Homecoming Dance

G went to the homecoming dance tonight. It's his second go 'round, so he didn't seem as nervous as last year. He cleans up pretty good!

Birthday Fun

Hammie and Ree are 5! They started off their day opening presents from Bill, G, and I. Then they got to go to Chuck E. Cheese for dinner and lots of fun. Like 2 hours worth of fun. Hammie has been begging to go for months and he fell asleep on the drive there. Ree saw the building and knew just what was up. Hammie had a very big surprise once he opened his eyes and realized where he was. Here are some pictures of their day. They are having a family party tomorrow, so I'll post some pictures of that tomorrow or Monday.

5 years ago today..........

I need to take a walk down memory lane. Just like most Moms out there, every year my 3 "babies" get older, I get both excited and a little panicky all at once. Excited because I can workout, dabble with a craft project, paint my toenails, etc. without too much interruption. Such an exciting thing for me! Then I get a little panicky because another year has gone by and I hope and pray they've learned enough in said year to advance through another.

So 5 years ago today, I was packing the last few things into my overnight bag to take to the hospital where I was scheduled for an early morning c-section. To say I was totally "over" the whole pregnancy thing is an understatement. I was crabby, in pain, and exhausted. I had just put the last thing in my bag, lifted it down and felt my back slide out. Like, all the way out and it hadn't been good for about 5 months prior. My poor Billy came rushing in to help me up and I very crabbily limped to bed uttering naughty words under my breath.

The next morning we got up super, super early to get to the hospital to finally have the babies. Bill hit every single pothole imaginable from here to there. The nurse made sure I had one of those special beds with the fancy inflatable mattress when she saw I could barely walk from the wheelchair to the bed. Then my sweet, totally awesome doctor thought it would be humorous to poke fun at the fact that "wasn't I glad my back had only been completely out for 1 day?" At that particular moment, I didn't find the humor in his ribbing. Plus he was eating an apple and I was starving. Rude!

Then.......they took me into the operating room, got me ready to go and we had our sweet little bundles of healthy joy + love at an astonishing 1 minute apart. Hammie came first, then Ree. One of the nurses snapped a great picture of Bill and I checking them out for the first time. All the months of worry, pain, crabbiness, and fatigue were worth it in that one moment.

The Latest Bike Accident

I came home from work Friday night and took a rare nap. The whole entire family ('cept me) has had a nasty cold, and I was feeling over-tired so I laid down. I got up and walked out of our room in ancient pajama pants and one of Bill's undershirts. At the end of the hall there were 2 extra teenagers sitting in our living room looking at me. So, back down the hall I retreated to put on a nicer top and my jeans. Bill and the little kids came back to tell me they had ordered pizza for everyone and that G had gotten in a slightly worse bike accident than the last one. Here is the story of the latest wreck.

G was out riding bikes with some friends. He went over a jump and wrecked. Apparently some younger kids were messing with the jumps and G didn't realize there was a lip at the base of the one he was going over. I don't really understand jump design, but apparently this was a big deal. Amazingly he's not all that sore. He has a numb area on his hip owie, which I'm assuming is a bit of nerve damage that will heal with time. He's hoping for some "good scars." Here are some pictures of the carnage.

Doctorin' Dog Toys

After G's bike accident, there's been a lot of doctorin' going on around here. Addie has been fully examined (didn't have my camera handy) and after she began to protest, her lizard dog toy received an exam. I immediately de-germed my table after this picture.

Yesterday's Anniversary

I meant to post about the 9-11 anniversary yesterday but time got away from me. I wanted to talk about how I appreciated the people standing on the freeway pedestrian overpasses waving the American flag. It was a touching reminder of how thankful I am for my freedom. Seeing them also gave me a lump in my throat when I thought about those who died and their loved ones who were left to re-build their worlds.

Our friend Roger was flying on a commuter flight from upstate NY into NYC that horrible morning and saw one of the planes hit the World Trade Center. Yesterday I remembered thinking about how awful that must have been for him and how terrified Amy probably was when she turned on the t.v. that morning. I'll definitely never forget the day he called us and shared his experience.

It was the only event I may live to see where the whole country came together to mourn, pray, and hope for a better, safer future for all.

Back to School

Well, we're halfway through our first full week back to school. Last week I went to two open houses. I met Ree's new teacher and reunited with her other teacher and the assistants. Then I took Hammie to his classroom and he enjoyed playing while I chatted with his teachers. He has the same ladies from last year. They're wonderful. They said he was quite the expert on the first day. After a summer without "friends" to play with everyday he's definitely glad to be back.

After 2 crazy, stressful days of negotiating with various people Ree is in morning preschool while Hammie goes to daycare. Then Ree goes to daycare for a couple hours while Hammie goes to preschool. All to the tune of about $100 more than our mortgage payment. Better than being $350 more than our mortgage, if they were both in full-time daycare, I guess? I must say it's a relief to have it all settled. I don't function well with loose ends, especially when they concern my kids.

Ree's new teacher is awesome. She keeps a spiral notebook in Ree's backpack so that we can send messages back and forth. It's a fantastic concept. Ree's support crew were really pleased with how much more she's communicating this year. That was really nice to hear. Tomorrow night we have her back to school bbq.

G has settled into his sophomore year without a glitch. He's doing great, just tired from the early wake-up time. I think he's going to have a good year. I'll go to his back to school night next week and meet a couple teachers he didn't have last year and visit with his Advisory teacher. He's a great guy who really cares about "his" kids. It's nice to have an advisory teacher like that because it's hard to navigate the high school world as a parent. There's the WASL, senior culminating project, SAT's, and many other hurdles. It's a bit overwhelming.

Funny Boy

Yesterday afternoon Bill cut up a green apple for Hammie to have for his after school snack. He ate a slice and said "this apple is delightful!" It's always fun to hear new vocab after school starts back up.

Fair Fun

Here are some pics of us at the fair. The little kids had fun. G opted out this year. He's too cool for the fair, apparently.

Elmer in daylight.

Sorry, I hope Ang and Lisa don't leave me forever. We had a science lesson here yesterday. I was outside watching Ree play and noticed something in the middle of Elmer's web. So I went down to the lower deck and whammo! There was Elmer eating a fly. So in I went to find my two boys to show them. Elm scurried back into his corner, but whammo! Another poor, unsuspecting fly flew onto his web and down he ambled again. So, here are some shots of Elmer in broad daylight. Elmer is a horny spider (sorry). I didn't realize garden spiders were horny, but LKP says hers always are, too. Ha! Spider humor.

Chocolate Zuchinni Muffins

I grew zucchini in my little garden spot this summer. While I do enjoy freshly prepared zucchini in healthy dishes.....I must confess that I mostly grew zukes to bake and freeze these muffins. They are so yummy! I got the recipe from a gal at work 8 or so years ago. I have made the tasty batter into bread or muffins every single summer since. They're such a hit that when I measure the dry ingredients, I measure for 2 batches and keep one batch ready in a Ziploc for when I want to make more. I find that measuring dry ingredients is the most time consuming part of baking.

1/2 cup melted butter
1/2 cup oil
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups shredded zucchini (I peel them first, but you don't have to)
1/2 cup buttermilk

Mix all well.

Sift: (yes, I really do sift the trick is to sift 1 1/2 cups flour through on it's own then sift the rest of the flour with the other ingredients)

4 Tbs. baking cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. salt
2 1/2 cups flour

Mix into wet ingredients until combined. You can either divide the batter into 2 loaf pans and top with a generous sprinkling of semi-sweet chocolate chips or pour into muffin tins and again, top with semi-sweet chocolate chips. This recipe makes 18 muffins. Bake @ 325 degrees for 1 hour if going the bread route, or for 20-22 min. if doing muffins. I only bake one loaf or 1 muffin pan at a time.

End of Summer Party

We had a Labor Day party this week. Had lots of Galloways plus baby L, Lisa, Shelly, and our friends the McMasters. We had a lot of fun visiting with everyone. The highlight of the night was when the hot air balloon people inflated their latest creation in the park. I didn't snap any pics of that, but it was pretty cool. Here are some pictures of the event. I'm pretty proud of the bouquet I created, since I'm not very good at it.