Is it a sombero . . .

Or a baby float?



On Saturday afternoon we FINALLY made it to the pool. Going to the pool for us is a bit of an ordeal, but it pays off. The only pool we have access to is a free indoor pool, but it takes about 20 minutes to drive there and you have to make reservations. But it is a nice pool (a variety depths and a spring board), you don't have to wear sunscreen, it's never overcrowded, and the life guards are attentive.

It was Laney's first dip in a pool. She warmed to it faster that she did the Gulf. She did get a little cold by the time we got her out.

An early birthday celebration

Kathryn turns 13 in early July, but due to our vacation and Kathryn's custody schedule (she's spending July with her mom) we had Kathryn's birthday party a few weeks early. We're still planning some family stuff closer to the actual day.

Loni, Kathryn and Grace at Fuddruckers. It was early and the place wasn't crowded so we let them have the Elvis booth to themselves.
Grace's oldest sister, Bethany, bought Kathryn a milkshake and the girls shared.
Rob and I have schmaltzy moment.

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Birthday cupcakes and candles.
Kathryn opens gifts at home - a new monogrammed duffle bag (yes, that was a parental present, we'll have more fun gifts later), money for books and a fabric decoration kit.

The girls take a little of our birthday advice to Tara and dance like no one is watching.

How we spent Father's Day

First, we went to early church. Here's Rob with the girls . . .
Afterwards, we took him out to breakfast at the IHOP (he's crazy for the stuffed french toast) and then home for a while. In the afternoon we took him to the Natural Sciences Museum to see the Imperial Rome exhibit.
We had a good time (despite the fire alarm) and it was a good exhibit, just not quite what we expected. (Explain to me advertising that includes weaponry but an exhibit that includes only statuary and household goods) Still neat exhibit. Here's the girls at the museum. You can't read both the shirts, but Kathryn's says "My Dad Rocks" and Laney's say "I LOVE Daddy" - the rear end says "And Daddy loves me".
Laney's new thing - pushing her own stroller. This was quite funny yesterday at the musuem, she was very insistant!
Finally, dinner at home - one of Rob's favorite meals - Chicken Kiev (in this case the mini version made with tenders instead of breasts), Saffron Rice, and green peas.
Checking the blogs, it looks like everyone else had fun too! One more Happy Father's day to all those great guys out there.

A birthday wish for Tara

Live like it is Heaven on Earth
Work like you don't need the money

and Dance like no one is watching

Happy Birthday, Tara.

Love, Heather, Rob, Kathryn & Elena

With Dads like these . . .

We are lucky indeed.




My wonderful husband and partner. Who is a FANTASTIC Dad. There is so much to say it is hard to where to begin. Watching and helping him with Kathryn these past 10 years has been a amazing, raising Elena with him is a blessing.

Graddaddy (Dick, Rob's Dad) - our family chef and Santa, far away but always close in our hearts.
Daddy Ron (my Dad) - our camping man, always good for a "horsey ride" or a trip out in the canoe or even ice skating on "old" knees
Great (my grandfather, Vernon) - we call you great for a reason!

Happy Father's day to all the dads out there.

Quote of the day

"In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." Luke 16:33b

An explanation would take a class of Immigration 101. Just keep me and the folks I work with in your prayers over the next few months. We are facing great challenges, particularly in July.

Another quote I am coming to love: "Faith makes all things possible, not easy."

What a day!

Yes, this is another one of those . . . I am sharing my day, marveling that I survived, and coming to the realization that it isn't all that bad. Stay with me folks, there is pay off at the end.

Laney got the highest fever she's ever had last night. In fact, she suffered the indignity of having Mommy take an accurate tempature for the first time (I usually stick to the forehead strip, but the Nurse on Call doesn't accept that) So my day started at about 7 PM last night, when I started trying work out how I would handle today. Let me just say, I seriously need to reevaluate the old priorities, when my first response to my 9 month old's 103.5 degree fever is "How can I miss a day of work?" Yup, then I called the Nurse on Call.

Then the other kid comes into the picture, Kat was dying to go on today's field trip with the Y day camp. The Y is near work, so I decide I'll drop Kat off, go into work as long as Elena and I can stand it, and then head home or wander the aisles of Walmart until Kat gets back from the field trip. Pack to take the baby to work. Head to bed. Sleep in between fever induced crying fits . . . Luckily Rob dealt with most of them. (Thank you God for my wonderful husband)

So, we get to the Y and I ask when they'll be back from the field trip. They tell me 5 PM, then 6 PM. Urm, excuse me but day camp is supposed to be from 9 to 4 and if you'd told me this in writing a couple of days ago I wouldn't have just spent an hour driving here. Kat is a volunteer at VBS and has to be there at 5:30, this ain't gonna work! I finally get them to agree to let me pick her up from the lunch stop

Oh and the fabulous field trip - they went on a scavenger hunt around the Loop. Yup, the Loop, as in the road that goes around the largest frigging town in Texas. In school buses with no air conditioning. With a heat index pushing 100 degrees. Perhaps, somebody didn't think this through? (Kat thought they were doing a mall scavenger hunt or something similar.)

Off to work, try to keep too many folks from knowing the rugrat is there. My bosses are cool with her coming in during emergencies (once again, thank God!) but I didn't want to create a distraction. She climbs my leg, finds every post-it note I ever dropped, decides that my files are WAY more fun than her Noah's ark toy, and decides to have a melt down when I am on the phone with a client. My computer stops working at about 11 and Kathryn calls for me to come pick her up from the Y. Turns out the bus broke down, so they returned to the Y before changing buses.

Drive to the Y. Turns out the second bus broke down. They're staying at the Y. Kathryn wants to stay too. Take Laney to the day care (she's been fever-less for 12 hours at this point) and head back to work. Make an illegal turn. Nearly get creamed by an SUV making a legal turn. Get pulled over. This particular Master Peace Officer is a very nice man. He took pity on me and the fact that I am 3 months from being 3 years without an incident and my insurance rates dropping. No ticket, no car wreck. (3rd time, say it together Blogger buddies, thank God!)

Lunch at McDonalds to soothe my wounded psyche. Yes, french fries are theraputic. I'll regret it later when I step on the scale, but I felt better then.

Back to work and my non-working computer. (Can anyone else see the flaw in this?) I did manage to get work done, thanks to a co-worker who is on vacation. (Stole her desk temporarily) The IT guy was stilling trying to make the computer go when I left.

Long (yup) and the short (not really) of it - I survived, the car survived, Laney survived, my office survived, and Kat made it to VBS in time to get cheese on her pants.

And the pay off , cute baby pics. Laney has been taking lessons from Joe in the smiling department:

Congratulations

Congratulations to A.M. and her "him". I hope all went well today and that you have many many years of wedded bliss ahead of you. Just remember to keep splitting the spider-slaying equally.

Woo hoo!

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Not sure why, but code from a different area of the site worked. This has been crazy, I try to post, it won't. The hubby (IT man with some HTML knowledge) can't find an error. Tara (thanks BTW!) looks at it, fixes it, tests it, mails it back and I can't run it. Then I grab the code from a different "share on the web" prompt and here we have it.

Should I be concerned . . .

That her first word was "Uh-Oh"?

9 Month Portraits

First the pics, then the rant . . .

Cute, huh?

I got a free 8x10 portrait from Kiddie Kandids and decided to give it a try . . . I know several of you like them, but free wasn't worth it at my branch! It took an HOUR with only one child ahead of us. The photographer spent about 20 minutes trying to get those "artistic" shots out of baby who was cranky and tired and whose big brother desperately wanted to be anywhere else. Then our 20 minute shoot without much creativity and finally, the hard sell. Seriously, $16.95 a sheet? I will say this on the plus side - no sitting fee, free online pics, and better instant digital prints than Sears (those were awful). But overall, I think I'll stick with my JC Penny portrait studio. I've been much more pleased with them.

Laney's New Toy

Laney has been getting a big kick out of the push toys at daycare, so we decided to get her one for home. This is the Playskool Step Start Walk 'n Ride. Rob put it together for her tonight (pretty easily too)

Laney was impatient to get her new toy - she tried to help Daddy
Up and running

And always the economist - the toy will switch to a "bike" for when she is older . . .

I am looking for help with Onetruemedia.com. Have any of you been getting the message that your tag is broken or missing something? Any help will be appreciated . . .

An Anniversary Conversation

So I had originally planned to post something sappy about the wonderful man I am married to. (He is and its great). But instead I give you this:

As I am strapping the baby into the car seat this morning:

Me: Oh, by the way, happy anniversary

Him (from the other room): Happy anniversary

Me: So, has been a good 8 years?

Him: Sure

Me: Up for a few more?

Him: A few

This would worry me if I didn't know we're both crazy and crazy for each other. Happy Tuesday and Happy Anniversary to Us, Happy Anniversary to Us . . .

Beach trip - Lots of pics

We spent this weekend on Galveston Island with my folks. Our anniversaries are 3 days (and 31 years) apart, so we sometimes spend them together. We drove down Friday night and met them at the State Park where we were camping. They brought Elena's new play house with them (they picked it up for her at a garage sale). It ended up being a god send, she loved playing in it all weekend.

Saturday morning we made our way down to the beach. This is Elena when we arrived:

She stayed this way for an hour, until I gave up and woke her up. She didn't like that. She didn't like the sand and she didn't like the water. While Elena slept, Mom and I built a sand castle.
and Dad took a nap . . . Actually, he spent most of the time riding waves with Kathryn
Elena, Mama Janie and Kathryn Elena had a better time with her pail and shovel in the RV. I joked about using Photoshop to make it look like she had a good time at the beach.
Sunday morning it was back to the beach and back to the waves for Kathryn and Dad.

Elena was awake when we arrived and had a better time. I let her just sit and play in the sand for quite some time. She got used to the sound of the waves and eventually started having fun. I also realized one reason to keep the binky around for a while. She won't take it out to put something else in. It was the only way we were able to keep her from eating sand. After some beach play we moved to the edge of the water and let it lap over us. Eventually, I put the life jacket back on her and we went into the deeper water (knee deep). She had a good time and relaxed enough she fell asleep in my arms.
Elena tried to bring the beach home in her shoes
After lunch we did some site seeing at the Elissa Tall Ship and Harbor Museum.
Here's the Elissa - it's kind of the Black Beauty of ships. It was a beloved ship of a rich man from the UK in the late 19th century. Then it became a motorized cargo vessel and eventually a smuggling ship, with its masts completely removed. In the 1970s it was found in a salvage yard and restored. It was pretty cool to go onboard and check out life on a sea vessel in the 19th century.
The girls onboard the Elissa.

We had a great anniversary weekend with our family. Kathryn had such a good time she hasn't left Galveston yet.