eddie out:

come visit my new address!

2010-01-30T20:03:00.000-08:00

I'm experimenting with another blog format, come visit us here....

seventwenty.typepad.com

cheers!

June 30, 2009 = Ford's 1st Birthday!

2009-09-13T07:03:00.000-07:00

Now that it is fall, I am catching up on all things summer - starting with Fords 1st Birthday! We had a quiet family celebration at our house and then a second one at Mimi & Papa's house with the cousins. Happy Birthday Ford!

Marathon of Pictures - Summer Vacation 2009

2009-09-12T08:48:00.001-07:00

We had a fantastic trip to CA back in June. We packed up the van with the car top carrier and trekked for 17 hours with no major catastrophes or even meltdowns. It was a packed 2 weeks - visiting with family, a few days at Disneyland, some time at the cabin in Lake Arrowhead, and catching up with friends in San Diego. We even managed to squeeze our annual family photo shoot with David Manning. He is so fun to work with and does an amazing job!

Juice, Part II

2009-08-19T06:16:00.000-07:00

If the cashier had only known what I had (or hadn't done) a few weeks earlier he wouldn't have been so impressed. Buying someone's juice was waaaayyy more significant to me than it could have been to either of them. In the words of Paul Harvey, here is the rest of the story:

Joe's family was coming to visit in a few days, our first visitors since our recent move and my supply of guest comfort items had disappeared in the boxes. There are not many perks to relocating, but a small one is the gift cards many pharmacies give away to entice people to fill their prescriptions at their location. So off I went to Walgreens, gift card in hand, ready to buy lotions, loofah sponges, and aromatic scented reeds for my guests - definitely not under the category "necessities", but hopefully a bit hospitable. It was even more fun shopping for these things with the "free money" I had, splurging a bit without the guilt of using my budgeted grocery money. I was in such a good mood that Mak even got to toss in her favorite impulse buy - a pack of orange tic-tacs.

We were waiting in a short line to check out - one woman in front of me waiting to buy cigarettes, and a man with two small boys was in front of her. I am often chastised by my husband for eavesdropping on conversations, but this one was hard to miss. The cashier told the man the total for his groceries (I couldn't help but look in his cart, he had nothing too extravagant - bread, cereal, eggs, diapers among other things) and he paused, apologized, and said he needed to quickly check his account. He put the youngest boy down and stepped over to the ATM by the door. When he came back he apologized again and said he would have to come back in a few days after he gets paid. I listened and watched, felt mildly uncomfortable, a little embarrassed for the guy who now was also dealing with an upset 5 year old who had to leave his Captain Crunch behind, but didn't move and was just waiting for my turn at the check-out.

The woman gets her cigarettes and it is finally my turn. As the cashier is scanning my items I'm still thinking about the guy and his boys...feeling sad for that dad...that the economy must really be hitting some people hard...wondering what they are going to do for bread for the next few days...when she asks if I am going to pay with cash or credit. Only then do I look down and see the $25.00 gift card I am holding in my hand. I watched that entire scene as if I was watching a reality T.V. show. Completely detached, and completely unaware of my ability to do something to change the situation - and I did nothing. Just watched. It would have been so easy and non-intrusive to just hand that guy the gift card. No words even needed to be exchanged, just help him out a bit. I would have to make the decision to still get the lotions, etc. or use my "real money", but give me a break. The guy needed bread and diapers and I did nothing.

For me, buying someone's juice is an insignificant price to pay for not being numb to the world around me anymore. I am so tired of just watching things happen and wondering who is going to take care of it. I'm a big girl now, it's my turn.

(Juice, Part I)

First Day of Kindergarten!

2009-08-17T20:05:00.001-07:00

Here we go! All 5 of us piled in the car in what felt like the wee hours of the morning (8:15 AM) and took Gabe to his first day of Kindergarten. He was SO excited, but still thinks that having to miss recess since his eyes are still healing is "STU-PID!". His eyes are healing well, but you can see from the pics that he squints them a lot, especially in the bright light.

Walking up to the new school - it looks HUGE! How can he be old enough to be going in that big scary building?!?

I have mostly accepted the changes that will happen with having a Kindergartener, but there are several things that will take a bit longer. I'm not sure I am ready to just drop him off at the door and pick him up 6 hours and 35 minutes later and not eat lunch with him (I really will miss this!). I especially am not ready for the lifestyle changes of keeping the minivan clean. A teacher will be opening my car door each afternoon and if I don't make some drastic changes they could make a realistic conclusion that we are homeless and living out of our car.

Juice

2009-08-15T19:06:00.000-07:00

I bought someone's juice today. O.K., it was actually last month, but I still think about it a lot. We were visiting Lake Arrowhead in CA and I had run into the grocery store for some ice cream for dessert. Joe & kids stayed in the car because I would "just be a minute". I actually was able to decide on a flavor super quick and was at the cashier in record time. Quickly I scanned the shortest lane and thought I made a great choice.

There was only one woman in front of me, friendly looking, all her groceries already up and being scanned. I put my ice cream up and started scanning the magazine headlines. I didn't even realize that it had been unusually long (yes, I was enjoying the guilty pleasure of gossip reading without having to worry about three kids emptying all the impulse candy items at kid level) until I heard the woman apologize to me. I started paying attention and realized she was paying with some WIC coupons and food stamps and the cashier was being very very picky about what order things were scanned in and that it was the exact right product. He looked at me with an impatient and exasperated look in his eyes, clearly not happy at the extra work this woman was giving him. I just stood there watching their unhappiness with the situation and each other, still holding the magazine.

They finally got down to her last four items, 3 different gallons of juice, but apparently she had selected the wrong brand and the cashier told her she needed to go back and exchange them. She looked back at me apologetically and I asked, "can I buy your juice?". She was confused for a minute and then started nodding her head and thanking me. The cashier took a little longer to catch on. I had to tell him about 4 different times that she didn't need to go switch her juice anymore because I was just going to buy it. She finally was able to leave with her groceries and the cashier was silent. He didn't say a word or even make eye contact with me until he started to hand me my change. He paused before he gave it to me and said, "that was a really nice thing you did for that lady. I've not seen someone do that before". If he only knew. Part II coming soon.

Vaseline

2009-04-15T08:58:00.000-07:00

I am thankful Joe doesn't go out of town too often, but he is getting ready for a trip in the near future and I was debating whether or not to head to my parents to have some extra help while he is gone. I know I haven't had all brain cells functioning for almost 5 years now because somehow in the past month I had forgotten about the events of a single day the last time he was gone.

Here is the email I wrote Joe:

Hi love,

not a lot of energy right now, but just so you have a rundown of my day...

9:45 at Dr. office w/ gabe - has a nasty ear infection which is why the cough/cold hasn't cleared up yet, now on antibiotics. He also had to pee in a cup - first time peeing in a cup. So off to the bathroom we went where he refused to go, he wouldn’t even go near the toilet… so back to the waiting room we go where the nurse gave him 2 juice boxes to drink. He was unusually quiet, just sitting there drinking his juice when he looked up at me with a confused look on his face and asked why he has to drink all this juice and… “why does the doctor want me to drink my pee?” He must have thought we all were nuts! The first time peeing in a cup he thought he had to drink the cup!

11 – tried to open new bank account. Basically waste of an hour, and waste of the 2 plastic piggy banks they tried to distract mak with while we were meeting. She broke them in 10 minutes.

12 - took gabe to field trip at weather station with new class. Fun time.

normal afternoon, thank goodness.

mom and dad had dinner @ USAFA so i was on my own for dinner/bedtime, not a big deal EXCEPT:

gabe told me this morning that he flushed a paper cup down the toilet because he "wanted to see what would happen", but it didn't clog until i used the potty tonight when my parents were gone. kids were upstairs and the toilet was OVERFLOWING! I yelled at gabe to come help and see exactly what happens when you flush a cup down the toilet. He had to hold the bulb thing in the toilet while i went and found a plunger. got it all fixed, good teamwork.

then at bedtime, mak said she needed to puke. she was just being dramatic b/c gabe has been sleeping with me b/c he's sick and she wanted to sleep with me too and wanted to be sick. soooo she went to the bathroom and sat by the potty while i tucked gabe in. i went to check on her to find her dropping one-by-one paper towels in the toilet. she made it through over half-a-roll. did not like fishing those out, I have had enough of the toilet for one day.

and as if that wasn't enough......

you know that mak has had a difficult time staying in bed after tuck-ins, getting up an insane number of times. WELL, she actually been rather quiet tonight and only came up a few times. one time she came up with her Treeva hat on and asked if i could get the trolls out of her bed. After I conquered all of the trolls I thought she was down for the night. She was real quiet and I thought she had fallen asleep. ooohhhh noooooo, she came up about an hour later looking like a greased little piggy. She was covered head, hair, neck, and face in an almost entire tub of VASELINE!!!!!! She told me that she wanted shiny hair just like Cinderella's. I am not kidding. I laid her on the kitchen counter and tried to wash it out in the sink, but even palmolive couldn't get out the vaseline. she may have dreadlocks at her 3-year birthday party.

i am exhausted, but laughing. can't handle a whole lot more, but hanging in there

zip-a-dee-do-dah

2009-04-01T08:46:00.000-07:00

Playing legos and singing songs, what a great start to the day!

Comings & Goings

2009-02-19T19:37:00.000-08:00

So much has happened in the past month I was debating where exactly to start...

As you can see from the picture, we are no longer in sunny San Diego. Our heads are spinning from the events of the last few months, but we are excited to have finally arrived in Colo Spgs and start settling in here. I'm not the only one in the family who is confused by the change in climates. Gabe insists on wearing his warm-weather clothes and has asked me everyday when he can wear shorts again.

For my sake of family documentation, a little review of the past 4 weeks:

Mid January all 5 of us fly to CO for final stage of a job interview for Joe.

This new job becomes official which leads to...

packing, goodbyes, packing

car troubles (sharing a car for several weeks while constantly going in different directions was a feat!)

visiting Disney one last time, packing, becoming a landlord

and then the real fun began - moving truck arrived, we shacked up at a hotel and lived out of our car, 3-day road trip with 3 kids, 2 dogs, 2 cars, and one saintly grandmother.

We arrived safely (and sanely) in CO, but despite bathing in purell after all those hotels and McDonald playlands we still had some extra germs tagging along for the ride and were at Urgent Care for pink eye and ear infections.

We also had to make the difficult decision to say goodbye to our 15-year old Golden-doodle, Kopa. She was an amazing dog and a sweet part of our family.

It was definitely hard to leave San Diego, but even harder to say goodbye to sweet friends. The kids hanging in there with this transition, but we are all eager to find a routine and find some new connections. Gabe started at a new preschool this week, but hasn't yet talked about someone he wants to come over to his house. When that happens I will breathe a sigh of relief and welcome the feeling of normalcy returning to our lives.

Whew!

sugar and spice and everything nice

2009-01-12T20:42:00.000-08:00

A quiz for the trivia (or trivial) minded:

In the past 24 hours Makena has:

a) bitten the head off of one of Joe's original Star Wars figures

b) dropped the water pitcher putting a nice gash in her ankle

c) ripped out the back screen door by "just walking through it just like this"

d) all of the above

here's a clue:

Despite the lack of photographic evidence, the correct answer is d) all of the above. And in all of her sweetness, she assigned the family roles to play for The Little Mermaid.

In the role of:

Ariel - Makena

Eric - Gabe

King Triton - Joe

Flounder - Ford

and surprise, surprise guess who she said I could be?????

no pressure or anything

2009-01-03T20:14:00.000-08:00

In a not-so-subtle effort to "encourage" me to do more regular posts again, Joe mentioned in our Christmas letter that I "maintain" a family blog. There has been no posts for many months, so in a lame effort to get caught up I just posted November-in-Review.

So, what exactly have I been doing these past few months?

sweating it out at the gym?

nope

buying only organic foods and shopping at the farmers market?

nope

jet-setting international travel?

no way, i try to avoid going to the grocery store with all three kids

trying to convince my two year old that she doesn't hate my guts?

definitely yes

For those of you who are saying to yourselves, ohhh I'm sure she doesn't really hate you and I have to agree that hate may just be a little strong, but there have been a few recent occasions that make me wonder.

here's my top three:

#3: refusal to allow my assistance with anything if joe is around. "not YOU momma, only daddy" (carseat buckling, getting dressed, wiping booty - i don't mind that one so much)

#2 screaming and screaming and screaming. Joe couldn't take her with him on a recent errand and upon bringing her back into the house to stay with me she started screaming at the top of her lungs. If her 2 year old vocabulary included "f-you momma" she certainly would have used it.

#3 My favorite example needed no words at all. She spent a lot of time setting up her dollhouse last week and guess where she put the mommy?

yup, that is the mommy with her head being shoved in the oven!

But, all it takes is one look at her bright eyes and bright smile to convince me that it just isn't possible it is the same little girl

Back to Blogging

2008-12-19T07:53:00.000-08:00

Well, here I am up to my ears in all things Christmas and finally getting to my months of blog backlog. I'm going to spare ya'll the long narratives and let the pictures capture most of the tales and highlights of the past few months.

Both Joe and I have been able to volunteer in Gabe's preschool class several times and have really enjoyed helping out and spending that special time with Gabe.

We made some very cute apple pies. They were definitely more cute than appetizing. In fact, after great drama about how delicious it was ours ended up in the trash can (don't tell gabe).

We have loved watching Gabe's confidence grow this year. He loves showing off how he can climb up and over the spider web at school.

Mak isn't quite as gregarious yet as Gabe but she was willing to give a try at the rock wall!

Gabe and Luke testing to see if the oranges were ready yet. They decided they were "gross" (as if the green color wasn't quite enough evidence)

Ford is either becoming an easier baby or we are finally adjusting to living in a very noisy house (probably a little of both)

We thought we would make the most of living in SoCal and purchased annual passes to Disneyland. We now can get in "free" just to spend way too much money on food and junk to bribe the kids to the car with. We also left Disneyland with the stomach bug and pink eye that stranded me at home w/ sick kids for about 2 weeks.

Gabe's head would have hit the table if Joe hadn't caught it!

A great end to a great month!

I love the pumpkin patch!

2008-10-10T16:05:00.000-07:00

wooden cutting boards

2008-10-10T15:21:00.000-07:00

Before the Food Network I couldn't think of anything more boring than watching someone cook AND then watching them make weird noises as they eat it. Now not only do I watch these shows, I even have their cookbooks (rachel ray express meals, paula deen) and I recently discovered at Kohl's I could buy a bobby flay griddle or an emeril pepper grinder.

I think it has all gotten a bit out of control.

Which is why I love Sam the Cooking Guy.

We actually downsized our cable a few months ago to the basic package which meant bye-bye to Food Network. And that is when I discovered Sam. He is a local San Diegoian who started doing his own cooking show on our local access channel that is refreshingly non-Food Network. (his show is now also on Discovery-Health). Even Joe will watch. Sam really makes you want to cook and experiment with food and not just buy a bunch of ingredients that sound and taste weird and that you will only use one time.

Another reason I love Sam - he uses a giant wooden cutting board. huh? In my parents kitchen there is a wooden cutting board cleverly hidden in the kitchen island. This cutting board has been used for 20+ years to chop, dice, & slice vegetables, meats (yes, raw), bread, playdough, etc. It would usually get washed and then used again and again and again.

What got me thinking about this dear family artifact was this article by the New York times that Sam the Cooking Guy posted in a recent newsletter.

In fact, I even found a picture of the cutting board. It looks like it most recently was used for shredding cheese in this picture, but you can still see it.

And in looking for a picture of the cutting board, I stumbled upon these gems that I just can't resist posting. My sisters might kill me, but it's worth it.

this one was circa 1990. I was into hot rollers and Amy was into bad-perms. Sarah was still cute.

No idea when this was, but the there are so many things wrong with it I just had to put it up.

still waiting for fall to arrive

2008-10-02T15:56:00.000-07:00

I am wondering why I even bother putting up fall decorations in my house. It was literally over 100-degrees yesterday, on the first day of October! Heat induced insanity definitely should be a diagnosable condition (it at least got me out of cooking dinner, I complained loudly enough to joe that we went out to eat - granted it was at church, but I'll take what I can get). Today is a "cool" day at only 92!

Here are some pictures of the past week, I'm going in reverse because I want to end on a good note and I'm still angry/ in disbelief over what happened to my walls yesterday...

It does not take an advanced degree to figure out how these marks got on the wall (hint: the markings are about 36" off the ground in gabe's current favorite color), but what I can't figure out is how to get them off. Gabe and his friend Luke both found some markers from a recent b-day goodie bag and went to town marking up our walls. Let this serve as a warning: if you ever receive markers from any source that isn't clearly marked "washable" immediately throw them away! I have learned the hard way and now have permanent markings down the entire hallway, on every door, and each space in between. What is the real kicker is that when I caught them in the act I was proud of myself for not reacting loudly, but asked them what they would like to do about this problem and let them figure out how to take care of it. They found a water bottle and rag and started cleaning. I knew that I would have to likely use the magic eraser, but it had never failed me before and wasn't too worried about their art work. Let me just say that not only did the magic eraser not work, but neither did any other cleaning product in my house. They might as well have used a sharpie.

I loved attending Parent Participation Night at Gabe's preschool, a very special night where the kids get to be the teachers and show us around their classroom. The teachers had some neat activities set up for us to do together, but my favorite was asking the parents to write on a ribbon what their hopes and dreams are for their child. These ribbons will be woven together and hung up in the room. This is what we wrote for gabe: "Dear Gabe, we hope you will become a compassionate man of faith and influence. Love, mommy & daddy". It's hard to sum up all your hopes for your child in just 12-inches of ribbon

Saturday morning sports class has started again. Gabe has had all of us doing ready-set-hike drills all week.

After buying new sneakers for the kids (i had no idea how fast kids grow out of shoes!), we met some dear friends for pizza near the beach and then walked to cold stone. They were smart and packed pj's for the kids, our kids got to sleep in their pizza-ice cream clothes.

my little superheroes

2008-09-24T14:05:00.000-07:00

I just have to say that I love my little superheroes. I love their powerful energy that destroys a clean house within minutes. I love their sixth sense of finding freshly wiped windows and putting their little handprints all over them. I love finding a basket of freshly folded laundry strewn all over their room because there was a bad guy hiding at the bottom. And I really love having my entire house smell like a Bath & Body Works factory because my special body spray was used to fight off dragons.

I DO NOT love it when this is the temperature IN SEPTEMBER! NINETY-TWO - in the shade!!!

Mak's shiner

2008-09-20T19:59:00.000-07:00

day one

day two

day three - and the rainbow of colors starts to appear. Last Weds we were at the park enjoying the 95-degree september weather (silly-me, I thought sept was the beginning of fall, oh yeah I live in perpetual summerville) and Mak comes over to me sobbing. I have no idea how it happened, but she was hurtin' something awful. She tells me a girl pushed her with her tummy, I can only wish I had abs of steel that would inflict such a bruiser.

how to know it's time for weight watchers...

2008-09-12T17:08:00.000-07:00

...when getting into your spanks takes longer than putting on your makeup.

Joe and I have an evening out tonight for a rehearsal dinner and I am still second guessing myself in trying to squeeze my post-baby (x3!) body into some of the new "slimming technology" that Nordstrom's was selling.

Be very thankful there are no pictures documenting this event.

A photo a day

2008-08-21T16:52:00.000-07:00

Maui 2008

Makena was very upset at being left on the beach while Joe and Gabe played in the waves. She was in this position longer than anyone else would have considered remotely comfortable (fortunately she wasn't screaming).

A much happier Makena on the next day as we visited her namesake beach - Makena Beach a.k.a. "Big Beach" here in Maui. The waters are beautiful, but you shouldn't be fooled by their beauty as they can also be fierce and powerful - sound like anyone we know?

We found the "sinking ship" in Lahaina while enjoying a pizza dinner and some shopping (I'd show a pic of my new toe ring, but it'll have to wait till a fresh pedi - current chipped blue nail polish takes away from the coolness of the ring)

Gabe had a blast at his first snorkeling adventure. Joe has worked with him in the pool all summer to get him comfortable using a snorkel and mask and it totally paid off. Gabe LOVED looking at the reef and all of the fish while laying on a boogie board with Joe balancing/directing it.

Halfway through our Maui adventure. We hiked around Iao Needle State Park and marveled at the beauty of the ridges and ecosystem in this valley.

so much cooler online

2008-08-21T00:14:00.001-07:00

I recognize that this post is a bit of a deviation from my usual blogging topics - Gabe & Makena(and now Ford) - but I would be grateful if I could be granted a bit of flexibility to drain my brain a bit from some things I've been thinking about (it's amazing what comes to mind when you are regularly up in the middle of the night with nothing to do but hold a baby and think). and by "amazing" I mean discerning the complexities of ... if we need to buy more sippy cups (definitely no) or if I should update my facebook profile (probably).

Speaking of facebook... my personal info on facebook is rather boring (maybe because I don't have anything listed) and I was thinking of what I wanted to put up there to make myself a little more un-boring. Updating my profile wouldn't be such a big deal if I only knew more than one true indie artist that I could list. It seems like to have a cool profile you need to list at least 55 indie artists and I just don't think that Laurie Berkner counts as a indie artist.

And what do I need to do to legitimately list wine connoisseur? Does my 2-buck chuck count? or the occasional splurge on $9.99 cab-sav? Because I'd definitely want to hang out with someone who knows a thing or two about a good bottle of wine.

Or how about my triathlon endeavors? If I read someone's profile and it has "triathlons" listed as hobbies - wow, that's a cool person. I trained for a triathlon several years ago (and then broke my elbow on a training ride and couldn't compete) - does that count? And even falling of my bike on a training ride sounds way cooler than it really was - I was in the parking lot practicing getting out of my new toe-clips and fell over, not only breaking my elbow, but also requiring surgery. Completely uncoordinated would be much more accurate description.

For the anti-country music folks out there, I apologize about the Brad Paisley song greeting you as you open the blog. The lyrics made me laugh, if you listen I'm sure you can see why. Joe says country music makes him sick to his stomach. I kinda like it and often choose to listen to country radio stations when not being forced to listen to veggie tales for the zillionth time.

Grammie

2008-08-19T14:16:00.000-07:00

These past few weeks (actually 7 to be exact - since Ford was born) have been very full, to say the least. Full of much much happiness and full of much much sadness. After being away from "normal" life for a few days I've had the chance to reflect on what an immense amount of change and activity we've just come through and finally have some time to just sit and think (or walk on the beach and think). I'm hoping all of the mini-blogs I've started in my mental sticky-note list will see the light of the screen, I know it may not be all that interesting to the readers of eddie out, but it sure is therapeutic to me.

The hardest thing we have been coping with is the sudden loss of Joe's mom on August 7th. Kathy was diagnosed with multiple systems atrophy (MSA) about 2 years ago, but in hindsight had the symptoms of it for many years previous to the actual diagnosis. MSA is a degenerative neurological disease where there is no cure and really doesn't have any treatment except for treating the symptoms/problems as they occur. The easiest way to grasp the disease is to combine the parts of the characteristics of parkinsons (loss of gross motor skills), alheizmers (loss of cognitive ability), and multiple sclerosis (loss of body functioning). It is such a rare disease that there isn't even much research being done on it hence no cure or real treatment plan. The first few years we gradually saw a loss of kathy's abilities and coordination and then last year it became clear that she needed to live in an assisted living facility with 24 hour nursing care. She was receiving incredible care, in a stable and supportive environment, and we thought she would easily live 5-7 more years (no one has lived more than 10 years past initial diagnosis). She started having a lot of problems chewing and swallowing in the beginning of August, but was able to be on a liquid diet, and then just a few weeks later couldn't even handle that, got a bad infection and never recovered. Her nurse checked on her the morning she passed, saw and heard her breathing, went to make her shake for breakfast, and when he returned kathy had stopped breathing.

So even though we knew she had a terminal illness, the quickness of her decline definitely caught us off guard and her death was somewhat unexpected. But there is also an element of relief that the struggle is over and she is pain free and with Jesus. Joe was able to share some very sweet moments with kathy this week - she was asking him why she doesn't just pass and he said it was OK if she needed to go, she could go and be with Jesus. Through gesturing, she communicated and shook her head and indicated no that Jesus was with her right now sitting at the edge of her bed. it gives us great peace that she seemed to sense what was happening, had some sort of peace and comfort in her passing, and more than anything that Jesus was right there with her, she was not alone.

Here is the last picture we took of her when we took Ford up to meet his Grammie. And a link to her obituary that Joe wrote.

whew!

2008-08-03T09:10:00.000-07:00

I will write more about this visit later and highlight some of my favorite moments/ photos, but for the aunties out there who have requested a picture of every single moment the wait is over. The pics of mimi & papa visit (all 313 of them!) capture just how full the past 10 days have been. The album is not for the faint of heart! And let me just say that for two people who could qualify for the senior discount at many fine establishments, they sure do wear me out! we had a fantastic time!

Gabe is finally 4!

2008-07-21T07:42:00.001-07:00

After declaring to us last spring that he "got rid of 3" Gabe was very ready to finally (and officially) turn 4 years old! We had a small gathering of friends over to our house on Friday for a superhero party and I realized that even the smallest of parties are a lot of work, but it was a ton of fun.

As I was cleaning up water balloon remnants from our front yard and feeling like an exhausted wreck, I was questioning the sanity of having any kind of party with a 2 week old in the house. Any doubt I was having was erased when I noticed Gabe thoughtfully sitting on the couch with his presents.

"Gabe, what are you thinking about?"

"Mom, (pause) I loved my birthday party"

He said this in such a tender way that I knew this was as close as he could get to "Mom, thanks for planning the most amazing, all-out, super fun birthday party that your sleep deprived mind could handle"

A few pics of the the superhero craziness...

Joe said the only thing he didn't want at the party was a pinata (maybe a unresolved childhood issue?), but he was a good sport about Gabe's insistence that ALL parties have a pinata.

The superheroes had a squirt gun, a mask, and a cape (lovingly made by Auntie Amy) waiting for them as they arrived.

The two things gabe wanted for his cake was that "my friend Luke" can eat my cake (an egg-free cake recipe solved this problem) and that the cake have toys on it.

The superheroes waited patiently as the dads filled up the water balloons.

Ready...Aim...Fire...the Superheroes took target practice at the giant spider web (this lasted just a moment before they discovered they could have more fun throwing them at each other!)

Luke, Gabe, and Jackson waiting their turn at the pinata.

Happy 4th of July!

2008-07-05T09:18:00.000-07:00

Makena was so excited that it was the 4th of July that she ran and ran and ran all over the backyard.

In case you missed her choice of running shoes, they are worthy of a close-up. They didn't slow her down a bit!

We all enjoyed getting out of the house and celebrating the 4th together!

Welcome Baby Ford!

2008-07-01T20:57:00.000-07:00

We were so excited to introduce Gabe & Mak to their new little brother! We weren't expecting to meet him until this weekend, but are thrilled that he surprised us a little early.

Name: Ford Joseph Farrell (my mom's maiden name is Ford)

Birthdate: June 30, 2008

7 lbs 8 oz

19 inches

For those who want a bit more info than the vitals keep reading...

I was having some contractions early yesterday morning and Joe had a early morning tee time and the contractions didn't seem to be truly progressing so I sent him on his way for his last golf outing for a while. Lo and behold, the contractions did stop and I was even able to take the kids to swimming lessons. After golfing, Joe came home for lunch and to check on me. I went down for a nap and was woken up about 1:30 with a strong contraction that also caused my water to break. It took a little while for contractions to really begin, but when they did everything went very quickly. By 3:30 we had friends come and pick up Gabe & Mak and were headed to the hospital. After getting checked in and going through the 20 minute fetal monitoring (there has to be a better way to monitor the baby than keep a laboring woman on her back for 20 minutes! torture!) I could tell that things were progressing quickly. However Joe was even a bit skeptical when I said I needed the nurse and needed to push just 20 minutes after getting off the monitor. Our OB was rushing from his office and arrived with just 2 minutes to spare before Ford was born a little after 5 PM.

We are now settling in at home and looking forward to adjusting to life as a family of five. More pictures to come soon!

Heat Wave Insanity

2008-06-20T08:58:00.000-07:00

I'm not quite sure where to start with the top three favorite moments of this past week. I guess I'll start with highlighting what a great job Joe and I are doing instilling character and compassion to our children. While I ran into Target to return something, Joe and the kids had a few minutes circling the parking lot. Joe realized Gabe was snickering at something, and when he inquired Gabe said he was laughing at a lady who had a funny body. Joe quickly and sharply corrected this behavior and told Gabe that God made us all special and loves everybody and we are to show that love to others. Gabe just as sharply retorted that he does not love everybody, but that "I only love Luke, Jackson, and MYSELF". In reaching for a positive spin I've decided that it's at least a step in a positive direction that there were other people on his list; he could have said that he only loves himself.

And when my belly is as big as this:

Do you really think I want to be dealing with messes like this?:

Why oh Why did they think that the hobby of acrylic body painting was a good idea to try minutes before we had to leave for swim lessons?

I hope others can appreciate Makena's imitation of a smurf imitating Braveheart and Gabe emphasizing his love of all things black much more than I could appreciate their artistic impressions in this moment.

I have written before that one of my favorite times of the day is getting up earlier than everyone else and slowly waking up in a quiet house. However, on this day, instead of enjoying a nice cup of coffee I ended up cleaning up dog sh** that was all over kitchen floor. Not the way I like to start my day. Our dogs are already on the very bottom of the food chain in our house and having the nerve to get sick doesn't help their cause. It's a good thing they are good at eating the food crumbs that the kids drop on the floor. After having to clean up what I did this morning it's about all that's keeping them around. And as if that wasn't totally gross enough, just as I was finishing disinfecting the kitchen, Gabe (who had been playing outside) shows up at the back door with something on his hands.

Me- "Gabe, what is on your fingers?!"

Gabe- "Dog poop that looked like a muddy puddle."

He said he wanted to see what the runny dog poop that looked like a mud puddle felt like. In his words, "this poop is ooey, gooey!" As if i already didn't want to vomit.

Are You KIDDING Me?!??

2008-06-17T15:16:00.000-07:00

If it is possible to laugh out loud and use profane language at the same time is the best description of my reaction to the above notice found on my front door this afternoon. Apparently the kind folks running our city have a different opinion of the merits of our newly installed picket fence. In case the picture isn't too clear, we have been told we have 14 days to move our fence 8 feet from the curb for "city right of way". Huh? Excuse Me? What about citing the house down the street that has a old dump truck in the front lawn (literally) or the one with livestock running around the yard (yes, real chickens) or he could fill a whole afternoon visiting the houses with numerous dead cars on cinderblocks in the driveway. I don't want to get my dear neighbors in trouble, but COME ON! I have so many other things to do in these next two weeks (like HAVE A BABY!) than figure out how to appeal the most bizarre "courtesy notice" I have ever seen. ...to be continued.

Bunkbeds, Food Critic, and Theology

2008-06-04T20:04:00.000-07:00

Many have asked how Gabe & Mak have been doing with the transition to sharing a room and bunk beds- overall, it's been great. They have been together for almost 2 months now and other than taking a much longer time going to sleep, they really seem to like being together. Most nights we have to go in and fuss at them for talking too much, put on our best upset parent voice, and then leave their room to do silent fist bumps and secretly cheer at the sibling bond that is growing.

They have also had to adjust to waking up together. Gabe is an early riser and we have tried to encourage (mandate) that he not wake Makena up when he gets out of bed. He apparently thought we meant just not talking to her because he came out the other day frustrated at his attempts to wake her up.

Gabe: Makena won't wake up!

Me: I don't want you to wake her up, she needs to sleep! What were you doing?

Gabe: First I tried SPITTING on her. And she didn't wake up. Then I went DO-DO-DO-Do (speaking in a exaggerated silly voice with his fingers in his ears.) And she still didn't wake up!

And if being a human alarm clock doesn't work out for him, I'm sure he'll be able to be a judge on Iron Chef America...

gabe: Why do I have to chew this bite for so long?

me: I know the meat is a little tough tonight, sorry it's cooked a little too long. (which I did)

gabe: And it was too spicy. (he was exactly right that I got carried away with the pepper seasoning)

And just when I thought my seminary education was never going to be useful...

Driving in the car to pick Gabe up from school, Makena asks me if Jesus can come over to her house to play. I began a lame effort to explain that Jesus can't come to our house like her friend Jenna, but that He is always with us and that we can always talk to him; she interrupted me by shouting: HI JESUS! HI JESUS CAN YOU HEAR ME?

After laughing, we shouted it together a few times. Then she stopped and thought for a moment, and finally shouted, JESUS DO YOU LIKE TO HAVE YOUR TOENAILS PAINTED?

playground etiquette

2008-05-31T13:00:00.000-07:00

I am no miss manners, but for the sake of this post let's just pretend...

1. Dear Miss Manners,

My dad friend and I were at the playground this morning with our kids and witnessed a mom who looked very pregnant (for the sake of argument, let's just say she is 36-weeks pregnant and not very comfortable and must be an angel to take her other two kids to the park all by herself) trying to get her 2 year old daughter out of a precarious situation. Her mom saw her just as she was reaching the top of a spiral ladder like this one. This overly confident little girl proceeded to stand up at the very top while her mom seemed stuck in not being able to reach her and knowing that her little girl couldn't get down by herself (the girl seemed impeded by her stylish, but not practical for climbing, pink rubber rain boots) circled around the bottom, arms out ready to catch her. My friend and I just sat there on the edge of our park benches waiting to see what this mom would do. The mom was too short (and did I mention very pregnant?) to reach the girl and so she did what seemed to be her only option - she started climbing. I've not seen many 9-month pregnant women climbing playground equipment, but I was amazed at her agility and ability to rescue her daughter and then descend the spiral ladder while holding her girl. I tried to smile at this mom as she reached the bottom with her daughter in her arms, she hadn't noticed us watching her and seemed surprised at us sitting there and stared at us as if we could have done something to help. Did I miss something?

editors note: makena is fine (I am too) but we will no longer be going to the playground by ourselves for the next 4 weeks, unless it is just a large grassy area with no trees, fences, bleachers, playground equipment, walls, or rocks.

Happy Birthday Mimi!

2008-05-27T21:37:00.001-07:00

Happy Birthday!

Licking the leftover cupcake batter - yum!

I like this style of cupcake decorating - the more sprinkles the better - thanks Gabe & Mak!

Happy Birthday to YOU!

Enjoying a walk on beach in Del Mar

I LOVE the beach!

Never without her accessories

Mimi & Gabe rock-hopping & looking for crabs (and Mimi wearing some new b-day clothes)

Super Daddy!

2008-05-23T20:04:00.000-07:00

I admit I was a little skeptical when Joe said he wanted to register for a sprint-triathlon with only 3 weeks to train before race day, but encouraged him to go for it (and hoped it was just a random thought that would be forgotten by lunch the next day). It definitely was not a passing idea and he tried to squeeze in as much running, biking, and swimming as he could over the past few weeks. I was always impressed when he would head to the gym at 5:30 AM to get in a swim on a busy day or head out for a run after getting the kids in bed at night, he certainly worked hard to get ready to race. And I worked hard at sitting on the couch watching my belly get larger and larger.

So last Sunday was the big day and while Joe wasn't quite the top finisher, he did an amazing job! This was only his second sprint-tri, but he is already planning how he can improve his training routine and "transition times" for the next race. A few pics of the fun morning:

Almost finished!

That's my daddy!

Quite a coincidence that Joe's race number and his finish time were the exact same #!

Whew! Still smiling and ready for the next race!

All's Well that End's Well

2008-05-15T15:10:00.000-07:00

Things that make the end of the week so sweet:

Pizza night! Our weekend begins on Thursday night (Joe's day off is Friday, since Sunday is a workday), and we have enjoyed starting the weekend with family pizza night. Some weeks we will each make our own Boboli, some weeks (especially at the end of the month when the money isn't flowing as freely) is a slice of Costco pizza, and then other Thursdays we will treat ourselves to pizza at "the grotto" (our favorite pizza joint). not sure if tonight will be a costco or a grotto night, but either way I'm excited!

(update: you can see from the pics that the grotto won! our petite makena had THREE pieces! yum!)

A new fence! I feel like a true adult and mature homeowner when I am almost moved to tears (I am genuinely not being melodramatic with that statement) with a new front fence. The old chain link fence was hauled off yesterday and an amazing group at our church called the Carpenter's ministry arrived this morning and worked all day in 90-degree heat installing the new fence. We will eventually paint it white, but for now I am so content and happy to have something that's a bit more inviting than the chain-link look.

Preschool Chapel! Even the worst of weeks would be turned around by going to Chapel time at preschool. There is a something extra sweet about sitting with 3 & 4 year olds and listening to them sing to Jesus (and poke their friend next to them, and pick their noses, and clap to a rhythm all their own).

Waterproofing our Kids

2008-05-13T20:23:00.000-07:00

Not surprisingly, we are around pools and other bodies of water for a good bit of the year and in an effort to enjoy the water a bit more and provide some extra safety for the kids we made the (wise, but not cheap) decision to enroll the kids in swim school. The kids absolutely loved their first lesson and their energy and excitement to be in the water was contagious. The local news happened to be doing a piece on the saline (not chlorine) based pool and Gabe and Mak even had brief (as in don't blink or you'll miss it) shots on their tape. Here is a link if you want to see the little celebrities.

I guess we all need one of these...

2008-05-13T20:02:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was not a great day. I know some days are just that way, but I was still more thankful than usual to fall into bed last night. I should have known that it might be a long day when before Joe even left for work he came to show me something in the living room.

As a little history, the previous 2 hours (5:30-7:30AM) I had spent with Gabe who has some 6th sense of when I wake up in the morning and now my meditative moments in a silent house are shared with gabe and the quiet, peaceful noises of Tom & Jerry. The deal is that he gets to watch a show and I get to pretend that my devotional reading is not being interrupted by Gabe laughing hilariously at Tom's head getting smashed in by a large iron. I have reluctantly accepted this reality and adjusted to my morning companions, but the mornings when he not only is awake with me before first light AND wants to sit right next to me AND wants to play with my hair turns me into the meanest of mommy monsters. Yesterday was one of those mornings. The closer he wanted to be the more space I needed. He sensed my need for space and so being the sensitive almost 4-year-old that he is insisted on needing even more attention with an increasingly whiny voice. So after two hours of this I (in not so nice of a way) told gabe I just needed some space.

I headed to take a very long and very hot shower and when I was starting to feel better about myself Joe found me and said I needed to come with him to the living room. When I was in the shower, Joe couldn't find Gabe who was being unusually quiet. He eventually found him hiding in the pillows on the couch.

Gabe was obviously not playing a fun game of hide and seek, and was fairly quiet and solemn. Joe asked Gabe why he was hiding back there, Gabe told him he just needed to go to his lonely place for a little while. His lonely place, because he was feeling very lonely.

And Makena in her continuous reminder to never leave her unattended and be extra fearful when she is quiet for more than 10 seconds...

Mother's Day Tea

2008-05-08T21:23:00.000-07:00

I was totally excited for the Mother's Day Tea that Gabe's class hosted this morning and it lived up to all the anticipation. Gabe even wanted to wear his sweater vest for the occasion. The kids prepared a special song for the mom's and then we squeezed into their pint-sized chairs to enjoy lemon cookies and watermelon. I loved it.

i'm smiling despite the fact that i am genuinely concerned my chair will break under my 32-week preggers booty.

very carefully pouring the tea for the moms

gabe and his best buddy luke

Let's Hear it for the Boys!

2008-04-22T19:53:00.000-07:00

It was dad's night at preschool tonight so right after dinner Gabe and Joe headed out for a "special hang out night" which included the official program at school and then a special treat of ice cream afterwards. We had done such a good job of building up Gabe and Dad's special time together that it shouldn't have come as a surprise to us that when they left Mak had a marvelous meltdown about also wanting to go with Daddy. I know I have been married almost 11 years but when the boys ditch us, it still seemed perfectly natural to introduce mak to the great solaces of indulging in chocolates, manis & pedis, and a good chick flick (the most appropriate "chick flick" for a 2 year old was Chicken Run).

Happy Birthday Kinsley!

2008-04-22T17:12:00.000-07:00

Today is our cousin's SECOND birthday and we wanted to send her special birthday greetings! love, gabe & makena

2008-04-13T12:49:00.000-07:00

Both Joe and I were surprised at my OB appt on friday when the Dr. said "so, I guess I'll see you in 2 weeks".
I replied, "What, 2 weeks - aren't we just supposed to come once a month?" He gave us both a funny look and said, "don't you realize you're about to have a baby? it's time I see you every two weeks."
Yes, of course, we know that we are about to have a baby that's why we've made so many preparations...baby registry - no, the third child just get's hand-me-downs...childbirth classes - nope, but we do have our book to review on the way to the hospital...monthly belly pictures and reflective journaling about this pregnancy - are you kidding me?...hospital tour - not yet, but i would like to know what door i'm supposed to go in prior to delivery...soooooo, let's see...maybe we really do need to wake up and realize our family will be expanding in the next couple months. and i was proud of myself for mostly remembering to take my 2 flinstone vitamins every day. so in an effort to document and prepare for this little one, i asked gabe to take a picture of me and baby pokey (the kids name for the baby, not the one that will be on the birth certificate)...

I also wanted to share a picture of what gabriel has been wearing all week long:

the power ranger force protected our household while watching tom & jerry, during a trip to the wild animal park, at library time, a visit to the chiropractors, and the grocery store. i felt very very safe.
and i can't ignore how helpful makena was in decorating herself with "stickers".

hey mom, they're tackling each other!

2008-04-05T15:27:00.000-07:00

uhhhhhhhh.....ummmmmm......sure gabe.......that's what the snails are doing - they are tackling each other.

i was too grossed out by the snails for this to even feel like an awkward sex ed moment.

before & after

2008-04-05T15:24:00.000-07:00

BEFORE...

gabe has been sporting a rather shaggy hair-do for a while and with summer around the corner (yes, i know that it is always summer in san diego - but please humor us as we pretend to have seasons) we thought it would be good for gabe to have a cool summer haircut. enjoy the before and afters...

...& AFTER

what do church, wine, and walking have in common?

2008-03-30T21:45:00.000-07:00

answer: the makings of a most perfect day...

It was a little bit of a crazy weekend since Joe had preaching responsiblities at church. for your own listening pleasure you can hear it here by clicking on the sermon link: http://rbcpc.org/

After grilled cheese sandwiches, a nap, and some basketball the kids helped Joe with his new hobby - wine making. or as Makena calls it "daddy's making dark "meer" (her word for anything that looks like wine or beer)

Then we ended the day with a hike up a nearby mountain (ok it's really a hill, but for a toddler it seems like the equivalent of everest)

A cool picture of the abundant wildflowers growing among the burned wood from last fall's wildfires that swept through our area.

And we finally made it!

belated Easter greetings!

2008-03-30T21:30:00.000-07:00

We started our Easter weekend celebrations with a Garden Party in the church courtyard. Mak and friend Reese had fun finding the hidden eggs and then putting them back again.

Both of us think the idea of the Easter bunny is a bit silly (seriously, a fake rabbit more closely related to fertility rituals than anything resurrection, we like to think of ourselves as not too uptight about these things, but just couldn't bring ourselves to do it) but we still decided to give the kids Easter baskets, they just knew it was from mom and dad and not a giant bunny.

ain't they cute? Gabe's outfit is actually a Sears special circa 1978 (it is the same suit Joe wore when he was 3 yrs old). Mak's dress is a Mimi special and a bit more current.

Had to get a picture of all three (!) kids in the Easter photos. Almost to the last trimester!

We had a wonderful Easter dinner with Joe's family at our house and then loved having some friends over for dessert and one last egg hunt in our front yard. I decided to spare ya'll anymore photos, but had to put one in of my glorious dessert. As a grand finale to the dinner delectibles I attempted yet another bunny cake. My mom thought it was a good idea a few years ago to buy a cake mold of a bunny and ever since then I have felt that it is an annual tradition (or duty) to make the bunny cake. This was by far the tastiest one, but as you can tell from the picture it was also a little grim and disturbing. Right as the dessert guests were arriving Gabe announced that the bunny head had fallen on the floor. And, sure enough, my cute Easter bunny was now a decapitated rabbit more appropriate for Halloween rather than Easter. It didn't stop us from eating every delicious bite!

I got rid of it!

2008-03-24T16:23:00.000-07:00

Joe and I are not sure when exactly we celebrated Gabe's 4th birthday, but he is awfully emphatic that he is no longer 3!

and how are we supposed to respond to this?

2008-03-03T20:57:00.000-08:00

Joe (in a frustrated voice): ok kids it really is time to pick up the animals.

Gabe: (in an equally frustrated voice): But daaaaaad, we're reading our bibles.

If you give a mom a couch...

2008-03-03T20:49:00.000-08:00

she will sit on the couch and look out the window.
if she looks out the window she will realize it's drafty and want new windows.
When she has the new windows she will look out to her driveway and want a new car.
When she has a new minivan she will want to go driving.
So you will go driving and drive by the Apple store.
If she sees the Apple store she will want a Macbook and AppleTV.
And chances are, if you give her a Macbook and an AppleTV she'll want a new couch to sit on.

this will only make sense to those familiar with the "if you give a mouse a cookie" book series, and the only part that is actually true is the new couch...at least for now.

can you guess who's the real rock star?

2008-02-11T21:01:00.000-08:00

what else do grown men do at half-time of the super bowl besides play xbox rock band? i wish i had this on video!

the prayers of a one-year-old

2008-01-31T20:55:00.000-08:00

for those not fluent in makena-ese, here is a general transcript:
(unintelligible: dear god)
thank you for gabriel benjamin
thank you for gabe's glasses
thank you for kenna's arm
thank you for kenna's nose
thank you for kenna's boogers
thank you for kenna's ?everything?
AAA-MEN!
then she very spiritually closes her prayer with a rendition of "god is so good to me"

p.s. i'm working on getting a registered version of my video software, sorry for the watermark!

he did what?

2008-01-30T08:05:00.000-08:00

Joe and I happened to pick gabe up at the same time from preschool yesterday and knew we were in trouble when we were greeted at the door by his teacher saying "oh good, i'm glad you both are around to hear about today"... turns out gabe decided to be very environmental by saving water from flushing the toilet and went pee outside on the playground. Another mom and I have often wondered if the kids peed outside regularly behind the bushes on the edge of the play area, but gabe wasn't that discreet this time, it was the tree smack in the middle of everything. It didn't help that gabe proudly told his teacher that he can go pee outside at home and we were encouraged to talk about rules at home vs. rules at school. we knew the outdoor potty training from last summer would come back to haunt us (but at least he's just peeing on the trees!)

2008-01-26T19:33:00.000-08:00

One of the clearest love it/ hate it issues we have with san diego is folks response to the local "weather". I don't want to complain too much because we definitely have acclimated to being able to enjoy being outside most days and my own personal comfort gauge is exactly 71 degrees (just a degree warmer or cooler and i am complaining about being uncomfortable, joe takes great joy in razzing me in this intolerance of mine) the big news the past day has been this "storm" coming in - lots of rain and, oh no watch out, even maybe some thunder and lightening! joe and and i never thought we would live in a more weather-fearful place than winston-salem, but san diego easily has it beat. I told a friend we had to run some errands and in all seriousness asked me to be careful driving in these conditions. (it had barely started raining!) i guess when you live in a place with "perfect" weather anything other than endless sunshine is to be feared.
So, as we waited for the big storm to arrive we headed to the zoo to make the most of the last of the sunshine for a few days...

...and what is better on a rainy day than cookies?

...or a bit of mischief trying to stand and walk in the tunnel?

...and finally....drum roll please... we have the rain! check out the new umbrellas - since it only rained three times in 2007 our old umbrella was used more as a sword for indoor battles and can no longer open up.

unfortunately, less than an hour later the rain has stopped.

oh say can i see

2008-01-19T21:08:00.000-08:00

gabe is sportin' some new glasses and has taken great pride in asking everyone who hasn't seen them yet if they like his new glasses. we are thankful that he is excited to wear them and though he needs reminding to put them on in the morning, he tends to forget about them and they stay on the rest of the day. after his last eye surgery in october we were still noticing a decent amount of eye wandering and crossing going on and are hopeful that the glasses will help strengthen some of those muscles and not rush into another surgery.

xmas 2007

2008-01-11T20:56:00.000-08:00

the christmas season was wonderfully busy with all the traditional festivities and we finished it off with a trip to snowy colorado. gabe loved the snow and sledding, mak insisted that she wanted to go to the beach. to her credit, it was miserably cold there for many days (a daytime HIGH of 7 - not quite the perfect san diego weather we have become accustomed to). but we still had a blast with family and cousins.

makena: "i found chocolate, mommy"

2008-01-11T20:44:00.000-08:00

me: "makena, what is that on your fingers?"

mak: "some chocolate"

seeing the "chocolate" all over her fingers and knowing my kids love sweets and cluelessly still wondering where they have hidden a stash of chocolate...

me: "sweetie, where did you find some chocolate?"

mak: "i found it in my bottom"

eewwwwwww...i definitely played the pregnancy card and let joe handle the clean up of that one.

Greece/ Israel 2007

2007-11-26T07:13:00.001-08:00

It was difficult to narrow down 600+ pictures into a few dozen that could provide a sketch of some highlights of our trip. to say the least, the trip was amazing! it truly added color and dimension to Bible stories that had become flat and boring. we are having a bit of a rough time adjusting to the time change (9 hours difference) and to being responsible parents again. we missed the kids and often wondered what they were up to, but we didn't worry about them. my parents were amazing in their preparation of toys and activities for them and i think they were all able to share a really special time together.

wildfires

2007-10-21T20:52:00.001-07:00

we were surprised this afternoon by the strong smell of fire in the air and were not the only neighbors walking outside to try and find out what was going on. Via internet research we found out that there are two large fires in san diego county creating the smoke and the strong santa ana winds were dispersing it into the air. we are still a good 45 miles from the closest fire and have all complained today of burning eyes and getting ash in our eyes if we go outside. i can't imagine being any closer to the fire and not choosing to evacuate. as it is, i will probably take the kids away from the smoke tomorrow to clear out eyes and lungs. i tried to get a picture of the smoke and haze, but it is hard to understand just how smoky it is without a comparison picture of what it looks like on a clear day. the haze grew much thicker and ash-ier as the day progressed, hopefully the winds will calm down so the firefighters can get it contained.

makena's baptism

2007-10-21T19:58:00.000-07:00

Today was a very special day for our family as we celebrated Makena's baptism. Choosing to baptise our children (others choose to do a "dedication" service) was a decision that was not an easy one for us. We engaged many people who have done in-depth theological study on this issue, we did our own research, and talked and prayed about it many times. In the end, we felt that baptising our kids as an infant was something we wanted to do. We know that the sacrament of baptism doesn't guarantee salvation but do believe there is a spiritual thing that goes on that marks our child as one of Gods. So, here are some pics to share of a special day...

My mom was able to fly out and join us, and joe's dad and stepmom also drove down to be with us. As you can see, mak almost baptised herself in the fountain outside our church.

Fall Festivities

2007-10-20T20:43:00.000-07:00

We have had a full and fun weekend enjoying all sorts of fall festivities - a trip to the firestation, playing with mimi, and a visit to our favorite pumpkin patch. enjoy the pics!

pumpkin patch

2007-10-10T14:27:00.000-07:00

we headed to the pumpkin patch today with gabe's preschool class. it was a ton of fun - hayrides, corn maze, and picking a pumpkin from the patch.

let's go RED SOX!!!

2007-10-10T14:19:00.000-07:00

we headed to anaheim last sunday to cheer on the sox and our cheers from the very top of the bleacher seats must have worked because the Red Sox are on their way to the Championship playoffs! Go Red Sox beat the Indians!

back online!!!

2007-10-10T14:02:00.000-07:00

where do i start? the past few months have been quite a whirlwind and how do I sum it up? gabe has been potty trained for several months now...once he decided it was time the whole training process was pretty uneventful and quick. the big decision now is if he wears his spiderman or firetruck underpants. He has also started preschool and absolutely loves it and has some great friends in his class (we hear a lot about luke and jackson, i asked gabe if there are any girls in his class and he told me "no, not really").
makena has found a new gear physically and verbally. she hardly walks anymore, she is always running somewhere and always also has her "puhurse & fone" with her. She is also talking up a storm, not always intelligble, but is becoming quite a chatterbox.
joe continues to love his job and both of us feel so blessed to be a part of this community. Some main focus points this fall have been launching a churchwide small group ministry, coaching a team that has started a new sunday night gathering (named, "communitas" more on that later), and participating in discussions about what does it mean to be a missional church. He has also found some time for golf, red sox playoff games, and regular raquetball games.
Most of my days are filled with seemingly mundane and routine activities (laundry, diaper changing, playdates, dinner prep, errands, school drop-off/pick-up, applying band-aids, snack dispenser, ...) but i love it and am so grateful to be able to spend this kind and amount of time with my kids when they are at such young ages and changing so quickly.

potty training SOS

2007-07-06T15:33:00.000-07:00

gabe came into our room early this morning (somewhere before 6 AM) said his usual "rise and shine it's morning time" and ran off to play in the playroom until one of us could drag ourselves out of bed to start the coffee and sit with gabe. instead of the typical noises of cars and trains in the playroom, we heard "i need some help please!" at increasing decibel levels. joe ran out to the kitchen to see what was the matter and found gabe holding himself asking to go outside. joe quickly opened the backdoor where gabe ran over to the tree, dropped his pants, and promptly relieved himself. in yet another attempt of potty training, i told gabe yesterday that he could pee outside. gabe took this very seriously and for the past 24 hours has ONLY gone to the bathroom outside (yes, both kinds).

it feels like we have been in a potty training stage for about 18 months. this is not a joke. before makena was even born we blindly followed our pediatricians suggestion that most parents wait too long to potty train and many kids are ready around 18-20 months. i don't know why we thought it would be a good idea to start this process before another child is about to be born, but we gave it a shot with fairly good success and then makena's arrival, unsurprisingly, was too much a distraction for anyone to be interested in the potty anymore. there have been many attempts since then, all unsuccessful. it feels like we have tried everything, read everything, tried every incentive and bribery. we even tried the "when you are big then you can wear big boy underwear" to which gabe replied "well, i'm just going to be little". so even though right now it feels like we are training a puppy and not a little boy, we still count it a success.

and if anyone has advice on how to convince a boy to use the potty INSIDE the house i would welcome any and all suggestions.

Red Sox Nation

2007-07-04T21:24:00.000-07:00

The San Diego Padres vs. Boston Red Sox series were sold out in three hours when they went on sale last january. Through some great connections and generous co-workers joe and c-dub were able to see 2 of the 3 games. I tagged along for the Sunday afternoon game where fantastic seats, perfect weather (is it ever anything else in san diego?), and free babysitting made for a heck of an afternoon. (and the sox won!)

home again home again

2007-07-04T20:32:00.000-07:00

We returned yesterday from a fabulous trip back to N.C. where joe officiated a wedding and we reunited with dear friends. It was one exhausting week, but refreshing to be with people who have known us longer than 9 months. In this transition and move i have frequently used the analogy of our lives being like a dog park... a lot of fun, but also a lot of sniffing and figuring out who you do/do not want to play with...and this trip was great in the sense that we were with friends where we had already gotten over the sniffing part and it was all play.

A favorite memory was an evening at the "Hillbilly Hideaway" in Walnut Cove, NC. It was some amazing down home southern cookin' (and pretty cheap too!), some bluegrass music after dinner, and gabe came away from the evening saying "come along now, ya'all".

gabe had a style all his own on the dance floor. Picture an all body shake/vibrate rather than actual dance moves, more than anything he loved knowing that people were watching him.

It rained many afternoons, but we were able to make it to the pool several times. Both gabe and makena were jumping in the pool with a lot of assistance and encouraging from us... definitely need to work on our pool skills, but it was still a lot of fun.

Makena must have worked up quite an appetite at the pool because she had no problem scavenging off of others plates.

As I said, the trip was fun but wore all of us out. I don't think we realized how tired we were until we finally crawled into bed last night. Some nights when gabe doesn't want to go to bed we will find him "hiding" in the hallway where we usher him back to bed. As you can see, he was so tired he made it to the hallway, but didn't have enough stamina left and fell asleep in the middle of the floor.

beach day

2007-06-24T20:57:00.000-07:00

we played at la jolla for a little while yesterday. we couldn't keep makena out of the waves, gabe took a little while to warm up and then loved running back and forth in the break.

Mother's Day 2007

2007-05-17T14:07:00.000-07:00

I always knew that a mother's day tradition was dad's and kids making a mess of the kitchen, fumbling through preparation of breakfast and proudly serving mom breakfast in bed. I guess I never put much thought as to why mom would want breakfast in bed. The answer became perfectly clear this morning after joe and gabe prepared a delicious (it really was) breakfast of cinnamon french toast, bacon, warm buttered cinnamon syrup, and coffee and happily delivered it to me in bed. I eagerly invited gabe and makena to share breakfast with me and quickly realized the error of my ways. Breakfast in bed is to give the mom a rare and treasured quiet morning to herself, to enjoy her breakfast without sharing, and without a worry or sight of the dishes or disaster of her kitchen - all of which were wiped away with my naive invitation for all to partake of my plate. Even so, it was still a memorable morning (joe jokingly informed me that mothers day ends at noon) and just emphasized that I LOVE being a mom and wouldn't trade it for anything.

Palm Springs Vacation

2007-05-17T14:02:00.000-07:00

Right now kids are sleeping in a cool air conditioned room (at the same time!), joe and I are enjoying day 4 of reading and 'ritas on the porch, and the new linkin park CD is playing in the background.... ahhhh. We have thoroughly enjoyed our time in Palm Springs this week, an unexpected and unplanned vacation that has been renewing and energizing. A part of each day has been spent in the pool and we have also had fun exploring the area. (a fun children's museum, a zoo in the desert, and outlet shopping - pics are attached.) We head back home tomorrow - ready to jump back into our routine feeling very refreshed and revitalized - what a great vacation!

HOT weather!

2007-05-09T09:08:00.001-07:00

What else do you do in San Diego on a super hot day (as in 98 degrees - in May!) but make a water slide in your front yard?

Plato's Closet

2007-05-06T21:54:00.000-07:00

So I cleaned out my closet last week and feeling the entreprenurial spirit I hoped to make a few bucks by selling some of the clothes to the consignment shop Plato's Closet. I made sure that I sorted out the name brand stuff and that everything was in decent condition. In fact, a lot of it hadn't been worn a whole lot since two back-to-back pregnancies prevented me from fitting into most of these clothes for a few years. Well, apparently a few years makes a difference when trying to sell clothes. I had a great laugh after dropping 4 shopping bags of clothes off at the counter, waiting a few minutes while my stuff is examined, and then wait for the salesperson to tell me how much money they are going to give me. The exact quote (and picture it being said from a young looking 16 year old teenager) was something like, "Unfortunately, we are not able to accept any of your clothes. They are not in the styles we are currently looking for". I just thought it hilarious that not a single piece of my clothing is anywhere close to being "in style". I've come so far, but clearly I have so far still to go.

Happy Easter!

2007-05-06T21:24:00.000-07:00

These are a bit late in making it to the blog, but still fun to enjoy. We had a wonderful day celebrating as family, enjoyed wonderful services at church, and had fun on an egg hunt at a friends house later in the afternoon. We tried to have the kids stand still to get a picture, but had to resort to holding them in place and still struggled to hold the wiggle worms still.

a week of firsts...

2007-04-02T14:28:00.000-07:00

This has been such a fun week! Last Thursday we were so excited to get the news of a new cousin and couldn't wait to meet her! Baby Regan is our first new cousin on Joe's side of the family. So fun!

Gabe also loved his first concert this past friday and wiggled his way up to the very front row. It was all we could do to keep him from crawling up onto the stage. Our church brought in Jana Alyara who is a Singer/Songwriter for kids - and she was fantastic! We all had a ton of fun! I strongly recommend her for parents who are looking for fun worship music for kids.

And the week of firsts was rounded out with me getting my nose pierced. This was something I had admired on others for a while, but a little impulsive to do it to myself. My dear friend Jewel was down visiting and came along for moral support (but no new piercings for her). Kids hardly noticed a difference, Joe says he doesn't hate it and thinks it's just part of a 1/3-life-crisis (because we both hope this isn't a mid-life crisis!), and others I have seen around either don't notice or choose not to say anything. But I really like it and might keep it for a while.

2007-03-06T21:32:00.000-08:00

Happy 1st Birthday Makena!!!

Makena loved Grammie's special birthday kisses!

The girl loves her cake! She took a little while to figure out that she really could eat the entire cake in front of her and once she got going the hands just got in the way!
We didn't actually allow Makena to eat all of the cake, but here she is trying to lick any remnants off of her fingers.

Day at La Jolla

2007-03-06T20:52:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful time at La Jolla beach on Saturday with our cousin Kinsley, Auntie Amy, and Mimi! We had so much fun playing in the sand, flying kites, and chasing birds along the water.

valentine's smiles

2007-02-14T14:59:00.000-08:00

a few pics, will try to post some content later -much love to you all!

The week in pictures

2007-02-08T21:41:00.000-08:00

a we have recently discovered that makena LOVES to color! a favorite place is on the fridge(with washable markers, of course).

we had fun celebrating the big 3-3 with daddy this week!

And the week came to a raucous conclusion with a trip to chuck-e-cheese earlier tonight. for the first thirty mintues gabe was completely wide-eyed and just ran from ride to ride touching all the buttons not quite knowing what to do with himself. we also couldn't stop laughing that he kept calling it "chuck-e-jesus".

Now this is what I call winter!

2007-01-05T16:30:00.000-08:00

Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!
Gabe and I had a ball this afternoon playing in new fallen snow in mimi and papa's front yard. We had so much fun that Gabe wanted to stay outside "longer and longer" and this is despite him telling me, almost in the same breath, that his fingers were freezing and hurt.

Makena stayed inside where it is warm and cozy to practice her cruising-almost-walking-skills.

Future Rock Star

2007-01-05T16:18:00.000-08:00

2006-12-21T22:02:00.000-08:00

We just had a fabulous and festive night with some new friends in San Diego and wanted to share a few pics. We heard rumors about a couple who opens their house each year, dresses up like Santa and Mrs. Claus, and hands out hot cocoa and cookies to all the kids. That sounded like a fun thing to do so we were off to find these generous neighbors. Well, these people pulled out all the stops - we truly had not seen anything like it, much much better than any retail place could have ever pulled off. Imagine a tunnel of lights over the driveway, a yard with all the holiday inflatibles you could imagine, Santa and Mrs. Claus in a sleigh in the driveway for the kids to talk to, a free toy for each child, an open house with AMAZING christmas decorations, and then a patio with lots of chairs and tables with hot cocoa (even marshmellows!) and cookies.

Gabe and our new friend, JT, waited patiently to meet Santa.

We all had a very fun and very festive night. Makena was very fond of the candy cane!

This is Gabe's favorite photo pose - what a ham!

Makena LOVED looking at all the lights and people.

the dangers of a quiet house...

2006-12-09T11:31:00.000-08:00

While Makena was down for a 2 1/2 hour nap we were hard at work organizing our home office area. Gabe had been outside playing with his sandbox and behaving phenomenally well. We were able to get a ton accomplished! About 30 minutes ago, gabe entered the house and continued to play by himself requiring no attention from us and maintaining relatively quiet levels of sound. The noises he was making could not have been happier. When we finally went out to check on him, he was mumbling something unintelligibly and we realized that his mouth was completely full of something that was beginning to leak out of the corners of his mouth and down his chin. He could not have been more pleased with himself as we realized he had helped himself to a literally a plateful of chocolates that had been on the kitchen counter (requiring him to move the step stool to reach them).

2006-12-06T21:23:00.000-08:00

these are pictures from Auntie Sarah's trip out here for Thanksgiving and a trip to the Wild Animal Park (Mak couldn't handle all the excitement, our little narcoleptic falls asleep anywhere!) And some other pictures of trying to do some xmas decorating.

flamingos & pomengranites

2006-12-06T21:17:00.000-08:00

i know i live in a state where you can get great produce year-round when my two year olds new favorite fruit is pomengranites. he knows what it is by sight and asks for it by name.

i also thought i'd share some recent fridge art by gabe. He told Joe that it is a picture of a flamingo. we laughed at his imagination and then laughed at ourselves because you really can see a bird-ish beak in his rendering.

Happy Halloween!

2006-10-31T20:49:00.000-08:00

I was a little worried this afternoon when all of a sudden gabe decided he really didn't want to be a firefighter for Halloween, but wanted to be a ladybug. He even put on makena's costume for a while and was very adament that makena wanted to be a firefighter. I'm not sure what convinced him to change, but was very thankful it didn't have to turn into a wrestling match. Here are a few pics before and after the big trick-or-treating event. Gabe loved "getting more and more and more candy", but also loved being the one to hand out the candy to all the creatures that came to our door and shouting a mixture of "happy halloween/ happy birthday" at them.

2006-10-30T19:56:00.000-08:00

Joe authoring this ... The reason Makena had three minutes to fall asleep in the picture below is Anne and I were both involved in an all-out "goggles" hunt. Gabe refused to take a nap today with out his goggles, which he is proudly modeling along with his "football jersey", "football pants", and his friend Tad.

bad parenting

2006-10-30T13:27:00.000-08:00

There are some moments each week that make us feel good about ourselves and what a great job we are doing as parents... and then there are many more moments that cause us to question our eligibility as parents. Two simple examples from just the past few days:
Joe asking Anne "is gabe with you?". Anne feels the tingles in her gut because gabe is not with her, and Joe must not know where he is either or else he wouldn't be asking the question. So, in unison we start shouting, "gabe, say here I am" (we discovered that if we say "where are you, gabe thinks it's a hiding game and won't answer). Definitely no answers from the house...so we shout to the back yard...still no answers...which leaves the front yard - now the stomach is starting to churn. But our fears that he escaped into the driveway and the street are quickly assuaged when we hear from the branches from our orange tree in the front yard "here I am!". He had very proudly climbed about 5' up into the tree. When will we learn?
And then just this afternoon dear sweet makena got tired from waiting on us to put her down for a nap, that she just took care of it all by herself. ahhh, parenting.

Pumpkin Patch

2006-10-24T20:47:00.000-07:00

Despite a long to-do list and limited time to complete it, we set off to Bate's Nut Farm pumpkin patch last Saturday with Mimi and Papa in tow. It was a complete opposite experience from last year's pumpkin picking endeavors which took us on a wild goose chase through the hills of North Carolina and we ended up knocking on someones front door asking if we could pick a pumpkin from their own family farm (not open to the public). Anyways, Bate's Nut Farm should really be called Complete Chaos Farm as half the population of San Diego was also there last Saturday picking out their pumpkins. It was indeed crazy, but also a lot of fun and will likely be the first of many annual trips.

Don't mess with this girls' food!

2006-09-10T10:54:00.000-07:00

Makena & cousin Kinsley

2006-09-07T20:42:00.000-07:00

Have you ever wondered if there was more to life, other than being really, really, ridiculously good looking?

Gabe's favorite pastime

2006-09-04T11:54:00.000-07:00

It is no secret that Gabe would rather be outside than just about anywhere else. He has spent hours "walking in the woods" at mimi and papa's house. Most frequently it is Lucy (my parents' golden retriever) who is out there with him. A glimpse of the action for your viewing pleasure...

I'm crawling like a noodle

2006-09-01T19:37:00.000-07:00

I don't know what kind of acid Gabe has been sneaking into his jellybeans, but he took off his clothes, wanted to be wrapped up in the green blanket, crawled around the floor, and took great offense when I said he was crawling like a snake..."NOOO, CRAWLING LIKE A NOODLE". I guess when you're two, you know what noodles look like when they crawl around.

It was with this attitude that we approached bedtime and I was NOT looking forward to solo duty tonight. I'm exhausted. This week has worn me out and I just didn't have it in me to tag team getting both kids down by myself. I feel wimpy, but I really wasn't looking forward to it. So as I'm reading-rocky-ing to gabe we can hear makena in her bed moaning and not settling down. I was trying to gird myself up for the never ending bedtime. Knowing I needed to check on Mak I put Gabe in his bed and told him to get comfy (something I've been telling him these past few nights as he's adjusted to his big boy bed) and that I'd be back. Shockingly, he actually didn't mind and settled into his blanket. And I almost blew it when I loudly went back into his room, fully expecting him to be at least sitting up and likely out of bed and he actually was still lying down, very relaxed, and didn't even notice me. Put himself to sleep in his big boy bed! And now my exhaustion from not feeling like I had an ounce left to share is mixed with saddness that he could just put himself to sleep without me there...total mix of emotions...what a nutjob.

sugar and spice and everything nice

2006-09-01T19:21:00.000-07:00

...that's what little girls are made of. I also think makena is made of spinach because that is what has been coming out of her arse recently. I might just post a picture of it just so you don't feel too distant and forget how disgusting it is! It remains that the only time she cries is when her food is taken away from her, she has almost figured out how to arch her way out of the bumbo seat! She is also rolling and rolling across the floors. I think I am in denial that she isn't a newborn anymore and the mobility has caught me off guard as I keep having to pull things out of her reach and get a little nervous when I have to find her in the room I left her in (i.e. she rolled herself behind the couch).

and we're off...

2006-08-29T19:41:00.000-07:00

i'm a bit unsure of this whole blog thing, but we'll give it a try and see how it fits our family. I'm not sure i ever would have thought of participating in the blog world if this wasn't the best way for our family to communicate while we are separated for this next month. Being more of a pen and paper person i like the feel of creating something real and personal and this still feels a bit distant, but ironically it will hopefully keep us feeling connected over these next few weeks.

"look mom, a hot dog!" gabe farrell, 8/29/06. This was a classic gabe observation as we were walking by the pond this afternoon. It took me a minute to figure out that he was pointing at the cattails surrounding the pond, and even though I had never thought of them as looking like hotdogs on a stick I really can't say he was that far off.