And some Bubba for your viewing pleasure

Finally, Gabe's braces photos!

Julia is "full term" today! An acquaintance of ours who was a few days ahead of her, also with her first baby, is going home from the hospital today with her new little boy. ~smile~ We've also learned in the past week or so of two other young women we know who are newly expecting. Congrats Sara, Joelle, and Bethany!

Julia is officially "full-term" in two days! I'm pretty confident that she won't be a mommy before next Thursday, though, because Pablo still has to finish his final exams. I'm still leaning towards right around the New Year but let's face it, it's nothing more than a wild guess. I'd love to be proven wrong!

We lost our camera battery but my dear husband splurged on a new one last night rather than making us keep looking so hopefully I will get pictures posted some time this weekend.

Now we just have to get this laptop down to a repair shop and back and I'll be a happy girlie!

I need to get some new Bubba pictures up, plus pictures of Gabe in his braces but they aren't on the computer yet, so you will have to settle for updates for now. Gabe looks adorable in braces (my completely unbiased opinion of course)...one of those kids that the moment he put them on he looked like they'd always been there. Bubba is making sure Julia doesn't forget about him/her for a second but I'm pretty certain that Bubba dropped yesterday. My prediction is that Julia will have a baby sometime between Dec. 16 and Jan. 4 and I'm actually leaning toward between Dec. 31 and Jan 4. Anyone else want in on the pool?

I just love the Early Reviewer's program from Library Thing! Here's the blurb about the newest book I just snagged: The How to Survive a Robot Uprising of Christmas: a dynamically illustrated, futuristic case for the scientific possibility that Santa Claus really exists.

We all know Santa Claus: fat, jolly, omniscient, swift. Lives in a nice home in the Arctic, with the missus and a pack of elves.

Well, forget what you know. Santa Claus is from Greenpoint, Brooklyn, as it turns out, and he’s not as fat as he used to be. Here’s something else you didn’t know: he’s been dabbling in some futuristic technology, and has found myriad ways to make his job possible. How can Santa know who’s been naughty and nice? Simple: implant listening devices into your ornaments. How can he make it to every house Christmas Eve? That’s nothing a little cloning and some wormholes can’t solve. And he has plenty of other tactics: quantum entanglement, organ replacement, drug-induced hibernation, and unmanned aerial vehicles, to name just a few.

In this fantastically illustrated, affectionate, and hilarious book, Gregory Mone uses science and technology to overturn the assumption that Santa can’t be real. Drawing on the work of accomplished scientists and researchers, Mone gives us a whole new portrait of this remarkable man and the miracles he makes happen every year. With imaginative artwork and an eye-catching package, this book makes an outstanding Christmas gift for just about anyone.

Thankful for my many blessings!

Just a little update

Yesterday was Julia's baby shower, put on by Pablo's step-mom. She did a beautiful job and there was a great turnout. Julia and Pablo got sooo much cute stuff plus everything they "need" and then some. Now we just need a little Bubba and I think Julia is feeling pretty much ready for that, though she has another good month to go. Pablo's birthday was also yesterday so it was a big day!

Last night we thought (we being Julia, Pablo, Laura and myself) we'd give the movie New Moon a try but it was sold out so we went and saw The Blind Side which was starting ten minutes later and which we were also all eager to see. It was fantastic! Truly the best movie I've seen in quite a while, one of those you just want to keep talking about after it is over. Highly recommended by this family!

I feel like I've made a decent dent in my Christmas shopping, though this weekend when I start on actually getting lists done and things on paper I'm not sure if I will still think so.

We finished our pre-Thanksgiving school assignments last Thursday so we are on break until afterwards. So this week I can start my menu/shopping list (which is actually pretty easy after all these years of doing it) and doing the actual shopping. And scrapbooking of course!

Gabe had his final consultation with the orthodontist last week and will be starting treatment December 1. They were ready to put them on this Tuesday but I couldn't do that to the boy two days before Thanksgiving.

I've been watching the rehearsals for our church Christmas program and I think people are going to be blown away once again. There is so much talent there, from the writing to the acting to the singing. I had goose bumps watching today and there were a couple people in tears. It's amazing to see God work as things come together.

Oh, yeah, and dieting is pretty much out the window at this point. Meh. Whatever.

Anybody ready for a belly update???

Yes! We've made the big time!

Momzilla and Dadzilla

Just Because Christopher Walken ROCKS

Sweet! I scored another Early Reviewer's book from Library Thing! This time I will be receiving the book Hunter's Moon by Don Hoesel. Here is the publisher's blurb:

After a long absence, novelist CJ Baxter returns to his hometown of Adelia in Upstate New York for his grandfather's funeral. Facing a messy divorce and doubting his talent as a writer, CJ is forced to confront secrets that have tormented him since childhood. To complicate matters, his brother Graham is running for a Senate seat, and the family is intent on keeping their most damaging secret in the family, for fear the truth, were it found out, would ruin Graham's chances at winning. But with CJ airing their dirty laundry in his books, the family is forced to deal with him. They decide on a familiar method for handling the problem: a hunting trip, and just the setting for an accident to happen. CJ must find a way to avoid being killed while exposing their toxic family secret, regardless of Graham's lofty ambitions. More important, CJ must come to terms with the newfound faith that compelled him to return to Adelia in the first place.

Doesn't that sound good? I can't wait for it to arrive!

Also, wanted to share a quick picture of the pumpkins the kids carved this year. Any guesses on who did which one?

Pumpkin Patch Fun!

Sneak peek of some wedding photos from our amazing photographer Jerry Carmien:






And the six-month baby bump!

In Julia's words...What a weekend! :D

Well, you all know how it goes...one project leads to another (if you want it done RIGHT,) which leads to another, etc. That's where I am.

We are working on getting the basement renovated to make a pseudo-apartment for Julia, Pablo and Bubba. It has formerly been half storage and half playroom and we are giving them all the playroom part, which is now made into two rooms - bedroom and living area. Anyway, Lillian will now have Julia's old bedroom so some of the toys from the playroom can go there, but Julia had way more in HER room than she can really have in the new area. The storage area needs to be gone through as well as the rest of the stuff in the playroom (amidst the ongoing construction) and oh, yeah, there is that wedding in two weeks...

So...the upshot of it all is that a lot of stuff just has to GO. Pablo has already delivered two truckfuls of stuff to Good Will (or Salvation Army, or something, notsure where he went) and there is already more in the back of the truck waiting for the next trip. Not counting the rather large amount of stuff we've set aside for Bubba and the two bins of clothes I gave a friend, this is what I've donated so far:

picture frames - 8
DVD - 1
Video - 4
CD - 12
knick knacks - 17
sunglasses - 2
padlock - 1
necklace - 13
clock - 2
bracelet - 8
rings - 3
earrings - 19
candles - 9
candle holder - 7
pictures - 3
decorations - 8
cloth napkins - 4
scanner - 1
keyboards - 2
printer - 1
computer - 1
picnic set - 1
tights - 3
kids jammies - 32
onesies - 11
kids shoes - 37
kids pants - 71
kids dresses - 28
kids shirts -95
kids shorts - 25
kids sweaters/jackets - 10
bib - 1
kids socks - 32
blankets - 2
baby sling - 1
kids hat - 1
diaper covers - 8
towel - 1
baby carrier - 1
bags - 6
bandana - 1
pillow - 1
lamp - 1
coat - 10
belts - 5
pants - 9
shorts - 8
skirts - 2
jammies - 4
undies - 19
bras - 7
robes - 2
shirts - 42
costumes - 11
jackets - 4
bathing suit - 3
socks - 1
dress - 2
slippers - 2
shoes - 12
gloves - 5
hat - 4
snowsuit - 2
exercise equipment - 2
toys - 88
games - 26
backpack - 3
appliances - 1
books - 41
household items - 3
scarf - 1
backpack - 3
maternity top - 25
maternity undies - 6
maternity swimsuit - 1
maternity slip - 1
maternity shorts - 2
maternity dress - 2
maternity pants - 6

Not to mention bunches of little things I've just tossed in. And we've probably got three times the trash as will fit in our trash can.

And I'm not done yet...

Thought I'd try and squeeze in a few minutes to update. It has been busy here! We are getting into the groove of school. Having Julia around the house has been a big help as she does "preschool" with Lillian, allowing me to work with the boys without interruption. And as an additional blessing we seem to have hit on one of those windows of opportunity in which Lil is just primed for language activities...she is picking up her letter recognition really quickly which is something completely unexpected as she is really MUCH more of a 'large motor activity' kind of girl and rarely sits still long enough to pay attention to this kind of thing. But the interest has been high enough that she sits and works with Julia much longer than I dreamed she would. Love unexpected bonuses!

Laura is enjoying public school but it took her no time at all to decide that she doesn't really require much primping to get ready after all. A few extra minutes sleep is much more important! She isn't a fan of homework but is already making new friends. Not sure what to make of the fact that most of the names I'm hearing are boy's names. Must have been a weird phenomenon in the area where a lot of girls were given boy's names for a period of time because she has been warned about talking to boys!! Pablo is also adjusting to a new way of school, being a college student.

Wedding plans are coming along. I will get to a point where I panic about how much needs to be done and then will have a spurt where a ton gets accomplished and feel better about it for awhile and then the cycle begins again. I believe all the major purchases have been made but there is still lots of details to work out and flower arrangements to be made, etc. We have been blessed with plenty of offers of help and if you are one of those people...rest assured, we will be in touch!

Baby R (aka "Bubba") is growing well and really starting to make his/her presence known! He/she has found Mama's bladder and seems to like it. I really need to get more pictures!

Laura ready for her first day -- EVER -- of going off to school! (Either that or posing for a Sears catalog, still not quite sure.)

I'm Back!

I'm back from another wonderfully relaxing week at a Rose Hills Resortand ready to get back to school and back to wedding planning! We did take a day and hit the outlet mall in West Branchwhere I found a mother-of-the-bride dress that I love so that was an unexptected bonus. I was able to get some wedding stuff accomplished after all!

Another picture I need to share. This is Pablo the moment they heard the baby's (known as "Bubba") heartbeat for the very first time. He hates that I make a big deal of it, but isn't that expression priceless?

How cute is that belly? (Though the shirt seems a little ironic!)

So for those of you that haven't heard the news via another channel yet, we want to let you know that we are going to be grandparents! While this of course came as a big surrpise to ALL involved we are very proud of how the soon-to-be mama and papa are handling this and could not be more excigted about the baby. We are grateful for all the love and support that has been shown us and sure appreciate any and all prayers for the coming months.

Well, alrighty then. THAT'S new.

I especially love the intro!

via videosift.com

I went to the good pet store and bought four more hermit crabs today, plus several more empty shells. I also got some climbing medium that attaches to the back of the cage. Today Jack had gone back into the Taylor shell, and decided to sleep in the hollow of a branch. The new guys are named Baby, Speedy, Einstein and Lando. Pictures to come. (Need to give you something to look forward to.)

Isaac finally lost his second baby tooth last night. He looks so cute with the big hole in front and the little lisp that comes with it.

Last night we also had friends over and watched Thou Shalt Laugh: The Deuce. It was hilarious, better even than the first in my opinion. And my kids got to experience that magic that is Tim Conway for the first time. Also learned that there is a Thou Shalt Laught 3 so we will be looking for that very soon.

Tonight we are going to the 50-50 Dinner at church. (Basically a catered cook-out.) It is one of few times we take an offering. Half of the proceeds will go to the Good Samaritan Rescue Mission and half to our building fund. (Hence the "50-50.") Stuff like this is always a blast so I'm looking forward to that...except maybe for hte rumored Country Western Karaoke.

First off, I'm down to just one remaining crab. In nature they stay in groups so I really need to get more but that requires a trip out of town. Maybe after church on Sunday.

Secondly...this morning the crab in the Santa shell (aka Taylor) had vacated his shell and moved into the shell with the Pirate on it, formerly inhabited by Jack, who is no longer with us. (Well, if you look hard enough you will find him in the trees behind our house, unless of course Bongo or Rex or someone beat you to it...but I digress.)

Anyway, this begs the question...what do we call him now? They were named based on characteristics of their original shells. (Stupid move for hermit crabs but too late now.) So...do we continue to call him Taylor? How do we know it really is him? How do I know they didn't all play musical shells every night while we slept when there were more of them? But how will I ever keep track of who is who if I don't base it on the only thing that sets one apart from the other, namely the appearance of it's shell? It just seems...I don't know, cold or something to change his name her name? Another whole post...) just because he changed shells. I mean, I might have been offended if I'd been forced to change my name every time I moved.

On the other hand, it's a crab. I doubt he will mind too much. And if he does he will just have to move back to his old shell.

So many huge decisions in my life, aren't there?

Anywho...I got tired of the whole "nocturnal" nonsense and decided to just get him out and force him to play today.

I don't know what is going on with my mascara. Just ignore that.







Finally, I think I've found a fun way to exercise. (Yes, Tricia, I used the "f" word and the "e" word in the same sentence.)



Laugh if you will (Yes, you are, stop lying,) but it is fun! And when you are as bad at it as I am, it is good exercise! My goal is to someday be as good as Gabe.

I made a fun discovery last night. We have a tree in our backyard that I've never noticed having fruit in prior years. Maybe it wasn't the right conditions, or maybe it did have fruit and I just never noticed. Anyway, they look so much like blackberries (which of course do not grow on trees) that I was compelled to do some research. With the help of THIS very cool site, I figured out that what we have is a Black Mulberry tree. Growing up we had a Fruitless Mulberry tree in our yard and to be honest I can see why they might be the preferred type for many...the fruit is juicy and messy and dark. Not something you'd want all over your grass. But our tree is located where it is not a problem and there is, for better or worse, not a whole lot of fruit anyway, so no problems there. But the best part? As far as fruit goes, the Black Mulberry is the preferred type; it has the tastiest fruit. And....yum!!

And just for fun, a cool shot I caught of our cat, Bongo.


More pet news (cuz I know you are all on the edge of your seats with all the excitement around here) - day before yesterday I changed the hermit crab cage over and put play sand in; it is supposed to be a great environment for them, is cheap, and we had some on hand. Cool, right? Well yesterday I got up to find that Jack, my surviving original crab, had lost two pincers and was out of his shell. (Not a pretty sight, by the way.) Apparently stress can sometimes cause this to happen so maybe the new digs was too much excitement for him. So I went to the pet store and got a bunch of goodies that will hopefully make the transition a little smoother...some empty shells, a log to hide in, etc. I was going to buy a couple more crabs as well but after wandering around the store I refuse to buy any animals from the local pet store...the amount of dead fish, etc. in the place was really disgusting. So that will have to wait to the next trip out of town. Speaking of which...J came home with a female hamster (Natasha Richardson) so if Billy Mays and Michael Jackson can show a little more enthusiasm than they could muster last night, we may have babies in our future.

Today I:

*debated staying home from the church picnic/baptism and enjoying some quiet time in the house alone, but decided to go ahead and hang out with the family instead. Glad I did as it was a blast.

*learned how to play Spoons. Hard to believe all the years I've spent hanging out with teens that I'd never played before.

*learned that I really stink at Spoons and that it is entirely possible to get dizzy while sitting in one spot.

*bought this punch: EK Success "Binding Edge" edge punch

*thinned, trimmed (with Arnel's help) and dyed her hair.

Willy Wonka

Wow, Willy Wonka was amazing tonight! Nearly full house, standing ovation (well-deserved in my opinion!) and spontaneous clapping along by the audience during the closing number. If any of you are in the tri-cities area DO try and stop by John Glenn High School at 7 PM Friday or Saturday or 2 PM Sunday to check it out. Your ticket money goes to support arts in the area public schools so in addition to having a great time you will be supporting a great cause! Oh, and there are adorably CUTE non-scary oompa-loompas!

Well, let's see what is up here...FINALLY got some rain. I would love a good thunderstorm to go along with it but at least the grass got some water.

Tonight we are going to go see Willy Wonka performed by a very talented cast of local performers, including three of our very good friends. I cannot WAIT.

Yesterday I played around with Netflix a bit and have decided that I do like it a lot better than Blockbuster online. Just by playing around on the site I found lots of movies to add to my queue and a few saved to watch 'free' online.

I did a little scrappy shopping yesterday. Some great clearance stuff at Michael's and a different kind of luck at Joann's. The sale was unfortunate...not enough of a discount to make anything a real bargain but enough things on sale that there wasn't much to use my coupons on. However...I found some DCWV stacks that I guess are brand new...I wanted to share links or pictures but amazingly I cannot find ANYthing online. They are called "The Mod-Retro" stack and "The Doodlin' Around" stack. There was also a new one called something like "crafty." And fortunately this is one of the things that WAS on a good sale!

I need to get busy reading. I'm almost done with In Cold Blood but I'm also in the middle of a Myron Bolitar mystery by Harlan Coben (#3 or #4 in the series, I can't remember for sure, it is called Back Spin.) But in addition to all the others I have from the library hanging around I have a couple I need to get read pretty quickly after I finish these...one is
The Pact by Jodi Picoult. I've never read any of her books before but people who read them seem to just love everything she does and this one in particular was highly recommended and sounded interesting, so I thought I would give it a shot and see if she is my style or not. However it was borrowed from another library with a shorter check-out time, so it gets moved to the top of the list! Then I also received my latest 'early review' book from Library Thing. This one is Dying for Mercy. I want to get this read pretty soon so I can get a review up on the site. Need to stay in their good graces to increase my chances of scoring more free books!

Okay, since I'm adding links, here are the movies I added to my Netflix queue!

The Haunting in Connecticut
The Machinist
The Jacket
Inside
The Visitation (Read this book years ago, didn't know there was a movie!)
In Dreams

I added some others, too, but these I pretty much found based on their recommendations.

And a few I'm going to watch on the laptop sometime...

House - though I love the series, this is not that, it is a movie based on a book I read
Murder by Numbers
Dan in Real Life
Frequency

Yup, I'm One of a Kind

HowManyOfMe.com

There are or fewer people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

Sadly, the ailing Ollie did not survive. Meet his replacements, Alfred (in the black) and Taylor (sporting the red.)

Rose Hills Resort Diary

Day 1:
Arrived and checked out the new cabin. Very nice. We can’t decide if we like this or the other model better; both have their advantages. This has a more open floor plan and more space in the bathroom while the other has more area overall and especially in the loft/sleeping area. As always, the place is spotlessly clean and we were welcomed with delicious cookies waiting for us in the kitchen.

We’ve got the unpacking thing down to a science, so that didn’t take long at all. Even though it wasn’t especially warm, the kids didn’t waste any time getting into the water...though they didn’t stay that long. The Playsation (water trampoline) is back this year! The families in the other cabins are two brothers and their families and their kids were happy to see more kids. The boys hit it off right away.

We played some Mafia around the campfire and it was very enlightening. Lillian played on her own; she has watched us play innumerable times and played on a team with another person, but this was the first time she played by herself. I wasn’t sure what to expect so I told Gabe (who was acting as our game’s narrator) to make sure she got a “citizen” card so she wouldn’t have to do anything. Well, he didn’t catch that remark, and she wound up being mafia...and did very well! The second round she was a bit disappointed that she wasn’t going to get to be “awake.”
Dinner was easy. I had leftover homemade spaghetti sauce that I’d frozen so we had spaghetti and salad. Later we roasted marshmallows and had s’mores.

Day 2:
Our first full day was a bit chillier than we’d have liked. It was still nice weather, just too cold to make water play much fun. The kids, being much tougher than us adults are, still went in several times for varying lengths of time. Isaac at one point learned—the hard way—that he is a better swimmer than he knew. He did a flip under water but not in the direction he had intended...which left him in deeper water when he was done, rather than the shallower water he’d expected. Poor little guy! He didn’t seem to be too scared by the incident, but since I wasn’t even aware it had happened until he walked back up to the campfire (I’d been distracted by Laura and Hayley trying to bodily remove Gabe from the picnic table to throw him off the dock) I didn’t feel like Mother of the Year. “Guilt—what motherhood is all about.”

Breakfast was pancakes and fried eggs today, cooked by Arnel (as most all of our breakfasts are.) We wound up eating really late so skipped lunch...which was okay because we have sooo much snack food that I’m going to gain ten pounds this week anyway. Chex mix and crackers with cheese-in-a-can were on the snack menu today, along with jello cups with fruit. Dinner was the ever-popular Hobo Dinner. This is a seasoned hamburger topped with thinly-sliced potatoes and corn and then wrapped in foil and cooked over the campfire. And salad again. We stumbled across some Russian salad dressing in the grocery store which I hadn’t seen in ages, so I bought it and the kids have found it a pleasant surprise.

We also pigged out on candy that the kids bought at the dollar store on the way into town and, of course, more marshmallows and s’mores. I even roasted a few without burning them today.

One thing we love to do here is fish. We fish in the shallow water off the dock, and out on the lake in their boat. Julia, Pablo and Gabe have spent quite a bit of time in the boat and today Julia caught a HUGE fish. It was a large-mouth bass. We had no way of accurately measuring it but we are estimating 18” and 10 lbs. Pablo was getting it “cooking ready” and they saw something sticking out of its stomach that looked like...a tail? Turns out it was another, much smaller, fish that Gabe had caught and was in the same bucket! At least we know the big guy had a nice last meal before we ate him! (He was yummy, too!) Oh, and they also found a crab in his stomach. What a science lesson!

Julia brought her hamsters with her and finally decided on names. They are both male. Hamster A is fairly mellow but can be pretty loud when he gets scared or something. Hamster B doesn’t make much noise but moves so fast that you can hardly hold him. Hamster A, the yelling hamster, is now named Billy Mays. Hamster B, the dancing hamster, is Michael Jackson.

I thought we were “in” for the night and had already taken a shower but the rest of the family joined the families in the neighboring cabins as well as our host family for a game called Fruit Swat and had a lot of fun.

Day 3:
Meals for the day: scrambled eggs (technically, Egg Beaters. I can’t tell the difference but no one else cared for them. Said they are slimy. They were much easier to transport, though.) Bacon, sausage patties (veggie sausage for Laura) and raisin toast.

Lessons for the day: 1) Four-year-olds, even if they are smart enough and experienced enough to play Mafia, should NOT play Mafia. I’d prefer not to go into more detail but I’d imagine any of the others present would be more than happy to share the story with you, which is fine by me...as long as Lillian is NOT present at the time. 2) One bathroom can serve nine people surprisingly well. Not that there haven’t been some “hurry up!” moments, but they have been fewer than I expected. 3) When you tear a contact lens in half in the process of taking it out of your eye because it is sticking to your eye too much...it makes it really hard to get that second half out.

Laura got it in her head that she needed to straighten my hair today. I've never done it before. I totally mocked her for having a hair straightener on a trip of this nature, but I must admit it was very relaxing and my hair felt really nice afterwards.

Day 4:
A sunny day, though still a bit windy. We worked on finishing up food and did pretty good at that. We finally remembered to use the Glow Sticks and sparklers from Julia’s graduation party. Our host family, the Morses, joined us for our Mafia games tonight (Lillian and I played on a team.) We found out that we will be able to stay later tomorrow as the family that was due to come in next has delayed their arrival for a day. That is a relief since we’ve been getting really late starts on our days and I was a little worried about getting us all packed and on the road by eleven. We also learned that we can stay an extra day when we come back at the end of the summer, which is great.

As always, the time here went by much too quickly for me. I’m amazed at how much time can be spent happily fishing or just rowing around the lake, or digging in the sand. How happy everyone can be without electronics when they know they are not an option. How easy even cooking and cleaning up are when there are so few distractions. Just an easier, happier, pace of life.

Day 5:

Basically today was getting up, packing, and getting on the road. Packing goes surprisingly quickly. Mostly it is just a lot of dirty laundry (two loads down and about, oh, a million to go.) We made our traditional stop at Dairy Queen on the way out. Yummy! Now we are home...with a lot of laundry, a few extra pounds, and a couple rashes we didn't have when we left...but refreshed and relaxed. So worth it all!

And some more pictures, just for fun.