Dental Floss

Tyler got a hold of Darrell's dental floss and pulled it all out. Then he draped the strand around his neck and dragged it around behind him (sans one sock.)

A Birthday Party

Darrell's birthday was on Sunday. We loved having my brother Derek and his wife Tansy stop by to help celebrate on their way to the airport to head back to California.



I made Darrell's birthday cake on Saturday night. It was one of our favorites: german chocolate with the coconut/pecan frosting mixed in it (instead of putting it on the top.) Anyway, I got out our handy dandy new KitchenAid mixer to make it. It turns out the mixer is a little more powerful than we thought. It really whipped the cake--so much so, that the cake overflowed the bundt pan and then fell when it came out of the oven. The only thing we could do is spoon the cake into a bowl.



So I made another cake the next day (this time with a hand mixer.)



Here's Darrell with his two "birthday cakes." At least they both tasted good.

Happy Birthday Grandma!

Happy Birthday to my mom! We love you!!!!!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Happy Birthday Darrell! We love you!


(Taken July 2009)

Happy 5th Anniversary

to my dear, sweet husband Darrell! Wow! Those five years have flown by!

Here are two candid photos that the photographer's assistant got. I think the look on my face says it all. What a beautiful day it was! I love you, Darrell!

It's Kinda Like a Loose Tooth, But It's a Vacuum

Tyler has long had a fascination with the vacuum.


(December 2008)

But now...well, let me just describe it like this: I remember when I used to have a loose tooth. It would hurt to wiggle the tooth, but yet at the same time it would kind of feel good. So even though the tooth hurt, I would still wiggle it, because in some weird way it felt good too.

That's kind of how Tyler is with the vacuum. He "begs" me to get the vacuum out of the closet, but then once it's out he's leery of it. Silly kid!

Here he is after he's opened the closet door and is "squealing" (his way of communicating his wish) for someone to come get the vacuum out.



Here's Darrell getting the vacuum out.



Here's Tyler running away from Darrell who has the vacuum that Tyler just begged for us to get out.



And here he is crying about the vacuum. (The cord's still wrapped around the vacuum. We didn't even plug it in or turn it on.)



Lots of times he just wants to touch it, as long as we hold him.



What a kid!

Twenty-six Weeks and Counting

The "ugly" side of this pregnancy is the varicose veins (I'll spare you the picture of the huge mass of "night-crawler"-looking veins above my knee on the back side of my right leg. It is so NOT pretty.) But it is painful.

So, I looked into maternity compression support hose. Would you believe that they cost upwards of $60.00 a pair? The more expensive ones cost $115.00 on sale. I went with a $68.00 pair.

I ordered a free "care kit" with them, which included a bottle of cleaning fluid and a pair of bright orange rubber gloves. I'm to clean the hose every night with the special cleaning fluid, and I'm to use the gloves to put the support hose on each day.

And believe me, you need those bright orange gloves! The compression at the ankle is so "strong" that unless I use the rubber gloves to PULL with all my might, I can't even get the hose over my heels. (The rubber gloves help protect the hose from being torn by fingernails, rings, etc.) Then I slowly inch the hose up my leg with more pulling and pulling. At least the pulling gets easier the farther up my leg I go because the compression isn't as strong. By the time I have both legs in the support hose, I am winded and out of breath!

But it's worth it! My legs don't hurt nearly as bad, which is a good thing, since my legs will probably only get worse over the next 2 1/2 months.