Pip Pip Cheerio Zuni!

There was another reason we were all very sad on September 21st. It was our last Monday night dinner with Susanna. Well, the last for awhile...

You see, although she doesn't look very smart in this picture, Zuni is actually one smart cookie. And on September 22nd, she left for London to study abroad for a year.All the Hathaways, Rabenhorsts, Fixes and Brockmans gathered at my parents house for one final hurrah to send her off.
Although the younger generation will be sad without her...I think I will be saddest of all. There have been many times where I've left Susanna (for college, to get married, to move to California), but this is the first time she's left me!

There will be nowhere near as many smiles without my partner in crime, but Christmas is only a few months away so we'll see her again soon! Have fun Aunt Zuni and get on Skype often!

Official Stats

We waited 2 hours to see the doctor for Rock's 2 year check-up. This made us all very sad.

Okay so it made Rock's parents very sad. Rock was excited to watch The Aristocats on the waiting room tv.

Rock's official stats are: 33 lbs. and 35" high.

Even though we had to wait forever to find out this information, we were all happy to hear that Rock is healthy and still above average in weight and height!

Car-Obsessed Boy Turns 2!

So, Rock's birthday party last year was rather crazy. I went all out 'cause you only turn one once, right?

But I'll admit the matching t-shirts were a bit much. So this year I thought "Let's go simple." But then as I got into planning mode I realized that you only turn two once, right?!
I ended up making car cupcakes (yes, those strange bug-like gummy blobs are cars)...

And I made a banner that was also a game -- the car symbols were each numbered and the adult attendees competed to see who could correctly name them all...

And I made a cheeseball in the shape of a 2.

And Fix made little cars out of candy for each of the kids to take home.
And then we invited 46 people. Actually, we invited more, but only 46 were able to attend! It was crazy. So much more crazy than his one year old party. Buttttt.... it was FUN!

Fix cooked the burgers and dogs.

While Rock and I entertained the guests.

They spread out into all corners of our tiny townhouse.

Thankfully it was a nice day so we could move the present opening chaos outside.

I suggested on the Evite that people bring a matchbox car for the birthday boy. He got cars of all sorts and he was THRILLED.

My favorite gift was the cross stitch my mom made for him. I'll post a better picture of it soon.

Appreciate the belly.

Back inside we played the classic birthday game "pin the license on the car."

Unfortunately, only two of the kids wanted to play so it was kind of a bust.

As things began to wind down, Linus and Clip helped Rock break in his new train set from Uncle Jason and Auntie H.

These two are always good for a laugh.

When it was just the Hathaways and family left, we got the kids to play the "pin the license" game.

It got a little crazy when the adults started playing.

I'd like to point out that my license plate is VERY close to the correct spot.

All in all, it was a great day. Although it was crazy, as the birthday boy was going down for his nap he said "I want to keep playing with my friends." So I think it was a success. And now I can start planning for next year. You only turn three once, right?

Rock's Birthday

When we got back from vacation, we had no camera so I have no pictures from in between then and Rock's birthday on the 18th. My apologies. But I can assure you, nothing truly exciting happened.
So again, Rock's birthday began with the greatest thing. At least the greatest thing to him... a blueberry muffin. And candles. And singing Happy Birthday.

Then we came downstairs to where Fix and I had set up birthday banners the night before. Rock was fascinated.

Why? Because the banners were made up of little cards with various car symbols on them. Rock can identify most of the symbols so he sat there saying "Honda, Mercury, Ford, Chevy Corvette, Porsche..." until we reminded him about the whole muffin thing.

Oh so good. Now reader, see if you can identify the trend in the four opening-gifts-pictures that follow.

First Rock opened sheets (for his big boy bed whenever the carpenter finishes making it) from Juju. He didn't know what they were, but he liked that they had cars on them.

A cool card from Mommy and Daddy. It even had construction machine stickers!A superman shirt from Daddy (purchased on Fix's recent trip to Six Flags).

"New" puppets from Mommy and Daddy (thank you Cripe family!). Did you see the theme?

And a "new" puppet theater (again, thank you Cripe family!). After opening gifts, we got ready for the day, took a trip to Target (where the birthday boy got an Elmo coloring book and helped me pick out a shirt for his birthday party), and took a long afternoon nap.

That afternoon, Rock and Fix played a marathon game of "Trucks and Cars."

We ended the night at home where Rock got to watch a MOVIE. Okay so it wasn't really a movie, it was just the live performance of "Human" by the Killers (when they were on SNL). That is Rock's favorite song. The tongue is sticking out 'cause he's concentrating on his dance moves. Happy Birthday baby! We are so blessed to have you as our son!

More Beach Pics

This picture of Aunt Susi shows you three things 1) how cute she is 2) our awesome ocean front property view of the water and 3) a good example of the cloudy, windy weather we experienced for 6/8ths of the trip.

Even with the bad weather, we spent as much time as we could in the pool.

Three generations of Fix men.

The boys also took us outside to lead us around the neighborhood on a few walks. Rock helpfully pointed out the brand of each car we passed.

While Caleb found the other curbside attractions more interesting.

But again, we spent most of our time indoors and each of us spent it a little differently. Rock and Caleb gave us a few harmonica concerts (when they weren't fighting over cars).

Not only are they performers, they are also fans.

Papa John also spent his time performing. Puppets were his medium of choice.

While everyone else was performing, I spent most of my time sleeping and making a baby!

Heather listened in on a conference calls...

While Jason took self-portraits.

And then our camera lens broke AGAIN. Ugh. So you'll just have to guess how Kerry, Joseph and Elizabeth spent their time indoors.

Three Best Kids at the Beach

The weather on our beach trip was...a big bummer. That meant we spent a lot of time indoors. That meant all the kids spent a lot of time interacting and learning how to get along.

Caleb was... pretty good at sharing. But sometimes he was a little rough with Rock.

Rock was...a punk.

Baby Addy was by far the best behaved kid on our trip.

Happy 2nd Birthday Rock!

I'll pause in posting on our vacation to put up a quick HAPPY 2ND BIRTHDAY ROCK post. We started his big day (the 18th) with his favorite breakfast. Served to him in bed. With candles. And a parent-led rendition of the Happy Birthday song.

And if you think I'd actually let him eat that thing in bed, you are crazy. Can't believe my baby boy is TWO YEARS OLD! How the time flies!

Driving to the Beach

On our trip to the beach, Fix and I agreed that Rock is an excellent driving companion...

Armed with little more than his feet and a few cars, he kept himself entertained (or asleep) for most of the trip.

Linus Turns Two!

We were so excited to be invited to Linus's birthday party - even though Linus was a little apprehensive that Rock might try to steal his gifts. If you wanna see what I made him, click here.

After Linus opened gifts, we all gathered in the dining room, anxiously awaiting the cake.

It was worth the wait. Not only did Nancy make a cake with the birthday-boy-requested-blue-tractor -- it tasted yummy too!

She also made Lynn's favorite yummy dessert Lemon Ice Cream Pie for Lynn (who shares Linus's birthday) and all the other adults. Perhaps it is a good thing my camera is now broken as I seem to only take the worst shots with it -- Sorry that this is so blurry Lynn!

Although the day was all about Linus, my favorite moment is brought to you by Violet. She avoided the extra step of making individual 'bites' of cake to eat, stabbed her piece with her fork, and ate the thing icing end first. Good work girl.

Charging

I found Rock's phone in our phone holder/charger and thought that Fix had put him up to it. But apparently Rock did it all by himself. The batteries have been running low, but somehow I don't think this will provide the solution he's looking for.

My Sincerest Apologies

I am so sorry I have not been blogging more regularly folks. First I got pregnant and my energy and appetite were gone which made for little motivation to do anything. Then we were on vacation (and I broke my camera AGAIN!!!), then Fix had a birthday, then Rock had a birthday and well, you see what happened. I disappeared. But I'm back and determined to catch up! Get ready for a long string of posts from the crazy woman pictured above.

Babysitting

The day after Clip's birthday (yes, that was back in August but I've been on vacation and I haven't blogged like I've wanted to), I babysat for the Hathaway kids so Annie and Nick could travel up to a very important doctor's appointment in New Jersey.

The day started with oranges...

And geese...

And a compare-the-boys shot of Clip and Rock. A lot has changed in the past two years but these boys are still pretty cute!

Rock also posed with Aiden and Sophie. For the rest of the day, we were far too busy playing and cleaning up messes and doing the other things that you do when you have four crazy kids in one house so we didn't take any other pictures.

That is until dinner when Sophie and Aiden showed me just how thrilled they were that I watched them all day long.

At this point Clip was only wearing his pull-ups because he had chosen the moment before dinner was served to climb into the kiddie pool fully clothed. We stripped him down and ate our meal while it was hot.

Thanks Hathaways for a day of fun - especially the part where you kiddies taught Rock that cottage cheese is his friend.

New News

He has always been BIG.

But now Rock is going to be a BIG brother! Yep folks. Lord willing, we will be adding a new little one to our family sometime in mid-to-late March. To be honest, I am ashamed that you readers didn't pick up on this sooner.
First there was my post about the crab feast where I showed this shirt my mom made with a crab for each of the members of Bethany's extended family. A wise reader would have counted them and realized that the number of crabs didn't match the number of family members at the crab feast. Fetus Fix #2 got his/her own crab.
And do you REALLY think I would miss out on a Segway tour to sew a dress for Addy? I mean, I was happy to not have to pay the shipping fees to send her birthday gift, but the real reason I couldn't go on the tour is 'cause they had a "No-Preggos" policy.

It was hard for the doctor to capture a picture of our little one, because s/he is quite the little wiggle worm! Anyway, we would appreciate your prayers for continued health for me and the baby and we'll post pictures of my belly as soon as it starts looking like a baby bump and not a spare tire.

September 6th

On Sunday, the world's greatest husband celebrated his 31st birthday. This is the 9th birthday I have celebrated with him and I hope the Lord blesses us with my more years together. It is a privilege to be called his wife and share the great task of parenting with a self-sacrificing, forgiving, wise, and kind man.

And on top of all that, he loves to indulge me in taking purposefully 'awkward shots.'**
** For the record, these shots were not taken on his birthday. I'll post some of those soon.

Clip is Two!

Our August Monday night dinner was on Clip's birthday so we gathered at the Hathaway house for a yummy meal.Then the kids (and a kid at heart named Rocket) gathered around this table for some yummy dessert.

Annie made the fondant animals with the help of some high school girls from her church.

After we sang to Clip...

And he blew out his candles...
Everyone went to town on the cupcakes! Clip swallowed the turtle's head...

While Rocket and Rock ate the giraffe.

I opted for a fondant-free cupcake and it was perfection on my palate!

Mom and Zuni smiled sweetly while the sugar rush invaded the children and they all went into hyper mode.
Luckily Rocket was around so Sophie could practice her ballet lifts!

Then the Birthday Boy got in on the action!

My favorite picture of the night.

Splash Park!

In an attempt to eek the very last little bit of fun out of the Summer, we recently visited Glenn Dale Splash Park with a few families from church.
I actually worked at this park when I was in high school so I was excited to show my little guy around the fun fountains, and slides, and waterfalls, etc. But as this face shows, Rock wasn't quite sure what to make of all the "fun" things to do.

Amelie rode bravely down the waterslide, but when Rock and I rode down together, I said "Wasn't that fun?" and he said "No."
While Zeke and Zach climbed on the ropes and the other kids splashed in the fountains...

Rock was more interested in posing with the Salada ladies. He still wants to be a part of their family.

He finally got more interested in the pool when he discovered just how cool Abby is. Then he followed her around like a puppy. Hopefully he'll be a bit braver next Summer.

Drinks for Sale

Someone has set up a restaurant in our house and I can't recommend it highly enough!

Order whatever you want. Cookies! Salad! Hot dogs! Muffins! Quesadillas! Macaroni and Cheese! Tiramisu! Seltzer water! Apple Juice! Rock can make it all in record speed!
** Note: All food products served exist only in the imagination of those serving and eating them. Drinks are real, but available only in very limited quantities.**

My only complaint about this restaurant is that if the server spills one of the drinks, be aware that the customers have to clean up the mess.