Boston 2010

Edward and I just got back from four wonderful days in Boston, MA. He qualified for the trip through a campaign with his company, American Family Insurance. Am Fam has provided us with trips to several destinations we might not normally visit (Washington, D.C., San Diego, New York City, Montreal, and Orlando are the cities we've visited thus far) but that we've had a wonderful time vacationing. We felt a little guilty leaving the kids behind, but we looked at it as one last hurrah before a new baby. The kids stayed with my wonderful parents, and of course they all had a blast.

~The Old State House~

Over the course of three days, we walked the Freedom Trail. It is a 2.5 mile trek that highlights some of the most important events and places in the city. It was a definite highlight of our trip. It was neat to actually see some of the significant places I've learned about throughout my life.

This is Old Granary Burying Ground. John Hancock, Paul Revere, Robert Treat Paine, Samuel Adams, Benjamin Franklin's parents, and Elizabeth Goose (believed to be Mother Goose) are all buried here. The OLD gravestones were quite remarkable.

~Samuel Adams~

~The Victims of the Boston Massacre~

~Josiah and Abiah Franklin~

~John Hancock~

~Paul Revere's House~

"Listen my children and you shall hear,

Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere...."

Paul Revere had 16 children. This three bedroom home was probably quite spacious at the time. It is the oldest home in Boston.

~Edward having a good time~

He figured he might as well let the donkey eat straight out of his wallet.

~Paul Revere Statue in Front of the Old North Church~

"One if by land. Two if by see."

This was one of my favorite places. Two lanterns were hung here on April 18, 1775, signaling the Redcoats' departure by sea for Lexington and Concord. This is still a practicing Episcopalian church where services are held each week. The pews are set in these cubicle-like boxes. Church members' heads barely peak from the tops to see the minister. It would be kind of nice to corral our kids in one of these! Although, they were VERY loud due to the old and creaky boards. I suppose at this church it was believed children should be heard and not seen!

We often saw really small doors. I don't know if it was because the people were smaller 200+ years ago, it cost a lot to build larger doors, or something else.

I don't even know what this was for! I felt sorry for the pregnant mamas if they had to use this door!

~The USS Constitution~

This was another favorite. This is the world's oldest commissioned warship. This vessel, with wooden sides, was nicknamed "Old Ironsides" when in 1812, cannonballs of a British warship literally bounced off the triple hull. It was quite impressive. Too bad that ugly crane blocked the great view!

~One of the 44 guns/cannons~

This ship was pretty massive. It was especially impressive considering it was made 200+ years ago.

~The USS Cassin Young~

This was a World War II warship. It was also very impressive.

It's kind of hard to tell, but that is the sleeping quarters. That's a triple decker bed!

~Ginormous Torpedo~

This kitchen was TINY! But check out the four foot mixer!

We ended our trip with a stop in Cambridge to tour Harvard. Eh. It was just like any other campus in my book, but I'm glad we had the opportunity to go there.

We were glad to get home to see our babies. Edward took an extra day off so we could rest after our vacation. We walked our little legs off! Vacations are great, but there's no place like home!

Whale Watching

One of the highlights of our trip to Boston was a whale watching cruise. We managed to book our trip with several other American Family friends, so it made for a really great day. Our family had been on another whale watching cruise when we went to Bar Harbor, Maine six years ago. It was an incredible experience, so we knew we wanted to do it again when offered the chance. When we went in Maine, there were only about fifty people on board the boat, and it was FREEZING out on the water. This time about two hundred fifty people were on board, and thankfully, it wasn't as cold. The big crowd made it a little harder to view the whales than our previous trip, but still, it was an amazing thing to see.

~Heading away from Boston~

We were delighted to have such a great "show" by two humpback whales. We only saw two during our three hour trip, but our boat stayed right with them the entire time.

~ Up close and personal~

The most amazing part of the cruise took place during the last twenty minutes we were out at sea. This funny girl, Ursa, would stick her tail out of the water and slap it down, making enormous splashes. She repeated this over and over. She would also roll over onto her back and stick her pectoral fins out of the water. The "show" she gave was far better than anything we've ever seen at Sea World.

11 Years Goes By Way Too Fast

June 28, 1999

One of the four most beautiful babies I have ever seen

Summer 2010

Ross is a lover of all things Yankee/Gator/Cardinal.

He is a lover of baseball/soccer/wrestling/basketball.

He is an outdoorsman as well as an avid reader.

He is quick to laugh and quick to feel compassion for others' burdens.

He is a good friend and a great big brother.

He is a wonderful son.

We love you, Ross!

A Prank 11 Years In The Making

You know these things? These little devices of torture for any newborn? Around our house they are called booger suckers (I believe the correct name is nasal aspirator.). And they were the tools used to pull off The Great Bathroom Prank of 2010.

Nearly eleven years ago I watched a hidden camera/prank television show in which the booger sucker was used. At the time I was watching the show, I held a month-old Ross in my arms and decided then and there that when the time was right, I would use my new boy to commit what I thought was fantastic prank. After waiting patiently for over a decade the time finally came while we were in Branson.

A few months ago I filled the majority of my family in on my little plan. The intended targets would be my fun loving brothers, Aaron and Ben. We all laughed as we pictured their reactions. Here is what we did:

One hot and steamy morning, shortly after arriving at Silver Dollar City someone in the group announced we should all stop at the restrooms before hitting the rides. Our victims were unaware that earlier in the morning we filled two booger suckers with water. There they sat, in the bottom of a bag, where the water began getting warm. To speed up the warming process, my dad sat holding the booger suckers in his hands.

Warm weather means shorts. And shorts mean bare legs. :)

Ross and Grant were selected to do the dirty work. Ross was designated to get Ben, and Grant was designated to get Aaron. Ross walked quickly behind Ben, and two urinals sat empty side-by-side. It took only a second of squeezing the booger sucker before Ben disgustedly shouted, "Are you kidding me!?!" He looked down at Ross and was relieved to see what he held in his hands. Ben later said the thought it was weird that Ross was standing so closely.

And Aaron found a stall. Grant entered the adjacent stall and got to work. In a matter of seconds, Aaron was yelling, "HEY! HEY! HEY!" My mom was outside waiting for everyone, and she said she could hear Aaron's shouts all the way outside."

We were glad the uncles were such good sports, because the rest of us certainly got some belly laughs out of the ordeal.

The pranksters and their victims

This Is What Happens When You Get Rid Of All Of Your Baby Gear

How shall I put this?

*Baby #5 is on the way.

*We're trying to catch up to the Duggars.

*We've jumped on the baby bandwagon. (It would be more appropriate to say we've been thrown under the wheels of the bandwagon.)

We got a HUGE shock recently when we found out we are expecting again. Whoa. I posted recently about Mallory's obsession of getting a new baby. Elizabeth joined in on the requests as well. After being told countless times, "No, we're done." she took matters into her own hands and began praying... for twins. Well, apparently her prayers have been answered. But so have Edward's because the ultrasound only revealed one. New baby is due December 15th.

Surprisingly, I'm not feeling as sick as I normally do. This is a completely new concept for me. It's strange not to have to be confined to the house for fear of V.A.A.A. (that would be Vomiting Anytime and Anywhere). I do feel nauseous in the evenings, but I am grateful that it isn't so severe. It's starting to subside some as I am nearing the end of my first trimester.

It has taken a while for this to sink in. The other kids were all invited to join our family. This one is definitely making a surprise appearance. I truly believe he/she is meant to be here as Edward and I were taking the necessary steps to prevent an expansion in the family.

Braggy Mom Post

A beautiful piece of artwork and an even more beautiful girl

One Friday a few weeks ago, Elizabeth told me, "Mom, I have some of my artwork in an art show. It's tomorrow at ________ (our local community college)." In the midst of my mom duties I muttered something like, "Oh, that's nice, Honey." The next day Elizabeth said to me, "Are you ready to go to the art show?" "Uhh... sure." It wouldn't be completely dishonest of me to say I forgot about it. The girl and I freshened up and headed out the door. I expected to see a nice little display of elementary schoolers' artwork. When we walked in the door, I saw this:



Oh. Um... wow. Apparently it was a pretty big deal. There were about twenty school districts from the area that participated. Grades 3 - 12 were a part of the art show. A total of 1,100 pieces of art were exhibited.

We searched and searched and searched until we found Elizabeth's. We were thrilled when we saw a third place ribbon on her 3-dimensional mask! The crazy thing is that when Elizabeth's art teacher gave her a note telling her she submitted this mask made at the beginning of the year, Elizabeth couldn't even remember what she was talking about. After a while it dawned on her what her teacher was referring to. And her teacher later told me that she realized that she didn't have any artwork to submit for the design category so she went through her stash to see what she could find. She came across this piece that was in the back of a closet. She decided to submit it, and we're glad she did!

Birthday Girl

April 25, 2007

April 25, 2010

Our sweet little Mallory turned three! She brings such joy into our family and is every one's toy. She is a very obedient child, and she is eager to help others. She is such a sweet girl.

She likes for me to carry her around. Obviously at three years old, she's getting a little too big (even though she is a very tiny thing) for me to do this. For the last few weeks I've told her that when she turns three I'll hold her on my lap as much as she wants, but she will have to walk when ever we go somewhere. So she's been taking full advantage of it this last week. Last week as we were running errands, I would get her out of the van and put her down. She would immediately raise her arms to me and say, "I'm still two, you know." She's pretty hard to resist. She has been doing a great job walking by herself now that she is three. This morning, I carried her out of bed to drop the kids off at school, and she was still in her jammies and bare feet. When we got home, I just carried her into the house so her little feet didn't get cold on the garage floor. She looked confused and stated, "I'm three now." Obviously I was breaking my own rules.


The princess and her new motorcycle

We opened birthday presents before we left for church Sunday morning. After church, we headed over to my sister's house to celebrate her and Mallory's birthday.

Poor Mallory didn't have a chance when it came time to blow out the candles. She was surrounded on the left...

...and right by candle bandits.

The birthday girls, Andrea & Mallory

Andrea had Mallory convinced that she turned three as well. She told her that if it was your birthday on that day, that meant that you turned three. If you ask Mallory how old Annie is, she will tell you that she is three as well.

2010 Walk to Cure Diabetes

Saturday, April 10 was a beautiful day for a Walk to Cure Diabetes! It was a special treat for us as this walk was held in our small town. About 40 people joined our team, Ross's Gator Crusaders. Again, we were humbled by the support we received from family and friends. Our small diabetes support group worked with the organizers of the event, a young lady named Brianna (diagnosed at age 7) and her mother, Becky. They originally hoped to have 100 walkers take part and to raise $1,500. An estimated 500 walkers were in attendance and $15,000 was raised for JDRF! As a family that is affected by type 1 diabetes, we can't even begin to say how important this is! This money will be used to make life easier and more comfortable for Ross and will put a cure within our reach!

Easter 2010

Easter Morning

This is what joy looks like. The boys LOVE to get dressed up and take family pictures.

Mallory

Elizabeth

Drew

Ross

Mommy & her girls

Daddy's Girls

Daddy & Mallory

Edward & Stephanie