We Went to Israel

There's really no way to do justice to our 10 day trip to Israel in one blog post, even if it's long. We had a group of 20 people: 16 from our church in southern California, 1 from our "extended" church (our missionary) in Spain, 2 from northern California and 1 from Indiana. Our group contained people in their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s. By the end of the trip (perhaps even sooner than that) we all felt like family.

For Andrew, this was his third time visiting Israel but first with his wife (we weren't married when we lived there in 2004, but we did start dating there) and church. He loved watching the rest of the group experience the "wow" moments so characteristic to a first trip to Israel. Actually, I loved that too. We also both really enjoyed being able to hold hands more since we weren't holding a child or two!

For me, the trip was confirmation that many of the things I learned when I lived in Israel haven't been lost completely, even after having two children! Actually, I thoroughly enjoyed the constant go-go-go pace and was very thankful at my husband's promptings to hike stairs to prepare. I was also thankful for some really excellent hiking boots and socks from my sister and her boyfriend. It made SUCH a difference to not have blisters on sore feet at the end of the day. I also loved being able to visit the moshav where we lived in 2004 and remember many of the "firsts" of our relationship.

If you're interested knowing in the places we actually visited, feel free to check out the blog we updated while in Israel. There are also pictures and a video or two you could watch.

The reason I haven't updated yet is because it turns out that returning from a trip 10 time zones away from your home is kind of challenging. Add to that a pre-schooler and a toddler that have been without Daddy & Mama for 11 days, a luncheon for 15 at our apartment, 3 weeks of jury duty (for Andrew), a flooded kitchen/dining room, a toilet overflowing all over the bathroom floor, Andrew officiating his first wedding (this Saturday), and Andrew finding out on Friday night that he needed to prepare a sermon for Sunday morning some time when he wasn't in his 9am-4pm Saturday class.... Andrew also is preparing for our church's annual business meeting in a week and finishing his semester. Welcome home!

Clearly I could go on more about the last paragraph, but I won't. If you're really interested, you can always email us :-)

Today was the first day since we returned that has felt "normal," whatever that means. It has proved to be a good day of reflection and remembering the goodness of the Lord, even in the midst of a busy schedule. I am overwhelmed with all the ways I have seen the Lord at work and feel incredibly blessed by my husband, children, family and church family. While I do want to go back to Israel, it's really good to be home.

I wish I was this cool...

Or this cool...

But I'm pretty sure he is...

I love my family :-)

Happy Birthday!

To my brother, Dan! Today he's 17, which means I'm... older. And feeling REALLY older knowing he's only one year away from 18: a legal ADULT. Weird.

Emma is also a nine months old (as of last week), which meant another well-baby check-up. This time, thankfully, without any shots. Alice came with me because our appointment time ran into Andrew's class time. That was exciting. She definitely remembered her last visit there and had several freak-out moments at a few key points in the doctor's office. Awesome.

But Emma is nine months old! HOLY MOLY where does the time go? Sure, she still looks like a six month old, but she's started pulling up on everything. Today she shuffled her feet while standing precariously perched alongside a semi-sturdy toy bin. She's way too independent for a nine month old.

Nine months old! Yep. She's 16 lbs. 5 oz and 26.5" long. Her head is 44 cm around. This may mean nothing to you if you don't have a baby in your life so I'll break it down with percentiles. Her head is in the 49th percentile (down from 69th at her 6 month visit). Her length percentile has also decreased. She's currently the 15th percentile, down from 65th. Weight? Yeah, last time was the 13th percentile but this time is the 9th percentile. So, that's the smallest change from last time! But, yeah, she's quite petite. Probably not a future basketball star.

No teeth yet. I'm fine with that.

She's definitely crawling on her knees more. Not completely done with the army crawl, but realizing that knees can be very helpful in seeing things up higher. I'm a little nervous that she'll be the kid who scales our entertainment center when I've got my head turned. Oh, and the doctor said she's going to be a dancer or a gymnast because she's incredibly flexible. Spiderbaby?

Gilmore Good Time

It's true. We have a family theme song. Alice frequently asks for music and then proceeds to explain which music "Ah-ah-ah?" The fun never ends in our abode.

Family Pictures

A very good friend of ours took family pictures for us. For the non-facebookers out there, you can check them out here. Though we did get a small handful of "good" ones, I think the bloopers are quite excellent. Thank you Lauren!

The Lonesome August Post

Lots to write about, but I need to start with my near heart attack today.

It was time for Emma to eat and take a nap so I told Alice to stay downstairs and play while mommy put Emma to bed. Of course, she climbed the stairs after 10 minutes or so, right when Emma was starting to nod off. Once she reached the top step I started shaking my head "no" so she wouldn't come in and make a bunch of noise to distract Emma and wake her up. At that moment I blinked and saw her feet fly up into the air...

It didn't matter that Emma was almost asleep or in the middle of eating. I gently threw her into the center of our bed and RAN to the stairs to see what had become of my firstborn. All of this probably only took seconds, but it felt like I was moving in slow motion. When I got to the top of the stairs I saw Alice only 4 or 5 stairs from the top, clutching the stair she'd grabbed mid-fall and screaming. She was, apparently, freaked out by the ordeal as well. After a quick inspection I found no blood or bumps and held her until she calmed down, reminding her to be careful on the stairs.

My heart didn't stop racing for at least 15 minutes. In fact, writing the experience out has made it start racing again... and she didn't even get hurt!

...breathe...

Before today's excitement came vacation excitement. We spent 4 nights camping with Andrew's family (sans his youngest brother who couldn't get off work... as John would say, "bummah"). After camping we stayed a week at a friend's lake house at Bass Lake during a serious heat wave, followed by two nights in Santa Maria visiting family. I'll attempt some summaries of each leg of the trip:

Camping: First time with all four of us in a tent. By the second morning wasn't sure I'd make it another two nights. Third morning proved that it was possible. Was really hot during the day and pleasantly cold at night. Slightly concerned with keeping warm the babies who don't stay under their covers.

Bass Lake: Since Alice & Emma were forced to sleep "in the same room" camping, we kept it going. Kind of awesome. Spent lots of time at the lake. Over 100 degrees EVERY DAY. Alice & Emma both loved the water. Started a "Gilmore Buoy Swim" tradition. Yeah, we're that cool.

Santa Maria: Introduced Emma to her second cousin, Miles, for the first time. He's 18 days older and ridiculously cute. Lots of photos (which haven't made it off the camera) were taken. Ate much delicious food.

And now we're home and Andrew started school this morning at 8AM, with his LAST semester of Hebrew. No, not his last semester of seminary, but (Lord-willing) only three more semesters and an anticipated graduation date of December 2013.

Can't. Wait.

The girls have been sleeping in Alice's room since we returned and yesterday we finally determined how we could get all things baby-related into their room. Okay, most things baby-related. It's sort of impossible to contain all things baby in one place. You understand if you have a baby. Even more so if you have a toddler. I spent a good three hours this morning re-organizing clothing: boxing up clothes that Emma has grown out of (I think she's FINALLY past her three month clothes... yeah, she's seven months old), boxing up clothes that Alice has grown out of, getting out clothes that now fit each girl, sorting, folding, sorting, folding again after one of them grabbed a stack and dumped it. But they've both been pretty excellent in allowing me to get things done while they play "together."

Alice had her first real explosion at Emma yesterday. There was lots of screaming (on Alice's part) and a toy was thrown (at Emma). No one was seriously injured. Apparently Emma had shown interest in sucking the wheel of Alice's doll stroller. Not. Okay. I think it was a small taste of what is to come. Ah sisters.

There's probably more to write about. Losing brain power. Pictures might come soon, but they will come eventually. It was kind of nice being away from all technology for two weeks.

Where did June go?

I admit blogging has not been high on my priority list as of late. Not to make excuses but our June was a little busy. One or all of us attended three graduations, seven graduation parties, one BBQ, one bridal shower, one wedding, and one day of paintball. Not to mention the "normal" things on our schedule. AND, Andrew went to Israel from June 19-29. I wasn't home for part of that, so that certainly doesn't help my motivation to blog. I digress...

Here's my attempt at a "quick" update on the last two months!

Andrew finished his eighth semester and did better than he thought as far as grades go. I don't actually remember what they were, so I'll let him share if he so desires. He's busy with summer youth events at church, but we are both thankful for the summer break after a LONG school year. We're anticipating his last semester, Lord-willing, being Fall 2013. SO CLOSE.

Alice is a full-blown two year old. She talks constantly (a few English words now), swims with her "muscles" (arm floaties) all by herself, helps mommy water the garden with her watering can (thank you Grandma!), hugs and kisses EVERYthing and asks for it to sit on her lap, and SO MUCH MORE. She keeps me going all. day. long. She's also mastered the tantrum. I thought she had it down long ago, but no. I was sorely mistaken. It's a fine art and she's got the gift.

Emma is six months old as of yesterday. I found some clay to make her hand print (like the one we have when Alice was six months old) and it came out great. Her hand is smaller than Alice's was at six months. You can tell that Alice had more meat on her bones. I don't have new stats for Emma yet (her next dr appt is on Monday), but at four months she was in the 30th percentile for weight, 75th for length, and 57th for head circumference. I think she was just under 13 lbs and something like 25 inches. She also started eating solids (meaning rice cereal mixed with mommy's milk) a few days ago. So far she's crazy messy and sucks her thumb or hand or fist or all of the above after EVERY single bite. I'm pretty sure some of it actually gets down her throat, but it's sort of hard to tell when you see the aftermath. She's rolling from tummy to back like a pro and getting really close to rolling back to tummy. Seems to be baffled by sitting up. Either she just folds right in half and sucks on her toes or will not be bent in the middle. She'll let you hold her standing. Emma is also quite the talker and I frequently wonder how I ended up with TWO loud girls?! Recently her "singing" has come out a few times as "ma ma ma" and that's pretty excellent.

Amy (that's me) likes being a stay-at-home mom. It seems like I always have a to-do list that's a mile long, but I'd rather play with my girls and let the dishes pile up. That said, I did just spend almost an hour cleaning up the dishes and kitchen. Oi. Worth waiting though. Alice & I had a great day playing together and reading LOTS of books. Her current favorite is a book about farms. She's also loving a recent addition "Little Blue Truck" with lots of animal noises and another book with songs we sing together. She LOVES Itsy Bitsy Spider and Row, Row, Row Your Boat. Oh, and of course the Wheels on the Bus. Reading books with Alice helped me rediscover joy in reading (not aloud to her), finally finishing the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Then The Princess Bride. Now reading Wuthering Heights. Can't forget... I have a garden too! We've got two different tomato plants, cucumbers, green beans, basil and cilantro (re-planted after the first batch I killed). Check out pictures here.

We celebrated our sixth anniversary on July 8th and were able to spend a night away without children, thanks to Grandma and Grandpa. It was weird at first, but so incredibly wonderful. Even though it was less than 24 hours, it was so refreshing and reminded me how blessed I am to have a hard-working husband who sees the benefit of having his wife home raising their children. I kind of can't believe we've been married six years already! Praying the Lord allows us many decades more!

So, now we're caught up. Here are pictures of May and June!

Verdict on my "quick"ness? Fail. Good night!

Cookies?

I just looked at the calendar and said "Holy moly! Where did this month go?" I think this will happen more and more as I get older and my children grow. I remember being a kid and thinking that a day took FOREVER. Granted, that was on Christmas Eve when I was anticipating opening presents in the morning. But still. I guess a day when I was eight was a larger percentage of my life than a day when I'm 28.

So. I'm way more sleep deprived than normal, if that explains anything. Alice was sick from Friday night until Sunday-ish, throwing up and slightly fever-ish. No fun. We had driven up to visit grandma & grandpa for the weekend too. It was kind of a bummer, but I'm still so thankful I was there instead of home while Andrew was in Mexico. Being alone taking care of a puking toddler and a three month old for a weekend would have been... rough. Yes, very rough.

Other news: Emma is a real person now! She has a social security number AND we finally got her birth certificate. I was prompted to get my act together and get it when I won a monetary prize because I have a daughter named Emma. Funny, they want proof before sending money. I guess that's okay.

Andrew had his spring break two weeks ago, which he determined was a good time to have mouth surgery to remove an infection. He goes back this Thursday for a follow up appointment, but things seem to be healing nicely. He showed it to me a few times. I had to look away and make him stop talking about it so I didn't toss my cookies. Ew.

We took some ridiculously cute pictures of Alice & Emma for Easter. You should check them out if you haven't already seen them on Facebook. But if you've already seen them on Facebook, there's no shame in looking at them again here.

Alice is almost two.
Emma has started laughing.
I still really love being a stay-at-home mom.

The Bible, Bibs and Boxes

This morning Alice and I enjoyed a cup of tea and read the Bible together. True, hers was a sippy and she didn't share much of the actual reading, but it was an excellent way to start our day. I think I'd like to make a habit of this with her, especially since I can't enjoy my own cup of tea without her wanting some. I figured it's probably better to just plan to share it with her and make the most of the time she sits and gulps it down. So, ask me how it's going in a few days or weeks...

Her new favorite thing is emptying the drawer of bibs and "packing" them into different boxes. Yes, we have a drawer dedicated to bibs with a few oven mitts sharing the space. I suppose Alice has seen mommy packing boxes quite a bit and wants to help. But, the bibs don't stay packed. We'll see how she likes it when they DO stay packed. I'll just have to make sure I know where they are so I can make a new bib drawer for her to discover ASAP. She's rounding out the second hour of her nap (YAY!) and I'm looking at a living room strewn with probably 30 bibs as I bounce Emma in her seat using my foot. What a life :-)

We've now got five days until the move, but really only four left to pack. Wow. Haven't thought of it in those terms until now. Today I've gotten three boxes packed. Part of the problem is the loud tape dispenser. I think I just need to put together a bunch of boxes (most of them are flat at the moment) while everyone's awake. Then I can pack while Emma sleeps and tape the boxes closed once she wakes again. In theory, that should work. We'll see how the next four days go.

Well, Alice must have sensed that I was noticing how long she'd been asleep because she's awake now. And Emma is falling asleep. I guess I won't be taping boxes just yet.

And I love this weather.

Twenty-two (Months)

It's very important when you're two months away from your second birthday to learn how to do things on your own. Alice actually discovered the importance of this before she was 22 months old, but it's really taking hold these days. This is how I found her after her nap last week. She was trying to take off her shirt. Clearly that was an unsuccessful attempt. It looks like she put her arm in the bottom and brought it out of the hole for her head. She didn't get the fact that she needs to remove her arm from the sleeve first. Sleeves are a bit much for her still.

She's also becoming proficient (ish) with using utensils. Here she was thoroughly enjoying her yogurt. I'm learning that it's best to remove her shirt (sometimes her pants as well), just so I don't freak out as much as she's learning. Is this a common strategy? I feel like the moms who leave the kids clothing on while they learn to feed themselves with utensils must have their own washer and dryer. It's just easier for me to have less food dried and crusty on her clothes. I must say, yogurt is actually fairly new-user-friendly when it comes to eating it with a spoon. Aside from the streak in her hair, she did a pretty good job keeping it generally in the same mouth-chest area.

Then of course we had a warm day and, smart mommy that I am, I decided Alice would LOVE to play in a bin of water on our balcony since we couldn't really go outside while Emma was napping. She had a blast. I filled our dish bin with water and gave her two plastic cups and her sand toys. Then I took pictures as she splashed around in it. I'm not really sure why, but it didn't occur to me that she'd dump it over her head and on herself. Seeing as how this is her favorite activity in the bathtub, it really should have dawned on me that this might happen. Eventually she picked up the whole bin and dumped it all over the place. In hindsight, that would have been a good "ending" time to her fun. Nope, I got her more water and then tried to bring her inside before she'd dumped all the water out. Bad move. Tantrum extraordinaire. Plus, it was lunch time and then nap time. She was ready for bed. But, we all survived.

Her new favorite toy is her pirate turtle sandbox, which we purchased off craigslist (ironically from a Biola grad) for $15. I call the turtle a pirate because, well, he's missing an eye. I think we might make an eye patch for him. Seems appropriate. Right now there's no sand in him, but that doesn't seem to bother Alice. We'll probably wait to get some sand until after we move in two and a half weeks!

Bunny trail... Yes, we're moving again. This will be our fifth apartment in five and a half years. Sigh. Moving is getting old. Hopefully we can stay at this one for a while. It's about a mile and a half down the street and we have some friends already living in the complex, which is really nice. We'll also save $300/month on rent, which is REALLY nice. The new apartment is a townhouse style, which means indoor stairs and first level entry! YAY! We've always lived on a second level apartment (I don't like having people above me), but it's a little harder to deal with when you have two little ones to carry up and down the stairs along with all the groceries. We'll also have a bigger patio where the sandbox should fit nicely. One bummer: no barbeques allowed. We're not sure what we'll do with ours yet, but I don't think we want to get rid of it.

Return from bunny trail... After we got the turtle (in Huntington Beach), we decided to have a picnic dinner on the beach. It was Emma's first trip to the beach. Not sure she was impressed, but her sister certainly was! It was pretty cold and getting late so we didn't stick around long, but we decided picnic dinners on the beach needed to happen more often... and earlier in the evening.

Last, but not least, more pictures of the aforementioned events have been uploaded to the web album. There's also an excellent album of Alice's Bows, which you should check out. We put EVERY bow in Alice's hair after her bath the other night. She really loves her bows. For those of you that may be inspired to purchase more bows because of this... Well, I probably can't stop you, but we don't need any more pink ones. Just saying.

p.s. Children don't understand this whole daylight savings adjustment. Alice has been "napping" (i.e. playing in her crib) for over an hour. Sounds like she might be close to napping soon...

Propose-i-versary

Saturday was our Propose-i-versary. That's our made up word to celebrate the day I asked Amy to marry me (she said yes!). It also allows us to kind of celebrate Valentine's Day early and miss the insane rush to restaurants and their ilk three days later.

This year we left the girls with Amy's mom (thanks Mom!) and went to Demiceli's, an Italian restaurant in Anaheim. Armed with a coupon and a month's worth of sleep deprivation, we ate good Italian food, talked and enjoyed each other's presence. Then, we went to Stoddard park and walked around together. We avoided getting hit by the baseballs some guys were hitting and watched a bunch of little kids viciously attack a pinata. It was great!

I also shared the song "Dancing In the Minefields" by Andrew Peterson. I shared the video on facebook and said

"Six years ago yesterday, Amy Godwin Gilmore said 'yes!' This video doesn't get the specifics right, but it gets to the heart of our marriage. Yeah, 'I'll walk with you in the shadow lands.'"

I hope you also enjoy it!

Thrift Stores

For those who don't know, I LOVE thrift stores. I especially appreciate ones that are well organized and know that they are thrift stores (i.e. CHEAP). This morning we went to my FAVORITE thrift store because as a club member I received 50% off all clothing, shoes & accessories. Woot. I'm totally there. We got a ridiculous amount of clothing for the girls (mainly Alice) and a few things for Andrew & me. I feel much more ready for "winter" in southern California and am thankful that I no longer will need to wash Alice's clothes every few days to keep her in long sleeves :-)

Today marks 36 weeks of pregnancy, which means only four more weeks until my due date. For a good couple weeks I was convinced that Emma was going to come early. I'm not so sure anymore. I think it was just wishful thinking since I'm starting to get more and more uncomfortable. We shall see if there are any changes to report from the next doctor appointment this Friday. It will determine our Christmas whereabouts.

This particular Monday also happens to be the first of SIX Mondays where Andrew will have the day off work AND school. Of course our thrift store morning was something that wouldn't have happened without him. I love having my husband home and less stressed with a break from school. We are so blessed!

Octoberness

Alice finished lunch just after 12:30 and went down for her nap around 12:40. She fell asleep at about 2:10 after I went in there (for the second time) and scratched her back/arms/feet until she fell asleep. I also went in with Tylenol. I'm pretty sure she's about to get like 10 teeth. Okay, maybe that's an exaggeration, but she's been super crazy for the past two weeks. Not once has she taken a 2 hour nap. Most days it's more like 50-80 minutes. Then she's basically a disaster for the rest of the day, wanting me to pay complete attention to her at all times. "No, you can't prepare dinner! No, you can't use the bathroom! No, you can't clean up after me!" Bummer for me. She's been crying a LOT. Makes me appreciate the fact that she's normally a very easy-going, calm and cheerful girl. I've also begun allergy season, which makes me more exhausted than the normal pregnant-tired. I wonder if Alice has been bothered by allergies too, but it's hard to tell since she has recently discovered what tissues are and would be thrilled to use one every five minutes throughout the day.

We did make a trip up to Santa Clarita to visit Grandpa, Grandma and Alice's two uncles. I think Alice's favorite part was the pool Grandma got for her. It was pretty fun watching her play in it. We also made a trip to a baby consignment store. They had two large final clearance dollar racks and were having a special "Buy 10 items, get 10 items free" sale. I totally scored. Alice has some pants now for the cooler weather and a few more long sleeved shirts. YAY!

Here's a slideshow of October pics.


And you'll never guess who just woke up. Maybe she'll fall back to sleep...

Bachelor Party

Amy and Alice left Thursday morning for Santa Clarita to visit my parents and brothers.

I stayed in Orange County.

It was weird.

Sleeping alone in a king size bed is weird. Being able to spread books and magazines and my Kindle and my dinner all over the living room floor was weird. The silence was sometimes weird.

I realized that Amy has experienced what I experienced yesterday and today a lot more than I have. I realized how thankful I am for my wife, my gift from God (An excellent wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels - Prov. 31:10). I realized how different life has become since I got married, and then how different it became once Alice was born.

When we're living life, we're in it and going, going, going, so there's not often time to reflect. Or, maybe I don't make time to reflect as I should. I know I'm rambling, but it just feels so different I had to express it some way, even in such a disconnected way as this.

Sometimes I wonder what life would be like if I were single. It's hard to imagine. Sometimes it's terrifying to imagine. I'm not sure such speculation is all that helpful unless it brings me back to being thankful anew for the way God has providentially provided for me/us, especially since I met Amy.

Okay, work is calling, but I just needed to reflect on that for a moment. God is a good Father and he gives good gifts to his children. Praise the Lord!

The Longer Version

I'm going to attempt to keep this relatively short, but I make no guarantees...

Well, we went to Virginia and Washington DC last week and Alice had her first two plane rides. Both flights were non-stop and she napped! On the way to DC she napped for about an hour and the flight home... maybe 15-20 minutes. But she did really well and we had a few people tell us that she did great. YAY Alice!

We arrived late Wednesday night, were picked up by my sister at the airport, checked into our hotel, and attempted to put Alice to bed. I think she actually fell asleep around 10:30 or 11? I don't really remember. She had some pretty crazy sleeping patterns (if you could call them "patterns") while there. She slept in on Thursday until 9:30 or 10 and then we headed off to DC via the metro. It was a BUSY day and we saw tons of stuff, but we definitely need to go back. Alice did great in the stroller for most of the day and took a nice nap in the afternoon. We were all pretty beat by the end of the day and finished with dinner at Chipotle. YUM.

Friday we packed up from the hotel and went to breakfast at IHOP before heading over to Arlington National Cemetery. Since I'm a tired pregnant woman, we only saw a fraction of the cemetery before going to the U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial (Iwo Jima Memorial) just outside the cemetery. Again, since I'm a tired pregnant woman, I asked Happy to let me stay (with Lisa & Alice) while he walked back to the car and came to the memorial so I didn't have to walk more. He got lost for about 45 minutes in the car and ended up near the Pentagon before finding his way back to us, waiting in the parking lot of the Iwo Jima Memorial. So exciting :-) We then sat in a bit of rush hour traffic as we left DC and headed to where we stayed in Virginia. Matt (Lisa's boyfriend) graciously housed us for the remainder of our stay in Virginia and was incredibly hospitable. Lisa managed to procure every large baby item we needed (stroller, car seat, high chair, pack n play) which made our lives significantly easier. It was awesome.

We met up with Mom as we drove down to VA and stayed up late (or just stayed on CA time?) playing with Alice until her bed time and then chatting once she was asleep. Really wonderful. Dad & Belen drove down Friday as well, but went straight to their hotel since it was so late. Everyone (Happy, Amy, Alice, Dad, Belen, Mom, Matt, Lisa) spent Saturday walking around downtown Staunton (pronounced Stanton) doing some sightseeing which eventually led us to the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library. We got a tour of the home where he was born and got a glimpse of what life was like back then. Really crazy. Makes me appreciate running water and electricity and... carpet :-) Saturday night was dinner at El Puerto with a massive group of Godwins and Lenkers (Matt's family). The food was delicious and the company was even better. Mango salsa is, as Happy would say, the bomb diggity.

Sunday morning we went to church at Barren Ridge Church of the Brethren, where Matt grew up going to church and where his grandparents still attend and his cousin's husband is the pastor. We both thoroughly enjoyed the service and were warmly greeted by Matt's grandparents and cousin's family. After church my long lost friend from high school came for a visit (who knew she lived only an hour from my sister???) and we had a low-key, hangout afternoon. Mom made butternut squash soup for dinner that was delicious. In fact, I wouldn't mind some right now...

Mom had to go back home on Monday so we said our goodbyes before heading to Charlottesville (where Lisa lives & works) to tour Thomas Jefferson's Monticello. REALLY cool house and beautiful gardens. Alice did well on our tour of the house as Mommy maintained a steady stream of Cheerios to her mouth. She lost it at the very end of the tour and we slipped out a side door before joining back up with Daddy & Aunt Lisa for our self-guided tour around the gardens & cemetery. After Monticello we were all ready for lunch, but decided to make a very important stop for cider donuts... I mean, to see the Carter Mountain Orchard and the amazing view of the Virginia countryside. Okay, I'll be honest, I've been craving cider donuts (specifically from Mack's Apples, the farm down the street from where I grew up) for basically this entire pregnancy. Unfortunately, cider donuts do not exist in my southern California life so I was MORE than happy to stop and check out these cider donuts. I want one right now...

Alas, donuts do not make for a hearty lunch so we went to a delicious sandwich shop called Baggby's which Lisa recommended. We then found a bookstore that Happy wanted to check out, which was where we ended our small tour of Charlottesville. Lisa showed us her house and then, as we drove back to Matt's, pointed to where she works. Such a nice area! It makes my southern California life feel like the big city. Dinner was at Matt's house--these spectacular lasagna rolls that Lisa made--and then laundry as we prepared to leave Tuesday morning.

Phew. That's the "stuff" version. Lots more could be said, but I'll save that for in person conversations with those interested :-) We're home now and mostly adjusted back to California time. Alice is going on 1 1/2 hours in her nap (the first decent nap since we came home) after a fun morning at the Irvine Pumpkin Patch. Pictures can be found here, but here's a cute one just to entice you to check out the rest!

Alice's First East Coast Visit

Here's the little woman waving in the airport after her first flight. She did SO great. I don't have time (or energy) right now to write a full post, but wanted to point interested readers to pictures from our trip. There are over 200 and mostly of stuff (as opposed to people), but SUPER cool. We had such a wonderful time visiting my sister and other family members and seeing what life is like in Virginia. Alice is mostly back to California time, though hasn't napped so well yet. We'll see how tomorrow goes. Glad to be home, but missing family. Hopefully there will be another visit in the not-too-distant future!

Last Days of Summer

In honor of the last days of summer before school starts (on Wednesday) for my hard-working husband, clouds on the blog seemed appropriate for a few days. After that, you'll have to stop by and see what NEW and EXCITING theme we have for the start of the school year.

Tonight we went to Red Lobster for dinner with a coupon and a gift card (REALLY excellent). I got snow crab legs and a shrimp skewer. Crab is delicious. It reminds me of lobster, although is much harder for me to work with. Maybe I'm just more accustomed with how to get the meat out of a lobster, having watched it my whole childhood. I guess I'll just need more practice. Anyone want to take us to Red Lobster?? We're ALWAYS up for it :-D

Tomorrow Andrew/Happy preaches for the second week in a row at church during the morning service while our senior pastor & family are on vacation. Tomorrow's passage is Mark 8:1-21. Last week was really good, even though he preached for nearly an hour. Didn't feel that long at the time :-) If you think of it, I know he'd appreciate prayers. In fact, he's at church right now preparing notes to be inserted into the bulletin and he's been a little longer than I would have expected... Could mean issues.... Hopefully not!

Monday marks 19 weeks pregnant for me and I'm just (sort of) starting to feel mostly good. My appetite seems to be coming back, which is nice. Up to this point food has mainly been something I have to choke down because I need to. Not that it's been coming back up (no actual "morning sickness" with this little guy), but nothing sounds good. Ever. Or, nothing WAS sounding good. But I'm definitely not at the point where I'm hungry all the time, which is fine by me!

Monday is also our official ultrasound where they do lots of measurements and the gender is revealed or, in our case, confirmed. They'll probably confirm the due date (Jan. 16) as well, though up to this point everything seems to be on target for mid-January.... and another moose baby. Alice was 8 lbs 14 oz. I'm really hoping that by some miracle the next one will be a little less monstrous. Not that I'm expecting it, but I can hope.

Just for good measure, here are some Alice pictures of the spaghetti hat video that's on facebook. If you haven't seen it, you should :-)

Love Mondays

Yesterday was the first Monday that I haven't been working, Happy's been home, and NOTHING else was happening for the entire day! It was a very excellent day, especially having been followed by two partial days of nothing else happening. While I do enjoy doing things and seeing people, I also REALLY appreciate having nothing scheduled. We ran a few random errands and went for a long afternoon walk. Just a relaxing not-much-happening sort of day with my husband and our little girl. I am so blessed.

Today was also a very good day, though very different from Monday. Started the day with breakfast for Alice & mommy and then Alice blessed mommy with another blueberry poo (She really likes blueberries and we have some that need to be eaten. When you don't have much variety in your diet and you take care of business in a diaper... It's messy). Then Alice had some great playpen time during which mommy was able to take a shower. We spent the morning reading and re-reading the same 6-7 books, folding & putting away laundry, and playing with her obnoxiously loud ball-popping contraption (which, of course, she loves). After lunch, Alice took a good long nap and mommy got some more laundry done and did some tidying of the mess that had been made earlier. Mommy also got to catch up on emails and plan dinner. Once Alice woke up, around 2:45, it was back to reading books until I had to start dinner and get it cooking so we could bring it to daddy before 5. Actually, I was shooting for 4:30 but it was closer to 5. Ah well. We ate dinner in Happy's office, came home, then went for a long walk. Alice lost the battle towards the end and fell asleep for 5-10 minutes before we got home. After walking around the apartment complex for 15 minutes, we came back home, gave Alice a bath & bottle and then put her to bed. She's been asleep for almost an hour and I'm about ready to fall asleep in this chair. Time to wash dishes and then off to bed for this tired pregnant mommy! I love being a stay-at-home mom :-)

August Already??

This month has FLOWN by! After the camping trip with church and our vacation, we came back to a wedding, a prayer meeting, a graduation party, Vacation Bible school, high school camp for Happy & an almost camping trip for Alice, Grandma Gilmore & me. Crazy month!

Vacation Bible School (VBS) was the week of July 18-22 from 9-11:30AM. I helped with crafts and had SO much fun. This was the first time I've been able to be any part of VBS at our church and I definitely want to help next year! I was amazed at how many kids and workers came out for it and even more amazed at seeing the Lord's hand in it all.

Right now Happy, 2 other counselors and 26 students are headed back from Wildwood (at Hume Lake). I was able to spend part of the week up there and see some of the students... and of course my hubby :-) I had planned on camping but when another youth pastor's wife found out that Happy's pregnant wife was coming up to camp with a one year old and mom-in-law to help she thought I was insane and offered for us to stay in their cabin in the loft area where there were two extra beds and a bathroom (with shower) they weren't using. Such a blessing! Needless to say, we were glad to change our plans and have easy access to a shower! Plus, Alice made two new friends with the 3 1/2 yr old son and 17 month old daughter of the other youth pastor's wife. I was encouraged to talk to another young wife of a youth pastor & mom of two and hear how ministry happens at another church. I had my plans for the week but God had better ones!

So, it's true, if you haven't heard yet. We are expecting baby #2 in mid-January. Not entirely sure if the due date (Jan. 16) is accurate, but we're going with it. We already found out (very early) that it's a boy, so we're all looking forward to meeting little Caleb Michael in the next 6 months or so. Well, at least Happy & I are looking forward to meeting him. I'm sure Alice will warm up to her little brother eventually. I am hoping I don't get as HUGE as I did with Alice, but am assuming that another moose baby is headed our way. Around 8-9 months of pregnancy I just look like I've got a beach ball under my shirt... not a basketball, a beach ball. They're bigger... MUCH bigger. People ask me if I'm having twins, if I'm about to burst, can I still shave my legs... all sorts of exciting questions. Alice was 8 lbs 14 oz. Maybe Caleb will be nice to his mommy and stay under 9 lbs as well.......... Is it wrong to pray that he stays under 9 lbs?

Okay, last thing before getting Alice up from her nap. My wonderful husband will be 27 years old on Tuesday. Even though he points out almost every year that I am older than him, I still love him and am looking forward to celebrating with him!! Don't forget to wish him a happy birthday!!!

TOMORROW!!!

Andrew/Happy gets back from Guatemala in less than 16 hours. My sister left California less than 8 hours ago, saving me from a VERY long week, and has arrived safely home in Virginia. I'm so thankful for my sister!

The Guatemala team leaves for the airport tomorrow morning at 5:30AM, which is 4:30AM here, and will (Lord-willing) arrive around 12:30PM in California. I will be joining the caravan of vehicles heading to the airport to bring them back to church.

I hope I can sleep tonight!!! :-D