Thursday, September 27, 2007

can you believe his luck?

Dave was on business travel this week. He left Monday night for San Francisco and is returning this afternoon in time for dinner. Northern California is a great place to travel and although Dave didn't really get to do the tourist thing he did get to enjoy a few good meals there. Last night the client gave Dave and his coworker two tickets to the San Francisco Giant's game and he got to enjoy a professional baseball game on the night that they said goodbye to Barry Bonds. We're not big Barry Bonds fans, but it was apparently an electric night in the stands. William was actually upset when he heard that his Dad got to attend a pro game without him. ;-)



Wednesday, September 26, 2007

blogger black hole

I can only apologize for my lapse in posting by using these words: real life is busy. Really busy. I suspect we are only gearing up for the crazy busy season soon. Here are a few things I've been doing:

Dave and I ate lunch with William on his birthday at school an delivered his requested bear cupcakes to the class during lunch.



I took Grace for her first official dental appointment last week. She did great during all the difficult parts of cleaning, flossing, etc. and then suddenly became shy and unable to look at the dentist after he came into the room Funny thing is that our dentist lives in our neighborhood and he's talked to her before. Ah kids! Every since them she keeps saying that she'd like to be a tooth doctor one day.


Then the official birthday party took place a week after William's birthday in our backyard. The kids managed to ignore the weeds and spent their whole time going down this slide. I think there were officially 25 kids there with parents in tow...they kept moving and running and it was hard to get an accurate count. The entertainment was easy at this party!


The party was a "Star Wars Splash" theme and we made light sabers from pool noodles and duct tape. I'm sure the parents are still thanking me for that addition to their toy box. ;-) Did you know that pool noodles are put away before the end of August? I finally found some in the back of a Walgreens storage area.


And here are some cousin photos from that weekend. My sister and parents came over to celebrate and the kids had a great time together. The first one is of Grace and Alana who are only five weeks apart agewise. My Mom bought them matching pajamas and they sat on the stairs talking about how they were each other's best friends.


Baby Lydia is a doll, but is constantly in toddler running mode unless my sister is holding her. She's got the cutest little face.


And we lined the cousins up for a quick snapshot on Sunday afternoon before my sister drove home with everyone. Lydia kept running out of the photo so Aunt Julie got to join into the mix.


There's more to tell, but I had better leave that for my next post. I promise to get back on track!

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

in remembrance

I remember waking up in a Baltimore hospital with my new baby boy beside me in an isolette. We had been through a long night waiting for admission for his severe jaundice. We finally made it to a room to begin treatment around 4 am and following that Dave and I took turns with fitful naps. We had awoken to Good Morning America and were watching the news when it all began. It seemed so surreal. Some of the hijackers lived in a hotel not that far from our neighborhood in Maryland. And then it got stranger when we attended an old friend's funeral in Annapolis. It was purely gut wrenching to think that such a earnestly good person was taken from this world. Ironically he considered his position there at the Pentagon one of the safer locations in his long military service.

What saddens me even more is the change in all our lives since that attack. There is no place safe from this mentality and yet I have to admit that moving away from the DC/Baltimore area has given me more peace on a daily basis. Of course our new town is not any more safe, but I do not have to daily face the guarding of high risk areas and other such realities.

Each anniversary of 9/11 brings more questions from the kids. Jordan wants to remember the details of who picked her up from school and why we were apart on 9/11. That only reminds me of how I was with one baby during 9/11 and away from my first born at the same moment. We could not leave the hospital because every interstate and road were closed in the area. Thank goodness my parents were there to help during those days.) It still pains me to think that only two weeks later Dave's mother would see William for the first time as she began her recovery from a massive stroke. William is now six and his birthday will always be connected to 9/11 in my mind. He and Jordan walked a mile at school today to commemorate the anniversary. Everyone wore patriotic colors and celebrated being an American. Life goes on, but for our generation it will never be the same.

Thursday, September 06, 2007

guess who is turning six tomorrow?


Portrait taken of William when he was two weeks old.


William at 10 months - on our patio in Maryland with sungrins.


William the summer before he turned three.


William at his fourth birthday party with his friend Davis.


With Drake and Jackson during his fifth birthday party.


William at his fifth birthday pirate style.

Tuesday, September 04, 2007

celebrating on the plains

Dave and I celebrated our 17th wedding anniversary on Saturday at the university that brought our lives together -- Auburn. We took the whole family early on Saturday and staked out our spot for tailgating. We met up with friends and enjoyed a pure feast of fellowship and food while watching the kids play with a nerf football dressed in orange and blue. When gametime came it was pure joy to show the kids what 85,000 people sounded like in Jordan-Hare Stadium. Great memories of that time in our lives. It was a night game so we rolled back into home base around 4:00 am. We came back with the intention of making it to church the next morning and we somehow managed to get there and function well for a few hours. A Sunday afternoon nap was high on the priority list though! Here are a few photos from the event:


Grace in her new Auburn chair at the tailgate.


We were in the upper balcony and William's eyes twinkled the whole time we were watching the game. So cool to see him understand more about college football.


Jordan smiling before the game began. I'll never forget high-fiving her when we made the necessary touchdown to win the game. It was a bit close for a season opener and we were happy to put a "W" in the win/lose column.