Lenore arrived Monday, July 20th on the 3:23 p.m. delivery train (just as Randi had scheduled over a month ago!). She came perfectly bundled at 7 lbs 11.5 oz with lots of curly hair and plump round cheeks. Tanner, Rylie and Jocelyn love holding her whenever they get the chance. She doesn't even cry as much as Jocelyn feared she would. Randi is doing well and is especially glad have Lenore in her arms instead of in her tummy. And Ben is getting back in the baby burping groove.
Here's the annual list of favorites. We love you very much Rylie and are so proud of the little woman you are becoming. You are amazingly compassionate, insightful and tender. You might try to convince us all that you're a hard little nut, but under that shell you're such a softy... and dare I say it... as girly as they come! And we LOVE you for it!
Favorites:
color - Red
food - Mexican, usually a quesadilla or a big DOUBLE cheese pizza
animal - Cheetah
hobby - Riding her scooter
flower - Red rose
This is "Sunny" Rylie's horse that she's riding every other week. Her teacher says that she is a natural. She can steer, start, stop and trot. All without a lead from the first lesson. When we were waiting for her lesson to start last week we were able to watch the "big girls" jumping on their horses. Rylie is very excited to be able to do that one day. All I know is that be it ballet class or wrestling... that girl can do what ever she puts her mind to.
view from Rylie and Jocelyn's window... facing the front of the house
Daddy and Tanner caught unaware
Tanner giving Rylie a piece of his mind...
Tanner's attempt to look innocent... not very convincing huh?
shrubs at the front corner of the house
Jocelyn caught blowing MORE dandylions into my lawn... "sTOOOOOP!"
Flowers that our lovely friends the Watson's brought by on Sunday
The very cool new picnic table that my mom bought us from Costco... it even folds flat for storage!
Fred Meyer special, my 7.00 pool... hours of fun ahead. We already broke it out an had it filled up twice in the last week.
um... yep, that would be the washer. maybe it was cool to her because her blankey is in it?? who knows. And finally... the bane of my existence... the Polly/littlest petshop bucket.... this was one of the rare occasions that it was in the bucket and not scattered throughout the room and house.
Little Jocelyn... no longer little. It's amazing how much bangs can change the way someone looks. Tonight while getting ready for church tomorrow... ie.. washing hair.. blow drying and such. I got a little bored with the same ol' same ol'. Next thing I knew we had the scissors out and Joce got some bangs. I'm really liking it on her. She "LOVES" them. I've never seen her so attentive while having her teeth brushed. Really she just couldn't take her eyes off herself the entire time..... but really, can you blame her??
Rylie and Jocelyn had their first dance recital Friday night. Neither had any stage fright (I was suprised about that). They did wonderful! We spent some time getting them allll dolled up for the fancy occation. Here's the highlights.
Jocelyn is so excited to have a baby sister. Our friends the Henderson's came by with their new baby Elinore. She's such a cutie! Jocelyn LOVED holding her... and looking at her... and ever since she's been saying "I can't WAIT till ours babys pops out mom!"
I just thought these pics were adorable and I had to share.
Well, it's begun. I'm starting a wellness challenge with some friends and here are the guidlines:
1 7 hours of sleep 2 48 oz. water 3 45 minutes of exercise (not necessarily consecutive) 4 2 servings of veggies, 2 servings of fruit 5 No soda, beer, wine, unhealthy snacks, or bad fast food [anything FRIED] 6 No sweets [desserts, pastries and sugary snacks & cereals] * sugar-free alternatives are ok 7 No eating after dinner/8pm 8 15 minutes of scripture reading (or other spiritual text if you don't do scripture) 9 One journal entry (any length) 10 Express sincere appreciation or praise to your spouse (if single, to another person)
Basically you get a point for each good habit you preform each day. At the end of the challenge the three with the most points get to split the pot (you know... just some extra incentive to form those good habits). I'm just excited about having a set list to accomplish... then, I'll have the sense of actually getting something done at the end of the day.
Well, now to take care of #9. I expect that I'll be the avid blogger for the next few months as I do this... seeing how this really is my journal of sorts. The kids and I had fun a week back when we broke out the sprinkler for the first time this season. It was actually in the 80's those two fabulous days. Of course it's been in the 60's since... but I'm not complaining. I finally got my tomatoes, eggplants, butternut squash, and herbs in the ground this weekend. Hopefully we're in the clear for frost in this neck of the woods... though I've heard rumors that they've gotten frosts as late as the end of May.
So we just got back from Tanner's school. He represented his class in the school wide spelling bee. (much to our surprise.. no offense Tanner) It's just that the boy had a D in spelling first semester and with all that moving and baby and what not... I can't say that we've been the most supportive parents at home to improve that grade.
Well.... he turned that D into an A all on his own and won 2nd in his class in order to get into the school wide spelling bee... WOOO HOOOOOO!!! We couldn't "bee" prouder.
In the end the poor boy got out on the word "knock". He sat and thought about it for about a minute... the suspense was killing everyone... then he spelled it "nock". He actually thought that both were words and told me later he was trying to decide which one to say. He knew that it was spelled "knock" some times.
Surprisingly enough, the most interesting parts of the spelling bee had nothing to do with spelling. Little mister casanova was winking at girls in the audience. I was a bit shocked until he shot me a "hey there" wink. I'm pretty sure that he thinks it's just saying hello in a "cool" way and that he has no idea he's making the little girls swoon.
mental note: Have Ben talk to him and explain how his winking might be interpreted.... lol
Ben and I always looked at the gender of our children as a competition of sorts. First he was ahead... then we were tied. Jocelyn was the tie breaker... and now...
WE'VE CREAMED THOSE BOYS!!!!
That's right, baby #4 is another Girl!! We're so far ahead now we've decided to call the end of the game on a mercy win. I'm sooooo excited to be doing all this for the last time. Not that I don't love every minute (ok.. well most, I'm human after all). It's just such a wonderful feeling to really have finality and a sense of closure... I'm completely at peace with it.
Here's a video of the 4d ultra-sound. A bit disappointing I have to say. The doctor said she wasn't facing the right way for the best image.... in the end... it's just a bit scary. But for all those that have wondered what it's like... just as I had.... here you go.
I must admit though... I was sooo convinced it was a boy that I've been thrown for quiet the loop. The biggest adjustment is names. If it had been a boy... easy peasy... it was going to be Maxwell Neil Marchant, our little M n' M lol. Well, some how I just don't like Maxine in quite the same way. I think it just reminds me a bit too much of gigantic women with a bobbed hair do and whisky drinking horses.... you get my drift?
Now we're faced with picking another girls name. The problem isn't that I can't find anything I like... rather, I can't figure out what I like best.... and by I, I do mean Ben as well. We're pretty much on the same page with this one.
I'll post the list of front runners as of now... of course it changes daily. Feel free to voice your opinions... just keep in mind I might not listen *grin* but then again... you all might have some good thoughts to consider... or other names to add to the list.
;)
here's the names:
Hazel
Avery
Talia
Dellilah
Loren
Eliza
obviously I lean towards the old fashioned names... but not horribly common. k... have a blast picking them apart *grin*
so... Ben and I are up tonight listening to music.. reminiscing about our teen years and such. Then I remember... hey, I'm named after a song!
Well... technically I was supposed to be Brandy not Randi.... but grandma thought that sounded way too much like alcohol. For years I've thought... well, that's kind of a stretch grandma... but oh well I like the name Randi better anyways.
lol... then I listen to the song... haha! hummmm are we surprised grandma made that connection? I mean she is a bar tending broad.
have a little listen to my name sake....
So Ben thinks... on this precedence that we really need to come up with something that has deep meaning...
This is just cool... saw it the other day... sooo worth watching. It was presented at an AARP contest.
One last final randomness...
Washington DC Metro Station on a cold January morning in 2007. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time approx 2 thousand people went through the station, most of them on their way to work. After 3 mins a middle aged man noticed there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried to meet his schedule.
4 mins later the violinist received his first dollar: a woman threw the money in the till and, without stopping, continued to walk.
At 6 minutes, a young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again.
10 mins: a 3 year old boy stopped but his mother tugged him along hurriedly, as the kid stopped to look at the violinist. Finally the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. Every parent, without exception, forced them to move on.
45 minutes; the musician played. Only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money but continued to walk their normal pace. He collected $32.
1 hour; he finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.
No one knew this but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the best musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, on a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days before, Joshua Bell sold out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100.
This is a real story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people's priorities. The questions raised: in a commonplace environment at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?
One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be:
If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments .... how many other things are we missing?
