Food Challenge

Today we decided to have a Food Challenge Day! Yesterday I was challenged to drink 12 dr. peppers in an hour, which is apparently impossible. I got six down in half an hour before I thought I was going to explode!! So we started talking about all the things we could eat in mass. Val decided she could eat an entire chocolate pie in an hour, and while Michelle is sure she can down 20 Logan's rolls in an hour, she has to weigh in tomorrow so she went with three entire heads of broccoli!

Both girls started out strong and hungry!

Yes, that is FIVE steam bags of broccoli!

Lookin' good ladies!!

And then the whip cream set in...
Val had to give with 30 minutes left on the clock, but she put up excellent effort with a hair more than half a pie left!

Michelle was turning green! With 15 seconds left on the clock she just went for it and stuffed the remaining pieces of broccoli in her mouth!

That's the face of victory!

Someone should probably check in on Michelle later. She's going to be hurting!

Magic Number

Since Rob left I have had a specific day in my mind of when he should be home by and the day when things will feel like they are almost over.
Rob and I were engaged in October of 2003 and planned to be married May 2004. Since our entire courtship consisted of seeing each other only two weekends every month due to the distance between us, and it felt like that day was never going to get here. And I counted every single day of the 229 days. Even going to school and working, sometimes 2 jobs, didn't make that time go by any faster. Until one day we were all together for some reason and Kathy Rainwater asked what day we were at. It was something like 58, and she told me 'Once it hits 50 it will fly by.' I took that to heart, mostly because I was desperate to have the chance to see Rob everyday! Low and behold, she was right. When day number 50 passed everything went into warp speed and I don't remember much from that day until we were landing in the Virgin Islands to be married the next afternoon.
I bet you can guess what day I've had in my mind for the last 193 days... Today the countdown dry erase board say '49 out of 242'! While Henry and I have been kept company here, and have enjoyed our time with family and friends, and friends that should be family, and meeting the latest additions to our family, I am excited for these days to start flying by and for Rob to be home. I've found over the last five years that it's really nice to see him everyday.
I'll keep you posted on the break neck speed I feel coming on!

Big smiles!

Today Henry started helping me pack!
He brought me pillows and blankets that we aren't using in my room to put in the boxes.

Then he spent some time 'nigh nigh' on one of the pillows that wouldn't fit in the box and was cracking up!

Look at those teeth!

I sat down at the computer with my back to him to burn a few cds for a few slightly demanding people, and Henry disappeared in front of the couch. I wasn't paying a whole lot of attention to what he was doing since a lot of our stuff is already in boxes. Then I heard "Ere's Henny?!" and this is what walked around the corner!! I almost fell off the bench I was laughing so hard! Under the sheet I could see his cheeks all puffed up because he was laughing too! This is one funny kid!

Life's a Beach!

This week Emily, Maelie, Henry, and I packed up went to Galveston for a few days. It was so much fun to see the kids and their first beach experience! They were both so brave, and SO funny!! It was a great trip!

Henry liked splashing the water with his hands. So cute!

Our little beach bums!

Henry didn't know what to think about the sand when it washed back with the tide! There are so few pictures of his face, because he was so busy watching his feet!!

His favorite part had to be the juice.

Lots and lots of juice!

We had a great time with Aunt Emmy and Mawee Sawah!!

Henry's Fun 4th!

The 4th was a lot of fun this year!

We started with a quick game of checkers at Cracker Barrel.

Later we went to the church parking lot to hang out with the fam.

Henry LOVES Gracie! Maybe too much!

Lorelai and Gracie catching up.

Maelie was busy being a secret spy all night, and was 'so brave' to watch the fireworks! She is one funny girl!!

Henry was pretty amazed by the fireworks! He kept saying "Oh no! WOW!" every time one went off. He was so cute!

Land of the Free,

Because of the Brave!

Happy 4th everyone!!

Henry's week

Tonight Henry was having the best time in the bath tub! He would eat the bubbles and I would pretend to gag and he would laugh so hard!

Henry loves the bath!

Here is our cape crusader after a messy lunch!

This is Henry with Grandma Caruthers. She is visiting from Florida for a little while and Henry thinks she's great!

Here is Henry with Dada's 'G JOE! G JOE!'
I thought after all the pictures Rob has seen lately of Henry in plastic, princess heels and feathery hats, I owed him one of his boy being a boy :)

Maybe Home, Sweet, Maybe Home

This week I left Henry with Grammy to go back to Baltimore to find a house.
It was hard to leave this face! He seems to have grown ten years this week! 2 new teeth are present, and there are like 10 new words or phrases that are either much more clear or altogether new.

The trip may have been a huge success though! After twenty six, oh yes 2-6, houses I think we found the one. This is a great house on a cute street! I also met the neighbors and they all assured me that they have all lived there for a million years (well, 20+) and that there has never been any issues or anything. That was a big relief!
Anyway, I signed the paperwork, and we negotiated a price and the signed documents were sent to Washington state where the seller lives. Currently we are waiting on her to FedEx the paperwork back to make it legal, but I've been told that they are no longer showing the house, and that all we are waiting on is the paperwork to get back to us!
So we may just have a new home!

This is the front of our (maybe) house!
There is a piece of siding that came off in a terrible storm last week, but the piece is fine and is waiting to be put back up.

The porch and front door.

The kitchen is beautiful!! It's completely renovated and all of the appliances are brand spanking new! No stains to clean out of the fridge, or gunk to scrape out of the oven.
And look at all of those beautiful cabinets and DRAWERS!!! Movin' on up, indeed!

One of the things we really loved about the house on Mallow Hill was the stained glass windows, so we were thrilled to see these windows in the living room!

And this is the back yard. While we were there looking around and I was enchanted by this great yard and great house, a real live bunny was hopping around near that bird bath! Even though the city is only minutes away it feels like we are secluded in some Wisteria-like setting.
Minus the naked ladies in shrubbery, and murder twists!

It's Show Time!

This is hands down, the funniest kid I have ever had!

He has always loved hats and now he's found the mother of them all!!

The show restarts tonight at 7:30 for anyone who is looking for something spectacular to do!

It's Spectacular!

Every year at Emily's church they have Summer Spectacular as their form of VBS. It includes an amazing transformation of the entire church, about 8,000 people, and a musical each night. This year I was able to be apart of the chorus in the show and it is so much fun!

The guys

All the single ladies!


Henry and Mommy!

Our next session begins Wednesday so feel free to come by and enjoy the show!

Zoo Days!

Last Wednesday Maelie, Dane, Henry and I took a trip to the zoo! It was such a great day for it, and we had such a good time!

Even after 2 hours these were two happy kids!

Today Zoo Members were able to go into the zoo an hour early to watch the animals be fed and to enjoy free train and carousel rides!

Henry was not crazy about the carousel. I told him "Don't worry. I've got you." and he grabbed on to my shirt and said "I gotcha. I gotcha." over and over again! So funny!

Maelie did a GREAT job on the carousel! She liked it a lot more than when we went on it last year!


And here are our two monkeys looking at the gorillas!