Baby Makes Three

Finally, an update!

2012-02-16T05:46:00.003-05:00

I think it was January the last time I posted! Oh well, life has been busy to say the least. I woke up at 4:20 this morning and tried to relax a bit in bed but finally gave up at 5 to start getting some things done. A blog update would be one of those things!

I am hoping that today will be a bit more normal for us. We have had an unusually busy 6 day stretch or so of activities, valentine's preparations, and snow. Toss in a stomach bug for Ireland on one day and for me on another and it just adds to the craziness.

Cosette and Ireland and I made brownies for their Valentine's Day parties at school/preschool. I told Ryan the next time there was a party that I was going to sign up for "Other" and bring a fruit tray. The sugary treats on that party table was overwhelming. Nobody may eat the fruit but at least I won't be adding to the hyperactivity and tooth decay! And I am not even that much of a stickler about treats on special days...so someone who is more of a food/sugar monitor for their children would have gone apoplectic looking at that party table.

Avila has an ability to climb the first couple of steps on our stairs now. Look out world, and the big sisters who retreat to the landing and beyond to play when she is getting into their things. She's coming to get you! She says "mama" and "dada" intentionally now, and last night when Cosette came home from gymnastics Avila reached out touched her leg and something that sounded a whole lot like "sissy". She also points to things and says "that" when she wants that.

Ireland has been working on her letters and numbers. She is overall less book-ish than Cosette was at this stage but Ireland likes to create structures with blocks and legos, etc more so than Cosette did. Cosette is reading very well and she got a booklight for Valentine's Day and so has been reading in bed a bit and feeling very grown up.

Ryan is making some Tex Mex cuisine this weekend and some friends are coming over and we are looking forward to that. We did some preliminary talking about the garden this week. The semester is busy busy for me and I am behind on some tasks but I just can't make myself work anymore than I already do....too much!

That's the news from here for now!

End of January

2012-01-30T21:59:00.002-05:00

It does not seem possible that tomorrow is the last day of January. Cosette and Ireland got to play outside at the park today since the weather was so pretty, and they also went to the dentist today. Neither of them had any cavities, and Cosette was excited that she is now deemed old enough to floss. Avila got dropped off at my office while Ryan took "the big girls" to the dentist, and Avila took her afternoon nap on my shoulder. It was so sweet, esp because the closer she gets to one year old, I know those days are numbered. Last week was busy as usual at work. I have given up thinking that semesters ever slow down.

Saturday night was a soup contest at church. I made chicken tortilla soup and won
3rd place. (There were 13 entries, so I feel pretty good about a 3rd place win!) Ryan has been sick this weekend, the GI bug that has been going around. I feel a cold coming on. Avila has 7 teeth and is eating any solid food she can get her hands on. This paragraph has been stream of consciousness writing I just realized. Too tired to formulate a clear thought! So, I'll sign off here as Ryan is using the last of the Madonna and Child Christmas stamps to pay some bills.

Quick

2012-01-18T08:00:00.002-05:00

I am about three minutes overdue to walk Cosette to school, but wanted to quickly post as I am trying to keep a better schedule for updating pictures. Cosette has strep again and had to go to the doctor on Monday, fortunately she was non-contagious in time to go to school yesterday for the kindergarten's teddy bear picnic. She did tell us that she fell asleep in the reading loft yesterday, so she was still more tired than normal. Ireland wanted to have a teddy bear picnic too but pre-school wasn't doing that so yesterday when they both got home we had a teddy bear and lots of other animals and dolls picnic in the landing upstairs. Chocolate milk and animal crackers were served. The girls also got to use their new umbrellas yesterday. They came in very handy! And here's Avila, sporting some new clothes from Christmas and, if you could only see, her new scissor sharp teeth. Ouch.

Already busy...

2012-01-11T11:00:00.003-05:00

Girls are good. We are good, just busy. Enjoying "warmer" weather. Cosette likes her pogo stick and Ireland likes cheering her on. Avila is crawling like a maniac and has a new tooth. She has quite a bite! Enjoy some additional pics from our trip as well as our return home.

Happy new year! And happy ten months to Avila!

2012-01-04T15:53:00.003-05:00

Well, our new year's post is a little overdue, but at least we're here in the first week of January! We got back to Indiana in Friday the 30th, went to a kid-friendly new year's eve party on Saturday, and then went to church on Sunday. Avila turned 10 months on Tuesday. Cosette returned back to school on Monday and Ireland had her first day back to preschool yesterday. I have been working hard on syllabi development and also Ryan and I have been "taking down Christmas" and trying to restore a bit of order to the house.

One of my friends gave us some Fraggle Rock DVDs and the kids have been enjoying those very much. Even Avila dances along to some of the songs.

The pictures here were made New Year's Day: You may recognize the coat Avila is wearing as one that aunt Jackie got for Cosette when she was a baby. We always get compliments on the coat when we wear it out, and it is something I will be sad to leave behind in terms of baby clothes. Cosette and Ireland are modeling some dress up attire (both new and old). The new stuff is part of their Christmas present from aunt Shannon.

In terms of goal setting: Cosette said that this year she wanted to have a nice year, and that one of her goals for the year was "learning how God was doing". Ireland wanted to spend a year coloring, and hearing stories about God. Ryan and I didn't set any particular goals per se, but I think in general we want to be healthier and I want to work less and exercise more and spend more time with family and Ryan wants to do more spiritual direction at church.

That's it for now!

Second Annual "Green" Newsletter

2011-12-20T19:52:00.003-05:00

Seasons Greetings! I cannot believe that December and the end of the year is upon us already! (I also can't believe I haven't updated the blog in over a month. The semester has been a killer.) But, here it is: Our Christmas family newsletter, green edition.

Obviously, the biggest and best change in our year has been the addition of Avila who joined us March 1. She is 9.5 months now and crawling and babbling and curious about the world around her. She has beautiful dimples and big eyes. Her current favorite pastime is exploring the laws of gravity. She has a bunch of nicknames, most bestowed on her by her sisters. These names include: Bushanona, Bubby, Bubbly Boo, and Affawa. Whatever you call her, Baby Girl is a delight and joy and we can't imagine not having her in our lives.

That being said, having a third child has not proven to be a simply additive process. In other words, 2+1 has seemed like it equals 33 instead of 3! We are busy all the time just getting everyone's (fairly simple) needs met. And that being said, we still wouldn't have it any other way. Just pardon the way our house looks and the fact that it takes us light years to respond to non-emergency email! Keep reading for the highlights of our lives:

Cosette is now a kindergartener. She loves to read and is an excellent reader. She loves her friends at school and in the neighborhood and at church and, though she has occasional periods of shyness, you really can't go to a place where Cosette doesn't make a friend. In the spring she took ballet and this fall she has been taking gymnastics. She loves to help in the kitchen and she is a "little mama" to most everyone, especially Ireland and Avila. She loves to write in her journal, she writes people cards when they are sick, and she likes to sing songs both serious and sweet and made-up funny. She's sensitive too and has such a sweet spirit and a growing faith in God. The only thing she asked for for Christmas is a pogo stick! Look for next year's holiday newsletter to include an injury report!

Ireland has had a year of growth emotionally and socially more so than physically. (She is still wearing alot of clothes from last year!) It was a little hard for her to go from being the baby to being a big sister, but she has risen to the challenge and especially when Cosette is at kindergarten Ireland relishes her role as "the biggest sister". Ireland is (and I know I am prone to be biased) amazing at putting together 100 piece puzzles and in doing other mechanical type things. She builds intricate and interesting structures with blocks. She is more wary of people she doesn't know (which is not a bad thing) and is sometimes unpredictable with people she does know. However when Ireland loves you she is fiercely loyal. If it were not for the Children's Museum of Columbus and their stupidly frightening giant potty slide where you can "flush yourself", Ireland would really have had a great year. But this stupid potty/slide/exhibit thing threw her for a loop and since our visit there (April) we have struggled daily with her with going potty and her fears of the potty. I won't put anymore in print but heavens, we are exhausted with dealing with this. The one benefit of this experience is that she made an imaginary friend for herself. This imaginary friend is neither boy nor girl but is rather a giant something or other called Pinkleg. Pinkleg has had many adventures with us.

Ryan and I have had a busy year with our growing family and with getting more involved in different/new ministries at church. We also still love having people over and some of our hospitality highlights for the year, in no particular order, have included a Mexican fiesta for some of our neighbors, the smoking of a pork roast in early December for friends after the Christmas parade, several Indian food nights, and of course the usual Halloween frenzy and cooking brisket twice for two different groups of people. We have loved visits from several out of state friends as well. The only trips we've taken have been to see family, but we are hoping for a vacation to a different venue in 2012 in addition to our family trips.

Final reflections: My (Sabrina's) senior year in high school I was the student director of the spring play Our Town. There is a line in the play where (dead) Emily looks out over the town and wonders if the people going through their lives are aware of how quickly it all can change. She wonders if they are grateful "every, every minute". That has always stuck with me, and I can say it is true for Ryan and me as well: we are so thankful every every minute for our girls (even right this minute as one is headed to time out!). We are thankful for our friends, for our health, for our families, for the work that I love overall :) and for life itself.

May 2012 be a year of joy and peace! And may we all work, as we have been gifted, to make it so!

Bonus Ireland Pic

2011-11-18T08:48:00.002-05:00

Mid November; the end is in sight

2011-11-16T06:49:00.002-05:00

Now that it is the middle of November I see the light at the end of the tunnel in terms of the semester. Of course, there's next semester to prepare for over "break" but at least there's more time at home with the kids and time to travel and see friends and family.

We had a visit last weekend from my college roommate and her family. Cosette and I went with them to a men's basketball game (there weren't enough tickets for everyone) and we all had a "sleepover" which made Cosette and Ireland happy.

We are working with Ireland and Cosette to learn memory verses. This week they are working on "I am the Good Shepherd. I know my sheep, and my sheep know me."

Avila has had two teeth come through in the past week and a half. She now has her two top center teeth along with her two bottom center teeth. She still has very little hair, which I guess contributes to people thinking she is a boy. Last week at church she had a shirt/dress with little embroidered flowers and ruffles on the sleeves, and her leggings had ruffles on the behind. Her socks had lace. This man in the pew beside us at church said "He's sure a dandy! I've never seen the likes of him". Yeah, maybe that's because she's a girl!!!!

That's all the kid news from here. Next week we'll be traveling to Tennessee for Thanksgiving.

In case anyone out there still checks this thing!

2011-11-06T20:11:00.003-05:00

This is the longest I have ever gone without a blog update...sorry if anyone actually looks at it! We have been so busy, and have all taken turns being sick, and work has been nutty, and...you get the idea. Hard to believe it is November. Avila is 8 months old now! You should see her crawl, she can really make tracks! She was a giraffe for Halloween and Ireland (with a last minute switch) was a fairy and Cosette was Rapunzel. We had a trip to Tenn and a trip to the punkin' patch in October, and also a visit from Ryan's mother and lots and lots of work obligations and mid term grading for Sabrina. Cosette got "Top Cat" award in her kindergarten class for the first nine week grading period, and she also got the writer of the month award. She was very proud of herself and of course we are proud of her. Ireland is growing more social since entering pre-school part time, but she is also still a major "daddy's girl". The big sisters are getting excited about Thanksgiving and Christmas and traveling. Yesterday I took them to see "Puss in Boots"; they really liked it. I took a nap during it! That's a quick update for now....more later.

Another week....

2011-10-09T22:45:00.003-04:00

Another busy week lies ahead, so I am trying to get ready for it at 10:46 on Sunday night, and as I write this I realize I haven't made Cosette's lunch for tomorrow, among other things. Oh well.

We are back into summer like weather here, so yesterday Cosette and Ireland and Avila and I went on a picnic with our neighbor Maria and her little boy Mitch. We also went to a birthday party. Today was church and then Cosette and Ireland came with me to run errands. Ryan worked on fixing our fence (a section got demolished in the spring when we had our tree taken down, thanks tree guys) and he almost got finished with it. It looks alot better.

Ryan goes out of town next weekend to visit a friend in NC. Hopefully the weather will cooperate with me and the girls and we will have some fun, including going to the pumpkin patch.

There's more news to write but most of it deals with work and more work so why bother?

October!

2011-10-03T08:42:00.002-04:00

How is it October already? Baby is 7 months old. She has learned to clap and wave, though she only does them when she wants to and not as a command performance. Her favorite toy is any book she can chew, and a silicone cupcake holder. Cosette got a new winter coat over the weekend (new to her anyway, we bought it at a secondhand store!) and I got to have some alone time with each of the girls, which was nice. For her "treat" Ireland wanted to go to the mall and ride a ride and get candy out of the machines, two things I always say "no" to. So she and I did that after church on Sunday. Other than shopping, Cosette wanted to go out to lunch and watch a movie at my office while I worked. Avila came with me to Indy because I had to sign some papers and meet with some people individually, so nothing she couldn't come to, and I had fun showing her off to people there. I am way behind on grading, which is what I did every other moment this weekend. Today is meetings and lesson planning!

Where does the time go?

2011-09-21T21:24:00.002-04:00

Here it is Wednesday pm and I don't know when the last time we took pics of the girls was. Saturday probably, at a birthday party and parade, but the camera is in my bag in the car and I just can't bring myself to go out and get it to upload pics. This past weekend was Apple Butter Festival (so the parade was the main part we observed) and two birthday parties on top of the usual activities of church and trying to get ready for the week. Avila is in some developmental stage where she doesn't want to sleep and so her naps have been about 30 minutes long, twice a day, which makes for interesting evenings. And by interesting, we mean full of crying from an overtired baby! Ireland has been a little sick, with scratchy throat and fever. Cosette is still percolating at school; I spent a couple of hours in her class last week and it was very illuminating. Avila had her six months check up: 18 pounds, 27 inches long. And, she just woke up in the time I have been typing this, so I need to go feed her, and hope that she'll snooze long enough for me to get something else done before bedtime. That's our lives!

Finally, an update

2011-09-13T21:58:00.002-04:00

Sorry it has been awhile between updates! We have been busy with school and my school and various things, plus Ryan and Ireland were in Texas last week so I was even busier than normal being a single parent for the week.

We're all doing well; Ireland had a hard time going back to preschool today and it was the first day she cried when Ryan left her but apparently she had a good day after that. Cosette continues to love kindergarten. Her reading is phenomenal. Today was picture day. I am a little bitter that we had to pay up front in order to be able to see any pictures at all; apparently no one sends proofs home anymore!

This weekend is Apple Butter Festival in Spencer, which means a parade and music and such. We also have two birthday parties to go to; we have quite the whirlwind social existence. :)

Between Avila waking up multiple times last night (teething) and Cosette having a nightmare about 2 am, I am exhausted, so I can't think of much else to write at the moment. Enjoy the pictures!

too tired

2011-08-30T19:38:00.002-04:00

too tired for many words....ireland loves preschool and cosette still loves kindergarten. my semester has staarted. i am typing one handed while holding baby. mommy and baby both have colds. baby is fussy! maybe i am too.

Catch up

2011-08-21T21:50:00.002-04:00

Whew! We have been busy. I finally finished my intensive summer session. Cosette started kindergarten last week and between my teaching and her going to school we have been trying to adjust to a new routine. Ireland has been super irritable and had alot of potty accidents this week. Last night we finally figured out she probably had a bladder infection. I took her to the doctor today and she started on an antibiotic. Hopefully she'll be able to start preschool as scheduled on Tuesday.

Cosette loves kindergarten but its hard for us to understand what really goes on all day. Her big news on Friday was that she was chosen along with her friend Ava to take all the lunchboxes back to the classroom while the rest of the class waited to go outside. Cosette told me that she and Ava got to go on a "big adventure, all by ourselves, with no teachers. We went straight to the classroom and put the lunchboxes up and then we went straight back to the cafeteria and then we went outside with our class."

Friday night we went to a little bonfire in the neighborhood and made smores. Saturday we went to the Y for a bit and took some food to a friend who has been under the weather. Otherwise, given Ireland's infection and Ryan's 24 hour bug, we've had a pretty quiet and low key weekend.

Avila is changing so much! She is still really sweet tempered but is in that stage where she wants to get and grab and move and yet....she can't do all that she wants to do which makes her frustrated. But before we know it, she'll be crawling. (She gets in position and moves her bottom around before falling to the floor.) That's all the news from here!

No pictures, but an update of sorts

2011-08-08T20:42:00.002-04:00

Last week we didn't take any pics because everything was hectic with me going back to work. I asked Ryan to take some pics today so I could update the blog tonight but the camera battery was dead. So, just a word update.

Avila has two teeth that are officially "poked through". She is a solid little baby, now eating cereal about every other day and also eating some mashed/strained fruits and veggies. She acts like she wants to crawl. I really missed her last week.

Ireland has fallen in love with Wallace and Gromit (a British cartoon type show) and she asks to watch them every day. Her favorite is "The Wrong Trousers". Despite her Irish name, Ryan says that Ireland is really a German (his maternal side of the family) in her love of particular foods. Last week she and he ate some big link sausage and she put away a large sized piece of it.

Cosette will meet her kindergarten teacher on Thursday night and she is excited about that. In Indiana, kindergarten is only half day but our district, along with many others across the state, are offering all day kindergarten this year. Cosette really wants to go all day, so we decided last week we'd let her try. (Parents have to pay for the afternoon portion but its only about 35.00 a week.) If it seems like too long a day for her, then we'll just move her to part day. Cosette loves picking out her own clothes these days. Some days I really admire what she puts together and it has quite a flair. Some days her ensembles make me shudder a bit.

Ryan has canned 14 quarts of tomatoes in the past week and taught Sunday School. Aside from going back to work I have been planning an event at church this coming Saturday, a "school store" where parents who are in need can come get school supplies for their kids.

That's all the news from here.

Almost August

2011-07-29T08:02:00.003-04:00

It's almost August which I am not looking forward to (except for the fact that it means I get paid for the first time since May!). August 1 is the day I go back to teaching, which means I have been treating it like D-Day. I am mostly prepared to go back, for at least the first week, but I hate missing out on the last part of Cosette's summer before "real school" begins but I don't want to leave anyone else either. Oh well....

Cosette has gone to VBS at a church down the street this week, she has loved it. Every night Ireland announces she is going to go and then she always changes her mind at the last minute. Our church is having VBS tomorrow (Saturday) and we'll all be there.

Avila is cutting two teeth, on the bottom. Its making her a little fussy, but not too bad (yet!)

Our garden is doing well, the tomatoes are really starting to come in. Ryan made some salsa this week and I am going to make some more zucchini bread this weekend.

The girls and I made homemade pudding pops this week. The pics are from our visit to the fair last week, and Avila's first cereal eating this week.

Need to go feed Ireland and Avila....Cosette and Ryan are still snoozing!

40

2011-07-21T10:05:00.002-04:00

I turned 40 yesterday. Hard to believe! Cosette woke me up first with Happy Birthday greetings, and she made me a lovely card. Ireland sang happy birthday to me later in the day, and helped me open my cards. Avila tried to grab at the cards, my hair, my birthday dinner, as her way of participating. We went to dinner at Red Lobster and Ryan made key lime pie instead of a birthday cake.

Avila is sprouting a tooth, one of her bottom front teeth. It hasn't popped through yet but you can definitely feel it. She is drooling all the time and putting everything in her mouth. She continues to be a really cheerful baby.

Ireland has been making up stories. The major plotline involves a giant who gets into some kind of trouble, and then he flushes himself down the toilet. When Ireland gets to the punch line, about the flushing, she laughs like a maniac.

Cosette is really reading on her own. She can now pick up a book that we haven't read to her and do a good job with the majority of the words. We need to practice her writing some before school starts back on 8/16.

We went to the outside pool one day this week which was fun....we had been going to the indoor pool at the Y to cut down on the hassle of sunscreen!

We've eaten zucchini and tomatoes and peppers and herbs out of our garden.

I got my syllabus ready for the summer class I teach on 8/1 through 8/18. Ugh. Now I have to start preparing for the lessons.

That's all the news from here!

A quick update

2011-07-13T11:31:00.002-04:00

We got back from Tenn last Friday and the girls had two birthday parties to attend on Saturday. Sunday was the usual church and then we swam with friends.

Ryan and I celebrated 8 years of marriage yesterday. Well, I guess I should say we observed it and noted the date. Our friend Carol is going to keep the girls either this weekend or early next week for a combined anniversary/birthday present and Ryan and I will actually go out then. I took the girls to Children's Museum yesterday. Avila's first time there! It was fun but not as fun as normal because every kid's day camp in central Indiana was there, and for about every ten kids there was one "supervisor" and it was insane. The main reason we (and every other kid) went yesterday was because it was one of the last days of the live Snoopy show, and since Ireland esp loves Charlie Brown we went. It was about a 40 minute show and everyone loved it; even little Avila was straining around to see all the goings on on stage. While I was gone Ryan had a little peace and quiet to himself and then cleaned out my car thoroughly and washed it, which was a very nice surprise because I had just been thinking how dirty my car was.

I need to go get a fussy baby out of the bouncy seat!

July!

2011-07-01T14:38:00.004-04:00

Happy July! Avila is 4 months old today. She is a rolling over maniac and starting to scoot sloooowly but purposefully. We got back from two weeks on the road last Saturday night and this week has been one of adjustment and re-integration. It has also been one of going to pools, playing with friends, and seeing a ball game. Cosette is reading really well for someone who hasn't gone to kindergarten yet; she newly loves the Magic School Bus series. Ireland is making some progress she lost in potty training after the birth of Avila; she is also trying to "read" more and it is really sweet to watch her "read to Avila. This week we had a Mommy and Cosette day where we spent alot of time together and did fun things (lunch, smoothies, park) and we had Mommy and Ireland day where we did what she wanted (lunch, pet store and BIG cookie). The girls---all of them---are at such fun stages. I wish I could take a whole year off work and be with them! I've been working on a syllabus for my summer session and trying to get some other work done. If I don't have a deadline these days I am not very motivated! Ryan's garden is looking great and he is hoping for a bumper crop of tomatoes. We are too!

Summer fun blips of information

2011-06-11T08:43:00.006-04:00

We have had summer fun this week on the waterslide, wading pool, using bubbles, and going to the big pool at the Y. We've had popsicles and a cookout and birthday cake with neighbors. The girls picked a few strawberries from our garden. (So few that mommy and daddy didn't get to try any, but according to the girls, they were good!)We signed up for the summer reading program at the library. Cosette is the proud owner of some flip flops, her first pair. Ireland is the proud owner of a seat that helps her sit on the big potty without being afraid to fall in, and a new princess stool to help her in washing her hands on her own. Avila gives a sweet belly laugh on occasion and smiles all the time. She is starting to be at the stage where she doesn't want to take naps because she knows she is missing something. Today we are packing and getting ready for our trip to Texas.

June!

2011-06-04T22:45:00.003-04:00

Cosette is officially a kindergartener now that pre-school is over for the year. She is very excited that she will be going to school every day. We celebrated end of school year with ice cream and water slide and friends. I took Ireland into the room where she will be in preschool next year; it was our second visit so I hope she remembers it come August. Avila is officially three months and is just delightful.

We got back Wednesday from Tenn and leave a week from tomorrow for Texas. Traveling has taken on a whole new level of exhaustion and stress.

I have been getting an increased number of emails about work and work planning. I finished one project this week and have a few more hanging over my head plus one I enjoy doing that all need to be done as well.

Ryan's garden is growing well and we will be really excited to see it when we get back from Texas.

Someone spilled something on the keyboard and many keys are sticking. I can't stand to type anymore until we clean it so I'll sign off now.

12 weeks today!

2011-05-24T20:58:00.003-04:00

Hard to believe that Avila is 12 weeks old today! As Cosette said "she isn't very new anymore". She had her first laugh on Saturday, when I squirted water on her in the bathtub; it was a cute little belly laugh. Cosette and Ireland had fun today playing at the park with friends. I got some things accomplished at work in between feeding the baby, who is apparently in a growth spurt. The roses and garden are doing well, except for something has eaten most of the girls' strawberries that were growing, which is disappointing because that would have been something the girls liked to pick for sure. They loved seeing Frog and Toad on their birthday, and opening lots of presents and cards. This post is short and sweet because we are going to try and watch a movie from Netflix!

Birthday season

2011-05-17T18:28:00.002-04:00

It's birthday time for 2/3 of our children, as Cosette will turn 5 on Thursday and Ireland will turn 3. I can't believe it! We had their party on this past Saturday at the YMCA in Spencer. It's a pretty good deal to rent the activity room and have use of the pool...and easier than cleaning my house and cooking here! The kids started off by swimming and then we came upstairs for some snacks and cake and ice cream. The kids seemed to have alot of fun and all the parents thanked us for wearing out their children as they left. Ireland fell asleep at the dinner table that night.

Thursday I will take snack to preschool and Thursday night Cosette and Ireland and I will go see the theatre production of "Frog and Toad All Year Long" (shh, that's a surprise!). That will wrap it up for birthday celebrating.

We finally got the tree and tree debris taken care of: Ryan rented a chipper on last Fri and had some help chipping in exchange for mulch (we had alot of mulch, but have successfully gotten rid of it) and then one of our neighbors goes to a church that has a firewood ministry, for lack of a better word. So about 8 men from their church came over with chainsaws and a big truck and took the big pieces off our hands for us.

Avila is 11 weeks old today....I am starting to lose track of her weekly count. She is trying to sit up. She has the most beautiful smiles and eyes, the two features people most frequently comment on.

That's the news from here!

warm weather, avila at ten weeks, and other misc

2011-05-11T00:17:00.003-04:00

...maybe now I can put the winter clothes away. (I put them away once, and had to dig them back out again.)

Ryan went on a church retreat last weekend, so I was a single parent to the girls. It was exhausting at nighttime, but we had fun. Cosette went to her first birthday party where she got dropped off (I offered to stay with her but she didn't want me to!). We all went to the spring carnival at school.

The tree removal from our yard has continued to be an ongoing headache which I don't even feel like writing about.

Yesterday was avila's two month check up. she is ten weeks old today. the doctor said she was perfect @ 11 pounds, 6 ounces, and almost 25 inches long. She is longer than even Cosette was at this stage. She smiles when you talk to her and has intentionally, purposefully rolled over several times.

Ireland and I discovered our first rose this morning on the way back from taking Cosette to preschool. Another sure sign of warm weather!

May!

2011-05-04T08:09:00.002-04:00

It's May, which means its birthday month for 2/3 of our children. Cosette just had her dance performance last weekend, and so we will be glad to have a break from ballet for awhile (at least the parental part of "we"). Ryan has been working on the garden (making raised beds and planting some tomatoes and other things). Ireland has been a little out of sorts lately, more whining than usual and potty accidents. Avila is growing well, or at least seems to be. I am trying to get a little work done every day but it amazes me how long it takes to get anything work related done around the house. We are still drowning in laundry every week and the house always seems dirty. Apparently I am the only one who minds that though.

I can't write anymore right now, because the girls are both hanging over my shoulder, Ireland is weeping because I asked her to go potty, and I want to try and take a shower while Avila is asleep. We have people coming to our house in about an hour to take down a tree, and you don't want to get me started on that.

Lots of pictures!

2011-04-24T21:08:00.003-04:00

happy Easter! am typing with one hand! despite lots and lots of rain, we have had a good weekend. ryan got some prep work done for the garden. cosette and ireland and i went to see "rio". we colored eggs with friends. we went to church thurs pm and sunday. we also had an epensive week/weekend...had to replace router, modem, phone, and external hard drive. hope the saying that lightning doesn't strike the same place twice is true! cosette has her kindergarten assessment this week. that's the news from here!

Storm!

2011-04-19T20:32:00.003-04:00

Last night and early this morning we had a bad storm; thunder and lightening like I have never seen or heard. At 3:30 am there was a loud crack and the sky was like daylight...and then I smelled smoke. Our house wasn't on fire, nor were any of the neighbors, but we learned this morning that our phone, modem and router (internet) were all out. Our neighbors were all fine in terms of access, so it is just us. We got our phone line back, but the phone itself is messed up (you have to unplug it and replug it every time you want to make a call; not sure if it rings or not). Avila and I came into my office this evening so I could check email and then we are going to Best Buy for some new electronics. So, no pictures to post from here! I'll do a better post when we get our internet back, hopefully in the next couple of days. Otherwise we are all good, and looking forward to Easter!

Tax Day Post

2011-04-15T12:07:00.003-04:00

So we've received from Uncle Sam but paid to Uncle Hoosier (our state income tax). Avila is 6 weeks old and is being vigorously bounced in her bouncy seat by Cosette at this very moment. The girls are getting excited about Easter, and we are going to start doing the Resurrection Eggs stories again tonight. We are all doing well, just finding it hard to get much done other than keeping people fed, clean (relatively speaking) and happy.

Avila (and all the rest of us!) enjoyed visiting with some Tenn relatives this past week!

We are trying to plan our summer; we look forward to the trips but not the cost of fuel! Ouch!

Ryan bought some herbs this week and will start doing some work on building raised beds for the garden next week. I have some school/work work I need to be doing but it is hard to carve out time to get it done.

That's all the news from here...

Avila @ 5 weeks, and other updates

2011-04-05T20:07:00.002-04:00

Avila is 5 weeks old today. We celebrated by going to campus and showing her to my students, who have been asking about her. Cosette went back to preschool today after a "spring break" of last week.

This morning when I was in the bathroom I heard the baby start fussing and then stop fussing. I came out to find that Ireland had gotten Avila a blanket, a paci, and was holding a doll in front of her trying to cheer her up. It was so sweet; I have seen Cosette do that for Avila before but not Ireland.

Eating at the ice cream parlor in Columbus last Friday was a treat; a small menu but the atmosphere is beautiful. The ice cream parlor is over a 100 years old and has the old fashioned soda fountains, organ, etc. We got the dessert you see pictured for all of us to share.

I am starting to be realistic about work, work that needs to be finished (or begun and finished!) by the summer. I have been a little in denial I think. Ryan is starting to make plans for the garden. This weekend he pruned the roses.

Avila is starting to fuss and I think she is hungry so I need to scoot.

Quickly!

2011-03-31T10:59:00.003-04:00

I put Avila down for a nap about half an hour ago, and spent the majority of time doing laundry and putting it away. Just as I sat down to upload new pics, she started fussing. So, here's a brief update: She doesn't have to go back to the dr until two months, she's finally stabilized in her weight gain. Perfect according to the dr. We have been to church now twice and she's been on little stroller rides through the neighborhood. She is still not fond of baths. She holds her head up amazingly well.

Cosette has been on spring break this week; Monday Cosette and Ireland got haircuts and tomorrow we're going to a children's place in Columbus and then eating at an historic ice cream parlor. Avila continues to sleep pretty well at night, waking up minimally and going right back to sleep. Ryan made a cheesecake. It snowed here yesterday. That's all.

quick post: three week old avila

2011-03-22T15:29:00.002-04:00

When I sat down a few minutes ago to check email and post this, Avila was sleeping. Now, she isn't. So, this will be quick!

Avila's two week check up was Friday. She had grown 1/4 inch since her last visit but only gained a couple of ounces. The doctor said this was normal for bigger babies, so he wasn't worried but I do have to bring her back in for a weight check on this Friday. She is holding her head up at a pretty good angle and she has good strength. She also has the agility to hold her paci in her mouth, on those few occasions when she decides she wants it. Usually she spits it out immediately. She is awake more during the days for the past few days, so that has been fun.

Cosette and Ireland are enjoying the spring weather we have been having. It got pretty and actually spring like on Saturday, and we have had 4 days in a row of sunshine and warm enough weather to take walks and play outside. That's worth mentioning because the forecast is calling for flurries on Friday.

While Cosette was at preschool this morning Ireland and I and Avila strolled up to the library for toddler story time. Ireland had fun and Avila slept the whole time.

That's about all the news from here!

The latest update

2011-03-16T00:10:00.002-04:00

Avila is two weeks old today. She is doing lovely. Her 2 week check up is on Friday so I'll try to post more specifics then.

Cosette picked out her swimsuit for the season (kind of tye-dyed-ish) and is enjoying a couple of sleep overs at McCormick's Creek with Ryan's parents and sister and nephew. We registered C for kindergarten last week.

Ireland announced tonight she wanted to sleep over as well and was pretty inconsolable for a time when that didn't get to happen for her. After they left for the park I let her paint for a special treat. And if you know me at all, you know the fact that I dragged out paints and let her paint in the living room at 8:30 at night means I was feeling sorry for her! We registered Ireland for preschool last week.

We're doing well overall; I just had forgotten how you have to factor in two or three times as much time as normal when dealing with a newborn's feeding schedule. I am going to try to make it to church with Avila on Sunday, but I can't imagine what time I'll have to get up. We get up at 6:45 to make it to early church on a pre-baby Sunday. I'll have to get up at least by 6 if I have a prayer of making it. No pun intended. :)

Happy one week birthday, Avila!

2011-03-08T21:33:00.002-05:00

Avila is one week old today. The picture of Ryan holding her while she is wearing a yellow sleeper is taken at 5:35, when she is exactly one week old. She has really grown! She's a good eater, a pretty good night time sleeper, and has sweet little smiles while she is dreaming. Cosette is very good with her and always wants to hold her. Ireland is always very gentle when she sits beside her and strokes her head, and Ireland gave Avila some "creature comforts" for her baby swing, which is also pictured.

Today I figured out I had been running on adrenalin, and that adrenalin has pretty much run its course. In other words, I am tired. Make that exhausted. I have been doing nights by myself in the spare bedroom so that Ryan can sleep uninterrupted so that he can be clear headed when dealing with the "big sisters" during the day. Because I have been busy with grading, I haven't been able to take naps until today....today Avila and I took a 2 hour nap together in the middle of the day which helped immensely. I finished the grading for my online class last night, so that's finally off my plate.

The laundry. The laundry is killing us.

Grandmommy (Sabrina's mother) came to visit for a couple of days, and Cosette and Ireland had fun with her. We have been blessed to have lots of yummy food brought for us the past few days, so we have had time to focus on all of the girls without worrying about getting food on the table or making it to the store for more than milk. Ryan even went to the library tonight and I stayed with all the girls by myself...so we are all in all doing well for just one week at home. Ryan's parents, sister and nephew will be here on Sunday, so we'll have some extra help next week too.

Enjoy the pics!

Recap of the hospital and first 24 hours at home with Baby Avila

2011-03-03T14:11:00.005-05:00

So...we got to the hospital on Tuesday morning about 5:45, a little later than our mandated time of 5:30. Oops! Our friend Carol had come on Monday night to be there with the girls when they woke up and get Cosette to pre-K so we left a sleeping house in Spencer.

By 7 I was hooked up on pitocin. The doctor came by in the morning before his office hours, and told me I would have a baby that day. (Duh! I would hope!) He also commented on my reading choice (Ominivore's Dilemma) as interesting. I met our new nurse around 7:30 and loved her right away. If you have to spend a day in labor, this is the nurse you would want with you. Our friend Mary came by about 9 and I was already feeling some contractions, which made me hopeful labor would be quick. (Wrong!) Mary left about 10 ish and promised to be back later in the day.

Our friend Cheryl came to the hospital about 1 ish and stayed with us for several hours, which was awesome company during the worst pain. I thought I was making alot of progress (not true) and thought the baby would come soon (relatively true).

In the meantime, Carol and Ireland had dropped off and picked C up from preschool, and our neighbor Ale got the girls to feed them lunch and play with her kids so Carol could teach class in the afternoon. Ale took the girls to our neighbor Maria's house at 3:30 so all the kids could play (and they also made a welcome home sign for baby).

By 3:30 at the hospital, I had not progressed noticeably since my doctor's visit at lunch (though he predicted a baby by 5) , and I had had all the pain I could take, so I got an epidural. This helped me relax and focus on the baby instead of being miserable. Cheryl stayed til about 4:30 and then Mary came back briefly. About 4:45 I told the nurse I thought I was close. She called the doctor who came in at 5:04, pronounced me ready to push the baby out, and said "Am I good or what?" referring to his 5 oclock prediction. I started pushing and Avila came out at 5:35.

The rest of the evening was kind of a blur with getting Avila checked out, bathed, blood typed, etc and then getting us switched to post partum/recovery. Carol brought the girls by to visit briefly about 7:30 and then Cheryl, Mary, and Crystal got to come to the room and see Avila for a few minutes.

Meanwhile, I was starving, as I had not had solid food since Monday evening. We finally got dinner about 9 pm Tuesday night in the midst of making calls to family. We got in bed about 11, having been assured by the nurse that Avila would probably sleep for awhile. Wrong again!

Avila slept til about 12 and was up from 12 to 3 Wed morning, ready to eat! We slept from about 3 to 5, when the nurse came in to get vitals, then slept til about 6 when the nurse came in to get the baby for the visit from the ped. Ryan and I slept til 6:30 when the ped came in, and then slept for about 30 more minutes til 7:30 when my doctor came in. (You can see why we are always ready to come home the next day after a baby. You get no rest in post partum "recovery")

After my doctor gave his permission for us to leave that day, and the ped said it was okay to discharge Avila, we started making discharge preparations. Yay! We had visits from Carla, who brought Avila a beautiful blanket, and from one of our ministers at church.

We got home from the hospital at around 12:30. Avila enjoyed her car ride from the hospital and was the center of attention from her sisters when we got home. They immediately wanted to try her out in the swing and bouncy seat and cradle, and wanted to hold her, watch her eat and watch her get her diaper changed. A funny moment was when Cosette was talking about her and she said "What's the baby's name again?". Ireland has the sweetest way of saying "Av-a-wuh" for Avila.

As for the baby herself, she is still seeming pretty mellow. She only outright cries when she is getting her diaper changed. If she is hungry she just makes little eating noises or whimpers a little bit. She's not been alive for 48 hours, so we don't have a huge amount of data to go on, but for the past two days she has done most of her eating in the evening hours, then of course several times throughout the night, leaving the morning and early afternoon available for her unfettered rest. (That the rest of us could say the same!)

Ireland and Cosette got to pick out new coloring/activity books. The Princesses have taken firm hold in our household, and as proof of that, Cosette's choice was Disney Princess Paper Dolls and Ireland's choice was a Disney Princess coloring book. So far they are adjusting pretty well to the new little person in our household.

I have been writing at this post forever, so I am going to sign off before Avila needs to eat again and just post some adorable pictures.

Last day to be the four of us

2011-02-28T09:13:00.003-05:00

I am being induced at 5:30 Tuesday morning, so this is the last day that life will be the 4 of us. We spent the weekend doing the usual, and also spending some time with friends and (for me) walking on the treadmill to try and induce the baby myself. No such luck!

The next post will include baby pictures, but here's some from the weekend. It was "Parents can watch day" at ballet, meaning we could go in the studio rather than just peek through the window, we had some fun with friends and just playing around the house.

We'll post big news and new family pics later in the week!

Sort of kind of an update

2011-02-23T09:49:00.003-05:00

Yesterday my dr. set an induction date of 3/1 (being at the hospital at 5:30 am!) if the baby hasn't come on its own before then. So....one way or another, within the week we will have a baby.

Yesterday Cosette was playing upstairs and called Ryan to come up and "see something". She had made all the beds upstairs, all on her own, and did a pretty good job for a 4 year old. (I think she did a pretty good job for anyone, honestly).

Meanwhile, when you ask Ireland to clean up a mess she has helped in the making of, you almost instantaneously get the response "But mama I'm tired". However, the good news is she is doing really well with potty training. Very successful and we even let her leave the house with panties instead of at the last minute putting a diaper on her.

The girls had fun with gramma last week and we enjoyed it too, also getting some things done around the house.

Since the camera is still in the hospital bag I thought I'd leave you with a flash from the past: newborn pics of Cosette and Ireland, and you can compare them next week with our newest little one. (Can you tell which girl is which????)

Still waiting

2011-02-18T22:46:00.004-05:00

Still waiting for this baby to make his or her appearance. Still working though losing motivation. We have enjoyed warm weather and sunshine this week, though, which has gone a long way in improving the mood around here. Ryan's mom has been visiting for a few days and Ryan and she and the girls went to the Children's Museum on Wed. I worked from home that day, and it marked the first time I had been home by myself for more than an hour since Cosette was born. Isn't that amazing?

Ireland is doing very well with potty training; she has been on two successful trips to Indy with panties instead of a diaper, and on many little outings here in Spencer with panties. Hooray!

Cosette is kind of in a "bossy" stage right now; not too horrible but still we need to do like Barney Fife says and "nip it in the bud".

Pics are from their trip to the Children's Museum.

Maybe next time there'll be a baby announcement.

The camera is already packed in the hospital bag

2011-02-11T11:27:00.003-05:00

Greetings from the great freezing north! We are looking for a heat wave in the next couple of days where the temp will get to the 40's. Hooray!

I packed the hospital bag this week, and the camera is in there, so I don't have any new pictures to post. I am afraid if I get it out to take pics, I will forget to put it back in again.

It has been a busy week at Casa Sullenberger, between work for me, getting ready for the baby, cleaning the house, and trying to squeeze in different times with friends before the blessed event arrives.

Cosette and Ireland are exhibiting signs of Too Much Winter by wrestling with each other, sometimes to the point of pain, and dressing up in summer clothes (I can't tell you how many times in the past two weeks I have come home to the two of them in sundresses, having played "dress up" upstairs away from Daddy!).

I need to get some more work done before a meeting, so I need to sign off. Maybe the next post will feature the new arrival?

Finally February

2011-02-04T07:37:00.002-05:00

Cosette is always excited to change her calendar page over (and Ireland gets excited because Cosette gets excited). They know that by the end of the month the baby will be here, so that adds to the fun this month. (Her calendar this year is a Fancy Nancy one, by the way.)

Indiana was part of the region that got an ice storm this week, so we were housebound from Monday mid-afternoon when I came home from work early until yesterday (Thursday). There is still alot of ice in driveways, alleys, and parking lots (and I guess back roads, since schools are closed for today)but it was good to get out. I took the girls to the Super WalMart in Bloomington, where I rarely go and I guess they have never been. Mostly we were buying some odds and ends things to get ready for the baby; all the Valentines stuff was out and Cosette and Ireland kept looking and touching and finally Cosette said "Mama, all this stuff is amazing". Then we had a play date with some friends. Tuesday and Wednesday I worked from home (even campus closed days for those days, but fortunately or unfortunately, I still had plenty of work to do). The girls have been having fashion shows, dance contests and watching more TV than we'd prefer, but we're trying to survive this winter any way we can. This morning I have my doctor's appt and then will head to the office.

Winter, winter, winter

2011-01-31T09:15:00.003-05:00

We are ready for winter to be over! There has been snow on the ground since Thanksgiving, and for the most part it melted over the weekend, just in time for an alleged ice storm tomorrow! But yesterday was sunny, if chilly and windy, so Cosette and Ireland and I walked and biked with some neighbors around the block after church.

Still getting ready for the baby, which mostly at this point involves alot of cleaning that needs to be done. This morning Cosette asked how many more months till the baby comes, and I said "today is the last day of January, so we turn your calendar page tomorrow, and then the baby will come in that month!" (At least with 99% certainty).

We haven't taken many pictures so far this 2011...that's why it is hard to remember to update the blog as much. But rest assured there will be more regular postings when we are documenting the first few months of new baby with due diligence. This is of the girls posing in their aprons and chef hats, made expressly for them by Aunt Shannon.

Getting ready

2011-01-22T19:14:00.003-05:00

We have been getting ready for baby here at Casa Sullenberger, washing blankets and car seat covers and taking inventory of what we have and what we need. The girls ask about the baby sweetly, though Ireland usually just parrots what she hears Cosette say.

Cosette started ballet class today, the IU pre-college ballet program. The studio is the same one university dancers use, in the performance art center on campus. When we drove up there this morning, Cosette said "Mama, is my new ballet class in the Nutcracker building???" If you gave Cosette money for Christmas, chances are good some or all of it went to tuition, new tights and ballet shoes. :) Ireland is too young for the ballet program, and it made her sad to see Cosette go in the studio. We'll get Ireland in swim class this spring, after the baby comes.

We had more snow this week. I hope I don't have to type that sentence out too many more times this winter! The picture of the girls is one of the snow days this week, when Cosette had to miss yet another day of preschool. They dressed up and danced around for a good long while.

I have been busy with my online class and trying to get some writing done before baby comes. Ryan is working on trying to finish a couple of projects (his grill table and train) before baby. We are all on a countdown!

Snow days

2011-01-12T23:17:00.002-05:00

We've had lots of snow over the past few days. (I saw a news report today that 49 states have snow right now; only FL does not, so I guess everyone has had lots of snow over the past few days.) Anyway....it is hard not to get cabin fever. Friday, before my semester officially started, I took the girls to the Children's Museum. It was the last day there to have up holiday decorations, so the girls had fun riding the Yule Slide, dancing with the SugarPlum Fairy, "ice fishing" etc. Sunday we went to church and made banana bread, then braved the snow to deliver it to a few neighbors. Monday I went to the office and Monday evening it started to snow. Tuesday there was tons of snow and no school. I made snow-cream which we shared with some neighborhood kiddos and they had a snowball fight. Today I went to the office but one of the other neighbors had several kids over to watch a movie. So, we are making it through the snow days one day at a time. It is too cold to be outside for long. We also got a new-to-us minivan. We'll post pics of it soon. We have also been clearing out drawers and closets to make space for new baby and his/her things. That's all the news from here!

Happy New Year: A mostly picture update

2011-01-04T18:55:00.002-05:00

Happy 2011! We arrived back home in Indiana on New Year's Day, and have been in re-entry mode since then. We had a good trip to Tennessee, though we all took turns being sick so that made it not quite as much fun as usual because we had not as much energy. The girls were both very into Christmas, not just thinking about presents but about playing Baby Jesus and Mary and Joseph as well. Cosette's dearest wish was for a scooter, which she got. They also got some fun stocking stuffers both at home and in Tennessee, new clothes and doll from Grandmommy and a surprise (for the girls) dollhouse from Ryan's parents was waiting for us when we returned to Indiana. Cosette said tonight at dinner, "I wish all my cousins and family and friends lived on our street." Ireland said "yeah".

We are settling into routine again here, and also trying to prepare for arrival of Baby #3!

Enjoy the pictures and we'll be in touch soon!

Happy Holidays: Our 2010 Year in Review Post

2010-12-14T18:14:00.004-05:00

Hi, friends and family!

Every December I am challenged with trying to grade exams and prep for spring semester in the midst of decorating, doing special seasonal things with the kids and writing a family newsletter and capturing the perfect image for a Christmas card. This year, feeling particularly frazzled,Ryan and I decided to do it this way, electronically.

So, in a more green fashion, here are lots of pictures and our usual holiday letter! If you don't feel like reading the whole thing, skip down to July for the big announcement.

On the balance, we would say the best things in our lives are seeing our girls grow and mature, at the same time relishing their little-ness and innocence. They loved each other very much, and it is fun to see their relationship evolve and they are SO DIFFERENT from each other. We are blessed to be in a new church home, we have spent yet another year doing house projects (go Ryan, who is very handy and saves us alot of money!). We have gotten to know our neighbors and made some additional friendships there, and we continue to have joyful times with "old" friends far and near. Ryan has been involved in a small group at church and is able to use his gifts in that way, and also grow closer to people. I have enjoyed getting together once a month with the "sinnered women" for discussions on parenting, faith, etc. I continue to love my work and feel blessed that Ryan is willing to stay home with the girls and that he teaches them so many good and important things. That's the summary...

For the month by month blow, read on...

January 2010 seems to be a bit of a blur. There was probably alot of snow, plus I began teaching a new course and so that took up alot of time. (But I loved the particular course, with a focus on community practice.) Cosette started taking a dance class again, after a hiatus for soccer in fall 2009. Cosette was not a fan of soccer, by the way. :) Sabrina went to San Francisco for a conference and got to spend some time with Jason R there.

February 2010 also seems kind of blurry. There was probably more snow, and we started planning our trip to Disney. We also took a trip to Tenn for a Valentine's Party at Aunt Janet's, and to see Cousin Luke for the first time in a couple of years, and to tell Cousin Kelley "bon voyage" as she was leaving for Korea. We also started visiting a new church and watched alot of Olympics.

March 2010 had the highlight of a trip to Disney World over spring break. We had so much fun and it was the first time we had taken a family vacation that wasn't to Tenn or Texas.

April 2010 included a trip for Sabrina to Mississippi to see her longtime friend Lori Wright tie the knot. On that trip, she got to catch up with lots of other old friends at the wedding and have a perfect night of reminiscing on the patio of a restaurant with John Mark, Jennifer, and Jason. Ryan's mom came down for a visit over Easter and colored eggs with the girls and took them to visit the pet store, always a treat.

May 2010 saw us get more involved with the church we were becoming regular visitors at (First Christian Church) and we had a cook out for the other members of the newcomers class. Ryan took a solo trip to the east coast to catch up with friends in DC (Tim) and in NC (Peter and family). He was gone a whole week! And he missed stomach bugs with both the girls, lucky him! I got bronchitis the weekend we had the girls birthday party, and this unfortunate status coincided with the fact that we were trying to blow up about 100 balloons for the balloon house we had rented. This was the first time I came to really appreciate good neighbors, esp Maria and Ale who blew up balloons (and went to the store to buy more). Ryan did an amazing grill for the party, kebobs of tandoori chicken, vietnamese beef, pork and pineapple and a chicken sate.

In June, we took our trip to Texas and Tennessee. We went to Texas first, and spent time in Waco with Sandy, Joy and Tom, including a fun day at the Children's Museum. We then went to Houston for time with Ryan's parents, and Shannon and Kyler, and baby Eli. Shannon and I got to scrapbook together, the girls had lots of grandparent fun, and we also went down to Galveston. The girls had fun flying a kite on the beach, throwing cheese puffs at the sea gulls, and Ryan was the only one who got pooped on by a sea gull! After Texas, we went to Tennessee to spend a few days and go to the Bratcher family reunion.

In July, we found out we would be having another baby. Baby #3 is due in late Feb (I think) or early March (doctor thinks). We are having another surprise, and still don't have names picked out. However, we have ruled out some jewels of names already! In July Sabrina started being the Acting Director in social work at Bloomington while the usual director was on sabbatical. 12th Annual Girls Weekend also happened in July, and say Jamie, Jens and Sabrina gathering in Hot Springs. In July Ryan began work on our pantry area, building us a beautiful new pantry, and laying a new sub floor in the area.

August Sabrina taught summer school and Ryan continued some home improvements. Cosette began Pre K at Spencer Elementary and we placed membership at First Christian.

September the girls and I took a trip to Tennessee for a visit and to give Ryan a chance to work on some more house projects. September was a long month at work in terms of meetings and such on top of classes.

October (and September) we had our normal fun of birthday parties and getting ready for Halloween. This was the first year Cosette had a voice in what she wanted to be. She wanted to be a ghost. I was all for sticking a sheet on her head and calling it done, but my friend and neighbor Maria did some nice tailoring work and Cosette came out looking great. Ireland refused to wear her costume but had a great time handing out candy. We had our usual 800ish trick or treaters and had help handling them all from the Ulmets and Pikes. We got new flooring in our bedroom, and in the kitchen and laundry room. Ryan painted the kitchen and laundry a nice soft pine color, and our house looks homier than ever. The sad note in October was in making a trip to Tennessee for the funeral of my young cousin Cole. We loved him very much and miss him! He was so good with our girls, and just a wonderful person.

November was mostly focused on Sabrina starting the count down to the end of the semester (how many meetings is it possible to attend in any given week???) and our trip to Texas for Thanksgiving. Yes, we drove. Yes, we're a little nuts. But we are blessed with two pretty great travelers in the girls, and are hoping we can say the same for Baby Number 3, who is kicking away as I write this. We had a great visit in Texas.

And that brings us to December! The girls have had so much fun decorating the tree and hanging up stockings and hearing stories behind certain ornaments and decorations. And we tell Advent stories at least a few times a week, which is also a nice time to settle down. And Ireland is doing a lot of sitting on the potty! Yes, I am including this in the same paragraph as Christmas and hope you don't think I am sacreligious, but this is a big deal for us, as Ireland, as little as a month ago, said "I not need to go potty. Daddy change my diaper." Ireland and Cosette helped Mommy bake Daddy a birthday cake (his favorite, Black Forest), from scratch! Once I get exams and such turned in, we will head to Tennessee to do some more celebrating.

If you have made it this far, or just skipped to the end, God bless you! And bless you in any case! And be on the lookout for birth announcements sometime before mid-March!

Thanksgiving, throwed rolls, and the introduction of "Joanie"

2010-12-01T07:04:00.002-05:00

So, we are slamming back into routine at home after a 17 hour road trip to Texas for Thanksgiving, and a 17 hour road trip back. Yikes! The girls were good little travelers for the most part but at this stage of pregnancy all the sitting and cramped space made me pretty miserable. The girls had fun playing with friends in Memphis coming and going, and had lots of fun in Texas with Gramma and Papa and esp Cousin Eli, 14 months. I graded every day over break, including Turkey Day itself, which at least means I was caught up completely when I arrived back on campus. (Students turned in major assignments yesterday, so I am no longer officially caught up. Bummer.)

On our last leg of the trip home, on Sunday, we stopped at Lambert's Cafe in Sikeston, Missouri....home of "throwed rolls". Ireland loved the fact that there was a wire basket of butter on the table, free for the taking, and Cosette loved the bread that was all you can eat, provided you catch it when the wait staff throws it to you. Ryan and I loved the free pass arounds that, on Sunday, included fried okra. Yum!

Also, we've been hearing for a couple of years about Cosette's imaginary friend, Sasha, (and sometimes about Gavin). This past week Ireland started talking about Joanie. Yesterday I asked her what Joanie did and she said "um. She went to school today. Pwobabwy."

Heck on wheels

2010-11-14T22:56:00.003-05:00

This phrase kind of describes the business of life these days, and also describes Cosette at her first skating party today. She did really well for a beginner. Of course, the price we are paying is that she woke up twice already tonight crying that her legs hurt, and the second time we ended up giving her some Tylenol for the pain.

We have about 3.5 weeks left of the semester, plus exam week. I CANNOT WAIT for this semester to be over. My stint as acting director will be over at the end of the semester, for which I am really thankful. No more administration for me, at least not while my kids are young!

We are leaving this weekend for our Thanksgiving trip to Texas. We are hoping to clean the house thoroughly before we go so that we can come back to a clean house and start thinking about Christmas and decorating!

The girls gowns are from their great aunt jackie. They love them!

See you soon!

A belated boo

2010-11-01T09:51:00.003-04:00

Spencer trick-or-treated on Saturday night. We gave out over 1000 pieces of candy in the two hour time frame for official trick or treating. We had our usual costume array of princesses, Buzz Lightyears and other commercial things, we had the normal variety of "scary" things....and then we had some really creative things....Origami Cowgirl Princess, a Bunch of Grapes, a Barrell of Monkeys, several Chilean miners.

This is the first year Cosette had a voice in what she wanted to be. She wanted to be a ghost. I was going to slap a sheet over her head and cut out some eye holes, but my neighbor Maria came to the rescue.

Ireland was going to be a giraffe but at the last minute she wouldn't put on her costume.

Both the girls loved handing out candy, having our friends the Ulmets and Pikes over for dinner and festivities, and just the general merriment that followed.

Happy November!

Coming and going

2010-10-15T09:22:00.003-04:00

Last week end Aunt Jennifer and Cousin Samuel came to stay a couple of days. Despite the fact I had to work too much while they were here, we all had a great time. Cosette played harder than she has in her life, I think. I leave for the airport in 30 minutes for a quick trip to Portland for a conference and to see a friend from Vancouver. I'll be back Sunday. Ryan's parents arrive in about an hour and a half and will be here through Monday.

We've also "come and gone" to the pumpkin patch and a couple of birthday parties since I last checked in.

Have a good one!

???

2010-10-03T21:59:00.003-04:00

Where does the time go? For grandparents and various other friends and relatives who read the blog....sorry its been a couple of weeks since update. Work has been crazy.

Even though it has been officially fall for a couple of weeks, it finally feels like fall. Saturday when we left to run errands it was 54 degrees and today when we left for church it was 46. I have gotten out all of Cosette's hand me down footed pjs for Ireland, and had to go in search of some for Cosette. So far she has one pair, with gingerbread men on them. I fear this may be the last year to get footed pjs for her...they don't seem to come in larger sizes. Ryan was out of town this weekend on a retreat, so it was just mommy and the girls. We had fun but we were glad to see Ryan/Daddy by the time we got home from church. When Ireland went to bed tonight Cosette asked if she could draw with my new markers. I just got a new box of Mr. Sketch markers for a school project....to her delight, these are the scented markers and so by the time she finished her picture and had smelled all the markers, she had lots of little colorful dots on her nose.

Not a whole lot more news here....we've picked out the color for our walls in the kitchen, pantry and laundry room. When the painting gets finished, hopefully in a couple of weeks, and we get the trim back up and everything in its rightful place, I'll post lots of pictures of our remodel.

Happy fall!

Progress

2010-09-19T22:24:00.002-04:00

We, mostly Ryan and our paid professional helper, made a lot of progress on the house this week. The pantry doors are hung; the floor is down; the washer and dryer are hooked back up. Our porch is still a wreck but we are gradually putting other things into place. We took part in a multi family yard sale this weekend, met some new "locals", had fun with the Pikes at the Apple Butter Festival and went to church and a birthday party. Cosette and Ireland are tired tired, and so are mommy and daddy!

In other news, Ireland is picking up on Cosette's fashion pick-ness: "I wear dat, not dat"; "no pants! dwess!" and "pink! pink!" She also likes to strip down to her diaper the minute she walks in the door from somewhere.

Cosette continues to love her gymnastics class. She can now do a backwards roll and is very good at "spiderman feet". This is interesting to watch in the gym but a little more traumatizing to watch in your living room.

Have a great week!

It's the great pumpkin time again

2010-09-12T23:00:00.002-04:00

Last weekend we had a great trip to Tennessee "just the girls" while Ryan stayed home and worked like a maniac on our pantry doors. After a couple of hiccups this week, he hung the first door on Friday. We are waiting on more hinges to be able to hang the second door. Our new flooring will hopefully be finished by the end of the week.

One of the things I mainly worked on this weekend was putting summer clothes away and getting out fall clothes for the girls. As Cosette was helping, she said "so it's fall, not summer any more?" and I said that was right. She immediately went to her closet and picked out a shirt to wear. A shirt with long sleeves that she has tried to put on several times this summer, only to be told "You can't wear that until fall!" And then yesterday she was standing in front of the cabinet where our movies are, and she clarified again that it was really fall, and not just summer. I said that was right and she pulled out her DVD of "It's the great pumpkin, Charlie Brown". She would watch that year round if we let her, but I tell her "its only for fall". So all in all Cosette is a happy little girl. Ireland is doing well too; she has completely given up her high chair and tells you for ever meal what she wants "in big chair". She has also become a bit more extroverted, such as at church.

Since their birthday pictures were failures (when Ireland was not at all an extrovert, and was not at all happy with Sears photo lady) I am trying again this week. Different photo strategy, we'll see if it works.

Hope everyone has a good week. I am still trying to get back in the swing of the semester with the additional work of being acting director and also being tired with pregnancy.

up before the birds

2010-09-01T05:48:00.003-04:00

I have been up since 4 stressing about work. In between work tasks I thought I would update the blog.

Saturday we went to the Children's Museum and had a lot of fun. It is fun to see how they grow and change in between trips there, and how what they pay attention to at the museum is different each time. This trip Ireland showed new interest in the very finely crafted doll house miniatures (pointing out "rug!", "clock", "bed" etc) and Cosette played a vintage Pac Man game.

Sunday we went to church and then to the pool, and then Monday began another stressful week at work. Classes are finally underway so I hope that things will settle down soon.

This weekend I am taking the girls to Tenn while Ryan attempts to finish the pantry. While I am not looking forward to the drive there and back solo, I am happy he will have some concentrated time to work on a task. Our house is in such a mess: the laundry room is in the parlor (washer, dryer, dirty clothes, etc), all the stuff that was in the pantry is in bags in the kitchen, our porch looks like Sanford and Son. Amidst all this mess are the usual toys and books scattered around.

That's all for now; need to get back to work.

Now with pictures

2010-08-23T08:18:00.003-04:00

Our friend Jason visited us over the weekend. He lives in California so it had been 6 years since he was at our house before, and he had never seen the girls. While he was here we all went to a little Amish village in southern Indiana that we had never been to, which is where most of these pictures are from; he brought the girls some fun kitchen toys too. The other pic is of Cosette on her first day of school.

Ketchup and Catch-up but no pics

2010-08-17T21:18:00.002-04:00

My intensive freshman class is almost over, hallelujah, because between it and my "normal" work I can barely stay above water.

Ireland here has a ketchup face. You always know what Ireland has recently eaten because she wears it. Also, Ireland is in to running around in just a diaper these days so whatever Ireland has eaten ends up all over here. She is a messy Marvin.

Cosette had her first day of pre-K today. She helped me back her backpack last night and picked out her outfit. When I called at lunch today to see if she had had a good time, she said she was sad "because I didn't get to use all the things we put in my backpack". Bless her, she thought all her school supplies were for the first day!

ETA: HAVE BEEN TRYING FOR 30 MINUTES TO POST PICS, TO NO AVAIL. SORRY!

Woo-wee

2010-08-06T06:59:00.002-04:00

Ireland, like Cosette, has things that she says that make her sound like she is living in the heart of Dixie rather than above the Mason-Dixon line. One of these is "Woooo Wee" and the other is "How YOU mommy?" You'll have to be on the listen for these. But anyway I agree with her on the "woo wee". The class is keeping me busy as there is lots of new prep for it and community service to do, and the heat...the heat....we've had to keep the girls inside almost exclusively for the past few days. Last night at about 7 I was finally able to take them on a quick bike ride up to the playground. We all were sweaty sweaty when we came back home (they even asked to come home, instead of having to be forced) and we had popsicles. Today if the heat index isn't too bad I am taking them to the pool....got to make the most of the rest of the summer!

Finally, pictures

2010-07-30T08:42:00.002-04:00

Well, we now have all the walls and a floor back in the pantry, as opposed to the pictures you see here, but I am continually amazed at how construction in one tiny area of your house can wreak havoc everywhere. And I mean everywhere!

The past two weeks at work have been busy for me and has left me not wanting to do anything after work, so the kids haven't gotten quite as much outside playtime as they would like. This has been VBS week at church, and though we missed Monday night, the girls have had fun there.

I start teaching on Monday, a special summer session where students complete a 3 credit hour course (a semester long course) in three weeks. Class meets every day for 3 hours. Then I'll have a week break before the regular semester starts.

Ryan has been working in the pantry area and is hoping to prime tonight while we are at VBS. Our garden is declining with the weird weather we have been having.

That's all the news from here!

the camera is too dusty to take pictures

2010-07-22T22:11:00.002-04:00

As many of our friends and family know, we usually do a major renovation project each summer. Usually there is some combination of professional/pd work and some combination of "do it yourself". 2004=re-plumbed the upstairs. 2005=re-do walls and cabinets in laundry room; painting upstairs. 2006=new roof. 2007=strip green paint from windowsills in parlor and fix windows. 2008=paint exterior. 2009=re-do downstairs bathroom.;

2010=re-do pantry area. We have been without one section of a wall in our pantry since last fall, when we finished the bathroom. We've always needed to shore up the floor in the pantry area, and there have always been several places where the plaster was bad. Plus it was just dingy. So, this week Ryan and a paid helper (Gustavo) removed about 500 pounds of plaster; replaced the subfloor; hung sheetrock and taped it/sanded it. Over time in the following weeks Ryan will prime and paint the area and build in a new pantry. Due to the plaster removal, there is a layer of dust over EVERYTHING in the downstairs part of the house. It's hideous. We've been so frazzled from the work and from trying to keep the girls out of the work in progress that there has been no time for pictures. Plus, the camera really is dusty!

Hmmm...what are these random pictures doing here?

2010-07-12T18:09:00.003-04:00

No real news to report. Ryan has been working on the doorways of our side and back door, replacing some of the wood so that our new storm doors can go in. I took the girls to two birthday parties on Saturday, and then we had church and friends over yesterday, so they are pretty tired. In a little over a month, Cosette will start pre-k and she made up a song about this the other day. She sung it to a tune she learned at church. We have heard many new "verses" of that, come to think of it. Ireland is going through another growth spurt, both physically and verbally. And with her curly hair, come to think of it. Am trying to take advantage of relatively quiet days at work to sneak home a bit early some days and have fun with my "babies" before the craziness of August begins.

These pictures are courtesy of Cosette, who took them all.

More later!

Big girl beds, barbies and bugs

2010-07-07T20:39:00.003-04:00

When Ryan and Shannon (his sister) were "little", Shannon had a set of twin beds that nested. We have recently inherited those beds and got them assembled last week. Cosette loves her big girl bed; we have to find a way to keep Ireland from falling out of hers!

On Monday I took the kids to the Childrens Museum b/c it was too hot to do anything outside. The museum is huge, the biggest in the US, so I have yet to see it all and definitely can't imagine seeing it all in one day. This is the first time the girls and I have gone to the DinoSphere section, we went to our usual favorites of the preschool play area and the information zone, and we also checked out the two "traveling" exhibits that will be gone before we have a chance to get back: Barbie, and Etch a Sketch. Both of these were AMAZING. Etch a Sketch was more interesting to me I think, to see the artwork that had been done on them, but there were lots of different versions of etch a sketches to play with, which was fun for the kids. They also got to try the worlds biggest etch a sketch.

The Barbie thing was amazing for all of us, and I am not a huge Barbie fan....but there was a whole room of the history of Barbie, the influences "she" has had in other aspects of US life, and even a memory wall where people who wanted to could write on a slip of paper (pink of course) about your favorite barbie memories. And this was just part of the section....there were design tables for the kids (and adults) to create fashion with material; there were computers and drafting tables to create fashion with pencils and paper; there were dress up clothes; there were the big Barbie heads that used to terrify me, for girls to practice hairstyling on. Lots of fun.

And bugs, well....its just buggy here in Indiana these days. Poor Ireland was painted pink with calamine lotion last night.

We'll check in again soon!

2600 miles on the rental car, and some other noteworthy superlatives

2010-06-28T19:42:00.003-04:00

So we made it back from our 17 day roadtrip today...whew. We had a rental car for 15days of this time period and we put 2600 miles on it, plus what we put on our personal car (the round trip from Tennessee to Indiana). This is our best record yet in terms of mileage. Some other records we set include:

Ryan and his dad went deep sea fishing, and Ryan caught the second biggest fish on the boat.

Three meals in a row, all at restaurants, I knocked over my drink completely by myself, not even able to blame the mess on one of the children.

Ireland went to time out 4 times in one 30 minute period, her personal best.

Cosette, when playing with her friend Avery, dressed up as a memaid, a bride and a princess all in one evening. She also gets the award for losing the most things/leaving the most things behind in various stops along the way. (I come in second.).

The girls got to play at the beach, play with their new cousin and some old cousins, see lots of family, fly a kite, run through sprinklers, go to museums and have lots of treats. We had a lot of fun in all phases of our trip, and we were also happy to be home today.

The pics are of the fisherman himself, and of Ryan singing into one of the girls toy microphones in the car. The other two pictures are of the girls faces when Ryan is singing into the toy microphone. (When mommy sings into the microphone, the girls say "no mommy no!". Hmph.)

Leavin' on a jet plane...scratch that, and make it a rental car

2010-06-08T23:54:00.003-04:00

So we are gearing up for a visit to family, and a combination of road trips of various lengths. In preparation I have downloaded new music to the ipod, about 15 new kids songs and about 10 or 11 vintage acapella songs. I have also been to the library for books for me, stocked up on scrapbook paper and pictures, and bought some new movies for the kids with some of their birthday monies. I have stockpiled some snacks. Tomorrow is laundry day and beginning to pack day.

Cosette had her final preschool day today. This included getting her face painted and bouncing in a bounce house. They've also gotten to go to the pool twice in the past few days, had some play times with friends, and "helped daddy" build a castle out of cardboxes from recycling.

In short, we are having lots of fun and I continue to be fairly non productive in the work sense.

It'll be awhile before we blog post but hopefully I'll do some FB updates from the road. Until then.....

Life is good today

2010-05-31T08:52:00.002-04:00

The past few days we have blown up the girls' little pool and put some water in it for some fun outdoor play. (We've also been skipping bathtime, but that's another story!) We've also played with lots of friends which brings joy to Cosette's heart. Ireland has taken to chasing after the "kids" as she is calling out "I comin' too! I comin' too!"

We're hoping to have a quiet and somewhat restful memorial day. Here's hoping the same for you all!

Later this week we'll start gearing up for our trip to Texas, and I have to go into the office some this week for meetings and to start preparing for my July/fall work responsibilities as the social work acting director while our real director is on sabbatical.

Our 4 year old and 2 year old updates

2010-05-26T14:54:00.002-04:00

So now we officially have a 4 year old and a 2 year old. We spent a few days, including their actual birthday, in Tennessee....no other party, just time with family. And Cosette got her "big girl" bike and Ireland got an inch worm rider toy that could not be less interesting to her. She won't even sit on it, but finally pushed it around my mother's garage a bit. The girls esp had lots of fun playing with cousins of all ages, Luke, Samuel, Jeremy, Danielle, Cole and Wyatt, and Sophia. Today we had their check ups with the pediatrician, who continues to state they are perfect. He pronounced Ireland's language skills remarkable (but didn't remember Cosette talked even more verbosely at this stage!) and laughed at their examination room antics. Cosette shared with Dr. Moore that Ireland had received some princess panties for her birthday and was going to start wearing them! She didn't mention her own undergarments, or other presents at all. After dr. we went to McDonald's so Cosette could spend some of her birthday money. (I had asked her what she wanted to do with some of her money, and she said "go to Mc Donald's and get lunch with a toy". (She was talking about a happy meal, which I, being mean, don't get for her) So that's what we did, and both she and Ireland got Shrek toys with their happy meals. That's all the news from here!

The birthday girls

2010-05-17T07:58:00.003-04:00

Cosette's 4th and Ireland's 2nd birthday is on Wednesday, so we had some friends over yesterday (Sunday) for a cookout. We also rented a "balloon house" which is quite a hit for the under 6 set, and even somewhat entertaining for older siblings as well. Once we paid for the rental we started crossing our fingers for "no rain" and sure enough it held out. The girls had lots of fun with their friends, and old toys and new toys and of course cake and ice cream with the extra thrill of multiple juice boxes per child. Hey, its a birthday celebration! We made their cakes here at home and Ireland helped put the sprinkles on hers while Cosette helped with mixing hers up, icing it, placing the decorations on top, and putting ALOT of sprinkles on it. After she had sprinkled it thouroughly she pointed to a particularly sugarized spot and said "I want that piece". They stayed up WAY too late, and as a consequence are both sleeping soundly here at 8:03 this morning. Lots of fun!

Summer, sort of...

2010-05-10T09:17:00.003-04:00

I haven't posted in a couple of weeks due to sickness (mine and the girls), Ryan being out of town (so less time to sit at the computer) and being busy with end of semester tasks. Graduation was Saturday, and I turned in my grades, so all I have left are some end of year meetings over the next couple of weeks, and then the summer is "mine" (theoretically....I have alot of writing to do, and planning for a summer class).

Roses are blooming, the girls are in popsicle love again, and we've been able to play outside in between being sick. Sunday the 16th is the birthday party we are having for the girls here at home....got any ideas for how to entertain some kids? :)

We'll post after the birthday party so you can see pictures of whatever festivity we come up with!

C.E. Cheese

2010-04-28T14:19:00.002-04:00

For Christmas, Aunt Janie gave the girls a gift card to Chuck E. Cheese. We finally got around to using it (it was a looong winter!) this past Saturday. The girls were enthralled with the things little kids can do, like the tube/climbing area, the little car rides, horse rides, etc. I enjoyed playing a hearty game of Whack A Mole after two long days of grading. We all enjoyed Ski-ball, but the people in the lane by Ireland....not so much did they enjoy their experience I am guessing. (Ireland thinks ski-ball is a contact sport.) We had a lot of fun. They each "won" enough tickets to trade them in for lollipops and tattoos.

I am way behind on grading, so this is a quick post. Ryan is leaving for a trip to see some friends in DC and North Carolina in a few days, so I will be single parenting and having a friend do some babysitting next week while I am giving and grading exams.

More next week!

the home stretch

2010-04-20T22:52:00.003-04:00

I am in the home stretch for the semester in terms of class prep; in terms of grading I have lots more to do! Cosette was very brave today in swimming lessons, putting her face into the water for longer periods of time and blowing bubbles and jumping in. She definitely feels more confident in the water. Ireland's most often used words are "I want it!" (I wann it) and "I no wann it". It is popsicle season again, much to their delight, and also time to play outdoors. We are planting a garden with our neighbors who have an empty lot next to their house; today we bought tomato plants, okra plants, seed potatoes, some lettuce seeds, and a couple of other things. That's all the news from here...in less than a month we will have a two year old and a four year old in our house!

2010-04-13T20:38:00.002-04:00

These pictures were made over the weekend. The girls and mommy went to a walk benefitting a non-profit, and then afterward had pizza and played in Dunn Meadow on IU campus. Later, Ryan and the girls planed the flower seeds that the girls got at Epcot. We are doing a lot of playing outside, and Cosette taking swimming lessons, Ireland is talking alot more, Ryan has begun doing some yard work and I am still grading, and about to fall asleep at the computer as I finish this less than exciting post. Hopefully a more enthusiastic update will occur next week!

Drooling...

2010-04-06T22:53:00.002-04:00

...with exhaustion. That time of the semester, coupled with a quick-but-long weekend trip to see an old friend's wedding, plus random other activities is making for a tired Sabrina. The past two nights I have fallen asleep while putting the girls to bed!

The girls had fun at Easter; Ryan's mom came down to spend a long weekend with them. They colored eggs and hunted them, ate at Miss Hallister's (what C calls McAllister's) and visited a pet store, and watched the Sound of Music among other things.

Cosette and Ireland are loving the warmer weather. Ireland wants to "wok" and "pay" (walk and play) every day. She loves slides and dirt. Cosette also loves to play, and she has gotten quite adventurous on the monkey bars. She also started swim lessons today, and really did a great job.

That's about all my work addled brain can think of...we'll update again next week.

Always let your conscience be your guide

2010-03-24T08:24:00.002-04:00

In case you don't recognize it, the title comes from a song that Jiminy Cricket sings in Pinnochio. Cosette loves Jiminy Cricket so we hear this little ditty alot. I thought it was a good title for our post about Disney because in addition to the Disney connection with the movie, it is a "theme" for our trip in other ways. Simply said, we had a great time. The weather was perfect, our accommodations nice, the girls were so fun to watch. They are in that good stage of being imaginative and excited, so they loved the characters, the shows and the simplest rides....and yet they weren't so tuned into every single detail that they got overstimulated or (more importantly for my credit card) paid attention to all the stuff for sale. And there was plenty of stuff for sale everywhere you turn, especially since many of the rides have you exit into a gift shop! So, we made it home without souvenir junk, the two exceptions being a new movie and a bubble blower. The girls had a great amount of fun, so did we, and I would say we had about as simple of a trip to Disney as is possible. (Which is to say, not very simple, but we tried.) The main thing our conscience felt guilty about was all the excess....like even the simplest of foods were so expensive and while we are fortunate enough to pay for it (with our vacation budget) we know there are people struggling to pay for basic food at home and so what is a luxury for us is really excessive. In a similar vein, we saw several things at Epcot about energy conservation, recycling, etc but could barely find a recycle bin in the park. The irony!

You are probably thinking "enough with the social commentary! show me some pictures of my neices/granddaughters/random cute kid of a friend I have". Before that, I wanted to tell you the highlights from Cosette's perspective: Best character meeting, Mickey in Animal Kingdom (dressed up in Safari gear); Best ride, the Toy Story Midway Mania; Best Show, The Little Mermaid. Ireland can't verbalize to this extent but she seemed most excited at seeing Pooh (Hewwo! Hewwo!!!!) and she liked the moderately spinning rides like Dumbo but not so much the quickly spinning things like the teapots. She took naps during the shows. :) Now, onto the pictures.

The happiest place on earth

2010-03-09T22:05:00.003-05:00

We begin our journey to Disney World soon. The girls just know we are going on a trip, or a "bacation" as Cosette says. Other than one day spent at the park on the back end of a youth campaign, most of which was spent in the infirmary, I haven't been to Disney World. I vaguely remember being at Epcot a bit before I got sick, but have no memory of Magic Kingdom at all, and I know I didn't ride any rides there. So it is safe to say that Disney will be a new experience for all "the girls". Ryan went a couple of times with his family when he was growing up. We feel a little guilty with the money we are spending on the trip, but have made some peace with that in various ways and are just looking forward to spending time in the warm weather, with the girls, who will surely be having fun. As part of our preparations, we borrowed a double stroller from some friends, and here are the girls helping us try it out.

We'll check in again post Disney and after I get back in the swing of things after spring break!

Spring break fever

2010-03-03T14:58:00.003-05:00

I have a case of it. Alas, spring break doesn't officially begin for another week and a half. We finally don't have snow on the ground, which is the first time I have been able to say that since early January. The girls have had lots of cabin fever which we have tried to ward off by dancing around the house alot, and playing in the children's room at the library (still referred to as "the liberry" by Cosette). We have spent some time with friends' kids in the past week, which has given Ireland a chance to be around babies. She is very sweet around them, and surprisingly gentle given the exuberance with which she usually approaches people, places and things.

Ryan continues to work on modifying his model train in his "spare" time. We also watched too much Olympics over the past couple of weeks, another winter survival ploy in the midwest.

That's all the news for here. Stay tuned next week for a final report before we leave for the happiest place on earth!

"Sometimes I just got hard work to do"

2010-02-23T18:36:00.002-05:00

When I asked Cosette if she could talk to Grandmommy on the phone earlier this evening, Cosette kept saying no. When I finally asked why, her response was "because sometimes I just got hard work to do". Apparently this is one of those times. Meanwhile, I am drowning under my own hard work of grading papers and other assignments. Ireland is adding new words still most every day: lunch, bubbles,stairs, cuckoo clock, etc. She is also in the stage where she says "bye" to things as she is leaving the room. "Bye clock. Bye book. Bye doll." Her favorite word still is mine. Mine balloon. Mine juice. Mine elmo. You get the picture.

Off to grade mine papers!

From Torino to Vancouver (with a stop in Manchester, TN)

2010-02-16T21:00:00.002-05:00

So we have been watching some winter olympics here. We seem to have more snow in Spencer Indiana (7 fresh inches yesterday, plus what was on the ground from last week)than they do in Vancouver but that's another story. Anyway....the last time the winter olympics were on I was pregnant with Cosette. Fast forward four years and now I have an almost 4 year old AND an almost two year old who like to engage in mock ice skating in the living room and who really like to emulate the snowboarding crashes. Ouch.

This past weekend we went to Tennessee for the express purpose of going to a Valentine's Party at my aunt Janet's house. (My 6 year old cousin Samuel had asked after Christmas "Who's having Valentine's at their house?) so Janet volunteered. It was very special because we got to see a cousin (Luke) that we hadn't seen since Cosette was 1, and we got to see "off" a cousin (Kelly) who leaves Friday for Korea for a year. And there were lots of other cousins and relatives there too! One of the highlights was Luke teaching Ireland a secret handshake and Cosette, announcing to a crowd, "I am waiting very patiently for a turn" while yet some other cousins (Cole and Caleb) were playing ping pong (pom pom as Cosette calls it). We had lots of fun.

This weekend means lots of grading for me....and hopefully the weather will cooperate where we can get out some.

Happy Mardi Gras!

c'mon; call me laura

2010-02-09T20:37:00.003-05:00

Today Cosette asked if I could call her Laura.

Why?
"Because I do. Because there's not a Laura in this whole city. Because there's not a Laura in thie WHOLE world. Is the big world big?"

Yep it's pretty big.

"Can we go to the end of the world? I want to see what's at the end of the world. What's at the end of the world?"

What do you think is at the end of the world?

"Bugs."

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Inevitably, the girls finish their suppper before Ryan and I get done. This is inevitable because Ryan and I seemingly each get up about 15 times during dinner to get something the girls need. Anyway, they finish and if they have eaten healthy they get a little treat....usually about 5 M&Ms each. They each get their stash in a little bowl and then run to sit on the treadmill, looking out the window, while they eat their goodies. For the past couple of nights Ireland has gotten her treat first while C is still eating or waiting. Ireland stands in the doorway of the kitchen leading into the room where the treadmill is calling and gesturing to Cosette, "C'mon! C'mon! Come on!"

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We have not begun potty training, but Ireland has been interested in reading books about the potty so we thought we'd sit it out and let her get used to it. Mostly she sits in it while she's fully dressed. But its a start!

Seeing your "statue"

2010-02-03T09:28:00.002-05:00

So yesterday was Groundhog Day, and at Cosette's preschool (where she goes two days a week) they did several little activities related to the event. Cosette has always, and continues to, refer to a "shadow" as a "statue". Needless to say, last night I heard a great deal about statues. This weekend we are going to work on making some Valentines for her classmates at school. There's nothing like a hallmark created holiday to inspire us to practice our fine motor skills. I have two children clamoring on me, and I need to get to work.

Photo: Ireland working on her block stacking and block demolition skills.

Finally, a "yes"

2010-01-26T21:01:00.002-05:00

Anyone that knows us in real life and who has been around Ireland can testify: any question you ask the girl, the answer is "no". Do you want a cookie? No. Are you having fun? No? Want to take a bath? (a favorite thing) And still the answer is no. Finally, yesterday she said "yes", or more like "ess" and has repeated it a few times today. That noise you heard last evening was a heavenly chorus singin to mark the wondrous occasion.

Cosette had a snow day from preschool today...after Ireland went to bed tonight we were busy playing with some Highlights books we got for Christmas and looking for hidden pictures. A pleasant way to pass an evening.

Need to get some work done now that both kiddos are in bed.

Imaginations and invisible friends

2010-01-20T12:10:00.002-05:00

Cosette has had some imaginary friends for a while now. First there was Gavin, who lived in her other house, and went swimming with her. Gavin appears to be a friendly older brother type. Then came Sasha (Cosette says "Satsa") who is kind of the "bad kid" of the bunch. Satsa pushes people down, steals snacks, and in yesterday's episode of Cosette's imagination, got in trouble for hanging upside down from the ceiling. Most recent on the scene is "Laura", who we have heard of now a few times but who doesn't have any discernible personality traits as of yet. Cosette also has imaginary animal friends: Jesse the horse, Jesse the dog, and sometimes Jesse the cat.

Ireland is catching on to pretend play, though of course she doesn't have as much verbage to attach to her actions. Ireland will bring her tea set plate and cup and shove it up to your mouth "num num" and will put her babies "night night" all day long (up and down the stairwell).

Ryan and I enjoy watching their imaginations develop. Who doesn't enjoy a good break from reality?

The others of us in the house are busy with work of various sorts and trying to keep down the clutter in this house....a losing battle!

Settling in, so to speak

2010-01-13T00:06:00.002-05:00

So we are mostly settled in from our long Christmas journey....we had a couple of snow days last week so it was fun to play in the snow. I have a "new prep" this semester (a course I have never taught before) and I spent 7 hours preparing for the first class (more if you count the syllabus), plus the three hours teaching the class today...I had forgotten how labor intensive new classes are! Ireland is pacifier free, and we are soon going to take out the potty chair. She brings you a diaper when she needs a change, so we think that's a good sign! I'll be in San Francisco for about 40 hours this weekend for a conference. I land Thurs at 5ish and return to Indy at 10 pm on Saturday. I didn't want to be away any longer than that. That's all the news from here!

Happy New Year!

2010-01-05T17:31:00.002-05:00

So, after 17 days on the road we made it home Saturday evening. Other than the holidays, we were looking forward to spending time with family and hopefully meeting two newborns. One newborn, who came into the world on 12/28, cooperated with us. The other little person continues to obstinately hang out in utero, even though she was supposed to make an appearance on 1/2. Anyway! Cosette went back into school today. The wind chill was a -5 when I walked her down there. I am working on my syllabi and other things necessary to start school. I have a new class this semester which will take a lot of prep but I am looking forward to teaching it. The girls had a great visit in both Texas and Tennessee, and they love their family members very much. Ireland had a verbal explosion during our trip and also became paci free. Cosette continues to alternate being super sweet and super silly, sometimes both at the same time. And we are so tired of hearing her talk about poop! (A habit she picked up at preschool, or maybe its just the age). Anyway, that's about the news from here.

Merry Christmas

2009-12-16T20:20:00.002-05:00

As we are getting ready to travel, this will likely be the last post of 2009. What a year! I feel like we have moved non-stop the past few days between work, trying to plan for trip, and seeing friends and doing holiday things. We have had fun, though! Tonight we had our family Christmas, since we will in Texas at Christmas. I took the girls out while Ryan wrapped the presents we got the girls. The girls get three presents each from "St. Nicholas" because that's how many the baby Jesus got. Cosette got her wished for binoculars, an etch a sketch, and a big floor puzzle. Ireland got a puzzle, a tea set and a Fisher Price "vintage" toy clock just like the one I had many years ago. Then they got to open their stockings. Cosette was so sweet, she looked around after she had opened her presents and instead of asking if there were more for her, she asked "mommy and daddy where are your presents? why don't you have presents?"

So, we'll be seeing a good number of you over the next couple of weeks. And we wish all the best to the rest of you! Merry Christmas! We'll be back in 2010 for a New Year's post!

One of those weeks

2009-12-11T07:13:00.002-05:00

It's been one of those weeks here, and I don't think we've even taken any pictures. These are ones from T-giving. I am overwhelmed with grading and other work, and have been working til midnight or later every night for the past couple of weeks in prep to be gone for the holidays. And I am still behind! Last night we went out to dinner for Ryan's birthday, and Cosette performed a birthday ballet dance for him. It was so sweet, and so unexpected. And of course the camera was nowhere near! Ireland was excited by birthday doings, and she still busies herself with redecorating the tree every day. If we are coming to your house for the holidays, beware!

More later.

the best merry Christmas ever

2009-12-02T22:57:00.002-05:00

We had a very nice Thanksgiving and got to see lots of family. Cosette has been very excited about the fact that "after Thanksgiving comes Christmas". We put the tree up on 12/2 and got the stockings up and the snow globes out and the wall hanging from great aunt Esther. The other breakables and the candles will have to wait until Ireland is a little more trustworthy. When we were putting up the tree decorations, Cosette came over and gave me a hug and said "this will be the best merry Christmas ever". I think it will be! We have also been implementing the Jesse tree for her...a bible story every night with a special emphasis that I am too tired to explain. Google if you are interested.

Tonight Ryan set up his trains for a little bit because Cosette had been asking to see them since she saw the box in the closet. Ireland looked at them and said "choo choo!" so we were excited to hear another new word from her.

My position in the Office for Women's Affairs is coming to a close, which will mean less money but more flexibility of schedule in 2010. I am looking forward to that! For now, it is 11 pm and I have lots of grading and other prep tomorrow, so I will sign off.

Failed Christmas Photo Attempt #1

2009-11-19T08:42:00.003-05:00

It is that time of year again, the time to think about decorating and baking and holiday hospitality, and the taking of the Christmas photo. Organizing two kids to look at the camera at the same time with a pleasant expression on their faces is kind of dicey. Toss in the need to have clean faces and be sitting in a relatively clean room, and it is really out of my league. It calls for a professional, actually, but by the time we paid for the picture CD or paid for professionals to make the little cards, it would be way unaffordable. So, friends and family, I beseech you: have low expectations for this year's card. Or, you can look at a great picture of them with our friend John Mark, taken in St. Louis last weekend. JM, how do you feel about being on our holiday card this year???

This weekend will be busy with dinners with friends, church and the like but we are looking forward to it. We leave Monday evening for Tennessee for a few days at Thanksgiving.

Happy Turkey Eating!

Leaves

2009-11-10T14:33:00.002-05:00

I made a quick trip to San Antonio (Sat pm to Mon pm) for a conference and Ryan and the girls raked leaves while I was gone. He sent me these pics at the conference to let me know what I missing!

We are looking forward to seeing friends in St. Louis this weekend....a fun fall getaway!

In the meantime, I need to catch up on lots of work!

(That is the official reason I am giving for the most boring blog post ever!)

it's too quiet upstairs....

2009-11-03T14:59:00.004-05:00

...where the girls are playing by themselves, so i will make this a quick post to go investigate. halloween was our usual frenzied affair, going through 17 bags of candy in just under two hours. as usual, we couldn't have done it without our friends the pikes! well, we could have done it, but we wouldn't have enjoyed it nearly so much! ireland was the same cat that cosette was two years ago. cosette was a frog. it was hard to get good pics due the fact that they are always moving, and usually in different directions. ryan's grandmother died saturday, so he left for texas today. he will be back thursday. am piecing together work and childcare. this was his last grandparent, and the only great-grandparent the girls had a shot at knowing. i believe cosette will have some memories of her. in more mundane news, cosette has a runny nose, cough and fever. there are bugs that just constantly go around preschool and it seems like we don't get over one thing very long before something else comes along to take its place. ireland is getting in all four molars at the same time. nice! i just heard a cry for "mama" so I am off for upstairs.

Where did the week go?

2009-10-26T06:24:00.004-04:00

I have been meaning to post an update for the past few days and just haven't been able to get to it. We haven't even taken that many pictures, so life has just been busy with routine things. It is hard to believe that this is the end of October, and 800+ trick or treaters will await us on Saturday. Cosette has a preschool party on the 29th and I think I might take the girls to the Halloween party for kids at the library on that evening too. We finally cleaned off the dining room table enough to put our bowl of dried corn and little gourds on it, thereby completing our holiday decor. That's about the most festive thing we have done in the past few days. Ryan worked on the cabinet door for the bathroom Saturday while I took the girls to soccer and errands; then I spent several hours grading, alas. Sunday I went to the hospital bright and early to see a friend having a baby; she had a healthy baby girl at about 11 am which I was honored to see. This prompted C to ask when she could have a baby in her tummy. Answer? Not for a long long long long time. Then last night after church we grabbed a quick bite out, then came home for reading books and bed. And now it's Monday again. Have a good week!

Misc

2009-10-18T09:32:00.002-04:00

Of course, the girls were playing really nicely (independently) when I sat down to upload pics and do a blog update, and as soon as I had been at the computer about 10 seconds that all went south. I have C requesting a Halloween costume change, Ireland destroying one of C's preschool activities and screeching about her baby doll. So, all I'll say is that this has been a busy week in which all of us but Ryan have been ill. I am swamped with grading, but that is the nature of this time of the semester. We have our Halloween lights up outside, and a little bit of decoration up inside. Cosette's fine motor skills have improved alot at preschool, and every day she says, multiple times a day, about what letter a word begins with, like "bowl, 'buh', bowl begins with b". Ireland is trying out some new words, but she is still much stronger in recognizing pics (i.e. "where's the elephant?") than in saying words on her own. The temp is below freezing this morning. Brr. I need to go mediate between the girls!

Fall fun

2009-10-07T22:17:00.002-04:00

The girls and I had two fun fall outings last weekend while Ryan worked on his grill table and some on the bathroom. On Friday afternoon after work we went to an apple orchard. It is late for picking, but there were still some on the trees and Cosette had fun. Ireland had her first taste of apple cider: "Nummy nummy nummy" she said. Saturday after soccer we went to a ranch in Loogootee (about an hour away). It includes a pumpkin patch, petting farm animals, horses, bounce house, etc. The girls both had lots of fun. When we got back, Cosette asked if we could go again the next day. When she saw Cosette getting in the bounce house, Ireland pitched a fit to get in too. The lady let me go in with her and Ireland had so much fun bouncing around. Given all the adults standing on the outside filming, I fully expect to be on America's Funniest Home Videos sometime soon. There's a reason adults are banned from those things typically.

Ryan leaves tomorrow (Thursday) for a weekend trip to Texas so he can see his new nephew (and other family members). It remains to be seen what the girls and I will get into.

Have a good week!

Fall-ish

2009-09-29T21:02:00.002-04:00

We had a good, though quick, trip to Tennessee and got to see lots of family! We came back to fall weather, which is nice, and we broke out the cool weather jammies for both the girls. We have started buying our Halloween candy for 800+, and looking forward to a visit to the pumpkin patch. Despite the cooler temps, Cosette still puts in a nightly request for a popsicle. Ireland seems to be over teething for now, thank goodness, and we basically got a full night's sleep last night. That's the news, such as it is, from here!

a quick update

2009-09-23T12:34:00.002-04:00

its a super busy week at work, and we are leaving tomorrow (thursday) for a quick trip to Tennessee. hard to believe that next week will be october, and time for pumpkin patches, hayrides and halloween! i have started buying a few bags of candy, here and there, so that buying for 800 doesn't hit us all at once.

we had a busy weekend last weekend, and i think cosette's favorite was the parade (and jumping in the bounce house) at the apple butter festival. she has a bit of a cold this week, and ireland is cutting two top teeth.

more next week!

2009-09-17T21:24:00.004-04:00

For the first time in three weeks, my schedule had a little "give" in it today so I got to come home early enough to pick up Cosette at preschool. Then she and Ireland and I walked downtown for haircuts (not Ireland) and then to the library. Cosette said earlier in the week, out of the blue, "I want Miss Erica to cut my hair"...and I had been thinking I needed a cut, so off we went. With the exception of hanging one towel rack, the shower curtain, and finishing the shelves, our bathroom is done. Cosette had the first honorary potty time in it. Ireland is now walking everywhere, and trying to do everything that Cosette and her playmates do...such is the lot in life of a little sister, I guess. Ireland's new thing is to say "mama" whenever she wants something (whether I am around or not) and shake her head until you hit upon the thing she wants. I knew we should have worked harder on baby signs with her! Tomorrow (Friday) I have a faculty retreat that, given the distance from my house, will mean that I am gone 13 hours tomorrow. Ick. This weekend is the Apple Butter Festival, and our friends the Pikes are coming down for lunch, then the festival, and then we have a little friend's birthday party that evening. Sunday will indeed be a day of rest. Hallelujah.

Soccer! And more about the bathroom

2009-09-07T20:09:00.006-04:00

Cosette, Ireland and I went to the IU women's soccer game on Friday afternoon, my first ever soccer game (and obviously, their first soccer game too!) On Saturday morning, Cosette had her first soccer practice. The Y has a mini-league for 3 and 4 year olds where they (14 pre schoolers) just come out for an hour on Saturday mornings and kick the ball around. Later in the fall they will divide into two groups and "play" each other. Work continues on our bathroom, but the workmen have left, and the remaining work is going to be done by Ryan. This translates into "it might take longer, but we don't have to write checks out every week anymore!". We have had a nice labor day....I took the girls to a play date this morning, this afternoon Cosette and I colored while Ireland napped and Ryan painted the bathroom door. After Ireland woke up, all "the girls" joined Ryan on the front porch while he painted and they played with sidewalk chalk. As a special treat, and at Cosette's request, Ryan took out his trumpet and he and C played some. We'll check in again soon!

Getting there

2009-09-02T22:14:00.002-04:00

...the bathroom, that is. The only pictures we have taken this week are tonight, in the bathroom, so we could update the blog. We have had a busy but good week. Ireland has been chatting more, and is fascinated with belly buttons, especially Cosette's. Cosette and Ireland have been to a couple of school events with me in the past few days, a faculty picnic on Saturday and a student orientation party last night. Cosette continues to love preschool, even though it is hard to get much information about it out of her. Ryan says it is really sweet to watch Cosette and Ireland at C's classroom. Yesterday C came out of the room after he and Ireland and left, to run and give her a hug and say "I didn't say goodbye to Boudai". (Boudai is Cosette's name for Ireland, thought up on her own, for whatever origin it may otherwise have, we don't know.)

Allegedly, the workmen will be done Thursday morning with their work, then Ryan will dig in and finish.

Need to get to bed....class tomorrow!

bathroom blahs

2009-08-27T21:23:00.002-04:00

Our downstairs bathroom has been in need of a remodel since we bought the house in 2004. Obviously, we did some work on it when we moved it but it has always been tiny, dank, and prone to mold. This summer we threw caution, and lots of money, to the wind for a remodel. We are in week 4 of a remodel that was to have lasted 10 days to 2 weeks. Don't get me started on that. Maybe when the project is complete I can scan in some original pics from several years ago, then the de-constructed bathroom, then the finished product. Until then, you get a pic of Ireland and the work in progress. The other pic is from when the girls and I went to Terre Haute to meet up with my friend Lori, driving through on her way from MS to IL. Lots of fun!

A preschool recap

2009-08-20T20:14:00.005-04:00

Cosette had a good first day in preschool. She was happy and occupied before we even left the room. We'll let her tell you about her day.

the end of summer

2009-08-17T23:14:00.003-04:00

the end of summer approaches, and with it, the flexibility i enjoy with work during the summer months. we squeezed in a trip to tennessee and had a great time with lots of family. the girls had fun on the trampoline, the pony, in the pool, eating ice cream, you name it.

check back at the end of the week for a re-cap of the first day of Big Girl Preschool!

Busy girls

2009-08-10T20:55:00.002-04:00

Ireland has a cold this week, and has had it for a few days. She sounds like a little old man when she coughs. On top of this, she is teething, so evenings in particular at our house have been fun. If fun = lots of shrieking and demanding!

Ireland has also gotten into playing with the toys in the entry way; chiefly, the toy kitchen and the easel. Mobility has its benefits.

Cosette, while still enjoying books,is definitely in a puzzle phase right now. She loves to put puzzles together, and likes other mechanical/manipulative things like the Mr./Mrs. Potato Head. She is also especially enthralled with our bathroom remodeling (more about that in a future entry) because she likes to take her own flashlight and a little measuring tape into the bathroom and inspect the contractor's work after he leaves for the day.

And, for some live action blogging: Just now, Cosette is holding up a picture of Ireland saying: "She is my best friend in the whole world. She is adorable in this picture." Rounding out the listing of her other best friends: "Itsy and Justice and Samuel." Then she said "I love everybody. Even ghosts. Can I have some milk in a sippy cup?"

The story of a summer

2009-08-04T15:33:00.003-04:00

There are upwards of 8000 Boy Scouts on IU's campus this week. This fact will be come important later in this entry, if I can keep my train of thought going.

Now that it is August, it is time to think about going back to school. Preschool for Cosette, and teaching for me. (I have been working all summer finishing up a grant and also working in the Office for Women's Affairs, but not teaching.)

Thinking about going back to school makes me think about the ending of summer.

This is the summer that Ireland saw sand for the first time. This is the summer Cosette learned how to climb up the jungle gym and also lost her fear of the twisty slide.

This is the summer that Ireland first said her name (sounds like "island") and tried to sing along to Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star (very good tune wise!). This is the summer that Cosette transitioned from calling a fair ride "The Go Around Wheel" to the "Ferris Wheel".

This is the summer first Cosette, and then Ireland, have developed an affinity for popsicles (which began at Tom and Joy's house, on our trip to Texas!)

This is the summer we have had the most beautiful roses, and time to play in the yard, like the game of freeze tag we played last night with Cosette, and three neighbor friends and associated parents.

This is the summer (today in fact!) that Cosette got to ride a bus for the first time. She has come to work with me intermittently this summer, and has always asked to ride one of the campus buses. Today was the day! We got on the bus in front of my office, rode to the end of the line at the football stadium, watched one of the Drum Corps groups practice, and then rode the bus to the food court at the library.

After eating at the library, we left to walk back to my office. It can be a little long for Cosette, though it is manageable. However, we were almost halfway back to my office when the skies OPENED UP. Cosette, understandably, started wailing so I put down our lunch leftovers, my first official act of littering on IU campus, and scooped her up. By the time I got us into the nearest building, which happened to be the Lilly Library (which is more like a museum, amd is not a lending library) our clothes and hair were completely drenched. (I am writing this three hours later, and my clothes are still damp. When I say we were completely drenched, we were COMPLETELY drenched.)

Anyway...as I was charging up the steps of Lilly with her, these two men opened the door for me and made my entry into the building with Cosette a little easier. By this time, the thunder and lightening had begun and they were very good to try to console Cosette. Turns out, they are the leaders of a Boy Scout troup in Boston and had taken cover in the museum just before I did. Cosette and I talked with the Boy Scouts for about an hour while the worst of the storm passed. During that time, a lady who works at the Lilly came through, saw us, and came back out with a towel and a sweater for Cosette.

When the thunder and lightening were on a break, someone from the Lilly loaned us a library and Cosette and I made our way back to my office, which obviously makes this also the summer I learned to appreciate Boy Scouts, and the staff at the Lilly.

The end.