Getting into the Holiday Spirit

Carolyn, Will, and Kristin posing for a picture
Katie and I after a long day of baking
Will's excited about Christmas!!! You can't really tell, but it is snowing!
Will and Daisy help decorate the tree
Thanks, guys!
More ornaments!
The finished product

Katie and Will taking a break
Carolyn hard at work on her spritz cookies

Will and Mike look for the perfect Christmas tree at our local farm

I realize these pictures are out of order, but for some reason I'm having trouble rearranging them. Sorry if it's driving you as bonkers as it is making me! We had a lot of fun last weekend getting into the holiday spirit. I spent Friday in Portland with Katie having fun and shopping around. Saturday we went to the in-laws for our annual cookie baking day. I decided to opt out of making my true love truffles and it didn't work out too well for me. I should have stuck with the truffles. Instead I made some pecan pralines, but I managed to screw them up. Luckily, Carolyn had my back and salvaged them! We spent the whole day hanging out together, baking, talking, kind of watching Miracle on 24th St. and eating. It was my kind of day! Sunday, we went to a tree farm down the road to pick out our Christmas tree. While Mike was loading the tree into the truck it started snowing! It was perfect! Afterwards we got out all of our Christmas decorations and set to work getting everything ready for the holidays. Will had fun helping out this year and has done an okay job not being too destructive. At some point during the day he usually takes off the Larry Bird ornament and carries it around with him, but I'd say that's pretty good for a toddler. The tree has remained in an upright position! We have a lot of Christmas goodies in our freezer, so if anyone wants to come over and partake, please be our guest!

Tag...I'm it!

Actually, I was tagged a long time ago, but I didn't know what kind of secrets to reveal to you all out in cyber space. I am supposed to list 7 random facts about myself. Here you go...

1. I wore head gear in grade school. Thankfully, I only had to wear it at night. Thanks mom and dad for making sure I had nice, straight teeth!

2. When I'm feeling really bummed out or broken hearted I like to watch When Harry Met Sally. It's one of the few movies I actually own.

3. I love to dance. It doesn't matter if it is swinging around with my husband on the dance floor, waltzing with Will in his nursery or doing a jig with Daisy (which she doesn't really like, but I think is hilarious).

4. I've been swimming since I was 2 years old. I love to be in the water and swimming is probably my favorite way to get exercise.

5. I like fast cars. Hopefully one of these days I will own a suped up muscle car so I can cruise around and listen to my music really loud.

6. I have completed a triathlon.

7. I'm a little slow in getting around to doing things, as shown by this post!

Thanksgiving Weekend

We started off the morning running a Turkey Trot
We went over to the in-laws to toast Carlos' new job
Then we went to my Grandma Doris' house to eat Thanksgiving dinner. My Grandma Jewell was here to celebrate with us this year.
My Aunt Rose from Oklahoma came for Thanksgiving too. Here she is making Will laugh.

It was a busy Thanksgiving weekend! In fact I've just recovered enough to finally blog about it! We started off the morning running a 5k. It was great. Of course, my hubby is used to doing these sorts of things, but it was a novelty for me. Slow and steady was my motto and it was great to get out early and burn some calories before chowing down on some good viddles. We went over to Carolyn and David's to toast Carlos' new job. He and Kristin bought some pisco sour and Carlos made us the signature drinks from Peru, which is a real treat. After that we headed over to my Grandma's house where she was cooking up a storm. I couldn't wait to dig in to the mashed potatoes. She is famous for making tons of pies. Supposedly she cut back this year, but I couldn't really tell. There was still plenty for me to eat! It was nice hanging out with my family. My Aunt Rose and Uncle Andy came from Oklahoma, so that made this year extra special. They came to take my Grandma Jewell back with them so we had to say our goodbyes. On Saturday we went to Tillamook to see the cheese factory, which led to more eating. It was worth the drive just to eat black walnut ice cream in a waffle cone--yum! Thanks to Lee for buying it for me :) After that we drove over to Lincoln City for some shopping and dinner. Will was pretty amazing for a little toddler man. It was a long day for him. It was great hanging out with everyone though and well worth it.

My Will and My Michael

I just had to take a moment and write down some of the cute things that Will did today...

When he heard a train in the distance tonight he said, "choo, choo".

He is copying Mike and I a lot more. Today I made a noise and pretended to pour tea out of a kettle and he did the same--so cute!

When I started to get him ready for bed and started singing the Raffi song about brushing your teeth, he made hand motions like he was really brushing his teeth.

As we were reading one of his books today he repeated the word peacock after I showed him the picture and said the word. Mike said he did the same thing when he read him that book.

He puts his hand out now when he is walking around with a piece of food in his hand to fend off Daisy.

This past week he has started to bring books to me to read. Yesterday I read four books in a row to him. Each time he would bring me one and I took it, he would clap his little hands.

Will loves Jamba Juice. We stopped in to get some for ourselves and a friend today and he knew it was a treat. Sometimes I have to remind him to breathe, otherwise he'd just keep sucking down that sweet liquid! He looks so funny with that great big cup in his hands and drinking out of a straw!

For a while now he has been jumping around and saying, "hop". He's getting better and better at it all of the time!

Now for My Michael...

Mike has had to work late quite a few days in a row. That means that I work late too and I miss him. Tonight he came home with a rose, a bag of york peppermint patties (he read my mind), and some really kind words for me. I thought it was so sweet and thoughtful of him. He is so good to me and I am so blessed that he is my husband. Thanks, Mike!

What a Day!

Will has gone to bed, so it is my time to blog, even though I have a million other things to do. Hey, I have to keep you updated! As I was reflecting upon the day I couldn't help but laugh. It all started out pretty normal. We woke up and I even got a few chores done before we went to waterbabies. I was thinking it might be a pretty good day. We put little float devices on the kidlets during class and Will howled. What do you do? He doesn't enjoy floating on his back anyway. He usually just wants to flip over. Eventually he calmed down. As we were making our way out of the pool one of the instructors tells a kid to get out of the pool because there's poo in it. Will and I booked it out right away--gross! That was a sign of things to come. Now, I'm not complaining because I did actually take all of this in stride and even found myself chuckling over it all. Will was rubbing his eyes as we sanitized ourselves to the best of our ability in the shower. Great! Will is going to go right down for a nap. We get home and it's party time. Okay, so I figure I will get back into the car and go run some errands and shoot for a 1 o'clock nap. Maybe that 1-3 time slot all the moms keep talking about. We're in Safeway and of course the little straps that you use to buckle your toddler in do not hold Will. He managed to finagle himself right out. Now he is wanting to stand up in the cart and is reaching out for me with a great big grin on his face. There was no way I was going to try and hold Will in my arms while shopping and trying to navigate the cart. So I go into tough mom mode and tell Will all about safety and force his locked little legs into the holes of the cart. Again, another howl. Hmmm...twice in one morning, I must be going for mom of the year. I chuckle to myself and proceed forward like it's perfectly normal to be shopping with a screaming child. This happens three or four more times and at the end I was avoiding eye contact completely with all of the other shoppers. Still two women managed to make comments. Grrrrrr, I smiled politely and tried not to think violent thoughts. By the time I get to the cash register I am feeling a little better because I managed to grab myself a York peppermint patty. Chocolate will make things right again and a peppermint patty was a low cal choice, at least as far as candy bars go. We get through the checkout line and I make a bee line for the car. When we get there I take Will's hands and raise them in the air and say out loud, "yes, we made it!". I felt so victorious that Will hadn't made a flying leap out of the cart and split his head open and I hadn't pulled out any of my hair, but maybe that's because I had to keep my hands on Will the whole time I was shopping! By this time Will is acting like a total wild child because it is 1 o'clock and he needs a nap. He fell asleep in the car. Next item of business was to make the transfer from car seat to house. Amazingly, it was successful and Will took a snooze on the couch. I think he might have gotten at least 45 minutes in when Daisy woke him up. Another howl. Oh man. No matter what I tried I could not get that kid to go to sleep. Poor Will. Did I mention it is awful outside, so we were both getting a little stir crazy? To get Daisy back we gave her a bath and antagonized her the rest of the afternoon, heh heh. I think I've already dragged out enough of the minute details of this day and I will spare you the rest. It's been another great day taking care of my crazy little munchkin. Now I'm going to bed so I can be ready for more tomorrow! :)

Will, the waterbaby
I did Will's hair, do you like it?
Red Sox are number one!
Representing Red Sox nation here on the West coast

Here are some pictures for you to enjoy. I should have blogged about these earlier, but I was too busy driving up to Salem to do so. You see, my husband is very superstitious and obsessed about the Red Sox. We had to go up and watch each game of the series with my in-laws because they seem to win when Mike watches the games on their television. It was a lot of driving, but fun to watch with true Red Sox fans. Mike's dad, David is the only person on the West Coast that cares about the Red Sox as much as Mike does. They are kindred spirits in this way or maybe it's just hereditary. My mother-in-law, Carolyn kept us well fed throughout the series and we ate dinner there every night, so again this made it worth the drive! Thanks for feeding us, Carolyn! At one point we thought we heard Will say, "Manny". Whenever we would cheer, Will would clap his hands together. What a cutie!

The first two pictures show just how much Will loves the water. We enjoy going to waterbabies together. Before I even had Will I couldn't wait to take swimming lessons with my little one. He is really starting to kick his legs in the water and he is getting more daring by jumping off the side of the pool from a sitting down position. Going under the water is no problem for him and he does a good job "dipping" with his swim instructor. He even loves going into the shower after we have finished with our lesson. He just squeals and runs around, charming all of the ladies in the locker room with his big beautiful eyes.

My friend, Kara

For those of you who don't already know her, this is my friend, Kara. She is pictured here with her daughter, Sofia and her son, Gabe. To me, Kara is just amazing. Seeing her now, with two kids, just blows me away. She doesn't skip a beat. She's out be-bopping around, smiling and having a good old time. I am so impressed. She is always a breath of fresh air and has more energy than I could ever imagine having myself! Kara and I met while teaching at Lincoln. I remember liking her right away, maybe it was the American Idol connection! We were lucky enough to room together at a conference in San Antonio and we've been friends ever since. She is very honest and open and always makes people feel so comfortable. Since she has so much energy, she is always inspiring me to do things like take walks to the park, start a blog, dance with the kidlets, throw Halloween parties (don't be fooled folks, Kara was the mastermind behind it all), etc. I also have to mention that she asks my hubby all kinds of fun questions when we all get together and I find myself anticipating his answers too! She is always making him think! She has been such a blessing to me, especially during this stay-at-home mom phase of my life. If we weren't friends the *psycho-hose-beast in me surely would have taken over by now. Thank God I have Kara to keep me going! :)

*Psycho-hose-beast is a term that I stole from my brother, Jeff. I wanted to give credit where credit is due. Thanks, Jeff! I use this term all of the time and have found that it evokes just the right image when I want to describe cranky Tonya! Hmmm...maybe you made up that word special for your big sis????

Happy Halloween

Kara as gypsy/supermom and her little pirate, Sofia

I'm still cracking up over Sofia's painted on eyebrows, moustache, and sideburns!

Mike's ping pong buddy, Brenden

This is the best picture we have of Will in his Halloween costume, what do you think?

Marianne (darling kitty), George (farmer), and little G. (dinosaur)

Wendy and her little monkey, Allison

Todd and Juliette with their little frog, Trevor

I am a Red Sox champion, I think Mike is a guy who works at an office on Hawaiian shirt day, and Will is a toddler with a mind of his own who doesn't want to wear a Halloween costume!

We decided Will wasn't old enough yet to appreciate trick or treating so we decided to have a Halloween party of our own with folks from my mom group and their sweet significant others. We had a good time and I am thankful for all of my new girlfriends I have acquired since becoming a mom! You girls (and your families) rock!

Pumpkin Chip Cookies

This is a great recipe I found in one of my Taste Of Home cookbooks. I was going to email Kara the recipe, but then I thought I should share it with all of you faithful blog readers. Be warned, this recipe makes 10 dozen cookies!

1 1/2 cups butter, softened
2 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup sugar
1 can (15 oz) solid pack pumpkin
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
4 cups all purpose flour
2 cups quick cooking oats
2 tsps. baking soda
2 tsps. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. salt
2 cups (12 oz) semisweet chocolate chips

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugars. Beat in the pumpkin, egg, and vanilla. Combine the flour, oats, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop by tablespoonfuls 2 in. apart onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 35o for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned.

Enjoy!

A Chance Encounter

I keep telling myself that I should sleep when Will goes to bed, but I just can't do it. I must blog! We got a break from the rain today and it was wonderful. The thing about being an Oregonian is that you really appreciate the sunshine and can be grateful for it. I looked in the mirror tonight to see that my cheeks were even a little pink from being outside. Anyway, about my chance encounter... I was running some errands today, but it was so beautiful I just had to slow down and go hang out with my little boy at the park. I was roasting in my sweatshirt, but it was worth it. The first thing I see at the park is this super cute person, who I thought was a mom playing with a little girl on the slide. She was so cute in her mannerisms and the way she was talking with the girl. She was being so imaginative with her and silly in such a sweet way. She even offered to go down the slide with Will, which I thought was pretty cute. I was feeling a little run down, but this gal reminded me to put a little pep in my step, if you know what I mean. After being there for a while, Will wandered over to where she was sitting with the little girl. She then proceeded to introduce herself in a very perky way. She was so dang friendly. I love people like this! Sometimes I feel so shy. Sometimes I don't and I go ahead and strike up a conversation, but it isn't always reciprocated with much enthusiasm. This gal, however, renewed my faith in all humankind. She was so friendly, outgoing, and imaginative with the little girl who she just happened to be watching. Even though she wasn't the girl's mother I observed her talking kindly with her, dancing around and talking gibberish and just laughing and having a good old time. If only everyone enjoyed kidlets as much as this woman, every child would feel loved. Hmmm...that sounds so cheesy, but sometimes thoughts like this go through my head. So, I'm glad that people like this exist in this crazy world of ours and inspire me to be a better person too. Kristin (that was her name), whoever you are, wherever you are, thanks for the little pick me up that I needed today. Mike just looked over my shoulder and gave me a look. Yep, this entry is cheesy to the max, but hey, that's me and it's my blog, so I can do whatever I want!

Bold and Brazen

This title actually refers to Daisy. In case you can't tell from the picture she is actually drinking from my cup of water. She must have been thirsty! Instead of scolding her like I should have, I took this picture. It doesn't quite capture the moment as well as I would have liked, but for some reason this just cracked me up today. She thinks she's human sometimes! I'm glad we have our little pooch around because she is great entertainment for Will and me during the day!

I also posted a picture of Will because I wanted to write about some new things that he has been doing lately. This could be boring to some of you, but I want to keep things well documented. He has started saying, "hot, ouch" when he gets close to the oven or the fireplace. Mike and I think this is pretty adorable. He is dancing up a storm and somehow learned the sprinkler. Will loves his music and knows how to turn on the radio and get down with his bad self. He likes books and will sometimes sit down by himself and read. Will is still calling Mike, "mama", which cracks us up! I think he likes to call everyone mama right now. We like to play soccer outside and he can kick the ball. In fact, he loves being outside period. The boy is in constant motion. I feel very blessed that he has such a great disposition. He is very sweet, laughs easily, and has a lot of energy. Of course I am very biased!

The Pumpkin Patch

Will is excited about picking out his very own pumpkin
Will and his Daddy have made their decision. Will looks pretty serious about the whole matter, doesn't he?
Woo-hoo! We made it to the top!
Will and Daddy trying to find their way out of the corn maze
My boys

This weekend we went to the pumpkin patch, as you can tell from the pictures. We had a good time and it was a nice family outing. We couldn't find our way out of the corn maze, so we cheated by plowing through some corn stalks. I suppose if we had been more patient going through with a toddler we could have figured it out! Will definitely enjoyed the pumpkin patch more than he did last year. It was fun to have a toddler. He was excited about the tractor ride out to the pumpkins. The day before I was teaching him to blow kisses. Well, I guess he learned his lesson well because on the way back he blew a kiss to the baby girl sitting next to us on the hay ride. What a ham!

Playing Catch Up

Mike and William at the Portland Marathon. William paced Mike the last 6 miles to push him to the end. It worked...Mike finished in 3:04:26, which is a P.R.!

Kristin helped me out with Will. What a great little auntie! Apparently toddlers don't like to sit around and be spectators for too long! Kristin and I were there to cheer on our men. Carlos also ran the marathon. This was his first time. We are so proud of him!!! Unfortunately, I was a slacker with the camera and didn't capture him on film. He is on video though!

The classic birthday cake picture. Don't count the candles!

Mom and I celebrated our birthdays together. I was her late birthday present many years ago. It was such a nice night hanging out, eating pizza peddler pizza and laughing with my family. Jeff gave mom a new nickname of Grandma Fonzarelli. I think that's where the laughing came in!

Some of you may have noticed that it's been a while since my last blog. Hmmm...I won't give you too many lame excuses. I do have to tell you that it has been pretty busy around here. Mike has run a marathon, I turned another year older, and I also helped put on an inservice conference for teachers last Friday. I am the president of my local reading council this year so my responsibilities have grown quite a bit! Anyway, here are some photos of the past week or so...

The New Look

Thanks for the comments to all of you who are leaving them for me! Some of you have complimented the new look of the old blog. Well, I have a confession to make. I was checking out some websites, surfing from link to link when I found this one...

http://www.matiekay.blogspot.com/

It is from a blog that I clicked on from Kara's site. It sounded like they wanted to advertise this website. Hopefully if they read this they won't think I'm too much of a stalker. Actually if they read this it means they are stalking me too. All's fair game in this crazy blogging world! So check out this site. She tells you exactly how to change your background, step by step. It's pretty easy and I'm glad I found it. Thought some of you fellow bloggers might enjoy it as well.

A Little Persective

I had to call my Grandma Novie this afternoon and ask her, "how did you do this 8 times?" I just can't fathom it some days when I am trying to manage just one. She said she really didn't know! We got to laughing and then she told me how she had to go out and cut wood so that she could have a fire to cook food with when Grandad was away. She also didn't have any disposable diapers. That means she had to clean out all of those dirty cloth diapers and wash them, BY HAND like she did the rest of the clothes! Grandma made all of their meals and sewed all of their clothes too. So, really, what is my problem?! :) Good thing I can call my Grandma Novie and get perspective when I most need it!

Speaking of Grandma Novie, she is the one who told me to pray if I got the blues after Will was born. Here was my prayer today, "Dear God, thank you for orajel and baby tylenol".

A Mid Week Break

So yesterday was a little trying. My sweet little one is getting molars. It must be so painful. Diantha called in the late afternoon to see if I could go sing karaoke with a live band playing in the background. When I got the message I immediately called Michael to see if we could arrange something! He planned on running with my cousin. Hmmm...what to do? He decided to drive up to Salem with me and run out there while we left Will with his Grandma C. Many, MANY thanks to Grandma C.! What a peach for watching Will at a moment's notice and staying up past her bedtime! I could tell Will was having fun too because when I called I could hear him laughing in the background. Thanks again, Carolyn!

Most of you know by now that I really don't mind making a fool of myself most of the time. I get up and sing karaoke even though I don't have a lovely voice. You only live once, you might as well belt it out, right? I must tell you though, that singing with a live band behind you is a little nervewracking. I was nervous! I did get up there anyway and had a good time of it. Diantha, of course, sounded incredible with a band behind her. That woman was made to be up on a stage! It was a fun night and good to get out on the town for a few hours. Sorry to say that I don't have any pics to go along with this post. At least it's documented in the blog!

Subbing, etc...

So last Friday was my first substitute teaching job. I thought I might try to sub on Fridays since both of the grandmas have that day off. Will spent the day with my mom. I think they had fun together and mom even helped me out around the house. I'm not sure how she did it with a toddler running around, but I sure appreciated it! The school I subbed at had a great atmosphere. Everyone was so sweet and helpful. Just walking into the place gave you good vibes. Despite this great experience, I can't see myself doing this on any kind of a regular basis. I enjoy teaching, but just not as much as I love being Will's mama. I think there is a little part of me that thought I needed to become a substitute to validate myself and be a part of the paid working world. There was something about that that just didn't feel quite right on Friday. I know it's only one day of the week, but I guess it's just the principle of the matter. I made a choice to leave teaching and it was a very well thought out and deliberate one. At this point in my life I feel confident enough to be "just" a stay at home mom without the validation of a paycheck.

Update

I think Will was pretty proud of himself for being such a big boy and eating his corn on the cob just like the rest of us. It has been really busy around here for the past week or so. Feels like we have been doing a lot of running around. September is a busy month for us. Aside from my regular mom duties I have been busy with work for my local reading council, which has been fun. My friend, Katie, was also in town for a visit so I was able to go up to P-town last weekend and visit with her. Saturday was probably the craziest day of all. I woke up early to drive up to Portland, then drove to Salem to meet friends for book club, then proceeded to come home and go out with some more girlfriends. It was a wild and crazy night of fun--moms gone wild! We actually went out to celebrate my friend Sarah from my mom group. She is moving away, which really bums me out since we just met in the spring and she is such a fabulous person. We have already decided we need to take a trip out to NY to visit! What else? I went in for a substitution orientation last week as well so I could sub for a friend of mine. We'll see how it goes. I think it will be fun, but I have mixed feelings about leaving Will for the whole day. It's good for him to get some grandma time, but I'm wondering if I shouldn't use that precious time to get my hair cut or my eyebrows waxed! If any of you has seen me lately you know that I need to do both of these things! Sorry guys, this is kind of a weird and boring post, but I hadn't written in a while and wanted to let you know I was still among the living!

Skunked

Take 1 quart hydrogen peroxide, 1/4 c. baking soda, and 1 tsp. dish soap. Mix together and rub your skunk infested parts. I wouldn't say that you come out smelling like roses, as the picture might suggest, but at least the skunky smell begins to fade. How do I know this, you might ask, well my dear husband was running along some trails last night when he encountered one of these foul smelling creatures. He wasn't sure he had been hit, so he came home last night asking me to smell him. The stench filled the room. There really was no need to sniff whatsoever. Still he insisted that I smell him. Ugh! I told him he could not go to sleep in our bed until he did something about the stench. Sorry, but I've got to draw the line somewhere folks. Mike then proceeded to go on line where he found this lovely recipe, which he now has memorized. By the way, vinegar does not work. Mike tried that before he found this recipe and yes, he asked me to sniff him in between each washing. Gross! He wouldn't leave me alone until I did it. I hope for all your sakes that you never have to use this recipe.

Just Another Day In Paradise

Taking a snooze in the park

My son, the musical prodigy

Will and his ultramarathoning daddy

Just another day on the homefront, but I'm feeling so grateful for it. Glad to have my healthy, happy little boy with me running around like a crazy man! I really love him to pieces! There is something about the month of September here in Oregon that just puts me in a good mood. The weather is just right and it's so much fun to enjoy it with my son. I feel so blessed to be at home with him for another year to watch him grow, explore, and experience life. I have to send out a special thanks to my husband for making all of this possible. I love you, Mike! Okay, enough mushiness for now!

Here Comes the Bride...

These are pictures that I took of my beautiful friend, Kristina. Isn't she gorgeous? She will be married to her boyfriend Kyle in August. I kept driving by a bridal shop that had this dress in the window and it just caught my eye. I just had to have Kris try it on for me! She is going to make such a beautiful bride!

Wondering what to do with all of that zucchini???

My mother-in-law gave me this fabulous recipe for Zucchini Chocolate Cake. Hope she doesn't mind that I'm sharing it with cyberspace!

1/2 c. butter, softened
1/2 c. vegetable oil
1 3/4 c. sugar

Cream these ingredients together.

Beat these ingredients into the creamed mix: 2 eggs, 1 tsp. vanilla

Then combine 2 1/2 c. flour
1/4 c. baking cocoa
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
Combine the above ingredients in a separate bowl, then add to the creamed mix alternately with 1/2 c. buttermilk.

Next stir in 2 cups shredded, peeled zucchini and 12 oz. package of chocolate chips. Pour into a greased 13x9 pan. I saved a handful of chocolate chips and sprinkled them on top. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 40-45 minutes and voila!

Thanks to Carolyn for the awesome recipe. Now I can use up some of my zucchini and I don't even feel bad eating chocolate cake since it has all of that healthy zucchini in it :)

P.S. Make sure to check out the link to Juliette's website. She has another yummy zucchini recipe.

Okay, so I've been calling my sweet hubby, "Phil" the last couple of days. I just had to blog about it. I found this picture on the internet. Phil Stacey was one of the AI contestants last season who had a bald head. Why am I calling my husband, Phil, you ask? Well, he shaved his head yet again before running hood to coast. Now he has to put up with my taunting, which he takes pretty well! I love you my bald headed runner man!

Visiting

I just thought this picture was cute. My dad spent a lot of time cruising around with Will today. Here they are sharing some watermelon.

Five generations--me, Grandma Doris, Will, Mom, and Great Grandma Jewell

Kisses from Grandma Novie

Today was the day of visiting! First we saw Grandma Doris, where my aunts and great grandma are staying. Then we went to see Grandma Novie. She said if I didn't bring that grandson of hers over there she was going to get mad at me. Well, I just cannot stand the thought of Grandma Novie being mad at me, so I made sure to stop by there too!