Go Browns

twas a somewhat difficult Sunday in the Kingdom with the Browns playing the Rams. When St. Louis went up by 14 in the first few minutes, I thought the badBrowns were back. Grumpy David was definitely back. But then Derek Anderson got hot! Quiet, subdued cheering from the recliner. Jill even was happy for me. I need to learn from her (again). All ends well as the Browns win and make the Rams look good too. (That's hubris, I know, but our defense could make Independence High look good.)

Our Quarterly Post Marathon

Well, I finally have a real computer at home (it's d's work computer), and the blog is nice enough to give him a tool bar with which to post pictures, so here we go again. Since Emma's birthday we've had a lot going on. Let me try to catch you up, if you are at all interested (even if you're not, humor me here, folks!): There will be 8 posts following this one, so you might have to scroll to the next page to get everything. I worked backwards so the most recent will be the first post after this one. I told David, it's a good thing I don't have this computer all the time or the house would fall apart around me...it can download pictures in less than 2 minutes, which takes our home computer more than 15 minutes to do. Yeah for technology!! (Especially when I am this far behind!)

Future Lady Colt All-Stars

We are having a family affair this season coaching volleyball. While I coach junior varsity and help David with the varsity, the girls are being true to their nature and becoming proverbial sponges. Emma now "sets" and "attacks" on cue and Aubrey has started doing the stretching and ball warm-up drills since she had already mastered the fundamental volleyball skills last season...ready position, passing, setting, attacking, butterfly, blocking, etc. Special thanks to Calie for her continual babysitting during practices and toddler juggling at the games.

Down on the Farm

We headed to Clayton, NC for Labor Day weekend to catch up with Mike and Nancy Knight (and family). We had a blast as we always do (I even won a game of Settlers...accidentally!). This trip we were finally able to visit Misty and Barbie, their two trusty steeds (but as with most things involving Mike Knight, there's a story lurking there) and get in some riding time. Aubrey enjoyed tramping around in Hudson's extra boots and slurping on her very first can of soda. It was great to hang out with such great friends and visit the ministry that the Lord is growing there in Clayton. We pretty much broke even as we hauled home a free treadmill from their moving neighbors, even though a carwash did eat our side view mirror.

Shots at Random

Here are a few miscellaneous shots of the girls that don't fall into any particular category other than mommy thought they were kind of cute. So humor me (again) and chuckle once or twice, then you can move on to the more fact-filled entries. As you can see, Emma has confiscated Aubrey's PeeWee hat and wears it any chance she gets. It's pretty comical to see her staggering around the house with the hat cocked to one side looking like a sailor that has had one to many!

Happy Birthday to You!

Aubrey has definitely hit the "vivid imagination" stage. We survived the not so terrible twos and are headed pell-mell into the threes. I'm not sure if she was more excited about the bike or the attached balloon, but she now enjoys limping around the driveway with mommy or daddy in tow to help keep the bike moving (she hasn't quite figured out the whole pedaling process). It's finally cooling off where we can stand to be outside for more than 4 minutes at a time, so hopefully we will have pedaling success soon! She has also taken to striking poses at random (see first picture) and then exclaiming, "Ohhh, that's cute!" when she sees the shot in the playback screen. Not sure where that streak of vanity comes from!! And yes, we are in full dress-up mode (thus the new clip-clop shoes). Three going on 16 has taken on a whole new meaning!

Build a Birthday Bear

We took Aubrey to B-a-B for her birthday and she came home with Buddy, another recipient of her affections while she sleeps. David is convinced that she is going to marry a 400 pound man since she hugs a minimum of 5 critters in her sleep each night. Not sure how her arms have any blood flow by morning, but she usually drags at least 3 of them out to the living room each morning as she rolls out of bed. The others include Nanner, Lammy, Lumpy, Katha (not sure where THAT name came from), Buddy, Tucker (a stuffed replica she received before the real live critter came to us)...you get the idea.

Tucker Buddy

Well, here he is for all of you animal lovers that keep asking about him. Tucker is now 10 months old (8 months old in the pictures) and is loving life among his women. He has adapted pretty well to being outside the majority of the time this summer for which this mommy is very grateful. He seems to be over his gopher stage; however, portions of our yard now have chicken wire stapled down.

Back to our Roots

While David was taking a 2 week class at BJ this summer the girls and I headed to IL to give grandma and grandpa a chance to spoil their 2 youngest granddaughters (they didn't need much practice!). After a bit of coaxing grandpa got to take them on a tour of the yard via John Deere, and then a chauffered push in the battery-dead Jeep. Grandma pulled out her old (gaudy) earrings which Aubrey latched onto without any prompting (see below). We didn't get any shots of the numerous trips to the ice-cream shop, but we sure didn't go hungry while we were there! We were also able to take in the finer points of Alton with a couple of trips to the ball diamonds to watch Marcus' baseball games. The ducks at mom and dad's burial site (don't ask) enjoyed our visit too. And then there was the shopping....we can't forget the forays out and about to find bargains (I got 2 skirts at JCP for $5.56 total).

A Day at the Ranch

We headed west (kind-of) to check out the Lazy 5 Ranch and all of the goings-on. We got a kick out of being able to feed the animals up close and personal, some more so than others. (Suffice it to say the zebra about gave me a coronary, nearly necessitating a change in undergarments!) Emma apparently felt that she was missing out on a fine dining experience and tried to fill her gullet as well (see below).

It was hot and those driving through the trail were a bit more pokey than we would have liked, but all in all we had a lot of fun. It just might replace our annual trek to the zoo as the animals were much closer and accessible to the kids.