sweet home

I had Memorial Day off from the hospital, so we thought we would make a day of it and go to Atlanta. We first went to Trader Joe's--an old Connecticut standby. We ate strawberry mochi and bought some great snacks for our next stop . . . Turner Field to see the Braves stomp the Arizona D-backs. We went with our friends here in the big AL--the Foster family. All kids loved the baseball game--even from the nosebleed section. Actually, I think they liked it best up there. We had front seats in the section, but migrated to the top, both to satisfy the kids' desire to get to the highest point and to get the 8 month pregnant JJ into the shade before she overheated. Brooks really loved the tomahawk action when the drums beat at the game. They both loved singing "Take Me out to the Ballgame," and eating peanuts (sorry, we passed on the 6 dollar cracker jacks). They did get ballpark hotdogs though, to cap off the all-American day. We even had a moment of silence for the troops in the 6th inning. It was a great Memorial day! Oh, Aiden was especially partial to the silver hydrants in Atlanta, she pointed out how cool they are compared to the yellow and green one in the corner of our lawn.

First of all, I just have to say that jobs where people get to have the weekend off are the coolest. We have had Lewis here all weekend and it has been so great!! He mowed the lawn, and we did so much fun stuff. I can't believe how much we took weekends for granted before. Honestly.
Also, Lewis got his scores back from USMLE step 1 and he did well. Really well. So well that he could potentially do any medical specialty that he wanted to do. IF he wanted to do any of them........ Oh please oh please no. Congrats to Lewis, great job dude.


AND now, the moment you've all been waiting (and probably hoping) for-------- Brooks got a haircut!! Not just one of my ghetto trims, we whipped out the big guns, the shaver. His mohawk was the star of the show at church today, and he was loving it. I swear he had a new attitude. He was CRAZY at church and they didn't even recognize him in the nursery!! (until he started his usual singing of ABC's and Old MacDonald, apparently he does that every week funny huh)







I know, I know, enough with the hydrangea plants already. But I can't because I'm obsessed and they are so beautiful and they last all summer long. Isn't that so great? I might have spoken too soon on the pink because they are looking more purple now. They have the most beautiful blue and purple hydrangea at church, we were admiring today while walking with out fabulously SMALL primary class. Thank you Memorial Day.


Lastly, pictures of the house. All we have left to do is the painting (inside and out), gutters, and landscaping and fixing the hole in the driveway. All in all, things are going well. And now that it's 500 degrees and 95 percent humidity we won't be needing the deck, just the full blast A/C!!!!

The garden is starting to really take off (in spite of the bugs trying to eat it up). Thanks for the tips on the hydrangeas Amy and Dee. I thought that you could only change the shade of the color, and not change from pink to blue, so I am off to buy some aluminum sulfate asap! Sweet.

Did you forget about our smashed up house? Let me refresh your memory: ( I took this picture on Sunday)



After much work on our part, lots of annoying hours of phone calls, emails, filing a complaint with the state department of insurance, etc, they FINALLY started work on the house yesterday. Yesterday morning I went to go deposit the checks from the insurance company and they were made out to Lewis AND the mortgage company. Apparently it is a federal regulation or something. SO to make a LOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGG story short, let's just say that the mortgage company now gets to have us fill out tons of paperwork, send them the checks, and then THEY give us the money when they feel the time is right. Then we can pay the workers who are doing such a great job on our house. If you ever find yourself needing to file a claim with your homeowners insurance, please call me if you have any questions. We are learning as we go here. And it's not pretty.




this is what they are working on today (well, this and the roof, gutters, and soffit) BROOKS' room!!!!! So he no longer will have an excuse to not sleep in his own bed. "I can't sleep in my bed, my bed have a cwack in it in da wall!"(crying to add drama). They found a few cracked studs and some standing water, but the floors and most of the wood seem to be ok.



My hydrangeas (that I bought myself for Mother's Day) are blooming, and they are SOOOOOOOO beautiful, I'm sure you would agree. (these first ones are actually oak leaf hydrangeas that were already here when we moved in)


The only problem is that they are looking rather pink!!! and Brooks and I wanted blue.


Mama bird has been busy again....... but I think I have the inspiration I needed for the color of B's room.



A had the last day of school last Wednesday. Brooks really wanted to get her flowers. So crazy, I can't believe I have a child who will be in ELEMENTARY school next year, but let's face it, the girl has been ready to start school (and possibly run the school) since she was born. I was sort of sad because they didn't have any graduation ceremony, but she didn't seem to mind. We did have a Mother's Day Tea a week or so ago and that was really fun. They had lots of artwork from the whole year all over the classroom and the school.


34 weeks. Here's my belly from Brooks' perspective. And I know it's not very big so you don't have to notice for me. They are going to do an ultrasound to make sure little baby C is growing nicely in there. Both my sisters who had babies within the last year also measured small about this time in their pregnancies, so maybe it's just a genetic thing! (I'm not going to complain about not being huge though, believe me!) Just know that I am still in pain, I am tired, and I do in fact feel like I am the size of a planet.

because this is how we HAVE to eat our orange ("all lined up. one two three four.") even when the only place to line them up is the back of the stroller.

There was a race on Saturday morning at the zoo. A and B did great and they had a terrific time in their first races! They loved the bags full of junk they got for entering, the t-shirts, and especially the medal. The bonus was that we got to go to the zoo afterward and see all the animals. It was really a great time. (B even won his race, but to be fair he had a pretty huge head start.)

"Your cell phone accidentally got in a puddle of water. On that chair over there. Brooks did it. On accident."
So if you are trying to call my cell phone, sorry. Looks like I'll get a new one tomorrow.

I often go walking in meadows of clover
And I gather armfuls of blossoms of blue
I gather the blossoms the whole meadow over
Dear mother all flowers remind me of you.

Oh mother, I give you my love with each flower
To give forth sweet fragrance a whole lifetime through
For if I love blossoms and meadows and walking
I learn how to love them, dear mother, from you.

Happy (late) Mother's Day to my wonderful mom and mother-in-law. We only wish you were a little bit closer so we could all give you big hugs and say thank you in person. We have been truly blessed with the best moms in the whole wide world. I never could appreciate the love and patience and sacrifice of my own mom until I became a mom myself. Being a mom has taught me so much about life and about who I am, I feel so blessed to be a mom.

And these kids are the reason I love being a mom, AKA, "and this is what happens when we try to take a family picture":











*I have to add that Lewis gave me the best Mother's Day present ever. Because even though he was on trauma call (this basically means that he spent his night sewing faces back together) on Saturday night, (and apparently lots of people get in car accidents when there are bad storms and tornado watches--the sirens went off multiple times)and only got about an hour of sleep, and got home right as we were leaving for church, he still got ready and came to church with me ANYWAY so that I wouldn't have to teach our wild and crazy primary class alone. How great is he?

Because it's pretty funny......

A cute little mama bird made a nest under our deck. We noticed a couple of weeks ago that she would stay there even when we were RIGHT under her playing and watering the yard. The little baby birds were so cute, we would watch them through the deck and they would watch us too, when they opened their eyes. Tuesday they got brave, practiced standing up and shaking off and flapping their wings and then they were off. Aiden and Brooks even watched one or two take their first flights. The birds were so comfortable with the kids around, it was amazing. Now whenever we see a bird outside, they are convinced that it is one of "our" baby birds! So, now they are gone and just in time too. We had another wicked storm today and I don't think the deck would have provided the protection needed. I had to keep myself away from the windows because I found myself obsessing over how much the trees were swaying in the wind.