Will, Sam and Max

Will's Turkey Story

2010-11-29T00:31:00.000-06:00

This is Will's "What Would a Turkey Do on It's Last Day" story. (With my spelling corrections, otherwise you wouldn't be able to read it.) He was so excited about this school assignment that he came home and assigned it to everybody else in his family! In total, 10 turkey stories were read on Thanksgiving- even one from Emily who skyped with us so she could be a part of it too!
So stay tuned for more stories!
---------------------------------------------------
You know what? I hate Thanksgiving. "Why?" you ask? I'll tell you.

It started on the day before Thanksgiving when the farmer was talking on the phone. "Yeah, we're having turkey for Thanksgiving dinner......Yeah, last time it was pretty good."

A turkey for dinner, I thought. "He wants me to eat with him for thanksgiving?! I wonder what we're having?"

"You dimwit," said a pig. (Which can get on your nerves all the time.) "They are having YOU!"

"I know! They want me to eat with them!"

"No, no, YOU'RE the Thanksgiving dinner!"

I thought about that for a second. From all the stuff that the pigs have told me this is the weirdest. "What are you talking about?"

"They're going to eat you!"

"Really?!"

"Yeah."

"Really?!"

"Yeah."

"Really?!"

"YEAH!"

"REALLY?!!!"

"Would you stop saying that?!"

"Well, I'm no chicken, I'm a turkey!"

"HEY!" said the chickens.

* * *
(He actually drew little circles, to signify that time has passed.)

So now I'm walking along here, hoping the farmer won't chase me when I hear gobbling. I hurry towards the sound and I find a bunch of other turkeys! "Hello," I say. Then I have a brilliant idea. "Did you know the farmer over there wants to cook us and then eat us?"

There was silence after cries of horror. "They've eaten enough of us, so I say we fight back! Let's get revenge! Either we fight, or get eaten!" There was silence. Then I realized how stupid I sounded.

But then, "Let's get revenge! Let's get revenge! Let's get revenge!" So then we marched into the night towards the farmer's house.

* * *

So here I am. I'm flying higher than I ever flew before. So I'm here flying higher and higher and the world below me looks like an ant hill. I wonder if the other turkeys got out okay after they ran away when the farmer pulled out the pitchfork? But I'm still wondering how the farmer's Thanksgiving was. I hope I tasted good. And that is why I hate Thanksgiving.

Lemme Halloween Parade 2010

2010-10-30T13:51:00.000-05:00

The parade started with the Lemme Leopard, of course!

Sam's class was lead by his teacher and him!

Here are some other costumes we liked, especially Max. A hotdog:

R2-D2- very cool! but needed assistance in walking! It even had a panel on the front with lite-brite peg buttons that really lit up!

Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head:

Where's Waldo and a giant rubber ducky:

Will:

Ghostbuster Ghost:

A ninja banana:

Can you tell that Sam put on his costume and facial hair all by himself? I sure do love that boy - even with eyebrows on his temples.

Sam is 7!

2010-10-30T13:26:00.000-05:00

Sam turned 7 on October 18th! Laura had these letters taped to the outside of his present. He was funny to watch when we read the words aloud to him. He tried to act each one out.

We celebrated with hy-vee brownies - no homemade anything this year due to the state of the kitchen.

Will's present was this gargoyle he made at school:

He invited a few friends to the children's museum for an afternoon. Turns out it was free day and to top it off, not even crowded! We ended the party with a big cookie from the cookie place. Blech. (Don't recommend.)

Tuckered Out

2010-08-30T10:15:00.002-05:00

Last week was Max's first full week of preschool but he stayed home last Monday because of stomach issues the day before. After 3 days of preschool (Tuesday - Thursday) this is how I found him Thursday afternoon. All zonked out on the landing! Not the most comfortable place in the world.

Did you notice the rather large bump in the back of his pants? Well let's just zoom in on that. Uh, yeah. We have yet to get that kid to poop in the potty. After a few days of waiting us out, he does this major load:
What? that grosses you out? sorry.

He's home again today, throwing up every little bit since 4:30 this morning. :-( I've decided I'm not getting a shower today. I've pretty much got to camp out here on the couch with him because he has no energy to move or make much noise. boo.

The Birthday Boy

2010-08-21T21:46:00.004-05:00

Max is totally in to his birthday this year! He turned the big three on the 19th (the first day of school). We waited to celebrate with family until Friday night. Here he is giving me his cheeseball smile:
Here he is opening the dog kennel present that the McC's got him. He's obsessed with Lily's, so Laura searched all over the great state of Iowa until she found one. I realize that this is 2 minutes of opening a present, but if you can make it til the end, it gets really cute!

He's super in to Toy Story right now so we got him a toy story geotrax set where the bridge goes out. (It will connect with all the other pieces we have too!)

Poor guy jumped clear out of his skin the first time the bridge collapsed!

Grandma Vicki and Grandpa Larry got him some inflatable toy story items:

He's also got some wicked new rock moves with the toy electric guitar that the Berends grandparents got him. Happy Birthday buddy!

Buzz Lightyear...

2010-08-21T21:15:00.002-05:00

To the rescue!

He's got his Toy Story underwear on, his Buzz backpack, and goes around the house constantly saying "To infinity... and beyond!" He's ready for anything.

Mortification

2010-08-21T09:20:00.003-05:00

Second Day of School:

Chance of rain by the time school is getting out, so I washed the boys' spring jackets and put them in their backpacks. Will went to put his on after school at his locker, and a pair of underwear fell out of the sleeve. The boy next to him noticed and snickered. Will quickly stuffed it into his backpack, and being totally embarrassed proceeds to chew Sam out the minute he finds him, accusing him of stuffing dirty underwear into his jacket on purpose. He even twisted Sam's arm and made him cry while I watched from across the field. Sam came running to me and once the story was out, I immediately knew it was MY "fault." Why the little turd immediately thought that Sam was to blame, I do not know. So now I'm mad too. Mad that he treated his brother that way, mad that I didn't notice the underwear when I did the laundry, mad that he'd had an embarrassing experience. This was just the type of thing that would have scarred me for life at that age. Once I realized that Will is not me, thank goodness, and he does not appear to be scarred for life, I was able to find the humor. Ah, it's good for him. Keeps him humble.

First Day Of School

2010-08-20T09:32:00.000-05:00

Thursday was the first day of school for all THREE of my boys! I now have a preschooler, a first grader, and a fifth grader! Everyone was excited and did great on their first day!

As always, the "out takes" are more enjoyable than the normal picture:

Backpacks:

Pay no attention to the woman behind the picnic table:My Lemme Leopards, wearing their new shirts:
My preschooler, wearing his Buzz Lightyear backpack:
He is READY. To. Go!
Getting settled in:

Music Can Convey so Many Emotions

2010-08-15T15:37:00.001-05:00

This is Twinkle Twinkle, in case you were wondering.

Water Slide

2010-07-06T11:14:00.002-05:00

Doesn't work as well as we'd hoped - if you're little you tend to fall right off!

If you're bigger, and you get a big running start, you'll probably be ok.

My review is it's not worth the money, but the kids had fun anyway.

Washington's Sunset Park

2010-07-02T14:35:00.009-05:00

Last week we made a trip down to Kalona to have lunch with Damon for his birthday. Afterward, we went to Washington, Ia to check out a little shop called The Village because they want to feature some of our artwork. Not the best thing to do with 3 boys, but oh well! While we were there, we HAD to stop at Sunset Park. It was a beautiful day, and the boys had fun exploring.

dinosaurs and dragons!

Aww....brothers!

awww.....brothers helping brothers!

faces:

Peeking:

shady places to sit:

little crawl spaces for little hiders:

scallops are my favorite:

Green pointy roofs:

Blue skies!

Train!

Boat:
Will made it all the way across!
This is how far Sam made it:

Max Outside

2010-06-25T17:17:00.007-05:00

Showing me his owie (he tipped over on his trike):

He likes to break sticks, and try to put them back together.
When that doesn't work, he wants ME to put them back together.

then he gets really mad!

Happy Birthday to Damon!

2010-06-25T11:09:00.000-05:00

We took Damon out for lunch at work and surprised him with this giant balloon which we made him keep there, and carry home! :-)

The boys got a kick out of wearing their visitor badges at CIVCO. Max carried the balloon which kept getting tangled up with his badge. But he insisted on doing it all himself and wouldn't let me help him. at all.

Here's a really bad picture from my phone:We ended the night with Will's baseball game and a little dinner and cake celebration at Godfather's with all the grandparents and the McC's.

Love you Damon! thanks for being the bestest, bravest, sweetest, funnest, sexiest daddy and husband ever!

Highlights from the Blogging Silence

2010-06-24T14:33:00.011-05:00

Wow! It's been a long time since I've updated here. I don't know where to even begin! Since I last posted, we've had a long visit from Aunt Emily, some extended family birthdays, a piano recital, end of the year school craziness, 3 art shows, VBS, baseball and t-ball, Things With Wings got 'hounded' by the press (HA!) and now we're on to summer vacation and swim lessons and the long awaited end of the baseball season!
In my effort to summarize, (something you KNOW I don't do well - it's much more interesting and dramatic to drag things out) I'll attempt to post only one picture that summarizes each of the above events. "Can't be done" you say? Oh, I'll do it, alright....just watch me.... I never back down from a challenge.

Unless it involves like dancing or something like that.

Here's the picture that summarizes Emily's visit:

There were several birthdays.

Noah's says it all. No further explanation necessary:

Then there were my sisses'. I don't know what they were doing here. Perhaps they were discussing their synchronized strategy for blowing out a large, random number of candles:

Shelly, Lily and Jared had birthdays as well during this time. But I don't have pictures of any of those. So imagine a pretty princess, a firefighter, and a beautiful woman who will always be young at heart - and I'll let you all figure out who is who. :-)

Will's first year of piano ended with a recital where he performed "Zippity-Doo-Dah" and "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz." He did a GREAT job and we were very proud!

Here's a picture to summarize the end of the school year craziness: An all school picnic that involved snow cones, bubbles, music and a huge "parents vs kids" kickball game. Yes, all these kids are on the same team! Will and Sam (over on the right in yellow shirts) in the outfield:

Art shows a-plenty, in Stillwater, MN, downtown Iowa City Arts Fest, and Snake Alley in Burlington, IA:

VBS passed by like a whirlwind without a single picture being taken by me! GASP! And even though the camera was in my bag, we were so busy all week working on the Craft Team that there really wasn't time! So, gosh! I guess you'll have to use your imagination there too! Imagine hot glue guns, LOADS of cutting, and weapons, I mean walking sticks, that mothers I'm sure were not happy their kids got sent home with.

This next picture summarizes our general feelings about attending so many baseball and t-ball games:
Just kidding! Grandma and Grandpa were always happy to be there and so was Max. Me and whatever other boy wasn't playing were the ones that got a bit grumpy at times. Grandpa was just making silly faces for all of the MANY pictures that I let Sam take in order to keep him from getting bored.

I still don't know why or how, but hey, I'm not complaining....Things With Wings had some opportunities to share what we do with some local publications! You can read more about all that here:

Hoopla Jill (p. 14)
Hoopla Connie and Laura (p. 17)
Press Citizen Go Section 6-24-10

Well that about brings you all up to speed! I promise it won't be so long before I update again. That was a little ridiculous!

(I think I did pretty well controlling myself with the picture posting, don't you?)

Finger Puppet

2010-04-28T15:26:00.002-05:00

Will's exact words: "Mom! I have a surprise for you!"
(pulls this out from behind his back:)
Will: "It's a poorly-made chihuahua finger puppet!"

Animal Sounds

2010-04-14T19:23:00.000-05:00

Sleepy Head

2010-04-13T19:28:00.002-05:00

This is what happens when a 2 year old decides to not nap anymore. It catches up with him, and pretty soon he's a goner.

Water Proofing

2010-04-13T19:18:00.003-05:00

This is the test to see if your water proofing job worked, I guess. Max, Sam and the neighbor girl got inside to see if they got wet. The tent passed! No wet kids!

Yogurt

2010-04-06T14:13:00.002-05:00

Did you notice the fake eating sound effects? This slurping noise accompanies anything that Max finds particularly delicious. And he CAN say "excuse me," he's just choosing not to, the little booger.

Easter Morn

2010-04-06T13:16:00.005-05:00

Look who's all Snuggly Wuggly:candy!
Eating candy requires slurpy sound effects - plus you can hear the older two in the background smacking their jelly beans in a most obnoxious way:

Plus, what's up with the repeated head butting of the camera?! No idea.

PEEPS!

Excitement over the egg hunt!
Every single egg really was this exciting!

Sand toys:
Big balls (snicker.)

surveying the aftermath:
Water squirters and a tired Daddy. Yes, there's that hooded sweatshirt again. It was like 65 degrees in the house that morning - guess he was cold. :-)
You'd think I only had one child, there's so many pictures of Max. Gonna have to work on fixing that.

It was a relaxing day!

Saturday Brunch

2010-04-04T11:03:00.006-05:00

Yesterday we had brunch and an egg hunt. Every found egg was exciting:

Cute Easter dress:

Damon and his parents:
Looking hard:

Counting to see if we'd found em all and a quick nap, I guess. Jack was tired because we'd made him get up early - (10:30.) There were over 150 eggs to find! Some how we ended up with more than what my mom thought she'd hid. :-) Sometimes I wonder about her....or else they were still out there from last year!

Getting ready to open the eggs:

Surveying the loot:
One of the gems were these puppies:

Because nothing says "Easter" like fart whistles :-) Joe sarcastically thanked Gramma at the end of the video, but it was all Laura - and she takes full responsibility.

Max got a bubble gun:

I don't know who's "cuter," the bubble blower, or the bubble catchers.

One of the items inside the eggs were punch balloons for everyone. They were a big hit:

So glad that my innocent little two year old could be the source of entertainment:-)

Eggs

2010-04-03T22:37:00.004-05:00

Dyeing Easter eggs at my sis's house earlier this week:

Abraham Lincoln:

Mr. Curly Moustache and his wife:

She's got quite the tan going on.

Happy Birthday Dillon!

2010-03-31T09:22:00.000-05:00

We love you and miss you!

"B" says "Buh"

2010-03-30T15:41:00.003-05:00

Max was playing with some blocks the other day and we discovered that he knows quite a few of his letters! We thought it was just a fluke, because he still isn't a very clear communicator but after some 'testing' we realized he really does know them! We credit these cool v-tech magnets. When you plug them into the base, it tells you the letter, what sound it makes and sings a little song.

Rug Rats Times Two

2010-03-29T20:39:00.003-05:00

What could be better than a boy clinging to your leg for dear life? TWO boys clinging to your legs for dear life, while you make robot noises!

This solves the problem of overdeveloping the muscles of only one leg, when this happens. (Because I was really worried about that.)

Man, I wish I'd gotten the camera sooner, they walked clear down the hallway like this!

Rug Rat

2010-03-26T14:21:00.001-05:00

This is Max's latest thing. Not cool when you don't feel good. But still cute.

Mud

2010-03-24T18:18:00.003-05:00

The boys went down to the end of the block where our street ends to play in a patch of woods. They didn't ask me. They didn't put on their play shoes. They were wearing their brand new clean shoes, (which will never be the same again.) They were making a fort, and scooping up heaping handfuls of mud and carrying it to their spot to make a mud floor that once dry, will evidently be just the thing. They came home with mud in their underwear. Mud, pretty much....everywhere.They were instructed to clean up their shoes themselves, so they thought it would be a good idea to spray them with the hose, which of course made an even bigger mess. Somebody was a little worried and embarrassed about getting his picture taken because of the possibility that others might see those pictures. It's a good thing that no one reads this blog anymore since I've hardly posted lately. Or that's what I keep telling myself. I don't mind living in my little world of denial.
Now here we've moved past the "worried" phase into the "I'm so bored" phase. It's one of those 5 stages of grief. It's a healthy and normal part of the process.
You'll all be happy to know that we've moved on to 'acceptance'. He accepted the fact that he was going straight into the tub - and I have come to terms with the fact that there will never NOT be laundry to do.

Day 3!

2010-03-20T11:17:00.007-05:00

Laura took a lot of these photos with my camera because it did better in the lower light, with no flash.

Ya gotta love the looks of supreme effort on their faces:

Back to the wave pool for more action:

Max has about had it, it's a good thing it's almost time to go:

The boys love wearing their goggles. I should have gotten a picture of the raccoon rings around their eyes that their goggles left! We headed for home around 3 ish and no one fell asleep (butcept me,) until Max finally crashed around Mt Vernon. He did not want to go to sleep that night. But we're back on track now!

Wisconsin Dells Day 2

2010-03-19T08:40:00.013-05:00

Forgot to mention that at the end of the night on day 1 we were all getting ready to leave the dry play area and we briefly lost Max. I went back in the climbing structure, Damon looked around the outside of it. There's a huge arcade next to it, and Damon found him on the other side of it, getting ready to head out the exit! He's SO Mr. Independent these days. He won't hold your hand, wants to walk and not be carried, throws a fit when he has to sit in a cart, and thinks he needs to get in and out of the car by himself. If you do it for him, he'll get out (or in) and do it all over again. Whew. Don't know what I'm going to do with him. Giant wave pool. Noah, Will and Sam could have done this and nothing else and been totally happy!
In the following video you can hear Laura saying, "You guys all need to agree that you will not put any pictures of me in a swimsuit on a blog or on facebook. " and then my mom says something about "fat, white legs." I tried my best to honor that request.

Bathing Beauty:

Max really didn't enjoy the water much. He spent quite a bit of time sitting and watching or being held because he was intimidated by all the noise and well... water. He hated getting splashed and said "NO!" constantly. Here's one of the rare times that he was having fun, mostly because he was "splashing" Damon and getting a big reaction out of him:

Also, he's not much of a sharer.

New this year were these squirting bumper boats. (Which you had to pay extra for, of course.) This used to be a smaller wave pool.

Boredom quickly sets in for a teenager:

Max thinks this is one of the best videos ever:

In Max's eyes, Noah is the funniest boy ever!! He knows exactly how to get Max to laugh and usually it involves slapping himself, or falling down.

Time at the arcade:

Max LOVED the ski ball game, but thought the object was to roll the ball down the ramp and catch it when it comes back to you. When I'd help him roll it hard enough to 'lose' it, he'd cry. So this toddler version of the game was perfect! Lily loved it too! She's no dummy - go for the high scores!

This was the day that we had the SECOND lost child incident. We were regrouping at our table, getting shoes on, getting ready to leave the wave pool area to head back to the room. A big group of people were all exiting at the same time, and Sam assumed that he was with our group. Instead of stopping at our table like the rest of us did, (which was right by the exit), Sam just kept on going! At some point he discovered he was not with his group! He thought he'd been left behind, and that we were all somewhere up ahead. So he hurried to catch up with us. All in all, he traveled up a flight of stairs, over a walkway, down a flight of stairs, clear through another 65,000 square foot waterpark, and back into the hotel. While Damon searched the wave pool area, I walked ahead to see if Sam had gone on ahead without us. The whole time I kept thinking surely he hasn't come this far. I knew that once I reached the hotel hallway, I'd be turning around and going back. I looked down the hallway and spotted Sam waiting to get onto the elevator with a hotel maintenance worker. He'd told the man that he was lost, that his family had left him behind, and that he thought we were all back in our room, somewhere on the 2nd floor. SO glad he didn't get on that elevator! He was in tears and in a panic. From that time on we made sure we had a meeting place - (although we'd done that before too.) I told him to always go BACK to the place we were all last together - we'd never go forward without him. Whew!

Wisconsin Dells Day 1

2010-03-18T22:15:00.003-05:00

We arrived at the Dells mid afternoon Tuesday and did a bit of the waterpark until dinner. Guess I didn't take any pictures until evening! (We ordered Famous Dave's to go, and brought it back to our condo. Yum!) After dinner we headed to the dry play area. Lots of air cannons to shoot foam balls. Noah is a bit of a tough guy here with his full bag o' balls.

Mom and Laura were brave and climbed around with Max and Lily. Laura said she kind of went into "survival mode" - throwing the kid up to the next level. There came a point where she had to leave a man behind. :-)

These next three are some of my favorite pictures from the trip. The thought bubble above Sam is, "I'm in heaven!"

The looks on my two boys' faces as Noah reads to them, pretty much sums up their personalities:
These were some sweet moments! Will and Noah started out sleeping together on the bottom, full-sized bunk while Sam slept in the bunk above. Of course Sam was instantly asleep, while Noah ended up going back over to sleep with his own family. Will, always the light sleeper, was evidently up several times during the night unbeknown-st to us. Even though their bedroom was on the other side of the condo, Laura said that she woke up three different times to see Will standing over the top of Noah, looking down on him as he slept. Uh, just a little disturbing?! He wanted so badly to have Noah stay with him and Sam! Needless to say, everyone slept better the second night, as we were all more worn out, and Will had a long talk with Damon about staying in his own bed.

Fine Arts Night 2010

2010-03-11T22:06:00.004-06:00

Here are the kindergartners: Sam's in the back row (of course.)Max wore his sunglasses:
Whew! All done singing!
Will's group - 3rd and 4th graders. He's in the 2nd to last row:
Sam's artwork took him THREE Wednesdays to make!

Will made dimensional emotion masks - one side was "peaceful":
The other side was...."not...peaceful."
He also made a cast of his shoe out of PACKING TAPE! Super cool!
His group also contributed foil tooled pieces for a big monster - really neat!

60th Birthday!

2010-03-10T13:45:00.003-06:00

On March 5th, my mom turned 60! She wore this crown and sash most of the day, even to preschool and to a visit to her parents!We celebrated with dinner at the McC's and birthday brownies.
The kids all wrote her note/card - with things they like about Grandma. It was kind of an ordeal getting everyone to line up by age - but we got her done. Ya gotta love Sam's expressions.

Snowy Pictures

2010-02-27T23:33:00.002-06:00

Here are some pictures I took earlier this month when we had a snow day.

Frozen drool:

Snow fort and snow tunnel:

The Greatest Christmas Present

2010-02-19T15:06:00.003-06:00

Pioneer Woman from Emily Ward on Vimeo.

Here's the video that Emily made us girls for Christmas, in case you haven't already seen it on facebook or the Things With Wings blog. There's an explanation over there too of what it's all about.

Sledding

2010-02-09T20:38:00.004-06:00

Snow day here today. Since the roads were bad, Damon decided to stay home too. When the internet went out, there wasn't much work he could do, so he took Max outside while the boys were sledding. Max didn't really care for the snow in his face, hence the covering of his eyes.

Favorite moment: the camera pans over to Sam who's on his back with his feet up in the air - bet you weren't expecting that - eh?!

And yikes, do I really sound like that?!

Hello, Goodbye.

2010-02-09T20:02:00.002-06:00

Max's own special version of "Hello Goodbye." Of special interest are the nose picking, the leg up on the table, and the "ch - ch's" - which are an actual part of the song. I think that he's actually got a little bit of rhythm!

SOCKS.

2010-01-24T20:46:00.000-06:00

Parts.

2010-01-19T09:02:00.003-06:00

ears.

eyes.
nose.

mouth.
Cheetos.

Hawk Fan

2010-01-06T21:25:00.000-06:00

Max kept up this level of enthusiasm for the whole first half of the game last night - seriously - with fussing every time the action stopped.

Christmas Highlights

2010-01-04T11:40:00.003-06:00

Here are some of my favorite moments from Christmas. It took Max practically all day to open his presents, not because he had that many, but because he was content with opening just one. He's like his mom, not necessarily in being content with just one :-), but in that he likes to drag things out and make them last as long as possible....

sharing a moment:

Joy and excitement:

Sweet, Sweet Goofiness:

The Four-Handed Man:

Sharing a Rockband Moment:

Family Moment:

The Beatles

2009-12-30T16:58:00.001-06:00

here's what us girls did all afternoon - despite the whines of our kids who claimed we were hogging the wii. 3 hours of beatles rock band. it doesn't get much better than this.

Horton Hears a Who

2009-12-28T19:45:00.002-06:00

Here we all are playing the boys' new game from the Cole's - Horton Hears a Who. Sam especially likes it. Good times.

Deja Vu

2009-12-27T16:10:00.000-06:00

Does this remind you of any other recent blanket episodes?

Update

2009-12-17T07:58:00.007-06:00

Tuesday Damon was diagnosed with Pericarditis. Pericarditis is a swelling and irritation of the pericardium, the thin sac-like membrane that surrounds your heart. He's evidently been having chest pain since Thanksgiving, but has only recently gotten around to mentioning it. Hmf. Men.....

He's been having trouble sleeping because everytime he lays down he feels pressure, pain, and like his heart is racing in his chest. When those symptoms started happening during the day too, he decided maybe it should be looked at. The doctor was ready to send him home with heartburn medication, but decided to monitor his heart for awhile first. After 10 minutes, it was decided that he was too hairy and the electrodes were not making contact, and so they were going to have to shave some patches! :-)

The ECG indicated pericarditis, but they sent him over to Mercy to rule out anything else going on, like fluid around his heart, or that he'd had a heart attack. After an echocardiogram and a chest x-ray, the pericarditis diagnosis was confirmed and it was also noted that there was no fluid or evidence of a heart attack. He's on prednisone and colchicine. It could take anywhere from a few weeks to a few months before he's better. And there's a chance that it could reoccur. There's often times no known cause. It's sometimes viral or could be the result of trauma to the chest. He doesn't think he's been sick so wonders if the boys were too rough with him during a nightly 'get daddy' episode.

I think overall, Damon was relieved to get this diagnosis, because now he doesn't have to worry that he's having a heart attack all the time. Please pray that he starts to get some relief in his chest pain and pressure - it's worse when he lays down - so he can start to sleep better. Also, these drugs can have some side effects, so pray that he can tolerate the drugs well. He's never had to take much medication in his life. If he's not starting to feel a bit better by Monday, he's supposed to call, so that's reassuring.

Damon's always been so healthy - it's something I'm realizing I've taken for granted. Even though this was just a little scare, it's making me more thankful and aware of the precious gift he is to me.

Hammock

2009-12-06T21:02:00.001-06:00

Happy Birthday to Will!

2009-11-03T21:28:00.002-06:00

Will is 10 today! I can't believe I have a child who has double digits in their age. Here are some of the many things that we love about him:
- his sense of humor
-his energy and enthusiasm
-his mathmatical, scientific and building skills
-his imagination
-his ability to be a friend to anyone
-his goofiness
-the way he looks in his boyscout uniform
-he is the only boy (in our house) that can wipe his own butt. (This one's Damon's.)
-his grin
-his relationship with his brothers

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-31T22:04:00.003-05:00

This year Will came up with the idea of he and Sam being Mario and Luigi. After looking online and realizing how much a manufactured costume costs we decided to make our own! Well, I decided to ask my mom if she'd make them...

Didn't she do a great job?!

I came up with the 'facial hair.' isn't it fabulous?!

And then there's this guy:

You can look at more pictures here.

Pumpkin Carving

2009-10-29T12:59:00.002-05:00

Here are my two favorite pictures from pumpkin carving:
You can see more pictures here.

Fall Pictures

2009-10-24T20:31:00.011-05:00

The afternoon light was great today, so I thought I'd try to get some pictures of the boys - always a challenge - but I got a few great ones!

oh my, the dimples on this boy!

When I say 'challenge,' I mean stuff like below is going on. Hugs seem like a good idea, but they're really not:

Or someone's got a psychotic smile on their face:

...or a pout...
Or giving pirate faces:
There! Now we're getting somewhere:

What are they thinking about?!

Me and the Birthday Boy

2009-10-20T14:14:00.002-05:00

Sam's been home sick yesterday and today. Unless something unforeseen happens between now and then, he'll definitely be going back to school tomorrow. He laid around all day yesterday, seemed on the verge of a fever, and threw up once. Today, he's been running around a bit, playing, and has an appetite. You know when they say their 'bored,' that's a good sign!

Sam's New Bike

2009-10-18T21:48:00.001-05:00

Still needs to get a bit of confidence, but he'll be zippin' around before ya know it!

Guitar Tutorial

2009-10-18T21:35:00.005-05:00

Favorite parts: "you guys are off...you're way off."
Sam's knocking and tapping on all sides of his guitar.
Max patting and strumming his alarm clock.

These guys crack me up. So serious about the whole thing.

Happy Birthday, Sam!

2009-10-18T11:23:00.003-05:00

My sweet Sam is 6 today! Happy Birthday, buddy! We love you so much!
We love you because you are you. Here a just a few of the many things that make you special...
*your enthusiasm
*your sensitivity
*your touchy feely, huggy, kissy-ness
*your good-natured spirit
*your famous word mispronunciations
*your special "treasures" that you take such good care of beside your bed
*your relationships with your brothers
*your wearing of food on your face

I can't believe you're 6!

GAK!

2009-10-16T17:13:00.001-05:00

EEEE-YAH!!!

2009-10-14T22:48:00.001-05:00

After a Hard, Chilly day at school...

2009-10-14T15:57:00.003-05:00

....making silly hats in art class, there's nothing better than coming home to a cup of hot chocolate with a giant marshmallow in it.gulp.
Uh, Sam? You've got a little something on your chin.
Sam?....never mind. Just leave it. It's kinda cute.

Sam Can't Wait for the Snow to Stick....

2009-10-10T13:19:00.001-05:00

...so he decided to take matters into his own hands.

Iowa Homecoming Parade 2009

2009-10-09T20:08:00.005-05:00

Tonight we went to the Homecoming parade. Here are the boys waiting for it to start:
Talkin' about something or other:

This is my niece and her "Daddy, I want a balloon!" pose:
This is my niece and her mom and her "I didn't get a balloon and I don't want my picture taken" face:

Iowa Hawkeye fan sweetness:

Some big kid sweetness:

Some Hawkeye Handsomeness (just avoid looking at the turd in the corner.)

More Hawkeye handsomeness:

Is it Planting Season?

2009-10-07T16:15:00.002-05:00

Clue number 1 that something's up:
Will: Can I have a container to grow a plant?
Me: Do you have any seeds?
Will: No
Me: Do you have any dirt?
Will: No
So I gave him a gladware container. It's small...how much trouble could he get into? I'm just glad he's outside.

Clue number 2:
Sam: Mom, can we dig a hole?
Me: Yes, but make sure it's in the backyard. (Did I mention that I'm just glad that they're outside playing and decide it's best to not ask too many questions? Is that sad?)

Clue number 3:
Will: We're done!
Sam: Can we have a plant in our room?!
Me: Show me your plant first.

uh...no boys....that's going out on the deck, considering you can't even get it to stand up without the whole thing tipping over....but good job killing an hour outside!

Nummy-Nummy

2009-09-29T19:29:00.002-05:00

Keep your eyes on the drool. It's drool-tastic.

The Boys Have Some Cool Moves

2009-09-24T19:37:00.000-05:00

Lemme Carnival

2009-09-14T00:05:00.002-05:00

Friday night was our school's annual carnival and you would have thought that it was Christmas, the kids (especially Sam) were THAT excited!

I was in charge of the arts and crafts table again. Kids pay 2 tickets to decorate a mask, sunglasses, or make a bracelet. I provided the glue, and all of the doo-dads. Here's Sam's creation:Oh, and then he decided to add some eyebrows:

He wore this bad boy all around the carnival the rest of the night! It was a nice night, but he was all hot and sweaty - and glitter stuck to his sweaty face!
On the walk home, he finally decided to take it off, after I suggested he might need a breather. He commented - "I don't know why, but it's all wet in there." Reminds me of the good old fashioned plastic masks we wore for Halloween. They didn't breathe either!

A New Dining Room Table! (Finally)

2009-09-01T14:10:00.004-05:00

Yesterday Damon took the day off so we could go dining room table shopping around Cedar Rapids while the older two were in school. We've been without a dining room table since April when this happened. It was hard finding something we liked that was practical (seat cushions would get stained, dark wood shows every little scratch) and that we could AFFORD! We started out at Bills Brothers, hit a bunch of other places, and ended up back there to buy this guy:
We had barely enough time, but managed to get home with the table in a flat box, and 6 chairs assembled in the van. Max didn't like being boxed in too much - he cried all the way home and finally fell asleep when we hit IC. Got in to town right at 3! Now I'm thinking about what would look good on the new table...placemats?....a fun centerpiece?...for now I've got this bowl we got as a wedding present but rarely use and the leaf runner I had on our old table.

Guess Who's Riding a Two Wheeler?!

2009-08-24T13:03:00.005-05:00

That's right folks, it's Sam! He asked Damon to take the training wheels off his bike yesterday afternoon, and he just took off! By that night's walk he was a pro! It was kind of amazing!! We've since raised the seat and are contemplating if he may need a bigger bike for his birthday in October!

An Anniversary Surprise

2009-08-23T14:03:00.004-05:00

For all of you non facebook users, Damon surprised me by posting a bunch of our WEDDING pictures on his facebook, and then waited for me to find them - as he knew I would! For any of you who know of my love for facebook, you KNOW how special a surprise this was to me! So if any of you have not yet seen some terribly funny and bad wedding pictures, you may follow this link to view them. You do not need to be a facebook user to view them. (Clicking on each picture will bring it up bigger.)

The thing about these pictures is that they've been rarely viewed. We got married 3 short months after my dad unexpectedly passed away and we were all in a kind of a daze. Although these moments were celebratory, they were also so very raw and bittersweet, and even still, a bit hard to look at. I still feel bad about the fact that I never ordered a single picture, although I had orders from various family members, I just didn't want to deal with it. And then after time had gone by, it seemed less and less important, so I just let it go. So these are all proofs. So see? We do have 'proof' we did tie the knot - even though I hardly remember a thing about the day. Looking at the pictures, for the first in over 10 years, I laughed, I cried...and you just might too!

Happy 12th anniversary Damon, I love you!

First Day of School!

2009-08-20T09:39:00.004-05:00

The kids are off to school today! I can't believe we have a 4th grader and a kindergartner. It makes me feel old! I had one excited kid, and one who pretended he wasn't. Any guesses as to who was who?

There! That's better!
Did you notice the new tie-dyed Lemme t-shirts?! pretty snazzy huh?

Walking to school:

Standing in line:

Mrs. Saehler - one of the best kindergarten teachers anywhere - had us say goodbye outside - wise advice.
There wasn't even any criers!
I hope that he gets through the lunch line ok. I hope he doesn't go around wearing his lunch on his face all afternoon. I hope he speaks up and tells someone if he needs to go to the bathroom. I hope he makes a friend. I hope he doesn't actually fall asleep during rest time. I hope he has fun. I hope he's not worried because (as he put it) "but I don't know how to read yet.'
(sigh...) Now what?!

Happy Birthday to Max!

2009-08-19T10:25:00.000-05:00

I can't believe that my baby is two today! He's not really a baby anymore. He's a toddler. He still doesn't talk much, but strangely enough, he has a way of getting most any point across. He loves trains and other things with wheels. He's a big copy cat - following his brothers and cousins around imitating their actions and sounds. He loves cheetos, being outside, singing, his blanky, turning anything on and off, bigger kids, reading books, puzzles, and his daddy.

Happy birthday, my sweet boy!

Conquering the Fossil Gorge

2009-08-13T10:56:00.005-05:00

Recently we had our nephew over for a sleep over. We thought it'd be the perfect opportunity to take everybody out to the fossil gorge at the Res.

There's nothing like climbing on big rocks to make the men in your life feel like...well...men! Case in point:
Another prime example of testosterone at work:

Just look at that puffed out chest - obviously proud to have conquered the rocks. I think they were getting in touch with their caveman selves -
Pleased as punch to be out in the wild. Now if they just would have had some fire or something to blow up, they'd be out there still.Don't get me wrong - boys can be tender too - there were also moments like these. Showing mom a fossil:

And there were sweet moments like this:
Looking for fish swimming under the rock they're standing on:

Poking at crawdads - (or lobsters as Noah called them):

And then there were puzzling moments - moments of 'what were you thinking' that are a daily occurrence in a household of boys. Can you guess what this is?
Yep, it's a footprint. Because "I didn't know it was mud." Now we're back to another tender moment - cousin helping to scrape mud off of a totally covered foot.
the solution - dip your scraping rocks in the water, and scrape some more. There was some talk about banging rocks together until they'd made really sharp scrapers - but we just didn't have that kind of time:
Then it was off to watch the water come through the dam - always impressive (pay no attention to my nephew's dirty hands - he'd just gotten done helping his cousin scrape mud - I'm pretty sure he washed his hands when we got home):

All my nephews are great with Max - and Max thinks they're hilarious:
More rock climbing. Look. Even big boys can get that 'I've conquered big rocks' gleam in their eye:

The end.

Kinze Family Fun Day

2009-08-09T21:34:00.008-05:00

Yep, it's that time of year again, time for some Kinze Family Fun! my mom's husband, Don works at Kinze Manufacturing and they put on quite a shindig for the employees and their families every summer. Joe and Jack were super excited about the kiddie wagon train - can't you tell?
And so was everybody else!

There were a ton of inflatables this year - and Sam really got himself moving down them!

Will and Noah both tried out the rock climbing wall and got way up there!

Lily and Max spent a lot of time hanging out under at the sand tent. He was not too sure about sand between the toes.
Lily seriously could have spent the whole day there.

There were all kinds of free snacks - nachos, kettlecorn, lemonade, pop and SNO-CONES:

Us girls played a little bingo, and despite getting close a few times, none of us won:
Later on, Don won a MEAT PACKAGE in the employee raffle! An OBSCENE amount of meat was delivered to them and it filled up their deep freeze! They'll be set for a long time to come! Then there was the great meal - brisket, hamburgers, and hotdogs, salads, potatoes, fruit, icecream and COOKIES. I think this was my mom's plate. She'll claim they weren't all for her, but I don't know....

Foot Bridge

2009-08-07T15:35:00.005-05:00

There's a footbridge over by Iowa River Power that goes across the Iowa River. After eating at Flannigan's one night, (we won't be going back again any time soon - it wasn't very good) we took a little walk across. The kids were happy, I promise.See?

There were lots of ducks and a long legged, long necked bird, where the river had flooded last year. There is still an area where water diverts creating a shallow 'rapids' perfect for birds and animals.

These are real life pictures, people, with real pain and real heartache.

The end.

Tot Lot

2009-08-06T10:51:00.003-05:00

Here's what Max got to do every morning for two weeks while the other boys had their swimming lessons. Lucky boy!

Although he may not look it, one of his favorite things was going in and out of the little play house:

Not out the window, you silly!

Once a week there were even inflatable jumpy houses to play in!

At the Park

2009-08-03T14:58:00.009-05:00

Awhile back I took Sam and Max to City Park to feed ducks and ride the train. Well, we also played at the playground. I'd kind of forgotten about these pictures. Such lovely light. Such lovely moments.

Last Day of Vacation - Seaworld!

2009-07-30T11:45:00.033-05:00

We got up early to leave for San Antonio for our last full day in Texas. We picked up Emily on the way and headed for Sea World! It was so hot, but we all survived! Here are some of my favorite pictures from the day:This is the Shamu theater:

Sam INSISTED we were going to sit within the first 20 rows....THE SPLASH ZONE:

This is how Emily felt about sitting in the splash zone:

Highlights of the shamu show:

There were 3 of these big guys:

Here we are, AFTER getting splashed. We weren't just damp, moist, or even wet. We were SOAKED down to the bone! Max didn't like it, he cried. Will hid, and Sam loved it! Basically three killer whales scooped up water with their tails and drenched us over and over and OVER again. It was a pure shock, even though we knew it was coming, because the water was 52 degrees and we'd been out in the 100 degree heat. I literally felt like my whole body shut down for a few seconds! I remember once I finally got a breath I took this huge loud gasping breath of air, like I was on the verge of drowning! It was something else, I tell ya!

This theater had a show with dolphins, divers, synchronized swimmers and trapeze artists.

There were misters above us in different places throughout the park, but they did little in the way of relief:

Mr. Independent:

The Cannery Row show - featuring sea lions, otters, and a walrus. Out of all the shows we saw, the boys liked this one best. It was pretty cute:
Funny:

Having a snack:

Another favorite was the Shamu family roller coaster ride:

Up close with the dolphins:
jelly fish:

stingrays:
Sharks:

lionfish:
eels:
The waterpark area:

The entrance/exit:
Ice cream is always a good way to end the day:

Max Hasn't Been Sleeping Well at Night:

2009-07-29T19:40:00.001-05:00

Sunday of our Vacation

2009-07-27T13:09:00.007-05:00

We spent the afternoon at the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum. There was a short movie called The Star of Destiny with moving sets, sound and lighting effects, and other surprising things like wind, smoke and shaking seats. I admit that I might have screamed out loud when a rattle snake pounced in the movie and the seat under my legs jabbed me in the back of the thighs.
Here we are waiting for the show to start. There always has to be one person who ruins a perfectly nice picture (taken by a 5 year old.)

Sweet Madison

I swear we had this calculator when I was a kid. Go Texas Instruments!

Vintage postcards caught my eye:

In the lobby there's a really cool floor depicting different scenes from Texas history. Guess the museum wore Shelly out....actually I think she was trying to entertain the kids while we waited for Damon. Above us was a very cool ceiling - open 3 stories.

Max was tired out. He was lucky enough to score a ride from his cousin Dillon. He just rested his chin right on the top of Dillon's head! So sweet!

There is a big star statue outside.
hmm....that star sure does look awfully familiar. It's like I've seen it somewhere before.........it's like I know that star, and it knows me....it's like me and that star have some kind of intimate history or something....

Day 4

2009-07-24T13:32:00.010-05:00

We started out the day with a ride to our nephew Jared's work - at a toy store. Here's an "I can't believe we all fit in here" picture:The entrance has a special door for kids:
Testing the merchandise. I hope that we didn't get Jared in trouble.

In the afternoon we had a family get together with all of Damon's Texas family. Here he is with his cousin Stephanie. She has 3 boys close to the same age as the Cole kids and then a little 6 year old girl! Hopefully we'll get to see them all next time!

Damon's aunt Jeannetta and her son Tim, along with Stephanie:

Damon's cousins Tim and Margeaux (their mom is Jeannetta) with their dad, Kurt. Max woke up from his nap and sat on Margeaux's lap for a long time, but refused to look at her. He did however, peek at her out of the corner of his eye a few times, to see if she was still behind him.The Coles graciously opened their invitation to include Emily and some of her friends, who joined us for the cookout:
Here are all the cousins that were there. Jennelle (sitting) and Stephanie on the left are sisters. Their mom is Damon's dad's sister. Their dad is Damon's mom's brother. Siblings married siblings. So they've got double cousins! Got it?! Shelly and Damon are in the middle, Tim and Margeaux are the siblings on the right. Their mom Jeannetta is Damon's mom's sister. Whew!
There's always gotta be a goofy picture:
Aww...

more awww....
That night we all headed down the block to the Cole's neighborhood pool. it was so hot outside that the water was well...not all that refreshing. it was like swimming in bath water. but it was better than being dry! I've heard of heated pools, but maybe Texas should look into some cooled pools!

We had such a good time getting caught up with family we hadn't seen in way too long! It was a great day!

Day 3 Part 2

2009-07-23T17:24:00.000-05:00

Friday evening we all ventured downtown to the congress street bridge to witness the bats on a 'bat cruise.' While docked, we saw a lot of turtles, some of which were quite big!
My sister in law Shelly (Damon's sister) and brother in law Scott.

Here we all are- notice Will still has his glasses in this picture. Shortly after this, Will's glasses fell overboard to the bottom of Lady Bird Lake. Some turtle can probably see very well:

We laugh every time we see this picture, because it looks like Damon has something coming out of his mouth - really it's the rope lighting on the boat railing:

It was so hot. We tried to keep everyone hydrated! Hey, ya gotta do what ya gotta do, even if it means taking water from a baby. No, he didn't really drink Max's water, he was just being silly:

Passing underneath a railroad bridge while a train went by overhead:

A pedestrian bridge:

Every night quite a crowd gathers on the congress street bridge, waiting for the bats to emerge:

There they are!

And here we are, freaking out! Our niece Madison and nephew Dillon:

Max with his aunt and uncle:

I know many of you have already seen the bat video on my facebook, but here it is again, for those of you who haven't seen it. It was so funny (if you didn't mind a little bat pee) and very freaky! I didn't know whether to put my camera on the bats, or on the people!

Day 3 Part 1

2009-07-22T19:26:00.010-05:00

Friday started out with a trip to Inner Space Caverns with the Cole's. Here we are waiting for our turn to take the tour.
Will and Uncle Scott:

The Cole Family: Dillon, Scott, Shelly, Madison and Jared:

Taking a tram down to the entrance of the cave:

The one place you were allowed to touch:

Fossilized coral and shrimp tunnels:
The "Ice Cream Shop":

A bat - foreshadowing batty things to come that night:

Hanging out back at the Cole house:

Shelly bought all our boys sunglasses which they ate dinner with them on:

Getting ready for more bat adventures that night!

Day 2

2009-07-17T11:11:00.025-05:00

Day 2 started out like any other ordinary vacation day - with a big bag of extra long twizzlers.

Then it was off to the Wildlife Safari Ranch:

checking our mirrors, to make sure everyone's ready for the adventure:

For the most part we saw a lot of lethargic animals, too hot to get out of the shade and move. But there were a few interesting moments:

Girls Night - Damon took the boys out to the Cole's and I joined them all later. We went to a tex mex place with Dana (Emily's new roommate) and Jen (Charlotte joined us later):

Here we are enjoying a mariachi band - well at least some of us enjoyed it. Some of us were battling an irrational fear...

We may need to slowly acclimate Jen to the wonders of mariachi, so I propose that over the next several weeks we get some mariachi bands to randomly show up wherever she is and serenade her, until eventually her tears of horror turn into tears of joy. This may also involve a viewing of the three amigos, but I'm not sure.

Austin Day 1!

2009-07-15T21:55:00.005-05:00

On the way to the airport. Don't we all look excited?!

On the plane:

Classic. This picture makes me laugh every time I look at it:

Chicago skyline. (we had a last minute change of flights, due to weather in Atlanta):

Waiting in the airport:
This lady seriously thought she was going to get on our plane with a GOOSE. How did she make it through security and up to our gate? Why didn't she care that it was honking and pooping everywhere? These are questions I'll never know the answers to. (She was not allowed on our plane, thank goodness.)

Beautiful sunset:

Trying to keep the little guy busy with movies on the laptop:

It was a LATE night. We had to wait for our rental car to be cleaned. Despite the hour and the fact that we had a rented a van, Emily met us at the airport and did a little dance upon our arrival. We arrived at Emmy's around midnight. Everyone was still awake! She had cereal for us, and we called it a night!

Webelos Camp

2009-07-05T11:19:00.009-05:00

Damon and Will spent two nights at boy scout camp.
Home Sweet Home:
It turns out Will is a pretty good shot:

bb guns:

horse shoes - that is the look of intense concentration and aim:

the rock climbing tower:

"chest"

the dining hall:

friends and scoutmaster:

Feeding the Ducks

2009-06-30T13:41:00.006-05:00

I just realized that I don't think any actual ducks made it into these pictures - so you'll just have to trust me.
oh wait. There's some - if you squint and look in the bottom right hand corner:

Not sure what Max is doing here - communing with nature?:

Hey! More ducks!

I LOVE this picture - how Max's chin is outlined by the sun, and you can see Sam's profile behind him.

Love Sam's profile in this one too:

Oh be still my heart! What is he thinking about?!

Another favorite:

Love this one too:

*Every time the ducks reached up and caught the bread mid-air, Max laughed really hard belly laughs. Every time - and I mean every time - he threw a piece of bread, he'd come over and give me a high five! It's so much fun that he initiates this - and it's when he's done something he knows is big stuff! He can't give enough high fives, it's his big thing right now.

*Guess I got more ducks in the pictures than I thought I did!

*It was fun experimenting with the sun. I didn't really know what I was doing, but I guess that's how you learn!

City Park

2009-06-30T10:01:00.005-05:00

Last night I took Sam and Max to City Park to ride the train. They were so excited! Max pretty much just sat there with his mouth open, taking everything in. He was quite intrigued. We also fed the ducks and played on the playground then finished off the evening with home made rootbeer floats. Sam said it was the best day of his life! I'm so glad he's so easy to please - let's hope he stays that way. This outing was a good opportunity to experiment with the sun - since it was evening. I messed around with some of the best pictures- adding an 'antique' effect to them and love how the sun flared ones turned out. If you know me at all, you're not surprised that I took over 100 pictures just on this little excursion and filled up my memory card!

what do you think of the antique effect? I think it gives it kind of a 70's feel. Before:After:
Stay tuned for 'feeding the ducks' pictures.

Yesterday Was Damon's Birthday....

2009-06-26T17:25:00.007-05:00

So we made him this most awesome poster. It's really quite something:
Everyone worked on it:

Max loved that I let him have a marker:

Will was pretty patient with Max's marker usage too:

This picture speaks for itself:

These pictures are from Father's Day:

Happy Birthday to my sweet hubby!

Goodbye Michael...

2009-06-26T09:49:00.002-05:00

Here's our little tribute to Michael Jackson:

This Dance is Somewhere in Between Beauty and Chaos.

2009-06-25T15:06:00.003-05:00

Emily, I really think that Max might be on to something here. He's got some great moves for Aaron and the band. I don't know if they'd be able to find any of this metallic ribbon or not, but any kind of scarf would do. The boys called Max's dance a "rain dance," so evidently you all'd get the added benefit of a little rain in Texas if they followed Max's lead. Just something to think about.

We all REALLY like Aaron Ivey's new album - Between the Beauty and Chaos. (His new website is up today!) Download it from itunes here. From amazon here. It was #1 yesterday on itunes for the christian artist category! It's amazing, and not just because Em sings BGV's on some of the songs. There's just a lot of talent and a lot of Christ's leading here. God's doing something amazing!

Good Times

2009-06-24T15:08:00.004-05:00

Laura wanted me to get out all our old barbie things from when we were girls so that Lily could play with them. Turns out she wasn't all that interested.... but we were. Lots of little things:

Laura's prized possession was this barbie dog. And boy was I ever jealous:

One of Barbie's rocker friends - De-De? you can make her 'dance' by twisting her at the waist, which makes her arms move. Boy does that ever look cool when the fringe on her wristband gets to swaying:

Don't remember what this barbie was called, her cape can be worn around her neck or waist. Mom made the quilt and pillow.

Despite the horrific tragedies that have mangled these girls' limbs, they're still looking as beautiful as ever - another rocker, and suntan Barbie. oops, Barbie, you're showing a little too much suntan.

Rocker Ken still manages to look quite studly on barbie's horse. what would you think if you really came across someone looking like him?! I'm pretty sure Emily is to blame that his mullet is in a ponytail.

Ah, and then there's Michael Jackson. Always crashing Barbie's parties, forgetting to put any pants on. Some things never change....

wait. how did this get in there?! I've been looking all over for my Joey McIntire candy disc. At least us big girls had fun this afternoon. Reminiscing over barbies - there's nothing like it. Good times, good times.

Kent Park

2009-06-21T21:10:00.006-05:00

Time For the Pool

2009-06-21T20:09:00.003-05:00

We made a very short lived attempt at playing in the pool last week. I say "short lived" because the minute I turned the video off, Sam got frustrated every time Max got in and out - which was all he wanted to do. This was frustrating for Sam because every time Max got out, he let water out with him. All Sam wanted to do was jump in, land on his board, and "surf". Half the time, Max had moved the board by the time Sam was ready to go, the other half the time Max was screaming because he'd been splashed. They just couldn't seem to get along, there was constant screaming from somebody, and so we all had to go inside. It was fun while it lasted - all 5 minutes.