Installment #2: Birdie, also known as Bird Dog

We continue to enjoy having Birdie be part of our family. Rachel was the most hesitant to welcome her, but even now she is all about the dog. A few mornings she has even gotten out of bed, come out to the living room where Birdie sleeps on a pillow and laid down with her so she can pet her! All the kids like her and she is included in the ritual of giving hugs to everyone before heading off to bed. We have even gotten a feeding routine down that seems to work for everyone. If the pantry is left open, you can be sure to find Rachel and Cole getting treats out for Birdie.

Ironically one of my concerns before bringing her home was whether Birdie would transition well into being and "inside dog" . . . that has not been a problem at all. In fact if it is raining or she thinks it is too windy or cold, she doesn't want to go outside! She does enjoying playing outside, especially with us, and seems to love napping in the sun. If we are home inside though, she seems to prefer to stick close to us. She is a sweet dog! Thanks again, Gretchen!

Installment #1: Rachel and Cole's Birthday

So . . . LONG ago I promised photos from Rachel and Cole's birthday celebration. I uploaded the photos just a couple of days after the big day, but never did anything else with them. Since we have celebrate three other birthdays and have another one next week, I figured I would start with their birthday photos in my "catch up" game.

They seemed to have a fun day. Signs were up around the house; streamers were hanging from their doorway. Their celebration involved having dinner altogether including Rob being home from work in time, Grandma Kroll, friend Andrew and his mom Kristin, as well as the usuals- Robbie, Alexa, and I. All were in good spirits and chicken fingers, mac/cheese, green beans, and applesauce were served . . . a kid friendly meal if I know of one. Dinner was followed by cakes, singing, and candles -- followed by me belatedly remembering we had party hats (Robbie insisted all parties should have hats) -- followed by gifts, and oh my-what the gifts! You would have thought it was Christmas. Several out of town family members had mailed gifts, Grandma Kroll brought gifts, both big kids had one gift each for the birthday little kids, they each had a gift for the other, and they each had one gift from Rob and I. Whew! Rachel had a blast as you will be able to see from the pictures. Cole had fun, I think, but the pictures show a pretty serious little boy. I am not certain whether he was overwhelmed, tired, or just focused on trying to get through it all!

At the end of the birthday photos are a few from an afternoon photo shoot that I did in our backyard to update their pictures on our mantel. They were fun to take, and other than not getting a "nice" one of the two of them together, I was pleased with the results.

It is amazing how much they have grown and changed in the not-quite two months since these photos were taken. Anyway, ENJOY!

Catch Up

I have been otherwise engaged the last few months it seems and as I was unloading my camera's memory card today, I realized how many fun things have happened that I have not shared. Therefore, my goal in the next week is to share at least one photo each day . . . some days maybe a whole slide show, some a single shot or two, but I will try to play "catch up" with photos even if I don't get many words in.

Football Uniform

Starts with the pads

Ends with the Shoes

Athletes in Action

As part of a project I am working on for the kids' school I was trying to research the Athletes in Action group. When I got to their webpage, I found a blurb written by Matt Dunn on April 7, 2009. I thought it was very moving, so I have pulled a couple of excerpts here as a teaser, but you may click on any of it to go read the complete (short) message.


ONE SHINING MOMENT

What is so great about March Madness? Why does America embrace it with open arms?

Whatever it is, everyone can relate. One goal, one chance, one opportunity, one moment of greatness can rewrite destiny. Hollywood is filled with such stories, just look at Cinderella.

20 Cotton balls, 10 paper towels,

5 kleenexes, and 3/4 bottle of finger nail polish remover later, the bathroom and my children are clean . . . almost! The status of a bathroom rug, sweatshirt, pair of pants, and washcloth remain uncertain at this time.

Alexa was the first to the report "the incident". She came into the kitchen and anxiously reported that Rachel was using all of her nail polish. I calmly asked how she could have gotten Alexa's (play) nail polish as it is all up high in her bathroom cabinet. Alexa replied, "Not my bathroom, Mom, you're bathroom!" This got me moving as I wondered for the second time how Rachel could have gotten into my bathroom cabinet which although is not high, does have a child-proof (ya rite!) latch on it.

What I found upon entering the bathroom was Rachel calmly sitting on my bathroom rug with what apparently was her fifth color of polish being applied on top of the other four colors on her toes -yes, not just her toenails, but her toes as well. Her hands weren't overly messy; there are a few drips on her sweatshirt, a huge splash on her pants, some drips on the rug, and a huge puddle in the bottom of the cabinet where she seemed to have tipped an open bottle when she put it away. Although Cole had nothing to do with making this mess, he still seemed to get it on his sock, hand, and arm just by coming in the room to see what the big to do was about.

Rachel has never had her toes painted before. I am not even sure that she has seen me paint mine, although she has seen me with painted toenails. I told her when she starts going poop on the potty, we can start painting her nails. It worked for Alexa three years ago, we'll see if it works for Rachel as well.

Birthday Wish Item

Alexa, soon to be five, just told me she would like to have one of those blankets that you can talk on the phone with like she has "seen on tv"! This girl is wild! What four year old wants a blanket for her birthday? And what are those blankets called, the Snuggly or something like that? Can't you just see a little girl trying to do anything wearing an adult-size blanket?! What a hoot! First Green Works, now this. At least she isn't latching on to all the obnoxious toys they show on television ads.

On Your Knees

Just a reminder for those pray-ers out there, today is the day of little Carly Grace's surgery #2 to remove her brain tumor. They started sugery around 7:30AM PT and the first report out of the OR was a positive one. They do expect the surgery to last all day; her first one back in August was 15 hours and only got about 2/3 of the tumor out and the remaining portion has continued to grow. Anyway, just a reminder to lift this family and her medical team up today.

White Rabbit

Rob and I have a tradition (inspired by Dr. Rick McGuire, the track coach at Mizzou) where we try to be the first to say "white rabbit" to the other one on the first day of each month. I know it doesn't sound very exciting and perhaps sounds a bit corny, but it has been kind of fun over the years trying to win each month. We have been married almost 12 years and have probably been doing this for at least 10 of them.

A couple of months ago, Rob explained the tradition to Robbie and Alexa and so they have joined in the fun as well. I'm not quite sure they understand you really have to be the first person to say it to "win", but they do enjoy spreading the cheer on the first day of the month.

I don't know how many years Coach McGuire's family has been doing this, but he has some entertaining stories of he, his wife, and his two grown children trying to best the others. It seemed like it has been a fun way to continue some lighthearted contact with one another after his kids left home.

So, WHITE RABBIT to you all out there. Happy April!

By the way, Rob got me this morning.