Happy New Year!!

Okay, I know it's New Year's Eve, but I had to include one last video of another of my favorite Christmas songs before the "Season" is over. I've always had a fondness for Harry Belafonte's "Mary's Boy Child," and last year I caught this version on the radio and just loved it. The video is awesome for its terrific disco cheesiness (it's from 1978 after all!), and I just love the Carribbean flavor of this version.



And for all you traditionalists out there, here's a little New Year's cheer:



Have a safe celebration tonight (and WARM, if you happen to be in WNY) and we wish you the best for 2009!

Christmas 2008

Because it's 11:00 at night and I'm tired, I'm going to save myself the trouble of uploading Christmas pictures here and just send y'all over to the ones I just put up on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=77310&l=edcd6&id=1586911971

This album includes one of the best "Scared of Santa" pictures I've experienced. Rest assured Grace is not scarred for life from the experience (and neither is Santa, happily).

Hope everyone had a fun, festive, and fuss-free Christmas!

Christmas Multimedia

I couldn't let Christmas go by without a little multimedia offering of one of my all-time favorite Christmas songs. Even now, this song is the only one that consistently causes me to get a little choked up and teary every time I hear it (which is few and far between I'm afraid!). Hope you enjoy it.

Peace to all the world, and good will to men.

Christmas Card

Happy Christmas to all, and to all good night!!

Mea Culpa

I apologize, little blog, for neglecting you this month. Sadly, I have been busy both at home and at work, and when else is there for me to post? I resolve to do better for you and all 3 of my loyal readers, come the new year. And hopefully I'll be able to get a few more posts up before the end of 2008.

Anyway, to make it up to you, I'll add a little something down the sidebar: a button that links to a blog a friend of mine just turned me onto: THE MEANEST MOM. And here I thought that was me! That will teach me to believe what my kids say.

A couple of human beans

Quoth Matthew: "Mom, if Jon and I were beans, and you tried to eat us, we'd jump off the table and land on the cats to get away. Jon would land on Emma and I would land on Mindy."

I'm glad he's planned this all out.

Overheard in our house

Tonight at dinner, I told the boys that on Friday we were going to make pumpkin cookies. Well, they got all excited and said we should make bats and ghosts too! I explained that these are not cookies shaped like pumpkins, they're cookies made from pumpkins.

"Moooom," said Matt, "they're not made from REAL pumpkins."
"Yes Matt, they are."
Blank face, then matter of factly, "That's gross."

* * * * *

Jonathan helped me make our traditional cranberry-jello salad this evening. He loves to cut the grapes in half for me because I let him use a paring knife. Matt opted to stay in the living room watching A Charlie Brown Christmas (we'd already viewed A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving), but Jonathan really wanted to show off that he was using the adult tools.

Jon: "Hey Matt, I've got a sharp knife!"

Matt: (from the living room) "Can I have one?"

Before and After-ish

So a ways back I wrote about how we were getting ready to remodel our basement to turn it into a playroom. Well, in case you were wondering, it's DONE!! As I mentioned in the earlier post, this is Phase 1 of the project. The idea here was to turn this dark, unwelcoming basement into a bright, inviting, usable room, and I think we've succeeded pretty nicely. This past Saturday we finally put down the foam flooring and I was able to get some After pictures that show what the completed (for now) project looks like.

Phase 2 will eventually consist of finishing off the long wall that the closets are on and building some shelves and closets to store toys, games, videos, etc. etc. But I think you'll agree it's already quite a transformation!


I forgot to take true Before pictures, so this one is from Day 2 of the project, after the guys removed the doors, took down the ceiling, and ripped up the floor tiles. Here Rob is in the process of installing one of the six recessed light fixtures that were added to brighten the room up (we did keep the existing single-bulb fixture at the bottom of the stairs, and the recessed lighting is on a separate dimmer switch).


Here's a view from the opposite end of the room, looking toward the stairs. This was taken before the yucky single-pane basement windows were replaced with glass block.


Ta-da!!! A light, bright, colorful, cushioned space for the kids to play, make noise (within reason) and generally hang out. That's a futon to the left there, and on the cabinet that now encloses the sump pump and water meter, we have a TV, VCR, and DVD player.


Here's that second angle looking toward the stairs again (with a little moppet on the stairs!). Rob and his crew painted pretty much EVERYTHING--walls, doors, ceiling, ventilation ducts. The room seems so clean. It's too bad this was taken after dark so you can't really see how great the glass block windows look. That's a post for another time I guess. By the way, we are planning to get new doors for the closet at the bottom of the stairs...it just hasn't happened yet.

A Halloweenie Time

Just wanted to post some shots from Friday's Festivities. We had two Halloween parades at two different schools. Thankfully, Matt's parade was at 2:00 and Jon's parade was at 2:30 and the schools are less than a mile apart, so it worked out fine. We went trick-or-treating with our neighbors across the street and some other friends, and then the neighbors across the street had everyone back to their house for a casual Halloween party. It's good when Halloween is on a weekend!


For some reason, the boys insisted on carving pumpkins with no shirts on.


Both boys were Power Rangers for the second year in a row (and I think this is the 3rd straight year as a Power Ranger for Jonathan...)


Cutest little unicorn you ever saw!


My trio, and the trick-or-treating gang (minus 2 who were struggling with costume issues)


Grace was one gung-ho trick-or-treater!



I didn't get too many pictures of Jonathan trick-or-treating because he was usually 3 houses ahead of us (good thing we had almost as many adults as we had kids!)

An update

Just thought I'd update my loyal readers ;-) on the two families I wrote
about a couple weeks back.

Mike's cousin Art was discharged from the hospital on October 14th,
happily less than a month after his accident. As of last Friday, they
report that "His burns are continuing to heal well and he is feeling
better each day. He has a good energy level and appetite and, most
importantly, he is thrilled to be home. The healing process is going
quite well..."

My friend Steph Emailed me earlier this week with an update on Joanne
and her adoption saga: "Joanne and Duncan and baby are back! They were
given their Sentencia quite suddenly about two weeks ago and flew home
within a week. I went to see them on Saturday--everyone is great,
adjusting to a family life."

Terrific news on all accounts! Isn't it great when things looks so
bleak and sad and frustrating, and then everything works out? Sorry, I
have nothing profound to say about this except thanks for all your
thoughts and prayers for these friends/family members.

Now in Nursery!

Grace turned 18 months old on Saturday, which means today was her first day in Nursery at church. So how did she react? Well, I carried her to the door, and I hadn't taken two steps into the room when she launched herself out of my arms and ran to the toys yelling "Yay! Yay! Yay! Yay!"





(This is the best shot I could get with Mike's cell phone)









(In the interest of full disclosure, 20 minutes later, when the novelty of the toys had worn off and she realized Mom and Dad were nowhere in sight, she wasn't quite so thrilled. Sister Goodrich brought her to me and said she did fine until they sprayed the hand sanitizer on her hands before the had their snack.)

We're on a roll today

Jonathan decided he wanted tuna fish for lunch. So I asked Matt if he wanted tuna fish too. When he said no, Jonathan said "Are you sure Matt? It's good for your colon!"

What ARE they teaching in second grade these days?

Is that like zed in Canada?

Matt was trying to arrange the magenetic letters on the fridge in alphabetical order, but he ran into a little trouble after "k." When I asked him what letter comes next, he thought for a minute and then suggested, "Menno?"

Antique Technology

We went to a local farm/pumpkin patch today for some good old autumnal fun, and when we arrived I discovered that my digital camera was not inclined to cooperate. So I ended up having to invest a ridiculous amount of money in a Kodak FunSaver disposable camera in order to, well, save the fun. (More on all that in a later post.)

This evening, Matthew brought the camera to me and asked if he could take a picture with it. I told him we had taken all the pictures on it, so it doesn't work anymore.

"Are the batteries dead?" he says.

"No, it's just out of film Matt."

Wait for it...

"What's film?"

ARGH!

So here it is, with another 2 weeks having passed since I posted. How
did that happen? In my mind, it's only been one week. Strange how time
moves at different speeds when you have kids. I'd like to tell you that
we've been SO busy and then rattle off all the interesting things that
we've been doing that have kept me from blogging. And I believe we HAVE
been busy, but apparently we haven't been busy doing interesting things
that I can rattle off. We've just been busy living, strangely, and
somehow, that does take up an awful lot of our time.

So, I don't have anything fun, interesting, amazing, or amusing to
report. Matthew has said funny things, and I've enjoyed them in the
moment but forgotten them before I could record them. Jonathan has
impressed me with his math skills at the same time that he's depressed
me with his writing skills (still working on that). Graceanne continues
to be my mostly willing dress-up doll while starting to show those clear
indicators that she is the sister of 2 older brothers (i.e. she loves
matchbox cars and action figures...).

Thinking back, we have done some fun, interesting, amazing (well--maybe
not amazing) and amusing things, but they're sort of the "you had to be
there" things--walking to Matt's preschool open house and watching his
"glow-up" sneakers flashing down the sidewalk, going to the boys'
friend's birthday party and being incredibly impressed with their
behavior, having my brothers come visit on a GORGEOUS mid-70-degree
October day and playing frisbee and baseball in the yard...just living,
y'know?

But I'll try harder to stick to my once-a-week posting rule. Really.
Even if it's just a post to say "hey, we did some living again this
week." =)

Another Post for Today

I know I just posted a little while ago, but I felt like I needed to do
another one. Two different families with two different types of
difficult circumstances are on my mind today, and I wanted to share
their stories with all (5) of my blog readers in the hope that you'll
include them in your prayers or send uplifting thoughts their way or
whatever it is you do to help others in times of crisis when there's
really nothing you can do to help.

First is Mike's cousin and his family. On September 23rd, Mike's cousinArt was severely burned (over 30% of his body--chest, arms, hands) in an accident at his home. He has already had one surgery for skin grafts but faces anotherone next week and possibly more as he begins the long road to healing.Burns are a terrible injury to heal from, and in many cases the
treatment is as bad as the wound itself. Art and his wife should be
celebrating their 1st wedding anniversary this month, but instead, he
will be spending it in the burn ICU of a Dallas hospital. Thankfully,
his parents are both in a position to leave their home in Florida and go
to Texas for an extended time to help in any way they can. For more
information on Art and his progress, you can visit his Caring Bridge
website at http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/artfoster.

The second family are friends of a friend. I've only met Joanne twice, but she is a lifelong friend of my good friend Steph from college.
Joanne and her husband Duncan have been in the process of trying to
adopt a baby from Colombia. Near the end of July the received
notification that they were to become the parents of a baby girl. A
little over 3 weeks later, they were on a plane to Bogota, and 3 days
after that, they were presented with their beautiful 4 month old
daughter. (Brief pause as I tear up a little--adoption is close to my
heart.) They expected to be in Colombia for 8 weeks while all the
legalities were taken care of and the adoption was finalized. So, they
SHOULD have been coming home right about now to begin their life as a
family of 3. However, 2 weeks after their "Gotcha Day," (and 2 days
after Duncan had to return home to go back to work) the courts in
Colombia went on strike, and they remain on strike to this day, with no
end in sight. At this point, Joanne has been alone in Colombia with the
baby for a month now, she's receiving misinformation or no information
at all, and the entire adoption is in jeopardy. It's hard for me to
accept (and even harder for Joanne and Duncan, of course) that they
could spend 3 months bonding with and caring for this baby girl, only to
in the end have everything fall apart over the formalities and face
having to return home without her and leave her to (hopefully) be
adopted by someone else. I just can't wrap my brain around that
concept, and I find myself raging in my head against the unfairness of
it all. So I thought maybe if I passed the story along to others, I
could somehow feel in some small part like I was able to do something to
help, when there's really nothing I can do to help.

So friends and family members, please send your prayers, your thoughts,
your good psychic vibes out for these two families that they will
receive the physical and spiritual help and support they need during
these difficult times of trial. Thanks.

Best $14 I ever spent! (A Multimedia Friday Special)

For the first time in her 17 months of life, Graceanne actually enjoyed a bath! Here's the proof:

(Apologies for how dark the video is--I took it with my digital camera, and the light in the bathroom isn't that great.)

Many of you may not realize what a big deal this is--it's just a baby splashing around in the tub after all. But Grace has HATED baths her entire life. Every single bath she's had, whether in the infant tub, the kitchen sink, or in the big tub, with or without her big brother to keep her company, she has screamed and cried through the entire thing. Just a week or two before this video was taken, I had to give her a baking soda bath for a diaper rash, and it was all I could do to keep her in the tub and sitting for 10 minutes. She cried, she wailed, she clung to my arm with a desperate and pleading look on her face. It was torture for her and us.

But the pool, many people ask. How did she like being the pool over the summer? Loved it. She'd get her little swimmy diaper on and splash in and out of the little wading pool, and she'd pour water and she'd laugh and giggle. So I finally figured hey, let me try getting one of those little blow-up baby tubs (thanks to Abbi for the idea--I think she mentioned that she had one for Damian), and VOILA!!! The video above was taken during her very first bath in the blow-up tub. Mind you, it took her 5 or 10 minutes of the usual reaction and me just being calm and encouraging, but suddenly, something clicked, and now ALL IS WELL. Oh happy day!

And here's a couple of recent pictures of the boys, just because they're cute. (You can barely see Matthew's scar...)

LAME

So yeah, it's been two weeks since I posted. I blame it on being
ridiculously busy, which is every blogger's excuse when they don't post
for a while. I have stuff I want to blog about; I just haven't had time
to put it together. And I don't have time now either, but I wanted to
get something up here so as not to let another week go by (remember, my
goal is to post at least once a week). So this is just going to be a
quick update on what's been going on.

Matthew's mouth is MUCH better. He got his stitches out the Monday
following the incident, and although he was worried that it would hurt,
he said it was fine. Looks fine too. Yes, he has an obvious cut on his
lip still (a healing cut for sure), and he will in all likelihood have a
scar there, but we're doing our best to minimize it, rubbing Mederma on
it a couple times a day. (We still have to get some Vitamin E--thanks
to Mom Foster for that tip.) Oh, and I actually got that shirt clean!! =)

Cub Scouts started back up for Jonathan last week. He's a Wolf Cub this
year, so he has what I consider the iconic gold and navy blue kerchief
now. Only had one meeting so far--just enough to get his popcorn order
forms, so all you grandparents and aunts and uncles that are reading
this, get ready for the phone calls! (Oh, and any friends, either here
or out of town, who need a good source for popcorn, let me know!!)

Graceanne proved she's one tough little chick yesterday. I found the
lab slip for her lead test (you know, the test they're supposed to get
at 12 months? Yeah, she's 17 months now.) tucked away under some papers
on the "landing strip" in our kitchen, and decided I'd better get that
done so the doctor can have the results for her 18-month visit at the
end of the month. Now, Mike took both boys for their lead tests, so
this was a new one for me. However, I imagined that taking any toddler
to have two vials of blood drawn out of their arm would not be a very
pleasant experience. Boy did this little girl prove me wrong. They had
her sitting on my lap with my left arm crossing over her chest and
holding her right shoulder, and my right arm holding her right
hand/wrist out straight so that she wouldn't bend it. I felt sure I was
going to need a third and possibly fourth arm to hold her down once she
started flailing. WELL. Not only did my stoic little one not flail,
she did not cry, she did not flinch, she did not squeak, and according
to the techician, she didn't even blink when that needle went in and the
blood was drawn. She just sat and sucked on her binky and WATCHED. *I*
don't even watch when I get blood drawn! I didn't even watch this; I
looked at the ceiling. That's my brave girl!

How I spent my Wednesday

Two and a half hours in the Rochester General ED:

Matt had a mishap while riding a scooter over at Patti's (our babysitter). I had just gotten there to pick the kids up. If you look close at that second picture and the circular imprint on his mouth, you can pretty much see what happened: when he fell, his mouth hit the end of the handle. All his teeth are intact though, thank goodness, but there was a TON of blood!!

He was a trooper though! Obviously he was VERY upset when it happened (and frankly, so was I--you would not BELIEVE how much blood there was. The picture of his shirt does not do it justice), and it was so cute how, as Patti and her daughter Lyndsey and I were packing him into the van to head to the hospital, he said through his tears "I didn't want to have this day." =} But at the hospital he was very brave as they put in the IV line (so they could sedate him while they stitched him up), and he really was great through the whole thing. We got home a little after 8:00 and he was asking for Scooby Doo macaroni and cheese for dinner. And this morning, other than the 5 stitches in his face, he's doing fine. He was on the computer doing PlayhouseDisney.com when I left for work.

BIG HUGE thanks to Patti and Lyndsey for (A) coming to the hospital with us to help keep Matt (and me!) calm, (B) leaving when Mike got there to go take care of Jonathan and Graceanne, and (C) taking the kids to McDonald's for dinner and then back to our house, where they ate dinner and played and were in their jammies ready for bed when we got home from the hospital. I say once again...we are so blessed to have them!

Happy Anniversary!

Yes, I know this day is a sad anniversary for many many people. But before September 11th became a noun unto itself, it was simply the anniversary of the happiest day of our lives.

We were married on September 11th, 1993, and today is our 15th anniversary. FIFTEEN years! Good grief! Do we look young and innocent? (Apologies for the picture quality--I've never thought to sit down and scan our wedding pictures, so this was the best I could do by laying the proofs out on the bed and angling my camera to avoid glare from the flash.)

Anyway, yes, we were young and innocent. Now we're...still young!...but we've definitely become more seasoned. We've had our ups and downs (now THERE'S a cliche!), more downs than some people, more ups than others, but I think we'd both agree that everything has balanced out pretty well so far.

Not to get all sappy, but I want to leave off with my favorite verse from Joshua Kadison's Beautiful in My Eyes, the song that would likely have been our wedding song had we been more familiar with that album at the time we got married. Mike sings this song to me all the time (NOW I've embarrased him), and I just want him to know that the feeling is mutual.

The world will turn and the seasons will change,
and all the lessons we will learn will be beautiful and strange.
We'll have our fill of tears, our share of sighs.
And my only prayer is that you realize
you'll always be beautiful in my eyes.

Thanks for 15 wonderful years Mike. I'm looking forward to many many more.

Multimedia Friday

Okay, this week's multimedia Friday is a video of Matthew's current favorite song in the car, which he asks for by saying "Mom, play the one that goes 'you promised you'd be there, whenever I call your name'," otherwise known as Endless Night from the Broadway version of The Lion King (if you haven't had the pleasure of seeing this, seize the first opportunity--it's AWESOME!).



(I was so please when this song replaced Matthew's previous favorite off that soundtrack, Morning Report.)

School Daze

Today was the busiest First Day of School we've had so far. First, we sent Jonathan off on the bus to second grade (and the first time Mommy did not accompany him to his classroom--*SNIFF*). Then, in the afternoon, we had Matthew's preschool orientation/open house. This was just an opportunity for the kids and parents to come in and meet the teacher, find the classroom, and get the "lay of the land" so to speak. Tomorrow will be his first real day there (preschool is half days--Matty will be going from 12:15 to 2:45). Here are a few choice shots of the day:

Ummm, could we look any happier guys?

Okay, that's a little better...

Matt tries for a smile (that's our neighbor Victoriah...she's the same age as Jonathan)

Off they go!

Matthew and Daddy at Preschool Orientation

Matthew--Man of Mystery

While I was getting Grace dressed for Church on Sunday, Matthew decided he wanted to play hide-and-seek:

"Mom! You have to find me. I'll give you a hint: I'm in...Grace's...closet."

English as a second (or third) language

I was recently introduced to a funny little website called Engrish.com, which highlights the rather amusing results when Japanese companies put English text on their products. Here's a couple of choice examples for this week's Multimedia Friday (hey--pictures are multimedia too...)

This one would make a good t-shirt:

Another Multimedia Friday

I'm starting to wonder if I shouldn't change the name of this item to "Flashback Friday." Today's feature was inspired by the boys' current favorite CD to listen to in the van, the one they call "The Faces CD":

Mike and I are doing a pretty good job of making our kids "grandchildren of the 80s," don't you think? Despite being thoroughly 21st century children, they are going to have a solid indoctrination in 80s pop (and other obscure stuff).

So, for your listening enjoyment, here's a little OMD.

Sick 'N' Tired

It occurs to me that many of you may think that that brief evening of croup 2 weeks ago was the extent of the illness in our home. Au contraire!! It has been what is starting to feel like a neverending saga of pestilence.

Let's see, that first night of croup with Matthew was followed by a second night, which included a trip to the emergency room, always a fun way to spend the wee hours of the morning, followed by 4 days on a prescription steroid, which made him quite cranky.

The following Monday found me with an icky sore throat and Matt and Grace still with goopy noses. Overall though, things were looking up until Matthew spiked a fever on Wednesday and Grace's eyes turned red. Off to the doctor where they were diagnosed with ear infections (2 for Matt, 1 for Grace) and pinkeye (Grace). TWO prescriptions for amoxicillin (and a note on the shopping list to stock up on bananas and diapers). On Friday evening, my throat was still screaming and I noticed a white spot back there. Fearing strep, I hustled off to the Urgent Care Center, where I was informed it was not strep but a canker sore on the back of my throat coupled with a sinus infection. One more script for amoxicillin (and a note to buy yogurt in addition to the bananas and diapers).

Another Monday and it seemed the kids were doing okay, and I was getting by with my Chloroseptic. Then Grace spiked a fever of 102. Back to the doctor, who found that her ears were clear and the rapid strep was negative (naturally, thanks to the amoxicillin), and advised us that it was likely viral and to treat the fever with ibuprofen. We went through a lot of ibuprofen over the next three days as she kept running fevers (104.9 at midnight on Wednesday!). The fevers finally tapered off, but she woke up this morning with pink spots! She looks like she has that blotchy newborn skin. The doctor assures us it's normal to see such a thing toward the end of an illness like this, and I hope that's true--that it's the end of the illness, because I'm sick and tired of everyone being sick and tired!

Edited to add: Oh, and in case you're wondering, Mike and Jonathan have been illness free. Lucky them. ;-)

Edited again to add: Andrea and I have pretty much determined that Grace's ailment this week has been roseola. Oh how fun!

Multimedia Friday

So I heard a fun song on the "Fickle" radio station here in town on my way to work this morning, and it inspired me to try a weekly feature here on the blog: Multimedia Fridays.

My idea with this is to present some sort of video or picture item that amuses me or entertains me or just catches my eye, and hopefully it will entertain or amuse you too. So, for the inaugural Multimedia Friday, I present: 10CC!!



Just TRY to tell me you didn't bop a little and hum along... ;-)

I heart ibuprofen (or Middle-of-the-Night Musings)

So Matthew has come down with croup--again. Nevermind that croup is generally supposed to be an October to March problem, when it would actually be possible to take said croupy child out into the "cool night air" during an attack. Know what? August in WNY doesn't have particularly cool night air. Not cool enough to break stridor anyway. So there I was at 1am, running the shower on full hot (mmm, warm and steamy, just like August), my hair absorbing all that great humidity and expanding to epic proportions, try to calm my poor barky baby so that his crying wouldn't make matters worse. There's something very fundamentally MOM about being up with a sick child at 1am. Not that it's my favorite thing to be sitting in a steamy bathroom with a weepy, barking child in the middle of the night, but even if you wouldn't have chosen it, it's somehow validating when you go through it...not unlike giving birth with no drugs (RIGHT, Jill and Andrea?).

In any case, 1½ teaspoons of ibuprofen later, the hot water had run out and he was lying in our bed with us. The fever was down, the bark had quieted, and Matthew informed me that "I'm not really tired anymore," and decided to have a chat about...I have no idea what. My sleep-craving brain did not absorb the topic of his conversation(s). I only remember my efforts to doze off being punctuated by "Did you knoooooow?" And my mumbled responses of "Hmmm, oh really?" and once, from the other side of the bed, a drowsy "I did not know that." But there's such comfort in seeing your child through a bout of croup and having him acting like his usual self again, even if that means he's talking your ear off until 3am.

AbFab

The boys decided they wanted to play "barber" (as they put it) with me
yesterday, because, according to Matthew, "You're hair doesn't look
fabulous Mom."

Flashbacks Bedtime

I'm sure it will come as no surprise to several of our friends that the boys' current favorite bedtime songs are 80s "One-Hit Wonders." Jonathan's request tonight was "When I See You Smile" by Bad English:



Man, John Waite has some PURDY hair in that video...much fluffier than in the Missing You video. ;)

Matthew asked for Jesse by Joshua Kadison,



who was also pretty much a one-hit wonder (and also technically a 90s artist), but his Painted Desert Serenade CD happens to be one of our faves.

Mike did some pretty good renditions of these too, I must say. Happily, Graceanne is still content with Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

Cynical Rant of the Day

So I'm noticing that everyone is starting to switch from Nalgene water
bottles to these fancy-looking metal water bottles. How long do you
figure it will be before some horrible health risk is linked to those?

Home Improvements

So we're all set for our big basement remodel! We signed the estimate
and gave Rob (our neighbor/contractor) the check for half the cost on
Monday, and I think his "field supervisor" is supposed to come over
today to get measurements. Work may be starting (and completing?) next
week! And I called and scheduled the install for the glass-block
windows too, on August 5th. Whoo-hoo! I can't wait to have a USABLE
room in the basement! It's not going to be TOTALLY done--the exterior
wall will not be finished, we still need to get the foam mats I want for
the floor, and the only thing being done in the bathroom is the
floor--but it should at least be able to be used. I'm thinking my mom
and I might be able to do some work in the bathroom when she is here,
and we can aim to tackle finishing the exterior wall next year. But I'm
so excited to be able to say to the boys this winter "Go downstairs and
play!" And they can hang out down there when we host Dinner Group,
instead of being right in our faces. And I won't have a giant corner of
toys in my living room anymore!!! (Hmmm...what to do with that
space???)

Breaking News!

I have successfully edited the HTML of my blog template to widen the post area, narrow the sidebar area, and switch the sidebar from the right to the left.

GO ME!

Playing with Pictures

I'm still learning how to make my posts all fancy and such, and this is my first attempt at posting pictures!

These are a couple from this past weekend, visiting my brother Chris in Ohio (thanks to other brother Dave for taking these pix with his cell phone and forwarding them to me--I haven't gotten my pix off the camera yet!)

Cutie Grace

Matt and Uncle Chris

Okay, that wasn't so bad...

In the Beginning

So after having a private blog for a couple of years, I finally decided it was time to go public. Not that I have a lot to say, or that anything I do have to say is particularly clever, but with friends and family scattered from east coast to west, it seemed like a blog would be an easy way to give people little glimpses of what's happening with us, post pictures of the kids, and whatever else might come to mind. If nothing else, it will be a toy I can play with.

So here we go...