Wednesday, July 30, 2008

well at least it's nice out

the internet has disappeared from our kitchen. but i have found a spot outside and so i sit here on our back porch....in addition to losing the kitchen hot spot this week i've also lost an earring and my sunglasses....no fun! oh man i just realized i can't really plug this guy in anywhere.....
i tried to fancy up my blog a bit and ended up screwing it up a bunch. i don't know how to copy/paste my page elements?! i will keep playing around and someday it will not be so gray. although nothin' wrong with gray. or grey.
i'm going to visit camp sychar again today. camp sychar is really hard to explain. it is a methodist church camp in mt.vernon my friends and i started going to at age 12, and we still visit every year. it has a similar feel as lakeside-there are many cabins and it is for all ages- services everyday for young adults and also adults and programs for young children.. it's funny because when we went the camp cost only $50 for 10 days and this was our schedule-
7:15am-out the door for a morning prayer service
8:00 breakfast
9:30 morning service
11:00 make sure your room is clean to standards
12:00 lunch
1:00 prayer bell-stop everything and pray for a few minutes
4:00 choir practice
5:00 dinner
7:00 evening service
10:00 devotions
NOT to forget after meals we had to do dishes or clear tables! and between lunch and choir we had required activities such as visiting the local nursing home. we laugh about it, but our hearts are so tied to it... my friend kristin met her husband there and they actually got married there too...and the pancakes...oh the pancakes and the oatmeal....
of course how can one convince colin to come with me? he has come i think once when we were dating. but he is coming with me today darnit... saylor has been there every year of his life [pregnant,last year and this year] and i plan to do that with all of my children. it may not make sense for people who have never been there. but i go to camp and see friends i've known for over 10 years there with their spouses and kids as well... it is another home to me. yay! i sounds completely ridiculous but i know a few of you get it. :)

Sunday, July 27, 2008

love my boys

i came home and found these pictures on the computer.




Saturday, July 26, 2008

blog schm...log

i've been messing around with this blog and had to stop cuz...who am i kidding. i am indecisive, i am not a visual person and i'm a people pleaser. three things which do not add up- oh let's add a fourth. i'm not computer savvy in the least. and i have a 'who cares' attitude or a laissez faire/c'est la vie casualness if that makes it sound any better. all i'm saying is feel free to makeover my blog if you so desire. [ahem sarah]. i am done playing around but yet i'd like something else done with it..
kelton is doing great! he is nursing well and looking wonderful. i think they are just waiting for his temperature to remain stable on it's own and for feedings to be exclusively through julie then he will be ready to go home. being so close to her and her family and watching this all happen.... is making me and colin crave another baby big time. we still are going to wait awhile longer. but we are a notch closer to 'ah let's do it!" colin more so than me actually.
last night was a night surrounded by so many people i love. there was a good-bye party for a family who is moving to amsterdam for 5 or so years for a church plant.i just love our friends like i can't even explain.i didn't stay late as the days of putting saylor to sleep wherever have started to fade. i just let him stay up a little late-by late i mean 8:15. probably could have stayed a little longer if colin was with us but he was doing a photo shoot for house of heroes-he had this idea and it involved a homeless man. i kept telling him he can't use a real homeless person. they would either be too out of it/crazy to understand or maybe hurt you. or if they are coherent enough it just seems sad or rude to use a person because they fit that stereotype... and they'd have to have him sign a waiver or whatnot. plus we have plenty of scruffy/bearded/homely looking friends we could use! but colin insisted and then actually prayed they would find the perfect hobo. and sure enough as soon as they start looking they pass our friends nate and meredith and nate points right to a guy that fit exactly what colin had in mind. he was slightly out of it but aware enough to be super cooperative and was happy to do it [they paid him of course]. nick took the pictures so i'm looking forward to seeing how they turned out. and the homeless man's name was rambo.
here is saylor playing whilst i type

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

welcome kelton bryan

julie had her baby last night! very crazy sudden, he is 5 weeks early. she was eating lunch at work when she started feeling 'odd'. an ambulance ended up getting her and she was thinking 'i really hope this isn't just bad constipation cuz that'd be pretty embarassing'... but sure enough kelton was making his way. he was born in less than 6 hours, a smooth delivery for the most part. baby and parents are doing well but prayers are appreciated as he is in the NICU and will probably be in the hospital for a week plus. [i do so enjoy having a sister that works in a NICU to thoroughly talk to us about this and reassure us]. it is very hard for julie right now she can't hold him right now as he is still working on breathing properly. [simply put]. my heart aches and breaks seeing her heartache-when you first have a baby it's strange to even have him next to you cuz you're so used to him being IN you.. so to have your first child a room away and you can't do anything.. it's literal heartbreak. she is supposed to go home tomorrow but she hates thinking about leaving without him, so please pray. her baby shower is this sunday! so pray everything works out ok in that respect...
here is baby kelton. 5lbs,13oz and 19inches!!!


and now i am off to kristin's baby shower!....

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

hot spot

we found a little spot in our kitchen that picks up internet hooray.
this weekend i went to lakeside with my family-my aunt and uncle had a party to celebrate their 40 year anniversary. i was planning on going to a show with the guys and at the last minute changed my mind. saylor threw up a couple more times so i was weary of taking him on a longer trip...plus i really wanted to see family that i have not seen in ages [they live in california]. i LOVE lakeside i don't even know what it is but there is something special about it. honestly it was stressful,not having my husband there to help with saylor. [funny enough i was at lakeside last year, exact same time... with colin's family and again he wasn't there] we went to put-in-bay on saturday morning, which is a short ferry ride from lakeside. i thought saylor would love being on a boat [his name is saylor after all,right?] but he was tired and therefore restless and not very cooperative.this is a calm moment on the ride when he was looking out the window

and this is me,exhausted,undone,pretending not to be as stressed as i am, holding my boy so he doesn't run around and fall off the boat. he holds his ear when he is tired,so we have some doubly tired action going on here.

it was so stinkin' hot and humid so that added to the stress. saylor has always been such a good baby so this stage has been challenging. he is still a great boy but this age in general is hard-they are constantly on the go and they can't communicate their needs and frustrations as well. we are hoping to go to lakeside next year for a week or so and we think saylor and emily will be a little easier to handle then.they can play more independantly. though sleeping in a bed and potty training are so daunting to me aaaaagh! i know you grow with them and figure it out as you go. my mom said 'oh he's the first waffle.. you know something like you always burn the first waffle...waffle or pancake' i tell her i think it's pancake. and that that's funny advice to apply to children. but i get it, and i love the word 'pancake' so at least it made me laugh.
here's him playing with rocks at the party.its the thing that kept him occupied the longest so i let him have at it

but stress melts quickly at lakeside.i took say for a long walk sunday morning [oh so early the boy woke at 6am gaaah] and we had brunch with everyone before we left. i know he had fun and truly overall he and emily behaved really great. only sad that i didn't get a chance to play shuffleboard [i don't know how much of a dork i sound like...but yes. i love crossword puzzles, scrabble.... and shuffleboard. and ya, saturday night i sat on the porch of the bed and breakfast and read reader's digest and ladies home journal.] so next year shuffleboard, i'm coming to you.
the internet is coming and going as it pleases no fun.
here is a picture that made me laugh for the whole day yesterday. my friend julie's dog-the same dog that had his head stuck in a chipotle bag....

just hanging out. she said he just sat there for 20 minutes while they laughed till they cried and took a bunch of pictures.i love it!
also we saw batman last night. the batman. the characters in the movie always referred to him as 'the batman'. i think i would just say 'batman'. i always thought it was so weird that beauty had nothing to call the beast except beast.when he was falling off the castle and she was scared she cries 'beast!' did he even have a name!?

Thursday, July 17, 2008

puke and b-words

saylor says b-words great. bath,bite,back,ball,book,bible,baabaa..still no mommy but he is doing his best and calling me bobby.when prompted.oh it's funny.
yesterday he threw up three times! he woke up talking and laughing and i walk in there and theres puke everywhere.he seemed fine but a couple hours later it happened again.then he woke up from a nap throwing up and i picked him up and he kept going and i'm grabbing wipes trying to catch it and the look in his eyes was so pitiful. lots of laundry yesterday! but after that he was just ducky though went to bed for the night at 6:30 he was so tired.here's him wrapped in a towel, no point in putting clothes on when he may spew on them.

on tuesday saylor and i went to sharon woods with jenny and olive. we sat on the bench for beatrix.it's nice to have something tangible as a reminder of her.

i love,love what's written there,it's perfect.i felt she was there with us,and i say that as vulnerably as possible.
also this has been fun,bike riding with our boy in tow.

Friday, July 11, 2008

humorous





i'm not sure why these people thought house of heroes music paired well with horses and farming but i think it's fantastic!

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

chippies



may i recommend these? i'm not a potato chip person at all.but these...best eaten in the car with a friend,perfect evening weather,windows down...she bought one bag,i bought the other...and we shared.


here are a couple pictures from watching the fireworks.i turned around to look at him at one point and he just had that glow stick sticking out in his mouth,all casual. so funny.he is learning more words every day. this week he has learned 'back' using it to say 'put it back' and 'wow'.he is still not saying mommy! pfff.
i am reading The Woman Who Can't Forget a memoir about a woman who remembers everything about her past. it is seriously so strange and amazing.it makes me realize how little i remember things. and how funny memories would be in my top 10 favorite things in the world. i love laughing till we cry talking about things that happened. particularly awkward/embarrassing moments. also crossword puzzles. they are on my top ten.

Monday, July 7, 2008

$34,000

ok my 4th and 5th favorite things are books and then blankets.
friday we enjoyed some time at my sister's new house and the 2nd annual july 4th cookout at the snows.This year saylor was old enough to walk around the pool, dangerously close to the edge...and refuse to go to sleep at their house,which was frustrating. he used to sleep anywhere and everywhere and in the past month he has decided grandparents and home are the only places he wants to sleep. i think part of it is wanting to be a part of the party too, he doesn't want to sleep when everyone else is still downstairs playing.oh, cha-cha-cha-changes. so colin and i went home and put him to bed for an hour.we then woke him up and drove a mile to watch fireworks with my family. we put him in a stroller and he laid there half awake and slowly woke up and looked around, very amused. and he loooved the fireworks! he was totally in awe.
saturday colin and i had a date.we went to gallery hop downtown where we enjoyed two new things we've been wanting to try.first, jeni's ice cream. truly superb, truly lives up to all the talk about it.i will be there again soon,jeni. second, we rode in a pedicab!
actually, the guy in the last picture in that article was our driver.it was dark,the weather was great,fireworks were going off.it was fun.
yesterday colin and i hit up kroger and my reciept had printed at the bottom my total kroger plus card savings to date.i've had a kroger plus card for six or seven years. my total savings? it said $34,316.38. WOW! i was in awe. colin did not believe it but i was like, no, it's true. somehow it's true. later that night amber and i were back at kroger picking up some ice cream [of course]. my receipt this time said my total savings to date was $236....oooh. i must have had someone else's receipt.sure enough i get home and check the $34,000 receipt and it's for a single purchase of reese's nuts. [i don't even know what those are].and suddenly instead of believing i've spent what, a million dollars at kroger...i suddenly am shocked that someone has ever spent that much money there to equate that savings.and then they just buy some reese's nuts? and i love how quickly i took something at face value, as ludicrous as it was.
also i printed out 250 pictures from my phone yesterday.about 240 of them were of saylor. i need to start taking pictures of our friends again!!!

Friday, July 4, 2008

i miss the internet!

really like my top five favorite things in this world. besides people
1.massages [absolute favorite]
2.breakfast
3.internet!
i guess i don't have 4 and 5 figured out yet.maybe...books and....sleep.anyway.i am going through some serious withdrawl here! right now i am at my sisters for a hot second and oh shoot now i have to go.a more real update will surely soon come!