Cutest baby ever (in our opinion)

Most of you have been asking of pictures of Anna, Anna, Anna. It's not that we don't take pictures of her, it's just that she doesn't do much that is blog-able yet. We did break down and get her both a walker (pictured) and a "piano" no-wheels walker. Anna's gotten mobile enough that she's not safe in her bouncer anymore; and besides, she's in mild peril on the floor around Sam and Daniel.

Anna is one of the happiest babies I've ever seen--crying is a true, rare event. She thinks her brothers and the dogs are hilarious, too.

This next picture cracks me up, so I had to post it. I think Anna is trying to intimidate me into not taking anymore pictures.

Ooooh...I think it worked!

Finger painting bonanza!

Since making my birthday banner and cards, the boys have been very prolific finger painters. Expect that for each of your upcoming birthdays that you will receive a card or other craft based item from them. In this particular instance, I was looking for something to keep them out of my hair while I organized our new craft desk. FYI, finger painting was not my wisest choice--too much supervision necessary.

Happy Birthday to Oooo!

I wish I could post a voice recording of the boy's singing happy birthday. Daniel still sings, at the top of his lungs, "Happy birthday to Oooo!" I think they sang about 10 times to me yesterday--they were so excited that it was my birthday. I told my family no presents please this year, I just wanted to do something to celebrate with the family and for the boys to make me something. Did they ever! Observe the dynamic finger painting on my sign!

As you can, see, they also got to help decorate my cake!

And the family helped while I was at work

Two blogs in one day--who knew it could happen?

So because work is so slow right now I really am going to try to keep up with blogging. John has been talking about this pizza from a place in Vancouver, WA, that went out of business, since we've been married. Each time we have pizza, it is compared to "Uncle Milt's." Well, he was able to get the recipe and made it tonight!

Splash, splash, penguin

We finally took a day away from unpacking/organizing/working last Saturday and went to SeaWorld! Unfortunately, we don't have any pictures to post at this time because we were too busy having fun to cheese for the camera. However, we did get season's passes, so look here later for wet, watery fun.

I called this post "splash, splash, penguin" because it's the quick summary of our day. Sam, Daniel and Anna were quite content to spend the majority of the day in the water park. We started out in the toddlers area, where there's a max 8 inches deep of water. There's fountains of water to walk through, small slides to go down, and best of all--shady areas to be in the water. Anna and I mostly stayed in that area while John supervised the boys--and by supervised I mean played like a boy himself. We ate lunch at SeaWorld--we normally don't have lunch inside the parks, but if you leave the water park area on a Saturday, we're told it's a good chance that you won't get back in! That's when we saw Shamu. That's right, we went to SeaWorld and the only Shamu we saw danced and sang on-stage. Sam was talking yesterday about the singing fishes and I finally figured out it was this lunchtime stage show! After lunch we took turns taking the boys down the lazy river. By the 8th time or so, Sam just wanted to bob along in his life jacket as long as we stayed close. I thought Daniel was going to be lulled to sleep as we floated along, but we kept going through spray areas which woke him up.

Anna wasn't allowed to go on the lazy river, but it worked out for one of us to be out with her and the other to be in with one or both boys. When we started getting some weather--thunder, lightning--we were already changed back into dry clothes to do the one non-water thing that the boys had been asking for--see the penguins. The water park, the rides, and the shows were temporarily closed down for the weather, and it was funny to be going the wrong way against the throng of people who were leaving SeaWorld. When you think about many of them buying their ticket for just one day, we were surprised by how many left the park just because of some sprinkles.

I must say we were not terribly impressed by the penguin exhibit. You ride past the penguins on a people mover, so you don't get to just stand and look. Luckily, there's an area that's set back up above where you can take your stroller, and we stopped there. We were also disappointed that the lights were so dim in the exhibit. We couldn't even really see the back wall where it looked like most of them were grouped. Lesson learned: go to SeaWorld for the lazy river, not the penguins.

We live 10 minutes away from SeaWorld, so we'll be going back often. Mom and I are taking the kids Thursday. I figure that if we only see three things each time we'll go, we'll still see it all by the time we leave San Antonio.

They moved to San Antonio....and survived

So I'm posting what, once a year? Better then never, right? We're more or less settled in here in San Antonio. By more or less, I mean that all the projects that didn't get finished while we worked on the house these past few years, are now sitting around in boxes waiting for us to disposition them. Sigh.

We're both back to work, John has even already been put in charge of the change of command for his squadron at the beginning of August. Nothing like jumping in with both feet! I've been back at work for almost a month also, really enjoying the team of nurses I work with and for. They were super quick about getting my work phone and internet service set at home. One of the first improvement projects that John did on this house was getting electrical and phone run to the second master closet which is my office. Sounds terrible to work in a closet, right? Actually, it has a window, an A/C vent, and is quite spacious for my work needs. It even has a built-in hardwood closet organizer that functions very well as a bookshelf.

We've been "church shopping" ever since we got down here and (fingers crossed) I think we've finally found our church. It's called Wayside Chapel--it's a bit farther away, and a bit bigger, then I'd really like, but we're not going to let those be stumbling blocks. It's a denomination that I have no disagreements with (Evangelical Free), it has AWANA for the kids, and the people there were so nice. It reminded us a lot of our church in Ohio, Patterson Park. That's high praise.

We're finally all getting healthy and well after having strep pass around among the family--everyone but Mom and I had it. Prayer requests: That we listen to God's leading in finding a church and getting involved there. That John's stress ends as we finally finish unpacking. That John's health increases. That we finally find new bookshelves so we can get all these books out of boxes.

Love you and miss you--ya'll know who you are. Also, we're preschool shopping for Sam, and the field is pretty thin right in this area. Any advice on what to look for in a preschool that is not also functioning as a daycare for us (hint hint LeighAnn)?

Are you sitting down?

I think this was our adventure in "how long can we go without blogging?" It's very late here, so I'm not going to try to give a detailed update all in one sitting. I'm not even going to try to summarize today. Here's the brief version of the last year:

1. Finished building a two car garage. Finished remodeling old garage and laundry room into new master bedroom, master bath and closet, coat closet, and new laundry room.

2. Currently working on finishing basement; wall frames could be up as early as next weekend, immediately followed by tiling on half the basement floor. Would love to be finished with basement by end of October--this may be too optimistic.

3. I work part-time now, from home, as a telephone advice nurse. Love my job and do some traveling to represent our services to perspective clients.

4. John's still in the Air Force and making some major decisions on staying in or getting out in the next 6 months or so--prayers requested/appreciated.

5. Sam and Daniel are doing well, now 3 and 2 respectively. Huge personalities, and bring joy to our lives daily. Sam is deeply into Thomas the Tank Engine and often relates things to trains. Daniel is our dancer and will break out the moves for any good beat. He loves the credits at the end of movies because it usually has the most danceable music.

6. My mom moved in with us (from the West Coast!) in January. It was mostly just for fun, but she's also taken on the role of "granny nanny" while I'm at work. As you can imagine, that has also been tremendously helpful during the construction projects.

7. There's yet another addition coming to our house. We're pregnant again, expecting 18 March 2009. Surprised? Us too!

Love and God's blessing on you all. Please don't have a heart attack because we blogged.

oh happy day

Remember our water problems? The city begins replacing the storm drains tomorrow. They are officially my new favorite people....

And then the animals lined up two by two...

Most of you know about our flooding issues at this house, a result of a completely dysfunctional storm drain. The water from several neighbors, including across the street, gets pumped to our yard--and then just sits there. Well, it happened again last night and we finally took pictures. John is out with the shovel because we had to reinforce the earthen dam that keeps the water from covering our front steps, and pools it so that our improvised sump pump can take it across the driveway (where it drains down the backyard). I know, you're saying, wasn't the City supposed to take care of that? Hasn't this been going on since February? We're still waiting...







This first picture is from our front door, you can see part of the dam, the pump, and our CRV "swimming." Pretty much anywhere it's shiny, imagine flooding.














This second picture is out by the road and our mailbox. Believe it or not, there is actually a storm drain beneath that water. Well, calling it a drain may be a bit of an exaggeration at this point....












This is the view from near the road looking back toward the house. Notice how deep the water is! Also, you may note something funny on the roof above our front door. Well, last week we had really high winds one night and the metal porch awning blew up backward on the the roof.

And Mom got a strike

Daniel and Sam went bowling for the first time this last weekend. Mom should have bowled in their lane instead of with the adults...I needed the "bumpers." Note: Although I did bowl 3 frames that had a score of 0, I also got a strike the last frame. John was home doing demolition, and I haven't bowled in 3 years...not that I was very good back then, either. One of the boys little friends went too, and they had a great time; they were bowling in the last lane, and liked to run down the side ramp to chase the bowling ball. Sam sometimes treated his bowling ball like a soccer ball, "kicking" it down the lane. And of course they all tried to give themselves concussions by sticking their heads in the ball return rack. It was truly a hoot and a half.

The demolition continues

John spent Saturday doing more demolition to our current garage, getting ready to build our new garage. Our neighbor Aki was kind enough to help...and you can tell they had fun doing it!

a dog's life

Leo says, "Gee Dad, this is a swell fort you built!"

Steady

For those of you who check our blog regularly, please prepare yourself. I don't want the shock to be too much. We actually posted pictures and posted more than once in a week (or a month for that matter). Thanks for not giving up on us.

The heat wave has finally broken--now it's just hot, not unbearable. The kids are still enjoying going a parks several days a week and sometimes playing in the water. Today we went to our old neighborhood--Peppervine Circle--and played with new and old friends. It's really nice to have Daniel weaned so we can play without ceasing.

Getting ready for dinner and a nice quiet weekend now.... Post and let us know what you're thinking these days.

Zzzzzz...

So nap time has been new and interesting. I don't know if Sam thinks he's ready to give up naps, but let me tell you he's really not. The few days that he doesn't take an afternoon nap, he's cranky and usually down for a "nap" by 5:30 PM--two hours short of bedtime. Since the boys share a room, we've had to just let Sam romp around and possibly keep Daniel awake. We try to have heavy activity in the morning, then lunch, then put the boys down ready for sleep. Some days it works...other days apparently Sam plays until he falls asleep in the rocking chair. Daniel's crib is next to the rocking chair, and by the looks of things he was involved with playing too before falling asleep. It should be...interesting...when we convert Daniel's crib into a toddler bed in a month or two.

Up in the air Junior Birdman

We weren't kidding when we said that Sam's new obsession is airplanes. Ever since our trip back from Washington State in July, it's been nothing but airplanes. Since we didn't really have any airplane toys, Sam was flying cars, balls, and yes, making airplanes out of Legos. The first time he did this John and I were relaxing on the couch. Sam smiled at us and said "Airplane." We were prepared to humor him...but he had really created a recognizable airplane. They have been getting more creative ever since, and yes, we did go buy him some actual airplane toys. We also finally hung the airplane pictures on the walls of the boys' room.

Watch out world

For those of you who have not had the pleasure of seeing it yet...Daniel walks.

Biker Daniel

Here's a picture of our little daredevil--he is truly becoming a monkey and climbing where ever he can!

A great picture of their bed time routine--Sam and Daniel "brush" their teeth--after Mom and Dad help.

pant pant pant

The heat index is over 100, and we're stewing out here in Ohio. The humidity slaps you in the face the second you step out the door--if you have the courage to step out the door. It was been an especially interesting week or so for us; it turns out that our central air conditioner needs a new compressor. We toughed it out for a few days ("It's not so bad--it's only 82 in the living room!"), then suddenly remembered that our friend Becky (hereafter known as Saint Becky) had a window A/C unit that she doesn't use. So between that unit and our overhead fans the house is kept at a tolerable comfort level. It's a good thing, or we would certainly have checked into TLF by now.

This really isn't intended to be the "complain about the house" post but projects around the house have been our life...so.... I think we've reached a point where we're not taking out any more trees, at least not soon. John has given his chainsaw a rest and is now tearing drywall out of the one car garage. Our permits have all been approved for adding on an attached two car garage to the front of our house, now we're finallizing a contractor to pour the foundation and a new driveway. It's an ambitious project considering the short amount of time that we're likely to be in Ohio...but it's a twofold benefit. One, it modernizes the house. The current garage (with a double layer of sheet rock that was apparently covering up both mold and dry rot) was unusable for parking cars since the garage door was a reluctant opener. Two, it will help to solve the major water issue we had out front last spring (and eliminate the need for the dam that we currently have across our driveway). The current driveway is sloped so incorrectly that it will always pool water in front of the door. One of our neighbors says that the renters who used to live here solved the problem by taking off their socks and shoes to get into the house...not really an ideal situation.

The sheetrock is coming off the current garage because we are going to raise the roof so it's level with the rest of the house. Then the new two car garage will attach to the front of the old garage and the dining room. This will cover up a window, but we will reuse that window in the living room--probably next summer. The current garage, laundry room, and half bathroom with be converted into a new laundry room, master bedroom, master bathroom, and walk-in closet. Whew!

In all this heat, why haven't we been spending our time down in the basement? Well, most of you know that it's only semi-finished--not a good place for kids to play. In addition, with the moist weather and general humidity we've been having, we've discovered the growth of mold. Eek! Now everything that has been stored down there is slowly being cleaned and absorbed into the upstairs. I know that sounds like a recipe for clutter, but I promise it's not too evil. We have a dehumidifier down there now, and plan to dig a french drain around the outside of the whole house before the weather turns cold (late October).

John is doing most of this work himself--my primary contribution is watching the boys and keeping the house running smoothly. It's not a bad contribution, you understand, but I often wish I could help more with the "real" projects.

OK, I think I'm talked out for the morning.