Canada

So, Canada was everything i remembered: lots of toast with homemade strawberry jam, crystal clear (and cold) lake water, blueberry pancakes, boat ridesbonfires, smores, fish dinners, and family. Mom and Bob are in the middle of their big renovation project, but we all had enough space. Hannah and I had our own little camper. Other than missing Patrick, it was great! No bloodsuckers and even minimal mosquito bites. Oh, i forgot the french fries!


Kennedy had a treasure hunt on one of the numerous islands, and found all kinds of fun stuff that she shared with Hannah. We have since found that Hannah loves her jewelry! She kept putting on these necklaces. (She also loves shoes and purses: that's my girl!)


chowin down on a hotdog bun. First time I've given her anything i hadn't cut up first.


Nobody likes to wear a lifejacket :-(


Bob took us tubing. Us not meaning the hannahbelle, of course. she just watched from the boat.


On the same stretch of beach, my grandpa's two uncles also had property. We didn't have any cousins our age, but there are a few more little ones now. This is my greataunt Doris, my mom's cousin Gayle and Wayne, and their girls.



Hannah had a blast playing on the beach.




Me, Nana, Mom, Meghan, Chad


Enjoying a swing


hannah and Nana

there isn't alot else to say. we've had a great time in va, and we go home tomorrow! Oh, Hannah had a great birthday, too. I should have put that up. but i will later. i would also like to add that we get to see patrick in approximately 72 hrs!!!!

finally back

so, we're now back from canada, but in virginia with the crisps for a few days. we had a great time in kenora at the cottage, but those pictures will come later. for now, here's the backlog of pictures from our every day life in alabama

we have really been enjoying the farmers market auburn has, especially in the absence of our garden. in addition to the usual fruits and vegetables, we also have a granary that sells all kinds of wheat, rice, oatmeal, cornmeal, etc, then coffee, honey, shrimp, a goat dairy farm, and all kinds of things. most of the above stuff is food for hannah, to be put in the freezer. except the giant bag of pink eyed peas. it's alot cheaper to buy it whole then shell it yourself, which took awhile, but it was cool. and i made spaghetti sauce out of the tomatoes. she's been eating the collards, too. which is more than i can say for anybody else in the family :-). we've frozen a ton of blueberries and berries, too. oh, i made my bread from scratch the other day, and unfortunately i liked it much better than the breadmaker bread. i probably won't do it all the time, but it was kind of an accomplishment. unfortunately, hannah's moved in to this really picky eater stage where the only thing guaranteed she'll eat is bread. so i'm sticking all kinds of vegetables in to the bread. a la jessica seinfeld. but i'm pretty sure mothers have been doing that way before her!


hannah and madeleine, one of the kids i used to watch but they are moving to maine. hannah learned alot from playing with her, i think. we enjoyed playing outside, alabama heat notwithstanding.


hannah helping me make supper


her hair's been growing alot, and we've kind of got a mullet going on. it didn't really show up in the picture, though


it's so fine it just sticks straight up


after looking on craigs list, freecycle, and the paper with out much luck, we finally caved and bought a picnic table. we put it together one night, and by the next morning. . .

we could enjoy our blueberry pancakes on the patio.


so i'm not sure how kids get attached to things, but hannah for some reason gravitated towards her bunny. i dont' even remember where we got it from. but i thought we should have a reserve bunny, because she really is in love with the bunny. and what with all the traveling, i didn't trust that we could keep track of it. and i have to wash it, occasionally. but carters doesn't make it anymore, so i looked on ebay and found it for the bargain price of $30. i know. ridiculous. but, parents do strange things. somehow, she got ahold of old bunny and reserve bunny, though.


a big day in the life of a little girl. yes, she's american :-( just kidding. it's a wonderful priviledge, i know. but still kind of strange.


so since she's getting to be such a big girl, i thought i might start to distance myself from having to be a part of her morning routine (that way patrick can get up at six and let me sleep!) . so, enter the bottle. not sure what i was thinking, i knew she wouldn't drink it. she did, however, hang on to it like a life preserver all morning. she wouldn't drink it, but it was a big hit nonetheless. she wouldn't let me take it back :-)

patrick's been ridiculously busy these days, it should slow down in september. we will be apart for 2.5 wks this time. the longest ever! sorry again about the delay, but glad you're back with us. hope everyone is enjoying their summers!

so, we did replace our camera. unfortunately, this one takes a different memory card. so we had to go buy another memory card. then the new card doesn't fit in our computer. so we have to get an adapter, which they didn't have at best buy. apparently we have to order one. alot of excuses, i know, but we should get organized soon. just think of how much bigger hannah will be when you finally see her!

just wanted to give a quick update, and let you know why we're MIA. somebody (ok, it was me) dropped our camera, and i think it is now in a better place. i'm still wanting to try to get it fixed, but that may end up costing too much. so. . . no pictures.
we're doing well, super busy. it's working out so much better with the extra kiddos at my house instead of vice versa. gets a little crazy, there's alot of crying at times, and it almost always looks like a federal disaster area, but we make it through the day. so, i'm definitely pursuing this as my new career! :-)
patrick's done a ton of work in the yard, he installed a sprinkler system, i was so proud of him!
we're getting ready for a crazy few months. this weekend we're going to panama city (for work, we're just tagging along) then to KS for the 4th, then possibly a camping trip with our sunday school class, then patrick's travelling so much, and we're going to canada hopefully, then richmond (finally!) then my mom's going to visit, and before we know it the summer will be over. but lots of memories will have been made!

The Incredible Edible Egg: i'd like to end this brief note by sharing personal thoughts, in addition to the family schedule.
those who know me well know that i occasionally (ok, constantly) struggle with insecurity and self-doubt, especially regarding supposedly insignificant things like physical attributes. let's just say, bad hair days on steroids. i know that as a child of God, i am invaluable and precious and perfect, and shouldn't concern myself with the things that i allow to occupy my thoughts and quite literally drive me crazy. but that is quite possibly my biggest character flaw. except God would call it sin. anyways, this weekend i was at that place mentally/emotionally in a big, big way. it was rough, especially on my poor husband. anyways, all his encouragement, affirmation, spiritual exhortation, and logical reasoning was falling on deaf ears. and a hard heart. now it seems i'm going on a rabbit trail, but we buy our eggs from a local family farm. they deliver farm fresh, organic eggs to our door whenever i call and tell them we're out. since these eggs aren't on drugs, they look more natural. meaning, they all look different. all different shapes and sizes and colourings and whatnot. i hadn't noticed, really, until i, in a pinch, bought a carton of eggs from the store and opened them up. I actually took a moment to stare at the beautiful, perfectly rounded, not a spot on them, all exactly the same dozen of white gleaming eggs in my carton. now compare, if you will, that carton of eggs to glamour magazine. in an instant, i'm serious, i made more progress in my quest for being-at-peace-with-myself than i have in, well, ever, i think. God didn't make eggs like that normally. we messed with them until they can all look like that. He didn't make anything like that, people included. so why am i so concerned about it? don't laugh, but i'm now praying, earnestly, that God helps me be proud of being a farm egg, not a grocery store egg. anybody with me?

back from the beach

as usual, these are in no kind of order. we had a wonderful time at north myrtle beach. hannah was really good, and as you can see, we had SO much help.


she really liked the water this time. except for this pesky stingray mating season problem, we swam with her alot.


hannah loved playing with brett and jes. she also got to open an early first birthday present, the hungry hungry hippo. thanks, guys!






brett took family pictures for us.
















helping patrick on the way there. hannah does really well in the plane, thankfully.

desiree got me this great book that i can't believe someone hasn't suggested before. it's so me :-). so now hannah eats better than we do. and we 86-ed the cheerios. who knew they have so much sodium?



so we're home and sort of back into the swing of things. my kiddos are on vacation themselves this week, so it's just been me and hannah. i think she misses them, because she no longer plays well by herself! after much deliberation, patrick and i have decided that i'm not going back to work like i was thinking, but i am going to keep watching kids at our house, which works out significantly better than someone else's house. 2 or 3, we hope.
patrick is doing really well at work, they're selling airplanes right and left. sort of. it isn't like cars, so it doesn't take many sales to make us really excited :-).
we joined our church, and are making friends in the sunday school. we have a camping trip planned for pretty soon.
plans for hannah's b-day party are underway too, beginning of august. everybody is invited!


ya'll come back now!

just words

just as i threatened, we haven't been taking pictures. however, my month of working full time is now over, and we've all survived. hannah's suffered the most, as her schedule is different every day and she really needs consistency and her own bed in which to nap. but like i said, we're all here.

Grandma Jan was unable to come, as her sister Jean was just last week diagnosed with lung cancer. I dont' believe they've settled on a treatment plan yet, our prayers are with them. Dad and Bunny didn't either, because of their schedule. So, that's how we've got all this painting done. Hannah's room is finally decorated, green again, and I love it! Except the crib doesn't match at all, so i'll be glad when she gets in a big girl bed.

speaking of big girl, she really is. she walks about 50% of the time now, kind of like a zombie. she toddles (that's why they call it that) with her hands straight out in front of her, then slowly loses her balances, rocks back and forth, then plops on her butt. but she just learned to turn around backwards to go down a step or two. she alway sleeps through the night now, thank God. that took long enough! and my perfect little eater is no more. for i while i was really frustrated that she'd only eat cheerios and goldfish (any other granola people, please hold the gasps of horror that i feed her cheerios and goldfish. at least it's not the cream cheese danish i saw another baby eating in starbucks, seriously) but i finally realized she just wants to feed herself. now, if i want to feed her with a spoon, i have to put something on her plate she can eat on her own, then sneak the spoon in with her own bites. it's pretty funny, actually. i never thought i'd pacify my children with food, i fact i was sure i wouldn't, but once again, i take back my criticisms of mothers in that respect. we do draw the line somewhere, however.

also, we've been going round and round with the working thing. i tell you what, these decisions are harder than i once thought. i take back all my criticisms of working mothers, as well. if i just wanted to work so i could afford the marc jacobs bag i saw in tj max for 50% offf (still $179, mind you), then it wouldn't be so hard. (i would love aforementioned bag, by the way. it was green. i love green. and my birthday is coming up. . . :-) but we're talking about every day living expenses which are really expensive. and attaining financial freedom before we're retirement age. we don't know what to do, what is best for our family, now and in the long run. i will probably keep on babysitting, though i could make more money somewhere else, because i want to be with hannah. i think i'm going to try to keep someone at our house, though. if anyone's done that, give me your opinion, pros and cons.

we're sort of getting into a sunday school class at our church. but last week, we did a terrible terrible thing. we are always late because i try to get hannah to take a nap before we go, and we have to leave at 9.15, so by the time we got there and got hannah settled in the nursery, we were more than 20 minutes late. it's only a 45 min class, then we have a fifteen minute break before the service. in jest, i suggested we go get coffee. my husband, being the, uh, free spirited preson that he is, thought this was a grand plan, so there we went. oh, i felt so guilty, eternal damnation. i am not a rule breaker. bob jones didn't even bother me. and here we were, using the nursery for free babysitting and playing hooky from sunday school. oh my. i didnt' even enjoy my coffee! anyways, i hope that's humorous to those of you who know us well.

insomnia strikes again

it hasn't been nearly as bad as it used to, but after two hours of trying to fall asleep, i gave up. so here i am, 1 am. but you know what that means? i am totally allowed to splurge on starbucks on the way to work tomorrow. after lar's graduation we went out for breakfast at the pewter rose, our favourite brunch place. hannah didn't have a bib, so we tied a napkin on her.


yes i know my eyes are closed, and half of us aren't looking at the camera. but hey, we did our best.


my mom is downsizing in preparation for moving, so she brought alot of stuff for us to fight over. it was a long night, but i hope we all went away happy!


yeah!!!


hannah with her new dolly. we're calling it lama. as in dolly lama. :-) ok, this'll be my only soapbox this time: i just went to target and got the cheapest one i could find. it came with a toy bottle, which i threw away. (they all did, as a matter of fact.) the other day we were watching a sesame street movie about a family that has a new baby. the day they bring it home from the hospital, they start giving it a bottle. is this because they think it would be inappropriate to have a nursing mother on a children's show? heaven forbid. it isn't like the 4 yr olds watching it are going to be embarassed, they don't care. (trust me: i've nursed in front of quite a few little children by now, and they dont' care.) possibly no one wants to have to explain it to them, because then the adults will be embarassed? or maybe it's because so many people dont' anyways, so it's a more accurate representation to have bottlefed babies in the media? i would say that's a chicken and the egg thing, then. but really. it isn't that big of a deal, people. so stop trying to brainwash my child to think that it's normal just because for some reason the real normal embarasses you. (can you tell i feel strongly about this?) moving on.


hannah (who is now quite the walker, btw!) has this cute but frustrating habit of hanging on your leg. and she wont' let you move. you have to drag her. really fun when you're trying to make supper, of course. but for once she was doing it to patrick. yeah! and i have to throw in here, i was having a super stressful day today. hannah doesn't sleep much at all at our babysitting house, so when we're there full time it's rough. and pretty much everyone who's around me knows i am really really really serious about hannah's sleeping. (some would say too much, family?) so she was screeching up a storm as i was trying to get her to sleep for the third time today. patrick came over to get something out of the car, and i told him to go in and calm her down. so instead, he just takes her with him. yes, i was hannah-free for 2.5 blessed hours! he took her home and believe it or not, got her to take a nap. that's a special man, folks.


not sure if anyone else has tried to do this before, but let's just say it didn't work out very well. not unless we wanted hannah fingerprints all over our new walls. who knew her arms were so long?


so i've started letting her wear make up. just kidding. she did, however, start eating beets.


hannah in a new dress from nana. yes, i have to say it again, she's so cute! (now if only that hair would grow. . . )

so an hour ago when i started this process i was really motivated, and now i just want to go to bed! but because i know there are hundreds and hundreds of you that just can't sleep until you read our blog, i dont' want to let you down! :-) we're back from nc, we had a good but very busy trip. patrick's been gone pretty much all week, and i'm working pretty full time now, so it's been a blur. poor hannah baby, she's just along for the ride. to start off my commentary, my mom found out she likes watermelon. i think she ate her weight in watermelon. we've also expanded her gastronomic horizons to include bulgur, black beans, edamame, pears, strawberries, blueberries, spinach, cheerios and goldfish.



i 86ed the corn, because apparently that's too hard for her to digest. on that note, please, anybody that's done this before, give me advice! i don't know what i'm doing. i prefer she not eat much meat, but she doesn't drink enough to meet all her nutritional needs, so she needs to eat more than fruits and vegetables. hence the grains and beans, but i'm not sure if that's ok for her this early. i don't want to just give her baby cereal, because that's kind of nutritionally empty. oh, now on that note (i know, it's a whole forest of rabbit trails when you read my blog) i'm reading a book called in defense of food, which is really good. basic premise: good health and disease prevention isn't about this individual vitamin or that low-fat/cholesterol or something. food is more than the sum of its parts. just eat real, old fashioned food. not fat free cheese or sugar free oreos. keep moving. and chances are, you'll come out ok. anyways, moving on



mom brought down the rocking horse from christmas, and she fits in it better now


yes it was mother's day. no, i didn't get a picture with my darling. there's always next year :-)



in the pool at dad's with kennedy and parker. hannah did really well. i think it was the noise she didn't like at the beach.


she looks so big!!!


my munchkin. i fall more in love with her every day. you would too, if you were here.


my two favourite people.

you know, there are so many things i would love to share. lots of other people have themes on their blog, or at least things they talk about. other than my family, there isn't a whole lot here. that definitely isn't because i don't care about anything. on the contrary, i care alot (too much, patrick would say :-) about a great many things. i just don't take the time and energy to write it down for the world to see. the other day, i finally washed my kitchen floor, and there was squashed sweet potato under the high chair that had been there for oh, a good 2 wks, i think. (mom, i hope you aren't reading this!) at the point, i officially rescinded any and all criticisms i have ever made about mothers and housekeeping. i have only one, and i dont' even work full time. yet the sweet potato remains.

speaking of working, this is why it took me awhile to share my job news, because then i have to feel silly when i tell you all that i was wrong, or they were, or somebody was, because i do not have a new job. not yet. maybe not every. they sort of changed their minds. so, it's back to the drawing board. i can continue where i am for another month, but then they're moving. they're a handful, being so close together. i don't know how parents of multiples do it. i have friends who're having twins for their first ones, and my prayers are with them! it's just hard.

anyways, i will have pictures of the real purpose of our nc trip whenever my sister sends them to me. patrick's promised me we're going to paint this weekend. so maybe i'll have pictures of our decorated bedrooms soon!

getting busy!

things might be a little sparse on the ol' blog for a while. this month i am working nearly full time at my babysitting job, and then next month i start my new job. through some miracle, i am the newest radiology transcriptionist at the east alabama medical center. no, i have no experience, but i'm going to learn. this is a work from home thing, 20 hrs/wk. the training, however, is full time on site at the hospital, and will probably last a month or so, depending on my learning curve. we've found a girl who will come to the house and watch hannah for a reasonable amount, so i will be leaving her ALL DAY. yeah. i know. but only temporarily.

this weekend we're going to charlotte for lar's graduation, which we're very excited about. and i get to see meghan pregnant and think about that, also very exciting. my mom will be in charlotte as well. then in two weeks grandma jan is coming from kansas for a few days, and that will be so great, because she hasn't seen hannah since thanksgiving, and alot of changes have happened since then! then dad and bunny are coming for the weekend. then we're going to myrtle beach with david, desiree, brett and jes. then things should slow down a little!

so, i'll do what i can. but when we aren't at home, i don't even take pictures. i do have to mention that she's started walking! a few steps here and there. very exciting. not sleeping good at al, i think there are more teeth in there somewhere. why God made that such a painful process for babies, i'm not sure.

so there you have it. have a great mother's day, all!