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I want to play too!!!

Morning Surprise

I told the boys that I would bring them back a fun surprise from California if they would be really good while I was gone. They came into my room early Monday morning to find out just what it was. I sent them into the bonus room to find the surprise. . .

It was Grammy and Aunt Rachel (my brother's wife)! It was so much fun to do a surprise visit! We spent a really fun week together. More to come. . .

PS - I just watched the video, and all you can see is eyeballs! But, you can hear the surprise. . . it shows up a lot better on our TV for some reason. Oh well! I tried!

I'm Back! plus, California Adventures

It's been a great couple of weeks. I'm going to try to play catch up today. We'll start with an awesome trip for me to Southern California for my friends wedding. It was just Emilee and I on this little adventure.

Emilee started out the adventure by barfing every time we got out of the car. We think that sitting at a different angle in Grammy's car seat made her car sick, the poor little thing! She got a couple of baths in Grammy's sink, and the car seat got a couple of baths as well. Lots of fun. We tried not to drive too far after the second incident.
We visited my Grandpa. . .We played Daffodil Darling on grammy's cute table. . .

Emilee got to meet 4 of the other kids from my High School girlfriends. Here we have Laura's Graydon, Julie's Brittany, and Carrie's Jeffrey and Johnny. We are missing just my 3 boys, Julie's soon to be son, and Jenn's Tony and Meagan. There will be 11 kids here in a month or so from the original 7 of us.

On the Leiningers putting green. Lots of fun!

And here we are at Ruth's wedding. So far, all 7 of us have made it to all the weddings. I really love these girls and always have such a fun time getting together with them! I'm so glad Ruth was getting married and gave us an excuse to see each other! We were a very tightly knit group in High School, and I'm amazed how when we get back together it's like we didn't miss a beat. We always have such fun.

Laura, Jamie, Carrie, Ruth (the bride) Jenn, Frankie (Tyler's wife), Rachel, and Julie.

Seen and Heard

SEEN - Today Chandler and I were having our Monday lunch date at Costco food court, a ritual we repeat every Monday after a morning of shopping. While we were enjoying our pizza I heard a little "oh!" and he tapped me on my shoulder so excited and pointed to a man that looked about like this guy. . .
and said, "Look mom! I see Jesus! He is at Costco too!" We had a good giggle and I explained the situation, but I'm not sure he bought my story.

HEARD - Tonight at family home evening Chandler was assigned to give the opening prayer. It went like this, very matter of fact. . . "Heavenly Father, I saw Jesus. He was at Costco."

Much giggling ensued as you can well imagine. . .

Forbidden Love

Not really forbidden, but it was a fun title anyway! I did think these two were so cute today snuggling through the gate at the top of the stairs. Chandler can't open it yet, and Emilee obviously can't. So they just stood there and talked to each other. Such sweet little friends!

the favorite spot

While the kids have been sick this week (we've all had it now but Emilee, for which we are so grateful!) there has been a lot of snuggle time. Snuggle in bed, snuggle on the couch, but always under your favorite blanket. For Chandler, that still means his "baby blanket," the one I made for him when he was one.

When I was getting him out of bed the other day, he complained that I moved his blanket "over." So, I flipped it over to the other side, but he still protested. He started crying saying he needed his "favorite side!" I had no idea what to make of this. Then he started running his fingers down the binding until he found the one imperfection in it. A lump under the seam from where the binding all came together. He slipped it between his second and third finger and let out an, "Ahhhh, my favorite!"
Since then I've observed him many times sitting on the couch with this funny little spot on the blanket between his fingers. It's the thinnest part of the blanket. I can't believe I never noticed he had a little lovey spot on it before! But for some reason, I think it's really sweet.

My 32nd Birthday, a play in 3 acts

Act I : the Day

As the scene opens Rachel is awakened from a nice little sleep in by her children singing "Happy Birthday" like an alarm clock. She smells something delicious and upon arising finds that her sweet husband has made her a surprise breakfast of their old college favorite. Chocolate chip pancakes with chocolate ice cream! Yummy!

The day continues swimmingly, as she is invited to Keren's for a delicious chicken sandwich lunch. They head over right after the bus arrives for good food, good conversation, and some playtime for the little ones.

Nap time is a challenge, and she barely gets the little ones down before the school bus arrives, but then has enough time to do her makeup and fix herself up in time for her big date.

Act II : the Date

Rachel's Date arrives in style in a freshly cleaned white limo (okay, it was the camry!). The babysitter arrives shortly thereafter, and is given an enormous list of "to do's" that are necessary like homework, as well as some fun options. They decide they are going to bake a birthday cake for mom while she is away, and mom agrees that as long as homework and piano are done, that sounds great!

Gordon and Rachel leave on their date, but not before taking a prom photo:The kids and Mandy do a whirlwind of homework, piano, pick up, and cake baking.
Gordon and Rachel are blissfully eating a delicious meal and chatting about travel they would like to have together in the next 10 years. It's a wonderful meal and Rachel feels like the luckiest girl in the world! They leave dinner and head to a Broadway show, calling home on the way. Everything is wonderful at home, the baby is happy and eating well, and the happy couple heads into opening night of Wicked knowing all is well. . .

Act III - the Disaster

Gordon and Rachel are really enjoying Wicked. Intermission brings a walk and Rachel calls Mandy to make sure the kids are doing well. She assures her everything is fine, except. . . Chandler threw up about 5 minutes after they last got off the phone and has barfed about every 20 minutes since. He is a sick boy. She has given him a bath, and they are sitting on the couch with a barf bucket.

Gordon and Rachel are mortified that the babysitter felt like she needed to handle this and the protests of "why didn't you call us!?!?!?" are countered with "I've got this! No worries, it's a situation I've never experienced so I'm learning a lot." She insists that if she had wanted them to come home she would have called 2 hours ago when it began.

Gordon and Rachel decide to stay at the play. The sitter's obviously already been exposed and things seem to be under control. Rachel fights back guilt tears momentarily, but then decides to stay. They really enjoy the rest of the play, and then hurry home to relieve the sitter, who they pay VERY generously. She has not only tended the sickie, made a cake, and helped with homework, but the house is cleaner than when we left. She is an angel. Gordon and Rachel are so grateful they got Mandy, who has been sitting for them since she was 13 (7 years ago) and not a 13 year old!

11:30, Chandler has continued to puke every 20 minutes. Everyone tries to go to bed. Everyone is up every 20 minutes.

1:30, while Gordon and Rachel are helping Chandler barf once again, Aidan walks in the room and proclaims his "throat feels weird." The second victim begins. . .

3:00, G&R agree they need to take shifts or no one will sleep. Rachel takes the first shift, and catches up on her American Idol viewing between holding up little heads over buckets.

5:00, Switch. Rachel finally gets to sleep (until 7:30), after a wonderful, fabulous, romantic, horrible, no good, very bad night, but very memorable night.

Close Curtain

A bite for you, a bite for me!

This morning Aidan asked me if he could have a "baby yogurt." A baby yogurt is a little 4 oz trader joe's yogurt that is LOADED with fat and calories, and which we try to get our little girl to snarf down whenever possible. I said sure, because why not. He likes them too. . . then I headed to the bathroom. When I came back out, this is what I found:
What a great big brother! He was down on the floor, sharing it "a bite for you, a bite for me" style (and she was eating it which was wonderful). He even put a bib on her! Thanks Aidan!
After they were mostly done and she wasn't eating any more, he said, "mom, Emilee and I are going to finger paint with the leftover yogurt, okay?" To which I said no. A mom's got to have some limits, even if you are being spontaneously sweet and helpful!

baby boot camp

Gordon has been doing lots of push ups since the new year. The kids just love to get in on the action! I've smiled as I've seen them doing push ups here and there with Dad, but I was pretty impressed when I looked up and saw this tonight. . . And how many is that you've done Chandler? "Perty Pie!" Translation: thirty five! We never know how many he will say, but I think "Perty Pie" is about the best number ever!