Busy, busy! Worky, worky!

So it's been quite a while - been pretty busy. Alexander had his second birthday which was fun. Veronica didn't quite understand why she shouldn't open his presents and such, but then neither did he. They both got a big kick out of his first "choo choo rain" - Thomas!

Aside from the occasional birthday, we've been pretty busy with improvements around the house. As of this writing, we are pretty much tapped out on big home improvement projects. We had the privacy fence completed just before Joe and Dianne came to town. We had a really good time (and we ate really well, thanks Joe!).

Daddy's birthday was pretty good, too - he got a privacy fence, a shed, and landscaping! Sorry - landscaping pictures will have to come later...only some much that can be crammed into an overdue update! If you look closely, you can even see his Compost Corral.

Last weekend, we trekked on up to Ellijay for the 37th annual Apple Festival. It was a pretty good thought, and they had a lot of stuff there, but we really didn't see many apples. I think we were both hoping for something a little closer to apple orchard-esque, but it was cute. The kids were both pretty good and enjoyed themselves. Veronica got to re-do her bungie jumping, and Alex got to ride a horse. Oh yeah, and daddy got to ride a train -- choo choo!

The bottom line is that we are all doing great, despite (or perhaps "to spite") the freaky markets and overall economic outlook. Jen is still doing great back with MFSA, and Nathan is doing great with BearingPoint--the company itself is still doing all the right things, just bad timing with the upheaval at Wall Street. Veronica is doing good with Kindergarten, and Alex is enjoying his school, too.

Last but not least, a video to leave you with. Nothing deep and contemplative, but it may remind you of how kids can sometimes eat ice cream...hopefully when they are 2 years old, not 21!

Blue Man and Brown Bear

It's been a hectic few weeks. Most recently, Nathan left Jen and the kids to fend for themselves while he did his conference thing in Orlando, FL. Let's see, Jen and the kids survived on yet more reruns of saved TiVo episodes of Scooby, Backyardigans, Blues Clues, and Krypto the Super Dog while Nathan helped play host to state reps and vendors in Orlando (including a company-sponsored VIP outing to the Blue Man Group). Who do you think had the better time? Well, the tables are turned, as Jennifer is running a conference for her new/old employer in Charlotte, NC. The difference is Nathan and the kids now have live TV and Jennifer has been miserable with a Labor Day cold. At last report, one of her eyes was gummed shut with a likely case of conjunctivits...aka "pink eye." Life is a barrel of monkeys, eh? In between Nathan's and Jennifer's trips, the family had a great time at a friends house with a whole mess of kids for Labor Day. We are just sorry that we didn't get any pictures of Veronica running around a dock with a handful of squirmy worms, her introduction to baiting a hook! Veronica also had loads of fun at Taylor's birthday party (swim party at an indoor pool).

We are thankful, though, that other than the relatively minor ailments, each member of the family is healthy. We are looking forward to getting our backyard fenced in over the next few weeks, and making a number of other property improvements as we round the bend toward Autumn.

Update 8-26

Lest anyone think that I'm not really working from home, this is the first (and currently only) room completely set up at our house: My office.

Yes, I finally have the corner office with a view. I do miss having co-workers nearby to pester though. It's not as much fun long-distance.

This past weekend was a busy one. Nathan left for a conference at 6:00 am on Saturday leaving me in a partially unpacked house with two energetic kids. But we had a full day to keep us busy. Now you get a long story to get to what we did.

When Veronica was at Primrose in Pre-Kindergarten, she made lots of good friends and we got to know quite a few parents well too. What a great group of people. There are a few parents that we embraced right away as friends and they happen to have some really great kids too: Susan Hochman, her kids Jonathan and Christian (ok, I'm really embarrassed that I don't know her husbands name!); Chris and Margie LaSalle and their kids Claire and John Mark. Margie is battling breast cancer that has mestacized into her bones, making it difficult to get around. They live in a three-level townhouse and need to be somewhere that Margie can navigate easier. So . . .

I dropped the kids at Susan's house on Saturday morning where a bunch of volunteers watched the kids while the rest of the parents descended on Chris and Margie's to paint. What an event! There were at least 15 - 20 people helping paint the house. I had to leave early - but it was heartwarming to see so many people pitch in to help a great family. And the reason I had to leave was to get Veronica to a Birthday party for a neighbor. She had lots of fun, ate cake, and crashed. I have the proof:


This is the after effects of a very full day on a five-year old. Here is our painted butterfly asleep on the couch.

And lastly, we've had rain. Granted we need lots of rain. But Fay is sitting right on top of us today and I'm soggy. Here is our neighbors waterfall. Oops, I mean backyard . . . it's not supposed to have a waterfall feature.


Just this morning dropping off Alexander, I found out that another Primrose parent from his class (with a 19-month old little girl), lost her battle with breast cancer last week. Her funeral is today. She was only 36.

So to wrap up my update for today I have a few favors:
Pray for my friend Margie LaSalle to kick the cancer out of her body.
Pray for them to sell their townhome fast in today's market.
Pray to find a cure for breast cancer.

Vacation, New School, Moving, New Job - OH MY!!

Most of you already know we've been MIA and most of you know why - but we'll give a quick snapshot of the insanity that has been our lives for the past three weeks:

July 31 | Jen's last official day at PIAG
Aug. 1 | Jen flew to Virginia to officially start back with MFSA, back to GA that night.

Aug. 2 | Veronica's Wet & Wild Birthday Party. Word of advice to parents: Don't ever invite 30 wet and muddy kids into your house.

Aug. 3 | Veronica's actual Birthday. More cake and sugar anyone?
Aug. 4 - 9 | Beach! Vacation! Relaxation! We ended up near Destin, FL at a really nice condo. Eduard foiled our plans to spend much time in the ocean . . . double red flags our first day there. (Yes, Eduard was a hurricane that thankfully didn't do much damage, but still created rough water.) It was really the jellyfish really kept us out of the water after that. But the place we stayed had a great pool - so we still had plenty of water time.
Aug. 10 | Back home . . . the move is looming. Packing? Do we have to start now? Getting final supplies for . . .
Aug. 11 | First day of Cobb County School. Which means the first day of Kindergarten for Veronica. No tears for any of us, but it was still a landmark day. She's such a big girl now.
Aug. 12 | Back up to Virginia for Jen for an all-day meeting, back to Georgia before the kids were in bed.
Aug. 13 | Ok, we really, really need to start packing.
Aug. 14 | What do you mean the movers are here already??
Aug. 15 | Despite 3 broken beds and 2 really exhausted parents, we're in our house. Since Alexander's bed was broken in the move, we decided that now was a good time to upgrade him to a toddler bed. He's doing really well and stays in it all night. Well, except once. And naptime is a joke. We'll be setting up his crib again for naps, once it is fixed.

To celebrate our move we did one big splurge. Something that we've been putting off for over 8 years: We finally got real, grown up bedroom furniture. We've been using a mish-mash of furniture we collected over the years - none of which matched, or was really functional. So we decided that this would be our one big furniture splurge. We got a king bed and real matching furniture! The bed is enormous. . . we didn't expect it to be so high. The dog, the kids and Jennifer can no longer get up on the bed without assistance. Nathan loves his new bed.

We're now just trying to unpack, keep the kids out of the boxes and trying to re-establish a routine. But life is exceptionally good. We are truly blessed.

Love to all.

Happy 5th Birthday Veronica!

It was loads of fun, I think for all. More pictures to come later. :)

Update - July!

I can't call this a "weekly" update - being that we haven't updated it for over a month now. Oh gee - where to begin??

Tiffany had to go back home - something about a college orientation. She's going to JMU next year. I tried to make her miss her flight by getting stuck in horrible Atlanta traffic. But her flight was late, so she made it anyway. We really enjoyed her visit and miss having her around! Of course we haven't heard from her to know how badly we scared her. Except that her mom (my sister Vicky) called us for our "Taco Pie" recipe. So I guess she got one good thing out of the visit! ;-)

We had an uneventful 4th of July. Parade, pool, cookout. No fireworks other than some sparklers and fountains we set off - the kids were just too tired. Oh yes, and Alex got "hand, foot, mouth" again. Hideous childhood funk.

Veronica had some swim lessons this summer and is doing great. She needs her goggles to swim comfortably, but has abandoned her water wings and swim vest. And she really tries to hold her breath under water longer and longer now. She's not comfortable being more than an arms reach from the side or stairs, and prefers to stay in the shallow end where she can still touch - but we're getting there!

Veronica's Big 5th Birthday is coming up. We have a huge "wet and wild" party planned - complete with an inflatable water slide, water balloons, and a visit from Ariel. I have no idea what to expect. I am so unprepared for 25 kids in our house. Oh yes - segue to next item:

Our renters are moving out August 1! FINALLY.
(Did I mention that Veronica's party is August 2? So that is 25 kids in an empty house, which makes it a bit more manageable!)

The timing isn't the greatest - we have Veronica's Birthday, then we'll be on vacation for a week (at Ariel Dunes - of course) and then it's the first day of school. We plan to do some work at the house and officially move back in on Aug. 15. (Work like: paint, change the locks, etc.) We should be minimally ready for visitors by the end of August!

Yes, we have recent pictures, no we haven't posted them yet. Will soon.

Oh yes: I'll be changing jobs AGAIN. Yes - this is starting to be as funny as how often Nathan and I move. How many jobs can Jen hold in ONE year??? But I get a bye on this one - I'm actually going back to an old job. But I can't say any more until after Aug. 1.

Imagine It!

June 28 - Atlanta Children's Museum - "Imagine It!"

We finally trekked into the city with Tiffany - with Veronica & Alexander in tow. We took something of a scenic drive around town, and settled upon a first time visit to the Atlanta Children's Museum...aka Imagine It! A pretty neat place.

I think we (the adults) were skeptical at first as it seemed to lack more than a passing semblance of structure, but it really was pretty neat. It was like a "thinking version" of the relatively recent phenomenon of "jumping places" where you can get your kids sugared up and set them loose on a number of inflatable environments and slides. One of the differences being that at the Children's Museum, I didn't lose square inches of skin on my arms form chasing Alexander up and down an inflatable mountain and obstacle course.

The video you see is Tiffany and Mommy working with Veronica and Alexander on a mural. I think Tiffany will appreciate that I'm not sending the other two videos in my phone of her dancing with Veronica in front of a greenscreen with different dress-up outfits on. Cute stuff.

Anyway - we hope you are having fun, Tiffany! :)

Veronica Jumping

The Jumper - June 23

Sorry for the grainy quality, but it's still precious. Believe it or not, this is from the Cobb County Rodeo. After the broncos, Veronica got bored pretty quick with the rope tricks and dragged daddy off to look at the other things about the rodeo. She rode the ponies for a long while, and eventually climbed off (for a second and final time) and wandered over to the bungie jumping setup they had rigged. She wanted so bad to do what the bigger kids were doing - going a-boing-boing and doing flips. Most of her jumps were done "a la Superman" as she tried flipping forward or backward - she didn't have enough weight to manage anything but outstretched arms, looking more like the Wiley Coyote in a repetitive freefall. Precious. ;)

Weekly Update 6-20-08

What a great week.

My niece Tiffany arrived on Tuesday evening to spend a few weeks with us. I was hoping to line up a neat internship for her doing something with graphic arts, but all my leads fizzled out. So she's doing some general administrative work for my office and will be babysitting. It's been neat having her here and it's nice to get to know her all over again. I haven't spent any appreciable time with her since she was about 7 years old. I'll get the link for her artwork she has posted on DeviantArt - she's really talented.

I gave a presentation to our Board of Directors on Thursday and got approval to add some much-needed technology to our office. Yay!

The kids are doing well - but the summer seems like it's zipping by so fast! We plan to do some fun things over the next few weeks while Tiffany is in town, so it should make for some good photo ops.

Weekly Update 6-12-08

Funny how these updates have gone from being on Monday to be whatever day of the week I get around to it!

It's been a busy week . . .I haven't had the help of Megan (the Marvelous Kid-Keeper) in the evenings, so I've been scrambling to get home, make dinner, and barely keep the house in order. Ok, so I admit there is NO order right now. Our house is a disaster . . . don't come visit ok? ;-)

I got confirmed at St. Phillips on Sunday by the Atlanta Diocese Bishop. It's official - I am now an Episcopalian. It was a neat ceremony and a beautiful church. Nate had to stay with the kids (2 hour ceremony) so it was just me and God. (Well maybe there were several HUNDRED others being confirmed as this was a big deal in the diocese.) Being confirmed officially makes me a member of St. James - where we've been attending church.

We just booked our vacation plans - we're spending the week right before school starts in Destin at Ariel Dunes. (We didn't have a choice in this - our daughter has changed her name to "Ariel" and wants to be a butterfly mermaid when she grows up. Seriously - she has changed her name. She signs everything Ariel now.) It's only a 2-bedroom, 2-bath place w/a pull out sofa . . . but if anyone is interested in joining us, I'm sure we can make arrangements! [Like trading babysitting for a free place to sleep!]

Nate added the last slideshow - but we still have tons of photos to upload. Yes, I'll get around to it.

Life is good and it's Summertime!

Weekly Update 6-3-08

Yeah, yeah. I KNOW I missed a week!

Ok, I have a BUNCH of photos to post - but no time. Will get around to it. I promise.



My sister Melody came to visit over Memorial Day weekend and we all really enjoyed having her. We picked her up at the airport and went straight to: Waffle House! You guys up North are missing a culinary marvel. After that we visited the Marietta Farmers Market on the square and we finally toured the Root House Museum. We haven't figured out if we are related to the William Root clan. After that visit, the kids had run out of patience so we had to terminate the touring for the day.

Sunday we just didn't have the energy to do much - so we ended up at the pool for a while. For anyone out there that doesn't already know this . . . kids sleep GREAT after an afternoon at the pool.

Monday we packed up and headed down to the Georgia Aquarium. It would have been a nice leisurely visit, if it wasn't for Veronica the speed viewer. She insisted on running from one display to the next and didn't really care to spend any time looking at the fish. We'll rent her out for anyone who wants to tour someplace REALLY FAST. After the aquarium, we had packed a picnic lunch so we headed across the street to Centennial Olympic Park, where they had just dedicated a new playground designed for toddlers! We found a table in the shade and had a great lunch watching the kids wear down their batteries. Both of them sacked out in the car on the way home. We really need to explore more of the park - it really is a neat place.

Nathan left for Montana bright and early Tuesday. Melody explored a bit on her own. (Ask her how to operate the air conditioning in the Jeep. Hee.) At 4:30 am on Wednesday, I could tell that Mel had her fill of us and was ready to go home. She was ready to leave for the airport then - for a 9 am flight. (Atlanta traffic is bad - but it's not THAT bad!)

Veronica's ballet rehearsal was Wednesday afternoon - THANK YOU to Janet Vining and Joe/Sandi Sassenburger for helping me out with some kid scheduling challenges that night. What would I do without you guys??

Veronica had her second ballet recital on Saturday. We really see the huge differences between the AWESOME studio we went to in Virginia (Strictly Rhythm) to the so-so place here. The recital was a mess. First a dancer threw up on stage. And then there was one young lady who obviously didn't give a rats patoo about her training - she did her own thing on stage, running into other dancers and arguing with them! We did get some cutie pictures of our little dancer though.

Nate is back - you guessed it - in Montana. Veronica starts camp this week at Camp Cheatham Hill - where she will go to school next year. She LOVES it so far. Even despite the fact that they don't allow for rest time so she was asleep by 6 pm yesterday! (Ok, so she had a fever of 103 on top of it . . . but she's all better now. Just a 24-hour bug a boo. Alex had it too, but he's all better.) Even her best bud in the whole world - Taylor - is going to the same camp. She announced this morning that she never wants to go back to Primrose. But we still miss Ms. Blackerby . . . she was a great teacher and influence on Veronica this past year.

Ok, I have work to do!

Oh yes: Congratulations Leo Raymond!! It was just announced that he is going to be the interim Executive Director at MFSA. He's going to do a great job!

Weekly Update 5-19-08

I don't understand how I am so much more tired after a weekend, than at the end of the work week!

Last week was more of the same - nothing really exciting happening. Nate in Montana and me keeping everything in check here in GA. The weekend was busy though - lots and lots of errands. We started it off with a fund raiser pancake breakfast at Cheatham Hill Elementary School (CHES) - where Veronica will be going to Kindergarten next year. We ran into some neighbors from Lakefield Manor and even saw one of Veronica's current classmates who has siblings at CHES. I don't think she will have any trouble adapting to the new school.

We also had Ballet recital photos taken on Saturday. I didn't get nearly as misty-eyed this year. There is just something about the first time you see your little girl in a tu-tu.

Nathan & I have learned that our renters plan to stay in the house until the end of the lease - much to our dismay and frustration - and even after we made them a very attractive offer to move early. So we won't be moving into our house until the end of August/beginning of September.

Next week we should have a more exciting update - as Melody will be coming to visit. And yes, we'll get some photos up soon.

Weekly Update 5-12-08

What a weekend. I'll have to get a picture of what the kids gave me for Mother's Day. But until then, you'll just have to use your imagination:

~ Matching 16" Flamingo metal sculptures, one in blue and one in orange. ~

Update 5.13.08: As promised, here is the photo:


Nathan's mom tells me that they (the kids) get the love of flamingos honestly. Nathan apparently has a thing for flamingos. How is it that we've been married for 8 years and I didn't know about this? He's a closet Flamingo fan. I'm sure there is something very Freudian about this I'll need to figure out.

Once again, Nathan was in Montana last week - but he came home a day early as I had a big work event on Friday and had to be out of the house before 7am and didn't get back until after midnight.

Upcoming special events that we'd love to have visitors for:
Veronica's Pre-K graduation: Thursday, May 22, 2008
Veronica's Dance Recital: Saturday, May 31, 2008
Jennifer Confirmation: Sunday, June 8, 2008
Nathan, Alexander & Veronica Baptism: Sunday, July 27

We also are trying to figure out where we want to do a beach vacation this year and we have to schedule it before the school year begins (August 11 here . . . which is INSANE.) Anyone out there want to join us for a vacation? It's a toss-up between Myrtle Beach or a Florida Gulf beach. It just won't be a complete summer until we have sand between our toes. (And in our hair, in the car, in our clothes . . . )

Nate is back in Montana, and wonder mom is at it again this week. Ok, I really have work to do. It's lonely at the top . . . I had to run the staff meeting today!

Good Eats

I figured it was about time I contributed something to the blog. I have taken to storing little snips on my cell phone to keep my family with me when I travel. This is a relatively recent one. I figured this would be kinder to his posterity than putting up the other one that shows him running around the house with one of his sister's head bands on his head, shaking his head back and forth like a dog stuck in a milk carton. He's lots of fun. :)

I don't know if you really need it, but here's some of the standard verbiage that apparently came with the transmission from my phone to the blog post: To play video messages sent to email, QuickTime� 6.5 or higher is required. Visit www.apple.com/quicktime/download to download the free player or upgrade your existing QuickTime� Player. Note: During the download process when asked to choose an installation type (Minimum, Recommended or Custom), select Minimum for faster download.

Of course...what I am really curious about is how much this will add to my bill. Had to try it out of curiousity.

Weekly Update 5-2

We're a bit late in posting this update so I hope I can remember all we've done in the past two weeks!

Last weekend started with Nathan catching an earlier flight home than expected, so he arrived just as I was picking up the kids from school . . . which was good because the school was holding a "Spring Fling" festival in the parking lot and I couldn't budge the kids. So we had an impromptu night out.

Saturday we found a cute little water park that was having a "pre-opening" music festival. They had vendors and food and for only $3 parking - free live music. But there were soooo many other activities in the area, that there were hardly 50 people there. It was great because of no crowds - but very sad since there was no one there!!

Our landlord officially put her house on the market last week. So far she's only had one showing, but it is a real challenge to keep the house "show ready." We're doing our best.

Then we had the usual run-around all week. Nate was off to Montana and I juggled the kids, the dog, the cats, the cooking, the cleaning, work, school, etc. We even found time to have dinner with Amy and her kids, since crazy Mike was out of town. Amy is expecting her 3rd any day now and she is amazing - her kids are so polite and her house is so clean! I just don't know how others do it - I missed out on that gene or something. Veronica and Ian had a great time together, and Alex and Julian are SO much alike - I can see them being fast friends as they get older. Two trouble-makers!

Veronica had a field trip on Friday to the Shriners Circus. She said she had lots of fun and wants the rest of the family to go this weekend too. We'll see. I still have a thing about clowns. They creep me out. Veronica is also going to a Birthday party for one of her best friends here, Miss Mary. We're sad that Mary won't be going to the same school with Veronica next year - but hope that they'll stay friends.

Mel made plans to come visit us at the end of May! Yay! Our first visitor since we moved back.

Ok, I promise we'll get some photos this weekend and post some soon. Have a great week everyone!