the latest and greatest

well, it seems that I have a quite a bit of catching up to do!  last week, we tried to meet a friend for a free movie at the theater, and anna screamed “NO SCAW-WEE!” the entire time . . . and, when William burst into tears because the penguin’s mom wasn’t there to rescue him from the bird who might eat him, I decided to pack up our sad circus and leave.  Off to the museum we went, and it’s a good thing, too, because there was YOTS of work to be done!

   

the surgeon was pulling double-duty and driving the ambulance . . .

while the sad nurse took care of the baby in the back!

    

cousin charles met us at the museum and joined us for lunch!  where’s anna?  can you find her?

mama did some crafting on wednesday . . . and shipped off 20 burp cloths to NYC!

and on thursday, we packed up and headed back to the beach!  this summer has taught me two things:  1.  when your house is on the market, it is best for all to get out of the house . . . or out of town, especially if that means beach time!  and 2.  while I do love being a mama, it comes with it’s share of surprises:  motherhood doesn’t always go the way I thought it might, but summers spent at the beach are exactly what I had imagined and hoped for.  I just love it!

sugie and her boy and his shovel

lolly-gagging beach babes

while this girl loves the beach, her first few minutes in the sand are met with a bit of hysteria about how her toes feel . . .

beach babies {I adore these pictures!}

 

shovels all ready!

    

and our littlest babe and his mama

sandy boys!

the big boys (sam and judah) with the littles—so much fun!  (and, sam and judah may have gotten their fill of work, too!)

sandy girl . . . she laid down in the sand and said “ni night!”  perhaps we stayed out on the beach a tad too late the first night!

but day two on the beach provided some good ole naps!  {below are some pretend naps . . . }

sister and charlie eventually took a good ole snooze!

and, someone was a happy little beach bug!

and, aunt brookie and I dressed up like twinsies!

Daddy met up with us that night, and we headed over to stay with our sweet friends, Daniel and Lindsey.  After a quick morning swim followed by a downpour of rain, we put the little ones in front of the tv for some zombie time!

we had a great ole lunch

played with a BiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiG ole WOOO WOOOOOOOOOOOOO

And just like Erik and Ariel, Hatch and I took advantage of our nap time and went on a romantic rowboat ride!  He rowed us out, and I rowed back, which was quite hilarious!

we made it home on Saturday night for some good sleep and just in time to resume normal life, like sitting in laundry baskets, on Sunday morning!

And, finally, on Monday, Sister and I headed back into the doctor’s office for the check up on her broken collarbone.  It was a memorable visit.  We waited and waited and waited.  {Below is a picture of Sister and her baby.  She brought “him” with us.  “His” name is Baby Jake, and “he” is her baby.}  Once again, when Mama had to put on her special jacket during the x-ray, Anna burst into tears.  “No pic-ture, Mommy.”  And, when the doctor came in the room she looked at me and said “no doctor, mommy.  bye bye!” and then she covered her eyes for the next TEN MINUTES.  She wouldn’t look at the doctors all!  It was hilarious!  The doctors said that she is healing well and that she needs to “take it easy” for the next few weeks.  He smiled while telling me that—good luck with that!  Little Miss does walk around saying “Doc-ter say, no cwimbin’!”  We continue to pray for God to heal our little lady!

busy bees

last week was our first week home from vacation, and we managed to keep ourselves quite busy!  we cashed in on our very first family pool membership, and we are loving it!  a nearby pool offers an “august only” membership, and we are so excited to be a part of it!  we went for some dinner and chick-fla-flay at the pool!  (or “oo-eye (french fry) cow” as anna calls it!)

    

three little fishies (or two sharks and a duck!?)  all in a row!

one fish, two fish!

last week held a great week of vbs with a water-play day afterwards.  it was a HUGE hit!

charlie and hudson                                                                               and william!

    

william, the lover of all tiny things, found a new tiny thing to play with this past week . . .

I told this boy that I have my eye on him!

    

and, that afternoon, we did our best to hold it together while we waited for Daddy to come home from work!

this weekend we stayed home to do some work around the house, and we played a rousing game of hide-and-seek!

Daddy is a really good hider

Little Miss has become quite obsessed with two things:  Nutsy, the mascot of our local baseball team (she asks about and prays for him daily) and ‘Weet ‘Wog (Sweet Frog) . . . She begged her Daddy to take her to ‘weet ‘wog on Saturday, and we had a great ole time!  These two love frozen yogurt!  The whole time we were there, Anna pointed to every frog and squealed “ ‘Weet ‘WOG, DADDY!  ‘WEET ‘WOG!”   She loves the frogs, and I think she likes the frozen yogurt a little bit, too!  The cashier, bless his heart, gave Anna a SF bumber sticker, which we leaned on a shelf in her bedroom—she points to it and talks about it multiple times daily.  So funny!

and, negotiating . . . toppings, flavors, a little of this for a little of that . . .

don’t we all want to finish our ice cream this way?!

we finished out our weekend with another special request . . . a movie night with our boys.  we only watched about 20 minutes, but it was so much fun and a treat for us all!  These boys love being together and being with their dad—it is really so dear to me!

and, these are from today—hot off the press!  I had to post them because I fee like Sister is changing so much and so quickly!  I adore this little dress of hers—our friend Daley made it (it’s a pillowcase dress) and passed it down after her Harper wore it.  I monogrammed it last night!  OH, I just love it!

And, here she is after an evening swim at the pool . . . all ready for bed!  I love this little lady!  We have been calling her the Mayor, because she waves and says hello to EVERY SINGLE PERSON she sees.  At the pool, she kept asking the life guard to watch her jump into the water!  Little Miss is not afraid of some attention . . . or a small fan club!  She is a hoot!  She loved being in the pool but she turned to me at one point and said “Ni Night, Mommy.  Bed.  Nap.  Yubi (Lovie) and Bathy (Paci)” . . . and we knew, it was time for bed!

Grab your Yubie, Bathie, and Bwankie and snuggle in!  Nighty night from Anna Bug!

Technorati Tags: Anna,William,Hudson,Summer

our {first} big break

so, while we were at the beach, sister was being the big ole 1.5-year-old-girl acting like a 3.5-year-old-boy that she is, and she was climbing the “yadder” up to the boys’ bunk bed in our room.  hatch and I saw her at the same time, and she looked back at me, letting go with her right hand . . . and she fell.  it was so sad and quite scary.  we knew right away that something had happened with her right arm by the way she was holding it close to her body {and screaming!}.  after talking to the pediatrician and to the urgent care place at the beach, we decided to wait and watch her.  with each passing day, her mobility increased and her level of pain decreased, and it seemed that she was slowly improving.  I soon realized she was really over-compensating so that she would not have to use her right arm to climb or to brace for a fall {she still toddles around, you know} . . . and I felt a knot on her collar bone and was sure it was broken.  we called the on-call doctor and he set up an appointment for us with the pediatric orthopedist on Monday.  Anna was so sweet and very brave.  The doctor did the exam for little miss, pushing on her and feeling her bones, and Anna didn’t cry.  They fit her for her “butterfly wings,” and tightened it up on her, and she didn’t cry.  And, they did an x-ray—where no one even touched her—and when they asked her to stand still, she boo hoo’d and screamed “NO NO NOOO!”  It was pretty funny—the one time when no one was pushing on her, and she had a big ole dramatic moment!  The doctor is really pleased with her bone growth and healing so far, and we are so thankful to God for that.  Sister is enjoying her “wings” and said this morning “butter-fly wings ON, mama . . . wings, on!”  When we left the doctor’s office yesterday, the doctor said “bye bye, sugar!” and Anna replied “BYE SUGAR!”  ah ha!  She has such a sweet disposition and is such a trooper.  We have to get creative with getting her in and out of bed, the car seat, high chair, etc., and with picking her up . . . but other than that, we just have to keep her from climbing on things.  Anna said to me today “Doctor say:  no climb, Anna.  NO Climb.”  The butterfly is learning her limits.  As we were fitting her for her “wings,” I could just hear my Nana’s voice in my head:  “Aww, God love her!”  So, here we are at one year old with a broken collarbone—our first broken bone . . . and, let’s hope it’s our last!

Sissy got ahold of my camera . . . here’s a little self-portrait of her with her brace on her shoulders . . .

and, fear not, we’re keeping things light around here.  Pringles, anyone!? 

Technorati Tags: Anna,William