Summa Tiltonica

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-18T14:57:00.007-05:00

What a memorable year. I don't get out often yet, but when I do, this is the most common comment: "God bless you!" The response that came to mind the first time I heard it was "He has!" He really has! We truly do feel blessed. No, it's not always easy. And no, I don't believe we would have survived the first months (or the months to come) without lots of help and lots of prayers. But yes, it's been wonderful. Unforgettable. And full of baby perfection that can only possibly have come straight from Heaven. We're enjoying getting to know Ruth and Sam's little personalities a little more each day.

I feel like we've settled into a bit of a "6 family" rhythm now. Scotty is proving to be a great little helper. He's loving kindergarten and has a wonderful teacher. James is a doting older brother and seems to be weathering his displacement as the snuggled baby. He's in a great preschool that includes his speech and physical therapy and is making steady progress. Jeremy is functioning as a full-time working single father -- the minute he walks in the door, he's cooking, cleaning, giving tubs, reading stories, etc. (What a guy!) And I'm holding babies. A lot.

In the last month we've started hitting the job hunt hard. Jeremy has a few interviews lined up already. Hopefully shortly we'll have more big news to share! Hard to believe yet another chapter of our lives is coming to a close and we'll be leaving Bethlehem. It's been a good chapter. We'll miss it here.

We hope you're all happy and well. Wish we could be closer to everyone we love. Here's a giant cyber-hug from Bethlehem, and some attempts at a family picture. Merry Christmas!

Twice Blessed

2011-11-17T10:44:00.013-05:00

What a fun day! We blessed the babies the first Sunday in November and both sets of grandparents were able to come. What lucky little babies.

The only drama of the day was not performed by our drama queen. Sam decided to take that role and hollered through his blessing. But everyone survived.

We let Jeremy help pick Sam's outfit (thanks again Aunt Emily and Uncle Danny!) and of course he picked the one called the "Jeremy jumper."

Our gifted grandmothers gave gorgeous gifts. Grandma Corky made the blankets in the pictures and Grandma Ann made these:

Yes! I will put the babies in these sweaters every chance I get as long as they fit!

Our 3 amigos:

Already getting teased, poor little guy:

Big brother

Our four (!!!!) children! ...such a sudden leap from two I'm still processing...

Lots of chats and yummy food later, family went home and everything is back to normal now. ("normal" - ha!)

About 3 weeks ago we started getting our first true smiles and a few gurgly coos. Some moments are so wholly baby-perfect I can hardly stand it.

Here's Ruthie mid-story. Of course anytime I try to record her she gets stage fright. Hopefully soon we'll have one of her stories to share.

I've tried uploading video so many times. Fail every time. Just says "uploading" forever and ever. Anyone have a cure for my video-uploading ineptitude?

Scotty's bday

2011-11-08T13:31:00.006-05:00

Scotty is 6! I love this age. A little while ago I was doing some face painting for Scotty and some friends. When I asked what he wanted on his cheeks, he said, "Sunshine! And a skeleton!" What other age group would make that request?

We started planning his birthday party a long time ago. A chain of questions and answers led him to believe that his late-September-almost-October party *must* be a costume party, with Halloween-themed games. The games he chose: Spider web dance (freeze dance), Spider says, Spider spider dino (duck duck goose), and Hot pumpkin. Yes, we had fun! Both planning and carrying out.

I wrote a hurried entry in his journal about 3 weeks after the babies were born. It says, "Never cuter, never naughtier." Sums it up pretty well. But it's always way more fun than it is hard to have him around.

Babies babies babies

2011-09-29T16:13:00.013-04:00

A month old already! We can't even begin to list all the ways Grandma helped us. We truly believe, though, that she's the reason the twins had a healthy start. We were all fed, clothed, and as well-rested as we could have hoped for a full month thanks to you, Grandma! Our sincerest gratitude.

Here are a few pictures from the twins' weeks two and three.

Ruth: Hey Grandma -- you make this look easy! You truly are a woman of many talents.
Sam: I could get used to this one-on-one attention....do you think they know I have Woofie?
Ruth is a woman of many faces, and we're convinced that some of them point to where she's headed in life.

the Illusionist
the Dramatistthe Diva
the Comic
the Model (how's my hair?)
the Ballerina (I'm so frustrated with my imperfect form!)

the Tease (she pinched me!)
the Gossip (how shocking!)
The world is her oyster. Obviously the little princess is favored in this post. Here's some more Ruth (a Sam-devoted post coming up!):

Back to (mostly) what we're used to...
Aunt Katie came for a fabulous 5 days. Priceless in so many ways. She stayed up a whole -- very rough -- night with me while Jeremy went on a quick trip out of town. (Service only true love can give!) She made all sorts of yummies for us. She brought gifts for the boys. And she held babies. Often. Just last night at dinner James put on his most pathetic pouty face and said "Miss An Kayee." Thanks so much for coming!
(For the record, that's actually Jer's "baby," the richest ever chocolate cheesecake, but Katie did make the ganache and put the finishing touches on it. And yes, you might actually gain weight merely by looking at the picture too long.)

An eventful 2 weeks

2011-09-11T12:06:00.003-04:00

Our last 2 weeks have been memorable to say the least. They started with the threat of Hurricane Irene bringing Grandma Corky safely here from Vegas a little early (hooray!) and Scotty's first day of kindergarten. He was so much fun to watch in the classroom -- completely in his element surrounded by hyper kids and tons of activities. I'm glad the babies held off a bit so I could be there with him and Grandma on his first day!

I don't think he or James had any clue what was about to happen in our family.

Ruth Mary Jane and Samuel Clem were born on September 1 at 2:52 and 2:53. Sam, the gentleman that he is, let the lady go first, and weighed in a manly 2 oz heavier than Ruth (6 lbs 9 oz) at 6 lbs 11 oz. Here's Ruthy, sad that she hasn't yet had her bath:

Much better now:

And Sam:

I'm a total sucker for this little profile:

Reunited:

Thankfully, Scotty and James seem to have weathered the change very well. Here are the first pictures of our four (!!!!) children together:

The hospital was a mix of nightmares and miracles. What a strange 4 days! We learned time and time again that there are two sides to every coin. Here are a few of our dramas turned tender mercies:

1. In the recovery room after the c-section, my heartrate dropped into the 30's (!). Long story short, I was given medication that spiked my blood pressure, had an EKG and echocardiogram, and found out I have a heart defect, unrelated to anything that happened delivery day, that I may never have known I have. It's called mitral valve prolapse. Apparently mine isn't too serious, but I'm glad to know it's there, and will definitely be following up with a cardiologist to see what this may mean for me.

2. Because of my gestational diabetes and insulin taken during pregnancy, the babies' blood glucose dropped dangerously low immediately after birth. A nurse recommended I supplement breastfeeding with an SNS device, a tiny little tube that feeds the baby small amounts of formula while nursing, to keep their sugars level. I hated having to figure out one more thing on top of nursing twins, but in the end, I think it helped them learn to nurse much quicker than they might have otherwise. They both latched on and nursed like champs for nearly every feeding, my milk came in exactly on schedule, and we've had very few bumps along the way in those terms where it could have potentially been the hardest part of our hospital stay!

3. I gave Ruth a pacifier to settle her between feedings on day 2 and she took it so deeply she turned a little blue. When the same thing happened in the nursery, they sent her to the NICU for 2 days for observation. Having her across the hospital in the NICU meant that after we fed Sam, we trekked over to the NICU to feed Ruth, and came back to the room for an hour tops of rest before the next round of feeding began. The "happy" side of this coin involved some of the darkest hours of my life at the time: they say the quickest way to recover from a c section is to move, and as miserable as I was, I HAD to move, a lot, every 3 hours. I thought those first 4 days in the hospital would kill me, but by my 5th day post op, I was feeling very little pain and could move [almost] like a normal person around the house.

4. Jer announced to me at the end of August that the chief resident would be out of town and that he was designated chief for the entire month of September. I just about fainted. It doesn't mean too much more in terms of his time commitment, but I need every minute he can spare at this point! Turns out that being chief also has its perks: he can schedule his own surgeries. haha. So he actually has ended up having a bit more flexibility than normal, which has already meant the world for my sanity. Hooray!

On to more pictures! We were delighted to be able to come home all together last Sunday. In a few hours it will be officially one week since we crossed the threshold as a "6 family" as Scotty calls us. I don't feel like these pictures need much explanation aside from YES, this is exactly how the week has gone! Lots of crying, usually not both at once, some calm, and gobs of cuteness.

You smell *awesome*... how do you taste?

My turn:

No, my turn:

MY turn!

Maybe we'll try something different

I'm hungry again:

that was tiring...

We're having fun and getting enough sleep to get along. We'll see how things go once Jeremy's mom leaves. We may very well just fall apart (she's been wonderful!) but eventually I guess we'll have to figure it out. Here's to lots of moments like these:

When the livin' is easy

2011-08-19T17:41:00.011-04:00

We've had a very, very quiet summer. Mostly spent chipping away at our B.T. List (before twins), i.e. Jeremy playing mr. mom and mr. fixit and mr. clean all at the same time. What a guy. A few fun times, but mostly mellowness at home, keeping the babies baking. Now that we're almost 36 weeks (!) we're feeling very ready to meet these little ones! I've officially started heavy lifting and going on longer walks and errands. Friends have offered reflexology, mini trampolines, and castor oil to trigger labor. Here in a week I may just take them up on it!

My friends threw me a super cute shower in June. This was one of my favorite parts of the morning. I only wish I would have snapped a pic of the spread of food! It was fabulous Lisa and Rita and everyone else who contributed -- thank you thank you!

We had two last quick trips B.T. to visit Uncle Ben. One we went blueberry picking and to this divine place that has finally joined us on the east coast:

We also visited Bonaparte Breads. num num. And Jeremy finally had a chance to dangle his legs from a chair:

We had a fun and mellow 4th with friends. Jeremy played and played with the camera:

...dads waiting for kids to come take the sparklers

James had a run-in with a mosquito that night. As far as we could tell, this was from a single strategically placed bite on his forehead. The swelling even spread into his ear, poor thing. He was our little quasimoto for 4 days afterwards, even on constant benadryl.

All better now, we got an accidental hear, see, and speak no evil from our squishy one:

Here are two more of Jeremy's summer projects aside from photography. Why he had to start this one while I have gestational diabetes, I'll have to ask him one day. Maybe he was fulfilling a secret need to tease. There is more focaccia in our future, though, and hopefully it will be made when my diabetes is a distant memory.

And this is a piece of Jer's exploding garden. The tomato in the background has since taken over everything in its path and yielded just barely too much perfect fruit. Enough at least to share with the squirrels this year. Last year they were too greedy... Finally some pics from our Ward Pioneer Day Party. Here's our next-week-kindergartener!

Gotta love James' pose:

Next post will likely be full of babies (!) and the lazy days of summer will be a thing of the past. Doctors say September 1st will be my absolute last day of burgeoning feet and belly. We'll post as soon as we have news!

Whirlwind New England tour

2011-07-18T15:39:00.012-04:00

Jer had a week's vacation that needed to be used in late May, so we decided to take a babymoon + 2. Since we're leaving this area next summer, and don't anticipate being mobile at all between now and then, we decided to try to cram all of our northeastern to-see sites into a whirlwind tour. We got to do pretty much everything on our list (except for our food tour: Moosewood Restaurant, King Arthur Flour, Ben and Jerry's, Cabot Creamery, we'll have to sample you in another life!).

We started with the mansions in Rhode Island. The fog set in pretty much as soon as we left New York -- in May! Strange, but beautiful

The mansions were spectacular, what we saw of them. Not so kid-friendly... to tour, that is: These boys would have eaten this place up had they had free reign!

Right on the coast and oh-so-purdy. The second place we visited had topiary gardens the boys could run through

A shot of the dimples that will be gone *all too soon!* I will miss them

The twins treated me pretty well. This was my 23 week belly. I thought I was so big then...

Next stop: Provincetown on Cape Cod. Did anyone else not know this is really the first stop for the Pilgrims?

I had a very strange hip thing going on at the time that made it so I literally couldn't walk by the time we arrived at the tower, so Jer took the boys up to the top solo. What a trooper!

The boys were pretty pleased with themselves

Later we found a gorgeous beach for the boys to fill their britches with sand on. It was a *perfect* day! And -- no offense to eastern beaches -- but I was surprised at how pretty it was there. I could have watched the surf for hours...

We walked to a White Cypress Swamp, which, although beautiful and unique, was hands-down the most intense mosquito experience I've ever had in my life! Since we hadn't thought to bring the repellent, we only caught a few glimpses of the strange rusty water and dense trees as we ran over the walkways to mosquito-free safety.

...much better...

That night, since it was the week before peak season, we scored a beachside hotel on the southern shore of cape cod. It was lovely! A bit chilly, but sunny and gorgeous. In the morning, I went out for a bit and came back to the room to get my sunglasses and have the boys get in their swimming gear. Literally 20 minutes later, this is what we found:

FOG! And lots of it! It almost toasted our camera, but the boys, of course, still found fun

Next stop: Sandwich to see the glass museum and have some sandwiches on the water. Loved the glass museum -- highly recommend it if you're ever out that way! No good pictures, but lots of great memories. Scotty got to help with the glass blowing demonstration, and we resolved to become collectors of beautiful glass once the kids are less of a liability and our pocket book is a little chubbier.

Next stop: Plymouth. Meh. This is about all we got out of it:

It was expensive and touristy, and we had to laugh at Plymouth rock and the history behind it. The boys did love the hotel (read: TV) there, though, and recouped a bit from a busy few days

Next we headed to Boston proper and the Public Gardens. It was fun to have prepped them with "Make Way for Ducklings."

That day was unfortunately the first of a heat wave, and with my hip the way it was and Scotty complaining about the 10 minute walk we had taken through the Gardens, we decided to forego the Freedom Trail :( Next time, Boston!

The alternative, while much higher ticket, ended up being super fun. We decided to Ride the Ducks. After a quick snoozer for James

both the boys got to drive the boat! I like that the tour included historical as well as contemporary facts about the city and that our boys felt like superstars for a day.

Two more highlights of the day: The USS Constitution (awesome -- and FREE!)

and .lobster tails. A first for the Tilton family. Yum.

Last, but not least, we headed to Tilton, New Hampshire.

It was a bit of a last-minute addition to the trip, but as Jeremy researched the town before our trip, we were so glad we decided to add it on! It was renamed in the 1700's after one of his ancestors passed away. We visited the random Triumphal Arch built in the middle of a field by a later (non relative) Tilton

then a graveyard, where we found some headstones of forefathers, and finally to... wait for it...

There could not possibly be a more fitting end to our visit of the town for Jeremy Tilton. If you ask him, he'll dissertate on that pizza's perfection for as long as you'll listen :)

In all, we had an almost-perfect whirlwind farewell-to-eastern-sightseeing trip to New England. We've loved living in and seeing more of this part of the world. Since then, things have been pretty quiet. Jeremy's enjoying third year and the boys and I are kicking it at home most days. Pictures of my blossoming belly forthcoming. Stay tuned!

Misc spring pics

2011-06-16T14:08:00.010-04:00

Found some extra pictures I never posted, probably from my "purse" camera judging by the dozens of fingerprints on the lens. Here's James' choice of outfit for one of the too-plentiful cold and rainy spring days we endured.

Maybe he took his inspiration from his dad's new surgical loops? Jeremy has officially arrived at surgeon-ness. When he first put them on, all I could think of was being a nurse and seeing the surgeon like this. Wouldn't you crack up? I totally would!

Move over Clark Kent

Here's Jer's birthday sombrero at Chevy's with brother Ben and his friend.

The thinker-come bunny in DC. I loved this sculpture. I could have a miniature in my house and never get tired of it.

Fountains in front of the National Archives

Scotty's preschool graduation. He hammed up the whole evening. I'm pretty sure the first little pose is a response to my request for "cute smile."

He surprised us with an announcement that he wanted to be a fireman when he grows up. Never would have pegged him for a firefighter, but why not?

Overall a fun evening except for the length (yikes!) and the mildly disturbing fact that neither of the teachers could carry a tune, so all the songs the kids sang were in a strange monotone chant.

One of my favorite little guys on the planet, Cyrus. I want him for my very own.

James' female counterpart Violet. They have the same squishy cuteness factor (off the charts!) and often similar dispositions. They're in Nursery together at church. Don't they make the cutest couple? I'm rooting for both of them to end up at the Y here in about 17 years and run into each other at the HFAC...

At the end of our ward Easter egg hunt I couldn't find the boys. Of course they had already hunkered down, serious about the business of candy-eating. Notice that all the tables around them are vacant -- all the other kids were still playing around and hunting eggs.

Lots and lots of empty eggs by the time I found them...

Introducing .THE CHAIR. One of my first freak out topics after learning we were expecting twins centered around nursing: how? could I possibly survive? is there such a thing as a chair perfect for nursing two yet comfortable enough to double as a bed? Yes, in fact, there is. We found it on craigslist. I know, it's slightly ridiculous, especially in our tiny nursery, but I have a feeling we won't regret the investment for one second of our postpartum sleepless delirium.

Neighbor Ben has resurrected his Halloween costume and requests it daily, so Scotty and James sometimes follow suit. The adorable 3rd amigo is Fabian, our new next door neighbor.
Pics of our trip to New England coming soon...

Chatting

2011-05-19T17:41:00.004-04:00

What do you think they're saying in there? This is our first and probably only picture of the two babies head to head. It's my favorite ultrasound so far. By the end of my appointment, they had both done sommersaults :) I'm measuring 5-6 weeks ahead of a singleton pregnancy, i.e. it looks like my due date should be next month. ha! 3 1/2 more to go...

April in DC

2011-05-19T16:48:00.009-04:00

Hi guys!

With every passing day, my belly grows bigger and our mobile time in the east draws to a close, so we're having a few final eastern hurrahs. We decided to spend a few days in DC at the museums with the boys. Our first stop (of course!) was the new Air and Space out by Dulles. My personal favorites were watching the take-offs / landings at Dulles from the mock control tower and this baby:

Next day we visited the Washington...

Highlights of the day included a very personable elephant
3 hung-over amigos
and THE GIANT PANDA

We also ran into some friends from Des Moines, the Iwaasas, as we were leaving. They're in Harrisburg for their residency and happened to be in DC the same week, at the zoo the same day. We went to the temple for a quick photo shoot and had dinner. So fun to see you guys!

Spring was so slow in coming to PA that we were completely taken with any bits of color

Then we tackled the Smithsonian. Most of our time in the museums felt a little like this:

But the boys ended up doing way better than I expected. I think they may have actually had a little fun! I know we did.

I liked seeing Julia's kitchen. Don't you love how every inch is used up, down to hanging framed artwork on the cupboard fronts?
The American History Museum had a fabulous little kid zone we could have played at .all day long. Here's James' concentration face (I'll be sad when this phase passes!):
His favorite musical marble tower:When we'd had enough indoor time, we grabbed lunch on the Mall. Can you tell the boys had been harassed to stay close to mom and dad a little too long?

hey. come back here.

We made our way past the Washington Monument and a perfect climbing tree:

Then finally down to see the cherry blossoms. Although we were there during the week predicted to be the peak for the blossoms, we spent most of our time looking at the cherry blossoms down below:

.in the water. They were completely done!

Except for one or two trees. But it was still very pretty.

That night, in an early celebration of Jer's bday, we went to Rosa Mexicano. I'm pretty sure it was the highlight of the week -- possibly even the month -- for Jeremy. Every bite was scrumptious and every penny well spent. Yum.

We ended our trip with a visit to the National Arboretum. Aside from the Bonsai, the park was forgettable. The Bonsai garden, however, I could have admired for an entire day. What an interesting artform. New to me, and I'm taken. I want to learn more! This one has been in training since 1625:

A few of them, like the one above and the few below, did more for my imagination than anything has since princess fairytales. These mini landscapes were by far my favorites.

Finally, a tree that illustrates how the following 6 weeks would be for us weather-wise. We thought Spring and warmth were here to stay, but instead we've had some rather blustery days. Glad we got to enjoy a week in the slightly warmer and springier "south."

We finished that week with such mixed feelings. Of course we're delighted about the upcoming additions to our family, but the boys were PERFECT the whole trip. It was so much fun, just the four of us! I know things will be much more complicated for years to come: more expenses, more tickets, more little running feet to follow. But lots of people promise it will be that much more fun. ...if we survive the first year... dun. dun. dun... At any rate, we're so glad we could take that week to spend with just our "four family." Wish you all could have joined us!

Working backwards

2011-05-03T20:36:00.009-04:00

Too much to post (as always!)... I finally decided to start working backwards in small bites. Life is good! Babies are growing! *I'm* growing! We found out we'll have one boy and one GIRL!! 3 amigos and a princess. We're delighted.

Scotty's preschool had a little royal wedding party last Friday. The girls were invited to dress up in princess gear and the boys were kind of invited to dress up too. Scotty was convinced that he wanted to be a knight until I showed him the actual royal wedding that morning. Then I had my wish and all he wanted was to be a prince, not a knight. So we raided our goodwill pile and half and hour later Scotty donned his royal garb. He basked in the attention he got at preschool, in the neighborhood, and at yard sales the next morning. Any time I asked him to do something I got the reply, "I'm not SCOTTY I'm PRINCE WILLIAM." Here's our Bethlehem royalty:

The next day we had a different prince in the house. James turned 3! Poor little buddy had his special day on an abnormally busy day for the Tilton family, but I hope he still had fun. He spent all morning with dad while I went to a women's conference, then we went to a friend's party, which I think ended up being really fun for him -- it was at a park on a gorgeous day with a pinata, treasure hunt, and a fabulous cake (which I wouldn't have had the energy to do!). Then we came home exhausted, ordered pizza, put candles in some ice cream, and opened a few presents.

I have a hard time describing how I feel about our James. He's very much still a baby to me, and I find myself feeling shocked every time he says a full sentence. He still snuggles like a champ and has the squishiest little body and personality. He's mostly a sweetie, but he's learning how to hold his own. I find myself saying, "Scotty, run! Just run away!" more often these days. Scott's probably as surprised as I am when James retaliates. He ends up standing there, letting James have at him, crying. James' sweetness definitely prevails though, and he's a total charmer in public. We love him! I wish I could push pause on him right now.

Turning 3 meant graduating from Early Intervention and losing his awesome speech therapist Laure. He did end up qualifying for one day of a language-emphasis preschool nearby though, staffed by trained professionals, completely free, with busses, i.e. an answer to prayer! I'm pretty sure we qualified because of a very embarrassing pregnancy outburst a few weeks ago when I told the therapists evaluating him that he was most certainly not going to get any therapy come fall unless he qualified for the program...twins...overwhelmed...etc... I bawled! And I never bawl! I was mortified! His speech therapist was sure he wouldn't qualify but then they told me he was in. I just smiled and said thank you! Here's James' big first day. He was in HEAVEN. I was pretty sad to see him go, but I really did enjoy that morning home alone with just my Scotty. And it will be great for him. Just perfect!

Spring has finally sprung, and we had one day warm enough and dry enough to take some pictures. I feel like this care-free time with my boys is going by me much, much too quickly. I love my little men! We've been having a lot of fun together lately.

Radio silence explained

2011-03-16T13:59:00.013-04:00

(Not that I've ever been great at posting regularly...) Here it is, the reason I've been a little distracted lately:

Yes, we're expecting! And no, the baby didn't do a flip mid-picture. There are .two. : TWINS! No fertility meds, no family history, just a happy fluke. I'm 13 weeks now, we've known for about 5 weeks, and every morning I still do a reality check. I'm just about as scared as I am excited, but Jeremy's like a kid at Disneyland. He's over the moon. I'm getting there, but I find myself trying to find a balance between emotionally investing myself and staying objective. We truly are delighted and can't wait to meet the two little ones that will be joining us hopefully not until September. As if it knew it was going to have to be replaced, our '97 Subi finally started giving us expensive-sounding trouble, and we decided to look for a minivan. We found a perfect fit on craigslist and, by coincidence, signed the papers on a Sienna the same day we found out about the twins. So now we can at least all fit in one vehicle when the time comes.

We finished out winter with massive storms that hit us weekly for 6 weeks. The boys had a blast. We had one primo snowman snowstorm for Jeremy and Scotty to build this guy:

And several gorgeous ice storms...one thing I will truly miss about northeastern winters:

The rest of the winter was spent mostly this way:

...or this way (Jeremy found the absolute most perfect recipe for lemon bars and kind of couldn't help himself from making them over and over again):

...except for our own personal Tilton family musicfest. Jeremy and I have a bucket list of musicians we want to see before we (or they) die. For whatever reason, two of them, along with a handful of other musicians we both love, decided to come to New York and Philly all within a month of each other. So we decided that we'd go to as many as we could. And we did. I went along for three. (We're getting our dates in while we can!) Jeremy went to two more. My favorites were Charles Lloyd -- fantastic live performers:

and Hillary Hahn. We got seats months ago, and ended up about 15 feet in front of her. She's from Baltimore, and studied at Curtis in Philly. The performance was the Philadelphia premiere of a violin concerto written for her by a Philadelphia composer, Jennifer Higdon, who won a Pulizter Prize for it last year. Historical. I'm not a crier and I totally teared up on her opening run of the evening. Hard to put that performance into words. I'll never forget it!

We also went to Wayne Shorter who's not long for this life but still put on a great show. Here we are just before-hand at the reeeeeeed steeeeps (I think they're a bit creepy):

And Jeremy went to Chris Potter and (? I forget!) with his buddy Scott.

Scotty's preschool put on a Circus for parents and --surprise, surprise-- he chose to be a STRONG MAN. Half and hour very well spent! Here he is strutting his stuff:

strong, but not so fierce:

.so. heavy!

hm... maybe not so bad after all?

the barbells:

his teacher's reaction to him twirling the barbells like a baton:

and finally, posing with his friend Clara, one of the ring masters:

Another highlight of our too-long post-holiday winter was this:

Do they come any cuter?? Katie granted us our very fondest wish and came for a quick visit to share Daphne with us. We spent a few days in MD visiting Ben, Jenn and Joe, and old friends and neighbors. We even got to go to our home ward -- I wasn't prepared for how fun that would be! Then we came up here and mostly just vegged. I would have liked to have been cooking her all sorts of deliciousness, but she'll just have to come back for that trip. Thanks for coming, Katie!

Scotty's rocket jammy groove

and more cuteness:

The boys love love loved her, especially Scotty. He's told me since she left, "Mom, I miss baby Daphne. I wish she could stay with us forever and ever." And "Mom, I really really really want a baby sister!" Maybe just maybe he'll get at least one?

Or maybe we'll get two more of these: (and I wouldn't be one bit sad about it!)

Last weekend Uncle Ben took us to the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore. I could only take pictures of the outside sculpture garden which I loved. I mostly enjoyed the museum. I have to admit some of it was a little beyond me (like the flatulence room), but the "aftertaste" was good. It was definitely unique, and I'm glad we went.

Until next time... (and I promise it won't be 3 months)

December

2010-12-27T10:06:00.012-05:00

Happy Winter! Here are a few shots from our last (crazy busy) 6 weeks. We had a gorgeous snowfall last night we had been anxiously awaiting for over a month. The boys started trying on their deep winter gear in November. Apparently pants are optional:

James found a new hobby / obsession. He will "tut" anything an everything he gets his hands on. Sometimes I let him cut magazines to his heart's content and he'll be there for an hour or so (!)

Scotty made a Thanksgiving costume for his preschool feast, complete with hieroglyphics that tell a story.

Mid December we ventured to You Nork to "see" the tree. We naively thought we would be able to get closer than a block away, but no such luck. Note to selves: never attempt this again on a weekend!

It was still fun to be in the city (what it is about that place?) and we don't regret going, but we'll see if we can't go during the week next year. Here's a rip-off Mickey the kids were excited to have a picture with

And Scotty and Jeremy's hands-down highlight of the day, the Lego store at Rockefeller Center:

Last week James had a Christmas party thrown by the folks at Early Intervention. It was more fun than I had expected, for the boys and for me! Here's the dog room, crammed full of the sweetest ever therapy dogs:

A therapy swing - come - sleigh:

A snowman they could demolish by rolling down a cheese mat:

And the greatest ever Santa complete with super thick New York accent and dark black stubble:

Christmas day gets more fun every year. It was the first time since I was a kid that I felt impatient for Christmas morning knowing how much fun the boys would have with their loot. Surveying the scene in their new glow in the dark rocket Christmas jammies:

One last pose in front of our smooshed-in-the-corner scoliosis awareness tree:

And, later that day, chillin with Uncle Ben and the Davidsons in Ellicott City. We love having family on the East Coast! Thanks you guys for hosting (again)!

Here's a pic of my favorite doggy, Delilah. I love dogs, and loved growing up with dogs, but couldn't ever see them in our family's future until I met this one. She's a miniature greyhound, and much more like a cat than a dog. She *loves* Ben and the boys love her. Such a sweetie:
Finally, I wanted to post a few of our Christmas photo shoot duds. Watch James' facial progression. If Jeremy's head wasn't cut off anyway, I might have considered using one of these for our "official" pic. They make me laugh every time:

Three cheers for little boys. We hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and that you have a Happy New Year!

Come on, Robin, to the Bat Cave! There's not a moment to lose!

2010-11-03T15:47:00.008-04:00

I can't remember now who chose the costume -- me or Scott, but I do know we both had lots of fun with it. Our neighbor was Superman, and his mom found satin on super sale, so the three amigos dressed in style.
In the 20 minutes between Superman getting home from preschool and Batman leaving for preschool, they couldn't get enough of the capes. Neither could I!

That 20 minutes was worth alllll the time I spent on the costumes! Little boys are the best. Little girls are pretty cute too. Here's a cute and bewitching witch:

And as the icing on the cake, Scotty's little church bff was Batman too.

Yay Halloween! That was fun. I'm already looking forward to next year :)

Scotty's 5!: update #9

2010-10-08T15:27:00.009-04:00

Scotty turned 5 on the 21st of September. Every year that day comes and goes I'm amazed that it's been so long, and I'm grateful that all the September 21sts since 2005 have been much, much less painful for me. :) Scott requested, *very* specifically, a "caramel popcorn turtle cake with strawberries and chocolate frosting." We've never had anything like it, and doubt we ever will again, but it was pretty fun to make.
We got to celebrate with leftover fireworks with our neighbors -- Scotty's friend has the exact same birthday as Scotty.
We had Scotty's first friend party this year, which was more fun than I was expecting! He wanted a flying saucer cake, so it kind of turned into an outer space theme.

We made alien hats
And alien rock buddies
Danced .a lot.
Played pin the alien on the spaceship
Tried to play "robot, robot, who has the robot," but the kids had a very difficult time grasping the concept of stealth
And ate lots of yummy flying saucer cake
Another rite of passage happened just a few days before: Scotty's (second) first day of preschool
He technically made the cut to start kindergarten this fall, but we decided to wait on the recommendation of last year's preschool teacher. Not too surprisingly his award at the end of the year was "most spirited." Here he is last May at graduation:
We know he's spirited, and that's half of what makes him so delightful! And I have to say --a little selfishly-- I don't mind one bit keeping him home for one more year. Happy Birthday Scotty!

California Dreamin': update #8

2010-10-08T14:05:00.018-04:00

Jeremy had a conference in San Diego, so we jumped at the chance to join him and get part of our trip reimbursed (thanks, St. Luke's!). We're in love. We really can't see ourselves being able to afford living there, but it's officially cemented into our future vacation plans.
Sunroofs were made for southern California...
Jeremy hit the waves as often as he could. And the boys acted like they'd hit the sandbox jackpot. There were some pretty intense sand castles out there.
Here's mine and the boys' version of the above:

My brother Nathan and his family are 1/2 hour from San Diego, and my brother Pete and his family are in LA right now. Some of my Athay cousins are there too, and my Aunt Janet and Uncle Russell were in the area. I talked my sister Katie into flying down from Denver for a long weekend, so we had a PARDAY! There haven't been 4 Hawkes in one place for a long time, so this was a big deal.

Daphne got lots and lots of attention
We went to the park
Reconnected with my childhood (my mom painted this door on a playhouse my dad built for us -- isn't it cute??)
Wrestled lots and lots with Jake (we wish you were here Jake and we would hire you as our permanent babysitter!)
Did a little yoga
And went to the mall with Aunt Janet and Karen to ride these crazy little mini motorcycle things
Pete and Nate even joined a soccer game when Jake's opposing team didn't show
Jeremy's family decided to join the fun and *all* came down from Vegas to see us for the weekend, so we ended up having a double family reunion!
We went to the beach and Balboa Park for an outdoor organ concert and the Botanical Gardens

They even threw a double birthday part for Scotty and his cousin David
Jeremy's parents are always up for a trip to Disneyland, so we decided to take the boys on the pilgrimage every child should go on at least once.

It turned out to be a little tiny bit too early to make the pilgrimage for James, though. He was too short for some rides (the pictures say a thousand words!) and scared on others. Maybe in another 5 years we'll try again...

It was so fun to be there with Grandma and Grandpa! Thanks for coming, guys!
Jeremy's brother and his family came too, and my cute white-blond nieces caught the eye of the guy picking kids for Star Wars Training camp so that Scotty could have the opportunity every 4 year old Star-Wars-obsessed kid dreams of : defeat Darth Vader face to face
Getting his game on

The enemy himself -- or wait? Maybe it's my father...
And the final battle
My favorite part of the day (Jer's too) is in the background here. If you've never been to California Adventure and ridden California Screamin, add it to your bucket list now! Best roller coaster .ever. Too fun to miss.
Another highlight: World of Color. It was like the Bellagio show on steroids. So fun! We killed four birds with one stone, and had almost more fun than we could handle in just one week! But we survived, and lived to tell the very happy story.

Summer Silliness: update #7

2010-10-07T13:50:00.011-04:00

Here's a bunch of silliness I'm posting for posterity's sake / future blackmail material

Mom I found a square foot of bare dirt!

Life changes so abruptly when you're two...
Or four...

typical James on the same car trip :)
Imitating monkey sticker faces Grandma sent. Thanks, Grandma!
My little buddies have been so much fun this summer!

They've also had fun with their own little buddies. I was thinking the other day that I remember my friends from when I was 4 and 5. I have a few very vivid memories from those years. Which of these memories will Scotty still have 30 years later?? A pizza picnic?
Splashing in the stream?
Or just hanging out?

Daphne Adele: update #6

2010-10-07T13:24:00.007-04:00

I have to dedicate an entire post to our newest niece. I know I'm partial, but isn't she gorgeous?
I went for a long weekend (thanks Jeremy! thanks Lisa!) to stay with Katie and Van. I say "stay with" because I thought I would be helping, and I barely lifted a finger the whole time! Any of you who know the long details of Daphne's gestation and birth know what a tender mercy it was for her be in the NICU for less than a week after her omphalocele surgery. By the time I got there, she'd been home for almost 2 weeks and was fat and happy. And Katie was getting more sleep than your average new mom. Daphne has found her lungs since then, but as a wee one, the most I heard out of her was a tiny little "hey!" when she was truly distressed. She was the perfect newborn. (And now she's the perfect 3 month old!) I LOVED holding her! I confess I'm baby hungry at the moment and I totally got my baby fix that weekend. She was a perfect little snuggler. This is my *favorite* pic of the weekend. Pucker up! And this is a close second. I love the newborn furrowed brow + cross eyes + gang sign + double chinAnd because of this cute little thing, I've developed a new obsession. I have two boys and I spend my free time now making -little girl's hair dealies-! So silly, but so entertaining. This isn't the best picture, but if you like them, I'm taking requests. Daphne can only wear so many, and most of my other nieces are a little too old for them.

Summer trips: update #5

2010-10-07T11:18:00.015-04:00

We had a gorgeous cool June this year and stayed outside as long as possible every day. One of the highlights of June was James' first camping trip

What is it about camping? A day's work to pack, a few days to unpack and de-grime, all for one poor night's sleep, but it's totally worth it! Love it.

Over the 4th of July weekend we took a short trip up to Niagara and Palmyra. We stopped first in Scranton and went to the Lackawanna County Coal Mine. Ah, small-town Pennsylvania. I'm not really sure why we did it. A tribute to The Office? Absolute *rave* reviews from Tripadvisor? I'll leave it by saying it was memorable, and I guess it was fun for the boys...

Next we stopped in Heaven on Earth aka Skaneateles, NY. I want to live there! I have never seen water this clear outside of the Uintas. The town was as quaint as it gets, to boot.

Next stop Palmyra and the sacred grove. This is what a 4 year old thinks of the sacred grove.
Poor kid! He was so tired, and this is seriously what he looked like whole time, minus the tantrum. ... "What are you *doing* to me, mom and dad?!" Jeremy and I enjoyed it though. Sunday morning, a truly lovely one.

Did anyone else not know that the Palmyra temple is built in view of the Smith farm? I teared up when I saw where it's located.
We tried taking pictures of the boys. Emphasis on "tried"

Next: Niagara! Wahoo! I haven't been for 15 or so years, and it was every bit as cool as it was as a kid.

Move over Loch Ness... Niagara has monsters now

Maid of the Mist garb
The view from the boat
James wasn't terribly happy about the whole situationBut the rest of us were! Fantastic place.

whooooa Mexico: update #4

2010-10-07T09:35:00.011-04:00

So Jeremy and I got a pretty sweet tax refund and debated for a long time about what we should do with it. We toyed with revisiting one of our missions or a touristy sight-seeing trip. We decided to go on a 7-years-later honeymoon to Tulum, Mexico and try very hard do absolutely nothing but sit on the beach. Katie and Van went on the same trip and gave us some tips, so we decided to try our hand. Cons: we were naive-looking scam targets and people were at us for money at every turn, Jeremy had some very strange allergic reactions our very first morning there, we missed the cool spring weather (sticky, sticky HOT), there were lots and lots and lots of mosquitos, we both got a 2-week something-or-other from our breakfast our last morning there, and Jeremy's glasses are now a fixture in some Caribbean fishies' living room. Pros:
Yes, it was worth the cons, and we would go again in a heartbeat. Here's our first eco-touristy place. I loved the vibe, but at the end of the two days, we decided we're not qualified to be eco-tourists.
We rented bikes one day and rode this route to a handful of cenotes
We saw gobs of these guys and thought of Scotty every time
Walked the beach .a lot. Found a few pretty shells, backpacks, shoes, and something for Van:
Too bad Jeremy's glasses didn't wash up on shore. They were in his lap while he was trying on his snorkel mask (our first day!) and there they stayed until he bailed out of the boat :( He's blind enough that we decided to go to the mall in Cancun to the only while-you-wait glasses place in the Yucatan. We even caught Iron Man 2 with subtitles before it was released in the states while we waited. (How did they do that?) Silly, yes, to go to the movies while in paradise, but fun nonetheless. Here's Jer sporting his spiffy new lenses with the *awesome* clip-on sunglasses that don't quite fit
We ate several to-die-for Thai dinners here (nothing like eating scrumptious food with the waves as your background music)
Went to the Tulum ruins

My favorite "shoes"
A little friend the snorkeling guy made us while we were talking to him (I thought he was just fiddling with some grass!)
Here's our second place at "La Vita e Bella" (it truly was!)
And our view
Every time I scroll through our pics and I skim past these babies, I involuntarily sigh and my limbs go limp. It was dreamy. I wanted everyone I know to experience it! We *will* be back someday...

Visits from family: update #3

2010-10-07T09:25:00.007-04:00

We had a few visits from family this spring. Hooray!!! Aunt Katie came on the tail end of a conference her hubby had in Baltimore. We went to see Ben one day, then met one of her friends in NYC. We took the ferry in, which is never boring! (Sorry about the finger print on the lens, Lady Liberty)

In front of the templeOn Mother's Day. Jeremy spoiled us rotten with filet mignon and creme brulee. mmmm!
Then Jeremy's parents came for a bit. We went to Hershey with them and took the trolley ride. Has anyone else ever been floored by this rotunda in the middle of nowhere PA?

Hooray grandparents! We had lots of fun.

Visits to Uncle Ben: update #2

2010-10-07T08:56:00.014-04:00

We've been down to the Baltimore area to visit Ben a bunch. Here are a few highlights. The boys *loved* the National Aquarium in Baltimore:

Waiting for the dolphin show:
Yay! Tricks!
We got to see a dude feed the massive rays and the 3-legged giant turtle
My personal favorite was the jellies exhibit. I could stare at fire, waterfalls, and jellyfish for *hours* and not get bored!
Another personal favorite: mr. grumpy stone owl.
Next trip we went paddle boating on the Chesapeake:
Next we went to the Naval Academy. Scotty still talks about the soldiers in white.
And finally, we went to the Howard County Fair, very nostalgic for both me and Ben:
Ben took the boys on the ferris wheel and aged about 10 years in the process. And here's the best part of the day:
Yay goats! I sure do love them when I don't have to drink a glass of their milk for breakfast every day....

Top 10 of '10: update #1

2010-10-06T16:00:00.002-04:00

Hi friends and family --

We didn't desert you. I just went through a little blog-soul searching for a bit. And now my blog-soul is revived. I'm ready! I'm going to do my best to catch up on our crazy-busy-fun year thus far. Part of the reason I'm finally getting around to this is because I realized the snowman on my last post (who many of you have told me is becoming part of the family) is almost ready to be rebuilt! My nose is cold as we speak, and it's getting dark at 4:43. And I haven't recorded our family's doings during all the time in between. So here goes. I'll start with our much anticipated Spring. After snowmageddon x 4 we were getting a little antsy. We were a bit sad when Jeremy's snow sculpture out of ice and speed bump chunks melted.
And we did prefer ice falls to bare rock for freeway scenery.
But mostly we felt like this when the sun finally came out:

Easter with a 2 and 4 year old is hard to beat. The boys spent toddler hours (translation: 15 whole minutes) painting the sidewalk and hid and re-hid the eggs until there was nothing left for egg salad sandwiches (shame).

I think this may have been inspired by candy-filled eggs? Maybe the other ones taste better??
Yay green grass!
Yay bubbles!
We also celebrated 2 birthdays in spring, Jeremy's first. Here he is making his wish holding a post-tantrum James:
Chocolate makes everything all better:

Then James turned 2!

"Mom, see, it's empty! Give me more! More! More!"

We're excited for all that accompanies cooler weather, but I think kids were *made* for spring with its mud and puddles and sunshine for longer than they can stay awake... Fun.

First Snow

2009-12-24T07:59:00.003-05:00

Well, not truly our first snow... just the first to prove constructive. Here is Jer and Scotty's vampire snowman:

And here's Scotty dwarfed by some random neighborhood kids. He's extraordinarily proud of his little man. Checks on him daily:

Merry Christmas everyone!

Fall

2009-12-17T16:52:00.005-05:00

Yay! Fall. We had a lovely fall here in PA. Unfortunately fall reminds me of how inept my camera is at capturing what it's really like to be walking among every color in the rainbow. You'll just have to imagine it. It was heavenly. Late fall dry crusty leaves can be easily captured, however:

itchy itchy
woo! woo! chicka chicka bow! wow!

It's chilly enough that we don't spend much time out anymore. Scotty's energy has turned to creating random things we find kicking around the house on a regular basis. This one was created especially for papa, who is obviously enjoying the modeling bit:
To close, a little doctor's office entertainment. (Scotty's new favorite face, I guess?)

The Chesapeake

2009-12-17T16:34:00.007-05:00

Our October trip to MD to visit Ben was especially fun. We decided to go to the Bay, and since it was chilly, we had the beach *to ourselves.* The boys had an absolute blast, as boys are wont to do, digging and throwing sand, climbing on the jettys posted with "danger keep off," climbing trees with Uncle Ben, and scaring seagulls. Highlight of the day: remember when Scott forgot his shoes for our trip to NYC? This time we forgot James' clothes. Yep. All of them. He stayed in his butter yellow fuzzy jammies at the beach, the park, and the restaurant. Oh well, at least he was comfy and warm, right?

The State Park we visited had the *coolest ever* playground made out of old tires of all shapes and sizes. There was an obstacle course, a tire tower, and old-timey tire car, and tire bits covering the ground to squash and jump on. Fun times.

Halloween

2009-12-17T16:08:00.006-05:00

Better late than never, right? Scotty had several different Halloween activities to attend this year, and insisted on a different costume for each one. They're obviously all craft box costumes, so I didn't mind. We had a blast. The only props he needed were from the dollar store.

Costume #1: Sir Scott, knight of the realm

Costume #2: Woody from Toy Story

(like the spurs?)

Scott and Annie, aka best friend/girlfriend/"wife" before the preschool party:

We were surprised to see his best little preschool buddy Jassay as Buzz!

Here's the crew:

Costume # 3: for the ward trunk or treat, he was Scotty Isaac Luke Skywalker Tilton. And one of his sunbeam friends showed up as an adorably shy little Leia:

For trick or treating, he decided Vampire Luke Skywalker would be cooler, but unfortunately we didn't get a shot of that getup.

James was a squeezable, grunting monkey. Perfectly suited to his current verbal skills:

And this was a random pic on the camera, possibly a sugar high? Strike a pose.

Scotty's Birthday and other fun times

2009-10-11T16:05:00.011-04:00

I'm still blog-bulimic. The last six weeks have been fun and busy, but not too photo-worthy. I'll post a few highlights. First and foremost, Scotty turned 4! I'm still a little weirded out by the fact that he's been around for 4 years. So long, yet so short. Here he is with part of a favorite bday gift from Aunt Katie, a lego candy building:
James enjoying Scotty's cupcakes:
Our little impromtu dress-up party:
The big 4:
The following week, another huge day in Scotty's little life: the first day of preschool. All grown up:
Scotty love love loves preschool. He goes 2 hours a day, 4 days a week, to a little free preschool program through the local high school. Ever since he started, he's been a different kid. About 1 timeout a week instead of 10 a day. I think he was starved for that social outlet. He's definitely in his element now. So fun.

All but about 3 days in September were absolutely dreamy weather: 60-70 degrees, sunshine, breeze, a little fall chill in the air, but usually not enough to require a jacket. We made the most of it one Saturday by going to Bushkill Falls, an hour or so north of Bethlehem. Some great views and a pretty good stair workout. Here are dad and James:
Scotty at the top of one of the falls:
My favorite view: (Note the tiny little people in the bottom left-hand corner)
Two more falls:

And a sweet bluegrass band we listened to while we ate our ice cream at the end of the hike. Fun day.

We were back down in Baltimore to see Ben last weekend. This time we went to Weber's Cider Mill Farm. If you live anywhere in the greater Balto-Washington metro area, *must purchase cider here.* I've never in my life tasted its equal. Phenomenal. Wish we would have bought gallons. We went on a little tractor hayride:I caught the boys looking extraordinarily bored, but handsome:
There was a hay bale maze Scott dragged me into... I barely fit and Scotty dusted me. I had to ask the people on the bridge overhead how to get out (haha!) :
Hillside slides. I think Jer might have been trying to steer??
Coolest ever turkey. Hard to see in the pic, but his head looked like a glob of external blue brains. Very cool. He was also really, really mad and literally "gobble gobbled" and a little girl as we were walking up. She screamed and ran away -- it was pretty intense! Last but not least, James had fun pushing around the pedal tractors. I'd never seen him do anything like this, but apparently it readied him for WALKING! Two days later he took his first steps, and he's been adding new little tricks daily. He's so proud of himself as he walks he looks like he's going to pop with happiness. He also does his giant open-mouth smile and his inhale-laugh the whole time. So fun. Took him a long time to catch up to his buddies, but he's there, finally, at 18 months. Yay James!

You Nork City and Balmer

2009-09-03T15:58:00.011-04:00

Let me start the post with the *best ever* Mr. Potato head. I've never seen its equal for statement-making potato heads. Although James appears to be the proud father, it was Scotty's creation, sitting there on the couch as it is to greet me one afternoon when I came downstairs.

Next, "summertime head II:"
Maybe now Jeremy and I, the young parents that we are, will know better than to have a family race .to the car. over pavement... doh!

Here is proof that we had one good tomato off our pathetic little plant:
We figured that little tomato cost us about $15. Not sure if we'll try container gardening again here. Everything's moldy. I think it the plant molded. The pizza was good though, and Scott actually kneaded his little pizza alongside me. He looks that proud for a reason! He's turning into quite the little kitchen helper.

Labor Day weekend was busy for us in the very best way. Saturday we made the trip to Baltimore again to see my brother Ben. Scott, every time he sees his uncle Ben, runs full tilt and clobbers one of his legs with a bear hug. They're becoming great buddies. It's fun to see. We had a picnic at Federal Hill Park with this view:
Then the boys thought they might try some hill rolling, but thankfully waited until Jer was near to start:
After the picnic, we shopped a bit around the harbor, then went to Ponyo, then out to sushi. It was great to see Ben, as always. Mellow fun day.

Monday we decided to take our first all-day trip to YOU NORK CITY!!!! Scott is convinced this is how it's pronounced. We decided to take the ferry from New Jersey to Battery Park and frequently on the boat Scott would half yell, half sing "You Nork Cityyyy, You Nork Cityyy." He refuses to be corrected, and frankly I'll be sad when he learns the grown-up way to say it.

The hands-down most unforgettable moment of the trip was when, about 15 minutes before arriving at the ferry, Scott pipes up from the back, "My shoes! I forgot my shoes!" No joke. He had no shoes. We thought, "aw, we'll pick something up when we get there." Little did we know that the people of New York do not buy shoes for their children. They can't possibly shop for their kids in the city. We walked *miles* peeking in shops, high-end to low-end, and found one (yes, only one) pair of shoes, $55, that I didn't even like. So he went barefoot, the whole day, hopping on an off the stroller, in big yucky New York. I kind of wish I took a shot of his feet before we washed them, but I'm also kind of glad we didn't.

The ferry trip:
James saying "uaaaaaau:" Ground Zero:
Rockefeller Center (hay hay 30 Rock!):
Carnegie Deli. Note Jeremy's horrified sterno-cleido-mastoids. Yes, that's ONE sandwich, in two halves. The four of us couldn't finish the thing:
More "horror," very tasty this time:

FAO Swartz. I'm not sure if it was more embarrassing to have Scott wear my socks (why did I pick that day of all days to wear my craziest pair of socks??) or go around with filthy footies:
THE PIANO, with crazy socks
Central Park boulder climbing:

And the ferry ride back to Jersey:
Fabulous day. There really is something about that city! I'm thoroughly charmed. As much as I loved it, though, I was grateful to come home to quiet little Bethlehem. It's fun to have the city so close, but it's also fun to not have to live there. Maybe I'm not as much of a city girl as I thought I was?

Lastly, one of Jeremy and my favorite things to do when we get to a new place is hunt down the hilarious signs some businesses use to rope in customers. Not that we don't love where we live/have lived. Don't take this personally Des Moiners or Bethlehemers. One of our favorites in Des Moines went out of business before we ever had a chance to take a picture. It said only: "Service Saw. If it's dull, get it sharpened." I don't know why it struck me as so hilarious, but I loved driving past and getting the giggles. Here, my favorite so far is this:
Incidentally, anyone know what cargo those trucks ship? Peeps! Marshmallow peeps. Yep. Just Born, the Peeps company, is only about a mile away from us. So if you're a fan, come stay with us and take a tour. Wahoo!

Random pics

2009-08-25T09:21:00.007-04:00

Scott plays a "buy me! buy me!" game while we grocery shop. This time he had no idea how conveniently he'd placed himself until I pointed it out. One of James' latest favorite perches:
The coolest ever park in Central Park. We met up with our friends the Homers oh-so-briefly, which was fun. The whole park was lined with these raised bricks so even the parents can scale the walls.
Scott was too excited to stand still for even a split second. James and Sal cooperated though.
Post-swimming (we have a little freezing cold pool). Helpful big brother:

More pics of our last few summer trips to come.

3 year old boys

2009-08-19T08:44:00.003-04:00

I'm making dinner and Scott says, "Mooooom, I need to go pooootttty." He doesn't need my help anymore, but still announces every time. I say OK, then I hear the front door close. Thinking it was Jer coming home early, I went to the front room to greet him. No Jer. Did Scott...? No...
Yes. Open the front door, and there he is, on the front walk, pants around his ankles, watering the lawn, smack in the middle of a townhome culdesac, his face looking like he'd just made an earth-stopping discovery. One of those moments I wish I had a little camera mounted behind my eyes.

Phun in Philly and elsewhere

2009-08-11T07:11:00.009-04:00

Happy 4th of July! I'm embarrassingly slow on posting, but there's a good reason: we have bid farewell to our old, crash-prone DMU laptop as our main family computer. It was too full to download even one more pic, and posting was so slow it was painful. The beast has been replaced by an iMac. wahoo! It's a lovely piece of machinery. Resident friends, your husbands qualify for the student discount promo that runs through the end of the month, so take advantage! It was our graduation present to ourselves. And worth every penny so far.

On with the post: We went with our friends the Yorgasons to the parade in Philadelphia, the birthplace of Independence. We thought it fitting, being only an hour away, and it was memorable. I was moved to tears three times during the day, and I'm not a cryer. The first time I teared up was during the parade. I know, so silly, but it was a great parade. What was most moving to me was the diversity of groups represented. There were groups from all over the world, *big* groups, from so many countries. I got to thinking about how we're all immigrants to this country somewhere on our family lines, that most if not all of our families have sacrificed for this country in some way, and that we owe those family members a tremendous debt. I love the "melting pot" of the US. I'm grateful to be here. We're hoping to take full advantage of being so close to the historical sites while we're living east. I'll be sure to post our future adventures! Here's Scotty strutting his flag:
James' version of Uncle Sam, sans hat:
James turning suddenly un-patriotic:
Benjamin: "Hey, look! You can be cool like me!" Scotty: "Really?" Scotty: "I'm cool now."Lisa and I didn't plan the matching plaid shirts. I thought they were pretty cute together. Must have been a somber part of the parade...
After the parade we went to an all-you-can-eat ice cream tasting. Note the tower of cups. It was fun, but *super* crowded, and we all had tummy aches afterwards (surprise). Had to do it once.By the time we got to the spot we reserved for fireworks, we were all exhausted. In hindsight, we probably should have called it quits then, but we all stuck it out. We all felt like James looked:And this hadn't happened since he was less than 6 weeks old (he likes to be in his BED):

He woke up for a few of the fireworks, but Annie and Scotty (the whole reason we were there) both crashed before they started. (sigh) I ended up enjoying the fireworks more than usual, though. Philly had prepared audio clips of my favoritehistorical figures who fought for various freedoms. It was well choreographed with the fireworks, above the art museum on Benjamin Franklin Blvd. Even with the exhastion we all felt the next day, I'm glad we went.

A few weeks later we went to visit my brother Ben again in MD. We tried a picnic at a state park which was inconveniently (for us, not for James) muddy, with no grass.

This is his I-like-to-eat-dirt-but-don't-want-my-knees-to-touch-it crawl:

Here's uncle Ben and the boys (James sans mud and clothes) on the Swinging Bridge at Patapsco State Park:

Uncle Ben taking Scott on a little hike:

And finally, a trip to what used to be the Enchanted Forest. It's now converted into a little playground/petting zoo. Very fun.
Scott refused to pose, but *loved* this boat. It was in a little pond with frogs all around the edges. Every little kid that came by while we were there was forced to call him "Captain Scott."
That's all for now. More pics to come. Miss you all and wish you were closer.

Pollywog Photography

2009-07-16T15:37:00.013-04:00

My brother Tim recently started a children's photography business in Centerville, UT. In the middle of our "tripola," we had a total of 2 hours? (3 tops) to visit with him. With so much time to spare, I asked if he could take some quick pics of the boys. So at nearly 6 pm (big time fussy time), several weeks into a nightmare trip for kids their ages, Scott in desperate need of a haircut, in the middle of a weird dust storm, in about 15 minutes time, Tim got these gems. If you're anywhere in the Centerville vicinity and are interested (ehem), check him out! Pollywogphoto.blogspot.com has his portfolio, general info, and even some photography tips. Might I add, he's also very reasonably priced.

Getting the boys together was a challenge (Scott!), but despite the battle he still got this:
Alone, he got them to shine with what seemed to me to be little effort. Here's James:

Some of my favorites of Scotty are the candid shots. Tim had asked Scotty to tell a story, and as he talked, Tim captured the faces I see all day every day that vanish when the camera comes out. They're the faces that melt me and make me want to snatch him up and hug him while he's eating lunch or playing with his toys. Ah, my boys. I love my boys.

The story begins:

...er...and then what happened?
...a monster:
...a *scarier* monster:The End:

Radio Silence: over

2009-07-08T08:12:00.005-04:00

Hello friends and family! We are officially done with survival mode and back online. Two and a half weeks ago now, we arrived in Bethlehem, PA, and are almost all the way unpacked. The two months in between my last post and now are already mostly a blur in my memory, so I won't be recapping word for word. Looking back, we would have done things *much* differently. By the time we arrived here at the end of the two month-long fiasco, we were all pretty much blobs of grumpy mush. Not that we didn't have some fabulous times in the middle of it all. We got to see many of our most favorite people and do some of our favorite western things before being sequestered, vacationless for many months to come, far away in the east.

Jer calls what follows our "tripola." Heavens it was long. Our first stop after leaving Tempe was Vegas again. Yay Jer's family! It especially fun to see everyone after having lived there so recently. Scott ADORES his cousins there, and keeps telling me "when I'm big to a daddy, I'm gonna live to Las Vegas!" We swam and ate and ate and shopped and ate. We dearly miss Henderson shopping and restaurants! And our family, of course. One of our family + Henry and Jenn outings was riding "The Deuce," the double-decker buses in Vegas, all the way down to Cafe Rio (woohoo!):
Here are Tyler and the boys taking a break from planting the scarp at Grandma and Grandpa's:
And here are the 3 amigos:
James pulled up in his playpen for the first time in Vegas. He's made great strides since then -- literally! He's cruising everywhere and is walking holding only one hand. We think he'll walk soon. He was obviously pretty shocked at his accomplishment:
Next stop: GRADUATION! Jeremy is officially Doctor Jeremy. We got to see many (sadly not all!) of our favorite people in Des Moines in the short time we were there. Diana and I crashed an enrichment activity, and walking into that room felt like walking into a family reunion. I loved seeing everyone there. Graduation itself was actually very pleasant as graduations go: I loved the keynote speaker's address. In a few words, he said, "Ye shall inherit the earth. Now what are you going to do with it?" And the rest went pretty quickly. Despite being half a mile away, I nearly burst when the called Jer's name to receive his diploma. So many years! So much work! SO much money! It was very satisfying to realize it was really and truly all done. Here's the moment on the big screen:
Scotty even did well during the ceremonies. He "wooooo"ed for everyone but Jer (I think he was confused by them calling his dad's name) and got really, really excited when the guy called a Mario. Everyone around us for a few hundred feet knew that "my dad has that game!!!" Both sets of grandparents were there, which was *so* fun, and we ate a fabulous meal at Woody's on 25th and Cottage. Good thing we didn't know it was there (if it was at all) when we lived there: we would have been even more broke and chubbier than we already were when we left. yum. Jer even got to play a farewell few numbers at Sam and Gabe's where he had his weekend gig with Stu, the 81 year-old still-hip pianist.

The doctor and his wife:
Proud papa:
Proud parents:
All the Tiltons:And grandma and grandpa Hawkes:
A tassel tussle:
Victor #1:
Victor #2: (too bad we didn't have some of these to play with *during* the ceremony!)
I thought these pics were hilarious. I promise they weren't staged. I think they demonstrate perfectly how we all felt: sleep-deprived, scared of the weeks of travel still ahead, and giddy. Serious Scott:
Serious Jer:
Dazed boys:Showing some love for the graduate:
And here Scott is officially done:

On return to Vegas, we made a quick trip to LA to bid farewell to the Pacific Ocean. It was cold, but so fun. I was reminded how addictive shelling can be, Scott and Jer played dodge-the-waves, and James enjoyed eating sand.

Note to anyone who might be tempted to get a four star hotel on priceline though: don't do it! It was cheap, but it was the first time in my life (I know, poor me) I've felt discriminated against. It was strange. Everyone kind of winced at the kids and we couldn't even get a queen size bed. The pool was the size of a hot tub and ice cold, the hot tub was smaller and luke warm. I could go on, but I'll spare you. We've since had a WAY better experience at 2 and 1/2 stars. That's what we'll do if we ever get to stay in a hotel again. It was a good food trip though: the Local Yolk at Manhattan Beach and Fresh Brother's Pizza were pretty much unforgettable food experiences.

After Vegas and LA, we stopped in Utah for a very, very short stay. I was sad to miss Matt altogether and only get a hurried evening each with Pete and Tim. So it goes. We did have a lovely visit with Janet though, which is rare since she's always so busy. James learned to squeal for dogs while we were hanging out with Elky. Now even if I can't see a dog, I know one is near by the tone of James' squeal. He LOVES them. Here's cute Caleb Huff and grumpy Scott during one of our very hurried visits:

We were able to spend a whole week after that with Katie and Van in Aurora, CO, which was oh-so-fun!
They are renting a cute little house now with tons of room and big back yard, so we took over the house for a while. We remembered how much we love CO while we were there. It's definitely at the top of my short list for places to settle. Too bad our families didn't get the memo that Colorado is the *place* to be! Katie will be gone by the time -- if we ever -- end up there :( Favorite Aurora pastime: the hammock:
Highlights of the stay: Historic Littleton, tornado sirens for real (not like our Des Moines sirens), Wendy and Richard's, fabulous sushi in Boulder, and last but definitely not least, the naked bikeriders. So strange, but true: we were walking down the pedestrian mall in Boulder, and there they were, at least 50 white, jiggly bodies, scantily clad if at all, on bikes. ??? I'll leave it at that. Here is the G rated version of Boulder:

Next stop (I'm exhasted recalling this!) Des Moines to pack the storage unit into our ABF pods. Everything was going fairly smoothly until Jeremy realized that we could save a mint by dumping a bunch of our bulky things and cramming our lives into one tiny ABF pod. So, with the GENEROUS help of Lynda to haul off and sell some of the big things, we actually fit into one pod and our two cars. The boys did learn to travel with junk at their feet and over their heads and all around them. And Jeremy and I both learned to drive with little if any rear view. I'm so glad that's over...

We stayed a day with my Dad and Ann in Nauvoo, which was a perfect "calm" in the middle of that storm. It was a lovely day! We visited a lot, toured a little, lounged a little, ate yummies, and played. Scotty had been begging for a ride on grandpa's tractor (remembering it from nearly a year ago without any prompting), and that was definitely the highlight of his day.
Jer took the boys out for a spin later, too.

Then that evening we went to the *Fun Zone.* Thanks, dad and Ann, for such a good time!

Next we stayed the night with Scott, Kate, and Sal in Cleveland. So fun! We forgot to take a single picture, but it was so great to see them. And it broke the remaining trip up perfectly, too.

Finally, we dragged ourselves into PA, trying to make it to the townhome office by 5, getting stuck in traffic, then having to deal with small town bank hours and all sorts of craziness. Our pod didn't arrive til Monday, but we survived the trip. The boys were troopers and we came out of it all fairly unscathed. We've spent the time since replacing the furniture we dumped on Lynda in Des Moines and scoring some *sweet* deals on Craigslist. We have also spent many hours and an unmentionable sum of money at IKEA. We have officially purchased furniture! Aside from our mattress, it's the first we've purchased since we've been married. And we now have actual places for people to sit and talk that aren't the floor or that miserable futon. And we have a table that can fit more than 4 plates and a little food. All within our budget. Cha-ching! Fun.

We LOVE Bethlehem. It's every bit as quaint as the name sounds. It's gorgeous and green, and picturesque nearly everywhere you look. The neighborhoods around us are full of perfectly tidy homes and yards, and I long for one more than ever. Some day, some day. We're 10 minutes from Amish country and only an hour from Philly and the Newark/New York metro area. We have a spare bedroom and a 2 bathrooms so you have no excuse not to come see New York now! Come stay with us. Open invitation. Especially during Jeremy's hard-core rotations and/or call. I'll be painfully bored, I'm sure. Jer loves his job so far, but it does look like he'll be busy. I guess I had to come to terms with the doctor thing sometime...

Hopefully soon we'll have some fun stories and pictures of our eastern escapades to share. Thank you thank you everyone that hosted us and helped us out so much during this year. We have loved how many of you we've been able to see and stay with! Fun times. We'll look forward to seeing you all again soon, and especially those of you we missed.

James is 1

2009-05-04T15:58:00.000-04:00

This is what happens when Scott gets to pick his outfit all by himself:
James is 1! We celebrated his birthday as a family on Thursday, then with friends on Sunday. Both days were fun-filled and I wish we could relive them! On Thursday, we decided to make an event out of riding the new light rail from Tempe to downtown Phoenix. I know, I know, the excitement is too much. It actually ended up being much more fun than we had expected: there's nothing like pedestrian tunnels, the Phoenix art museum gardens, the Arizona center's garden mazes and "palmtree tunnels" (Scott-named) to make a 3 year old giddy, and when Scotty's happy, we're all happy. Here's a shot of Scotty's not-so-boring brown eyes:
Instead of 2 cakes, I decided to make a little rice pudding for the baby on his actual day. Not hard to make out what he thought of it. And although he can't crawl yet, his forward reach would set records. Immediately after this shot, he reached for that sparkly thing and *got it*! So scary! I screamed, and James cried hard, but when the dust settled, it appeared that he wasn't hurt at all, just scared by my scream. Lesson about open flames and babies learned though...
Saturday we squeezed in one last trip to Tucson to see Jer's aunt and Uncle. I love that town. I'll miss it! We also went to Karchner Caverns which are a must-see if you're ever in this part of the world. Truly spectacular, and worth every penny. If you do have a 1 year old, though, I'd recommend getting a sitter...James got a little crazy during the tour, but we all still loved the day. I tried to get a pic of the saguaro cactuses I've grown attached to over the last 4 months, but I kind of failed. Picture 15+ foot tall saguaros, hundreds of them, covering gorgeous desert mountains overlooking the nicest part of Tucson with a soft 70 something degree breeze blowing by. Unforgettable morning.
Sunday we had all of our Phoenix area buddies over for a last shabang/belated birthday. The Millecams and Eberhards each have 2 boys, and the Jennings have 2 girls. We know them all by different means: the Millecams from BYU, the Eberhards from Des Moines church, and the Jennings from Des Moines school. I've loved having buddies to call for me and for Scotty (and James!) We'll miss you guys! Pictures of the 3 amigos + Amelia were difficult: they were in a state of constant *loud* motion, and poor little Amelia was probably scared most of the time. Here's the best I could do: situation rapidly detriorating: The boys were very helpful when it came time to open presents:
This is our music boy: everything is a drum or a shaker. This is by far his favorite gift. Don't you love his blurry hands and feet? Ever-moving. We posted our furniture on craigslist a week and a half before move date to be sure to sell it all. Early the next morning, I got a call, waking me up, the woman asking how much we wanted for *all* of it. Every last thing we had for sale. Not wanting to get stuck with anything, we sold it all! And made a little profit, too. So our last stint here has been a bit like camping again, airbed for me and Jer and all. Scotty is in heaven having a picnic for every meal though. Fitting all the folks comfortably was another story:
James looks confused by his second birthday in 3 days: Is this really all mine?
Lemme check it out:
What is this stuff?
I could get used to this:Tada!
Whoa, I am .messy.
To close, a few choice photos of Miles. We'll miss you, buddy.

a few more...

2009-04-26T22:43:00.001-04:00

Here's a bit of James' water love I talked about last post: Happily playing:
Now pick me up please:
My life is over:

These are some pics from a fun day at Kiwanis Park in town. We rented a bike and expected the ride to be mellow, like a paddle boat. Not so much. The lake is surrounded by LOTS of hills and crazy curves that go straight for the water. Made for a much more exciting ride than we had anticipated, that's for sure. Needless to say, the boys loved it. We did too. Got a good quad
workout.

the kids gearing up:
James happy in-motion:
James happy on a break:

James weirded out by his brother's enthusiasm (not uncommon):
Has anyone ever seen a duck do this? I don't know if I'm just not a very observant person, or what, but this was the first time I'd ever seen a duck dive for yummies near the shore. It was hilarious. We watched for longer than I thought possible, and stayed entertained.
And last but definitely not least, one of Jeremy's latest hobbies. Since he's so particular about following directions, his creme brulee is PERFECT every time he makes it. Not good for our diets, but oh so good for our souls...

fun times

2009-04-22T17:59:00.000-04:00

I have Scotty signed up for a bunch of free and cheap (yay Tempe!) classes through the city parks and rec. Ever since I started our little preschool time and started taking him to these, he's been an all-around much happier kid. Maybe it's coincidental, and he's at a mellower age, but we're all a little less crazy around the house when Scotty's happy. He's delightful. Almost 100% of the time. Realizing that just a little individual attention is what did it for him makes me a little sad. I thought I was doing a pretty good job being a mom of 2, but I guess we all learn as we go...

James is perma-happy still, and so fun. We've been noticing more and more though that he's like a giant 8 month old instead of an almost 1 year old. He scoots, rolls, sits and plays, claps, laughs, imitates, and "dada's" all day long. But still no crawling or cruising. The pediatrician suggested we have him checked out by early intervention, and as it turns out, he's a little behind on gross and fine motor skills, as well as his verbal skills. During the first e.i. visit, I realized that James needs a little more one-on-one time, too! She asked me questions I might have been able to answer "yes" to, had James been in Scotty's place. I was much more hands-on with Scott from an early age, kept copious notes of what he learned when, etc. I know most parents go through this, but I've been truly humbled. The good news is James is already improving with only 2 visits, and we're more conscious of what he needs.

Here are James' greatest assets. I'm sure they'll melt away as he gets more active, so I wanted to preserve them for posterity:

This is a lame attempt at capturing one of my favorite James rituals. Every meal clean-up time, we go to the sink, and he grabs and grabs at the water with those uber-chubby fingers and hands. He's done it since at least 4 months old, and could stay there forever. Needless to say, bathtime is a fun time, too. It's my favorite fix for evening fussies, and *always* does the trick. These are some pics of a recent trip to the Phoenix Zoo with Karen Eberhard and boys.
Giddy-up!
Is it gonna get me?
Save us! Save us all!
Scotty loved the goat petting zoo:the boys showing their true Iowa colors:
Ending a long morning:Shortly thereafter:Another car nap on the way to Vegas for Easter and Jer's 30thEaster mania at Grandma and Grandpa's:Vegas is always a good time. And a chubby time. The food is entirely too tasty. We celebrated 30 years of Jeremy while we were there. Yay for Jer! He's such a fun guy to dote on. Turns out birthdays are just as exciting as Christmas to a 3 year old. Everything is so exaggeratedly fun to Scott, and it's very contagious.

A highlight of his birthday (here in Phoenix, before we left town) was Jer's choice of dinner out to Pizzeria Bianco. There were moments during the 3 hour wait (no joke!) I thought we were insane. Then we tasted the food. And were treated like the waiter's best friends. And got blown kisses (not Jer, don't worry) and personally thanked by the chef himself. It was TOTALLY worth it. And if any of you are ever in Phoenix and have a spare 5 hours, I highly recommend trying it out. Especially if you're in constant pursuit of the perfect pizza, like Jer seems to be. In the last few months, he's eaten at Gino's in Chicago, Fresh Brother's in LA, and here. The verdict is definitely in favor of Fresh Brother's, by the way, but I guess Fresh Brother's and Pizzeria Bianco are apples and oranges.

We're definitely on the downhill here in Tempe, which is good news for our utilities budget, as we've been suffocating in 100+ weather since Sunday and our car and apt a/c seem to be maxed out keeping us only mildly sweaty instead of really, really sweaty. blegh. I loved the winter, but I think we're definitely getting out at the right time. Unless we had a pool, then I think I'd want to stay forever... In mid-May we take off for Graduation (hooray for Dr. Jer!) and "final" visits to family before being sequestered on the east coast for 3 years. Jer starts the last week in June, and thus begins "real life" for us. No more summer vacations. Ever. Weird. But I'm sure the perks will outweigh those of med school, i.e. an *income*! wahoo! We'll keep you posted.

Scott and Jer, photojournalists

2009-03-19T23:21:00.000-04:00

I feel like I should start with James, the quietest member of our family. Poor little guy gets overlooked sometimes because he's so sweet! As long as he's fed and well-rested, he's all smiles. I tried and tried to get the smile I get all day every day: the smile so cheesey that his lip dips lower than his two tiny bottom teeth, but to no avail. Here's the best I could do. He's just barely learning how to make mischief:
Here are his chubby little fingers grabbing at the sunlight:
And here's how excited he is for church every Sunday:Isn't that a hilarious pic? We couldn't get them to smile for anything. It's actually much harder to get a serious pic of Scott than a cheesy one...

One fantastic perk to being in Phoenix is that Jer's grandma Ruth, going on 98, lives in Tucson, just a day trip away. She lives with Jer's aunt and uncle, and Scott loved visiting "the house with the two grandmas."
Most days lately, we go to the gym, have a little preschool time with Scott (anyone ever heard of the Kumon workbooks? I got them at Target -- they're SO fun!), and try to visit one of Scotty's three buddies here in the valley: Logan Eberhard, Miles Millecam, and Amelia Jennings. For those of you who know the Jennings, can I tell you how much I admire Brittany? She's my latest hero for giving birth to her second little baby girl at home (planned, with midwives), without ANY drugs, in about 3 hours' time. We went to drop of a gift that afternoon and there she was, out in the yard with the baby, watching Amelia play with Brad. She looked awesome! The day of! Crazy.

We're having lots and lots of fun planning for our big move to PA. We're open for suggestions on how to find good housing and how to move. Has anyone ever used a realtor to find a rental? Any terrible/awesome experiences relocating across the country? And what about PODS vs ABF vs UHaul? Any suggestions? All advice welcome! Lisa Yorgason sent me a flyer for a house her friend is selling in Allentown, and it just happened to be sent to her by one of my good friends from BYU! So sadly we'll just miss each other, but it's great to have someone to give me the violin scoop on a town before I even get there.

Now for our photojournalism segment... Lots of pictures, but I couldn't decide which ones to leave out, so here they are:

I went to take a picture of the baby the other day and found out what Scott had been doing while I was busy upstairs.

I thought his little tour-o-the kitchen and patio were pretty good. My favorite is his shadow on our weed patch…I’m not sure whether he was taking a picture of the “garden” or of his shadow? I also liked that he took a picture of our palm tree stump come bird feeder. It's one of the classiest parts of our pad.

Jeremy had just as much fun on our trip to the Botanical Garden’s Chihuly Exhibit. Amazing! You know how pictures go: times the coolness of the pictures by 10 and that’s what it’s like in real life. Scott was surprisingly interested in the cacti, the bugs, and the glass sculptures for a full two hours. My favorite exhibit was the boat full of giant marbles/psychedelic beach balls.

This one was titled "The Moon"

The hardest thing for Scott all day was not being able to touch the cactus.

My kind of chandelier...

I really wish I knew how to make the pictures bigger...if anyone knows a trick, please share! It was an inspiring afternoon. So glad we went!

big news!

2009-03-11T22:16:00.000-04:00

Residency news: Allentown, PA for 3 years! Yay! Jer's very, very excited. He digs the program and has had in on his short list for well over a year now. I have to say it took me a few days to get excited, but now I really and truly am. I can't wait to get back "home" to the east, and for Jer to have the eastern experience.

I can't say I won't miss 70 degrees in February or orange-blossom-infused air in March. But we've been soaking in this southwestern winter fully preparing for 3 cold ones to come. Boys need to play in the snow, right?

Perks I'm personally looking forward to: New York, Boston, DC, Philly, ETC! Hooray for giant cities and all they have to offer! Road-side stands, PA Dutch country, state parks every few miles, cicadas in June, fireflies, lush green, maples in fall, azalea gardens, muggy summers, August afternoon rainstorms, rolling PA hills, H&M (hope there's one closeby!), my favorite people in MD, and just the *feel* of the east. It feels so different from the west. Both are great, and I'm so happy our family will have a little stint back there because we'll probably settle west.

More news and lots of pics to come. We're currently waiting for internet to be installed at home and trying not to curse Cox techs for whatever's holding them up. Right now I'm standing at a library carrel. Flashbacks to BYU before it was laptop-land.

Out of the mouths...

2009-02-14T20:14:00.001-05:00

Some conversations we've had with Scott lately:

on a car ride after a long silence, Scott pipes up: "My hands will rock the world." Future jazz prodigy? Who knows...

---
Scott: "We're fuzzy mom. Is it time to eat?"

---

Scott: Mom, are you Jennie or mommy?

Me: Actually I'm both.

Scott: Oh. (rubbing my belly) Is Jennie in your tummy?

---

excitedly: Mommy, my bum is singing!!

---

Making like he's flexing, only with elbows forward instead of out to the sides,"Mom, my elbows are growing stronger and stronger!"

---
to Jer, while squeezing his forearm: "Daddy, is this arm grass?"