bragging rights

excuse me a moment while i brag on my husband. just thought i ought to mention how he recieved the "personal banker of the quarter" award at the bank's quarterly meeting last night. he has only been with the company for a year, and of course, we are so super proud of him and all of his hard work. gabe and i are truly blessed to have such a diligent, self sacrificing father and husband in steve. he was even kind enough to pose for a picture so that i could put it on the blog. yay, steve!!

oh camera...

the last few weeks, and especially the last few days, i have been obsessing over whether or not i should consider a new camera for my birthday (a dslr to be exact).

i love my camera, and it has served me well over the last year, but there are a few things about it that i don't love. for one, the shutter has a delay (which would not be present in the camera that i am considering). this is not a huge deal when you are taking pictures of a group of smiling adults, but when you are taking pictures of young children, as i always am, it can be a real nuisance. i often feel like i end up with the wrong shots. also, my camera's flash is just a little overbearing. in fact, i try to never use it.

don't get me wrong, my camera has a great, amazing, incredible zoom and i love being able to see through the digital screen while i frame a picture, and it is certainly much smaller and lighter than the one i would upgrade to. hence the debate.

i borrowed a friend's nikon d40 today (the one i think i would get if i decided to make the switch), and i was underwhelmed with the results. to be honest, i think that these pictures look just like my normal ones. i would just hate to miss out on an opportunity to get better. oh well, i suppose my birthday is a little far off still to stress.

stockpile

today, i cleaned out our pantry. it was long overdue, and with all of the stockpiling i have done this year, reorganization was definitely needed. i am always amazed at how much we have stockpiled over the last 7 months (especially considering we have taken our grocery bills down by at least 25%, probably more). this picture does not include my toiletries stockpile, my toothpaste stockpile or gabe's toiletries stockpile. each of these is equally amazing. perhaps i should have included them as well for the full effect. oh well, maybe another time. thanks frugal coupon living for helping us buy more and save more at the same time!! (did i mention that a majority of the items here cost next to nothing!!?? that is why i bought so many. and now, i don't have to buy them full price... ever!)

and just for fun, here are a couple of pictures of gabe playing.

Guest Blogger: "Vanilla Gorilla"

Violence, as we all know, is bad. It's a destructive force that levels cities, deposes despots, rocks the very foundations of this world. It can also have side effects that include looking really stupid.

Behold Mordy, neé Argyle's Lord Voldemort, fabulously purebred boxer male who got his tailless rear end handed to him by a certified Comfort Dog. Yes, Lottie, a lab mix who spends her free time making old people feel better, put a bite on Mordy so fierce as to cause some sort of localized sepsis a week later. Mordy will recover, as usual, but look ridiculous in the process. As usual. Kudos to Brittany for rigging up a triage bandage to keep the wound medicated.

Kudos also to Publix and WIC (food for poor pregnant people), and also a shout out to the Frugal Coupon Mom, for bringing home perhaps our best grocery haul yet. Peruse the photo below, and take a guess as to how much we spent on it all.

You want to say $50, right? Maybe $40, but you refuse to believe it was less. Deep down in your heart you want to say Brittany is not so good as to get all that for $30.

$15. We forked over fifteen dollars and some change. It's true. I was there, and am still in shock. The girl's truly amazing.

keeping busy

this week was my first week without a job, the people that i worked for moved to jupiter, florida, and i am waiting until the school year starts to actively look for new employment.

gabe and i have been finding creative ways to keep busy, trying to spend time indoors and avoid the heat. thursday night, after we ate dinner, i let gabe help me bake. he really loves standing on the stool and having access to the countertop. his "help" consisted of banging metal spoons on the counter and spreading flour over his space while i baked beside him. we made dana's recipe for chocolate chip zucchini bread. it was delicious, and gabe really loved getting to eat a few chocolate chips afterward. maybe next time, we will bake fresh bread. something tells me he would make a great kneader. i would also like to try this recipe for playdough, which i am sure gabe would be more than happy to help out with.

yesterday, we went to the zoo with some moms from coquina. it was insanely hot, and half of the moms are pregnant, so we took it slow and saw whatever we could get to. after lunch, the kids got to enjoy the splash park. by that time, gabe was absolutely exhausted and a little whiney, but could not resist the chance to play in the water. it was a great day, and i think that i enjoyed it just as much as any of the kids. i really can't wait to go again, although i believe that i will wait until the heat subsides a bit.

opportunity

we were in tallahassee again this weekend. it seems like we have been there a lot lately. but not without good reason.

this weekend, we were in tallahassee to interview for a job as parent-teachers (house parents) for an organization called boys town (which takes in high-risk youth and provides them with a stable living environment in which to heal and grow). we have been in the process of this for a number of weeks, and as we learn more about the job, are seeing that it would be a potentially great fit for both steve and i with regards to our passions and abilities. it would obviously be a significant step for us, and one that requires an incredible amount of prayer and consideration. we certainly do not discount the fact that we will have two children come december, but we do also recognize that God has blessed us with a strong christian community in tallahassee for support and counsel.

i debated all weekend whether or not i was going to put something here about the interview. i am not often inclined to share such personal details of our lives in a public forum like this. however, we would certainly desire and appreciate the prayers of our friends and family as we await the hiring decision. this is not a job that we want to pursue unless we are confident that we can be successful, that our marriage would be strengthened by it and that we would be blessed by God's work in us. if we are not the best fit, we do not want them to choose us. and we are fully confident that God will, in his sovereignty, provide the best path for our family.

that said, here are a few highlights from our weekend.

gabe is becoming a better swimmer every day. he is confident in the water and has even begun to kick his legs a little to get where he wants to go.

we went to the junior museum (i know that is not what they call it anymore, but i can never remember the name) and saw a ton a cool florida animals. gabe really liked the black bears and the vultures. i love how natural and truly "florida" the exibits are.

on monday morning, we had a playdate with danielle and sophie and lane and camp. gabe and camp were instant friends. sophie was unsure at first how she felt about the two boys taking over her house, but they were all happy to share some goldfish at the coffee table. it was fun to catch up and see how much those two have grown.

today i love...

:: fresh cherries. i didn't discover how amazing the are until my roommate, deanna, shared some with me in college. but now, i am an addict, waiting every year for the price to drop below $2 a pound so that i can indulge my craving. my son is equally addicted, and after we ate as many raw as we could, i made a batch of cherry lemonade and a cherry crumb cake!! so great. (and while we are on the subject of homemade drinks, i really want to try a batch of lavendar limeade!!)

:: this purse. if you know me, you know that i have a bad habit of gravitating towards grey, black and tan purses. which is why this purse was my first choice. but i think that it is time that i branched out and tried something with a little more flavor. thus the blue.

:: these two finally finished projects. both of these things have been on my to-do list for months, and it feels great to finally have them done!! the quilt is a picnic quilt (complete with rock pockets on every corner to keep it from blowing away), and the arm warmers were completed using the most gorgeous yarn, bought while visiting my mother in maryland.

:: this sweater. it is definitely next on my list of things to knit. probably will have to do it as a christmas sweater for the new baby for next year. dont think he will fit it this year. but can't you just see how mr. rogers/ my grandpa he will be in it!! so cute!!

:: this boy's independence. climbed up all on his own, read the book to himself. them attempted to stand on the rocker and get another book. maybe a little too independent at times, but still so cute!

beautiful

waves and gators

this weekend was a busy one. last night, we went to the beach where gabe played with steve in the waves. he insisted on being completely independent, holding no one's hand, and giggling uncontrollably as each wave went by. i never imagined that he would love it quite to much, but i am beginning to see that i underestimate my son's capacity for enjoyment fairly often.

today, we used a free pass we had to go to the alligator farm. i really thought that a child gabe's age would be indifferent to the animals on the other side of the cages, but gabe was fascinated by them all. he especially loved the giant tortoises and stood with his face smashed against the fence to get as close as he could. this trip made me really excited to take him to the zoo soon!

made me laugh

yesterday, i took gabe and the three children that i nanny for to the neighborhood pool. i love this particular pool because it has a waterslide for the older kids and a shallow end that comes up like a beach for the babies. it was not nearly as difficult with four children there as i expected (especially after a friend joined me with her two girls) and we all enjoyed spending a little time outside of the house. gabe had so much fun and was an even more confident swimmer than last time. this pool even had water spouts for the babies to enjoy. we really had a blast.

then, just as we were eating snack and preparing to leave, i turned and caught gabe sitting in a chair oblivious to the fact that he had an entire cheese-it stuck to his chest. he was like that for at least a full five minutes, and it really cracked me up. of course, i had my camera ready!

:: day 190 ::

just a trim

yesterday, when i went to get my haircut, i took gabe with me to get his trimmed. technically, this is his first haircut, even though all we did was trim it up so that it was not in his eyes all the time and all mullet-y in the back. he sat still the whole time and didn't even seem to notice what was going on (maybe it had something to do with the fact that i was offering him rasins to sit still...). for now, i only have a picture of the actual haircutting process, but i will definitely post a before and after soon, so you can all see just how out of control his hair had gotten!

the fourth

this weekend was packed. on saturday, we celebrated the fourth of july with our church. the annual cookout and fireworks is one of my very favorite traditions. i always have so much fun, and this year, gabe was able to join in with the other kids. he had a blast running around, blowing bubbles, eating too much dessert and watching the fireworks. i thought that the fireworks might startle him, but he was instantly in love with them and clapped the whole time. it was, as always, such a great time watching him enjoy himself.

right after fireworks, we packed up and drove to tallahassee. my mom was in town, and we did not want to miss our chance to do an ultrasound. i had forgotten just how amazing it is to see your child so closely for the first time. baby number two looks healthy and active, just like big brother. we are very excited to have learned that we will be having another boy! now if we could only come up with a name that we love. oh well, i guess we do have a little time. (also, we had a little trouble getting the ultrasound pictures on cd, but i will get them on the computer soon and then you can see our new little one!)

gabe had such a great time hanging out with all four grandparents. i think the highlight of the trip for him, though, was playing in the sivyers' backyard. he just loved sitting in the little sandbox and swimming in the pool. we ghetto-rigged a life jacket to allow him to swim on his own a bit, and it ended up being great! it kept his face out of the water and he even kicked a little! he was so proud of himself! because i forgot his swim diaper, he just swam naked for a decent amount of the afternoon, and he LOVED that! such a guy.

rockstar

well, this morning i stumbled upon a moment that makes up for all of this week's missed pictures.

lately, gabe has really started to express a love of music. he dances whenever hears it (in the store, on the radio, on tv...) and when there is none, he sings his own songs (not real songs, just ones that he makes up). listening to him sing to himself while he falls asleep might be one of the most wonderful parts of life right now.

a mystery

it's not excema. it's not hives. it's not a rash. it's not chicken-pox. it's not even a flesh-eating virus. welcome to my world this week. my brain has been consumed with playing this research/ guessing game as to what horrible thing has turned gabe's normally baby-soft, beautiful skin into a mess of red, itchy blotches.

poor boy. he broke out on monday. at first, i thought it must be hives; some sort of reaction to something new he has eaten. when hives was ruled out, a new idea was discovered, and on it has gone all week. finally, one very unhelpful doctor's visit and one wonderful husband's research later, we figured it out. and this time we are pretty sure we are right.

who knew that chiggers could attack in such force. and three days after any time was spent outdoors. and not at the wastline or other clothing lines, as was always thought. or without touching either steve or i. nope, super chiggers have attacked my poor son and he looks like a mess. his arms and legs are covered, as well as his scalp in many places. of course, he is his usual fantastic self. not a complaint from him, although i do catch him scratching several times a day.

hopefully he is on his way to recovery. of course, tomorrow night (and at all future roll-in-the-grass opportunities) he will be wearing plenty of bug spray.

so, there you have it. a really great excuse for why i have taken not one picture of my son this week. we have been hiding indoors and racking our brains, and we just have not had the time. but i promise, tomorrow, there will be pictures taken, and soon after, pictures posted.

running

well, gabe has learned to run. i guess it was only a matter of time, but i was so enjoying the leisurely pace that he walked at and would have liked to have kept it up for a little longer. oh well, i guess he doesn't run all that fast anyways. plus, his flailing arms and legs are so funny, it is really worth it in the end.