Since August 6th ...

We've been a little busy ... Our basement flooded; we purged a lot of stuff - including all our packing supplies; the Mrs. attended a funeral; the Mr. applied for jobs; Lolo flew in from California; we drove up to Minnesota; we attended a family reunion; we met the newest member of our family; went to a few favorite stores; shopped in a giant mall; played at a theme park;the Mr. applied for jobs;  the Mr. and Mrs. played softball - the Mrs. played in borrowed shoes; we saw an amazing storm; B started second grade and soccer; the Mr. applied for jobs; Little Miss signed up for ballet; B lost another tooth - he exercised forgiveness when the tooth fairy forgot to visit (she came the next night); the Mr. applied for jobs; the Mr. got a job; we celebrated 10 years of marriage in Denver; the kids spent 4 days with friends; the Mrs. uploaded 381 pictures; and the Mr. PASSED the bar ... It's been a productive month.  We feel so blessed.

It's time to amp up our productivity because, unfortunately, a house can't pack itself.  Denver, here we come!

Scrabble, Bloggie and Bingos

What does one call an individual with an addiction to the game Scrabble??  I'd say Scrabbaholic (preceding word = not in the Official Scrabble dictionary).

I love to play Scrabble.  Love, love, LOVE it!  I am fortunate to be surrounded by other Scrabble lovers (er, likers?).  While the Mister's parents were visiting, we played every night.  The Mister's father and I have a friendly rivalry.  He wins some (a lot) and I win some (more than a lot).  Ha!  See what I mean??  It's friendly ... 

One of the nights we played, I recorded this with my Bloggie (a Bloggie is as amazing as it seems on the link).  Ahh, the memories!!  Ha, ha, ha!!

If you watched the video, you might notice the missing score sheet ... Here it is:

I beat Papa this weekend, but he still holds the record for the best Scrabble bingo. (Did you know the term for  using all the tiles in one turn is "Bingo"?  Now you do.)  A jalousie is a type of window.  The word was the last to be played in the game.  (Trust me, that's exciting.)  That play occurred nearly two years ago and I'm still impressed. 

I consider myself very fortunate.  I love and LIKE my in-laws.  I am as grateful for my Mister's parents as I am for my own.  Papa and I may banter and rival each other in games, but in the end ... we usually end up looking like this:

(Your son made me do it!!!)

Our Third Child

We've anticipated his arrival for several months.  Bags were packed and he was delivered last Tuesday.
Meet G-Fish.  He's been staying in our home while his parents and sisters are out of town.

We've loved having him here and we know his parents are doing a great job raising him because he's so sweet and lovable - just as a 17 month old ought to be. Other than his blond hair, light skin and blue eyes, he fit right into our family.

Here we are at the Fall Cook-Out at B's school.  Even G has mastered the art of ignoring the camera as I take pictures.

You didn't think we were making an announcement, did you?

Living the Transient Life

I realize life, in and of itself, is in constant transition.  Still, right now, it feels like transitions occur more often.  Tonight, we encountered another transition.  This scene has played out each year we've been in Law School.  Let me set it up:

Act 1:  Meet new friends.

Act 2:  Get to know new friends.

Act 3:  Become better friends, even dear friends.

Act 4:  Either us or our Friends go to or graduate from school.

Act 5:  We or Friends move.

That is the transient life and this post is dedicated to this part of our life.  There are several favorite memories.  The following picture of two happy little girls ranks high among the favorites:

The preceding picture was taken after some dance time, block time and pink pony watching time, but before ...

Princess dress-up time.

Then there was camera time:

And friends at the zoo time:

There's also adventure time:

The hardest time, at least for parents, is goodbye friend time (even at midnight):

Transitions offer new opportunities to meet new friends and miss old one's.  We're so glad we got to meet such great game playing, Big Bang Theory Watching, food loving, dessert making, fun-loving friends.  Thank you Jos, David, "Benda" and Alice!  We will miss you.

I guess meeting new people and enlarging one's circle of friends is what makes life livable.  So here's to the transient life and the fact that in a few days, we get to live Act 5 again.

On Being a Spy

My favorite images, especially of my children, aren't posed.  They're taken on a whim, because I walked past a bedroom and spied a moment I want to remember.  Like two children, sitting in a rocking chair, looking at the same book.  It's magic, look for yourself:

Or seeing both kids play TOGETHER with characters from the same endearing movie:

Sometimes, they catch on and are ready to pose.  Then I wait, so I can capture an image of a little girl saying:  WOO-dy.

One of my favorite images is with grandparents, lolo's and lola's ... Like this image I captured this afternoon as Little Miss read her favorite book with our new beloved visitor ... Grandma!

Bye, bye, Jen

How many times do you need to drive to the airport to make it onto the plane? In our case, TWICE ... So now we know, we need to leave at least two and a half hours before take-off to make it to the Kansas City International Airport on time (three hours prior if inclement weather is in the forecast). Future visitors of Topeka: be at peace, the lesson has been learned and you need not worry about missing your flight home; just be sure to thank Jen. At least we learned a valuable lesson AND we got to spend one more day with Jen. Whoo hoo!

Jen wanted to take our Baby Girl as another carry-on, but we didn't think she would tolerate the separation very well.

Oz in Kansas

It's finally happened ... We are finally posting an entry with a reference to the Wizard of Oz! Enjoy! I can't help but sing: "We're off to see the wizard, the wonderful wizard of Oz ..." See if you can keep that song out of your head while viewing this entry ...

The Mr. and Mrs. create beautiful homosapiens.

Doesn't she make a lovely Dorothy?

Halloween anyone? We think we should omit the axe if this is to be his costume.

Why, you ask? Here's why: do you REALLY want to see a four year old yield an axe?

The Mrs. found the "mini" Dorothy ...

Jen makes a good scarecrow face ...

The Mr. isn't cowardly enough to play the part of the lion.

Gage Park Carousel

This is a beautiful carousel. I'm lamenting the fact that we didn't take a picture of the ENTIRE thing so we could show you and relate the experience in a complete manner ... Next time.

We had a blast pretending we were in the movie "Mary Poppins"; you know, the scene where they have the race with the Merry-go-Round horses ...

The Mr.'s race-rooster was the fastest, only because it was a row ahead of us. B, Baby Girl, The Mrs. and Jen tied - it's easy when we're bolted together on the same row. Amor won the prize for most original Carousel animal ... The camel was very obliging. Jen was awarded the prize for agility ... It's pretty hard to race when you're seven months pregnant, good job! What a time! Even our Baby Girl had no need to complain.

The Topeka Zoo

We still haven't figured out how to upload the pictures in the order we would like. Here they are anyway ...

We LOVE the Topeka Zoo. Best of all is the ability to introduce the Topeka Zoo experience to a loved one (thanks for visiting, Jen! And thank you, Brandon, for buying her plane ticket!). The Zoo is small, but the directors do a fine job utilizing the space and creating naturalistic exhibits. Enjoy ...

Here is B peeking at the pride of lions. We say "pride" because there is one male and four females. This picture was taken after B was "reminded" not to climb behind the wall - don't worry, there is another fence separating this wall and the lions.

Here is The Mr. and Baby Girl after the Flumpa show ...

Jen and The Mrs. in front of the Giraffe exhibit. If you look closely, near the tree to the right, you might actually spot one.

This is a sculpture of a lion taking a drink out of a fountain of water. It's a beautifully done sculpture. One day we might take a picture of the entire thing and post it on our blog.

Jen comes to visit

Jen flew in yesterday from Salt Lake City. She's so nice. Already she's organized our pantry, done our dishes and folded our laundry. We think she's crazy and she believes she's just being a good house guest ... whatever.

We can't seem to get both kids to look at the camera at the same time. If anyone has tips to get two individuals with free agency to sit still long enough to take a picture, please comment.

Jen taught B how to do the downward facing dog ... Pretty good, eh? We were impressed.

Once again, we are open to any suggestiongs for getting two kids with the attention span of ... what were we talking about? ... to look at the camera at the same time.

Welcome to the Pea's pod

We have had quite the notable week here are the highlights

• B-Man joins the military or so his haircut indicates



• Lola comes to visit



• Witnessed a demonstration of Darwin's theory of "Survival of the Fittest" by watching small goldfish "disappear" into the mouths of larger fish (bass, trout, etc) @ Cabela's



• Fixed the toilet - how romantic