I didn't post these correctly... start from the bottom and go up.

Our first trip (of many, so far) to Six Flags Fiesta Texas - Erin was so brave on the Log Ride!! It's so good to be here in Texas, hopefully this will be home for a while :-)

Family Dinner Night at the Warrens' - Nathan was interfering with family kisses.

And I didn't get a clear picture of the Welcome to Texas sign, but this was just as good - the Taco Cabana in Ft. Worth Texas!!

We made it to Oklahoma... yay!

This Arthur Bryant's in Kansas City - Yum again!!

We started a roadtrip that revolved around BBQ - this was at Central BBQ in Memphis... Yum!!

We went to the playground ALL the time....

We went swimming a few times...

Since I last posted, here's what we've done.... Caleb graduated from Virginia Tech!!

think of every town you've lived in, every room you lay your head...

In which the Mom had recently remarked to the Dad, "It's rather quiet in here..."

A Small Boy (no more than 17 months old, mind you) had, for the second time in one day, helped himself to a rather large scoop of petroleum jelly. This might not have been such an entirely bad thing, for the Small Boy does have patches of eczema that can benefit from such a substance in reasonable doses, but said Small Boy didn't apply it to said affected areas, instead focusing more on places like his tongue, lips, and eyelids. The Mom, upon discovering her greasy Boy (and scarcely recognizing him), yelled for the Dad to come straight away and take the Boy to the bath. With no concern for the mess his parents were facing, the Boy found a bathtime hobby with which to amuse himself. Despite her great irritation, the Mom took a few moments away from the fury of cleaning the greasy carpet and greasy pacifier (which must be suitable for use by bedtime) to document the Boy as he entertained himself. The Small Boy is now clean, dry, dressed for bed, and still slightly greasy. The Mom is inclined to believe that this was all a plot devised so that the Small Boy would slip easily from her grasp when being pulled away from forbidden objects.... Nah.

you've gotta fight for your right to [protect the constitution]

We interrupt this regularly scheduled display of kid cuteness to inform you of your rights. If you watch no other news segment today, watch this.



With all this talk of Big Bad Obama, keep in mind that these particular rights being trampled are courtesy of none other than (your favorite politicians and mine...) - neoconservative Republicans. We can thank them for the Patriot Act and other such constitutional nightmares, all enacted in name of "Homeland Security".

Benjamin Franklin knew what he was talking about - anyone who trades liberty for security deserves neither liberty nor security.(my paraphrase)

blue for the sky, and the color green...

For some reason, blogger is no longer uploading pictures for me. I'm not sure if its the movies I've posted lately or if the system is just fruitlooping. Either way, I've posted new pics on Facebook and you can see them there.

The weather was beautiful today, and Virginia Tech had their big international festival this weekend so we took the kids over to try some exotic food and just enjoy being outdoors. Caleb got a plate of red curried rice and vegetables at the Thai booth (VERY good) and I opted for sweeter fare - Guarana and brigadeiros at the Brazil booth. Gotta represent, right Dad? It was a fun afternoon and the kids got plenty of time to run around and wear themselves out.

Caleb is still plugging along at school and doing very well, and I'm working part time at the University for the Crop and Soil Environmental Sciences department. There's about a month left before classes end, and hopefully by then we'll have a better idea of what we're doing next. Life is always exciting!

In which the Judeman displays his sin nature.

Yes he usually gets "disciplined" for this kind of behavior, but I needed to document this for posterity's sake. He may or may not have been provoked by the camerawoman.

heart of this world... or something like that.

this is her rendition - i claim no responsibility for lines like "ripe young women, nekked swimmin', ready to stand!"

test video.

my kids are silly, and i happen to capture a tiff on camera. really i'm posting it because i've never posted a video before and am unsure how to do it. hopefully this works!

honey, we're all resplendent.

Coming home to a place they've never been...

We are at home in Blacksburg! It took awhile, between the long season of packing and cleaning, to the month-long vacation while staying with Caleb's parents, but we're finally moved into our little apartment and completely unpacked. The kiddos love their new (shared) room and have already happily rediscovered all of their toys... so happily, in fact, that I think from now on I'll always keep one third of their toys packed away, and then rotate so there's always something new and exciting. Christmas all year long!

And speaking of, it was a good Christmas. As I mentioned, we were staying with the Weltys for the holidays so we got to share Christmas morning with them. Judah and Erin were sick but still managed to enjoy the new toys and goodies. We had a low-key New Years, and even went to bed early.

So college life starts in earnest this week - I'll be hunting for a job and Caleb will start class on Wednesday. Abby (Caleb's sister, who will be living with us for the semester) starts classes next week and will job hunting as well. Should make for a full and fun 5 months!!

I will post some pics in the next few days. No, really... I promise.

if the exception proves the rule, i guess its true.

Notes to myself for next Christmas (because if I jot it down somewhere, I'll never find it again):

1.) Don't buy cheap wrapping paper.

2.) If you can't resist buying cheap paper, make sure to buy DARK paper, so as not to expose the gift inside because the cheap paper is tissue thin.

3.) Whether cheap or quality, buy paper in solid colors or in patterns that won't dictate how the gift should be wrapped (case in point: I bought paper with snowmen on it... Half of my presents now have upside down or sideways snowmen. ugh).

4.) Don't put the bows on until right before placing gifts under tree. Bows WILL be lost.

5.) Only buy symmetrically-shaped presents. Otherwise have them wrapped professionally.

Count all the bees in the hive, chase all the clouds from the sky...

Our little man is one!! Judah is always busy getting into stuff, taking his sisters toys, and making us laugh with his sour faces :-) He's walking more often than crawling now, and even trying to run to keep up with his Erin. He's drinking from his cup most of the time now, and eating pretty much everything we eat. He says Uh-oh, Dada, Mama, Cuh cuh (for cracker), and a few other things that we're not sure about right now... and he loves to play Dad's guitar!

I wish this picture didn't include the pacifier (for some reason I shudder at non-sleeping children sucking pacifiers!!) but evidently Erin found it for him right before I got the camera out.

walk away, walk away, i will follow...

So my little man is now walking... He's been taking a step here and there for awhile now, but just today I saw him standing up at one piece of furniture, and then take 6 steps over to his toy box.

He's a toddler now! And so while he's still a late bloomer, he managed to beat his sister's walking age by a couple months. 

These pictures are from my Grandmother's swank new penthouse apartment in downtown Ft. Worth - the view is ama-za-zing. 

My two big kids! Seems like just yesterday we were bringing Jude home, and now he's almost one. Time just keeps flying!

so rid yourself of vanities and just go with the season.

So I feel like this blog is dying a slow, painful death. I'm not purposefully avoiding it, I just don't have the time to devote anymore. I'm shocked as I look back through the archives and see that I used to (gasp) post twice a month - who has time for that??

Between these two children who, for some strange reason, seem to need me, and our impending move which consumes every other second of my time, I can't seem to put together intelligent enough thoughts worth posting here.

We are mostly packed up (our storage unit is full, anyway) and we'll be out of here by December 20th. Hopefully. Maybe. If I can ever get my act together. Sheesh.
The kids, I'm sure, are wondering where all their toys are going, and why we've rearranged their rooms several times in the last couple months. They're also suspicious of the strangers traipsing through the house inspecting every corner and measuring the windows for new drapes.
Poor kids. They have no idea that someone else will be sleeping in their rooms in just a few short weeks. It kinda makes me sad that while Erin might always have vague memories of this house, Jude won't remember any of it. Our first house as a family of three. And then four.
So anyway, while I drown my sorrows in this bottle of orange coke (soda or pop for your northerners), enjoy the Halloween pics!

what has been and what's to come

I think we have finally recovered from the post-vaca funk, and now life is returning to normal... Fall is almost here!! Football is in full swing, our fantasty football teams are taking up all of our free time, the weather is getting (slightly) cooler, and I'm ready to start stocking up on Halloween candy. I love this time of year!

Our life and routines have changed so much in the last year... Last fall, Erin was still in diapers. This fall she's potty-trained and is learning her two- and three-letter blends in phonics. Last fall, Judah was a bun in the oven. This fall he's crawling everywhere, pulling up everything, and cruising along any furniture within his reach. If he's bored in his bed he pulls up on the railing and scoots around the edges. What happened to my colicky newborn? Oh that's right, he's now a colicky 9 month old...

Since Caleb has a couple of classes to finish up for his bachelor's degree, we'll be heading down to Blacksburg for the spring semester. This will be a nice change of pace for all of us, and we're looking forward to new possibilities.

I'm also hoping that THIS year I'll finally get an early start on Christmas shopping since the holiday season will also be filled with moving chores. We'll see.

Next post will have pictures, I promise.

three little girls.

photographs...

in the army now.

Its official... the J-man is crawling. Army crawling, that is. For awhile he was using a combination of rolling and scooting and twisting to go places (and oh, the places he would go!). But now, as I sit here and type, he's pushing off with his little feet and pulling himself arm over arm to reach his toys... In a straight line, at that. How did this happen?? He can barely sit up by himself, and very unreliably at that. His accomplishments are very disorganized, much to his mother's chagrin. Maybe he's aspiring to be like his sister... Until 2 months ago, I was convinced that she'd be reading before she ever agreed to be potty-trained. We've narrowly avoided that catastrophe...

In other J news, he continues to chow down on his sweet potatoes, carrots, and occasionally some sweet peas (disguised with a little applesauce, because Jude doesn't go green without coercion). He is drinking from his sippy cup at lunchtime, and even gnaws on leftover pizza crusts when available. Any food within reach is fair game, according to Jude... he lunges for whatever he can get and tries to stuff it in his mouth before we have a chance to react. Yep, we stay busy.

It's the Free Market, stupid!

On Thursday, June 12th, John McCain was in rare form...again...when he said:

"I'm very angry, frankly, at the oil companies not only because of the
obscene profits they've made, but their failure to invest in alternate
energy."

Thank you, John McCain, for your rousing rendition of that timeless
liberal agenda we fondly call socialism! How dare these companies
commit the cardinal sin of making a profit. Don't they understand that
true patriots work for free? Maverick certainly does, he's spent a
career fighting to keep patriots laboring for the government as long
as possible. (Don't let his latest flip-flop for tax cuts deceive you,
that sly devil is trying to win an election!)

And thank you, John McCain, for your righteous anger over companies
having the gall to follow a mission statement. How dare Exxon-Mobil be
the "world's premier petroleum and petrochemical company"! A company
trying to focus on what they do best...yes Maverick, that is an
obscene travesty for a big government lover such as yourself. Too bad
you weren't around to give the Wright Brothers a good verbal thumping
for their failure to invest in bullet trains!

It's becoming apparent that if John McCain wins, the Free Market loses.

summershine

Time for the monthly blog update - for some reason I can't seem to muster anything more frequent...

Erin is taking swim lessons with her cousin Carrie, and they are loving every minute of it. For picture of the two bathing beauties, see here. Erin is still growing like a weed and is already wearing a few size 6X dresses (courtesy of cousin Abigail), and has already outgrown the summer sandals I bought her in April. Her latest obsession is bicycles and wondering when she'll get her own... I think next summer will be the perfect time, and maybe this way we can avoid the whole tricycle stage and move straight to something with removable training wheels.

Judah is growing fast as well, although he hasn't been quite the chunk that his sister was at this age. He is moving around quite a bit (rolling, scooting, etc) but still seems to be resistant to sitting up (the one thing I need him to do!). His grumpy nature hasn't won him many friends among family yet, but we love him, frown and all :-) I have a feeling he'll grown into a fiercely loyal and protective young man.

Caleb and I are gearing up for the Warren family vacation this August... Us Virginians are meeting up with the Warren and Russell Texans for a week in the Tennessee mountains - a welcome vacation for all of us. Erin is looking forward to a week of playing with cousins, Caleb plans to get his fill of fishing, and I plan to RELAX. We're not sure how Jude will fill his time, but I'm sure it will involve demanding lots of treats from the Papa... and I'm sure the Papa will indulge him. We can't wait!!