i got a few pictures from my boston weekend. we were busy, and it was short, so we didn't take that many pictures.


one day we drove out of the city a little bit to a picturesque old place called marblehead. i would have loved to spend more time there. there are all kinds of towns along the coast, that look like this.



we did go to the beach, but it was cold! for me, at least. i'm using a towel as a wrap. :-)



at the restaurant where we ate lunch.



emerson rose, in the appropriate outfit of course :-) she looked so cute i'm surprised she didn't get eaten.



the park right near my sister's apartment. it's beautiful, with a duck pond and a little carousel.



ice cream. lar knows every dessert place in the city!


we didn't do much for the 4th, but frisco did have a little street festival thing that we went to. no, hannah's face isn't normally that red. it was just very warm. they had a fire truck open that i thought she might like, but i couldn't get her to go inside.



patrick gave blood for the first time! i was so proud of him. and grateful, because we all got to sit in the airconditioned bus and drink free cold water!



she was too busy looking at the cow to care about me.



Hannah got a tattoo on her arm, which they had to try 3 times before it worked because she was so sweaty. she loves smiley face stickers, so we picked a flag smiley face.

this is probably borderline heat stroke right here! they had huge buckets of bubbles for the kids to play with.

this is much much earlier in the day, in downtown historic grapevine. that's why she looks so much fresher!

so the friday before, patrick took off and it seemed like a vacation of sorts. i desperately wanted ihop chocolate chip pancakes, but patrick is much too virtuous these days. so we made our own. 10 grain, with a banana and some protein powder thrown in, with strawberries and toasted pecans. good, but i still want ihop :-). maybe someone can come visit and go with me?

on the same friday morning, i was reminded how different life is with a toddler. (not that i needed reminding.) normally i wake up before hannah to have 30 min. of peace, but this morning i stayed in bed. patrick went to get her when she woke, and we tried to get her to snuggle. should have known better, she's such a wiggleworm. so i told her to go play with toys. she brings back her entire pot set and throws in into bed with us, then climbs up herself. you know how much noise those things make? not the sleeping in family snuggle time i had in mind!

as luck would have it, we got a toysrus coupon for this shopping cart right after we got that kitchen. she loves, just like the stroller from christmas.

having a meal with brooke and brody. she does love to cook!

we've been enjoying a cold front. it's been only 85-90 the past few days. wonderful.

addendum to yesterday

1. we got our a/c fixed, thank God!
2. despite what I said yesterday, at almost any point today I would have given Hannah away, at least temporarily! I know that comes as no surprise to any parent out there. I'm sure tomorrow I will have more patience. But if I get the right offer. . . :-)

beware: on a sweaty soapbox (or two)

so, i've recently been reminded of the importance of reading labels. I did know better about these, but we got some for our road trip a few weeks ago. On the back it says they're wholesome. Just for the fun of it, I wanted to share the ingredients of this wholesome snack:

Glucose, rolled oats, rice flour, sugar, modified palm kernel and palm oil, wheat flakes, canola oil, honey, whey powder, blueberries, sugar, sunflower oil, brown sugar, strawberries (sugar ascorbic acid, sunflower oil) cranberries (sugar, sunflower oil), yogurt, apples, liquid invert sugar, molasses, salt, and a bunch of preservatives.

good gracious. this is when i honestly think people are trying to murder the unsuspecting american public through their food. i opened up a can of beans for hannah, which i do often. but i got a different brand this time, and only noticed the ingredients as i was taking the label off for recycling. should be beans and salt, in my opinion. this one also had cane syrup AND high fructose corn syrup. gross.


we had a big storm this morning, and when it slowed down enough we went puddlejumping. always fun. they're so easy to entertain at this age!

so we call this piece "big man; little cookie." patrick has been more committed than i've ever seen to this current lifestyle change. he eats more vegetables than i do! i have appreciated his good influence, because it is easier to make concessions when you're pregnant. if you're going to be gaining 50 lbs anyways, what the heck, right? anyways, he got some "diet food" the other day, and i had to laugh at this poor little cookie. of course, they come in single serving packages.

so there is a progression here: bottom right, Hannah's fully clothed in the outfit i put on her. Bottom left, we've completely stripped down because it is ungodly hot outside, even at 10 in the morning. top right, we've put clothes back on her because of the sun. poor thing. at least i'm still trying to play with them outside.

so our own little tomato plant is struggling. it was getting eaten by birds. big birds. so big they knocked the plants over. i researched, and came up with putting hose on them. i feel bad because i remember having to wear hose at bob jones, even in the summer, and let me tell you, that's just cruel and unusual. but at least they aren't getting even. i also put a cd up top to scare them away. i'm going to add my coffee grounds and egg shells too. we'll see how it goes.

it's a good thing we're having another child, because patrick and i practically worship hannah. that does not mean she gets her way, by any stretch. she is far from spoiled. but not only is she beautiful and brilliant :-), she is also nice to be around (most of the time) because she isn't in charge and she knows she isn't in charge. we do have tantrums, but they don't get her very far so they don't last. so far, anyways! she's just, as my friend kari says (not necessarily about hannah but just in general), so stinkin' cute! i got some good video the other day, and i swear i'm going to try to put it up soon. we honestly feel that people who dont' get to be around her regularly live slightly emptier lives than we do :-)

speaking of brilliant. . . :-) j/k. i'm not pushing her into a curriculum yet. but she does like to pull out the 'school' books and look at them.

so, as i write this, it's 81 degrees in our house. i wish i could say i was being really virtuous and left the air up that high to save money. alas, no. it finally happened to us: the air died. i realize i survived in nearly saharan africa, but that's just not the point. hannah woke up tonight and i went in there and she'd taken her pants and diaper off and her shirt was pulled up behind her head with her arms still on. it was pretty funny, except she was obviously uncomfortable. then she told me it was hot. i was like, oh, you have no idea how how it's going to get my friend. i put her in a onesie, filled her cup with ice, and turned her fan on high. we'll see how it goes. patrick said it will probably take a few days to fix. i guess i can just be grateful this is happening before the baby comes. the baby and my mom! just like i don't like the cold in kenora, she doesn't like the heat in texas!

the other night we watched a movie that impressed me so much i wanted to give it a shout out. when patrick brought home marley and me, i was like, ok, another stupid romantic comedy with questionable everything. i would almost just as soon not watch anything made in the past 30 yrs. this one, however, seems to be in a class by itself, or with a few others. If you haven't seen it, it just follows the life of a couple as they become a family and weather some of life's challenges. Some was obvious, like the scene where she decided to be a stay at home home. She was also nursing her baby, btw. Other aspects were not so obvious. The way the wife acknowledged her husband's restlessness and encouraged him to make the changes he needed to to be fulfilled, even though it was probably hard for the family, they stuck together and put each other's needs first. they followed him halfway across the country. the way the husband and wife had normal struggles with losing themselves in work/kids/etc, but still cared about their marriage enough to keep it interesting (such as skinny dipping together!). the way even though the wife was stressed, not always nice to be around, and probably somewhat nagging, not once, not one single time, did they have the husband even glance in the direction of another woman. the movie was set in florida, and they were on the beach all the time, and most movies would have had him at look somewhat longingly at those hooches on the beach while his wife was at home with their 3 kids and dog. most movies/books/songs/anything make it so commonplace, even acceptable, for one or the other spouse to look for fulfillment elsewhere, even if it's just emotionally or privately. But not once did what's his face appear to dishonour his wife or his marriage, even in his thoughts. they respected and invested in their marriage and their family. in that order, it seemed. it was actually challenging for me. a hollywood movie! so if you haven't seen it yet, you should!

i've dispensed with the formalities of cropping and formatting this time. the bare bones will have to do! We've had a busy few weeks, like everyone else i'm sure. still don't have any pictures to show you of boston, but i promise i went there :-). VBS last week was good, but i'm glad it's over. over 50 kids made professions of faith, praise the Lord! then we had a great visit with my dad. he and hannah had alot of fun together. we figured she was old enough for our first zoo trip. Hannah came away with some souvenirs that she's pretty fond of!


peeking back to make sure papa's still there!


she really enjoyed the reptile building. we found this one rattlesnake that was a native texan, just like her

at first hannah was pretty scared of the crocodile, until she believed us that it wasn't real.

patrick found his namesake

who knew there are three sizes of penguins?

trying to get at the animals

we got this cup at the front gate, and the sign just said free refills all over the park. which was nice, because it's, well, hot! i didn't drink it, just gave it to hannah. she said "juice, mommy?" i wasn't really paying attention, so i just said no, baby, it's water. about 2 hrs later patrick said, that smells like lemonade. sure enough! thankfully, i don't think she drank that much. we dumped it out and replaced it with water :-).

i have no idea what she was going for here, but the gloves with the naked baby was just funny!

i've been trying to involve hannah in the necessary activities of daily life, instead of telling her to go play with toys while i do things myself. yes, it's faster and easier to do it myself. but then what's the point in staying at home with my kids, if not to be together? she got a kitchen as an early birthday present, and it came with a bag of toys. apparently not everyone cleans their toys before they consign them, so washed them together. she did have a blast!

i advertised on freecycle for craft supplies, and somebody gave me this huge tub of stuff. the majority of it was actually school supplies, for preschool and the first few years. I know I won't be using it for awhile, but even sorting it was so exciting! I dont' want to push her, but I can't wait to start. I guess we have already. I've also borrowed some books from a friend. There are so many ways to homeschool, as many ways as there are to educate in general. I really want to explore different methods and philosophies before we start in earnest. I tend more towards the regular old textbooks and worksheets, but I don't want to limit us to that. so, we'll see!

we ordered Hannah her own food the first time the other night. she's such a big girl now!

don't know if it's a pregnancy thing, but i've really been wanting mexican breakfast lately. so it's been huevos rancheros on corn tortillas for me and Hannah. she really likes salsa, and she even rolled it up herself.

not much else to post. things are fine on the charlie front. we got him some bedding the other day, it got me excited. still 10 wks away though. it's very warm here, tonight i saw a sign that said it was 7.45, and 100 degrees still. we miss everybody!

from the frying pan to the fire

and i mean that in two ways. first of all, i came back from boston on monday, where i thought it had been warm, and exited the airport here in texas. oh mymymy. it is hot in texas. 95 or over every day this week. so yes, i met my sisters in boston for a last minute getaway. something we've talked about doing and haven't in about 5 yrs. emerson came, but she wasn't much of a distraction. we had a good time, but i dont' have any pictures yet. except the above: do you see how light i can travel now, when i'm by myself? 3 nights, in that one little bag. except i ended up having to spend one in atlanta. oh, airtran!


when i came home patrick had the whole house cleaned and grilled steak salad made for dinner, which i absolutely love. i was a little disappointed how well they did without me! and i didn't realize how much i missed hannah until i saw her in the airport. i wont' do that again for a long time! i was especially appreciative of his preparations because the very next morning i started my regular summer schedule of extra kiddos. it's a good thing i didn't think i was that busy with my last posts activities, because things definitely kicked up a notch!




this is Gavin, Hannah's new best friend! I have been so pleasantly surprised at how well it's going. We enjoy having him around, he makes our lives more interesting. Not only is he new, but he's a boy, and he's 3! They play so well together. Of course they have their toddler moments, but they seem to restore unity after these altercations significantly faster than adults (or at least I) would! We go to storytime at the library together, and i've just started going to a playgroup at the park for new/young homeschooling families. I've met alot of new people, and even though we're not quite there yet officially, i can still learn alot from people who are ahead of me.




bunnies are about as prolific as squirrels in this neck of the woods, so it wasn't a big surprise when patrick found a bunny nest in our yard. natural selection apparently starts early, because we've already had to dispose of a couple. hopefully some will make it. Hannah loves going out to check on them.


We do love going to the huge play pool at the gym, but sometimes we can only make it to the backyard. we still have fun though!

She's such a big girl now, she can put on her own shoes (R). she also is working on riding her trike, but she can only go backwards.

when Gavin's not here, we have 2 or 3 more friends! Brooke and Brody, and sometimes big brother Blake, come play and Hannah loves the company. She learns so much from older kids. Here they were watching a puppet show. That lasted about 2.5 min!

rehydrating at the pool. She can drink from a regular cup now.

not sure what these faces were about.

i have been looking for a kids table for quite awhile, and we finally got one. patrick actually picked out this noahs' ark set, and hannah loves it. all day long she kept saying "daddy got me my table?"

hannah had her first tea party with water this week, due to the influence of an older friend? peer pressure to drink starts early! :-) you can see her pouring water in the first one, then the puddle on her pants in the second. oh well. she had so much fun!

It has been a crazy busy week, but in a way i'm grateful because i've spent alot more time really playing and interacting with Hannah than I normallly would, because they take my full attention. having patrick here is soooooooooo wonderful. hannah and i are both getting spoiled; i know he's here if i need to run to the grocery store during their naps, and she can run in to his office and get a daddy kiss almost whenever she wants. i dont' know how long it will last, but i, for one, love having him here. even just to talk to an adult sometimes!

i took hannah to her first birthday party today, a friend from church. I didnt' document it because i was a pool party and i have to stay 2 steps away from her all the time, because she does tend to go under. but it was really fun. we then had a barbeque with our SS class this afternoon, which was also fun, aside from the heat. everybody was in little clusters wherever there was shade, but we were still melting into puddles. there are so many kids, it's a regular baby factory! lots of food, and more swimming. again, not documented. sorry!

next week is vbs every day, so i wont' have any kids. we have a midwife checkup, so i'll let you know how charlie's doing. next weekend my dad is coming, so we are very excited about that! and hopefully i'll have pictures from boston soon. patrick is almost done with his next airplane model, which he's going to display with the first. he has been keeping really busy at the gym, working hard there. we have alot of stuff for charlie's room for our farm theme, that i'll show you soon. thanks for checking in!

the life of a SAHM

so, back in the real world, when I was about 8 mos pregnant and working at the gym, I trained this one teenage girl. One day she asked me, very bluntly, what I was going to do all day if I weren't working. I smiled, but was kind of sad too because the woman's role in the home is something i think should be really valued, as old fashioned as that sounds, and yet so often gets kind of overlooked, whether you're working or not. but i don't normally get into things that personal in this uber-public environment. so anyways, in case there are others who wonder what I possibly do all day, sometimes I wonder the same thing! so i thought i'd keep track.

6.57 Wake up before Hannah, and instead of trying to go back to sleep, I actually get up, go get my coffee, take it outside to enjoy a few minutes of relative coolness, and have my quiet time. The only reason I don't feel like I'm trying to make it seem like i'm special is because I know how rare I actually do that, so i'm really not super spiritual. I haven't in much too long, and I know I need to. I need way more patience and wisdom than I have, these days!

7.45 Hear Hannah, go pick her up and realize the poop explosion patrick and i changed in the middle of the night was worse than we thought and actually went all the way through to the matress pad. try not to gag at smell. call patrick to get mattress out of crib for me to strip sheets, because Belly prevents this. put first load of wash in, sort rest. Hear my obstinate daughter repeating No, often for no apparent reason. it resounds in my head.

8.15 Give Hannah a muffin and a hardboiled egg for breakfast, to which she yells no repeatedly, even though I know she really likes it. breakfast takes a while. I myself sneak yogurt covered pretzels while she wasn't looking, and make plans for real breakfast later. leave patrick to fend for himself while i keep working on laundry.

9.00 Sit down with my own muffin and egg, which of course Hannah likes much better than the own she refused to finish and insists on sitting on my lap to eat it with me, getting crumbs all over floor that was perfectly swept when i came out of my bedroom this am. we do this while looking at recipe books together for a new muffin recipe, to use up our carrots. take ground beef out of freezer for supper.

9.30 Having cleaned up all 3 breakfasts, I take the multitude of vitamins/pills/supplements that are supposed to be giving me a chance at being able to nurse normally this time. Pray for the 1,000th time that it helps even a little, and go brush my teeth.

9.45 Put on workout clothes, hoping that will help get me to actually work out sometime later. also gives me an excuse for not immediately taking a shower, finding real clothes, and putting on makeup. hang first load of laundry out on line, think it's so hot already they'll be dry right away. talk to my sister on the phone, she tells me they aren't allowed to have clotheslines. silly. set out jar of peach sun tea so it will be ready for patrick's lunch. turn around to see hannah pouring shovelful of sand into jar of sun tea. remind her again where the sand is supposed to go. she doesn't like that.

10-11 Get next 3 loads of laundry done. Stop to play with Hannah outside before it gets too hot. Both of us become covered in sand. It's windy, which blows the sand everywhere. Try unsuccessfully to get muffins done. Take a call from preschool director at church, commit to working 2 mornings this week, on the days that I don't have my new extra child all day.

11-12. Make carrot-raisin-banana-sunflower seed muffins, altering online recipe only slightly (halving sugar, omitting chocolate chips). Attempt to entertain my now very clingy whiny daughter with her own cooking project: 2 mixing bowls, a cup of dry rice, and measuring cups. Works wonders, we have a blast, then have to pick up rice from, well, everywhere. she tries to help with her baby dust pan. muffins get done. say bad words to myself that once again i went to all that work only to get one batch. mental note: always make double batches!

12-1. Heat up leftover chicken parmesan sausage-bell pepper-spinach-feta "nummy noodles" from last night, for Hannah and me. we are both very hungry and tired. Too bad only one of us is taking a nap. Once again Hannah doesn't finished hers, I get her down, and she is confident mine is better. Let her continue bad habit of sitting in my lap and eating mine, because I dont' want to hear shrieking while I eat lunch. Get Hannah cleaned up and in bed. Wipe floor again, clean up lunch and muffin dishes. Sit down for approx. 7 min with new library book, feel guilty. Patrick is pushing to be home from lunch meeting by 1.30 so i can go to the gym.

1.34 Patrick is home, and I am not ready. Grab all clothes off the line so I don't have to go back outside for the rest of the day. Go to gym (already in my workout clothes :-) in my new kicks. Patrick and I splurged on tennis shoes that we have both been needing for, oh, years. A reward for how we've both been working out well.

2-3 Quite unmotivated, just feeling proud of myself that I'm there. Sit down on one machine after another, just moving down the line. Someone asks me for help, I remember how much I miss being a trainer. Think of my beautiful spunky little angel, don't regret it anymore.

3-3.45 Come home, Hannah's still sleeping! Time to take a shower. Evaluate how much time I have to "beautify myself", as Patrick says, and decide exfoliating my crocodile feet is more important than shaving today. Hear Hannah wake up, appreciate that Patrick's office is right next door to her room! He brings her to me, and we lotion our feet together. Me and Hannah, not Patrick :-).

4 Get Hannah snack, which she eats even though she yells no to whatever I suggest. decide cantaloupe i'm giving her smells rotten, kick myself for buying more fruit than we can eat and letting it go bad. again, she eats it anyways. she's not in her seat wearing a bib, but at least she's at the table. pick your battles. wipe floor again from large sticky drops of overripe cantaloupe. track down equally sticky child, drag her kicking out of daddy's office so he can attempt to work. start supper.

5 patrick comes to make hamburgers, i have taken care of everything else. he makes excellent hamburgers. unfortunately, we are out of gas for barbeque. patrick leaves to go get gas, I decide to play with hannah and leave gigantic pile of clean laundry on bed for later. big step for me! we do puzzles. lots of fun, actually. marvel at Hannah's intelligence and personality.

5.45-6.15 patrick comes home after trying 3 different stops to get new gas bottle. we eat hamburgers, coleslaw, sauteed summer squash. patrick drinks cherrywheat beer while i look on jealously. try to teach hannah table manners, like how to use a napkin. i clean up while hannah and daddy rough house on the couch. hope i don't have to clean up hamburger throwup with the way they're flying around!

6.30-8.00 go get Hannah's babysitter to practice the bedtime routine before we try it for the first time this weekend! makes me think ahead to special date night, get very excited, wonder which shamu dress to wear. try not to hover while Hannah shows Brianna around. I've never left her awake before, except with family. Not worried, except about the going to sleep part. leave hannah's room to go next door and attempt to make room in spare room for Gavin (coming on wednesday) to have a place to take a nap. try not to eavesdrop. Brianna does great, but Hannah still needs Mommy to put her down. it was the first time, after all.

8.30 come home from dropping off brianna, tell myself it will be ok, wonder how patrick will feel if i end up going home in the middle of our special date just to put hannah to bed. wonder if brianna should just not put her to bed at all, but let her stay up. slightly anxious about my baby, even though she isn't a baby anymore.

8.45 check email, glance at many many freecycle posts, giving away nothing I, or probably anybody, would want. Wish again to see bookshelves, toybox, child's table, and cradle. in good condition! see email from my dad reminding me it was my grandma's bday yesterday. remember i was supposed to get phone card to call her. berate myself for being a bad family member. promise (yet again) i'm going to have a bday calendar so i can send everyone a homemade card. go make fruit salad to use up all this fruit, and so i won't eat the pnut butter cookies patrick's making. end up eating fruit salad, cookies, and bowl of cereal. think for the hundredth time I should really start filling out irritating food diary for midwife, considering i'm one wk away from last trimester. does it really matter anymore?

9.15-945 start working on blog, realize i would rather be with patrick. no offense. go watch lost with patrick. talk with patrick about shifting around bedrooms and furniture, trying to find a place for charlie. decide he can just sleep in packnplay in our room, or even our closet since it's quieter. feel slightly bad for second child.

10.45-12 patrick goes to bed, i come out to finish blog. check calendar for the week, don't forget dinner meeting tomorrow night for advertising job, choir/orchestra practice wed night and sat morning, vbs prep tue/thur morning, gavin coming wed/fri, brianna coming back thurs night, big date night fri, and barbque sat afternoon. remind myself to check and see when my drs appts are this month. again hope baby charlie doesn't feel neglected. if it weren't so hard to tie my shoes or reach the floor, i might forget i'm pregnant. remember i was really supposed to clean our bathroom today. put off till tomorrow. remember hannah peed in her bath tonight, and i had just washed her bathtub. must do again. wipe kitchen floors again so ant colony does not decide they like pnut butter cookie crumbs. google strange medical condition, try to decide if it's worth going to the dr. decide against, as usual. do my nightly sweep through house, make sure it's picked up enough that it will not overwhelm me tomorrow am. crawl into bed beside my wonderful husband whom i love dearly, thank God for him. and that he also values my presence at home. Think back on my day, realizing i wouldn't trade a minute of it.

so these were actually our group goodbye pictures, but they're first. we had a wonderful time in beautiful spacious haviland ks. the only drawback was my munchkin refusing to sleep. she was having too much fun with everybody, and we spent a couple nights more awake than asleep. one, especially, will go down in my and patrick's memory for eternity. she was awake from 11-4. in the morning. now just awake, but bouncing off the walls crazy throwing toys and food awake. it's a long story. call me if you're bored. :-)

some family got an rv recently, and we spent some time out at their spot, relaxing and riding fourwheelers. yes, i did too, but just a little bit. apparently i was the only one concerned about it. but what if it rolled over and squished me? i know meghan would agree!

hannah and daddy tearin it up.

hannah bonded instantly with uncle brett and aunt jes, even though it's been 6 mos since she's seen them. it was so neat to see her so easily get close to people, and ask about them when they aren't there.

patrick, supported by his entourage of family members killed a snake for the neighbours. then yes, he picked it up. eewwww.

so sometimes people ask me if we're vegetarian. i've even gotten vegan. oh my, no. and just in case any doubts, here are some candids of my two favourite people!

we visited the cemetery to decorate gravestones for memorial day. on the right is grandpa vic's, who passed away 3 yrs ago, before hannah was even a thought. on the left it says Charles M Asher. one of the highlights about this trip, for me, was getting to know this man, Grandma Loretta's father, better. it's very important to us because we have chosen Charles Asher Crisp to bestow upon our newest family member. He was a great man who died fairly young, and I will tell you more about him later! but now you can get to know our little in utero friend and start calling him charlie. hannah does all the time :-)

speaking of hannah, oh my goodness she's such a little girl. no more baby. i cannot believe how much she's talking. (today she picked up my phone and said "hi Meghan. how are you? i'm reading curious george." unfortunately meghan wasn't actually on the phone). and as you can see, we can put her hair up! we did a whalespout just for kari, too.

she actually didn't do terribly in the car. didn't sleep a wink on the whole 9 hrs up there, though. i invested in new toys, which we didn't even do for christmas. but it was definitely more important now, i think. she's holding a camera that makes noise. today she was going around telling all of her toys to smile while she took pictures of them.

Sunday was Grandma Jan's birthday, along with her twin sister Jean. this was our happy birthday-congratulations on doing so well with your chemo cake.

hannah loved helping water the flowers.

space, space, glorious space. and this is just the backyard of the "in town" house.

patrick trying to eat a chili cheese dog while driving home. he actually did pretty well. leads me to believe he may have had experience :-)