News & Views from the Valley

Grandmom and Gramma Zoe

2011-11-30T19:29:00.005-05:00

This Fall turned out to be a difficult transition for my grandparents in many ways. They left the home that they built many years ago to move to a smaller place in an independent living community, where they have the option to change over to assisted living, should they need it in the future. This change alone, combined with trying to sell their house, pare down their belongings, and negotiate the finances and paperwork of all of it....pretty stressful for both of them. Then on a trip that my grandmother took with a friend, she suffered a massive stroke. Only we didn't really know it until she was back home. It took quite a while to get all the details after test results came back and the doctors had a chance to evaluate her in the hospital.

This all happened just before we took our trip down to Charlotte. As my mom was trying to sort out the details of what the doctors were telling her, and trying to figure out what this meant for Grandmom, we got some other news. Her (My grandmother's) long-time friend, my Godmother, who several years ago herself had suffered a debilitating stroke, had passed away that Sunday morning. For those who did not know her, it would be very difficult to explain the magnitude of this loss. While we rejoice that she is with the Lord now, it still leaves an empty place in our hearts that was just for "Gramma Zoe". Zoe Toler was one remarkable woman, and she definitely made a huge impact on my life and countless others, as well.

So when I got off the phone with my mom, literally still on the road on our way back from North Carolina, I realized that I needed to get down to Florida to see my grandmother and, if it worked out, try to be there for Zoe's Memorial Service. At that time, my grandmother was still in the hospital, but it was looking like she would be going home sometime that week.

At this point, I have to say that I am SOOO incredibly thankful and blessed to have a husband who loves me and is willing to make sacrifices and allowances so that I can do things. Things like leaving our family time with his parents over Thanksgiving weekend, including leaving both kids in his care, while I fly down to Florida for less than 24 hours, so that I can see my grandparents, my mom, my brother and sister in law, attend my Godmother's memorial service, and grieve with the family that was my family before I even knew Jason. It was important to me and therefore it was important to him. He drove me to and picked me up from the airport and really was just 100% supportive of me that whole time. I also appreciate my in-laws being flexible enough to squeeze in our big dinner before I left, so that we could share that meal together and celebrate how thankful we are for the wonderful gifts we've been given.

Having a Grandmother AND a Godmother who loved me as much as these two have: absolutely one of the most priceless gifts you can ever imagine.

Gramma Zoe on the left and my grandmom, Eleanor Redding, on the right.

Update:
My Grandmother continues to struggle with short term memory loss following her stroke, but overall is remarkably active and healthy considering the degree of damage that the doctors said "could" have been done if the location in her brain had been slightly different. She was able to come to visit over the Christmas/New Year break with my mom (which I hope to blog about in a separate post) and had a nice time visiting and seeing the kids.

My grandparents' house did finally sell. We are grateful and relieved that this is the case, but also a little sad as we all have so many memories wrapped up in that house.

These pictures are from a year ago, but I thought I'd post them here..this was the view from my grandparents' back yard. The Indian River.

This is my (ahem) 88 year old grandmother last year, dancing with my daughter in the living room. Pretty sure there were lots of fits of laughter coming from that room. :-)

Stay tuned for Thanksgiving and Christmas updates...I'm S L O W L Y catching up!!

Road Trip, Race Day, and Family Fun

2011-11-16T14:04:00.024-05:00

We took a trip down to Charlotte in mid-November for Jason's Half-Marathon and had a wonderful weekend away as a family. We hit up some of our favorite restaurants, did some outlet shopping, went to the Mint Museum, and then explored the Africa side of the North Carolina zoo!! It was a busy, crazy weekend, and while it was fun, we ended up deciding to come home a day early since Josh had come down with a cold and we figured we needed some down time before the "work week" began.

I was SO incredibly proud of Jason in this race! He totally rocked the Charlotte Half Marathon (13.1 miles) in just over 1 hour and 40 minutes, reaching a new personal record! Way to go, Jason!!

Lauren was very excited to take some pictures of Daddy with her new camera! She looked so cute with her camera bag slung across her little body, acting like she was a total pro. :-)

Little Mr. Busybody fell asleep in the stroller on the way down to the race. Not even the loud music woke him up. Poor lil guy was plum tuckered out. :-)

After we left the race area, on our walk back to the hotel, we crossed back over the course of the full marathoners. We stopped for a little while so that we could cheer on the runners, which Lauren thoroughly enjoyed and did so with great enthusiasm! "GO RUNNERS" she yelled, as loud as she could, and rang her little cow bell!!

We took the kids to the Children's Area of the Mint Museum, which is right in Uptown Charlotte, just blocks from where our hotel was. They had a great time building, exploring, drawing, and playing and it really was not busy at all, which was so nice.

The day that we left Charlotte, we drove to Asheboro,NC and checked out the North Carolina Zoo. It's divided into two main sections, by continents: North America and Africa. Since we were mainly interested in the large animals on the Africa side, we decided to stick with that. This zoo is over 500 acres of animal habitats with about 5 miles of pathways connecting it all. This was one of those times when I was REALLY thankful for the sit & stand (double) stroller that we have, because there is no way that we would have been able to see as much as we did without it. Lauren could hop off and explore and check things out (and take pictures!) and then she could hop back on again if she wanted to get a break from walking. It was a great adventure and we took a bunch of pictures - too many to post here, but I'd say the highlight of our day there was when this...

...baby chimpanzee came right up to the glass in front of Lauren and gave her a BIG KISS!! It was fabulous!! I've never seen such an excited yet bewildered look on Lauren's face before! Absolutely priceless!

You can sort of see "the kiss" in this picture - and the boy who was next to Lauren pointing at the baby chimp. Everyone that was standing right there was cheering her on and laughing when (he?) actually came up to her and put (his?) mouth to the glass! One of the cutest things ever.

Lauren's Birthday Party

2011-11-06T21:13:00.004-05:00

For Lauren's 4th Birthday Party, she wanted to invite GIRLS only over for tea. For anyone who knows me, clearly this was the green light that I had been waiting for for over 4 years!! A tea party??? "Sure, honey! You can have a tea party"!! What ensued can only be described as a mother's indulgence and a little girl's overdose on sugar. The boys excused themselves for lunch on their own at the deli up the road and the mamas passed around fancy trays of sweet delights to some very well behaved little ladies. Jason's mom was here for the fun and I was sooooo thankful for her help!

Setting the table for this birthday tea held special significance for me because the china that I used was my Grandmother's (my Dad's Mom who passed when I was in High School)and the table linens and serving pieces, along with a side drop-leaf table, were recently given to me by my Maternal Grandmother. These were items from the house where my grandparents spent the last four decades and where my Mom and brother and I lived for 9 years. They definitely hold a lot of sentimental value for me and I was so excited to be able to use these special things to make Lauren's Birthday tea party extra fancy!

Setting napkins in laps...

First Course of sandwiches, fruit and cookies

Serving the second round of treats

The girls had time to play before and after the tea, and while we were waiting for the boys to return so that we could have cake and cupcakes (more sweets!!), the girls played this little stacking game with sugar cubes. They were so focused on their task!

Our beautiful birthday girl

Cake #2

I think that Lauren's (and my) expectations were met and exceeded at the tea party. The best part was having some SWEET girls here to share it with!!

Happy 4th Birthday, Lauren!!

2011-11-01T19:47:00.006-04:00

Our big girl turned 4 and she is growing up to be quite the little lady!! We are so proud of her! She is a beautiful, smart, funny, thoughtful, and loving girl.

We joined some friends for lunch at Lauren's favorite: Elderberry's! She even got her smoothie with a candle in it instead of a straw and we sang Happy Birthday to her!! It was very cute to watch her be surprised and excited!

For her birthday cake, Lauren requested that I include birds, butterflies, frogs and owls!! Wow! So in order to meet her requirements, I came up with this creation!!

When Daddy got home from work, Lauren got to open her birthday presents. She has been wanting her own camera, since she loves to take pictures and likes to try to use ours....so that was her gift from us this year. She was VERY excited to try it out. I don't think Daddy could get the batteries in fast enough. :-)

We ended the day with bath time, dinner then cake! Here she is blowing out her candles. Happy Birthday, sweet girl!! We love you!

There's a first time for everything...

2011-10-28T20:45:00.017-04:00

including the very exciting, purposely-delayed-as-long-as-we-could, kid's birthday party at CHUCK-E-CHEESE's!

Lauren was invited to celebrate with one of her classmates and she had never been to chuck-e-cheese's before. Needless to say, she had a wonderful time riding rides, playing games, eating pizza and cake and ice cream, and crawling around the play tunnels. I think her favorite game was the air hockey table. Fortunately it wasn't too crazy on a Friday afternoon and there were no other parties.

While we were there, she looked at me with a smile full of joy and amazement and said "Mommy, I like Chuck E Cheese's"!! ...and then later as we left..."Can we come back to Chuck-E-Cheese's another day"?

**sigh** "Sure, sweetheart".

So much fun...

Riding the rides

Playing air hockey

Eating with her friends from school

Lining the kids up for group pictures - the birthday girl is in the middle

The girls playing up in the tunnels

Layman Farms 2011

2011-10-19T21:17:00.000-04:00

We went back to Layman Farms this year, and once again, we were not disappointed! We actually were able to do the corn maze and ride over to the pumpkin patch, neither of which we did last year, mostly because Josh was so young and it was very windy. This time, we went with our good friends, the Whiteds and their kids, Chase and Sophie, who are close in age to Lauren and Josh. In fact, Sophie and Josh have birthdays that are only two weeks apart!

We are so thankful for the close network of friends that we have developed since moving to Roanoke. Without our immediate family in town, our good friends have become our extended family and we appreciate the time that we get to spend together, encouraging each other as we seek God and His grace in raising our children. And some days, we REALLY need some encouragement!! Can I get an AMEN!?!

Here is a link to some of the pictures that we took. What a fun day!!

Layman Family Farm 2011

Last warm days

2011-10-15T19:59:00.001-04:00

One day in early October, I let the kids go out to play in the backyard when the weather was really nice. It was absolutely gorgeous outside - bare feet and short sleeve weather! Lauren and Josh had fun just goofing off while I took some pictures of them. I am amazed at how quickly both of them are changing. Even in just the last few weeks, I have noticed a lot of signs that they are both gaining more independence yet also learning how to play together and be buddies. Here are some of my favorite pictures:

Fall Kickoff

2011-09-14T20:29:00.024-04:00

This week has been one of the busiest we've had in a while as we gear up for Fall with the start of lots of new activities! Last week Lauren had her first ballet class at a dance studio and went to preschool orientation to meet her new teacher.

This week, we've had the first "official" day of preschool, the start of AWANA (Bible study for Lauren), dance class, and tomorrow I will start back to my weekly Mom2Mom group, so Lauren and Josh will get to go to that and hang out with the other kids.

This week I also started taking Josh to Melody Makers, which was something I did with Lauren when she was his age, and he loved it!! He was laughing and smiling and he thought the bubbles and the music were just a riot.

Jason has also been very busy at work with residents and students on rotation with him. He is always busy at work, but this is an especially intense time as he has to balance a full work load with providing leadership and guidance to the residents as they learn.

In his spare time, he teaches the kids how to stick out their tongues and other silly daddy things....here are some snapshots from our last couple weeks.

Where's your tongue, Josh?

our sweet boy snoozing away

Lauren all ready for preschool!

Beautiful girl!

Lauren with her friend Dotti in their new classroom

Josh was so excited to be there too! I think he thought he was going to stay as well!

Mom and Daughter

Lauren is really good at posing for the camera now. She thinks it's so fun and loves to see the pictures on the camera right after I take them, and then she asks if she can take some pictures too. I have no idea where she gets the interest in photography from. ;-) Here she is all dressed for Church on Sunday.

Josh is getting very good at stacking cups and building a tower. The set of 10 cups that we have is probably his favorite "toy" right now - he will spend a long time stacking and nesting the cups and carrying them around the house. Here he is playing with them before Church.

Ready for ballet class!!

She was so excited!

To finish off the week, Jason and I will both be running (with separate teams) in the Marine 5K Mud Run on Saturday, so I'm sure we'll have some hilarious shots to share of our post-race mess! We're looking forward to a fun time with friends.

That's all for now!!

Water Play!

2011-09-02T07:19:00.010-04:00

Here are the pictures that I promised to post from the water play area at Norfolk Botanical Gardens. The kids had a blast!!

Christian Mommies 2011

2011-08-17T08:48:00.039-04:00

Usually when I tell people for the first time that I have a group of friends that I met ONLINE, I get lots of exclamations of surprise and curious questions. Fair enough. People meet each other and date through online services these days - a little different, but not too weird, right? And then I tell the story of how we actually MET each other in person (well, most of us).

"WHAT?!?! What was THAT like??"

So it's a long story, and I've shared it on here before, but for those of you who are not familiar with the story of the Christian Mommies, here's the short(er) version:

We all met on Baby Center, an online chat forum, in 2007 when we were all pregnant and due in November. Fourteen of us from the group remained in touch with each other up to and after the births of our children (in October and November) and went to a private server so that we could communicate with each other only (no lurkers!). This group of Christian women includes residents from California to Massachusetts, and Michigan to Florida!! We're spread out all over the country!

The following year, when our babies were about 8 months old, we decided to meet as a group. We planned a trip to Chicago, where 8 families came together for a fun, crazy weekend. It was so awesome to connect a face (not just a picture) and a voice (!!) to the ladies we had come to know so well over the last year. We gave lots of hugs, our husbands and babies and kids all met each other, we had late-night girl chats and it REALLY sunk in that we were actually there... face-to-face!

In 2009 We met in Hershey, PA - Some of the same families from the year before and some "new" ones who hadn't come before. You can read about that trip HERE.

Fast forward to this year...

A smaller group of us (5 families) gathered here in Virginia, near the Williamsburg/Hampton/Norfolk area earlier this month. I absolutely enjoyed catching up with friends that I hadn't seen in two years, but was also thrilled to get to meet a "new" friend for the first time!! Rachel had not been to any of the previous trips, although she had met a few of the other ladies at various times, while they were traveling. This special lady and I shared many online chats over coffee, lamenting and rejoicing and praying and praising. And finally, four years later, we got to meet FOR REAL!! HA HA!!

Rachel with her son, Nevan and Me with Lauren

This trip was spent catching up over breakfast, hanging out at the pool, visiting the botanical gardens in Norfolk, going out to dinner, and of course, having our nightly girl time after the kiddos were in bed. (THANKS to Jenny and to the daddies!!) But mostly it was about continuing the conversations that we always have....only we don't have to type!! We sure missed the ones who weren't able to make it this year! I am looking forward to the day when I finally get to meet those whom I haven't met yet!

So while I can explain the series of events that has led us up to this trip and this point in our friendship, it still does not do justice to the experience of knowing these women. I can't really describe in words what it has meant to me to have these ladies in my life. In four years, there has not been a SINGLE DAY, not a SINGLE DAY that has gone by, when at least a few members of the group have not been in touch with each other (on the board), praying for each other, calling each other, or "facebooking" each other (can that be considered a verb now!?!). Someone is ALWAYS there. Sure, there are times when we get busy. There are days when some of us can't check in. Yes, we argue. We certainly don't agree on everything. But for us, the beauty of being sisters in the body of Christ is that we can all be different and imperfect and love each other anyway. I am so, so incredibly thankful for that love and the encouragement and joy that I have received over the last few years. It is nothing short of a miracle that God brought our group together. Especially because HE knows and WE know that it has allowed certain members of our group to "walk through the valley of the shadow of death" or as I also have heard it described..."do the death crawl", knowing that she is not alone. We've seen each other through some mighty hard times, and some absolutely wonderful times, too!

I know that in 10 or 20 years, we will have many more memories to look back on and I pray that this group continues to be a vehicle of God's grace and provision and love, as we seek to raise our children to know Him, and as we cry and laugh with each other along the way. :-)

This post is for you......(in no particular order)

Anette, Rachel, Liz, Cheryl, Chana, Linda, Jenny, Michelle, Jennifer, Lisa, Alyssa, Dawn and Kylie!!

Here are just a few highlights from the trip:

Jenny and Linda and Me...with our boys. :-)

Lauren was in awe of Elaina's older sister, Jordan. Here they are holding hands at the Botanical Gardens.

Jenny with her boys

Linda and her family

Chana with Max

Some of the kids at the gardens

Lauren took this picture of Jenny!

Group hug with Chana's husband, Darryl. :-)

Daddy and daughter at the restaurant

Rachel with her family

Five of the the '07 "babies"...getting ready to turn 4 this year!

The mamas!

I also took about a billion pictures of the kids in the gardens, where there was a water play area. Gonna have to save all that for another post! Stay tuned....

Stopper Family Reunion

2011-08-16T20:46:00.022-04:00

Jason's mom is one of TWELVE siblings, and every year they gather for a family reunion which includes the many spouses, children, and now even grandchildren! The first time I met all of them, Jason's parents were hosting the reunion and Jason and I were newly engaged...no pressure, right?? By the end of the weekend, after many introductions and warm welcomes to the family, I could remember all of their names AND spouses names, so I figured I was doing pretty good. :-)

This year, Jason's cousin Ben and his wife Angie hosted the gathering at their home near Penn State. We had a wonderful time and the aunts and uncles were elated to finally meet our children, since we had been absent from the previous three reunions.

Lauren was a social butterfly the entire weekend. She entertained everyone and chatted with our cousins and played Abby and Emma dress-up dolls with her cousin (also named Emma)!! She got some time in the pool, even jumping off the diving board a couple times!

Josh wasn't feeling well and was grouchy from teething, but he still remained on the go (read: kept mom and dad on alert by the water!) and had fun playing with the pool toys. He thought Emma and CJ were a riot and he was happily entertained by them while we grabbed some food...

Josh with Emma and C.J.

Pool time!

One of the beautiful quilts that Audrey made for Uncle Charlie and Aunt Sue.

Jason's Dad (Gerry) FINALLY got a quilt of his own!! It was a total surprise and Audrey had been working on it for 6 months.

Lauren took the flamingos for a ride

Everyone visiting and eating...

Lauren and Emma playing with the magnetic dress-up dolls that Uncle Jeff gave her.

The Stoppers

It was great to catch up with our family and also to see our cousin Michelle, who was expecting her first baby. She has since then delivered a darling baby boy and we could not be more excited for them. Congratulations Michelle and Dustin!!

Life lessons

2011-07-17T13:11:00.003-04:00

Last Sunday morning we had to say good-bye to our family pet. Tigger has been with me since right after I graduated from nursing school. He was a friendly, affectionate, sweet cat and he brought a lot of joy to our family. We miss him very much.

Lauren has had many questions about "where" Tigger is and what happens when some one passes away. We have had some good conversations about this and she seems to take our simple but honest answers to heart. She has drawn some pictures of Tigger and wrote a short note to him (which says his name and "I (heart) U")that she thought of completely on her own. We talk every day about how much we miss him and how we still have pictures and memories to recall the fun times we had. I feel like for a 3 1/2 year old, she is doing pretty well with the loss. Helping her go through the process of grieving helps me cope with it too, I think.

Here are a couple of my favorite pictures of Lauren and Tigger.

Fun on the Fourth

2011-07-05T20:13:00.008-04:00

We sure did enjoy spending time together as a family this fourth of July weekend. We didn't have any big plans, just a few days to relax at home. We spent Monday morning going on a short hike together and then stopped for a tasty treat downtown before heading home.

Lauren enjoyed "leading the way" with her walking stick in hand. She was an excellent adventure guide and enthusiastically pointed out everything that she noticed along the way. Josh was feeling sort of rough with some cold symptoms, but he was a good sport and didn't protest too much as Jason carried him through the woods.

Here are a few shots from our morning.

Looking at these pictures makes me feel so incredibly blessed. It is such a gift to be the wife and mother of these special people!! I thank God for creating and teaching and leading and comforting our sweet family. All of the goodness and love and joy and hope that we have comes from HIM, and it's made new every day....even when we inevitably fall short of His expectations.

That's why I have such a BIG attitude. :-)

Look who's walking!

2011-06-20T10:35:00.010-04:00

Last week Josh surprised us and took his first step on his own! Since then he's been practicing and loving his new skill and the praise and attention that it brings!

Here are a few pictures of him in action...

I bought a one-way ticket to Florida.....

2011-06-09T20:06:00.009-04:00

and drove almost 1000 miles back in in a 15 foot moving truck!!!

Woah Nellie. I kept thinking to myself "this is crazy! What am I doing!?"

Jason had agreed to stay with the kids at home for a few days so that I could focus on going through some things at my grandparents' house without distraction. I knew that I did not want to drive the truck back by myself, so we waited until my mom was done with school for the year so that she could drive back with me. It worked out great because then she was able to spend the week visiting here before flying back home. It gave her a chance to recover and spend some time with the grand kids, which we also appreciated since it gave us a chance to unload and unpack while they were entertained.

While I was in Florida, there wasn't a whole lot of time to just hang out, although we did get a few opportunities to visit and reminisce a little, and I did get to enjoy one nice breakfast/coffee right on the beach one morning. Most of the weekend was spent sorting, packing, moving, breaking down, picking up the truck, loading and labeling. Lots of work but worth it for sure. I came back with some very special things that meant a lot to my grandparents that now have found a new home to be appreciated in. Most were things that held lots of sentimental value for me as I remember them from the house I grew up in.

My grandparents traveled extensively and brought home many unique and interesting items from overseas. Some of the ones that I now have are from places such as Saudi Arabia, Italy, and England. My mom also passed on some items that she and my Dad bought when we lived overseas as well - when my Dad was serving active duty in the Air Force.

It definitely seemed odd to be moving things out of their house. Driving away in the truck, knowing that I may not see that house again, and knowing that from this point on, it won't be the same as it was anyway....it was really difficult. I try to remember that it's just a physical place and while it holds lots of memories, it's not what is important. The people in our family are what really matters and I pray that once this move is completed, that my grandparents will feel that a burden has been lifted from them.

As an added bonus to our two day road trip, my Mom and I were able to stop and spend some time with my brother and sister-in-law. A short visit, but great to see them nonetheless. Alan obliged my request for something (ahem) "stronger than tea" to drink once we got there since driving that big truck through downtown Atlanta had left me feeling a bit frazzled! After a good night's sleep, we were back on the road again for a full day of travel.

Overall it was not bad and other than an issue with the gas tank that was pretty minor, we did not run into any major snafus or roadblocks. We pulled up to the house and were greeted by three smiling faces - boy was I glad to be home and see them!!

I made it!!!

2011-05-31T21:40:00.012-04:00

This is officially the LAST day of May and my LAST NaBloPoMo blog post for the month!!

Woo HOOOOOOO!!!! (Can you tell I'm excited?!?!)

So in honor of my last blog-a-day post, I will make another "Maybe" list. This one has more to do with what I MIGHT have time to do now that I'm not going to be spending time BLOGGING every day.

Maybe I will:

-actually go to bed at the same time that my husband does

-plow through the laundry that has become Mt. Washmore

-read a book

-walk on the treadmill

-watch a movie

-go to bed early

-have dessert and/or tea and talk to my husband/a friend/a family member

-NOT feel the need to take a bazillion pictures

-take a nap (are you noticing a SLEEP theme here?)

-put all my winter sweaters away

-PRAY

-window-shop online for a new cover for my iPhone

-thank my husband for putting up with my craziness for a month (well, let's be honest and just say my craziness all the time).

I think that about sums it up. :-)

I thought I would leave you with this cute picture of my guys: Up until tonight's game, Jason's softball team (through our Church) had remained undefeated! Way to go!! This was a photo I snapped last week after the game.

On that note.....ADIOS!!! MAYBE there will be one blog entry in June!!?!?

Remember when I posted my "Maybe" list?

2011-05-30T21:16:00.018-04:00

Well, one of the things on my list I can now give a definitive answer on......

NO, it doesn't have anything to do with expanding our family!!

We got new smartphones!! Well, iPhones to be exact.

And Oh, what you can do with an iPhone! It is absolutely AMAZING what kind of technology is built into such a relatively small device! Jason and I have spent some time over the last couple days figuring out how they work, downloading apps, organizing our favorite ones, personalizing our phones....it's insane.

So when I knew that we were going to get the new phones, I finally got all the pictures off of my old phone and put them on the computer. They're a little random, but here are a few that I thought were particularly cute and/or funny.

Hangin' out with her buddy, Chase. I'm pretty sure this was last Summer right after Josh was born.

Totally sacked on the couch. First time ever.

Check out Lauren's get-up!! This was apparently at Christmas time and we had built a fort that you can see in the background. Fun times.

Josh fell asleep in the baby carrier one morning when we were out shopping...

Easter hat parade at preschool. Check out some of the kids' funny facial expressions!! Ha ha!

I guess maybe the only disadvantage of having a girl first and then a boy is that inevitably there is always some pink toy or something girly that gets played with and ends up in the pictures....whatever. He wears some of Laurens old pink bibs at home too. It's not the end of the world. :-) Besides, he has a blast taking her little stroller for a walk around the playroom. He laughs and laughs. Best sound ever.

Happy Birthday, Joshua!!!

2011-05-29T20:47:00.017-04:00

We had a wonderful day celebrating Josh's birthday! Jason and I went into his room after he and Lauren were awake this morning and we sang happy birthday to him, which he met with lots of big smiles and laughs. He's usually very happy when he wakes up and today was no exception.

He (and Lauren) enjoyed opening his presents after breakfast. The little cars from Uncle Jeff were a total hit! He is really getting into moving anything with wheels around on the hardwood floors, so between that and the little people airplane that we got for him, he was having a blast.

We spent the late morning at Church for worship and then came back to the house for lunch and naps. Once the kids were both up from naps, we sang to Josh (again) and got to have some birthday cake!! Once Josh got a little taste of that, he dug right in and proceeded to stuff himself full!

Ready for cake!

Here it is!

Hmmmm, what is this?

YUM!!!

Look at Josh eying the piece of cake that Jason's holding:

These pictures don't really do justice to the amount of cake that he actually put away...he and Lauren together ate an entire wing of the airplane cake and Josh pretty much made quick work of it.

Blue icing everywhere!!

This is Josh looking sad because there is no more cake on his plate....do you see that little pout he's got going on??

We continued the celebration by using a gift card for a dinner out (yay for not having to cook!) at Outback. Then when we got home we were able to talk to Nana and GG on skype so that they could wish Josh a Happy Birthday too.

It was a fun, relaxing, joyful day. We are so thankful to have such a precious, sweet, funny boy and we love him so much. We can't wait to see what the Lord has in store for our little guy. He sure is a special boy!!

Happy Birthday, Josh!!!

One year ago today...

2011-05-28T20:34:00.022-04:00

I was laying on my left side in a hospital bed, trying to rest a little between contractions, and thinking it was going to be a long night waiting for our little boy to arrive. My progress in labor had been steady but slow up until that point and the doctor on call was not in a rush - he pretty much said "we'll just be patient" when he came in to check on me late that night. Little did he know that he'd be rushing back into my room about 30 minutes later to help welcome our little guy into the world!!

I had just gotten into a semi-comfortable position after the doctor left when I could feel that my contractions were picking up in intensity and even with an epidural in place, I started to have terrible pain and pressure that came on very suddenly and rapidly. Once the nurse checked me, she quickly realized that it was time for baby to be born! The doctor and the nursery staff were called in and a few pushes later, there was our son! Joshua was finally here!! Born on May 29th...10 seconds after midnight!

First bath

Meeting his big sister!

Our family of four

"Pics" from Strawberry Pickin'

2011-05-27T19:49:00.009-04:00

Lauren's Last Day of School

2011-05-26T14:50:00.005-04:00

Last year I didn't get to pick Lauren up on her last day of preschool, because I was in the hospital getting ready to have Josh! This year, Lauren had a fun last day, filled with water play, fake tattoos and nail polish, ice cream and lots of hugs. And I DID get to pick her up and watch her say sad good-byes to her teachers and friends. She was thrilled to find a lollipop in her goodie bag, though, and we have a few fun things coming up for her to look forward to, which should be a good distraction from missing everyone at school.

Ready for her last day - she requested braids.

Her music teacher, Mrs. Rogers

Her two Busy Bees Teachers: Mrs. Thompson and Mrs. Castner

Cake Decorating 101

2011-05-25T20:56:00.000-04:00

Lesson 1: when you have a large party, have someone else make the cake! Ha ha. In this case, it was the bakery a la Kroger.

Lesson 2: Mix all colors ahead of time, making sure you have enough of each color. Oh, and wear an apron....this one courtesy of my grandmother.

Lesson 3: Find inspiration for your cake design instead of "winging it". My inspiration was the three books I picked for the babies' gifts. Appropriate for Josh since he's our little monkey. :-)

*Also notice in this picture the bowl of ice cream and fresh strawberries....nice to have a little snack to keep ya going. :-)

Lesson 4: Wash your hands frequently.

Lesson 5: Take advil before you bend over to do the actual decorating.

Lesson 6: Use a toothpick to mark out where you want your design and lettering to be. Can you see the marks?

Lesson 7: Do not squeeze full pastry bag over finished cake, dropping green frosting on the lower right hand corner of your cake. :-( Oh well, must have missed that lesson. Maybe no one noticed.

Pictures from Joshua's Baptism

2011-05-24T20:11:00.012-04:00

Family pictures before we left for Church:

Josh was calm and happy as our pastor, Ed Dunnington, poured the water on his head.

Still calm!

All of us looking on as Sophie was baptized...I like the cute look on Josh's face too. :-)

Ellie reaching out for her BFF Sophie. :-)

All of us together.

This is our family with the Maurers. Geoff and Kelly (and son, Will) are good friends of ours whom we have chosen to be Joshua's godparents. We were very grateful that they were able to be here for his special day. They are expecting another little boy in September and we are thrilled for them. :-)

First Haircut!!

2011-05-23T21:35:00.011-04:00

I decided that today was the day....I knew that I wanted to cut Josh's hair around his first birthday and since we have another busy week ahead, I figured tonight was as good as any. :-)

First we had to get ready. A TV show, snacks, and distraction from Dad...so that he would hold still for 5 minutes.

Before:

During:

After:

The swirl in the front of his hair made it hard to get it cut straight, but I did the best I could. It's definitely not perfect, but much better! What a handsome boy!!!

This is the day that the Lord hath made.....

2011-05-22T20:38:00.005-04:00

....Let us rejoice and be glad in it!!!!

Awesome, AWESOME Day!!! Joshua and two of our friends' babies were baptized at Church this morning, in addition to our family formally "joining" the Church. It went really well and ALL THREE BABIES did SUPER!!! None of them made a peep at all - they were all calm as could be and Joshua even had this really peaceful, serene look on his face as our pastor poured the water on his head.

Jason's parents were able to be here with us, in addition to some very good friends of ours, the Maurers, who we have chosen as Joshua's Godparents. It meant a lot to us that they were able to make it and we enjoyed catching up a little and getting to see their son, Will. :-)

I owe a huge THANK YOU to Jason's mom, Audrey for helping me with food preparation for the celebration that we had at our house tonight!!! We spent the better part of yesterday morning and this afternoon, getting things ready, and I could not have done it without her help!

We had a wonderful time sharing a (huge) meal and enjoying the company of our friends, including the Moores and the Whiteds, who also had their babies baptized. It was such a fun day - frisbee in the backyard, tumbling and somersaults down the front yard (the kids, not the adults!) and just "chill" time. The weather was beautiful and we just could not have asked for a better way to celebrate Josh and Ellie and Sophie.

Pictures to follow....

Party time!!

2011-05-21T22:51:00.002-04:00

This weekend is full of social events for our family - it seems that everything got packed into one REALLY busy weekend.

Yesterday we spent a fun evening with friends of mine and their families from Mom 2 Mom. Everyone brought food and the kids played on the playground...it was just a relaxing, easy time with some great people. I have pictures to post here but will need to upload them later, so check back....

Tonight we headed up to Mill Mountain for Jason's department picnic/party. It was good to catch up with some of his co-workers and let the kids play and run around. We didn't stay very long, but long enough to walk over to where the Roanoke Star is (that looks out on the city) where Lauren told us "Look Mommy/Daddy/Gma/Gpa...you can see the WHOLE WORLD from up here"!!! HA HA HA. To a little girl, it DOES look like the whole world!

Tonight I spent some time decorating the cake for tomorrow's party. More on that later... time to head to bed and rest before a busy day.

The Sound of Music

2011-05-20T21:40:00.004-04:00

Lauren had her end of the year Spring Program today and did a fantastic job!! Her class sang "Jesus loves the little ones" and "The lonely goatherd".

Now let me preface this a little by saying that two weeks ago, Lauren came home with an order form for the "professionally filmed DVD" of the Spring program, for the bargain price of $25. TWENTY FIVE DOLLARS. REALLY?? For my kid's Spring program?? Along with that order form was a courteous note explaining that NO photography would be allowed during the program. YEAH - NO KIDDING....you want my $25 for the cost of a flippin' DVD. A recordable DVD costs less than ONE dollar. Seriously?

Fast forward to today's program....

How long do you think it took for all the parents to whip out their cameras and video cameras once those little darlings started singing? Yeah, that's right. We're rebels. There I was, with the rest of them, snapping pictures and getting my little girl on video. Yep. What were they going to do? Escort us out? Confiscate our video camera? Pulleeease.

There must have been 20 parents at any given time standing along the side that we were on, blatantly disregarding the "rules" (which were also posted on the doors as we walked in) and taking pictures of their kiddos. AND GOOD FOR THEM.

Stay tuned for said video once I get it loaded on the computer...(insert sinister laugh) BWAHAHAHAHA.

Lauren had practiced singing the first song many times at home and she was so excited to be up on the stage, but I could see her scanning the crowd in the darkened room, looking for familiar faces. Not wanting to disappoint her, I ran up to the front and waved like a maniac until she saw me and gave me a big smile.

She sang the songs perfectly, although the group of three year olds singing together sounded more tentative than her usual loud and clear version at home. Still, they did VERY well and Lauren's performance this year was a huge improvement over last year's level of participation. :-)

She got to sit with us for the rest of the program and she was so cute when each song ended - she would clap enthusiastically for the other kids!

We were very proud of our sweet girl and look forward to many more "sounds of music" as she grows. We love you Lauren!!!

Remember when....

2011-05-19T20:20:00.005-04:00

As we prepare to have our little guy baptized this Sunday, I thought it would be fun to re-post pictures of Lauren's baptism. She was about 8 months old and such a chubster!! I still think she is the most beautiful little girl in the world. Look at that perfect skin, big blue eyes and those rosy lips!! Such a sweet girl.

Weekend Visit (Part 4)

2011-05-18T21:52:00.008-04:00

Josh and the dogs.....

Hey, this dog bed is pretty sweet!

Can I join you?

Sure, lil guy, you can hang with us - but first we have to lick your face.

I'm outta here!!

Back for more fun...

Seriously...no fear!

Busy-ness

2011-05-17T23:02:00.006-04:00

So I am really wanting to post pictures of our morning in the strawberry field, but it will have to wait for another day, because there are a lot to sort through. This week is incredibly busy for us and tonight I didn't get home from the store until after 10:30.

Some good friends of ours recently had a baby and it's my turn to bring them a meal tomorrow. I'm using the same recipe that another friend of mine made for me after I had Lauren. It's beef burgundy with noodles and it's delicious!

You can check out the recipe here.

It has been such a wonderful blessing to be a part of a group of friends who do this for each other in our time of need. We had MANY meals brought to us following the births of both of our children, and also after my Dad passed away. I am delighted to return the favor and hope that the family who receives it knows that it comes with a lot of love!

That will be the fun part of my day tomorrow - my dentist appointment, not so much. :-(

Dad

2011-05-16T22:56:00.006-04:00

Two things:

Earlier today I pulled the dress out that I wore for my Dad's Memorial service. Then tonight, just now actually, I realized that today is that day. May 16th. Two years later. I have never worn that dress again, partly because the dry cleaners messed up the top of it, and partly because I haven't been able to bring myself to put it on. Why did I take it out today? Coincidence? Was it my sub-contious mind thinking about that?

I've thought about writing on here what I stood up and said when I spoke at his service. That's something else that I can't bring myself to do yet, if ever. I have gone back and read it to myself a couple times, but it just doesn't even do justice to the memories that I have of him, so I don't read it often.

The other thing is something that Lauren said to me when we were in the van the other day. I had been talking to her about my Dad, as I sometimes do and we were talking about how he (like Jesus) lives in our hearts. So she shared this with me....

"Mommy, I wish that I could JUMP into your heart so that I could see Grandpa again."

Yeah, baby girl. I wish we could do that too.

TV Time

2011-05-15T22:05:00.025-04:00

For some reason, Josh LOVES to watch the characters on Yo Gabba Gabba, which is a TV show that Lauren likes (maybe because they dance?!). He never watches more than about 5 minutes of it, but when it first comes on and they sing the intro song, he is fascinated! It's sort of funny to see...

Yo Gabba Gabba is about to come on....I sat him next to Lauren on the couch. I think they are just the cutest when they hold hands, (um, I mean Lauren grabs Josh's hand). LOVE. IT.

This is Josh flapping his arms around because he's so excited!

Big smiles for DJ Lance (sp?)

2 minutes into the show and he's still interested.

aaaaand he's down from the couch and on to more important things!

And yes, Lauren was still in her nightgown at 4:30 in the afternoon. It was a stay-at-home day, which doesn't seem to happen as frequently anymore. ;-) Besides, who DOESN'T want to keep their pretty cupcake night gown on ALL day!?! I've seen people in Wal-Mart dressed in worse. Just sayin'.

Yeah!! I made it half way through the month!!

Date Night

2011-05-14T20:20:00.010-04:00

Every so often, Jason and I put the kids to bed early and have a stay-at-home date night which allows us to share a relaxing and (usually) uninterrupted dinner by ourselves. Friday night was one of these nights and so after the kids were in bed, I worked quickly on catching up on the blog after the missed day and Jason prepared the meal. We tried a new recipe - a Rachel Ray favorite from one of her cookbooks. It's called Montalcino Chicken with Figs. (click for the recipe)

When I came downstairs after finishing the posts...this is what I saw and it smelled divine!

crispy pancetta

the chicken with figs

gnocchi

My darling husband hand-grating the nutmeg.

Oh yes, I must add that to enhance our dining experience, while Jason was upstairs getting the kids ready for bed, I had feverishly worked on putting ALL kid toys and game pieces and play food and sippy cups and markers away. So this is how our table and living room looked:

After a few final preparations and a prayer of thanksgiving for all we've been blessed with, we sat down to this lovely and delicious meal. And an adult conversation!!

Weekend Visit (Part 3)

2011-05-13T21:47:00.015-04:00

While we were visiting Jason's family, his brother, who also happens to be Lauren's Godfather, was home for a while also. She was super excited to hang out with "Uncle Jeff" and then she was JUST BESIDE HERSELF when Uncle Jeff presented her with not one, but a set of TWO magnetic dress-up dolls. She was in three-year-old girl heaven!!! All other activities came to a dramatic halt as she picked and changed and mixed up "Abby and Emma's" outfits. She played with those things all. weekend. long.

Here she is dressing up Abby and Emma.

And again....

When Uncle Jeff offered to read her a story, did she pick the book about Pirates? The one about Bears and animals? Nope. She selected "Goodnight Princess Pruney Toes"!!! Jeff - you're a saint. Only a very confident, self-assured man could pull off buying dress-up dolls, dress up outfits, and reading princess books, without feeling completely emasculated!

Jeff just loves his Goddaughter and niece and she just adores him too....

Here's a great pic of Jeff with Josh too...

Thanks again, Uncle Jeff!! We had a great time catching up and we hope the rest of your visit was fun and relaxing!

Didn't Do It!!

2011-05-12T20:04:00.002-04:00

Backdating this post because of this....

So when I tried and re-tried multiple times and couldn't get on (until Friday afternoon), I figured I was off the hook, but still wanted to acknowledge the day.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my dear friend Cheryl!!!

Weekend Visit (Part 2)

2011-05-11T09:11:00.009-04:00

Jason took Lauren around the driveway at his parents' house on the ATV and wow - she was in heaven!! We heard shrieks of delight as she rode around, laughing and waving to us!

Joshua got to sit on the ATV with Daddy and that was the extent of his intro to four-wheeling. Maybe when he gets a little older he can have a turn. :-)

After that crazy fun was over, the kids moved on to splashing the water fountain on the front porch. Joshua definitely understood what the word "water" meant, b/c he had played with the fountain earlier in the day and I told him it was "water" and so when I said it again, he immediately looked at it and went right to it. He is understanding a lot of what we say now and it following some commands. When he feels like it. :-)

Weekend Visit (Part 1)

2011-05-10T20:42:00.008-04:00

Okay, so I am going to break up our visit with Jason's family into several posts 1) because we took a lot of pictures and 2) you know I have to string out these posts so that I can make it till the end of the month!!

We had a fun visit with "G-ma and G-pa and Uncle Jeff" and even got to catch up with our dear friend Hutch while we were there. Lauren was so excited to go and could NOT wait to get there. We heard "when are we going to be at Gma and Gpa's house?" about a BILLION times before our arrival. Okay, I'm exaggerating, but it was a LOT!

Today I will post pics of the kids with their Grandma. It was nice that we were able to be together on Mother's Day and share a delicious meal together. The kids sure did have a ball and Mom and Dad enjoyed the time away from responsibilities at home.

More pictures coming...stay tuned for Part 2: Lauren's first ride on the ATV and the kids getting silly.

TEN DAYS DONE!!! Almost a third of the way through the month!!

Mom (AKA Vicki, Nana, Mrs. Jameson)

2011-05-09T14:08:00.010-04:00

Yes, I know that Mother's Day was yesterday. Today is my mother's birthday!! Can you imagine all the combination gifts and cards she's received over the years? Well, this year she got cookbooks for her birthday and something else from Lauren and Josh for Mother's Day, so no combo gifts even though it's a day apart. :-) May is a fun month for her - in addition to celebrating her birthday and Mother's Day, it usually marks the end of the school year (she's a teacher) and the beginning of a Summer away from work!! Sweet!

So, in honor of my mother's birthday, here is a little note of appreciation....

Mom, I want to thank you for:

never expecting perfection but encouraging me to do my best

being patient

always putting family first

listening when I needed to talk

telling me to take it one step at a time. again.

throwing others' expectations out the window and doing what you felt was right

being patient

reminding me often how important I was/am to you and how much you love me

spoiling my kids a little, but not too much :-)

praying for me

did I mention the PATIENCE?

You're not supposed to ever tell your mother's age, but let's just say this is a mini-milestone birthday! It's sure to be an exciting year as she returns to teaching kindergarten in a new school. I hope that the coming year brings a smooth transition, good times with friends, happy memories with family, great health, and a lot of joy and laughter.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM!

On being a Mom....

2011-05-08T20:35:00.017-04:00

I became a mom 3 1/2 years ago when our precious, beautiful daughter was born and my life has never been the same. Someone once told me (or I read somewhere), that once you have a child, that it's like having someone take your heart out and letting it walk around outside your body. There have certainly been times that I have looked at either one of my two sweet children, and I have felt as though my heart was going to swell out of my chest... that lump-in-your-throat, suffocating, amazing feeling of love and pride and joy all wrapped into a moment that you wish you could bottle and keep.

I feel overwhelmed at times that God has entrusted me (ME!?) with mothering these two beautiful human beings. There was a time after we had Lauren when we did not know if we were going to be able to have another child, so having Joshua in our lives is that much sweeter. He is such a happy little boy and he has brought SO. much. JOY to our family. His smile always brightens my day and his funny antics make me laugh. Lauren continues to amaze me as she grows and learns about the world around her. To watch the two of them playing in the bathtub, or running around (or crawling) outside is to feel peace in my heart about getting to spend this time with them. I know that when they are grown up, that these are the moments that I will treasure and look back on with many happy memories.

Through all of life's ups and downs, I praise God for the wonderful opportunity to be a mom to these two amazing kids. I feel so very blessed and I hope and pray that God will equip me every day to do the best that I can.

Lauren-isms

2011-05-07T15:41:00.002-04:00

I am going to have to keep this one short and sweet...

Lauren has picked up on the difference between singular and plural, and shows us that she understands this in a most amusing way:

The singular form of bruise (plural) is "bru", as in "I bumped into something and now I have a bru"

The singluar form of earwax (plural) is "earwack" as in the movie Shrek, when he pulls out an "earwack" and uses it for a candle!! Ewwwww!

I will try to come back and add to this list when I remember all the other funnies. I have a few written down at home...MAYBE I'll be able to find them one of these days.

Ode to Grandmom

2011-05-06T20:36:00.005-04:00

I mentioned that I was going to write about people who have influenced my life...and my Grandmother qualifies as one of those people.

She is 89 years old today. Born Eleanor Virginia Fokes...she later married my granddad, Howard Redding and have been through six decades of ups and downs and everything in between. They lost their only son, Jay, when I was very young.

After my parents' divorce, my mom and us kids (myself and my brother) moved in with my grandparents. We lived with them for 9 years. While many grandparents are very involved in their grandchildren's lives, very few are to that extent. My grandparents shuttled us to and from soccer and dance, took us to the doctor, and the like, so they were very much a part of our lives during that time.

My grandmom is a smart, witty, resourceful, independent, self-suficient, and compassionate woman. She is a faithful church member at the same Church that she founded, the Church where I was baptized and confirmed. She has dedicated the last (approximately)30 years to a year-long service project that touches hundreds of lives every Christmas. She makes Christmas stockings for needy, homeless and abused children, some of whom do not receive ANY other gift other than what is in those stockings. Many of them she fills herself and many others are filled by people and organizations in the community. I think that her maximum number of stockings one year was over 1000. Yes, ONE THOUSAND. Lately she has needed to slow down on her project, but still is able to do hundreds of them. She works on it all year long, day after day. She has recieved many generous donations to support this amazing ministry - dolls, books, crayons, stuffed animals...it all goes to children who are in desperate need of someone to show them the love of Christ.

Not surprisingly, my grandmother at one time served as Mayor of the small beach town that they live in. She and my granddad have always been very active in their community and have stayed in touch with current events and social issues. She is a regular writer of letters to the editor of the newspaper and remains (quite) outspoken on certain topics that she feels strongly about. Never one to shy away from a discussion even when she disagrees with someone, Grandmom can have a conversation with just about anyone - a friend at Church or some person she meets at a store who she doesn't know from Adam.

Grandmom is a cancer survivor. Many years ago she was diagnosed with breast cancer and needed to have a radical mastectomy. She has taken incredible care of herself and is in great physical shape for her age. When many of their friends were slowing down and not doing much, my grandparents were still riding for miles on their bikes, doing intense yard work, going swimming, and doing many things to stay active and in shape.

Grandmom LOVES her great-grandkids!!! Every time we visit, she spends every possible moment that she can with them...playing with them, reading to them, being silly and dancing around the living room, even!! She genuinely enjoys getting to know Lauren and Josh and what kinds of things they like to do.

*I have a picture that I wanted to post here, but can't get it on here today, so will have to add it later.

I will be honest and say that spending so much time together, especially for me, being a pre-teen and teenager during that time, was not always easy. My grandmom and my mom and I in the same house sometimes added up to a lot conflict and head-butting. But now that that part of my life is over and I am married with my own children, there are many things that I appreciate in a way that I simply couldn't understand then. It means a lot to me that my grandparents have been such a solid, secure, available and dependable source of support for SO many years.

As I write this, Grandmom and Granddad are in the process of preparing to move to an assisted-living apartment. They are putting their house on the market. The house that they have lived in for more than 35 years. This is an extremely difficult thing for them as they have so many memories from the house that they built so many years ago. It's going to be hard to say goodbye for all of our family...we know that due to the age of their house, that it will likely be torn down and a new house built in its place. It's something that one has a hard time even imagining. It's just "always been there". It's a reminder, I guess, that houses and "things" are temporary, and not what really matters.

What DOES matter is that my grandmom has been there for me when I needed it, and has been there for many others too. I hope that on this day, her birthday, she knows how much she is loved and appreciated.

My Maybe List

2011-05-05T20:46:00.009-04:00

Not going to put a lot of thought into this because hey, it's almost 9 o'clock at night and I've still got laundry to do, (remember, I use cloth diapers and they NEED to be washed NOW) and bags to pack, and toys to pick up, and the list goes on....

Soooo, without further ado....

MAYBE Lauren will start school when she is 4 1/2. YES. THERE, I said it. She is super bright and already has demonstrated that she is ready in several of the developmental areas, not only in "academics", but also in the non-academic things that schools evaluate when deciding if a child is ready... social, behavioral skills, etc. I KNOW that the trend is to hold kids back these days and yes, I realize that if we let her go then she will be the youngest child in her class (JUST LIKE I WAS). But get this....if she IS ready and the school (a private Christian school that offers a half-day kindergarten) says that she can go after they evaluate her, then great - we will send her! If not, then great - she can start the following year.

MAYBE I will go back to work someday. Or maybe not. Or MAYBE I will go back to school.....and then go back to work. For now, my job is being at home with my babies and as challenging as that can be some days, it's just FINE with me. I praise God every day that I don't have to work every other weekend and take that time away from spending it with my family.

MAYBE we will renovate our kitchen and our bathrooms.

MAYBE I will be able to stick with this dang blog challenge and come up with some other ideas for things to write about....this month sure has a lot in store for our family so that should help. Joshua's birthday and his baptism are coming up, in addition to our trip up to see Jason's parents and his brother. Plus, I still have Easter photos to post. I also plan on writing about Lauren's lovely little sayings. So there's a nice little preview of upcoming blog posts for you.

MAYBE....oh you know you want to ask it. You keep reading down the list hoping that it's there. The question everyone wants to know.

ARE YOU GOING TO HAVE MORE KIDS?

Well, MAYBE. Or MAYBE NOT.

That's the short answer. The long answer is a post for another day.

MAYBE Joshua will be walking by his first birthday. Lauren started walking at 13 months, and I find that a little bit more feasible for Josh as well, since he is still not too steady. He is getting better by the day, though.

MAYBE we will get smartphones this month. I'm sure that will be a post in itself.

MAYBE I will write a post(s) that is(are) completely dedicated to important and special people who have touched my life. I should call it my "Ode to ______" Hmmm. Who would that be?

MAYBE I need to conclude this so that I can get to said tasks before I completely run out of steam.

MAYBE I will have a cup of tea and watch the Republican debate tonight.....or MAYBE not.

Bum Genius Baby

2011-05-04T10:26:00.008-04:00

Bum Genius is the brand of diapers that we use....

We've also used Kissaluvs, Happy Heinys and even Fuzzi Bunz!! However, Bum Genius diapers are my all-time fav. We alternate using cloth with using disposables and that works just fine for us. Disposables are really convenient, especially for traveling, but when we're at home, we love using the BGs and they ARE super cute...don't you think?!?

Leader Lauren!

2011-05-03T15:02:00.020-04:00

Today it was Lauren's turn to be the leader in her class. I brought my camera and gave it to her teachers so that they could get some shots of her in action! She had a great time and was super excited to tell me about her morning when I came to pick her up. :-)

When each child gets to be the leader, they are responsible (read: MOM is responsible) for bringing snack for everyone in the snack bucket. He or she also gets to dress the weather frog and sit in the leader chair during circle time, in addition to being the line leader when going outside or to music class.

She brought her Rapunzel doll for show and tell. :-)

Hard at work on a craft.

Lauren gets SO excited when she gets to be the leader. She was totally giddy this morning when I dropped her off and she asked me for "10 hugs and 10 kisses" before I left. MAYBE her excitement was due, in part, to the fact that she didn't have preschool last week because it was their Spring Break, and she was just glad to be back....or MAYBE she just loves being the leader because she gets to be the boss for the day. :-)

Either way, this mama was glad for her to be back. The time that I get to spend with only Josh is so sweet for me and I'm glad that Lauren gets the fun play time with kids her age. Today they did painting and woodworking and she brought home her little wooden boat, complete with sails. Oh, to be three years old....what fun!!

It must have been quite a day....this was how she spent the afternoon.

26 days until race day

2011-05-02T20:09:00.016-04:00

Here I am getting ready to cross the finish line at my 8K last November - 6 months post-baby.

I'm setting my goal a little bit lower this time since my (ahem) physical fitness MAY or MAY not be up to par for anything longer than a 5K. I did the 8K back in November, and for this NON-runner, that was a stretch. I actually did better than my goal time, but still more of a jog than a run. Hopefully this "easy" 3 miles will be just enough to keep me moving yet not make me feel pressured to "train". I don't even really care about my time....oh wait a minute, yes I do. Who am I kidding?? Guess I had better get on the treadmill and/or hit the pavement.

More on that later....

In the meantime, while I am most definitely NOT a runner by nature, my dear husband most certainly is. Jason actually placed third in his age category on his last race - the Blue Ridge Half-Marathon, which was last month. This was during one of the heaviest downpours of rain that we have seen here. Think flash flood warnings. I was so proud of him, not only for sticking it out, but for doing so well in spite of the terrible weather.

You can see in this picture that our little creek in the backyard was nearly full and the rushing water actually caused the small footbridge to move.

Jason's 3rd place award is made from a reclaimed iron railroad stake. It is bent and welded with other smaller pieces into the shape of a runner and it is really unique and interesting. We thought it was a cool idea and very appropriate for this little railroad town. :-)

I am crazy

2011-05-02T08:25:00.002-04:00

As if I didn't have enough going on....

I decided to challenge myself to a blogging marathon. I'm following in the footsteps of my friend Anabelle, who has done this before on her own blog and I seriously just want to see if I can do it. What on earth am I going to blog about every day for 31 days??? We'll see!! The "theme" for this month is MAYBE. Well MAYBE I'll be able to get creative in the next 30 days and come up with some great stuff to write about. Or MAYBE all you will read about will revolve around the day-to-day ups and downs of life at home with two little kids. Regardless, I signed up and I'm doing it.

Anyone care to join me?? Never mind that it's already May 2nd! :-)

Goodbye Pear Tree

2011-05-01T08:47:00.006-04:00

Last week when the tornadoes and storms ripped through the South, the high winds and heavy rains caused our pear tree in the front yard to split and fall. While we realize that this loss pales in comparison to the loss of many lives and properties that same night, we are still sad that it's gone. It was a lovely shade tree in our front side yard and provided beautiful blooms in the early Spring every year.

It just so happened that I had taken pictures of Lauren under that tree just a day or two before the storms. Here she is at 3 1/2 years old, looking rather cute (in my completely un-biased opinion). :-)

Mr. Busybody and Miss Social Butterfly

2011-04-23T20:55:00.013-04:00

CAUTION!!! MANY PHOTOS IN THIS BLOG!!

Josh and Lauren are at such fun ages right now. Yesterday, Josh learned how to clap and he was so excited!! His smile and laughter are so contagious. He and Lauren totally get each other going with fits of silliness and giggles.

Josh is a LOT more mobile these days. He is cruising around the furniture and reaching up on top of tables. He is crawling really fast and just pulling up and climbing on everything in sight. He is still a little cuddle-bug, crawling over to mommy for hugs and kisses many times throughout the day. He loves to be carried in the becco baby carrier and even fell asleep in it the other day while we were out shopping. He is a curious little monkey too...I think he is totally living up to his nickname. :-)

So happy!

cookin' in the kitchen

watcha doin' buddy?

Hanging on mommy's back like a little monkey :-)

apparently Josh was hungry when we got home...I took some things upstairs and came back to this:

What else can I pull out of here?

Lauren has really gotten into playing with other kids, talking to people she knows a little more, and pretty much any shyness that she might have had has practically disappeared. She has such a sweet and spunky spirit - she gets excited about things and wants to share it with everyone! I feel like we are starting to come out of the challenging phase of twos and threes when tantrums and constant discipline seemed to be the norm...she still enjoys and does well with structure and routine, but she's a lot more independent now, and certainly is a good helper around the house. :-)

Miss friendly wanted to have her picture taken with "everyone" when we got together with friends one evening. I thought this one was especially cute - she looks so excited. :-)
Singing with her friend Kathryn

Thumbs up with G-pa

Easter hat parade at preschool - notice how she's waving to everyone!?!

Her little neighbor friend, Zoe and her big sister, Nicole came over to play. Zoe actually came to the door and asked if Lauren could come out and play. It was the first time anyone has done that and Jason and I realized that our little girl sure is growing up....

Lauren and Zoe playing outside

The other day we had my friend Theresa's girls over so that she could get some packing done. Her older daughter is about the same age as Lauren and the girls had a blast together.

A little time away for the Mr. and Mrs.

2011-04-12T13:53:00.025-04:00

For our 5th anniversary, Jason planned a surprise trip for us last weekend. I did not know where we were going until we got in the car to leave! His parents came to spend the weekend with our kids, which was such a blessing. We left Friday morning, knowing that they were in good hands, and headed to our destination....Winchester, Virginia!

As we began our trip, Jason outlined for me what he had planned for us for the next two days. It was fabulous. Exactly the relaxing, refreshing break that we both needed. Great job, honey!! Here a few highlights:

Friday we enjoyed a couples' massage and a casual dinner at a pub on the walking mall.

We drove to Harper's Ferry, WV (where we got engaged) on Saturday.

On our way back from West Virginia, we stopped at a local vineyard for a little wine tasting.

Jason had made reservations for that evening at one of our very favorite restaurants, which is owned by long-time friends of his. They did a great job of making our anniversary celebration a very special one. The food and the service were phenomenal.

Our amazing dinner at Violino Ristorante Italiano

Happy Spring!.....Sort of.

2011-03-30T10:10:00.009-04:00

We got the sweetest little taste of Spring weather for a while and relished every moment as the trees started to bloom and the birds started singing....then we got SNOW!!!!!!!!! WHAT??? My mom (nana) is here on her spring break right now and while she knew that she would get a cool break from the 80 degree Florida weather, she did not expect to freeze!!

Here is a shot of Lauren and Nana:

and a few of her and both of the kids...

trying to read a story?

I love Joshua's sweet smile!

Awwww....cuddle time!

In spite of the cold weather, we had a wonderful visit and my mom got to accompany me to Mommy and Me day at Lauren's preschool, which was super fun. We enjoyed catching up and it was great to share with her all the cute and funny things that the kids are doing these days.

My Valentine

2011-02-28T09:51:00.003-05:00

Finding the words to adequately describe my love for my husband is challenging, if not impossible. He is most definitely the ONE that God gave to me - a gift and the answer to my prayers. When I imagined sharing my life with someone and growing old together with him, the qualities and attributes that I thought I needed or wanted in a husband have been far exceeded in the man that I've been blessed with.

I tend to be a list-maker, and so to honor my husband and share with you the many qualities that I adore about him, I will "list" them, although there are too many to write here, especially since this is (ahem) a public forum. :-)

*Jason is a great provider for our family. He goes to work every day, never complaining, always committed to doing his best. He has been recognized as preceptor of the year twice now, which speaks to how highly regarded he is by those he works with.

*He is physically strong and fit. Many of you know that he is a runner and has completed half-marathons, consistently improving his time and challenging himself by doing more difficult races. Jason gets up very early most mornings, so that he can get in his workout time before going in to the hospital.

*He is the spiritual leader of our family. He is faithful about attending Church, Sunday school, Men's Bible Study, small group Bible study, and other Church events. He prays for and with us at home, including prayer and devotional time at the end of Lauren's story time every night. EVERY night.

*He cooks! (really well I might add) And washes bottles....and changes diapers....and folds laundry.....and many other things around the house, in most cases without being asked.

*Jason is a loving, fun, silly, involved, responsible father. He is truly interested in our children and what's going on in their little world. After dinner play time and bath time usually become tickle-fests or dance parties and the laughter is just contagious. I love those times and am just so, so thankful to have a spouse who willingly shares the joy and burden of parenting - during the fun times AND during the not-so-fun times when we have to discipline...

*Jason knows me. And he still loves me. He accepts me and humors me and forgives me and forgets about past wrongs and continues to do his best as a husband, even when I have given less than my best.

*He is a calm and rational decision-maker. I love that he is blessed with a lot of common sense!! Our ability to talk things out and figure out a plan when we are trying to make a decision is one of the things that I treasure most about our marriage. He is an awesome sounding board and when I feel like sharing something that has happened, or considering a new idea, he listens and asks questions, trying to understand. When we make a decision together, it may not always be because we agree 100% on whatever it is, but we work together as a team and try to compromise. It doesn't always work out perfectly of course, but Jason's calm demeanor and good communication skills certainly help move us in the right direction.

*Speaking of communication skills, Jason is the type of person who can really get along with anyone. I love that about him! He is friendly, polite, respectful and kind to everyone he meets. He always carries himself with honor, yet humbleness. It is so hard to describe that type of thing - it's one of those things you can't really teach in words, but I pray that our children will model that as that grow. He has such character and integrity - two more reasons why I have such respect for him.

*Jason is very self-sufficient. He is willing to try things that he has never done in order to accomplish a task. Things like replacing our kitchen garbage disposer. He had never done that before, but he did a fantastic job! In addition, things that need to get done like mowing the grass - he does it himself and honestly does a great job of maintaining the yard, etc. even though both of us have had less time to devote to things like that since we became a family of four. :-) My roses look pitiful....but I digress.

*He's a 10!! I mean - look at that smile!! Those big brown eyes!! He looks great in a suit or in sweatpants. He's a man whose inner strength and charm shine through to the outside which makes him look even more attractive.

Finally, I LIKE Jason. I enjoy spending time with him, just us. He's my best friend and my partner in everything. I look forward to seeing him when he comes home every day and a note or message from him ALWAYS brightens my day. I love cooking with him and shopping with him, traveling, talking about books that we've both read....I could go on and on. My point is, that when the kids are grown up and out of the house, I know that we are going to have a great time together because we just really LIKE each other. I mean, yes, we have moments when we're in bad moods, or we disagree or we're both exhausted and just can't even try to "be nice". We're human. But having said that, he is still the best thing since sliced bread and he's captured my heart.

So here's to you, my sweet valentine. I pray for many, many more wonderful years of happiness for us. I can't wait to see what the future holds for our family!!

Family Road Trip!

2011-02-01T16:36:00.007-05:00

I will be honest and tell you that the prospect of many long hours on the road with two young children did not excite me. At all. But I have to say that our kids ROCKED on this car trip!! Sure, they became fussy and wiggly, and um, loud at times....but all things considered, it was NOT as bad as I imagined it could be.

On the way down, our trip was broken up with a "shorter" drive to Atlanta to visit my brother and sister-in-law for a couple days before heading further south to Melbourne Beach to visit our family down there. On the way back, we drove over 730 miles, through 5 states, all in ONE day and even stopped in North Florida for a little outlet shopping on the way. Needless to say, we got home very late that night, but fortunately Jason did not have to go to work the next day.

While we were in Atlanta, we took the kids to the Imagine It children's museum. This was something we had hoped to do on our last visit, but last year inclement weather had closed the museum for the day. We all had a good time and both kids were thoroughly worn out by the time we left. :-)

Children's Museum in Atlanta

Alan and Lindsey (and their lab, Ellie too!) were excellent hosts and we enjoyed getting to catch up a little bit with them. We had packed Lauren's scooter and she had a blast riding up and down the street in front of their house. Fortunately they live right near a cul-de-sac, so there's very little traffic. Atlanta was in the midst of a cold spell though - not the warmer weather we were hoping for.

Once we got to Florida, we did have a little bit of a temperature increase, but still pretty cool and also windy (my least favorite weather condition EVER). Nevertheless, we hit the beach, spent time on the playground, and Lauren got the scooter out once more to zoom back and forth down my grandparents' long driveway.

Jason was even brave enough to take Lauren into the "heated" hotel pool! Josh and I watched from the dry, warm sidelines....except for a little dip for him so that he could get his feet wet. :-)

Florida 2011

Sidenote:
When it comes to potty stops with a newly-toilet-trained preschooler, let me just say that there were places that I did not want her to "go". So here's my plug for the potette portable potty seat. This thing saved us. It's what made this trip a breeze with a 3 year old. A friend of mine in Maryland whose daughter is the same age as ours told me about it and I am forever grateful!! Thanks Chana!!!

Sleeping Beauties

2011-01-10T21:06:00.002-05:00

I just love getting shots of our babies sleeping! The ones of Lauren were during her "quiet time" one day shortly after Christmas. I had noticed that the chatter I usually hear wasn't coming from her room anymore....I peeked in and saw this.

One day Lauren and I were playing with play-doh and Josh was in the pack-n-play keeping himself entertained, but I could tell he was getting tired. A few minutes later, I glanced over and saw that he had fallen asleep right there. He still had his hand on one of his little ring toys. :-)

After Lauren and I cleaned up and she went upstairs for quiet time, I came back down to find Mr. Busybody awake and playing again!

Christmas with the Hoffmans

2011-01-07T21:52:00.000-05:00

We spent the first day of the new year celebrating a belated Christmas with Jason's family and exchanging gifts. His grandma and great-aunt were there and got to meet Joshua for the very first time! Lauren had a blast with Gma and Gpa and Josh enjoyed all the extra attention too. He is such a sweet, happy baby. If someone looks or smiles at him, he just beams!! Click on the link below to see pictures of our fun time.

Christmas 2010 with the Hoffmans

Christmas

2011-01-05T21:22:00.005-05:00

Trying to catch up on posts.....here are pictures from Christmas Eve and Christmas Day! I added specific comments to some of the pictures. We all had a wonderful time and Jason and I just felt so thankful for the many blessings we've been given.

Christmas 2010

In honor of the real reason for our joy and celebration this season....here is the birthday cake that Lauren and I made for Jesus. She did a much better job blowing out the candles (apparently Jesus is three, like Lauren) on His cake than she did on her own. Must have been the lack of audience. :-)

Christmas Festivities, Part 2

2010-12-28T08:57:00.019-05:00

The Monday before Christmas I took the kids over to a friend's house for cookie decorating and a treat exchange. YUM!! Here are some shots of the kids during the party....so it was a little chaotic. But Fun. Really.

Then, two days before Christmas, on the LAST day that Santa was available (hello!?!? can you say procrastination?), I took the kids downtown to the history museum for a visit with good old St. Nick. This was an adventure to say the least. Not only did I forget that I needed to pay to park in the garage (weekdays), but I lost my phone, ended up needing to "park" our stroller outside the room and carry everything in to the room with us (think winter coats, diaper bag, camera bag, BABY, purse, etc) because there was literally not enough room to bring the stroller in. Of course(!) there were loads of other procrastinating parents that decided (like me) to wait until the very last day to bring their kids, so the room was packed.

Fast-forward through 45 minutes of Santa talking and singing songs and me trying to entertain and feed Josh while reminding Lauren not to poke, kick, bump, or roll into (!?!?) other kids on the floor during the "visit". This lovely time was brought to a close by an attempt to get both of my sweet children to sit with Santa for a picture. HA.

Long story short, I rushed the kids into the van afterward and prayed like mad that I had enough cash in my wallet for parking. I had THREE dollars and some quarters in my purse. Guess how much parking was? Four dollars. I had 25 CENTS to spare. Good grief. God must have heard my prayers!! So then when I went to call Jason to tell him about it, and I realized I could not find my phone. Anywhere. Like I stopped the van and searched high and low. No phone. GREAT.

Now mind you, I have two tired and hungry kids in the car (it's now 12:30 and we haven't eaten lunch) so I am NOT going back to look for said phone, especially since I CAN'T AFFORD to PARK there!!! So I calmly tell myself that I will call Jason when I get home and ask him to stop over there later, assuming it is found and I can reach someone at the museum and ask them to hold it for me. The next day was Christmas eve and they would be closed....

I get the kids home and can NOT get to the house phone fast enough. I call my cell number and wait.....buzz buzz, buzz buzz. YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was buried in Lauren's little pink purse with her activity books!?!?!?! Thank you Lord!!!

Ahhh, relief. Feed the kids, put them down for naps. NEVER AGAIN. Jason WILL be roped into going on this lovely adventure next year. :-)

One of the cutest things about this adventure though.....seeing the funny look on Joshua's face when "Santa" was holding him! Priceless!! These moments make all the craziness worth it. :-)

Third Annual Book Club Christmas Party

2010-12-13T07:36:00.014-05:00

I am privileged and blessed to be a part of a wonderful group of ladies who meet monthly for good food, good reads, and great conversation. We always have a fun time together and this evening was no exception!! All of the families made it this year, minus a few of the kids (we still had a big bunch), which was a house full for our gracious hosts. We fed the kids and then sent them packing to the playroom with the sitters while we enjoyed our own meals and a little (ahem) uninterrupted conversation! For the first time, we did a Secret Santa gift exchange which was exciting and fun. I received two stemless wine glasses and a personalized bag from thirty-one. I LOVE both gifts and appreciated the thoughtfulness of my sweet friend. :-)

Jason and Josh

The ladies.

My totally chic wine glasses :-)

somebody was getting very tired!

Group picture plus a few babies, including 5 week old Daniel!

Josh and his sweet little friend, Yates! She is older than him by 6 weeks!

trying to assemble the kids for a picture....yeah right!!

Outer Banks

2010-11-17T22:08:00.012-05:00

FINALLY! Our Outer Banks pictures!!

Jason and I both had great races! I finished my 8K under my goal time and Jason ran his half marathon with his best time ever!! We had a wonderful time just relaxing with Jason's parents and Lauren really enjoyed getting to play at the beach. It was super windy the first couple days, so there wasn't much "beach" to play on until the wind settled down and the waves retreated. The last day that we were there, we took Lauren to fly her new kite, a belated birthday gift (Thank you Grandma Wende!) - which was fun, although the wind had died down a little TOO much, making it hard to get the kite to stay up. Nevertheless, we enjoyed the day and have some wonderful memories and photos to share....

Outer Banks 2010

Happy 3rd Birthday, Lauren!!

2010-11-03T09:05:00.000-04:00

Here is a photo tribute to the sweet little girl who changed our lives forever and has brought us so much joy.

Pictures from her party and birthday

Lauren's 3rd Birthday

Halloween and all that jazz

2010-11-02T09:03:00.008-04:00

We had a fairy princess and a monkey for halloween - two cute ones for sure!

I helped with Lauren's Preschool Class Halloween Party, along with another mom, and even dressed up as a cowgirl for the party, which Lauren thought was hilarious. We brought sugar cookies shaped like pumpkins for the kids to decorate, and Lauren "helped" me make the cookies....here she is getting ready to roll the dough and having a little sample!

Click on the link below to see pictures of the party and trick-or-treating. We had several friends stop by with their kids in their cute costumes.

Halloween 2010

Before Halloween we were also invited to my friend Erin's house for some pumpkin-decorating fun for the kids. Josh and Lauren and I went and had a wonderful time. Lauren got to paint her pumpkin with bright fluorescent colors!

Here is a pic of the kids before we left...being silly as usual!

Hard at work

Family Fun at the Pumpkin Farm

2010-10-25T10:46:00.006-04:00

We apologize for our lateness in getting this updated! Things have seemed to be non-stop since the end of October and as we get ready to celebrate the holidays, we know it's not going to slow down!

Here are some pictures from our adventures at Layman Family Farms. Lauren really enjoyed all the activities that they had for kids to do. It was a windy day, but otherwise beautiful - our first taste of cooler Fall weather.

Layman Farms

Stay tuned for pictures of Halloween and Lauren's Birthday, then our trip to the Outer Banks!

Fall Update

2010-10-17T14:58:00.019-04:00

Our little family of four has been busy since the "school year" began!

I could probably type a bunch of individual posts about all that's been going on, but in the interest of "catching up", I'll keep it short and post a few pics as I'm able.

Potty training with Lauren continues. She goes pee on her own and does really well at home pretty much every day now. We are still working on getting her to go poo instead of waiting until she gets the nap time pull-up or bedtime diaper on. :-( She has done it a couple times though - here is a pic of her after going poo in the potty and so proud of herself!

I started training for an 8K that I registered to run next month! Jason is also doing another half-marathon that weekend (the day after my race) so it's been interesting trying to find the time for us both to get training in and take turns watching the kids.

Josh rolled over for the first time a couple weeks ago! Jason and I were both there and I grabbed the camera just before he did it!! The look on his face afterward was priceless!

At last check, Josh was just over 17 pounds (at 4 1/2 months) and is already wearing 9 month size clothing!!

We have started introducing a little bit of food for Josh, but we're going pretty slow and really just letting him "practice" a little and get used to the texture of it.

As always, Lauren wants to help....

Not too sure about the rice cereal

Our little monkey loves bananas though!

Lauren had her picture taken at preschool, and since I thought she looked especially darling, and I wasn't sure how the school pictures were going to turn out, I snapped a few at home before we left...

It's hard to believe that her THIRD birthday is coming up!! She has quite the little personality! Jason and I are amazed at her imagination and the things she shares with us that she has learned in preschool. We will have to do a separate post for all of Lauren's little funny sayings.

Here is a picture of the fort we built one Saturday when Jason had to work and Josh was taking a nap. She stuffed everything she could find under there!!

In other news, my brother turned 30 last week!! Happy Birthday Alan and welcome to the 30-something club! :-)

Next week will be very busy as we prepare for Lauren's birthday and party and also I am helping coordinate (with another mom) her classroom's Halloween party. The kids will get to wear their costumes and have a little parade, so I'll be sure to post pictures of that and all the other Halloween festivities.

ICE CREAM TRUCK!!!

2010-09-27T21:52:00.012-04:00

This post is a little late, but I wanted to share some shots that I took of Lauren and Josh one evening. It was Lauren's first ice cream truck experience - she was so excited! She heard the sound of the music and marched on up the street with Daddy (after he grabbed some cash real quick!) and came back with a huge smile on her face and some sort of icy treat!

So excited to show me her treat!!

Jason and Josh

So sweet!

Lauren practicing her somersaults down the hill

Over the river and through the woods.....

2010-09-01T21:06:00.009-04:00

to the grandparents' house we go!

We took Josh and Lauren up to Jason's parents' house for a long weekend while he had a conference to attend in D.C. It was Joshua's first road trip and let's just say that he did much better on the way back than on the way up there. He was NOT enjoying the hum of the car ride that usually puts babies to sleep!

We had a wonderful time visiting with family and catching up, and Jason's brother Jeff got to meet Josh for the first time! Lauren enjoyed the many adventures in and around Gma and Gpa's house - going for walks in the woods, playing with the dogs, catching butterflies, blowing bubbles, watching the hummingbirds....a little girl's wonderland!

Jason attended a conference in D.C. that focused on preceptors and how health care facilities can better prepare pharmacists to work in that role. Having precepted student nurses before, I can understand how challenging it is sometimes, to balance a full workload and also take the time to mentor and guide a student or resident. Jason does this frequently, with a high level of commitment to giving students and residents a full, challenging and educational experience. I'm very proud of his professionalism and I know that his peers and students hold him in high regard also. He has been chosen by the residents as "preceptor of the year" two years in a row now!! Okay, done bragging.....

Oh wait, not done yet. Did I mention that we have two of the most adorable, smart, funny, and sweet kids EVER!?!?!?! Yes, I am very biased, I know. But LOOK at them! They are P.R.E.C.I.O.U.S!!!!

Okay, done now.

Anyway, after Jason got back from his conference (praise the Lord, because I missed him terribly!) we all went to the zoo and had a wonderful time, despite the 90 degree temperature - it was overcast most of the day, which was our only saving grace, or we would have melted.

Here is a link to some of the pictures from our trip:

Zoo

Summertime

2010-08-11T14:18:00.026-04:00

I thought I would share a few recent photos along with a "snapshot" of what our lives are like now as a family of four. We're still adjusting, but overall, things are going really well.

Our days usually begin something like this:
6 am: early morning feeding for Josh, depending on when the previous one was. Occasionally if he has made it to 3 am, then he does not wake until 7 or 8 again.

6:30 am: Lauren sounds off and since Jason is up and getting ready for work, he greets her and turns her light on so that she can play in her room while I finish feeding Josh (or until Jason wakes me if Josh is still sleeping).

7 am: My darling husband brings me my start-up fuel (coffee!!) before he heads out to work.

7:30 am: I get breakfast together for me and Lauren and try to get a few things done and/or get ready to leave while she watches a cartoon. If we have a day of errands (me) & gym class (or soon to be preschool for Lauren), then we need to be heading out the door around 8:30.

Lauren is so fascinated with Josh and he loves to stare at her and listen to her talk and coo over him. Here they are saying good morning to each other.

Lauren spends much of her day (if we are at home) in panties now, as we are working on potty training. She is definitely making progress, but still gets distracted and engaged in all her fun activities, making her "too busy" to sit on a potty! Here she is loving on Tigger. He has generally been the object of her aggression and attention since Josh has joined our household. Poor Tigger takes just about all he can handle and then usually scratches and/or runs away and hides. Despite our frequent warnings,time outs, and other interventions, Lauren braves the scratches and continues harassing the cat. (ie: chasing, stomping, shooing, etc)

One of Josh's favorite places to hang out is in the pack-n-play. We have some chimes hanging right where his legs go, so that he can kick them and make music. He loves this activity and it will keep him entertained for quite a while. (Read: allows me to finish my dinner) The second pic below is his happy face while kicking the chimes and looking up at the animals on the mobile.

Lauren's favorite play time activities of late have included drawing on her doodle pad, practicing cutting using safety scissors, painting (with real paintbrushes!) and DANCING! I think we have a future dancer on our hands and when I produced my old ballet slippers and tap shoes, along with a sparkling tiara, you should have seen her face light up!! I let her put on her little leotard that Nana gave her, with a tutu and tights. Here are a few pictures from our little dress-up adventure!

You can see in this last picture that after a while, she lost the wings, tiara, and shoes, preferring instead to do her wild "freestyle" dancing with her clapper from one of Jason's races. Hmmm. Formal dance instruction may go really well for her....or not. We'll see!!

Update: I also meant to post that at Josh's 2 month check up last week, he was 12 1/2 pounds and 23 1/2 inches long, putting him at approximately the 58th percentile for both. Since the appointment, I think he's gained at least half a pound, putting him just over 13 pounds now.

Touch A Truck

2010-07-31T16:43:00.003-04:00

We took the kids to the Touch a Truck festival on Saturday and Lauren had a blast!! Josh slept through pretty much the whole thing, which was surprising, since it was LOUD!! All the kids were honking all the horns and some were ridiculous! One of the dump truck horns that I pulled nearly knocked me off the truck! Ha ha!

We saw fire engines, a school bus, an armored truck, a trolley, and much more! There was also "fireman's foam" for kids to run through - a huge bubble-making machine that filled an enclosed area with bubbles.

Touch a Truck

Two Months Old

2010-07-30T14:20:00.011-04:00

Yesterday we had a busy morning since the kids and I go to Mom 2 Mom on Thursdays, but I managed to snap some pictures during play time before we left. Josh is showing more and more of his fun little personality every day. He is very active when he's playing, and has many cute facial expressions. He is particularly responsive to the sound of Lauren's voice and always turns to look for her when he hears her nearby.

We haven't gone in for his two month check up yet, so I don't have all the "official" stats, but according to our baby scale at home, he is about 12 pounds. He's still nursing 8-9 times a day, getting up once at night and then again around 5 or 6, although last night he slept from about 9pm to 3am and then went back down until about 7am. Woo hoo!

I still have not been able to capture his "full" smile on camera yet! He actually has a little dimple on one side and when he smiles really big, his eyes just light up!! I hope I'll be able to get a few pics this weekend - he loves to smile for Daddy and is SO excited when he gets home every day!

Here are some other pictures from the last couple weeks:

Tummy time on the play mat

Lauren "shared" her toys and books with Josh...

Chillin'

Love this expression on his face!

Fun photos

2010-07-14T15:56:00.013-04:00

A couple weekends ago, I decided to take some pictures of the kids together. Josh was 6 weeks at the time. Lauren loved getting to "hold" her baby brother (Dad helped a bit) and was really good during the picture-taking. Josh slept most of the time, until the very end, and I was able to get a few of him looking around. Can you tell I love taking pictures of our kids?? I know I'm a little biased, but I think they are just the cutest babies EVER.

Joshua's First Play Date

2010-07-09T13:40:00.009-04:00

A couple weeks ago, we had our friends, Krisha and Brian and their two kids over to hang out and watch one of the World Cup matches. They have a son (Chase) who is a bit younger than Lauren and just welcomed their daughter Sophia into the world, two weeks after Joshua was born!

We had a great time and enjoyed seeing each other's little ones for the first time and catching up a bit.

Here are some shots of the babies and our "big kids" too! :-)

Buddies already!

Check out Sophie's cute facial expression here:

Waving to all her adoring fans!

Josh looking serious

Screaming babies!

The shirt says it all

Chase and Lauren playing

It's been a month already?!

2010-07-01T13:21:00.025-04:00

Where did June go? Oh wait.....we had a baby and have been sleep-deprived zombies for the last few weeks! Seriously, everyone says that your babies grow so quickly that if you blink, you'll miss something. Well, I'm here to tell you that I blinked (trying to catch a few Zs between feedings) and all of a sudden my son is a month old!

Every stage that our kids get to seems to be more fun than the last, though, so while I adore this cuddly, cute newborn stage, I am also looking forward to the adorable stages and milestones that are coming for Josh over the next few months. When I'm up at 1 am changing his diaper and feeding him, I try to remember to enjoy each moment....and just BE in the present.

Here are a few recent pictures and some from our visit with Grandma Wende. She traveled all the way from Tucson, Arizona to come and spend the weekend with us.

Lauren sure did enjoy all the fun and extra attention while Wende was here. They played in the pool (Lauren did, anyway,while Grandma supervised!) did puzzles, colored, and blew bubbles!

Notice in the next picture that Joshua's outfit has little airplanes on it. My Dad and Wende had bought this onesie when I was pregnant with Lauren, before we found out that she was a girl. (My Dad was a pilot and flew A-10s in the Air Force and also commercial jets) I thought it was really cute and very appropriate at the time, and I saved it since Lauren really never wore it. It now has a special significance to me and I'm glad that Josh gets to wear it. I hope that he will grow up knowing that his grandpa loved him before he was even born and even though he is not here with us, that he is still a part of our lives and our family.

It is really fascinating to see how different our kids are from each other, both in the way they look and the way they act. Joshua definitely has my Dad's darker skin color and darker hair than Lauren's. Lauren inherited some recessive genes with her light hair and blue eyes, but we're still pretty sure she's ours. :-)

Lauren looking at books. Such a pretty pose....now if I could just get her to look at the camera. *sigh*

Here are two examples of our kids' different personalities....

Josh seems to be pretty laid back and easy going, much like his dad. :-) (I love this picture!)

Lauren, on the other hand, seems to take after her mother....can we say "attitude"?

So now that all the family visits are over and we are down to our last homemade meal from friends (THANK YOU EVERYONE!!), it's time to settle into our "new normal" routine and figure out what we're doing as a family of four.

We have been so, so incredibly blessed. We have two healthy children and for that, I am so thankful. Praise God for answering our many prayers and those lifted up on our behalf.

Josh meets the family and other developments....

2010-06-21T14:40:00.023-04:00

Over the past couple weeks, we had visits from family who were all very excited to meet little Joshua. First, my mom came in from Florida, then we spent that first weekend she was here also visiting with my brother Alan and his wife Lindsey, who came up from Atlanta. After a week with my mom, we had Jason's parents here for the weekend until Saturday night. Sunday, we spent a relaxing day together just enjoying the time to chill out and celebrate Father's Day! This coming weekend, grandma Wende will be here for a few days also.

Nana and Uncle Alan

Aunt Lindsey and Uncle Alan with the kids

G-ma and G-pa

Father's Day

Chillin' with Mom

Josh sleeping while we played outside

Lauren showing off her teddy bear's new outfit and matching sunglasses

Josh discovers his hand

Welcome to the World, Joshua Andrew!!

2010-06-04T10:32:00.013-04:00

We proudly announce the arrival of our son, Joshua, who was born on May 29, 2010 at exactly 20 seconds after midnight! He weighed 7 pounds 9 ounces and was 20 inches long.

Big Sister Lauren is adjusting pretty well to the change and is very sweet with her little brother. She loves to give him kisses and rub his back!

A few more pictures (more coming soon!)

Getting ready for baby H

2010-05-16T11:19:00.019-04:00

We are counting down the days until we see our little boy and getting his room and our house ready for his arrival! I have definitely been nesting quite a bit; tidying up, organizing, cleaning, and preparing meals for freezing. Jason has been a huge help, especially when I get tired and run out of steam! (which happens more and more often these days)

Here are some pics from our little guy's room:

I painted the background on this canvas and then stuck sticker decals of animals on top. I'm going to paint his name across the top in red letters.... any guesses on what it's going to say??

More wall decals and the cubby shelf that Jason primed and painted. I love the way it looks!

The wall above the closet doors

A giraffe buddy for our little Monkey. :-)

Hanging on the side of the crib is a hand-knit blanket that one of my Mom's co-workers made.

Cloth diapers organized into bins

Little boy clothes!

The whole room: you can see a couple of the animal photographs that we put into clip frames and hung above the crib. There are four - a hippo, a giraffe, an elephant, and of course, a monkey!

A special Mother's Day / Strawberry Pickin'

2010-05-09T16:26:00.019-04:00

Jason and Lauren made my entire Mother's Day weekend a really wonderful, relaxing time!

We went with our friends Krisha and Brian and their son, Chase, to pick strawberries on Saturday and had a blast. The kids were not too into the actual picking, but it was a gorgeous day and we were glad to just get to spend the time together and we came home with two full buckets of yummy berries!! Yes, I did get down on my hands and knees and help at 35 weeks pregnant!!

Lauren showing me what she found! She said we were "hunting for strawberries"! :-)

Krisha and Chase

Chase having a little sample....

Me and my sweet girl!

Wheeee!

Upside down Chase!!

That afternoon, I got to go and have a prenatal massage, which was a gift from Jason that I still had from Christmas. It was nice to go and get pampered for a little while!

Jason cooked dinner for us on Saturday and again on Sunday - have I mentioned before that he is a wonderful cook!?! We even got to enjoy his melt-in-your mouth pancakes on Sunday morning, with our freshly picked strawberries on top!

Sunday after church we enjoyed a lazy afternoon together. I just felt so incredibly blessed to have such a wonderful husband and daughter (and son coming soon!).

Me on Mother's Day: 35 1/2 weeks pregnant

We joined the club

2010-05-03T19:29:00.004-04:00

Yes, we are now officially members of the mini-van club....

We traded in my car for a Honda Odyssey last Friday. We had gone back and forth about buying a larger vehicle for a while and finally decided that now was a good time, before the baby comes and life gets even more crazy! We are very happy with it so far and are looking forward to the ease and convenience that it offers when we are a family of four. I am already finding it much easier to get Lauren in and out, especially now that I am in the final weeks of my pregnancy and am rather, um... large! ha ha.

Half Marathon

2010-05-02T19:08:00.000-04:00

Jason ran in the first ever Blue Ridge Half Marathon in Roanoke two weekends ago and we were so proud of him! It was a really hilly, tough course - more challenging than his previous races for sure. Part of the course took him all the way up and down Mill Mountain! He did very well, though and while he did not beat his best time, he came very very close and said that he felt as though he was in better shape for this one than his previous races. He finished in about 1 hour, 48 minutes!

Lauren and I arrived at the finish line in just enough time to see the first runner come through and then a little while later we got to see Jason finish! Lauren was clapping and we were both cheering him on!

Here he is coming down the final stretch!

Looking really good after his race! You'd never know that he just ran over 13 miles!

Lauren checking out Daddy's medal.

So proud of you honey!

Babymoon....(sort of)

2010-04-12T16:22:00.010-04:00

Babymoon (noun): a short vacation for a couple before the birth of their child; the "last hurrah" before baby arrives

Last weekend the three of us took a trip to Richmond to get a way for a few days and hang out, before we become a family of four! Jason took a few days off of work and it was so nice for us to spend the time together.

We took Lauren to the Children's Museum of Richmond and also to Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens, where we had our wedding reception. It sure did bring back some wonderful memories. In fact, just being in Richmond in April was a beautiful reminder of the month that we got married four years ago. Everything was blooming and we had absolutely gorgeous weather while we were there.

Lauren also enjoyed going swimming in the hotel pool and riding the choo-choo train at the mall! The whole weekend was like one big adventure for her! She enjoyed saying hello and chatting with the hotel staff each time we returned and telling them all about her "adventures". She did very well sleeping on the pullout sofa in the hotel room ("I slept in the big girl bed!!") and we were able to snag a pic of her, totally crashed in the bed after going to the Children's Museum on Friday! She was worn out!!

Here is a link to more pictures from our trip:

Richmond 2010

Happy Easter!

2010-04-05T08:46:00.005-04:00

We had an absolutely beautiful weekend to celebrate Easter. We could not have asked for more perfect weather and we really enjoyed getting to spend the time together as a family.

Saturday morning we spent some time decorating Easter eggs. Lauren had just as much fun stirring the eggs and playing in the colored water as she did decorating the eggs!

Saturday afternoon we had an egg hunt in the backyard for Lauren - when we went outside, we told her we were going on "an adventure" and she was thrilled about that!! As soon as I handed her the empty Easter basket, she knew exactly what she was going to do! I asked her "what do you think you're going to find on your adventure"? She replied "EASTER EGGS"!! She was a girl on a mission!!

Sunday morning, Lauren woke up and came downstairs to see all the goodies the Easter Bunny left! Thanks to some help from grandparents and her godmother, the Easter Bunny was especially generous this year!!!

Easter 2010

Lauren and Nana

2010-04-05T08:43:00.012-04:00

Here are some of the highlights of our visit with Nana while she was here for Spring Break.

Lauren is holding "bath time baby" that Nana gave to her.

Learning how to change the baby's diaper. :-)

Sitting on the potty before bath time with her new baby

Working on an Easter craft with Nana

Giving Nana a big hug after she put her finished craft on the fridge - she was very proud of herself!