Geof. and I (and June) were able to take a quick trip to Philly this weekend. Other than me being half asleep the whole time (not from boredom, just from lack of sleep), we had a very good trip. We also were able to visit the Amish people of Intercourse, Pennsylvania...yes, real name. I lOVED It!

Geof. shaking hands with an Irish immigrant.

We just found June up here. It was crazy.

Liberty Bell.

I rarely do crafts with my kids. For some reason, I've had a few days here where I actually wanna do crafts with them. While Dayne and June were napping yesterday, Cole and I did a "popcorn tree". And this is what turned out. Cute Cole.

......and then tonight, we painted birdhouses. The kids were extremely excited for this one. It was way cheap at michaels, and I was pretty disappointed that I didn't buy an extra one for myself. Maybe I'll have to go back and get one.

Cole wanted to do Superman colors.

va. dreams

okay so i think i'm going insane. perhaps because i continue to eat right before bed. So a couple of nights ago i have this dream which seams to last all night long, that i am hunting the predator. yes, schwartzeneger the indian guy, carl withers, and others with larger arms than me were hunting the predator. ALL NIGHT LONG. still when i awoke we couldn't seem to catch that sucker. then last night i have a dream that a polar bear has broken into the house and is attacking the family. darla and are able to get the kids in one room and then find a shot gun to shoot the bear. the problem is there are only 2 shells and darla feels that she should shoot the bear because it would be fun and she's a better shot. this is very close to reality, the savage polar bear banging against the door is not. once again i awake with out bagging the nemesis.
also the other day i landed in o'hare where i never run into any one i know. i get off the plane and the pilot taking the plane from me is a bud-e i instructed with. then i walk inside and see a pilot for another airline that i used to instruct with as well. after saying good bye to him i begin walking and hear my name being called. it's my grandma marva on her way back from ohio. very good to see her after such a long time. i was about to dawn a class reunion t-shirt just in case. it was crazy...but not as crazy as my freaky dreams. it's 6 p.m. right now and i'm done eating for the day. peace.

Hysterical

Thank you Hermana Lark for the funniest video ever!! have you guys seen this kid?! I love his pronunciation! I too was laughing so hard I was in tears!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqXYwNDrU8k

2 cute kids

I love this video. Cole is so sincere and it's one of the few times he's actually stood still long enough for a video or pic. And Dayne cracks me up. She's totally out of it...way exhausted.

We can't get rid of Dayne's binkie! Last time we went up to D.C. as a family (about a month ago), I was really trying not to do the binkie thing, and Geof. finally drove to the store on our first night and picked some up because he was so desperate and sick of Dayne whining (this was HuGE for Geof. He does NOT go to the store). So here she is asleep on the couch with her much needed binkie in place just in case she wakes up.
The sweetest beebs finally standing with Daddy.
Cute pic of Cole and Dayne when we were in Cali. last. Look at how beautiful Cole's head of hair is! I sure miss it when it's gone. He has gorgeous hair!
Typical grumpy Cole face.

St. Patty's Day

I picked Cole up from school today and he was sooo excited to tell me about the leprochauns that had broken in to his classroom and "ruined" (his words) everything. "They even tipped over the garbage can!". When we got home he ran around the house looking to see if they'd messed up our place. And yes, they had. (; Cole is adorable and has so much life in him. Too much recently, to the point of throwing constant fits and crying episodes. We're working on him though. Well, we and prayer are at least. Here's June trying to eat some bananas. Most ended up on the floor. And lastly, one funny story about Dayne. This morning I told her to lean over her bowl of cereal while eating (she's always spilling all over the place), to which she responded with a hand to her ear and a "quiet mom, I'm talking on the phone". I didn't even know what to do except cover my mouth, run to my room, and call Geof. laughing. She's so funny and such a brat at the same time! We love her though.

Happy Birthday Daddy!!

Geof. had to leave for work around 9 am today, so we made him some applesauce muffins and sang to him before taking him to work and Cole to school (pre-school). Don't mind Dayne screaming in the background, "No! My turn, my turn!". She's the boss around here.

g.b.

dayne: She has an obsession with touching her eyebrow and wrist. Usually she tries to touch both eyebrows and one wrist simulaneously. i'll try to get a picture posted. very funny. I just finished an excellent book titled Triumph. It's the story of Jesse Owens and the 36 Olympics held in berlin. When Brind and Julia came out to visit last week we went to the Holocaust museum in D.C. and part of it talked about Hitler using the Olympics as propoganda. So reading this book right after that gave a lot of detail on what the Jews were going through leading up to the olympics. Hitler proclaiming aryan supremacy while the black athletes from america ran circles around the rest of the world. It was very disturbing thinking about how a first world country was overtaken by a government which had never won more than 38% of the popular vote. stripping it's people of their rights. there was an interesting quote in the museum i can't remember completely. "When they took away the Jews I said nothing, when the communists were taken I said nothing, etc.., finally when they came to take me away there was no one to say anything." interesting to think how swiftly we can lose our rights i.e. the patriot act. well darla and dayne are out shopping and cole and I are watching the classic Robin Hood, what could be better?

reading at 3?!

I don't know if this'll work. I hope it does. Dayne LOVES reading books. I remember when I was little, I'd read the same book over and over again until I had it memorized. Dayne doesn't exactly "read" yet, but she's almost memorized quite a few. Adorable Dayne...3 in May!

I can see myself getting quite obsessed with this whole bloggin' thing. Love it!! The 2nd pic of Dayne and June: don't ask me what is happening there except I thought Dayne looked so funny with her headband..., I just had to point and shoot. In the pic, I believe she's eating the keys and June is wishing she could try some. Third pic is of Dayne at the park. "Too bright mommy!" We went to the park yesterday and it was soo nice out. I love Richmond weather! The whole "No Sledding" sign just cracks me up. It snows maybe once or twice a year here and melts as soon as the day is over. I guess we haven't been here long enough to see the real blizzards they have. (:

We went to the park yesterday and Cole really got the hang of the whole frisbee thing. He was actually better than Geof. throwing it short distances (Geof's words, not mine). Look at those beautiful trees in the background!! Richmond's so pretty!

Mom's not this fun!!!!!!

Some of you have probably already seen these pics but I wanted to post them since this here blog just might be the closest thing to journal writen' in a looong time. Cole and Dayne LOVe their dad. He's by far the better parent, and spends minute upon minute playing with them....I'm teasing Geof.! You spend much more time than I do wrestling with the beebs.

g.b.

well it is probably good that we have this blog seeing as a i only make a bi annual entry in the journal. I'm not sure if I should make this my personal memoirs or if many others will view the blog. i'll just try to jot down the things which i would like to remember. like dayne always busting out singing songs such as o holy night. there is no variation in tone. no need really when you're as cute as she is. Dayne, remembers lyrics better than anyone else in the family. Cole asks me every now and again when I'm going to become spider man or some other super hero. He says this because he is trying to figure out which super hero he wants to be when he grows up. We got him some super hero suits for his birthday and he immediately put on spider man walked over to a wall and tried climbing it. Needless to say he was very disappointed and informed us that the suit was broken. we'll work that for him. Dayne love to smile that is pretty much what elevates her from sleep depriving farting monster to beautiful favorite in Darla's eyes. Dayne is the only child who always wakes up with a big smile on her face. the cutest face and smile ever i might add. Darla though she will dispute this is the worlds best mom. She is constantly taking the kids out and trying to do things for them. Things like going to parks in horrible weather. Taking them on 5 mile walks. painting with, reading too, and cleaning up after the 3. Also I find darla to be the best wife ever. after six years i still feel as excited to return home to her as when i was a newly wed. actually more so perhaps since right after we got married she became pregnant with cole and threw up whenever she saw me. but that's neither here nor there. we've been blessed to travel and play together as a family. alright hopefully i'll post more stuff on this here web site. oh yeah brind and julia were out here last week and we had a fun time hanging out and seeing some of the sights. it's always fun to be with friends and family.

And here she is!

For some reason my blog is not allowing me to post more than one pic at a time. Here's a cute one of June. She's 8 months old now. We thought we had trained her to sleep through the night.., turns out that was all a hoax. As soon as she had mom and dad in the room with her (I was sleeping on the couch letting her cry it out), she reverted back to her old ways. She's been up 3-4 times a night eating...or just soothing herself. So, Geof.'s out of town for the next couple nights, I'm on the couch, and June can cry all night if I care! I need my sleep! But she's so dang cute, don't ya think?

We made banana bread and muffins tonight out of my checked out from the library "Deceptively Delicious" cookbook. The kids loved them! This is Cole pureeing cauliflower and Dayne covering her ears. Cole pushed Dayne at one point while they were both trying to mix, and Dayne says, "Hey, I'm 2 1/2 Cole and you can't push me!" She's really into telling everyone how old she is right now. I don't know who told her about the 1/2 part.

We love chik-fil-a icecream!!

Here's our funny girl Dayne who makes a mess out of every eating experience (much like her mom). She cracks us up. You can rarely get a smile out of her for pics. No way is she gonna pose for the camera.

You'd think we were just two young lovebirds...

I'm so glad I married someone who makes me laugh. What a relief! And to think I almost didn't marry him because I didn't think he was funny. I love you Geof. Six years together!

Va

Thank you thank you Emily for helping me with this. Hopefully I can get it fun and cute and personal soon. You're the best! Really. I miss having a friend like you close by. Heck, I miss having a friend like you at all. Wait, that made no sense. Love you.
Darla

Test Blog

Did it work?