JULY
July brought about our discovery of the fabulous Cincinnati Rollergirls roller derby! Wow! I’ve never seen such tough looking chicks in all my life! They put on a great show and it was another great family outing. Although I had to push Phillip into taking us, he ended up thoroughly enjoying himself and became quite the fan of one of Cincinnati’s greatest Jammers, Sadistic Sadie.
Another enjoyable event happening in our very own backyard was watching twin baby fawns grow up. We’d watch Mom and babies at dusk just about every day out back foraging. I got some great pictures when I could get close enough.
Archie went to all-day Zoo Summer Camp for the very first time. I cried when I dropped him off the first day. He was just ready for me to get the heck outta the classroom! “Yeah, yeah, Mama…bye!” was how it went. Zoo camp was a success and he was sad when it was over.
Leigh Anne and Joe and their kids came to visit us. We enjoyed their visit so much! It was just like before we moved—hanging around the fire pit having a couple of adult beverages (for the unpregnant, that is!) and watching the kids play. They got to check out the spectacular lightning bug display out back, which happens every July, and see our deer family. Joe found out how easy it is to pick up chicks around here, because he was approached by a girl in the Hopfbrauhaus. Right in front of Leigh Anne! He also found out and how quickly she disappeared when she found out how close to forty he was! He was thoroughly teased about being such an old-guy stud-muffin.
Leigh Anne and Joe took Archie to Atlanta with them, then to Mobile so he could have a long two-week visit with my folks. On the night they left Cincinnati, Archie finally lost his first tooth! Analise knocked it out while they were throwing a ball to each other in the stairway. I was glad it came out while he was home! I cried when he left. During the two weeks, I refinished my living room and dining room floors. I had another ultrasound because of an irregular heartbeat detected at an ob visit. The baby was fine…was probably just a developmental thing. The new ultrasound was much less ‘scary’ because you could see facial features and it looked more like a baby.
We visited Old E and Ann and had a lovely Amish dinner at Der Duchman. The donuts were divine!
Phillip played softball with his work league and kept falling down while running. No, not tripping, just falling down. It was very humorous!
AUGUST
At the beginning of August, I met my folks at Joe Wheeler State Park in Northern Alabama in order to pick up Archie. We had a lovely visit in the “little white house”, despite the horrible heat and pregnancy swelling. It was really nice to have Archie back home again.
We took an all-day canoe trip down the Miami Whitewater. It was a beautiful day with lots of togetherness, except for the little something extra I saw because some drunken idiot took off his swim trunks while we had stopped on a sandbar. But all in all, a fun day was had, and I DID NOT go into labour while canoeing.
My Mom showed up at the end of August and so did Lawrence! I began labour at 2 am August 28 and after a long, exhausting labour, our sweet, precious baby boy was born around 8:30 am on August 29! What a way to end the month!!
SEPTEMBER
The beginning of September brought about lots of weird feelings and doubts, bringing our new baby home for the first time. I was ready to feel physically crummy after the birth, but not emotionally crummy. All the stuff I had been so sure of before the birth of Lawrence, I was sooo not sure of after the birth of Lawrence! Archie had many worries as well and we had to have a few heart-to-heart chats so he would be sure of his ‘place’ in our family.
I turned thirty-four during this time as well. It was a tough birthday. I was still puffy from all the fluids I had in the hospital. I cried the whole day! The pictures of me are just horrible! My family was really sweet to me and was very patient with my out-of-whack hormones.
We did a couple of fun tourist-y things with Mom. I wasn’t physically up for too much, so we took it easy. Mom left several days later and both Archie and I cried buckets. As September passed, I started feeling back to my normal self. Much to the relief of the family!
Phillip had to work in Iowa City, so we went with for a mini-vacation. We had a nice time and even stayed in a really cool cabin in the woods! We saw lots of corn. Lots of corn.
The day we left for Iowa City, Hurricane Ike blew into town. Not the stormy weather, just the wind. It blew a tree down in the front yard. Most of Cincinnati was without power for some time. We didn’t care…we were in Iowa! By the time we came back, the power was back on. I had to throw away a few things from the refrigerator, but other than the tree, we escaped the hurricane unscathed. A hurricane in Ohio, smack in the middle of the country…who knew???
OCTOBER
October was a blur and I don’t remember much about it. I suppose we were adjusting to life with a baby and getting back to our routines. We went to the Red Bull Soap Box Derby, which was crowded, but interesting. Archie began circus class. I finally started making friends in the homeschool community from circus class. Finally! I found out that I just couldn’t wait for the hour and a half chit-chat coffee time each week. We love circus class!
We had our pictures in the paper twice…once at the library during story time and once when we visited the fire station down the road. Very cool! Archie started Cub Scouts (and looks very handsome in his uniform!) and played soccer for Westwood Town Hall. Halloween was fun. We went to the zoo for their HallZooween activities and of course, our neighbourhood is Trick-or-Treat central for everyone on the West side of Cincinnati. Archie made Phillip dress up as a cowboy. Archie was a pirate. Lawrence was a kangaroo.
NOVEMBER
Archie and Phillip went on the Cub Scout campout the weekend of Halloween after trick-or-treating. They came home with mixed reviews. Phillip was extremely unhappy with a few of the other kids there, and Archie had a good time for the most part. He especially enjoyed the knot tying and spent the whole weekend practicing on his rope.
Archie’s birthday was celebrated a couple of times this year. The first one, which took place on his actual birthday, was a surprise to him. Morgan made him an awesome Spiderman cake, which we took to Westwood Town Hall to share with all his friends there. Then we opened presents at home. Then we went to the indoor amusement park in the Tri-County Mall. We were the only customers, it being a Wednesday night, so we had a fabulous crowd-free time!
I just happened to be at Best Buy trying to solve an issue because the computer’s mother board failed when I saw the Best Buy guy wheeling out a couple of Wii Fit boards that had just arrived. So while I still had no computer, I now owned a fabulous Wii Fit!
We went to Stone Lick State Park to experience the fall colours and get out for a bit. We went out to dinner at a nice restaurant, when we suddenly remembered why we couldn’t go to nice restaurants with an infant. They cry the whole time. Lawrence slept all through our walk and explorations of Stone Lick State Park, but I guess he figured he’d slept enough and it would be a good time to cry for at least an hour or so.
We went to Archie’s circus performance, which was very cool! He was thrilled that Morgan made it to his performance as well. He did an awesome job balancing his feather, balancing on the ball, stilt walking and doing his clown piece. Right after the performance, we left to spend Thanksgiving in Mobile.
We had a nice Thanksgiving week with our families. Archie cleaned everyone out playing Michigan Rummy by winning a cool two dollars or so. (We play with pennies.) Archie, Phillip, Ryan and Patrick went hunting for Squirrels. They had a good time, but ended up cold and mostly wet. Oh, we have a few more fire arms and accessories added to our arsenal. We celebrated Archie’s birthday with his cousins and a couple of family friends while we were in Mobile as well. It was a quickie and chaotic celebration, but he enjoyed having two birthdays!
DECEMBER
The beginning of December was fantastic because we finally got sheet rock walls and a ceiling up and painted in our living room! Hurray! Since we were going to spend Christmas in Mobile, we didn’t do any of the decorating and busy work that Christmastime usually brings.
Christmas was fun, easy and mostly stress-free. We did our Christmas Eve stuff with Phillip’s family and Christmas Day with mine. Marty and Sara caused marriage rumors to fly so all that had to be sorted out. He’s not, I repeat NOT married yet, nor has plans to get married at this time. That’s what he says, anyway.
We went to our church in Mobile to do Lawrence’s dedication. It was beautiful and very meaningful to me. I am very grateful to our minister for such a lovely service. After church we left to come back to Cincinnati.
We went to see the Harlem Globetrotters live and in person on the thirtieth. It was really funny and so entertaining! We all had a super time and they were definitely worth the price of admission. The Globetrotters were coached by none other than Clyde the Slide (who was a Globetrotter player back in the 70’s). Archie’s favourite part was when the Washington Generals guy was making a free throw; one of the Globetrotters sneaked up behind him and pantsed him. Of course, for added entertainment, the guy was wearing silly underpants. In the end, the Globetrotters won the game (surprise, surprise) and the coach of the Washington Generals had to make the walk of shame down the court in a hotdog costume.
It was pretty funny…I was telling my Dad about our Globetrotters evening and he was asking if they did this gag or that gag, and they did! Apparently, the gags remained the same as when he saw them years ago. I guess they are still effective, because people still laughed and enjoyed the show.
Our New Year’s Eve celebration consisted of us getting the kids to bed, then me reading a book and Phillip fiddling around on the computer. We looked at each other when we heard all the fireworks go off and wished each other a Happy New Year and made a remark about how old we are, since we were both in bed and not out or doing anything very interesting. It was okay with me…I was just where I wanted to be.
July brought about our discovery of the fabulous Cincinnati Rollergirls roller derby! Wow! I’ve never seen such tough looking chicks in all my life! They put on a great show and it was another great family outing. Although I had to push Phillip into taking us, he ended up thoroughly enjoying himself and became quite the fan of one of Cincinnati’s greatest Jammers, Sadistic Sadie.
Another enjoyable event happening in our very own backyard was watching twin baby fawns grow up. We’d watch Mom and babies at dusk just about every day out back foraging. I got some great pictures when I could get close enough.
Archie went to all-day Zoo Summer Camp for the very first time. I cried when I dropped him off the first day. He was just ready for me to get the heck outta the classroom! “Yeah, yeah, Mama…bye!” was how it went. Zoo camp was a success and he was sad when it was over.
Leigh Anne and Joe and their kids came to visit us. We enjoyed their visit so much! It was just like before we moved—hanging around the fire pit having a couple of adult beverages (for the unpregnant, that is!) and watching the kids play. They got to check out the spectacular lightning bug display out back, which happens every July, and see our deer family. Joe found out how easy it is to pick up chicks around here, because he was approached by a girl in the Hopfbrauhaus. Right in front of Leigh Anne! He also found out and how quickly she disappeared when she found out how close to forty he was! He was thoroughly teased about being such an old-guy stud-muffin.
Leigh Anne and Joe took Archie to Atlanta with them, then to Mobile so he could have a long two-week visit with my folks. On the night they left Cincinnati, Archie finally lost his first tooth! Analise knocked it out while they were throwing a ball to each other in the stairway. I was glad it came out while he was home! I cried when he left. During the two weeks, I refinished my living room and dining room floors. I had another ultrasound because of an irregular heartbeat detected at an ob visit. The baby was fine…was probably just a developmental thing. The new ultrasound was much less ‘scary’ because you could see facial features and it looked more like a baby.
We visited Old E and Ann and had a lovely Amish dinner at Der Duchman. The donuts were divine!
Phillip played softball with his work league and kept falling down while running. No, not tripping, just falling down. It was very humorous!
AUGUST
At the beginning of August, I met my folks at Joe Wheeler State Park in Northern Alabama in order to pick up Archie. We had a lovely visit in the “little white house”, despite the horrible heat and pregnancy swelling. It was really nice to have Archie back home again.
We took an all-day canoe trip down the Miami Whitewater. It was a beautiful day with lots of togetherness, except for the little something extra I saw because some drunken idiot took off his swim trunks while we had stopped on a sandbar. But all in all, a fun day was had, and I DID NOT go into labour while canoeing.
My Mom showed up at the end of August and so did Lawrence! I began labour at 2 am August 28 and after a long, exhausting labour, our sweet, precious baby boy was born around 8:30 am on August 29! What a way to end the month!!
SEPTEMBER
The beginning of September brought about lots of weird feelings and doubts, bringing our new baby home for the first time. I was ready to feel physically crummy after the birth, but not emotionally crummy. All the stuff I had been so sure of before the birth of Lawrence, I was sooo not sure of after the birth of Lawrence! Archie had many worries as well and we had to have a few heart-to-heart chats so he would be sure of his ‘place’ in our family.
I turned thirty-four during this time as well. It was a tough birthday. I was still puffy from all the fluids I had in the hospital. I cried the whole day! The pictures of me are just horrible! My family was really sweet to me and was very patient with my out-of-whack hormones.
We did a couple of fun tourist-y things with Mom. I wasn’t physically up for too much, so we took it easy. Mom left several days later and both Archie and I cried buckets. As September passed, I started feeling back to my normal self. Much to the relief of the family!
Phillip had to work in Iowa City, so we went with for a mini-vacation. We had a nice time and even stayed in a really cool cabin in the woods! We saw lots of corn. Lots of corn.
The day we left for Iowa City, Hurricane Ike blew into town. Not the stormy weather, just the wind. It blew a tree down in the front yard. Most of Cincinnati was without power for some time. We didn’t care…we were in Iowa! By the time we came back, the power was back on. I had to throw away a few things from the refrigerator, but other than the tree, we escaped the hurricane unscathed. A hurricane in Ohio, smack in the middle of the country…who knew???
OCTOBER
October was a blur and I don’t remember much about it. I suppose we were adjusting to life with a baby and getting back to our routines. We went to the Red Bull Soap Box Derby, which was crowded, but interesting. Archie began circus class. I finally started making friends in the homeschool community from circus class. Finally! I found out that I just couldn’t wait for the hour and a half chit-chat coffee time each week. We love circus class!
We had our pictures in the paper twice…once at the library during story time and once when we visited the fire station down the road. Very cool! Archie started Cub Scouts (and looks very handsome in his uniform!) and played soccer for Westwood Town Hall. Halloween was fun. We went to the zoo for their HallZooween activities and of course, our neighbourhood is Trick-or-Treat central for everyone on the West side of Cincinnati. Archie made Phillip dress up as a cowboy. Archie was a pirate. Lawrence was a kangaroo.
NOVEMBER
Archie and Phillip went on the Cub Scout campout the weekend of Halloween after trick-or-treating. They came home with mixed reviews. Phillip was extremely unhappy with a few of the other kids there, and Archie had a good time for the most part. He especially enjoyed the knot tying and spent the whole weekend practicing on his rope.
Archie’s birthday was celebrated a couple of times this year. The first one, which took place on his actual birthday, was a surprise to him. Morgan made him an awesome Spiderman cake, which we took to Westwood Town Hall to share with all his friends there. Then we opened presents at home. Then we went to the indoor amusement park in the Tri-County Mall. We were the only customers, it being a Wednesday night, so we had a fabulous crowd-free time!
I just happened to be at Best Buy trying to solve an issue because the computer’s mother board failed when I saw the Best Buy guy wheeling out a couple of Wii Fit boards that had just arrived. So while I still had no computer, I now owned a fabulous Wii Fit!
We went to Stone Lick State Park to experience the fall colours and get out for a bit. We went out to dinner at a nice restaurant, when we suddenly remembered why we couldn’t go to nice restaurants with an infant. They cry the whole time. Lawrence slept all through our walk and explorations of Stone Lick State Park, but I guess he figured he’d slept enough and it would be a good time to cry for at least an hour or so.
We went to Archie’s circus performance, which was very cool! He was thrilled that Morgan made it to his performance as well. He did an awesome job balancing his feather, balancing on the ball, stilt walking and doing his clown piece. Right after the performance, we left to spend Thanksgiving in Mobile.
We had a nice Thanksgiving week with our families. Archie cleaned everyone out playing Michigan Rummy by winning a cool two dollars or so. (We play with pennies.) Archie, Phillip, Ryan and Patrick went hunting for Squirrels. They had a good time, but ended up cold and mostly wet. Oh, we have a few more fire arms and accessories added to our arsenal. We celebrated Archie’s birthday with his cousins and a couple of family friends while we were in Mobile as well. It was a quickie and chaotic celebration, but he enjoyed having two birthdays!
DECEMBER
The beginning of December was fantastic because we finally got sheet rock walls and a ceiling up and painted in our living room! Hurray! Since we were going to spend Christmas in Mobile, we didn’t do any of the decorating and busy work that Christmastime usually brings.
Christmas was fun, easy and mostly stress-free. We did our Christmas Eve stuff with Phillip’s family and Christmas Day with mine. Marty and Sara caused marriage rumors to fly so all that had to be sorted out. He’s not, I repeat NOT married yet, nor has plans to get married at this time. That’s what he says, anyway.
We went to our church in Mobile to do Lawrence’s dedication. It was beautiful and very meaningful to me. I am very grateful to our minister for such a lovely service. After church we left to come back to Cincinnati.
We went to see the Harlem Globetrotters live and in person on the thirtieth. It was really funny and so entertaining! We all had a super time and they were definitely worth the price of admission. The Globetrotters were coached by none other than Clyde the Slide (who was a Globetrotter player back in the 70’s). Archie’s favourite part was when the Washington Generals guy was making a free throw; one of the Globetrotters sneaked up behind him and pantsed him. Of course, for added entertainment, the guy was wearing silly underpants. In the end, the Globetrotters won the game (surprise, surprise) and the coach of the Washington Generals had to make the walk of shame down the court in a hotdog costume.
It was pretty funny…I was telling my Dad about our Globetrotters evening and he was asking if they did this gag or that gag, and they did! Apparently, the gags remained the same as when he saw them years ago. I guess they are still effective, because people still laughed and enjoyed the show.
Our New Year’s Eve celebration consisted of us getting the kids to bed, then me reading a book and Phillip fiddling around on the computer. We looked at each other when we heard all the fireworks go off and wished each other a Happy New Year and made a remark about how old we are, since we were both in bed and not out or doing anything very interesting. It was okay with me…I was just where I wanted to be.
1 comment:
Bravo! I really enjoyed that year review. Glad you seem to be up and running again...I have missed reading your posts.
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