Sunday, November 20, 2011

Road Trip!

We roll out of town Tuesday after Isaac gets out of school. We are headed to New York to spend Thanksgiving with Joe's family. The first time Gabe and Selah meet their grandma, Isaac's second. We are super, duper excited.

I love road trips. Like, I sometimes feel a little sad when we arrive at our destination. I know, I'm weird. Joe thinks I'm crazy. That's just because he's not a fan of talking.  It usually takes a good few hours before we get to the really good conversation. I'm looking forward to that. After the kids doze off and we can talk about more than the immediate, more than the task at hand. We can talk about things we want to do with our family, places we want to go. I always have a slew of those what's your favorite thing about being a dad or what was the best day of your life type of questions. And after his initial eye rolling he will give in...or hope that I fall asleep. Either way, I can't wait. It's gonna be great. There's just something about having all my people in one spot at the same time. They can't get away, no TV, no distractions. Just us. Memory making at it's finest if you ask me. It's gonna be great! Wait, did I say that already?

Can't wait.

Can't wait.

Can't wait!!!

And after some great time spent with not often seen family, where cousins become better acquainted, yummy food, staying up way too late, lazy mornings and much more, I love that we get to hop back in the car and do it all over again. Road trip bookends with lots of love sandwiched in between. Sounds pretty great to me. The only thing that could make it better would be to bring all of my family along. That would be heaven. Maybe someday...

Happy Sunday. I'm off to give littles their baths and ready 'em up for church.



XOXO,
Angie

...forgot to mention how much I'm looking forward to frequent Starbucks stops and lots of good music....

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Tuesday

It's Tuesday which means my workout is done, laundry is in the dryer and I'm getting ready to enjoy coffee as I watch Regis and Kelly. It is Regis's last week after all. Makes me sad...

It's dreary out today. I think I will take that as a sign to sit back, play games and snuggle with my two babies. Selah has some yuck coming out of her nose and she's sneezing more than a classroom full of kindergartners after Christmas break. Seriously, I think I counted seven sneezes in a row! Yeah, we're gonna stay in. We might even hang out in our jammies all day.  Or maybe we'll make a quick trip to the store for some pumpkin bread ingredients. I'm feeling like spreading some love to the family...hopefully that's all we spread! We will be extra vigilant with our hand washing just to be sure lest you worry we are on a mission to infect all of Ohio with the first cold of the season...

Right now I'm sitting here with a little helper. A naked little helper as I write this post. I love naked babies. Love. Even if she is fighting me for my "foffee".  She's into taking her jammies off now so bare legs and squishy tummies make frequent appearances these days. If we're lucky the diaper stays on.




She's playing with the thermometer in these pictures. A great time to mention Isaac being under the weather this weekend. It started with a cough late last week which led to a breathing treatment after school, which led to hives and more breathing treatments and urgent care visits over the weekend. My poor little guy. My poor, allergy ridden, sniffling, coughing, sneezing, inhaler dependant asthmatic!  He missed school yesterday but after a few doses of his steroid medicine I think he's on the mend. I'm hoping I don't get a call from school saying he still isn't feeling well. Fingers crossed.

******

Before I had sick kiddos, Daddy took them to the Dayton Art Institute for an outdoor photo shoot.  I was in Florida visiting one of my favorite people. My friend Joan who I've known since I was barely pregnant with Isaac and she was barely pregnant with her first baby. We met at the gym and became fast friends. We found out all kinds of crazy stuff we had in common like having the same middle name, being the same age, marrying the same year. Other things such as her dad's middle name being the same as my maiden name...and on and on it went. I think we even realized we saw the movie Titanic on the exact same night several years before meeting. We became pregnant for the second time within weeks of each other and then the third time a few months a part.  And then she had the nerve to move to Florida. Can you believe that?! Something about her husband's job. Sheesh.

Isaac and Allison enjoying some Baby Einstein, 2005

Isaac and Allison before heading to the pool, 2005


Isaac and Allison do the pumpkin patch, 2005


Our mommy group at Newport Aquarium in Cincinnati, 2005


Fall Party, 2005


January 2006 mommy group. Isaac took his first steps  just seconds after this picture was taken!!


This is Allison showing Isaac what you're supposed to do with the rings... 2006


This is Isaac being all like "you mean you don't just eat the toys??"


Joan and Allison, park play date


Our first road trip to Florida to visit her parents.



They love each other.


Joan teaching Isaac to fish. Lake house, 2007

Our second road trip to Florida...this time with two toddlers and two newborns! Oh, and did I mention we did this without the husbands?!


Florida Zoo, 2007 Me, Gabe, Isaac, Allison, Joan and Chloe

We've nursed babies side by side, talked endlessly about such things as how old is too old to use a paci, when to start potty training and "letting go" of our big kids and much, much more. She was there just after my water broke with Gabe. I called her at eleven at night and asked if she could watch Isaac so Joe and I could make the trek to the hospital. She came and after a quick hug and "I love you's" we left our Isaac with her. I remember how she dressed him super cute, knowing that what she chose would forever be his this is what I wore when I met my baby brother outfit.

She's been there for me and our family and I love her.

I've been blessed with two such friends in my life, Joan and Annie. I can't imagine my life without either one of them. Unfortunately, I don't have any recent pictures of Annie and I. Most of our memories were made long before I ever picked up a camera! We met when I was ten, she was nine. We lived next door to each other and the rest is history. No one knows my life like she does. Not even my close family. Annie knows. She just knows my life like no one else. I love her and all the memories we've made over the years. I can't believe we've known each other for over twenty years. Wow!  I think that's a sign that we are getting old!

Bottom line:  Friends are important. They even sneak into your thoughts on random Tuesday mornings.

Anyway, that was an unexpected turn.  I was planning on posting some of the two hundred (!!!) pictures Joe took of the kids. 





If you were to see in my heart beyond all the things that make up who I am, things I love like Fall, Christmastime, new babies....Cocoa Puffs. If you were to dig a little deeper surrounding the crevices my sweet littles fill up, where the memories of first locking eyes with each one of them and rocking them to sleep... yeah, right around there you will find pictures. I love me some pictures. I'm the one at family gatherings pulling out the photo albums or shoeboxes in some cases and going through them. The hubs must know that pictures are my love language ;) I love them all.

Happy Tuesday out there! We are off to bake up some love :)


XOXO,
Angie

Thursday, November 10, 2011

I Write Blog Posts All The Time...

...in the shower...

...in the car...

...in my mid afternoon sleepiness..

...and as I fall asleep at night...

Then I sit down at the computer and think "what was I gonna say, again?"

Yes, I've written several posts in my head. There was the one about how much I enjoyed spending one on one time with my dad and what great conversation we had...

There was the one I wrote while I was driving along listening to Michael W. Smith, (my favorite). I'm not sure what that one was about but let me tell ya, there was some strong nostalgic-ness going on as I sang along to "Place In This World"...I think that song came out when I was in junior high. Crazy. Boy, did that CD get me through some rough years...

There were more posts I'm sure but that memory loss thing really gets in the way sometimes so I'm gonna start with where we left off and fill you in on the stuff I DO remember, sounds like a good place to start :)

There have been tummy tickling sessions...




and bath time tea parties...





We celebrated this sweet one turning two...




Where we played on climb-y things...





...and decorated pumpkins...





There was racing in the open field between cake eating and gift opening...





We had a pumpkin cake for the pumpkin party....







We've had impromptu donuts and juice outings...






Pumpkin carving...




Pumpkin lovins'...




The costumes...




Trick-or-treating...








...and in case it isn't clear, Selah is a Dalmatian...even if she did smudge her nose and look a little like a cat...


We had family pictures taken...this is what the kids wore :)




Life has been full, just the way I like it and I think we are all caught up now... Oh wait, I forgot to mention a couple of things that make my heart so full...

*Christmas music and dancing to it in the living room this morning with my girl while the boys were at school.

*The way she woke up in the middle of the night like she used to when she was itty, bitty...and I especially love the way she calms right down and takes that big, deep breath when I'm rocking her worries away. I love that. I love that I'm her mama and I get to have those sweet, sweet moments with her. Isn't being a mama grand? Even better than I thought...most of the time ;)


Happy day to ya :)

XOXO,
Angie