aaron.anica.emily.isabel.claire

Izzy was born into the perfect setup with a clever older sister who came before to blaze the trail and teach her important life lessons. Unfortunately letters and numbers aren't the only thing Emily is learning in Kindergarten. A couple weeks ago I overhead Emily talking and it sounded like she said "Damn." When I asked her what she said she looked at me and said, "Uh, ram?" To which I replied, "Well it sounded like you said damn." "Is that a bad word?" I told her yes and she wanted to know why. Good question! I told her it isn't good to say and started to say, "Unless your talking about . . . well, nevermind . . ." That didn't fly. "Unless what mom?" she persisted. "Well unless your talking about a structure used to hold up water." "Oh, like a beaver builds?" "Exactly Em." Fast forward to a few days ago when I was working on my computer that kept freezing up. Emily working nea...

We're still trying to figure out a good recipe for lemonade in our household. It seems like just when we get the right amount of sugar mixed in someone comes along and squeezes in more lemon. Aaron recently lost his job and I, for certain reasons, felt compelled to quit my part time job. Timing a little off? Maybe. We've enjoyed the last several weeks together while job hunting and we were even considering going into early retirement until we realized it doesn't pay very well at this stage in our lives. We usually go to the gym each morning after dropping Emily off at school and we had to laugh at the following experience. I had decided to try something new other than my normal routine and so I rushed Aaron to get to the gym on time so that I could go to a hydro aerobics class. Now for whatever reason I had no expectations in my mind of what the class would be like, but I was totally shocked when I walked out of the locker room to see 20 gray haired elderly ladies and ...

Emily brought this assignment home from school today. Should I be concerned about what she's learning? :) It made me laugh especially as I tried to help her with it.

In July we were lucky enough to take a trip down to Cali and stay with our friends at the White House. We had a blast and shared a fun-filled relaxing few days with them. We took a little trip to Beverly Hills where we were right at home (ha!ha!) Me on Wilshire Boulevard A sweet Rolls I wouldn't have minded driving home in : ) Aaron and Em on Rodeo drive We even sighted the Governator and I got my best paprazzi shot The four of us (Izzy in the stroller) on Rodeo Drive We caught some rays at Newport Beach While Izzy was lulled to sleep by the ocean waves We even got in a little Rock Band time And Em was able to perfect her guitar skills Thanks to the White family for letting us come hang out with you guys! We love you! P.S. J.D. thanks for keeping track of Izzy's feeding schedule while in Beverly Hills. I could tell you missed Maddie and Adrie and we did too : ) P.S.S. Marky I asked Emily about your toothbrush and she said she used it, but we're still trying to figure ...

Emily has lost 3 teeth to date. Her two bottom and one on the top. I wasn't ready for it to come so soon, so when she told me her teeth were loose I kind of freaked out and asked her what she did to make them loose, then I had to call my Mom and ask when she's supposed to lose her first tooth. I was assured it was probably time, as my teeth came early and were lost early. Emily was so excited to have the tooth fairy come to our house and diligently put her tooth under the pillow. She plagued us with questions about the tooth fairy to which we had fun making up answers too. As I was laying with her that night she asked if she could write the tooth fairy a letter. I told her she probably could and asked her what she would say. She said she'd ask the tooth fairy to come and live at our house. Then with big eyes she said, " . . . and then she could teach me how to fly!" She also wondered aloud what the tooth fairy would leave for her under her pillow. ...

Practice: consists . . . of . . . teasing the boys . . . and tackling and wrestling them to the ground Game Day: She swings She runs High five from Dad Makes it to 3rd And don't forget the slide into home. Boy that was close!

One night when Izzy was a few weeks old, Aaron and I had woken up with her several times through the night and by the wee morning hours we were slipping in and out of consciousness. I had just fed Izzy and handed her off to Aaron to burp her. In my sleep I was listening for the sound of his hand patting her on the back as we lay there. As he slacked off I would prompt him to continue burping her. I don't know how long this pattern went on, but it seemed like a short time before she started crying again to be fed. I asked Aaron to hand her over. He told me he didn't have her. It was then that I spotted her in her cradle and realized that my feeding her had been a dream and he had just been patting his chest in response to my prompts to burp her.