The Wallace Family

One more time...

2012-01-25T13:50:00.000-05:00

Make a pregnancy ticker

Blogging, the Lazy Edition

2011-08-16T16:36:00.005-04:00

Just slapping up some random pictures from my Iphone...

This is what I got when I asked Jacob to pose for a picture for
the wallpaper on my new phone when I got it in April.

This is Luke's first haircut, around May.

This is Jacob goofing off on the couch.

This picture was taken at Luke's daycare and framed for me for Mother's Day.

This is Jacob's setup for trips down South--pretty jealous considering
road trips when I was his age consisted of hanging out with my sister
Susan, who wasn't really my favorite person at the time (sorry, Susan)

This is Luke enjoying one of the first warm days in June.

This is Jacob with his cousin Anna at his cousin Michael's wedding on April 2nd, Jacob's birthday

This is Luke on his 1st birthday, July 23rd

Progress...

2011-07-22T12:49:00.003-04:00

Jacob has definitely improved since I last posted a basketball video on here when he was 4--here is a video of him being defended by a 5th grader:

New Teefies...

2011-06-20T16:10:00.001-04:00

The best big brother...

2011-06-17T10:29:00.000-04:00

Recent Pictures

2011-05-25T16:24:00.003-04:00

I keep putting off posting because I just don't have time to try to make it all cute, so I've decided to just post pictures until I can get off my lazy bum and make myself do more. Enjoy!

Click here to view these pictures larger

Christmas Cards

2010-12-08T23:42:00.005-05:00

We are finally getting on the ball this year and sending out Christmas cards! It would be a shame not to when Shutterfly makes it so easy to make it look so nice!

With Love Chartreuse Christmas 5x7 folded card

Create unique Christmas cards with Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AZtGTZozat2bjw

I defy you to not smile at this...

2010-11-12T16:14:00.002-05:00

Time flies...

2010-09-22T03:17:00.007-04:00

Luke (and company) at...

1 week old:

2 weeks old:

3 weeks old:

4 weeks old:

6 weeks old:

Advanced

2010-09-14T02:55:00.001-04:00

Look at him, smiling like that at only four days old!
Okay, okay, I really just snapped these shots while he was half-asleep and making all kinds of weird faces, and every picture I didn't show has his eyes rolled back in his head, but still--he's gifted, I tell you!

Summer 2010 Wrap-up

2010-09-13T02:26:00.001-04:00

This is a catch-up post, so it includes an assortment of pictures that I want to share but don;t want to do individual posts for:

Jacob and Kyler before running the "Michigan Mile"
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As you can see, they were pretty pumped.
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Here is Jake crossing the finish line, second from the left in the picture.

The girl to the left of him is actually my secretary Naomi's daughter, though I can't figure out how she got in the picture since she ran in a different age group, and therefore at a different time.

Alan and Jacob before they left for Windsor, Canada, to watch the University of Kentucky play the University of Windsor in an exhibition basketball game

As you can see, Alan is signaling that Kentucky is #1, while Jacob is either confused or is wishing everyone peace.

The drawing says it all. Whew, what a face. Can't remember what was up with that.
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No matter what I do, this posts vertical instead of horizontal!
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This officially wraps up the pre-Luke era! Bring on the baby pictures!

Carter's Luke's Baby Shower

2010-09-12T01:29:00.000-04:00

Oops.
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The ladies at my office threw a great shower for me, and I wanted to post some pics in part so my family can put some faces with the names I talk about.

This is Naomi, my secretary and dear friend.
(Please ignore the fat-face--I was puffy EVERYWHERE at that point!)
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See?
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Our receptionist, Janet, and me
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Deb (the only other female attorney in the office) and me
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Harriet and me.
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Harriet is my boss's secretary, so she ends up doing a ton of work for me as well. Harriet organized the shower, and did a great job.

Sue (another secretary in the office) and me
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The gentlemen of the office, Ed, Mike and Tom (we were missing Max and Brian that day)
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This was my boss during the shower--always busy!
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It was really a great time, and meant a lot to me.

University of Kentucky Father/Son Basketball Camp

2010-09-11T22:28:00.000-04:00

A long time ago, I said I would post pictures of Alan and Jacob's trip to the University of Kentucky for the John Calipari Father/Son Basketball Camp, which was on Father's Day weekend. I don't really know who any of the people are that they are pictured with, except for Coach Calipari and the mural of John Wall. They both are fanatical UK basketball fans, so they really had a great time.

Jacob, Coach Calipari and Alan

Jacob with his autographed ball
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Jacob getting an autograph from a current (I think!) Kentucky player
*Um, no idea.
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Again, no idea.
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Aha! John Wall, know that one! Jacob fought back tears when
he declared himself for the NBA draft.
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John Wall again.
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Hmm, no idea.

*Old guy, no idea.
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I think this is Tony Delk, former UK player.
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Our handsome boy.
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My handsome man.
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Coach Calipari

Goodbye, First Grade

2010-09-10T11:51:00.002-04:00

During Jacob's last week of school, we went to his class's "Portfolio Party." We weren't quite sure what that entailed, but apparently the teacher had collected some of our kids' work over the course of the year and put it together in portfolios. The kids presented them to us and we had cookies and punch. The portfolio is SO cute I just have to share--I will treasure it forever!

Happy Birthday, Luke

2010-08-16T12:52:00.018-04:00

Seven years ago when we had Jacob, my delivery was less than ideal. Without going into too much detail, I was induced for no good reason, had a terribly long labor, pushed for hours and hours and ended up having a c-section. My epidural wasn't completely effective and they ended up putting me out during the c-section, so I completely missed Jacob's birth and I didn't even wake up to meet him until he was about two hours old. For that reason, I was determined to try to avoid a c-section this time, if at all possible. My doctors were willing to allow me to wait until my due date to see if I would go into labor spontaneously, but if I didn't, I would have to have a c-section. They ended up letting me go several days beyond my due date, but Luke showed absolutely no signs of budging, so they scheduled the c-section.

The day before we went in, I cried most of the day. I was so terrified of the c-section and so disappointed that I couldn't even focus on being excited. I felt actually kind of bitter about it, and I was really worried about whether I could even get in the right state of mind before the birth.

We went to bed still trying to finalize the name. Alan and I had been going back and forth about it for a while, and, as I stated in my previous post, he really wanted to name this baby Gary after his dad. I wasn't as enthustiastic about the name, but Alan didn't try to force it on me. Alan's dad is Gary Lynn, and Alan is Gary Alan. Alan just said that growing up, when people realized he was being called his middle name they would often ask him if he was named after someone, and he was always proud to say that he was named after his dad. He said it would be really special to him if this baby could tell people that he was named for his dad and granddad. We had been playing around with names that sounded good with Gary for a while, and we went to bed thinking about Gary Mason and Gary Lucas.

The next morning, my attitude had changed at least some. I was still pretty terrified, but I was also so excited. We had to be at the hospital at 5:30 a.m. We had planned on leaving Jacob at the house with Alan's parents until 7:30 a.m. when the baby was supposed to be born, since he wouldn't even be able to be with us prior to the surgery, but Jacob was insistent on going in with us. It didn't really make sense to have him there that early, but the last thing we wanted to do was have him feel excluded, so at 5:00 a.m. that morning, Alan, Jacob, Maw, Paw and I headed to the hospital.

While they were asking me questions, putting in my IV, etc., Alan and I decided that our second son's name would be Gary Lucas, and that we would call him Luke. It is the perfect name for him.

In the operating room, I was shaking so badly that my teeth were chattering. I can't even explain the relief I felt when the doctor told me that she had started the surgery, and I didn't feel any pain. At that point, Alan and I started laughing and joking around--it was absolutely wonderful! And before we knew it, there he was...

I am so sad I missed these moments with Jacob, because I felt like I was in heaven. It makes me teary thinking about it again. It was so amazing seeing him for the first time.

Since Alan's sister, Ashley, is a doctor at the hospital where we delivered, they let her be in the operating room, and she took these pictures. The doctor that delivered Luke also delivered Ashley's daughter, Avery, back in February.

Maw, Paw and Jacob seeing Luke for the first time--that's Ashley in the scrubs.

Precious big brother.
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Proud Maw.

Proud Paw and Maw.
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It was really special to get to have Ashley in the operating room with us. I wanted Cathy (Maw) to be there too, but since I had a c-section that wasn't allowed.
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Avery came to visit, too.

Luke after his first bath.

Sweet daddy.
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Jacob holding Luke for the first time, with Paw.
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Maw and Luke. (Don't be too jealous, Granny Honey, we'll be there in just a couple of weeks!)

I have so many more pictures to post--I really need to do it just a couple of pictures at a time, so I'm more likely to do it! Then maybe I can fit it in during naptime.

Our Boys

2010-07-30T12:54:00.002-04:00

Sigh. I don't think I could be any happier than I am now.

Gary Lucas Wallace

2010-07-25T03:20:00.006-04:00

Introducing Luke Wallace, born via C-section July 23, 2010 at 8:06 a.m, weighing 9 pounds, 11.4 ounces and measuring 21 1/4 inches.

Obviously we had a last-second name change--it was really important to Alan to honor his dad, Gary, and we just didn't like the name Carter with Gary. We were still calling him Carter until the night before, and settled on the final name right before we went into the operating room. We really think it fits, though, and I am so happy because none of the names we had tried had clicked until then.

We are over the moon. He is such a big, healthy boy--I could not be happier or more GRATEFUL. I'll add some more pictures and tell more about him in another post. I've got to feed my sweet hungry boy.

Our Little Yankee

2010-06-22T17:03:00.003-04:00

This past weekend, Alan and Jacob went to the John Calipari Father/Son Basketball Camp at the University of Kentucky (dedicated post coming soon). At the end of the first night, when Alan and Jacob were settling in in their dorm room, Jacob said, "Dad, everyone here talks like cowboys."

Priceless.

We need to get him back down South, STAT.

Finally...FLORIDA!

2010-06-19T12:11:00.020-04:00

Okay, I know it has taken me FOREVER to post about this, but I took literally hundreds of pictures on this trip, so I had to cull through each of those, pick the ones I wanted to post, edit them and load them to Blogger. I have to find a website or something that tells me how to do that faster. It took me so long just to get the pictures on here, then they were in the wrong order and there is no easy way to rearrange them. I'm sure there is a better way, I just don't know it yet. I did fiddle with my blog a little bit and figured out how to make the pictures bigger, and apparently some of them are TOO big. At this point I refuse to fix it. I am DONE with this post!

Anywho...

THIS precious boy...

...did not know who in the heck I was. But aren't those peepers purty?

Day 1:

We got to Florida at about 10:30 in the morning. Susan's wretched boss wouldn't let her off of work, so BJ and the kids picked us up at the airport. We had no definite plans for the day, but Jacob was dying to see the ocean for the first time, so we went home and changed clothes, grabbed some sub sandwiches and hit the beach.

This is Jacob going into the water for the first time.

Sweet, fearless Ava was right behind him.

She had just turned 2 a few weeks before, but she is a really good swimmer. She usually swims in pools, though. I have to tell you, this girl kills me. She is about the cutest thing you have ever seen in your life, and she is SPUN-KY with a capital S.

Nothing like her mama, ahem.

"What? There's a camera on me?"

BJJacob had a great time playing in the water with ~~Jacob~~Uncle BJ.

BJ is one of those really great uncles, because he really plays with the kids and seems to enjoy it almost as much as they do!

The color varies on a lot of these pictures because I was experimenting with the white balance settings on my camera to check out the effect. I also experimented some during editing, so I wasn't very consistent.

What's a day at the beach without being buried in the sand?

Is there anything in the world better than seeing your kid have to throw his head back in laughter because he's having so much fun?

Of course, Ava had to do it as well...

I think for a 2-year old, she was very tolerant of the sand, but...

...enough is ENOUGH.

Bless it, I just can't stand it. She is just so cute and funny to me!

Alan spent some time in the water with Jacob, too.

Despite all of my warnings and attempts to put sunscreen on Alan, he burnt to a crisp. Again.

I played in the water quite a bit myself, and BJ actually took the camera out and took some pictures that *gasp* had me in them! Of course, I'm not about to post pictures of me 7 months pregnant in a bathing suit, but hey, at least there is a digital record somewhere now that I exist and I was on this trip!

I don't know how I managed to not get a picture of Susan. She got to the beach at about 3:30-ish, and we stayed for a couple more hours, then we went home and grilled some yummy steaks and crashed. I'll wrap up my account of the first day with a couple more pictures of this cutie:

Day 2:

On Saturday morning we went over to BJ's parent's house to spend the day swimming in their pool and to celebrate Ava's 2nd birthday. And when I say, "spend the day swimming", I mean that Jacob got in that pool at 11:30 am and didn't come out until about 8:30 pm. He was SO wrinkled and his feet were actually sore from the bottom of the pool the next day.

He just LOVES swimming:

Can you tell?

BJ's sister Christina and her husband Frank were there with their beautiful kids as well:

Rebecca, 1 1/2

Ryan, 3 (I think)

and

Andrew, 5

BJ's mother, father and his brother Justin and his wife Kassie were there as well, but I hardly got any pictures of the grown-ups. I did get a couple of shots:

Andrew and Pops (BJ's dad)

and

Susan and Ava.

That ^^^ is where Tyler gets the purty peepers.
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Ava blowing out her birthday candles.

And that concludes Day 2 of our trip!

Day 3:

On Day 3, BJ and his family rented a boat and we went out and spent a good portion of the day on the water. But before we left the house, I got a chance to take some more pictures:

Ava and Jacob

Most of the time Jacob is pretty indifferent to Ava. As 1) a little girl, and 2) a much younger little girl, he pretty much has no use for her. He doesn't mind her, but he is not nearly as impressed with her as I am. I think she feels pretty much the same way about him.

But when it comes to her little brother...

...there's definitely at least some affection. They are too precious!

I actually took more pictures of Tyler than I have here, but for some reason a disproportionate amount of those turned out blurry. Still learning with this camera. These are a tad blurry too, but he's such a cutie it's easy to see past my photographic shortcomings:

He is an unbelievably sweet baby with a smile that can part clouds, but it seems that most of the time I was shooting him, he was not happy with me.

We got on the boat before lunch and traveled to a beach, where we anchored near the shore and put up canopies. Then we grilled out with a portable grill and hung out on the beach most of the day.

My little Yankee boy wasn't really used to the heat, but he was fine since we were in water pretty much the whole time.

This time around he and Andrew decided to try to build a sandcastle.

Jacob also found some weird-looking creature, which we were told by the natives was a sea urchin:*

After playing for a little while longer, we got back to the boat and headed back to Naples. When we got back to the house, Susan got really sick and went to bed with a bug. At that point we were all pretty exhausted anyway, and we had to leave for the airport the next morning by 6:15 am, so I doubt we would have had an all-night gab session anyway!

We had SUCH a wonderful time. I love being in Florida with the beautiful weather and water, and I love seeing my sister and her family, so it really couldn't have been better (except for Susan getting sick--wouldn't wish that on her again!). We can't wait to do it again.

3-D Ultrasound, Take Two: Carter at 32 Weeks

2010-06-03T12:51:00.004-04:00

We went back to have a another 3-D ultrasound done last week, and Carter cooperated a little bit more this time. They were able to get a few shots of his face, but it is a little bit smooshed looking because I am getting farther along and there is less amniotic fluid, which apparently makes it harder to get a clear shot. Still fun to kind of see what he will look like, though! I do love the last picture with the little smile.

The ultrasound tech said he is (or was right at 32 weeks when we had the ultrasound) 5 pounds, 2 ounces, with a margin of error of 6 ounces. He is measuring 2 weeks ahead on everything except for head circumference, which is measuring 4 weeks ahead. I'm still holding out hope that I won't have to have another C-section, but everytime I have another ultrasound that hope fades a little bit. The doctor said that because he measured so large this time that I will have another ultrasound at 37 weeks to see how big he is and whether they think they should get him out of there early. I would be so disappointed, but I'm just trying to focus on the fact that I would get to see him a couple of weeks early.

Can you guess...

2010-06-02T16:59:00.004-04:00

...where we went this past weekend?

I have SO many great pictures to share that it is going to take me a little while to do a post about our Florida trip. Needless to say, though, we had a GREAT time! I'll try to have it up as soon as possible!

Busy Weekend

2010-05-22T17:58:00.018-04:00

Ashley and Avery

This new camera is too much fun! I haven't quite gotten it down pat, but I am really enjoying learning how to use this thing. I didn't have a really good reason to put that picture at the top of this post, but a sweet picture of a mama and her baby gets me every time. Anyway, on to the post! A couple of weeks ago, Alan's parents, Cathy and Gary (otherwise known as Maw and Paw) came up to visit. I am one of those lucky girls who has in-laws that I can not only tolerate, but who I would gladly welcome to move into our basement if they would show the slightest inclination of wanting to do so. So in other words, I was so excited that they were coming to visit. It was a very short trip--they got here Saturday morning and left Sunday morning--but we had a very full day and had a great time. The day started on Saturday morning when they arrived at Ashley and Matt's house. We headed over there and spent some time playing with this precious girl:

The hair hasn't calmed down a bit!

I feel like I can just hear her thinking, "What are you doing???"

Next, we went and watched Jacob play in his soccer game, which his team won. It was a beautiful day, perfect weather for the game. This is Michigan, so I had sat shivering through most of his games before this one.

I didn't get the exact moment when he scored his goal, but this is close!

After that, we went back to our house to rest for a bit, because ~~Paw~~ Avery needed a nap.

Avery and Paw

Next, we headed out to Jacob's basketball game.

Here he is making his move.

Here are Maw, Ashley and Avery.

This was Avery's first basketball game. With this family, it definitely won't be her last.

Maw, Jacob and Paw.

Jacob wasn't particularly happy because this was the first game they had lost all season.

After the game, we went back to our house to spend some time together. We had put a pork loin on to smoke before we left for the ballgame, so we had some good old-fashioned pulled-pork BBQ to eat for supper. Anybody that knows us knows that THIS...

...is how we feel about good pulled-pork BBQ.

So we sat around and ate, talked, loved on each other...

Avery with her Daddy Matt

...played some basketball...

Ashley

...loved on each other some more...

Avery and Paw

...ate and ate and ate, and loved each other some more.

Maw and Avery

Okay, okay, I know those pictures only show various people loving on Avery, but a baby is just a camera magnet and it was the first time I was around her since I got my camera. I will try to take more pictures of everyone else next time. Which I hope is soon!

Mothers' Day 2010, continued...

2010-05-11T16:05:00.009-04:00

I was already in shock after seeing the camera that I wanted so badly, but then I saw this perfect card that Jacob had made for me:

How cute is that? He is SUCH a great kid. When it said, "Check your e-mail," I assumed that he had done another artistic-type thing on the computer and had e-mailed it, but I was wrong. When I checked my e-mail, this is what I found:

Alan, Jacob and I are going to visit my sister Susan and her family in Florida for 3 days! I am BEYOND excited about this. I miss Susan, BJ and their babies SO much I can't stand it, and come on, we're talking about FLORIDA! I am ever so much more impressed with Florida since we moved to Michigan. It was 46 degrees and rainy all day here today, and all I could think about was our upcoming trip. Also, Jacob has never seen the ocean, so I really look forward to getting to take him to the beach. SO excited.

Did I not tell you have the best husband and son EVER?

Mothers' Day 2010

2010-05-09T20:35:00.002-04:00

See this guy?

And this guy?

Best husband and son EVER. They were the best husband and son ever before today, but today they REALLY outdid themselves.

First of all, the first thing I saw when I walked into the kitchen this morning was the camera that I have been coveting and saving for for about a year. I had only saved about half of the money I needed, and I was worried I wouldn't be able to scrounge up the rest of it before Carter is born. Turns out, Alan had been saving, too, just so he could help me out buying it. He not only did that, but he bought me a zoom lens and a camera bag, too! I am LOVING it, as you may or may not be able to tell by the pictures above. But that wasn't even the best part--I'm out of time now, though, so I'll have to share the rest as soon as I get a chance to upload a few more pictures!

Carter at 29 Weeks, 2 Days

2010-05-07T13:04:00.003-04:00

We finally came up with a name, but we still haven't settled on a middle name. It is funny, because I look back at our list of names early on in the pregnancy and we considered the name Carter but I scratched it off the list pretty early. After looking at tens of thousands of names, we came back around to it and decided we really like it. So, Carter it is! Any suggestions for a middle name would be greatly appreciated!

Yesterday we went to have a 3-D (or is it 4-D?) ultrasound performed. Unfortunately, Hank decided to be stubborn, and this is pretty much the extent of what we saw:

He kept both hands covering his face the entire time. We have ONE shot where you can see a profile of his eyes and nose, and he is covering up only his mouth with his upper arm, but it is kind of like one of those optical illusions where you either see the old woman or the young woman--I think I would have to point everything out to you for you to see it. Here it is:

I can see his precious little fat cheeks and little nose, can you? The ultrasound estimated his current weight as 3 pounds, 11 ounces, or 2 weeks ahead. He is pretty much measuring 2 weeks ahead on everything except head circumference, which is measuring 3 weeks ahead--lucky me. Jacob's head was in the 95th percentile when he was born--hence the C-section. :( Anyway, we are supposed to go back sometime next week for another 3D/4D ultrasound to try to see his face again. We got another good 2-D profile shot. Precious boy. *Sigh*.

No Words Necessary--starring Ava and Tyler

2010-05-07T12:59:00.003-04:00

As promised...

2010-05-05T10:56:00.007-04:00

...here are some updated pictures of my adorable niece,Avery Ann. She is a little bit over 2 months old now, and she is just TOO cute. She has the sweetest smile, and her hair is just AWESOME!

Look at that sweet smile, and that HAIR!

She has SUCH a sweet face.

Ashley sent this to me by e-mail, saying,

"We got our hair did to go to the dr yesterday!!!!" Love it.

With all the pregnancy hormones, this one is about enough to make me cry!

What do you think? Does she already look like she's going to be trouble?

I am SO thankful to have Ashley, Matt and Avery in Michigan with us for at least another year while Ashley finishes her residency at the local hospital (as CHIEF resident, by the way, no big thang...). I'm afraid that they are going to scoot right back down South as soon as she is done, though, and I can't say that I blame them!

Basketball Fever

2010-05-04T23:17:00.008-04:00

Jacob has been playing basketball in various leagues since he was 4, but last summer was the first time he really started taking it seriously and practicing, and started taking an interest in watching it on tv. I know he realizes how much Alan enjoys it, and you can tell Jacob really wants to make him proud by being good at it. They have really enjoyed playing together. This video is of Alan playing a game with Jacob last summer on the lower goal.

This year Jacob practices on a 10-foot goal (but still plays on an 8-foot goal in his league), and it is amazing how much he has improved. Alan is his coach. I'll have to get some new video and put it on here to compare.

A little bit too ambitious...

2010-05-04T11:22:00.008-04:00

In Jacob's class at school, whenever a kid has a birthday they bring in cupcakes for the class. I had been seeing these REALLY cute fondant cakes online made out of Oreo cakesters...

... so I got the brilliant idea that I was going to make these little white fondant cakes with the University of Kentucky logo on them, since Jacob has gotten to where he is ALL about the University of Kentucky after watching every single one of their basketball games this season with Alan.

I thought, I'm fairly artistic, right? This is right up my alley! WRONG. I bought my Oreo Cakesters, fondant and food coloring, cut out my logo and began working on the first little cake. I got it wrapped in the white fondant and then I took some of the fondant and put a few drops of blue food coloring in it and mixed it into a pretty Kentucky blue. So far so good.

At that point, I started to cut the UK logo out of the Kentucky blue fondant using the logo I cut out as a stencil. Things quickly went downhill from there. (If I was better at this blogging thing, this is where I would have the play-by-play of pictures of my failure, but of course, I'm pretty bad at this blogging thing, so I don't.) I really underestimated how hard it would be to cut the fondant in all the nooks and crannies of that logo. I got through one single UK (which didn't look half-bad), and decided that there was no way I was going to be able to do 23 more of them.

So, we scratched that and went with plan B. I happened to have chocolate cake mix and icing in my pantry, so I quickly threw that together and made 24 cupcakes. I didn't really have a lot of any one kind of decorations for the cupcakes, and Jacob said EVERYONE brings in just sprinkles, so we brought out the whole arsenal of sprinkles, colored sugar, candies and chocolate chips and Jacob and I decorated them together. I am actually glad the pretty little fondant cakes didn't work out, because I tasted one and they were NOT very good, and Jacob and I had a lot of fun decorating these together.

Live and learn...now I just have to figure out a good use for my remaining 4 pounds of fondant...

What should I call this picture? Suspicious Minds

2010-05-04T10:43:00.003-04:00

This is an old picture of Jacob and Ava from when they visited from Christmas, but I love the funny way they are looking at each other and I just realized that I hadn't posted it. I don't think either of them really knew what to make of the other one! I was trying to think of a cute caption for it, but I guess I'm just not creative enough. Any ideas?

Avery Ann Norris

2010-05-04T09:48:00.003-04:00

Introducing Avery Ann Norris, daughter of Ashley and Matt Norris (Alan's sister and her husband), born February 27, 2010, 8 lbs, 4 oz and I think she was 21 1/2 inches. She is SO beautiful. I've been meaning to introduce her for a while, but I took these pictures with my non-digital SLR camera and then lent Ashley the picture CD. I finally got it back so I can share.

Avery with Maw

Avery with Paw

Avery with Maw and Paw

Avery with Uncle Alan

Avery with her daddy

She is less than a half hour old in these pictures. She was so alert! I can't wait to share the more recent pictures of her--she is just adorable! I'm still trying to figure that one out, though, because Ashley has sent most of them to me on her i-phone, and for some reason I can't save them as a .jpg or other format I can put on the blog. The best I can do is cut them and paste them into Word. I tried cutting them and pasting them into the blog, and that didn't work, either. If you know how to do this, let me know!

Hank at 20 Weeks

2010-03-04T15:18:00.004-05:00

Isn't he be-YOO-tiful??? And no, his name is not going to be Hank. That is just what Maw and Ashley (Alan's mother and sister) call him--his family is BIG on nicknames! Since we haven't found the perfect name yet, we've all pretty much taken to calling him Hank in the meantime. If you have any suggestions for cute boy names, by all means, SHARE!

He is perfectly healthy, as far as they could tell from the ultrasound, and although he is supposed to be 10-11 ounces, they estimate that he already weighs 15 ounces! Apparently that is not as dramatic as it sounded to me--they said he is basically measuring only 6 days older than his estimated due date, since at this point he is starting to grow almost an ounce a day! Alan is 6'7", and Jacob was a pretty big baby, too, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised that he is measuring large. Probably means another C-Section for me whether I like it or not. :(

Oh well, as long as Hank comes out healthy!

Joy

2010-01-18T10:59:00.003-05:00

I can not tell you how excited we are to finally share the news that we are expecting another baby. We waited a bit longer to share the news of this pregnancy after our other experiences this year, but things are going well so far and we are SO happy.

We had an ultrasound at 6 1/2 weeks and the doctor scheduled another one for 12 weeks because there were three gestational sacs (but only one fetus) and the doctor wanted to see how that "resolved itself." At the 12-week ultrasound, there was only one gestational sac, and we held our breaths waiting to hear the heartbeat and see the baby move. When we had Jacob, I feel like I took it for granted that everything would be okay. This time, I can't explain to you the unadulterated joy I felt when I saw the baby flipping around inside me! As an added bonus, we found out at that ultrasound that we are having another BOY! I had no idea you could find out that early, but you could clearly tell it was a boy, even to my untrained eyes! Nice to know two months earlier than I expected, but now I am anxious to get him named as soon as possible so we can start calling him by name.

As I said, everything is going well so far, but if you want to throw some prayers our way, we won't turn them down!!!

My New Little Man

2009-11-25T11:04:00.007-05:00

Okay, he's really my sister Susan's new little man, but whatever. Check out this sweet little guy...

Of course, I just want to EAT this picture it's so cute.

The new family.

Killing me...

2009-11-25T10:40:00.005-05:00

I truly just about can't take how cute my niece Ava is...

Especially when she lives 1400 miles away. :(

Cub Scouts

2009-11-25T08:58:00.004-05:00

Jacob and all of his little buddies started Cub Scouts this year. Actually, I don't know if it is correct to call them Cub Scouts, because at their age they are Tiger Scouts. Is Cub Scouts the generic term given to all of them, then they change animals as they age? Or would that just be Boy Scouts? No idea. Anyway, Jacob had to memorize a bunch of Boy Scout information to earn his first badge the other night, the Bobcat badge, and he was pretty proud of himself.

Then they got around to the good stuff. Every year they have a boat race. They give everybody a little wooden boat kit, everybody builds their boat, then they bring them into a meeting and race each other. These boys could not have been more excited about it. Jacob was particularly excited because he and Alan went online to a website devoted to making these Boy Scout boats in a way that they will go the fastest but are still within regulations--there really is such a website. According to Alan, the boat they chose to make was an 11 on a 1-10 scale of difficulty to make. They actually sawed the boat in half and made a catamaran. Jacob was 3 for 3 in the races, and he was completely psyched. After all his hard work, Alan actually missed the races because he is coaching Jacob's basketball team and had to attend the first coaches' meeting. Amazing how one kid can keep you so busy! Here is video from one of the races Jacob won (Jacob is on the left):

Fighting a Losing Battle...

2009-11-17T09:54:00.006-05:00

Ever since he was old enough to understand the phrase "when I grow up...", Jacob has wanted to be a firefighter. Frankly, I have not done much to encourage this at all, because the idea of him running into burning buildings terrifies me. I keep making other, less dangerous, suggestions that he completely ignores. I have been hoping that he only wants to be a firefighter because every little boy wants to be either a firefighter or a policeman, and wishing that he will grow out of it.

Well, lately it seems that my wish might be coming true. He has been showing a definite interest in other professions. Unfortunately, however, his motives are not pure. As he has been learning the value of money by saving his own earned money to buy things he wants, he has suddenly become much more interested in how much money various professions earn. And suddenly he wants to become a doctor. It's funny (not really) how in first grade these kids are already aware of which professions are traditionally the "rich" ones.

Don't get me wrong, I would be unbelievably proud if Jacob became a doctor...it's just that I know that Jacob still really would rather be a firefighter. How do you teach your child the value of money, while still de-emphasizing its importance in the big scheme of things?

Here is one of the ways I am trying to do that:

Sigh. This picture is from our visit to the local fire station during a Cub Scout meeting. I still really really don't want him to grow up to be a fireman. But I will always encourage him to follow his dreams and not to base his decisions on worldly things!

Introducing...

2009-11-13T16:12:00.003-05:00

My new beautiful nephew, Tyler James Cottrell!

Susan had him this morning at 7:46 a.m. He weighed 8 lb, 5 oz and was 20.6 inches long. I can't wait to see the pictures with big sister Ava holding him! At 18 months, her life is about to change very drastically!

Crazy Hat Day

2009-11-06T09:44:00.004-05:00

When we got home yesterday afternoon, Jacob announced that tomorrow would be "Crazy Hat Day" at school. He was very concerned about what hat he would wear. He said that 1) he had to make it; 2) it had to be cool; and 3) it had to be funny. He and I bounced around ideas for a while, which means he spent half an hour shooting down anything I proposed ("What is funny about THAT?" "Mom, really, I said cool"). He got really set on the idea that it would somehow involve a jet plane (cool, he said) and a pirate hat (funny, he said). After a little more discussion, we added one more requirement--that it had to kind of make sense.

Here is what we finally came up with:

Jacob ended up coming up with the concept all by himself. That is a hat from a frog-themed birthday party he went to--we took the eyes and tongue off of it. Then we taped on a platform from his Ben 10 Alien Changer (which you probably know nothing about unless you're the parent of a boy aged 4-10). Jacob drew and colored the body of the jet plane and the wings (notice the flames on the wings), then he cut the body of the plane and slid the wings in. Then it was my job to figure out how to get the plane to "fly." I have to say that when we were done, we were pretty darn pleased with ourselves!

New Post!!!

2009-08-15T22:53:00.002-04:00

I actually have a new post down there somewhere, but I actually started working on the post in May, so when I finally hit "publish post" it went below the two or three posts I published more recently. So scroll on down and you can thank me later for making you pass those to-die-for pictures of Ava again.

OH MY WORD...

2009-07-25T18:36:00.006-04:00

About a month ago, my mother, my sister Karla, and my sister Susan, her husband and her daughter Ava visited. It was SO good to have them here. I took a ton of pictures, and of course it was ALL about Ava. Is she not just TOO CUTE FOR WORDS?

Michael, Daniel and Ben being Michael, Daniel and Ben

2009-05-20T00:48:00.003-04:00

This is from Christmas of this past year, but it is still definitely worth sharing. These are three out of my four nephews, just being themselves...I love my family!

Random Pictures from 2008...

2009-05-19T23:41:00.026-04:00

Well, it is clearly too late to do a bunch of detailed posts for 2008, so I decided just to post a bunch of pictures from the year, and try to keep up with this after that. For the life of me I couldn't even figure out how to get these in the right order, so this isn't exactly chronological. I'm not the best at this...

Like father, like son...

With Maw and Paw (Alan's parents) at Easter.

My little Know-It-All telling another child how t-ball should be played.

Jacob showing off his new bat, glove and ball for t-ball.

Jacob playing soccer. Or just waiting to play soccer. The child in the middle is Kyler, Jacob's best friend. He and Jacob are like two peas in a pod.

See?

What did I tell you? Two peas in a pod.

Jacob and Kyler at Uncle John's Cider Farm in the fall.

Jacob eating popcorn cooked over the open fire while camping in our back yard. I desperately did not want to stay in the tent for the night, and shamefully kept trying to convince Jacob that it would be much nicer inside.

I kept looking longfully at the house from my viewpoint right by the fire. Doesn't it look inviting?

The dogs (one of them ours, one of them the neighbors') checking out our tent.

Alan helping Jacob roast hotdogs. (By the way, I ultimately convinced Jacob and he fell asleep with me in our bed while watching a movie. Score!)

Jacob on, what else, the first day of kindergarten, with his handmade sign. We did one for the last day of kindergarten, too, but I forgot to upload that picture and if I tried now it would be ridiculously out of order. Plus, that's 2009, so you'll need to wait another year for it.

He thought he was too cool for school.

But he indulged me and kept posing.

This is Alan and me at Christmastime in Memphis at my brother Jack's house. We have so few pictures of the two of us, because I usually take the pictures.

My sister-in-law, Tina (Jack's wife) and their youngest daughter, Anna.

Two of my sister Karla's kids, Kaitlyn and Michael.

Jacob investigating his Christmas booty as my brother, Jack, looks on.

My sister Karla and me, still at Jack's house.

My sister Karla and her baby Michael.

Karla stealing a kiss from Jacob as Anna looks on.

Anna, Jacob, Karla and Kaitlyn

This is one of my oldest and dearest friends, Deidre (as in our friendship is old, not her). She is so wonderful to try to make the trip from Searcy to see me whenever I am in Memphis. I am SO thankful for her.

Jacob with Deidre's daughter, Shelby. She kept trying to play house and calling him "Husband," and he did not like that at all. He is full force into the "girls, ewwwww" stage.

Hanging out with Maw.

Deidre's daughter, Shelby, posing as only she can. Too precious.

My nephew Michael. 'Nuff said.

Jacob, Kyler and Kyler's sister Jenna playing in the leaves.

They have so much fun together.

I think he was trying to make a leaf angel. Makes sense to me.

Chilling with Daddy on a lazy, cold Saturday afternoon.

Hanging out with Kyler, again. Rough life, to have your food served to you on a tray in front of the TV. I at least made them pull their own crusts off.

This is when Jacob was in the emergency room for breaking his arm by falling off the slide at school. SO pitiful. The bad thing is, we didn't have a coat that would fit over his cast, so we had to cut the sleeve off of a perfectly good jacket. No way he could go without one during the winters up here!

Another cold afternoon. Jacob got out a face painting kit he got from someone in my family the Christmas before, and of course he and Kyler picked the most complicated picture in the book. It took me over an hour to paint both of their faces. They are supposed to be snakes. Eh, I did my best.

This picture is from the front yard, facing our house. I just thought the sky looked cool.

Jacob helping Ashley (Alan's sister) put up her Christmas tree.

Getting an assist from Maw with the lights.

Helping Ashley put the beads on the Christmas tree.

He loves decorating the tree. Ashley had to go back and redo everything he "helped" her with!

The snow looks so pretty off our back deck.

Doesn't it look perfect for Christmastime? After that, as far as I'm concerned, bring on the heat!

Our Christmas tree.

Jacob bringing out Santa's cookies and milk.

Jacob in front of the tree, in his pjs, ready to try to go to sleep.

Jacob at Maw and Paw's house after Christmas.

Abby, Maw's dog, is a bit of a diva. She loves to dress up in different outfits and prance and pose.

See?

Maw and Jacob. He loves his Maw.

What did I tell you, out of order. Shelby and Jacob again.

Shelby and Jacob playing with a toy dog at my mother's house.

Jacob waking my nephew Michael to hug him goodbye before we head back up to the frozen tundra.

Jacob loving on Granny Honey.

Well, that's it for 2008. That's obviously not all we did, but hopefully that gives anyone who cares enough to forgive me for not posting anything sooner. I'll try to do better. I always have the best intentions...

This was NOT my idea...

2009-05-19T21:49:00.005-04:00

Do you remember when you were little and had a loose tooth, and there was always somebody who would say, "Just come over here and let me put a string around that tooth, and we'll pull it out!" Well, that's what Alan has been telling Jacob for two weeks, and last night he did it.

Jacob didn't get upset until after it was all over, then he lost it! These were the best pictures I could get...

Pitiful, huh? I'll get some better ones over the next few days. He sure was happier this morning after the tooth fairy visited him!

Jacob's 5th Birthday--YES, from April of 2008

2008-12-14T00:47:00.006-05:00

First, Jacob had a family party while Maw, Paw, Ashley and Matt were up visiting.

Then we had a slumber party with three of Jacob's closest friends.

Jacob had a serious shiner on his birthday, but for the life of me I can't remember how he got it...

The boys had a blast.

They finally fell asleep at about midnight (although, as you can see by the squinty eyes and "trying not to smile"faces, they weren't yet asleep in this picture).

Isn't she PRECIOUS???

2008-08-21T12:50:00.005-04:00

Okay, so I'm horrible at updating this thing. I have a ton of pictures from this summer, and I fully intend to sit down one night and update this blog, telling about everything we have been doing, but until then, I just had to pop on here really quick and put up a couple of updated shots of my niece, Ava. I am so sad that we are in Michigan and she is all the way down in Florida! I get to see her in one month when I head to Memphis for my brother Brent's wedding. Yay!

Bringing back memories...

2008-05-21T10:27:00.003-04:00

Sigh. My beautiful new baby niece (top) is making me very nostalgic about when Jacob (bottom) was that little. I know this is completely cliche, but don't they grow up fast?

Ava Isabella Cottrell

2008-05-20T07:27:00.002-04:00

Introducing...

my brand new niece, born May 18th at 7:45 pm. She is the first child of my sister, Susan, and her husband BJ. I can not WAIT to get down to Florida to see her, which I will be doing in just a couple of weeks! Isn't she just beautiful???

Richard Gilmore Rogers (February 18, 1933-May 8, 2008)

2008-05-18T20:54:00.016-04:00

Christmastime, 2007

As the few of you who actually read my blog likely know, my Daddy died on May 8th. It wasn't completely unexpected because he has had extensive heart troubles over the years, beginning with his first major heart attack in 1979. In the past several years he has been battling congestive heart failure. I don't really understand how that works, but I know he had congestive heart failure right before Jacob was born five years ago, and since then when his fluids got imbalanced he had to go back to the hospital to get them back in sync. Some of those visits were very scary. The last one was in October, and it was scary enough that I flew down to Memphis, even though I absolutely couldn't at the time. It was very worth it, and Daddy pulled out of that and ended up living over 6 more months, feeling quite well during most of that time. When he entered the hospital this time, it generally seemed like his other visits until he had two more heart "incidents", as the doctors called them. On the first incident, his defribrillater went off and stablized him, but it did not go off for the second incident. At that point, they put a big tube down his throat and were breathing for him. He coded two more times, but the doctors were able to save him. They then told us that it was likely his brain had suffered damage and that his heart was beyond repair. They said that all they could do was keep trying to save him when he codes until they couldn't. They asked us if we wanted them to continue trying to save him until we all got to Memphis. We all discussed it and decided there was no reason to make him keep going through that. None of us felt like we had left anything unsaid, so it seemed pointless and cruel to make his body endure that repeatedly while we traveled there. He died a couple of hours later.

I do not feel cheated. My Daddy led a wonderfully full and active life. He had a loving, healthy family, and he never passed up an opportunity to give us a hug or a kiss or to tell us that he loved or was proud of us. Much of the days leading up to his funeral were filled with more laughter than crying. But he will be so missed. He and my mother were married 51 years ago. He really wanted to make it to their 50th anniversary party, which he did, and oh how he enjoyed himself!

I will miss SO many things--hearing his beautiful tenor voice at church, singing his heart out; watching him sink hook shots and 3-pointers late into the summer evenings; his terrible puns (which live on in my brothers and sisters); his smell; the garden he lovingly planted each year; the little things I saw him do for my mother on a daily basis that showed me how much he loved her; his special steaks on the grill; the hugs and "I love yous" he doled out so liberally; and his hands--oh how I'll miss his big, strong age-marked, scuffed-up hands that would hold mine when we walked, and occasionally skipped. That was one of the few things we weren't satisfied with at the funeral--they put makeup on his hands to cover up what I'm sure the funeral home people saw as unsightly marks all over hands. But to us his hands were beautiful, and represented so much of what we loved about him. He was a loving, righteous, no-fuss, hard-headed, hard-working, God-fearing man. I know exactly where his spirit is now, and I hope that beautiful tenor voice is just filling up the streets of heaven.

To Deidre and Kimberly (even though Deidre probably rarely checks this, and Kimberly never does!): I cannot thank you enough for traveling to the funeral. I know with kids at home and busy husbands it was not easy to make the trip and I cannot tell you what your friendship and support means to me. I love you both from the bottom of my heart.

Below are some pictures from the trip home for the funeral. As I said, there was much laughter and fellowship.

My sister Karla and her son, Daniel.

My brother, Brent and my sister, Karla.

My niece, Kaitlyn, and me.

It was still Mother's Day weekend, so the entire family went out to eat together to honor Honey and the other mothers. One of Karla's dear friends, who couldn't be there, paid for the meal for all 20-something of us. We were so grateful.

Jacob sharing a milkshake with his cousin Matt.

Jacob being lovingly tortured by his cousin Ben, as only someone with a little brother knows how.

My poor, about to pop sister Susan and her husband, BJ. She gave birth 10 days later.

Tagged...

2008-04-21T16:12:00.003-04:00

Well, it has been MONTHS since I blogged, but there are several blogs that I check at least 2 or 3 times a week. They are all friends from a long time ago--Deidre, Wendy, Christy, Traci and Leslie. There is only one of them that I still talk to regularly (Deidre), but I really enjoy reading about what is going on in their lives. One of those old (not in age!!! 30 is the new 20!) friends, Christy, tagged me to reveal 7 random things about myself. So, here goes...

1. I am a trash-tv addict. I'm not proud of it, but for as little spare time as I have, I watch A LOT of tv. I have TiVo in my kitchen, so by skipping commercials, I can usually squeeze in a one-hour tv show while I'm cooking, and a one-hour show while I'm cleaning up after supper. I say the more worthless the better--American Idol, Dancing With the Stars, Charmed was an old favorite, Heroes, Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy, and so on. I do have standards, though--you can keep "Flava Flav" and "Tila Tequila"...

2. I eat Ramen noodles for breakfast every morning. Like Christy and her ice cream, I do not miss a day. I don't know what started this addiction, but my day is shot if I don't have them.

3. I only drink Diet Mountain Dew. I do not drink anything else. If I am at a restaurant that does not serve it (as most don't), I sip on water, but I am not happy about it!

4. I am a contained slob. For anyone that reads this that has known me for a while, you know that I am a wee bit on the disorganized side. Fortunately (or unfortunately, sometimes), I married a neat freak. Therefore, to maintain a happy marriage, my mess is now confined to my car and my office. Still kind of drives him crazy, but the house is always clean.

5. I have a near phobia of balloons. How do these things not seem to scare anyone else? They absolutely FREAK ME OUT. Everybody seems to love giving Jacob balloons, and I am a nervous wreck just waiting for them to pop.

6. I am getting some serious gray hair. I dyed my hair to cover the gray for the first time a few weeks ago. I don't think I had enough yet to where most people would notice it, but if you were around me a lot you definitely would. I think the dye-job turned out pretty good, but who knows.

7. I actually love my sister now. When I was younger, my sister Susan and I pretty much couldn't stand each other. I always got along with my sister Karla, but we never had to live together since she was in college when I was born. Susan and I now live about 1400 miles away from each other, and I talk to her 3-4 times a week. I think that isn't unusual, sisters getting closer as they get older, but it is something I really appreciate.

I am now supposed to tag 7 random people. Unfortunately, the people I listed above are the only ones I know who blog, and Christy already tagged everyone but Traci. I know Traci has read my blog at least once before, but I have no idea if she still does. Plus, I know from her blog that she has been tagged before. Oh well, I am going to tag her anyway--these are always fun to read. I am a novice at this, so I don't know how to link to Traci's blog from this post. It is linked up in the right-hand corner of my page.

The way this is supposed to work, cut and paste from Christy's blog:

Link to the person who tagged you.--Post the rules in your blog entry.--Share 7 random, or weird, facts about yourself.--Tag 7 random people at the end of the post, linking to them.--Leave a comment on their blog so that they know they’ve been tagged.

Go Nuts...

2007-07-30T22:04:00.000-04:00

We went to a Lansing Lugnuts game tonight. Jacob's daycare had held a fundraiser auction recently, and one of the Lugnut suites was up for bid. Our friends, Danielle and David Ferguson, won the suite and invited us to attend the game with them. One of the Fergusons' sons, DJ, is one of Jacob's best friends and is in his class. The Ferguson's also have 6-year old twin boys named Conrad and Kobe. We had a really great time. I haven't figured out how to (or if I can) caption the pictures, so I don't know if I will be able to identify who people are in the pics. I'll have to look on my friend Deidre's site to see if she captions her pictures, and if so, ask her how to do it!

Ever used bubble bath in a jacuzzi tub???

2007-07-29T22:18:00.000-04:00

Well, we tried it tonight, and the bubbles got completely out of control. Jacob had a ball! And he just loves this bathrobe that he just got that used to be his cousin Robert's.

Had to get it on camera...

2007-07-29T22:13:00.001-04:00

Jacob is nothing like I was growing up--we have to force feed him vegetables. However, we have discovered that he LOVES cucumbers, and he tolerates green beans, so I just want photographic evidence of it!

Cooling off

2007-07-29T22:09:00.001-04:00

It actually can get pretty hot up here, it just isn't as constant as it is back down South. We have a lot of days in the 70s and 80s. Today it was in the 90s, and we were inspired to go buy a little swimming pool. Jake spent hours in it today. I figure we should get a good month of use out of it this year!

Mini-vacation

2007-07-29T14:20:00.000-04:00

We went to a small amusement park called Michigan's Adventure yesterday in Muskegon. It is about 2 hours away from our house. It has both an amusement park and a water park. Jacob had a blast. Because he is pretty tall for his age, he could ride alot of rides that you normally wouldn't expect a four-year old could ride. Alan had to ride the roller coasters with him, because they are out of my league--I did ride the kiddie roller coaster with him though, and that was JUST RIGHT for me.