The Gs and little r

2010-11-10T06:47:00.011-05:00

I didn't put this on FB, but feel like posting a blog about it :). I like having what I'm pretty sure is a much smaller audience here :).

I got a nose job. Just kidding, but I think some strangers may have thought so :). I had a small spot on my nose that was raw and not healing. I decided to go to the dermatologist and get it checked, and it was biopsied at my visit. I was really self conscious about wearing a really small circle bandaid on my nose afterwards. And, I was feeling like I might have been silly for going to the doctor. Turns out it was a good idea. I had pre-cancerous cells and some that had just switched to squamous cell carcinoma. Not as scary of a diagnosis as it may sound, you just have to get it removed.

I went in Friday looking normal and came out looking like this. (James and I laughed at me a lot that day :). Generally bandages are not funny, but this one stuck out so far and I looked like a clown.
I had a small skin graft using skin from my ear to fix the hole on my nose. I got to look at the open wound and the closed wound on my nose before the bandage. It was gross, but the nurse told me not to worry, it would heal well. I mostly hid/recovered at home until I took the big bandage off on Sunday. On Monday, it looked remarkably better from what I saw on Friday. And Monday was even better than Sunday. I'm now down to a smallish bandaid on my nose and one on my poor ear. The ear is the uncomfortable part, but not a big deal either. I feel pretty much normal now. Compared to the initial bandage, a little one seems like nothing. Probably also helped to finally get my hair washed at the Hair Lottery (Hair Cuttery) yesterday. I have to cover it for two weeks with a bandaid and then its an optional cosmetic thing after that.

I'm glad its all over, especially all those shots in my nose and ear. I was again complemented during surgery - I always put on a really brave front for medical staff :). My nerves made it very difficult to recall what my kids were for Halloween, though, when I was asked in the room before it started :). I can easily tell you now. Gillian was a Redskin cheerleader, George was Bobafet, and Reuben was Spiderman. This would be a great place to insert a picture if I had one. They were cute, trust me :).

Wear your sunscreen and sunscreen your small children! Happy Fall!

2010-02-25T09:21:00.005-05:00

Been thinking about blogging again. It's funny to look at the picture below. When that picture was taken, those things were brand new to me, now most of them are familiar items in our home. The mantel has been painted and attached to a wall. The jumpolene has been jumped on a million times. Fun, and it will soon be time for the spring yard sale!

I started a food journal today, among other things I'm doing to try to lose weight... like mall walking. I thought it would be more of a winter thing for me, but I'm enjoying it so much, I might keep doing it during the spring and summer. I like being there when it is so calm. I like seeing people working on window displays. I like the artichoke plates and pottery colanders in the Pottery Barn window. I like being one of the younger walkers. I like my new walking shoes. I like seeing the delivery of fresh strawberries sitting outside Godiva waiting to be dipped in chocolate and all the milk waiting to go inside Caribou Coffee. I like that it's easier than the Jillian Micheal's workout I do later in the day. I like listening to the radio on the way in, and that I'm driving to walk in the mall instead of driving to work. I could go on and on about it, like I just did :).

The Gs are doing great in school, they like it most of the time. Reuben is looking forward to going a long time from now. A big chunk of our day is made up of getting us to and from school and preparing for it. We also play a little outside. Play Wii, play hockey and tackle football in the basement. Craft. Clean. Watch too much tv. Check FB too often. I can't wait for Spring. Hoping to be more adventurous and outside a lot. The kids and I have been talking about the spring/summer birthdays coming up. Gillian wants some kind of fashion party. George wants to have a party on a kids football field. I think we'll be heading to Dinosaurland for Reuben's big day. I'm dreaming of picnicking with blue crabs from the DC Waterfront Fish Market. Looking forward to flowers coming out that we can pick and bring inside! I am thankful that this winter is almost over, come quickly spring!

Big Yard Sale

2009-09-12T17:19:00.004-04:00

Can't find our camera, so the picture isn't so hot. I had the best time this morning at the big yard sale I go to twice a year. Two fun friends came to my house before 6am, and we headed in the dark to the sale. I got lots of fun stuff. A big mantel with lots of potential. Some fun stuff for Gillian: LOVE wall thing, knitted blanket, paper lantern, hat and scarf. A pair of gloves for me. A bat for George. Tons of clothes and a pair of shoes for Reuben. A big jumpy thing that Reuben looks really cute jumping on... Lots of things were almost or brand new, all for under $60! Yay!

**Oops, and two cool sports pillows from Pier 1 Kids that I didn't get in the picture.**

The G's are in school!

2009-09-09T22:49:00.016-04:00

Adorable George had his first day of school, ever, today. James took the day off for his big day. We wanted to take him to lunch, and I was happy he chose Chick-Fil-A, which means he prefers it over McDonald's again. He was super happy and excited all day. He wore his tennis shoes to school, he said there might be a race. He also thought there would be a kids baseball game. I was a little worried that preschool would not live up to the fantasy preschool he had in his head, but he still liked it. Phew! He has the same teacher that Gillian had her second year, and is in good hands. And his Aunt Ellyn is down the hall. He is first on the calendar for taking snack. And, tomorrow he wants to wear his wolf shirt that he asked me to make for him. Tomorrow is the first real day of school, today was orientation. I'm looking forward to seeing him walk in tomorrow, he's going to be the cutest - and then I'm hoping his cute little brother will fall asleep between school and home, and stay that way as I carry him in to our house where I will be balancing housework and rest most Tuesday through Friday afternoons until next summer. That's my school afternoons fantasy that I'm depending on coming true!

That was Gillian on her second day of school (we do have pics of her first day, they are just not easily accessible right now). She suggested that her shirt would have a little girl wearing a backpack walking her dog who is sniffing a flower on it :). I made two different ones for her to choose from. She wanted to wear one the first day and one the next. Tomorrow she will be wearing more normal clothing :), but the same jeans. She really likes them. I might need to tell her teacher that I wash them every day, in case she starts to wonder about her wearing them every day :). Gillian actually has a sub for the first few weeks of school. She is a retired teacher who has come back to sub while her teacher is on leave, taking care of her brother who was having surgery. James suggested to Gillian that she uses George being sick as an excuse for missing school :). I'm glad she's old enough that she understands the humor in that and how that should just be family joke, or at least I hope she does :). Gillian likes that she has her own desk with some of her own school supplies in it. Kindergarten was a community supply type set up. She also likes that as a first grader, she can play on the black top during recess, kindergartners are not allowed. It's a much longer day for her, but so far, so good!

I am happy for the G's! And to be quite frank, for myself :). I am really looking forward to my school afternoons. I am happy and blessed!

Homemade Bubbles

2009-06-29T19:08:00.010-04:00

I have been saving a recipe for homemade bubbles from a really neat book that a friend gave me for a baby gift years and years ago. Today I made a batch for the first time. I was already not a fan of the store bought ones. I didn't like how the wand would always fall inside the bottle and it was often hard to get it out, the whole who is going to be blowing the bubbles battle, and how most of the bubble solution could be gone from the quickest spill.

The recipe calls for 1/2 cup of corn syrup, 2 cups of dish soap, and 5 cups of warm water whisked together in a bowl. I decided to make half that amount, and in couple of minutes I had a giant bowl of bubble solution ready to go. I went outside with the boys to try it out. We dipped our wandless hands into the water and I made an O shape with my hand to blow bubbles out of. The boys had a little trouble with this, but I'm sure they can learn to do the same. We have a bunch left over to try again and again.

I am not sure who had more fun with this, me or the boys. It made me feel more like the Martha Stewart-y mother I had dreams of being :). I feel like I'm moving out of the baby years, and I can tell it's getting easier for me to do things like this, and to get more done around the house, and to make dinner before James gets home. There's a little baby left in Reuben, though, and I sure am treasuring it!

Baseball and Cheeseburgers

2009-06-28T07:04:00.005-04:00

George made it easy to plan a really fun birthday since he recently starting loving baseball and cheeseburgers. We had donuts (his breakfast request) in the morning and made very homemade and very messy cupcakes (he had requested cupcakes over cake) and he opened gifts. We got him a Nationals hat, and a baseball and glove. He spent most of the day wearing his hat and glove and playing ball. We made homemade pizzas for lunch (his lunch request). He played more ball... Then we picked up Mimi and Granddaddy and headed to Capitol Hill to a new hamburger place. It was wonderful, can't wait to go back to Good Stuff Eatery! Next we were off to the big event, the Nats game. George took his glove and was ready to catch a ball just in case one made it up to him (nearly impossible in our seats). In maybe the 8th inning, he decided he was ready to go. We walked around the stadium and then headed back home. The kids slept in the giant appliance box we got from a neighbor the day before, as requested by Gillian to top off George's day. The next morning, when I left for a morning walk, George was still asleep in the box. When I got back, he wasn't there. When I checked in our room, he was back asleep in our bed... with his new hat, ball and glove. Such a sweet memory from a really fun birthday.

2009-06-28T07:03:00.001-04:00

2009-05-11T08:51:00.001-04:00

Mother's Day

2009-05-11T07:42:00.009-04:00

We had a wonderful adventure into DC on Mother's Day yesterday. Our first stop was the DC Waterfront Fish Market. We got six medium male blue crabs spiced and warmed in a brown paper bag. We took it over to the standing counter to eat them, and I was filled with joy! Seriously, I could feel it! That was our first of many, many trips to the Fish Market. What a wonderful place! I loved the atmosphere, and the smell of Old Bay seasoning floating through the air! We got back in the car, and saw people out on paddle boats at the Tidal Basin. Unless I just don't remember, I have never done that. Gillian REALLY wanted to go, George really didn't want to, and Reuben is still a little oblivious sometimes :). James wanted us to spend $10 instead of $28. So, Gillian and I headed out to the Jefferson in our paddle boat while the boys watched on the shore. It was choppy and hard to steer at times, but a neat time with just Gillian. We rejoined the boys, and got back in the car to to go to lunch. The first place we wanted to go to was closed. We decided to go to Georgetown to walk and have lunch. We ate at a fun seafood place called Tackle Box. I had yummy sweet potato fries with my clam sandwich. We went in Dean & Deluca on our way to walk along the canal. We are so blessed to not live any nearer to one of those beautiful, beautiful grocery stores. I would be so tempted..."

Crafts and Yard Sales

2009-05-11T06:18:00.011-04:00

I went to my favorite yard sale the first weekend in May and found one of my favorite yard sale finds ever! A little desk with a lot of character. Wasn't sure if the lamp would work, but it did. It is now Gillian's sewing desk (that she shares with me). It might have a fun popping paint color and a new lampshade in it's future, but right now it's happy just the way it came.

The green pants are my other favorite buy from this yard sale. I'm so happy that Gillian likes them too. They are a thick corduroy and have room to grow - she was able to wear them a little on the cool rainy days we were having, and now they are waiting for the fall/winter.

The new sewing desk helped inspire our new craft room. It's in what used to be our dining room. Our dining room is now in the left half of the living room. The craft room has a sideboard with lots of drawers and shelf for craft storage, a little table for the kids and the new sewing desk. I love eating at the new dining room spot where we can look out at all the green, and it's easier to watch the G's when they are having a dinner date on the deck (and their third wheel, Reuben).

I'm ready to enjoy lots of crafting with the kids in the new craft room, and lots of farm fresh food in the new living room!

It's been a terribly long time

2009-04-29T09:14:00.011-04:00

since I've posted, but I'm not ready to give up blogging. I've been faithfully checking these two blogs in my blogging absence... soulemama.com, and nieniedialogues.blogspot.com. They inspire me. Of course, I'm also reading Liam's CarePages every day. What great blessings have come from such a sweet little life! I am amazed by how graciously Liam's family is balancing sadness with celebration! And then, there's Facebook too. And I've got my three sweet ones, who this blog is mostly about, who usually would prefer for me to not be on the computer - or to be on it themselves. Wow, how did we get here?

I won't try to catch up since my last post. I'll just share some more randomness...

Gillian is doing great in Kindergarten. George is really excited for preschool in the fall after watching Gillian go off to school for the past three years. And I'm happy that Reuben is still little and squishy - but I will admit that I often daydream about when they are all in school :).

Gillian is in a play this weekend at church. I am so excited about the whole play. It's a celebration of worship music over time. I plan to attend 2 of the 3 shows this weekend, and rehearsal Friday night -- and that won't be too much, I think it's a great show!

The boys are playing hard together. It's fun to see that. Reuben is an athletic daredevil and I think he might be rubbing off on George a little - who tends to be more laid back and cautious. James has been playing baseball with them (and Gillian) - with a real (little) wooden bat and a real baseball. So far, no one has been injured :).

I'm really not sure what else to write now - but my lack of having pictures to post reminds me how bad I have been about taking pictures of the kids lately. I'll plan for my next post to be full of pics... and soon-ish.

Happy Wednesday!

2009-02-16T08:27:00.001-05:00

Boys Weekend

2009-02-15T20:16:00.005-05:00

Gillian is on her way back home as I'm writing. We miss her, but have also enjoyed a sweet time with just the boys. We had a full, and fun day yesterday. We went to lunch with our friends Gus and Anne at a favorite pizza place, American Flatbread. And then we headed downtown. The kids love being there. We went in several museums. James got a talk from a guard after George touched the wall and a frame in one of the art galleries. Reuben also fell into the plants around a fountain in the same gallery. We left shortly after, before we were asked to leave :). We decided to go to Ben's Chili Bowl, a Washington landmark restaurant that we had never been to. We waited in a line that went around the corner into an alley. When we got inside, one of the employees told me that we could get out of line and be seated in the back. I was doing one of those "Who me?" kind of things and looking around me. He really was talking to me and said it was because of the baby. So thanks to sweet Reuben, we didn't have to stand in a tight single file line, we got to sit down and order from menus. It lived up to all that we heard, and we'd love to go back. We ran into some friends from church there too. That was a fun surprise! On the way home we drove through Georgetown for George :). I love an orchard in the country more that almost anyone, but I really love being deep inside the city too. I love the atmosphere and the great people watching. So much fun! We have tomorrow to enjoy Gillian all day before she goes back to school. She is doing great! More on that next (after I post some pictures to go along with this post). Thanks for reading, Happy Sunday!

Happy Valentines Day

2009-02-14T10:46:00.008-05:00

Sorry I've been in a little blogging slump, and thanks for the encouragement to post from some of my favorite friends :). I'll start with this picture of George that I took on my cell, so it's pretty bad, but I still love it. I used it to make valentines for a fun preschooler Valentine party we went to on Thursday. Looks kind of retro, goes along with his longer 'do :). Gillian is away for the weekend with her cousins and we are enjoying a special time of just having the boys. More soon! Happy Day!

George's Ballet Instruction

2008-11-11T20:27:00.003-05:00

Gillian just came downstairs to tell me something about "home training" George in ballet, and she will be his teacher. Sounds like class is starting upstairs. They are so cute when they are not fighting or whining!

Reuben and the Purple Crayon

2008-11-03T14:23:00.004-05:00

Walking out from church on Sunday, I saw a lady who had cared for Reuben in the nursery. She loved having him there, and kept trying to think of who he looked like. She finally realized that it was Harold from Harold and the Purple Crayon. I checked here and I think he does look a little like him. It would be fun to get the book from the library, but since our library checking-out priveledges are currently suspended :), maybe we'll buy him the book for Christmas instead. When I return the two library books that kind of became ours, and pay the fee, we can use the library again. James was remarking this morning about how I can even make free things cost money :).

Happy Halloween

2008-11-01T16:36:00.000-04:00

Thanks Mimi for all your hard work on the costumes, and thank you Chelsea and Alex for coming over and helping! Sleeping Beauty, Darth Vador, and Yoda looked great and had a lot of fun!

2008-11-01T16:35:00.001-04:00

Last Trip to the Farm

2008-10-28T11:14:00.011-04:00

I have been good about not blogging too much about the farm this year, I think, but it's time :). We had our last trip out a couple weeks ago. James had the day off and we got to go as a family, yay! I was out in the fields and one of my favorite farmers let me know that there was a frost coming and we could take anything we wanted (and it was the end of the farm season - I had heard from some of my farm friends that they got to pick freely in the fields too). He pointed out heads of lettuce, and spinach, told me where the eggplant was and more! We had such a fun time picking without limits (there are normally u-pick limits set each week for members). Here's a picture that combines what we got from picking and our normal box of food on that day... peanuts, red leaf lettuce, green tomatoes, heirloom tomatoes, zuchinni and butternut squash, a pie pumpkin, eggplant, leeks, a few green beans, kale, potatoes, sweet potatoes, apples, spinach!

I was happiest about having a bowl full of eggplants!

Not pictured are a giant zuchinni and a little eggplant that Gillian and George pretended were their babies on the way home from the farm and longer. It was pretty sweet to see George singing "Rock-A-Bye Baby" to his little eggplant :).

I was determined to not let a lot of it go to waste. So far, we have made... boiled peanuts, a really yummy carmelized leek salad, gnocchi with spinach and sausage, a grilled eggplant and green tomato sandwich (there was really a recipe for this), a squash-rice casserole, mashed potatoes, baba ghanouj (sort of), and salsa. I can't remember anything I'm forgetting, ha :).

It's kind of good to have a break, but I'll miss it at the same time. I'm so thankful for all the blessings we enjoy with our farm membership. We plan to do it again next year, of course :). I'm already looking forward to the spring and summer berries!

Random Cell Phone Pictures

2008-10-05T19:31:00.011-04:00

Just for fun, here are a few pictures that were on my cell phone...

I think George looks like this older actor comedian guy in this picture, but I can't think of his name. We had just come from a 3D movie, last year?...

Gillian recently had an xray taken, she's fine :). She looked so cute waiting to get it done, I had to take a picture to send to James (she's waving to him)...

And finally, the kids playing with play swords at the mall. They are into Star Wars and thought they looked like light sabers. They had so much fun. I was tempted to buy them, but didn't. I took an old swimming noodle from the summer and made our own at home :)...

One Man's Junk...

2008-09-21T20:35:00.019-04:00

Last Saturday morning I got to do one of my favorite things, go to the nearby big community yard sale with Amanda. I got several things for the house and some clothes for the kids. I'm so happy about the new organization center I set up using some of the things from the sale. It's just about the only place in our house that is organized right now, but it's a start :). Here's a blurry picture of it.

I got the brown buckets, and the antique shipping crate below the table (and the sweet toy frog for Reuben) at the sale. The woman wasn't planning on selling the crate, it had things she was selling in it, but she wanted to sell it to me when I asked about it. Yay! The big brown buckets are my in and out boxes. The large one will be the inbox, holding many of the ridiculous amount of kindergarten papers we get, and the smaller one will be the outbox. The shipping crate houses shoes. The bulletin board is covered in brown burlap, based on an idea I got from The Creative Family book that I love. I put bday party invites, and other stuff up there that I want to look at and remember.

Here's a closer picture of frog, probably my favorite thing I got on Saturday morning. I got it for one dollar. It would have even been worth the two dollars it was priced at :) - Reuben made that gaspy/squealy noise of approval when he saw it :).

As an update to the post below, Gillian has been doing much better in the mornings heading off to school. There is a lot less complaining and more happiness. I don't think it was the poem, but it might have helped a tiny bit :).

Sick

2008-09-11T09:44:00.003-04:00

Gillian has been coming up with all types of excuses to try to get me to keep her home from school in the morning. A lot of them are exaggerated or fabricated illnesses. Don't worry, she comes off the bus very happy - I think she mainly misses her leisurly mornings and sees that her brothers still get to hang out with me. We're working on this, and her afterschool behavior :). Anyway, this morning I read her one of my favorite (well known, I think) poems from when I was a kid and read it to her. I got some smiles out of her with the poem before we headed out the door...

SICK

"I cannot go to school today,"
Said little Peggy Ann McKay,
"I have the measles and the mumps,
A gash, a rash, and purple bumps.
My mouth is wet, my throat is dry,
I'm going blind in my right eye.
My tonsils are as big as rocks,
I've counted sixteen chicken pox
And there's one more--that's seventeen,
And don't you think my face looks green?
My leg is cut, my eyes are blue--
It might be instamatic flu.
I cough and sneeze and gasp and choke,
I'm sure that my left leg is broke--
My hip hurts when I move my chin,
My belly button's caving in,
My back is wrenched, my ankle's sprained,
My 'pendix pains each time it rains.
My nose is cold, my toes are numb,
I have a sliver in my thumb.
My neck is stiff, my voice is weak,
I hardly whisper when I speak.
My tongue is filling up my mouth,
I think my hair is falling out.
My elbow's bent, my spine ain't straight,
My temperature is one-o-eight.
My brain is shrunk, I cannot hear,
There is a hole inside my ear.
I have a hangnail, and my heart is--what?
What's that? What's that you say?
You say today is---Saturday?
G'bye, I'm going out to play!"

~Shel Silverstein~

She Loved It!

2008-09-02T14:18:00.010-04:00

Yay! We had a happy first day of school :)! Gillian loved the playground and the bathroom. The playground meets her criteria for a good one - it has swings :). She loves the bathroom because everything is at kid-level and the toilet has a quiet manual flush. Gillian is not a fan of automatic toilets or toilets that flush loudly.

Gillian told me that she got sad on the bus on the way home because she wasn't sure that she was on the right bus. She said she smiled when she recognized where she was. Gillian can be pretty brave and is seeking opportunities to be independent these days. I bet those things were helpful on the bus today and at school.

I'm so excited for this new little chapter in her life. I think she's going to continue to love it and I'm so happy for her.

We love you sweet Gillian!

First Day of School

2008-09-02T10:28:00.012-04:00

Gillian left for kindergarten this morning. Here she is with her wet hair outside our house before heading to the bus stop.

I had to wake her up this morning to get ready for school. She was so tired from a full and wonderful weekend. She was a flowergirl in our friends' wedding in TN, and then she got to play with her ABC cousins on the way back home. Here she is in a similar pose, before the wedding. The crown on her head bothered her, but she was a trooper!

This morning when the bus came to the stop, the bus driver said for the K's to get on first. Gillian was so focused and serious about getting on the bus, she did a great job. The part that made me sad was that I couldn't see her on the bus because the windows were tinted. I didn't know where she was sitting, or if she was happy or waving at me. I told George to just wave at the bus even though we couldn't see her :). I hope she was happy on there. I'll post later with an afterschool report, and some more flowergirl pictures too.

Feeling Crafty

2008-08-26T08:45:00.021-04:00

SEPT 1 UPDATE - Gillian and I added some more fingerpainted touches to the big flower. I really liked how it turned out, but the yellow in the finihsed piece is too bright for me. I wish mustard was blue :)!

Still feeling very crafty here. I just tried "painting" on burlap with mustard - based on an idea Erin C. gave me, thanks Erin :). I put the mustard on so thick and I'm not sure how it will do on burlap, but I hope it works. After it dries and I remove the excess mustard and rinse it (the mustard dyes/stains the fabric), I'll post an update to say if my craft was a flop or a success. It was fun trying even if it doesn't work out.

My folks sent us a really fun package recently with instructions and materials for some crafts I could do with the kids. We made a Redskins windsock to put out on gamedays. And we made some marzipan figures - not worthy of any pastry shop, but still loads of fun (pictured are a bird and a snowman, I think :)). The kids especially enjoyed playing with the toothpicks :). Thanks again Mom and Dad :)!

Redskins Joy

2008-08-10T06:36:00.013-04:00

About a week ago, James and I snuggled up on the couch to watch Art Monk give his NFL Hall of Fame Speech. Art Monk has been my favorite player since I was a little girl. I loved watching him get an extremely long standing ovation and I loved listening to him speak... especially listening to him gently yet boldly proclaiming his faith. I found a transcript of his speech on redskins.com. I'll admit it, I'm not the toughest football fan, I cried a little bit :).

Then on Saturday night, I had a date with the sweetest little Redskins fan I know. We started our pilgrimage to almost the top of FedEx Field around 4:30pm. Gillian took our picture before we left. I wore one of James' jerseys, tied it in the back to make it a little less huge. George wanted me to wear a jersey, and I was happy to comply :).

We went thru the Chick-Fil-A drive-thru, sat in some traffic due to an accident, rode the metro, walked about a mile to the stadium, went to the bathroom, checked our stroller in at guest services, got a drink and pretzel, and then sat down at about 7:40 (it was a 7:00 game). George was ready to leave during the 3rd quarter. He was so tired... he fell asleep on the metro, and then I was able to easily transfer him into the car and into our house, phew :).

It was neat to get to spend so much time with just George. I know he may seem a little young to be attending an NFL game, but he loves it, and sits very still. He was so excited about going with just me and about seeing Chris Cooley. This was the view from my seat during halftime. I think I had the best seat in the house :).

Wow, I love my George, and I look forward to our next date! And I'm hoping for one with James soon too :).

2008-07-11T23:31:00.001-04:00

Reuben's Big Day

2008-07-11T20:47:00.008-04:00

Today was Reuben's first birthday. I realized today, with all my excitement for this day and all my hopes for it, that I've been a little obsessed with him since he's been here. Okay, a lot :). Sorry about that, but I couldn't help it. He has given me immeasurable joy and he is kinda cute :). I am so thankful for Reuben, one of the best gifts I will ever receive!

So, being obsessed, I had lots of things I wanted to do today. Like I mentioned before, I had in mind a Roo theme -- like the roo sound in Reuben. I wanted to incorporate a reuben sandwich, rhubarb, kangaroos and roosters. I know it's a little much, but it was fun :). I also wanted to get him a Slurpee from 7-11 (since his birthday falls on 7-11). I got a lot of it done, well actually, I'm still working on the rhubarb part as I write this. The dough for the raspberry rhubarb tartlets is chilling in the refrigerator. One of Reuben's gifts was a kangaroo onesie. I also painted a wooden R red for his room. His roomie, George, has a wooden G painted navy. He also got a sippie cup for his introduction to cows milk in large quantities (I think he's had some of the G's chocolate milk before). We went to one of our favorite restaurants tonight (Havabite Eatery - a hole in the wall greek/italian place) and I ordered the pastrami reuben to share with him. James and the kids shared a pizza. I was so tempted to switch my order to the chicken souvlaki sandwich b/c I love it so much and we don't go there much these days. But, we stuck with the original plan and I'm glad we did. Reuben liked the sandwich, he ate enough that I ended up also ordering a small greek salad for me, yum! James asked the kids what they wanted to do for dessert. They had three choices... 1. walk to a nearby ice cream shop, 2. go to 7-11 for Slurpee's, or 3. make some cupcakes at home. They chose the ice cream shop. So, we ended doing a lot of what I had planned, but we did not include Slurpee's or roosters this year. We'll save those for next year :). I'm going to go finish up the tartlets, and then I'll come back and post birthday pictures, proably a slideshow, which I think is another mini-obsession on this blog lately :). Everyone else has gone to bed, but maybe the tartlets can also cross for a breakfast pastry in the morning :).

Happy 4th!

2008-07-05T10:14:00.007-04:00

We went downtown for the fireworks last night. It was a lot of fun! The Gs loved it. Gillian plugged her ears the whole time, George talked about them, and Reuben mostly looked back and forth between the fireworks and the large crowd behind him. They all did great. When the show was done, we walked back over the Memorial bridge expecting to get in our car, but it was gone. Turns out that we should have parked all the way up on the grass like those other silly people :). A police officer was very kind to the lady with three little kids (me)... he had one of his officers take James to the place they towed our car and he waited with us until James came back. The kids got pretend police badges and after standing outside for a while, he invited us to sit in the car. I was up in front with Reuben, trying to keep him from pushing any of the wrong buttons :). When James got back, I asked him how much it cost to get our car out. He said $100, but that it might have been worth the ride :). He got to go on a zippy police car ride to Alexandria, trying to get to the tow place before it closed. We arrived home safely around midnight and James and I carried all the sleeping kids inside. Oh, I also got a speeding ticket earlier in the week coming home from the farm. I got caught in a speed trap in one of the towns that you are supposed to slow down in. I didn't know I was speeding, I had no idea why the police officer was pulling me over, I thought... I have my new stickers on the car :). We started a new budget recently with no line item for brushes with the law, guess we should put that in next year's :). Happy 5th :)!

2008-07-05T10:12:00.001-04:00

Car Prayers

2008-07-03T12:33:00.001-04:00

Me and the kids spent close to four hours at the car dealership yesterday. They have a pretty good set up for kids there. I think if it weren't for the 100 trips to the restroom, it wouldn't have really been bad at all :). Several hours into it, I told Gillian that I thought we were getting close. She asked if it that was good or bad :). To me, that was a good thing :). Our hero James came there on his way home from work - it was only minutes before we were done, but it was a great relief for me and a fun surprise for the kids. And I got to handle the paying part all by myslef without my helpers :). That night, when James was putting Gillian to bed, he was thankful in his prayer that it wasn't anything more major and didn't cost too much to fix our car. Gillian asked to add something to her prayer when he was done. She prayed for more car trouble so she could go back to the play place. I'm hoping James' prayer will be answered instead of hers :).

2008-06-26T11:43:00.001-04:00

Happy 3rd Birthday George!

2008-06-26T07:28:00.006-04:00

We had so much fun celebrating George over...

The celebrating began in early June with a trip to Chuck-E-Cheese with his Aunt Ruth and Uncle Phil. Thanks guys :)!

and over...

The weekend before his birthday, the five of us went thru the Chick-Fil-A drive-thru (George and I prefer CFA and Gillian and James prefer McD's - Reuben will break the tie :)) and then drove out to Dinosaurland. This was James' genius idea. George LOVED it! It's a place about an hour from here that you pay admission to walk thru and look at giant dinosaur replicas. George kept asking if they were real, he didn't want them to be, and he was sometimes really bothered by Gillian touching them :). We had to wait for a thunderstorm to pass, and it was fun that the storm made Dinosaurland swampy and messy, even more dinosaurish.

and over...

Then the night before his birthday, we celebrated with James' family. It was fun to have Malia and David and their kids in town to join us!

and over...

On the day of his birthday he met some of his friends at a cute little ice cream shop near our home and then we walked to a nearby playground. It was fun to have Erin and Corban in town to join us there and at the farm earlier in the week!

and over again.

That night, he requested hot dogs for dinner. So, we had hot dogs (but Gillian and I had chicken). We had another tiny celebration for him - and then the birthday boy was completely worn out.

Thanks to everyone who helped make George's days so special. And thanks for the gifts, it's fun for all of us to have some new toys around here. George got lots of dinosaur and bug stuff :).

Happy Birthday George. WE LOVE YOU!

I plan to post pictures later today while Reuben naps :).

What's Happening

2008-06-07T09:04:00.012-04:00

**June 8 Update... Oops, that should say (Almost) Summer at the end. We are big on the official start of summer this year b/c of George's birthday falling on it. If you ask him when his birthday is, there's a good chance he'll say "The first day of summer" :). And James and the Gs kicked off our pool season yesterday. It was way too hot for Reuben to be out there so we enjoyed some time together making changes to our kitchen yesterday, more later on that.**

Here are some of the things we are up to this summer...

Trips to the farm, of course :). We have picked spinach and strawberries and can't wait for blackberries soon. I think those might be George's favorite. Our food box started this week. I love planning meals around the items in the box. The first box had asparagus, kale, spring onions, strawberries, and a basil plant. Yay!

Summer birthdays. George turns three on the first day of summer, June 20th. He shares a birthday with his Grandpa. How fun! Reuben turns one on July 11th. Tanya had a great birthday idea for Reuben, Slurpees from 7-11 :). I've also been thinking of celebrating with "roo stuff." Reuben sandwiches :), rhubarb pie, rooster and kangaroo decorations :). I know it's a little much, but I'm okay with that :). And finally, my twin brother is turning 35 in August. I can't believe he's getting so old ;).

Saturday morning breakfast with Gillian. Gillian and I have started a tradition of going to breakfast together on Saturday mornings while the boys are still sleeping. This morning we walked to Panera. She is such a delight on our special breakfast outings, it redeems her a little from some of her less than delightful behavior during the week :).

Crafting. We are getting pretty crafty around here. Thanks in a big part to Amanda's recommendation of this blog and The Creative Family book, by the author of the blog. I also picked up a Martha Stewart kids craft magazine that has lots of fun stuff in it. The kids and I love doing crafts together. Yesterday we got some fabric paint on the carpet. Oops :).

That's all for now. Happy (Amost) Summer!

Our (Preschool) Grad

2008-05-22T22:29:00.012-04:00

Congratulations Gillian! We love you!

Haircuts for the Boys

2008-04-26T19:12:00.019-04:00

James does a great job of cutting George's hair. Here are some pictures from the last haircut. I thought George was so cute during his cut. He sits very still and is very serious during it, but is often pretty silly at other times these days :).

Haircuts for the Girls

2008-04-20T12:52:00.009-04:00

Update again: Removed pic, it bothers me :).
Update: Here's a pic for Keri and Jill :). Still having styling issues, like in this picture I took of my head for you guys :).

Gillian and I went to Hair Lottery (Cuttery) yesterday, and we won :). We got good, inexpensive haircuts. My hair looks nothing like the picture I took in with me, but I like it better than the picture. So does James, the hair in the picture was very short :).

I usually get my hair cut at more expensive places every once in a long while. They style it, and I usually agree that I also need to purchase a bunch of products for my new look that will last until I try to fix it myself the next morning :). Yesterday, I wasn't scolded for damaging my hair from daily ponytail use, didn't get it styled, and wasn't encouraged to buy any products. All for only $14. The last time I played the Hair Lottery, I lost in a big scary triangle-hair way, and had to go to another place to have it fixed.

Gillian wanted her hair cut just like mine (meaning she wanted her hair straight too). And I think she just wanted the beauty experience. She's such a girly girl. It was a fun just the girls time.

Sadly, even though I left Hair Cuttery with just wet, unstlyed hair - it looked so much yesterday than it turned out looking today. Maybe I need to at least buy some of their shampoo afterall :).

Little Trip

2008-04-14T22:38:00.001-04:00

We hadn't been down to Williamsburg in a while. We had a good quick visit, and we went to IKEA on the way home :).

Below are some pictures from the weekend... my mom makes the best and most colorful homemade playdough, we enjoyed a family lunch at a neat restaurant, and we went on a couple of walks in the beautiful Colonial area.

2008-04-14T22:37:00.001-04:00

Date with George

2008-04-09T07:10:00.007-04:00

I had the sweetest lunch date yesterday with the cutest little boy named George. I asked him where he wanted to go, and he chose Chick-Fil-A. We parked, and as I was getting him out of the car, he said he wanted to be first (out of the car, sometimes the exit order is a big deal to the kids) :). We sat with our food, and he asked if we were at playgroup :). I saw some other mom's with younger babies where we normally sit with playgroup, and I enjoyed the free feeling of just sitting across from one older child and eating like a normal person :). George asked me to read his Narnia book that came with his meal. I read some, but we didn't finish it. After we finished eating, he wanted me to go into the play area with him. He said that I might not fit inside a big cubby area where he plays a lot with his friends, but wanted me to try. I fit :), and didn't worry about how silly I might have looked to the other grownups. I finished reading George's book to him in the cubby (another little boy joined us for the reading), and then we headed back to the car. We exchanged a sweet little hug and kiss while I was putting him back in his seat. This was all made possible by Gillian being in school at the time, and my wonderful friend LeaAnn who wanted to spend some time with another sweet little boy. This is how we found LeaAnn and Reuben when George and I returned from our date :).

Gillian is 5!

2008-04-03T10:24:00.015-04:00

Gillian turned 5 years old yesterday. She has had lots of fun celebrations in the last couple of days. First, my sister and her husband came the day before her birthday and we went to Chuck-E-Cheese. George would like them to make the 5 hour trip up here again in June to go to Chuck-E-Cheese for his birthday too :). Yesterday, we started the day with a fun breakfast celebration with a bunch of her best little friends at Panera, she took a special birthday snack to school (chocolate donut holes), and then she came home to a surprise party with neighborhood buddies. After that, we went to dinner with James' family and celebrated some more. And finally, we had a little celebration with just the five of us at home. On Friday, Ellyn and Gillian are planning thier annual special birthday time together. After Friday, we have the rest of the year to recover before her next birthday :). I feel blessed that there are so many wonderful people in our lives that love her. Thanks to everyone who helped make her birthday so special!

Trader Joe's, I Love You

2008-03-31T14:55:00.006-04:00

I already loved Trader Joe's, and now I love it even more. The kids and I went to the one near our house this afternoon. We had a fun surprise when we walked in the door... two miniature shopping carts for kids waiting just for us :). Gillian and George each had their own cart to shop with. It was totally making me laugh out loud. They were so cute pushing them around. The carts had flags on them that said "Customer in Training" and George kept running into stuff, including me. The lady who gives out the "stamples" as George calls them, made a comment related to us being a parade :). I was very selfish because we did not share our carts with any other kids while we shopped, and I could tell we were being envied. When we were about to leave the store, the Gs each sweetly passed on their carts to other kids coming in the store. I was complemented by another mom on what good children I had. I told her that they were shining now, but it wasn't always like that. Sure enough, it all fell apart in the car :). I think I've seen little carts like that before, maybe at Kroger in Searcy when I was in college? Erin, do they still have them (if they ever did)? Anyways, it was really fun, and I hope we'll get to do it again next time. Trader Joe's, I love you!

George, 33 Months

2008-03-24T13:56:00.000-04:00

I get e-mails from Pampers that I pretty much ignore - I guess they come once a month. The subject line for the last one I got was "Your child is 33 months old!" We will be done counting Reuben's age by months before too long, and stopped with George a LONG time ago, but here is his official 33 month picture :).

Reuben outside today

2008-03-13T17:27:00.001-04:00

Love

2008-03-10T10:09:00.004-04:00

I just cracked myself up when I found myself preaching to my children. I was standing with Reuben in one arm and a Bible in the other talking to them about what the Bible says about love. This was brought on from my frustration about how they were treating each other. I'm sure my mini sermon to my kids was just as applicable to me :). Part of my sermonette came, of course, from 1 Corinthians 13...

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perserveres.

Happy Monday!

Random Stuff

2008-02-25T20:28:00.007-05:00

Haven't posted in a while, and don't have much to share, but here is some random stuff :).

I am so super ready for spring. I did some springy outdoor projects in the middle of winter. I painted some flower pots - with an idea from Martha Stewart, hers look better than mine, but I still like mine. Martha and her staff probably didn't run out of spray paint and probably didn't have a 4 year old helper and a baby in an excersaucer with his 2 year old brother playing too rough with him, while they painted their pots :). I think they have potential with some weathering and some more dirt and plants in them :). I also put a border around our front flower garden. I'm looking forward to adding pretty dirt and flowers when it's really spring. I think we'll plant some lenten roses. They are so pretty and hardy and care for themselves (we've tried them in our backyards before).

My new favorite Food Network show is "Jaime at Home." It comes on our tv on Saturday mornings at 9:30. I have it set up as a season pass on TiVo. I loved the one on rhubarb recently. I love Jaime Oliver's rustic and usually simple style of cooking.

Gillian has a shorter hair cut now - but it will probably be grown out. She likes her new 'do, but misses the length too. The other morning she told me that she dreamed that I was selling blueberries and they were the best she had ever had. She said she could even taste them in her dream :). I think she is ready for summer! She also dreamed that Reuben walked. He's not walking yet, but is close to crawling, can't be left alone and expected to stay in the pretty much same spot anymore :(, and has his first little tooth coming thru :). My favorite thing that George is saying right now is "eever" (rhymes with weaver). He's say things like "I didn't eever have milk yet." It's very cute, unless he's whining when he's doing it :).

Happy Sunday afternoon :).

Hoola Hoop Cleaning

2008-02-08T09:12:00.000-05:00

I try lots of things that don't work :). I just tried something that did, so I want to share, it might work for you too :). There were a bunch of toys and stuff all over our living room floor. I let the kids take turns laying a hoola hoop down on the floor where there was stuff that needed to be picked up. We picked up just the things inside the circle, then a new spot was chosen and we picked up just the things inside that spot. It was a fun game. Gillian even added things to the circles to pick up. It went well and we may be buying hoola hoops for every room in our house :). Not really! Happy Friday :)!

Rebel Mom

2008-02-04T12:39:00.000-05:00

I noticed a police car driving on our street just a little bit ago, and then she parked near our house like she was on a stakeout. I was hanging out in the kitchen, watching out the window. I wasn't feeling paranoid, but I was wondering if I should not leave the house for a while. I wouldn't want to put us in harm's way if they were looking for someone up to no good. Turns out I didn't need to be afraid of anyone but myself, because she was looking for me :)!

I was at a gas staion earlier today, and I wasn't sure at one point if I had swiped my card or not. The pump let me go ahead and pump gas, so I figured I already had. I hadn't :). The officer came in to our house and talked to me for a minute. She was very kind. I just had to call the gas station after she left, and then I have to go and actually pay for the gas sometime today.

Never a dull-moment for this Rebel Mom :)!

A George Funny

2008-01-30T08:21:00.000-05:00

George was up much earlier than usual this past Sunday morning. We were sitting together on the couch and I asked him if he was tired. He said no. I said that I was tired. He said, "Get me my orange juice, then you can be tired." :)

Holidays, Reuben 6 Months, Snow, My Favorite Things

2008-01-18T00:33:00.000-05:00

I'm not blogging a whole lot these days :(, thought I'd throw a bunch of stuff into one big blog post :).

James was off for 13 days for the holidays! That was wonderful! We had our longest date since Reuben joined us. Thanks Sergio's, who live near a metro stop :), we left the kids there and headed downtown. We had been given tickets to a Wizards game. We decided to go ahead and be a little later to the game and grabbed a bite to eat in Chinatown. The game was fun, especially when they would put up the Dallas Cowboys Star or a collage of Dallas Cowboy people images to get the crowd to react (booing loudly) - it was super funny b/c it wasn't football and they weren't even playing the Dallas bball team :). I think that was my favorite part. We spent lots of time with James' family on Christmas Eve Eve and Christmas Eve. We could have thrown out all of our toys and started over with all the fun stuff they got on Christmas Eve! We ate, saw movies, and hung out and enjoyed being with James' family. We headed down to Williamsburg after Christmas and before New Year's. Most of our family was gone by the time we headed down, but there were more neat gifts left for us. Thanks to everyone for your thoughtfulness, I wish we could have seen all of you! It was a fun, restful getaway. We are thankful for our families and the time spent with them, and kinda thankful that the holidays are over :)! James went to the last regular season Skins game of the year with his mom, the weather wasn't great, but it was a great win! Reuben was pretty sick with a respitory thing for New Years. I fell asleep just before midnight, heard some fireworks around midnight and went right back to sleep :).

Reuben turned 6 months old on January 11th. I don't have his stats in front of me, and this is his last official stat update :). He was 20 pounds and I don't remember how many ounces, and tall and his largest percentage was for his sweet Bankhead :). We are all still enjoying our newest little family member so much. He is wonderful.

We got a decent snowfall today. The Gs played on the snow on our deck for a little while. I liked that I could stay inside and they were contained to a small area :). Later in the day when I was contemplating the feat of taking all the kids our for sledding... I was blessed by the snow turning to rain... Gillian was fine with not going out in it at that point, phew! A fun idea came to me and I quickly scooped up some snow into a bowl. We made a little snowman indoors and then set him out on the front porch. The kids thought this was very funny, and I felt like a fun mom :).

And finally, I had been thinking of doing a My Favorite Things post. I just saw yesterday that Jaime did a fun post of her favorite things and that has inspired me to put some of mine here...

Trader Joes Raspberry Creme Brulee. There are two reusable ramekins in the box! I didn't get either one to turn out like creme brulee should be with a really crisp coating on the top, but the packaging and ramekins and the whole idea of it still makes me happy, and it was yummy.

My wire bulletin board. It's new and it's hanging in our living room. It is displaying a painting that Gillian did one day that I love - with rain and an umbrella. It also is holding a neat picture of George playing in a sprinkler that my neighbor took and gave to me. And I'm using it to put fun paper up with notes of things I want to do with the kids sometime... like take them fishing and to the library. Gillian and I have done one of the ideas that she gave me. We put cucumbers on our eyes for a beauty treatment :).

A cd my dad gave me recently. My dad gave me a cd of choral music from his 50th Lubbock Christian College Reunion. It has a neat mix of spirituals, and older and newer hymns. Every once in a while I have been hearing Gillian and George singing a little "Soon Ah We'll Be Done." It's very sweet. But I did find myself mutter sarcastically "not soon enough" when one of them was singing during a trying time of getting the kids ready and loading them into the car the other day :). My favorite is "Give Me Jesus" and I'm looking forward to hearing another version of it on the radio that Amanda told me about and that she loves.

And finally... Gillian turning into a little girl, George's questions with one eye closed, and Reuben's face and thighs.

:), Ramona

2008-01-18T00:32:00.001-05:00

Reuben's First Christmas

2007-12-27T07:40:00.000-05:00

Reuben had a great first Christmas Day. We gave him a little helicopter. He also rolled over for the first time! How fun!

Happy Holidays to everyone... I'll post more after all of them are over :).

Mommy Town

2007-12-08T23:09:00.000-05:00

I have a neat friend who is a very talented writer. She has a blog that I think a lot of my blog readers would enjoy. It's mommytown.blogspot.com. Here's a link to it.

Sorry George!

2007-12-07T22:54:00.000-05:00

This is what my knee looked like a couple of days ago. It's healing from a fall a week or so ago. I was carrying George inside after he had fallen asleep in the car. He awoke to the back of his head hitting the sidewalk. I felt horrible about it. He seemed fine after a short cry, but I still have a lovely knee to remind me that I dropped George on a sidewalk! Sorry George!

Road Trip

2007-12-07T22:46:00.000-05:00

**Oops, Tim and family live in Greenville, South Carolina**

I am finally blogging about our fun road trip we went on several weeks ago. We had a great trip. The road part went much smoother than I expected, and our hosts were wonderful, which was just like I expected :). We enjoyed spending time with friends and family and each other, having some great food, and seeing some new places. Here are the kids at the beginning of our trip on our way down to Williamsburg, our first stop.

While we were in Williamsburg, I spilled water into the diaper bag where our camera was. So after that, the camera worked without flashing and only when it wanted to :(. I'm thankful it still kinda works and wasn't totally ruined, but we don't have a lot of pictures from our trip to share because of that. Sorry :)!

We enjoyed a lovely early Thanksgiving meal with my mom and dad. We tried some yummy new and less traditional recipes, like a plum pumpkin tart. We also went to Colonial Williamsburg, and Yorktown. I got to do some shopping alone and found some skirts at the Outlet for Gillian that were marked down to 99 cents! I got three for her to wear now and three for her to grow into.

Next we headed to Chapel Hill. A small part of the trip was by ferry, it reminded me of Grey's Anatomy :). When we got to Chapel Hill, we went to visit our friends the Crump's, who recently moved form NoVa to Chapel Hill. We saw their big neat house, and went to dinner at Mama Dips with them (a place I had seen on Food Network and Southern Living Magazine and was so excited to try). I had fried green tomatoes, okra and chicken. It was delicious and fun! Then we spent the next couple of days with my sister and her husband. We went to a great children's museum in Downtown Raleigh. It had a huge play area with really fun stuff. Like a huge child-sized kitchen with huge plastic play food, like whole loaves of bread and a big turkey :). I love Eastern NC BBQ and I really wanted to get some while we were there and James wanted some good hush puppies. We went to a really neat restaurant for lunch and found both. It was a very old restaurant called Clyde Cooper's Barbecue. It was like stepping back in time. I could tell when we walked in that it was the real thing. I loved it! We all had a great experience. We went to a playground in their neighborhood in the evening, and Reuben had his first playground swing experience.

The next day we took a driving tour of Chapel Hill and went to eat a place that I had seen on a Rachel Ray show for more BBQ. Yummo, as Rachel would say :)! I was tempted to order the Redneck Reuben :), but had to stick with the bbq. I also had some of the same brussel sprouts with garlic and bacon that Rachel had :). Thank you Ruth and Phil for taking us to fun places and making our stay so cozy!

Next we hit the road towards Greenville, NC to visit my brother Timothy and his family. The cousins had lots of fun playing together, and it was such a treat to get to spend so much time with them. One day, Katie took us to Downtown Greenville. It had one of the prettiest public parks I have ever been in. It even still had some flowers in bloom. We walked around the shopping and dining area and had a fun lunch together (more bbq :)). We got to celebrate Abby's birthday with her and enjoy finally seeing their home. After our stay in Greenville, we headed back up to Virginia.

We stopped at Tanya and Jonathan's beautiful house. They were so wonderful to fix us a nice meal. The kids playted together for several hours and we enjoyed a fun visit before getting back on the road. We drove about half of our remaining trip, found a hotel, and then did the rest of the trip in the morning. Here are the kids in the car at the last part of our trip. The camera stopped working again before I could get one with Reuben's whole head in it :).

Two of the best quotes from our trip were...
Gillian to me out of nowhere, "Mommy, Do you like to kill fish?"
James to me while I was driving, "You don't have to slow down every time you see a barn."

And here is a picture of Reuben breaking all the car seat laws at a rest stop :)...

Thanks again to everyone for helping us have such a great trip! We look forward to visiting you all again soon!

Reuben, 4 months

2007-11-19T21:38:00.000-05:00

Reuben had his 4 month well visit today. He is doing great. He weighed in at 18 pounds, 14 ounces. He's back on the charts at 97% :).

We just got home from a big roadtrip. We had a great time, I'll post about that next.

Happy Day!

Ruthie, Matt, and Hank

2007-11-12T08:31:00.000-05:00

I think Gillian Ruth is a beautiful little girl, but she was absolutley striking last week with porcelain skin and rosy cheeks from a high fever.

It's hard for me to ever resist George Matthew's requests for a "nack" or to "nuggle" with me - especially since the missing s's aren't typos :).

Reuben Henry is my biggest fan. He loves to stare at me and he gives me huge smiles. I like to stare and smile at him too :).

I am so thankful for the moments of beauty, sweetness, and pure joy I get to see in my kids and feel from watching them. I think it more than makes up for the hours of tribulation and lost sleep :).

Hope everyone has a Happy Monday!

Halloween

2007-11-02T10:27:00.000-04:00

The G's Mimi made them beautiful costumes for Halloween. Gillian was Princess Belle and George was a dinosaur. Their Mimi and Grandaddy came over and watched Reuben while James and I took them trick-or-treating. It was a lot of fun. Gillian remembered what a great thing it is, and once George really figured out what was happening, he was loving life. Reuben wore the same dog costume that Gs wore on their first Halloweens :). It was really fun! Thanks again Mimi and Granddaddy!

Found a Peanut

2007-10-21T00:20:00.000-04:00

We had such a fun day out in the country in the beautiful weather today. The farm season is almost over, but today we had an especially fun treat. We picked peanuts for the first time. I didn't know that they grow underground. You pull up the plants and then pull the raw peanuts off the roots. I plan to roast some tomorrow. Reuben sweetly laid in my lap most of the time for possibly his first u-pick experience that he was actually awake for :).

George

2007-10-01T21:14:00.000-04:00

Now here's a quick George update. He is doing great. He really likes dinosaurs, other animals, Redskins, and construction equipment, and he's so fun to hang out with. He has typical two year old meltdowns every once in a while, usually in the morning, and sometimes followed by extra sweetness. Today is his first day with a big boy bed! I ended up putting him in his crib for his nap after trying the bed. We have put him to bed in the big bed tonight and we are enjoying checking on him and seeing what he's up to. I just checked on him, and he was standing at the top of the stairs with a crayon :). He's very cute and not sure what to do with his new freedom, and is probably too excited to lay still and fall asleep.

P.S. I was out alone yesterday and got carded while buying spray paint :). I thought it was funny, and kinda refreshing for this tired old mommy :).

Gillian Update

2007-09-28T07:57:00.000-04:00

After mostly posting about Reuben, I thought I'd do my next two posts about the Gs. Gillian just told me that she had a dream about getting her hair styled and it was the best dream ever, and that she doesn't like the monster dreams :). She is loving preschool. She has another great class and great teacher this year! She goes in the afternoons Tuesday thru Friday. She has show and tell every Friday. The item is supposed to start with the letter of the week. Last weeks letter was O. She took an old Happy Meal toy... an ogar. It has a button that you can push and he says he's and ogar, says something else on another push, and he burps on another push of the button. The burp went over well with her classmates :). Today, the letter is A and she is taking some acorns she collected yesterday. The next post will be about George, so check back for more soon :).

Reuben Pictures

2007-09-20T22:57:00.000-04:00

I took a bunch of pictures of Reuben trying to get a good one for his birth dedication at church this Sunday. This one shows a little smile, but we are not using it :).

This is the one we are using. His hair is kinda messy, and you can see his diaper, but I think it's my favorite of the pictures I took.

Reuben Update

2007-09-18T19:13:00.000-04:00

Reuben and I went to his 2 month well visit today. He did great and weighed in at 15 pounds 6 ounces! He is just as sweet as he is big! He's beginning to smile. Sometimes I'll go over to where he's hanging out, he'll look me over for a second, and then flash a big smile at me. I LOVE IT! I'm looking forward to when Reuben starts to laugh and seeing the G's enjoy that. Gillian loves having a baby in the family and likes to help take care of him, but is also looking forward to him crawling :). George asks me to put Reuben down sometimes and hold him instead, but often says that he loves Reuben :). That's all for now... sorry for not including a picture in this post! If I can capture a Reuben smile, I'll post that picture soon!

Sleep

2007-08-31T21:46:00.001-04:00

Hi! I haven't been a big blogger lately. I usually get on the computer and just check on Bennett's websites and my e-mail real quick. I hope to do some more blogging and post some pictures soon, maybe over the long weekend.

We are all doing well, I need a little more rest than I'm getting, but that's okay. Just some funnies to share that won't surprise some of you who have experienced first-hand how I am when I'm not completely awake...

The other night I thought there were two babies in our room. I realized that there was one baby in the pack-n-play by our bed, but kept looking for another one in the sheets in our bed. When I became a little more aware, I told myself that there was only one baby, he was safe in the crib, and it was okay for me to go back to sleep.

A couple of nights ago we all slept in our room with a box fan b/c our a/c was out. James fell asleep flipped around with his head at the foot of the bed b/c the Gs were on the floor there and he had been getting them to stay put and go to sleep. I thought during the night that he was in danger b/c of the comforter being on his head (which was really his feet). I was desperately trying to free his head, but it was really his feet. And when I woke up in the morning, I saw that I had put one of George's diapers on Reuben during the night :). At least now I know that in a pinch, Reuben can wear a George diaper :).

Quick Reuben Update

2007-08-27T21:32:00.001-04:00

Reuben had a little visit to the Dr. today for a cough, and he's okay. Just wanted to share that he weighed in at 13 pounds! Looks like he will be a bruiser like his big brother afterall :).

Baby Bennett

2007-08-24T11:09:00.000-04:00

Just in case anyone reading this blog is not already praying for this sweet baby and family, please start praying... http://www.prayingforbennett.blogspot.com/.

Ballet, Naptime, Shellfish

2007-08-05T20:04:00.000-04:00

Ballet
Gillian has been taking dance classes, she loves it :)!

Naptime
The other day, I took the Gs up for naps, and laid down on the couch with Reuben. I fell asleep, and later discovered that the Gillian had decorated herself and George with markers. She said that George wanted a dinosaur drawing on each side of his face, and George told me that it hurt when she was drawing on his tummy. I thought it was funny, no one got in trouble :).

Shellfish
George came home from the pool the other day in his lobster trunks, and Reuben was wearing one of my favorite gifts (thank you Tanya), a crab onesie :).

Pizza Pizza

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

When James and I were DINKs, we ate out a lot, maybe too much. We don't eat out as much anymore, but it is still one of our favorite treats. James recently did some research and found two pizza places he wanted to try. Wow, were they good! Neither are super close to home, but well worth a little driving. Last Sunday after church, we drove into D.C. and ate at 2Amys. The kids shared a pizza, James ordered a pizza, and I had to go with the soft shell crab panini special. The sandwich and pizzas were great. They are supposed to have great donuts too, but they run out, and we were too late when we tried to order some at the end of our meal. We'll have to order them first next time. Then tonight we went out to Ashburn to American Flatbread. We ordered a more kid-friendly pizza, and one with a lot more ingredients for me and James. It was the best pizza I have ever had. I loved it. I even found myself shaking my head while eating it, it was so good it was ridiculous! We highly recommend both places, but you might not want to get your kids drinks and refill them, like we did at American Flatbread. I'm glad the kids enjoyed good quality milk and juice, but good water would have saved us $8!

Reuben Update

2007-07-27T10:17:00.000-04:00

Reuben had his 2 week visit yesterday. Our little peanut weighed 8 lbs, 7 oz, which puts him in the 10-25 percentile. I wonder if he will soon be topping, or going off the charts like the Gs, or if he will stay our little guy :). We are all doing well. I am treasuring this precious time, I LOVE it. We have been enjoying a week full of VBS and playing with cousins and stuff. Tanya and Reuben and I went out last night - to Maggie Moo's, Whole Foods, Pei Wei for a second (late) dinner, and Wal-Mart (we wish Target stayed open later). We had so much fun. It has been GREAT having James home for almost 3 weeks now! He starts back to work on Monday. Ruth comes on Sunday, so I have a little more time before taking on 3 kids solo.

Look for more pictures and posts soon! Thank you for all the comments on my last post. I'm glad so many enjoyed the pictures!

We are so thankful and blessed!

Reuben Henry

2007-07-15T19:29:00.000-04:00

Our sweet Reuben came even earlier than scheduled. I was put back on bed rest on Tuesday for blood pressure issues, and then was surprised to realize on Wednesday morning that I might be in labor. My Dr. told me to head to the hospital, and then I called James who had just arrived at work. Chelsea and Alex were already coming to our house to help with the kids that morning because of the bed rest. They came and helped get them ready and packed instead. Ellyn drove me to the hospital and I met James there. Reuben was born early that afternoon, Wednesday, July 11, at 12:48 p.m. He weighed 7 lbs, 7 oz, and measured 20 3/4 inches long. We think he looks a lot like Gillian and George did as newborns. We are so happy to have him already, and to be home from the hospital instead of heading in tomorrow morning. We just love him, he is wonderful! Here are lots and lots of pictures, enjoy :)!

Philly

2007-07-01T17:29:00.000-04:00

James and I had our before baby long date this weekend. We took the kids to the Sergio's house on Friday evening. On Saturday morning we headed up to Philadelphia. Our first stop was for Philly Cheesesteaks (which was the whole inspiration behind the 3 hour trip). We did our research beforehand and decided on Jim's Steaks for lunch. The line was out the door and around the corner. It was worth the wait, a fun and yummy experience. Then we walked around and saw some sites.

We saw The Liberty Bell, of course.

I especially enjoyed seeing a lot of neat architectural features and beautiful paint colors on buildings.

One of our favorite spots we looked at was Elfreth's Alley, the oldest continuously occupied neighborhood in the U.S.

Then we got back in the car and drove around and looked at more stuff.

We had planned to stay longer, see more stuff, and have more cheesesteaks at a different restaurant for dinner, but we decided we were ready to start heading towards home early. Neither of us were feeling great, and we left plenty to see and eat :) for a future trip.

On the way home we stopped at the Cal Ripken minor league stadium in Aberdeen, Maryland. We ate dinner there and watched a little baseball. I had a great crabcake sandwich. Then we headed back home.

We got the Gs back on Sunday at church. It was kind of weird to be without them. I missed them. But, it was a nice break for us, and great to get so much time alone with James. The Gs had a great time too, like they always do at the Sergio's. Thanks so much Jay, Ellyn, Chelsea and Alex! We love you!

Gillian's Trip

2007-06-26T17:54:00.000-04:00

Yesterday while George was napping, Gillian was very busy going up and down the stairs. I wondered what she was up to. Then I heard what sounded like a suitcase coming down the stairs with her, and then I heard the front door opening. This is what I found her like when I went to the door.

It was so funny. She was wearing her Disney ears that Ellyn got her, and her suitcase was stuffed but only partly closed. We took a trip to the mailbox, which is a mini-trip :). She shared a lot of funnies on our "trip." Like that she forgot to pack underwear, and that the only thing she packed for George was a shirt (he was coming back the next day).

Happy Birthday George

2007-06-26T07:41:00.000-04:00

We enjoyed celebrating with George last week. He turned 2 on June 20th. Happy Birthday to my dad too, who turned 69 on the same day!

George went to the newer Air and Space Museum in the morning, and enjoyed the fancy McDonald's there.

Later that day, we had a fun little family party at home. First we ate pizza. Then George opened his two presents. The new Charlotte's Web movie, and some little dinosaur figurines. He got really excited about the dinosaurs, it was so cute.

Gillian wanted to play pin (tape) the tail in George's eye, that was her gift to him :).

Then we had individual Maggie Moo's ice cream cupcakes. They were a yummy treat.

What a fun day with sweet George!

Pickin'

2007-06-17T17:00:00.001-04:00

We are loving the farm this summer. The berry crops are doing well, and we are enjoying sharing in that! James took last Friday off, and we decided to head out to the farm. I called my fun farm friend Emille on the way, and she was also heading there with her kids and father-in-law. What a neat surprise. It was such a great day of playing and picking together. We came home with lots and lots of fresh-picked peas, strawberries, blueberries and black raspberries! Yum!

New to us car

2007-06-14T04:15:00.000-04:00

We tried out 3 car seats in the back of the Camry, and it could work in a pinch, but it definitely is not ideal. So, after some searching, we bought a car last night. It's an older, I think maybe the first year they were out, Honda Pilot. The kids like it a lot. Gillian wanted us to sleep in it last night :). I like driving a Honda again, like our first cars. We are now Civic-less. We each brought a Civic to our marriage, almost 8 years ago and almost 3 kids ago :). We are very thankful to have a bigger car for our growing family!

Some things that make me happy

2007-06-11T07:26:00.000-04:00

Grace
Yesterday morning the sermon was from Romans and we sang some oldies but goodies about grace.

Target
(and their Archer Farms brand)

Baby Bumbo Seats
I got one along with so many great gifts at the lovely shower thrown for me and Jaime on Saturday.

Being pregnant
(with a baby boy and giving him a name that starts with an R like mine)

Gillian

George

Planning a long date with James
(without Gillian and George, and before baby)

Berry Picking Season
We have been picking lots of strawberries. Not sure what is next, maybe blackberries?

Milk Paint
(read about it in Martha Stewart and got some to try)

The 4th of July
One of my favorite holidays that is almost here.

Gillian's New Dress

2007-06-02T09:58:00.000-04:00

My beautifully-talented friend Amanda invited me and Jaime over one night earlier this week to learn how to make simple a-line dresses for our girls. We got a late start, and I was out until almost 2am! We had so much fun! I left with an almost-done dress, and finished it last night. I was going to save it for church tomorrow, but Gillian wanted to wear it today and tomorrow :). I also bought material for a second dress to make for July 4th! I'm still having so much fun! I've only dabbled in sewing, but it's in my genes. My mom is a wonderful seamstress, and so was her grandmother. Thanks so much Amanda! And Jaime, looking forward to seeing Faith's dress in the morning!

Last Day of Preschool

2007-05-25T15:06:00.000-04:00

Here are pictures from Gillian's last day of preschool. All the pictures are actually from the evening, I didn't get any in the morning - the camera batteries needed charging :). I planned to get them out the next day like I said I would, but found myself back on the couch again the next night, watching American Idol and not wanting to get up :).

Outside school, before her performance.

During her performance.

And celebrating afterwards with Maggie Moo's ice cream (with our family, my sister and the Sergio family too!).

Namesite and Random Stuff

2007-05-22T21:44:00.000-04:00

I found a good names website, www.behindthename.com. It has some neat features, and I found out that Avril Lavigne's middle name is Ramona :). Enjoy if you are interested!

George went to his first baseball game on Sunday with James, and Gillian had her last day of preschool today. We don't have baseball pics, but we have last day of preschool pics, I'll post tomorrow. I'm resting on the couch right now watching American Idol and not up for heading downstairs to do the pics :). Blake has been my favorite for a while. I like Jordin too, though. I kinda wish they both could win :).

Happy Tuesday, Almost Wednesday!

Almost Summer

2007-05-16T10:54:00.000-04:00

We went on a walk after dinner last night and the kids had their first ice cream truck experience. So fun. It's been coming around a lot and will be fun to enjoy this summer. James did a great job giving George his first real haircut using clippers, and George was a trooper. You can get a good look at George's new ready-for-summer-'do in the second picture. Enjoy :)!

Ultrasound

2007-05-14T13:00:00.000-04:00

I went to Ffx Hospital this morning for my follow-up ultrasound to check on the size of the baby. He is still measuring big, but normal, and everything else looked normal too. The next planned trip to the hospital is July 16 for a 9am c-section. I love finally being normal, that doesn't happen to me a lot :).

My next post will include a picture of George's new haircut, check back soon :)!

We've Named Our Baby (Maybe)

2007-05-11T09:01:00.000-04:00

***Oops this post was accidentally set up as not allowing comments. I would love comments, if they are nice :)!***

Some of my favorite girl names that we (or I) considered, not in any particular order, are... Naomi, Rae (middle name), Nora, Charlotte, Georgia and Mary. Those are great names, that we will probably never use - I would encourage anyone to use them :).

Boy names are much harder for us, but we might have our name picked out...

Reuben Henry

I like the way Reuben looks and sounds, that it starts with an R (sorry LB ;)), that it's a Bible name, that it's not often used, and not too unusual. I don't think everyone will be a fan, but he'll make the name work for folks who don't love it at first!

Thanks to all of my name helpers :). We needed a lot of help with this one, and we still might.

Happy Friday!

Sweet Little Faiths

2007-05-10T15:01:00.000-04:00

Okay, one more post today - can you tell the Gs are napping? We are so blessed and thankful for our church family, Bible teachers, small group, Christian friends and our families who have all been part of the sweet little faiths that I see developing in our children. George talks about Jesus books and requests Jesus songs, and Gillian may soon have more Bible knowledge than I do ;). And, I have two Gillian stories I want to share that are just precious to me. Last night we heard her calling out in a kinda loud voice in her room - Jesus, how did you make us? And not too long ago she was saying to me (while I was working on her beautiful crazy hair) something like how in heaven, God would take the tangles out of hair, with His own hands, and it wouldn't hurt. :)

The Farm

2007-05-10T14:41:00.000-04:00

The farm is open again! Me and the Gs went for the first time the week after returning from Williamsburg (see post below). We get to enjoy so many bountiful fun and yummy blessings beginning in the spring and lasting into the fall - we are so thankful. Here are pics from our first trip - the kids looked at animals, and played with lots of fun stuff like the giant jumping pillow. Enjoy!

Williamsburg

2007-05-10T08:57:00.000-04:00

We spent a week with my parents in Williamsburg recently, here are some pics from our trip. Enjoy! Oh - on the way out of town we stopped at Sonic. The Cherry Coke was my favorite, the Cherry Limeade Slush was yummy and tator tots did not disappoint :). Thanks mom and Dad for all the help and fun!

I asked Gillian to be in a picture with me in one of the beautiful little gardens and she went into a full modeling pose :).

The Gs enjoyed looking at lambs and other animals while we were down there. George is especially into animals these days.

The Gs joined hands without being asked in Colonial :).

The Gs playing at another fenced-in area. You can see little George way off in the distance in the first picture.

We went to Yorktown a couple of times. The kids loved playing with the sand and water, of course :).

There is a really neat Yankee Candle Shopping Place with an indoor Christmasy Village. We had a lot of fun there too.

We went back for more sheep viewing and to the same little garden at the end of the week before heading home.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention one of the best parts. James (who was with us on the weekends but traveled home to work during the week) and I got to go on a lunch date to a restaurant we have been wanting to try. It's called the Blue Talon Bistro. It was wonderful. I got a big pot of mussels, they were delicious. James got a good seafood sandwhich and we shared some incredible french fries - it's a neat but not overly fancy French restaurant, so they had to be good! Next we want to try The Fat Canary. If you want to know where to eat in Williamsburg, ask us, we have found a lot of great places and we are still searching. Thanks again Mom and Dad :).

Sonic

2007-04-26T14:46:00.000-04:00

Am I ordering wrong :)? I do like the idea of Sonic, but I'm often disappointed by the food. I used to love their Cherry Limeades, and now I'm a Strawberry Limeade girl. I usually love the limeades, it's the food that I haven't had a lot of good experiences with.

Today, I loaded the kids up in my folks suburban and we squeezed into a spot. I got a Strawberry Limeade, a Chicken Club Toaster, and an order of onion rings. I got the kids a couple of kids meals. I didn't love my food again :(. I know I've enjoyed the Toaster there before and I've had good and bad experiences with onion rings there. I am a big fan of tater tots, but I'm not sure if they are always good at Sonic, I think I've had them before, but it's been a while.

Should I just be ordering tater tots and limeades or am I missing something great on the menu?

No more bedrest

2007-04-18T06:58:00.000-04:00

On Monday after 6 weeks of several forms of bedrest, I had a follow-up ultrasound at the hospital. The placenta, which was probably the cause of the complications I had, has moved to a safe spot. Instead of waiting a couple more weeks until my next appointment at my doctors office, I called to see what that meant as far as my restrictions. The doctor returned my call and said that I have no more restrictions, and that I can ease back into normal activity.

I picked up George yesterday for the first time in more than 6 weeks. I loved it. I was also able to get him out of his crib during the night and rock him back to sleep when he was sad. Loved that too! My sister, George and I picked up Gillian after preschool yesterday. When I told Gillian that I was done with bedrest. She got a priceless look on her face. Turns out that the face was probably mostly related to her remembering that I said we would go for ice cream when the bedrest was over :). We headed to the ice cream shop before heading home :).

I go back again in 4 weeks to check the size of the baby, he was measuring big at a sweet 2 1/2 pounds. Hopefully that will be no big deal. He may just be a little big for a 26-weeker. Remember George as an infant :)?

The day of our ultrasound was a weird day, I hadn't heard anything about what was going on at Va Tech until we were in the waiting area at the hospital. Lots of people were watching it on tv there and talking about it. We spent the bulk of 2 hours in the waiting room and watched a lot of news coverage. Lots of people we love are very personally affected by this, and I'm sad for them and praying.

I am so thankful for everything that was done for us, big and small, during the time that I was on bedrest. My family was beautifully and overly blessed! Our needs were more than met. I am so thankful for all the wonderful people we have in our lives and for the ways they helped us. I learned a lot, and look forward to using what I learned to help others too.

I'm enjoying easing back into normalness, and I won't overdo it. I don't want to go backwards even a teeny bit.

Thanks everyone! Love, Ramona

Happy Birthday Gillian!

2007-04-06T16:17:00.000-04:00

Our sweet, crazy, beautiful Gillian is now 4! We are so blessed by her, and a little worn out too :).

Gillian has enjoyed special birthday times with Ellyn and her kids, her friends, my brothers and their families, just us, and we are not done yet! We are going to celebrate again this weekend with James' family. A huge thanks to everyone who has helped and shared in our joy. Here are a bunch of pictures. (We have a camera again - yay!)

Setting up for her party - my friend Emille helped me transform part of our living room into a little beauty shoppe, it was a big hit! She also decorated around the house with fresh flowers from our tree out front, and the dining room with tulle and streamers.

The kids had fun planting flowers and playing with a new ball out on our deck. I didn't get a lot of good pictures of the dining room, that's where the kids got to
decorate chocolate cupcakes that Amanda made and brought toppings for - yummy and fun! We were celebrating with two of the things Gillian loves most - chocolate and things that are beautiful.

P.S. I am now on light bedrest. Double yay!

Ramona Quiz

2007-03-29T10:40:00.000-04:00

***
Answers update:
Question #1 Timothy was born first.
Question #2 The due date for the baby we are expecting is July 24 (our anniversary, and the c-section is currently scheduled for July 16 at 9am).
Question #3 My favorite spot to view D.C. 4th of July fireworks from is the Lincoln.
Question #4 My favorite kind of chocolate is dark chocolate.
Question #5 My favorite McDonald's guilty pleasure in the morning is Coke and hashbrowns.
Question #6 My favorite part of the U.S. besides Virginia is New England (love the seafood!, couldn't live there b/c of the cold).

I think the quiz was kinda easy, but also kinda tricky. Thanks for playing :).
***

Thanks Tanya for suggesting that I do this too :). Hope it's fun for everyone :).

Create your own Friend Quiz here

This morning

2007-03-23T08:18:00.000-04:00

I haven't learned too much more to share since my last post, but this one is for you Jaime :). I read that the only difference between brown and white eggs is that they come from different colored chickens. Red or white chickens. I think the brown eggs might taste better too, especially if they come from Whole Foods :).

I learned at my last Dr.'s appointment that one of the ways I've been sitting and resting - straight up with my legs straight out in front of me - is the worst way to be sitting while pg on bedrest. Oops :). I get a different opionions on the specifics of bedrest each time I go to the Dr. Which can be kinda frustrating. One thing I liked that the last Dr. told me is that I could have 1-2 stair trips a day, instead of just 1. I might actually see our basement again before this is all over :). I'm getting close to completing 3 weeks. Yay!

Enough about me :). Gillian and George are doing good. Gillian is loving that her hair is getting long. She seems to be more comfortable with having curls, but if she had her choice, she'd probably still want straight hair. Here she is right now hanging out on the couch next to me.

George is doing good too. Ruth just headed up to get him out of his crib. He has made great language strides recently. And he has picked up the harmonica. It was so cute one night James and I were downstairs after the kids were in bed and I heard the harmonica playing upstairs. James said it was George. It's funny to think of George laying in his crib at night playing the blues :). Here's a picture of George and Gillian right now having breakfast and watching toons.

In between them is a glass jar with a lid on it. That is Gillian's pet (dead) moth. Gillian was telling me yesterday that it died from a gunshot. It must have been a very tiny gun and bullet :).

Happy Friday everyone :)!!

Random things I have learned in my new "free" time :)

2007-03-16T20:44:00.000-04:00

"There is nothing greater than being loved and accepted by an elephant." This was an actual quote I read in a magazine from the founder of an elephant sanctuary in Tennessee.

Barbie has a disturbing new toy where you feed a Barbie dog something that looks like a brown tic-tac, then it comes out the dog's other end and the Barbie has a pooper scooper to clean it up.

Reuben James (a name I was considering) was a war hero in American history. There have been three U.S. Naval ships named Reuben James, including one currently in use out of Pearl Harbor. There is also a Kenny Rogers song with that title.

One person can have two types of DNA in different parts of their body. They are called chimeras. This can complicate paternity tests and crime investigations.

One Week Down

2007-03-12T08:51:00.000-04:00

Hi. We've had an eventful couple of weeks. Most of you may already know that I had two separate overnight hospital stays, and now I'm at home on bedrest. Right now it looks like the bedrest may last for 6-8 weeks if I don't have any more problems. There is so much about it that stinks, or is just plain awful, but let's just focus on some of the good things about it for this blog entry. I'm trying to stay thankful and not complain anyways.

:) James is able to be home every Monday. Right now he is taking the kids to drop Gillian off at school and I think he might take George to Bob Evans. The G's and James get to spend some special time together and we have three day weekends for a while.

:) My house is cleaner and running more smoothly in some ways than normal.

:) My brother Richard said jokingly that I will see who my real friends are. I already knew that I had wonderful friends, and they are shining.

:) I am getting to spend lots of sweet being still time with the kids.

:) We have lots of family near or kinda near to us who are also wonderful. It is neat that the G's get to spend so much time with them.

:) I always wanted a laptop with a wireless connection.

:) We finally have curtains hanging in our living room.

:) Today is one week down of bedrest. Yay!!!

"It's a" Stories

2007-02-26T14:22:00.000-05:00

When Gillian was born, the Dr. told James to tell me what she was. Because of the way the doctor said it, James thought the doctor was saying to tell me like from the standpoint of a father being proud that he now had a son. So, James expected to see a baby boy when he looked, but saw that it was a girl, and said kinda confused... "It's a... girl."

When George was born, the anesthesiologist during the c-section told James that the head was out and he could look. He said that he'd wait :). When we found out it was a boy, it was such a sweet surprise. Our little George was here (George was our boy name when Gillian was born too). Tanya told me that I would love it if I had a boy, and she was right, I fell head over heals!

We found out today at our 20 week ultrasound that it's a(nother)... BOY! Gillian is excited, and George will love his new roommate. James and I will have to work extra hard at coming up with a name for a boy, boy names are harder for us. We are so thankful for our three precious gifts!

Happy Valentines Day

2007-02-13T12:46:00.000-05:00

(Sorry the pic is so small, not sure why I can't make it bigger. George is the little guy in the middle and Gillian is to the left.)

Gillian had a fun Valentines party at school today. Parents were invited, and she wanted George to come too. George was so cute participating, and Gillian was so sweet to him and proud of him.

Gillian is still loving school. She has told us a bunch of times that the girls don't play with the boys b/c they are "fabular." It's so funny to me b/c fabular, even though it sounds like fabulous and a good thing, is not actually a good thing to be. Gillian and her friends probably won't play with you if you are fabular :).

Thanks Malia!

2007-02-13T12:19:00.000-05:00

I found a Toys R Us gift card in our bedroom a little while back. I remembered that Malia had sent one to us for a baby gift for George a long time back. It was so fun to get to use it now. He got a basketball hoop! It has been a fun addition to our house, especially for the boys. Thanks Malia and family :)!

Snow

2007-01-22T11:02:00.000-05:00

We had a little snow on Sunday, and the kids played outside for a few minutes. It was good football watching weather. James and I wanted the Saints and the Colts to win. And now we're going to root for the Colts in the Super Bowl. And, of course, hope next year is a better year for the Skins.

Whole Foods Market

2007-01-19T17:33:00.000-05:00

**UPDATE**
Tuesday the 23rd
Whole Foods is still great :). Today as we were leaving, an employee told me to choose a gerbera daisy plant, for free! I guess that helps make up for me spending too much on a beautiful heirloom tomato. Erin, you guys might need to move back, you would absolutely love it!

The kids and I have been to the new Whole Foods 4 times since it opened 3 days ago. I wasn't going to go today until the G's Mimi called and told me that they were doing a kids paint your own flower pot thing. Thank you Mimi! The kids both decorated a flower pot and the store provided dirt and seeds. We now have two lavendar plants. It was free and fun. We have enjoyed several free gifts in the last few days. We got (I think from some banking vendor) two little knit zebra finger puppets, and I got this really pretty cloth shopping bag. I actually hung it in my dining room as a functional decoration :). I haven't remembered to take it back with me, like James said :). We have also feasted on lots of free samples. I am so happy about the new store. It is so much nicer and bigger than the other Whole Foods stores which I loved, and believe it or not, I like it better than Wegman's! I have been pleasantly surprised with some really great prices too. I'm looking forward to when I get the chance to go without kids and really take a good look at the store. But, they have been pretty good shopping buddies so far.

Holiday

2007-01-16T07:16:00.000-05:00

It was another mild winter day here. We went downtown with the kids, they love going downtown. We went to the U.S. Botanical Gardens. That is a great place to take kids. The kids section is closed until spring, but it was still fun. I love the display of these big metal flowers with spices in them that you can smell. After that, we went over to the Capitol building and played red light, green light and freeze tag on the lawn in front of it. They also liked playing at the bottom of the building. Then on the way back home, we went to Georgetown so I could run into Five Guys and get a large drink and large fries for a family snack. James said I couldn't also get a hamburger to share and that a hamburger is not a snack :). Here are some pics I took with our cell phone - they aren't super clear, but hope you enjoy anway. Have a great day!

some of the big metal spice flowers

across the street after playing

Christmas Pics and More

2007-01-04T06:59:00.000-05:00

I miss our digital camera, our disposable pics didn't turn out so great, but here are some anway, enjoy :).

Gillian opening her stocking and George opening his trains

Gillian's clothes did not match each other, but they matched the wrapping paper (this was not planned) :)

Gillian and her new chocolate fountain. Gillian loves chocolate more than anyone I know.

Gillian and George (making a silly face) at our Chocolate Party

Playing trains
Around New Years, the G's Aunt Ruth came to visit. Ruth and I went to the Redskins game. It was a lot of fun. I discovered a new favorite food at the stadium, the buffalo chicken sandwich. Yum. We got home at 1:30am! Ruth treated the girls to a kids concert at Jamin' Java on Sunday afternoon. It was really good. The performer was Robbie Schaeffer, his website is www.songsforkidslikeus.com. That night we were all in bed well before midnight. We were worn out. James had Tuesday off because of the President Ford holiday. I was thinking recently how much I like the combination of me not working and being married to a government employee :). In the morning, James took Gillian to school and George out to breakfast, and I had some time out to myself. We all picked her up after school and went out to lunch and then to Wegman's. James and I made some fancy, yummy burgers for dinner. It was fun to have James home an extra day. We hope we will get some snow days with him home this winter too. Happy New Year to everyone!

Oh Baby

2006-12-28T09:24:00.000-05:00

We are expecting a new baby next July! Our due date is July 24, and I get to let the Dr. know at my next appointment what day we would like to schedule a c-section. They are typically done 7-10 days before the due date. It's kinda fun and kinda weird to pick your baby's birthday. We are also are planning to find out the sex this time, which we have never done before. I loved my two surprises... but I am also enjoying the idea of only choosing one name, one going home outfit, figuring out where we will put the baby ahead of time and stuff. Gillian wants a baby girl, and wants to name her Caramel :). We love Gillian and George's G names, but we were never going for a G theme, and this baby will probably have a name starting with a different letter. So, I might be changing the name of my blog in July :). We are excited about a new sweet blessing and most of what that it will bring :). I'm planning on taking my disposable camera in to a photo place tonight and will post Christmas pictures next. Happy New Year!