pre-packaged food (that by the way looks much better in the picture). He packed up some for work this morning and so far has reported that a) the blueberry muffin he had for breakfast smelled like those dog food crumbly pattie kibble things that we used to feed our dog--YUMMY, can't wait for that and b) he's about to burst from drinking so much water. On a brighter note, he wasn't able to eat all of what he was supposed to eat for breakfast... so at least he isn't going hungry. My food will come in the next couple days, so I'll be sure to keep you posted on my progress :)
Yesterday, I got a mini Boden catalog and found some of the cutest little things for Jacob... the girls are picky and they've moved on to a new store :) Anyway, Marc looked at a page that I had doggy-eared and said, "Wow, that's a little expensive for a pair of pants... for Jacob". It is-- $32-- but they looked so cute! So as I was folding clothes last night, I noticed how utterly gross and stained Jacob's clothes are. Even after both girls wore clothes when they were babies, they still looked immaculate-- no stains. Well I guess its one of the many differences we're seeing between girls and boys. As I thought about a pair of $30 pants getting puked and pooped on, I decided that Target and Old Navy was a much better option. So today during lunch, I went next door to eat at Pei Wei (PF Chang's Asian Diner-- love it) and stopped at Kohl's on the way. I saw some cute baby blue and brown clothes (LOVE that combination for boys), but they were up to 9 months. Mr. Meaty is wearing 12 month clothes now-- so I'm buying 18 months for fall. So I went on back into the infant department (rather than newborn) and found the cutest table of little boys clothes. They were by Sonoma (Kohl's brand) and were so stylish and soft. They actually looked like some of the things that mini Boden sells. I am pleased to report that I bought 8 tops and 4 pants for less than it would have cost for 1 outfit from the catalog. At $5 a pop, you can't go wrong! I had a blast mixing and matching-- who said shopping for boys was no fun?

Have a great weekend!

Just playing around...

2007-08-23T14:25:00.000-04:00

I've been so busy lately that I haven't had a lot of time to just sit and "play" with the kids. After we finally got the house back into shape today, the girls went over to our neighbor's house to play with their friend... so Jacob and I got to play. First we played with our food... no pictures of that... then we played in the wet grass, lots of pictures of that. Then we played peek-a-boo with the blankie, one picture of that. Then "we" were tired, so one of us fell asleep and the other one is playing on the 'puter.

Yesterday before dinner I did some playing with the girls while Jacob was napping. They would jump as high as they could and I'd snap a picture. It was fun for them and fun for me :) Even big kids like to play with their toys! I loved Hannah's expression even though her legs were completely behind her which made her look like she had no legs :0

A bit behind...

2007-08-21T21:46:00.000-04:00

I meant to post these last week, but ran out of time. Just a few funny ones of Jacob and Hannah. Jacob has become a pro at sitting up in the grass...but he's yet to find the same satisfaction sitting up anywhere else. He turns into jello...anyway this captured his first official minute of sitting unassisted.

Then this was a series of Jacob attacking Hannah's nose and giving her kisses.

And this one turned out to be the last picture of Hannah with her pretty piggie tails. It'll be a while before her hair grows out enough to make braids again.

We've lost ANOTHER tooth!

2007-08-20T11:31:00.000-04:00

Hannah has lost her second top front tooth-- now she is officially toothless and can sing the song, "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth". I'm hoping she gets them back by then for sure!

A quick trip

2007-08-20T11:12:00.000-04:00

Over the weekend, we took the girls for a last hurrah before school starts. Things started out a bit bumpy as Jacob woke up with a fever the morning that we were leaving. Poor thing had never had a cold and didn't really know what to do. I think we all had a bit of a bug over the last week or two :) It was a quick trip, but we had a blast. We went to Dixie Stampede and Splash Country. The girls loved the cabin that we stayed in! I didn't drag my camera around with me to the water park and there were no cameras allowed in Dixie Stampede-- so the only pictures I'm posting here are ones I took at the cabin. This was the view of the Smokey Mountains from the giant two story deck. I bet it is beautiful in the fall!

As you can see Jacob loved his kitchen sink bath!

Ready for school...

2007-08-15T10:39:00.000-04:00

We're getting ready for school at our house. We got haircuts yesterday and this weekend, we'll be doing some back to school shopping. Hannah's hair was really damaged by all the chlorine from the pool this summer and we've had some difficult mornings trying to comb it. So she decided that she was ready for a shorter cut. I think it looks adorable on her. She might try bangs next time...we'll see. Ashley has had this cut before, but it still looks cute! I can't believe that she'll be starting Kindergarten. Time flies!

Snaggletooth!

2007-08-09T11:19:00.000-04:00

Hannah lost her first top front tooth! Just in time for Jacob to start cutting his top two teeth :) She came into the bedroom last night after I had tucked her into bed and said "Mommy, I lost another tooth"-- she had just lost one of her bottom ones last week. I was a little scared when I heard and saw it-- it was barely even loose. Apparently she wiggled and twisted it pretty hard. It wasn't even bleeding so I suppose it was ready to come out-- I just wasn't ready for it. She told me that she thought the tooth fairy would bring her $20 because it was a very important tooth! The tooth fairy wasn't quite that nice-- she had to settle for $5. It was so funny this morning when she was trying to tell me a story about her friend, "Maritha"-- I mean Marissa.