home again

so we're back in tx, with a random assortment of pictures in no particular order, as usual!
hannah had her first happy meal. She liked the french fries and apparently shared my opinion of the chicken nuggets. inedible :-). she got a stuffed ronald mcdonald as her toy, which for some strange reason she calls farmer and loves dearly. just to defend myself, we did pack some food, but we ate it for lunch, and on the plane, so by the time we got to supper, we had to make do.


did i mention it was far away? :-) there are only 4 houses that share this road, so technically they live in a gated community :-)


my mom made mosaic tile plates with the kids to put in a path, and they're going to do one every year they're there.


there was alot of rain, which meant alot of playing inside. it got kind of loud :-)



this is the floating dock, which they take in every winter and put out again in the summer. patrick put it out while he was there. this is the coldest summer they've had in 100 yrs.
how special.


this is my favourite picture. it is so hard to get good pictures, because all the adults are normally busy and the kids don't look at the camera. so this my prize!

grandma had waaaay better playdough toys than we do!

this is where hannah, and the others, spent the majority of their time. we are lucky to have a beach, as most of the shoreline is simply rock and trees. the water was very cold, but she didn't seem to mind sitting in it.

right when this was taken, Hannah had looked up and said, mommy, you holding baby emerson? I said yes, baby. Then she's quiet for a second and says, with much excitement, I'm going to be a big sister! I was surprised she seems to be making the connection of another baby.

getting in a little relaxing

so, i looked at pictures and realized i am in fact very pregnant. in case anyone was wondering. :-) this is a spot we've gone "cliff jumping" in the past. we tried it with everybody, but needless to say it was difficult for myself and the kids to climb up. patrick had fun, i hope. i just stayed in the water.

my mom entertained the kids with a boat picnic while meghan and i swam and patrick jumped. ok, i wasn't actually swimming, i was sitting on a life jacket in the water. something about my lungs not working that well. . .

my surfer girl. those water shoes kept many a bloodsucker from attacking her!

patrick drove the boat for tubing. i tried to go with hannah, but it was actually quite difficult to balance us, what with my belly and then her. we gave up. maybe next year!

it's amazing how long she can be entertained by transferring sand, water, or rocks from one place/container to another!

we tried fishing, but not so much luck. we did, however, eat some out of the freezer that did come from the lake, and it was wonderful!

these were the only pictures i got of mom and bob with hannah.

mom and i took the kids on a canoeing trip, which was also more difficult than i expected. hannah was a little nervous, and she insisted on standing right in between my legs, so between her and the belly i couldn't paddle well. but it was fun nonetheless. there are all kinds of little coves and tributaries to visit. we went on sooooo many canoe rides when i was younger. good memories!

nothin like fitting a hoodie under a life jacket! only in canada. or the north in general.

eating cantaloupe. realizing cantaloupe is now very "bubbly" due to slimy bubbly fingers.

there were 6 people there with birthdays within a few weeks, so we had a joint cake. yes, hannah got some.

understanding this falls under the world's scariest picture of me, just bypass that. this was hannah opening a birthday present from grandma, a really neat alphabet train puzzle.

bob's a carpenter, among many other things, and he made this beautiful little bear potty that the kids love. if we had one like this at home, she'd be toilet trained in a day, she likes sitting on it so much!

i'm sorry to say we didn't get a single extended family, crisp family, or even jana/patrick picture. i promise we were all there together! patrick went on to osh kosh, wisconsin, and hannah and i came back by ourselves. 16 hrs door to door, and it even went really until until the last 1.5 hrs. she was exceptionally good in the car, and by the time we landed in dallas that night, i would have been screaming too except i'm not allowed, being an adult. i didn't even go into labour carrying my 28 lb child, large diaper bag, her backpack, my 49 lb suitcase and the carseat strapped on. don't tell patrick, but i couldn't justify $4 on a luggage cart!

we had an appointment today, and charlie's measuring 35 1/2 centimeters, which just happens to be exactly how far along i am. they are coming for the home visit next week, and we are writing our birth plan, whatever that means! now that i'm almost 36 wks, he can come anytime, because we can stay home. (before that time, they would have me go to the hospital). so, all that to say, it's more a reality now. we're actually going to be having another baby!

note to future parents

I would definitely not advise waiting too long before you get pregnant with your second child. chances are, you'll change your mind. If it hadn't been decided 8 mos ago, i'm not so sure i'd be trying to do this right now. and people with little babies, when other people tell you to enjoy the time now when they're easy, believe them! this toddler thing is a whole 'nother ball game.

perhaps a unique way to start out my post, but we try to share an honest look at real life, right? this is what we do with our weekends :-). even though we're renting, we try to take care of the things we can do on our own. i thought a simple faucet change would be just that, simple. oh my. i think it took 5 hrs for this project, start to finish. (there were 3 trips to the store in there, too). but now, we have a non-leaking faucet. thanks, babe!


so hardly the most flattering picture of my angelic daughter, but it was a serious face for a serious moment. not really, but patrick and i think so. this was her first bday card this year; she's turning two. TWO! i know. we aren't sure how we let this happen. patrick's put his foot down: no more birthdays! this is scandalous. somebody stole our precious baby and replaced them with this full grown child. (thank you, Grandma Loretta and Grandpa Alvin for the card. she loves carrying it around :-)



Pop Pop and Nana (David and Des) sent a picture with their card, which I thought was really neat. Hannah enjoyed looking at it. And this card had stickers in it. always a hit! she was exerting all her energy trying to get them off!



for some reason i think hannah looks french in this picture. brooke is trying to teach hannah how to play dress up.



and on the other hand, Gavin is teaching Hannah boy toys. Since we dont' have any cars, he brough this own this week, and she loved it. maybe i should get her some.



it's not often a man gets to bring flowers to his wife and his girlfriend together, and everyone be happy :-). just for the record, i didn't notice she wasn't wearing any pants when this was taken, i'm sorry. she just likes to take them off :-)




so, joining the multiple kid club brings alot of changes. I agonized over this double stroller decision for a few weeks. driving patrick and meghan crazy, i know! in the end, we settled on the ever popular graco duo glide. gavin helped us break it in at the mall, and i thought it handled really well, even with a 2 and 3 yr old in it. it is hard to get charlie's carseat in and out without hanging him almost upside down. but they say second babies sleep through that kind of thing, right? anyways, i have to say i felt a little proud of myself at the mall. until everyone starts screaming and climbing out and stealing things off the shelves and all kinds of things. then we just leave. quickly :-).



we can handle up to 100, but recently it's been over that. sometimes we go to the playplace in the mall instead of the park. aren't you impressed by my calm peaceful children?


yeah, i didn't fall for it either! don't worry. the floors are padded in this place.



she was just so still, laying on the floor, i thought i'd get a picture where she's really looking at the camera for once!



Hannah getting up close and personal with the charlie belly. it really is difficult for her to sit on my lap. she has to arch her back, or go sideways. it's wierd to think that she'll be sharing it from now on. sometimes makes me sad. is that a bad thing?

we participated in the library's summer reading program, which i hope is the first time of many. it's so easy at this stage, then the books are 10 or so pages long! we got all kinds of neat coupons, like free tickets to soccer games, the circus, bowling, a month of karate lessons, free book from barnes and nobles, and of course lots of food coupons. we love those! i'm not quite sure why i liked to read so much when i was younger, but i hope my kids enjoy reading as well.

so the other day i made cookies with the older kids (almost 8, almost 5)

while the younger kids cooked up their own special recipe. i keep the same bag of dried beans for just such occasions. i poured it into two bowls and gave them each wooden spoons and measuring cups. it took all of 3 minutes for this to happen. hannah would have been looking, but she was busy digging beans out of her feet.

this is it, ladies and gentlemen! we're ready to go. possibility of inclement weather notwithstanding, we are heading to canada! this is the last opportunity to travel with one child, and for that one child to not have to pay for a ticket! we get back 3 days before her birthday. we'll be all together on the way up, and patrick will stay for a little bit then he's working a show in Oshkosh (not the overalls) Wisconsin. It's a really big deal in the aviation community, so he's excited. He'll be there with his old boss/friend from Alabama.

anyways, we are really excited about Canada, especially to see the changes Mom and Bob have made to the cottage. My grandpa built this cottage ages ago, and I have been there almost every year. I dont' have alot of roots, which I don't mind, but even I get a little nostalgic about the cottage on Gibi Lake. many many many memories. and it's the only place, be it building or geographical location, that i still go back to. something that's actually been a part of my life from the very beginning and still is. it is a stinkin long ways away, which i guess is part of the appeal. always been a little rustic, but i guess that's also part of the appeal. hannah is so excited, she wakes up every morning and says, "I want to go to Canada, mommy!" too bad she doesn't know that means a 3 hr. plane ride, then an 8 hr. drive. anyways, the cousins will be there, so we're excited! we get back next tuesday, then i'm working wed/thur/fri, and patrick will still be gone, so i may not update immediately.