Here come the colds..

Oh boy. I am really hoping this year is not like last.. I swear we were sick every two weeks last winter. Sigh. I woke up with a sore throat and a bit congested today, and Alissa has a 102 fever. I don't feel sick, just know that my body is fighting something. Alissa has no other symptoms but the fever which is very normal for her. ANY sickness and she automatically gets a fever. She has been my fever kid. :) So far Jonathan is just fine.

Enough of that. On a positive note -- we had a great day yesterday!! We went to the Oregon Garden's fall festival and had a blast!! If you have never been to the Oregon Gardens it is just beautiful. With five miles of trails through every kind of garden you can imagine. They have wetlands and kid gardens, sensors gardens where they have leaves that you rub and they smell like peanut butter and all sorts of other interesting things. We brought our handy dandy wagon (which we got a thousand compliments on). Alissa got to paint a pumpkin to take home (mommy picked out a small one for her since we already have a zillion pumpkins), arrange a fall flower bouquet, get some free sour powder candy (she was thrilled), eat kettle corn.. jeez there was so much. The highlight was petting the exotic animals they had -- some giant lizard thing that I have never seen before, a tortoise, a huge snake (Alissa's favorite) and a crocodile. I see a pet snake in Alissa's future :) I miss my snake (I had a ball python for I think 7 years, got rid of her when I was preggo with Ali). They also had a pumpkin sling shot, giant inflated worm for kids to crawl through, pumpkin seed throwing contest, costume parade (Alissa wore her batman/batgirl costume there), and pie tasting. I ended up buying a yummy marion berry pie (my favorite!!). We also went on a hay ride and walked through a haunted forest. Toooo fun. I'm glad the sickness held off a day.
Here are some picks from the festival:

Interview

Sorry it's been so long.. been keeping busy. Matt had his interview this morning at 7:30 for enforcement. I am praying he gets this job. I think he will be so much happier out on the road. He is going to be an awesome cop. Well, technically he is a deputy now but it is a whole new world out on the road -- he will have different challenges and a lot more community involvement. It will be a serious pay cut for the first year because he will be unable to work overtime, but we will get through it. So now what the interview is finished we are just waiting for word (they said about two weeks). Keep your fingers crossed for him!!! :)

Jonathan update: Jon is a little signer!! Wow. He has so many new signs I don't know where to start.. I can't remember what I listen before so how about a new list?? His current signs: Mom, Dad, Grandma, Grandpa, hot, water, milk, help, eat, please, pumpkin, more, again, Alissa (her name sign), ball, cat, dog, horse, cow, apple, bird, up, popcorn, bubbles, shoes, bath, up, grapes, cheese, chips, peach. (31 signs!! Woohoo)I might be missing something but heck its pretty impressive for 14 mths old I think. Of course, lately he isn't very interested in talking although he has said a few new words -- water and please. He prefers to sign though which is fine by me.. he will talk eventually. He is ALLLL boy I tell you. Talk about a spark plug. This kid is constantly getting into mischief. When he isn't climbing on the couch to harass the cat he is trying to get at the fireplace. Lord have mercy on me. Hehe.

Alissa update: Alissa is growing up so fast. Today at story time she made a new friend. A 4 year old little girl (Porter's cousin). It was so cute because she told the little girl she is going to be Batman for Halloween (more on this later) and it turns out the little girl is also going to be Batman!! What are the odds!! Ok, so the Batman thing.. I must have mentioned that Alissa wanted to be Ursula? Well.. I was not looking forward to figuring out how to make that costume when Alissa out of nowhere says, "Mommy, I want to be Batman for Halloween!!" Ummm.. ok. Awesome. She has never seen Batman and I have no idea how she knows about him.. but cool.. I'll go with it. So we run to Walmart with "GG" and sure enough -- just her size -- BATMAN!! Thank goodness for Batman. I was also very pleased that my daughter isn't the only 4 year old GIRL who wants to be Batman.. hehe.. Whatever makes her happy. Sasha was at story time too (she is 3) and she is going to be a princess -- sooo funny because she and Alissa have been pals since Ali was 18 mths old and they are SO opposite in everything.

So what have we been doing lately? Lets see.. Yesterday was Alissa's science class -- they learned about engineering. It was great because Matt had the day off so he got to join us at class. Matt helped Ali engineer a few buildings out of paper cups and she got to demolish them with a big Tonka dump truck. Too much fun. Meanwhile Jonathan played with the left over apples from their harvest fest. Jonathan is obsessed with apples. I think it is because he gets the best of both worlds --- a ball that you can EAT. He takes a bite.. hurls it across the room (ok, not really.. but tosses it like a ball) and then takes another bite. Gross, yes.. but I get really tired of washing the thing every two seconds. It hasn't killed him yet. So anyways, back to class. Alissa's favorite project was building a house out of toothpicks and gumdrops. How many builders get to eat their bricks? She was thrilled.

After class we went to play on the playground outside. Alissa wanted Mommy to come up with her on this huge play structure they have, and I of course said yes. It isn't often I can join her because I usually have Jon in tow. So I left Jon with Daddy and up we go. And up and up and up and up. If you have never been to AC Gilbert house -- it is quite an elaborate set up they have.. it is supposed to be a giant version of the erector set. So anyways.. we get the the top and there is this huge winding slide.. I mean HUGE.. you go around and around 5, 6, 7, I don't know how many times.. but it is much bigger then McDonalds :) So Alissa says -- MOMMY!! Let's go down the slide together!!!! And Mommy, not thinking straight, says SURE!!.. umm... Mistake. I had never been down this giant slide before and thought -- COOL! I can try it out.. nothing like having a kid as an excuse to do these fun things. Well, I get Alissa on my lap and start down the slide. First off, it is extremely dark (the slide is fully enclosed and black) and that surprised me. But, very fast and very fun. I'm liking it. Then, about halfway down my shoes are squeaking against the sides of the slide. Hmm.. know what that means? Ahh yes.. Gotta love Oregon. Water. So we go down.. down.. down.. round.. round.. round.. Alissa has a great time.........And Mommy looks like she peed her pants. Sweet. So I did the whole, tie your coat around your waist even though its 50 degrees outside and you look like a goober trick.. and we headed home. Matt was amused. I was not.

We also got a VERY unpleasant surprise when we got home. Before leaving Jonathan had done his morning business in his diaper, and in our rush to make it to class on time.. I had changed his diaper, thrown in in a plastic bag, tied up the bag, and threw it by the front door to take outside to the trash. Oops. Forgot to take it to the trash before leaving. Now, in a normal household this would not be an issue (except the smell of course) But in MY household I happen to have a diaper obsessed dog. Sigh. So when we got home there were bits of nasty diaper alllll over the living room. GAG. My dog seriously needs a psychiatrist. Sooo.. instead of changing into some nice warm dry jeans, I had to clean up the diaper bits (before Jon) vacuum, and clean the rug. Yeah me. To say the least Zena spent a good amount of time outside contemplating life. Just another day in the Davis house.

Today we spend most of the day in Dallas with GG.. her neighbor had to go to the hospital so we grabber GG to take her to the store and get a prescription filled and the all important cottage cheese for the poor neighbor. It also helped that she needed to do some grocery shopping and the Safeway opened up a new gas station -- sooo if you spend $50 or more you get 20 cents off of your gas per gallon. NEAT. So I got gas using her card. I should have spend 2.65/gal BUT with my luck there was an error and I only got 10 cents off a gallon. Pfft. The gas station guy said to go in the store and they would fix it.. umm.. with a tired baby boy in the back not worth the $2 to go in and argue. We got smart this time and brought our new wagon (Jon got it for his bday -- it has seat backs, cup holders, canopy, the all-important seat belts,etc.. the limousine of the wagon world) and went for a walk to the park. The kids got to play on the playground. Jonathan is in love with slides -- this guy fears nothing. Then we went on a long walk around the park because Alissa wanted to walk through "the forest". What a wonderful park!! GG is very lucky to live so close to such a neat park. It was a fun day.

I just finished watching Transformers. It's funny because Matt had watched it before me and I knew nothing about the movie -- I asked if it was Alissa appropriate and he said -- I don't see why not. Ummmmmm.... I'm glad I watched it first. There are many many many reasons why not.. Matt agrees that he is a horrible judge on movies and kids.. hehe.. we look at it this way -- he lives in a "Hannibal" world.. I live in a "Sesame Street" world.. So we agree that I will be the judge of what the kids can watch. I use an AWESOME website to help decide what Ali can watch -- http://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/ <-- I love it!! If you have kids you should check it out. So the movie was great by the way.. for adults. :)

I think I will close the last chapter of this book. I need to write more often, lol..

Good night.

Happy Friday.

Today we went to story time where I had a couple experiences I wanted to write about. First off, there was no ASL terp so I finally sucked it up and did it. I have been too chicken in the past, but thanks to some gentle encouragement from Colleen I did it. I interpreted the whole story time.. it was fun! Of course I was nervous and felt completely incompetent but I stumbled through it. Katie was the only deaf mama there and she said I did great :) It was a great experience and I can't wait to do it again so I can gain more confidence. Oh, forgot to mention.. as I am interpreting Jonathan walks up to me and starts frantically signing "milk"... umm.. great timing Jon. Sooo.. being the bashful mama I am...hehe..I let him nurse. So here I am in front of who knows how many people with a baby on my breast interpreting ASL. Sweet.

So as I am leaving the library there are three people standing out front with clip boards gathering signatures. One of them (a man about my age) approached me and said, "Are you pro-choice?" Ooooh boy. So I looked him in the eye (with a baby on my hip and a little girl holding my hand) and said, "I do NOT support the murder of unborn children. Sorry." and then walked away. The look on his face was priceless. He immediately gathered his crew and started telling them what an awful person I was (I know this because I looked back and they were chatting, pointing, and glaring in my direction). I really wish the kids were not with me because I would LOVE to talk with these people and find out what in the world they are thinking. Sigh.. but didn't want a scene with the kiddos in tow. I am usually pretty quiet and reserved in these situations, but lately I have had a bit of an awakening(POWER TO THE PEOPLE) and I am tired of being the silent majority. Bring it on.

After the library we headed to "GG"'s house. We all went out to lunch at Bert's, then went to Safeway and the post office. After running those errands we hung out at "GG"'s house and played. It is so cute to see "GG" and Alissa interact. Alissa really loves her great-grandma. It was so funny because Alissa convinced "GG" to have a picnic and take a nap with her... under the dining room table!! Hehe.

We headed home in the evening to wake up Matt for another long shift at the jail. When he headed out we called Papa and invited him over to play. Fun stuff. We are off to the pumpkin patch (yes the third time) tomorrow morning. I better get some sleep!

<3 Life is good.

This is a picture of the kids right before heading out to the pumpkin patch. Doesn't Jonathan look like a little soldier? :) It doesn't appear that my video is working in the last blog.. I keep retrying it but no luck. I will try again later, it is a cute video. Anyhow.. what has been happening?! Let's see...

This morning we headed to AC Gilbert house for Alissa's science class. We were supposed to learn about balloon's but apparently there was a problem with supplies so it was dinosaur day. Ali wasn't complaining. My favorite thing about her class is at the end the kids all find a carpet square to sit on and teacher reads them a book. The last two weeks Jonathan has run over to where Alissa is sitting and plopped down next to her. It is amazing because he sits quietly beside her and watches the book be read!! It is so odd because he is usually so nuts and all over the place. That boy loves his big sister!

Speaking of sibling love.. had a small issue today. It was actually the first time Jonathan got really in trouble. The kids were both trying to get at the same toy, when Alissa started pushing Jonathan away. As soon as she started pushing, Jonathan clamped down on her arm. That's right, it was a pitbull style lock jawed bite!! YIKES! I run over and have to pry his mouth open to get him to let go of poor Ali. WTH?! He has never bitten me or anyone else before so I wanted to make sure he knew this was a big no-no. I picked him up and sternly said "No biting!" and do you know what he did?!?! He lifted the back of his hand to his mouth and BIT HIMSELF!! I just looked at him and finally he started crying because he hurt himself. Crazy kid!! When I told him not to bite he had this defiant look in his eyes when he clamped down on himself. It was kind of nice because he taught himself that biting hurts, lol. Anyways, right after he finished chewing on his hand I told him "No biting!" And sat him by himself and walked away. He didn't like that very much and hopefully he got the message. We shall see.

By the way.. today is the very first day I am happy to report I have not seen a single moth all day!!! **CHEER** the last week we were still seeing one or two random moths.. now nothing!! Thank God it is finally over and the cycle is broken. With my luck I will open my closet and all of my clothes will be eaten from the other kind of moth.. knock on wood.

This evening my dad came over to watch the ball game (Boston and Cleveland) with me. I was really hoping the Indians would win and get this over with.. I am tired of seeing Boston in the World Series!! We had pork chops and green bean casserole for dinner -- yumm! I'm back on my atkins diet for awhile because I put on about 6 pounds and need to shed that so everything fits more comfortably again. :)

One last thing. If you are reading this and you have a blog yourself, leave me a comment and let me know what your blog address is (except Laura of course). If you do not have a blog, you should think about starting one.. I would love to know what is happening in everyone else's world too.

Take care!!

p.s. I just discovered this thing has spell check.. lol.. so for all of you tired of my typos it should get better from now on ;)

Bauman Farms video

We went to the pumpkin patch yesterday as a fun little family outing because Matt was off work. We ended up with 117 pounds of pumpkin. Matt got a 62 pounder and Alissa picked a warty 33 pounder for mommy. While we were there Matt got the call -- he has an interview the 26th for patrol! Woohoo..

TEA TIME!!

What a treat.. we got to go to the tea house again today. Four generations!! My grandma, my mom, myself, and Alissa. Very cool indeed. Jonathan stayed with Grandma Davis -- I learned my lesson the first time.

When I dropped Jonathan off at Grandma Davis' house a gravel truck arrived to fill their driveway.. what a surprise we got!! The driver got out of the great big dump truck and used a remote control to back it up the driveway. That's right folks, no driver.. we are talking the biggest remote control vehicle you have ever seen. Waaaay too cool. Grandpa was very impressed.. I think if he hits power ball he will probably get himself one. :)

It was cute when I came to pick up Jonathan after our tea, he started signing "bath" to grandma over and over again and pointing to the tub... soooo.. of course grandma gave him his wish. It is so great that he is able to communicate so well. It really cuts down on his frustration and mine.

Life is good.

Really.

:)

p.s. Pictures aren't downloading for some reason.. I'll post some later.

Story time..

This picture creeps me out a little.. I have a thing about clowns, does Ronald count as a clown?

So today was pretty laid back. Jonathan and I got up at 8 and I decided to let Alissa sleep in. She has been a bit sniffly the last day or so so figured she needed her sleep. She finally decided to join us at 9:30. We got dressed and fed and headed to the Salem Library for story time. If you don't know what this is let me explain. It is a large usually crowded room full of mommies, daddies, and toddlers. And Friday story time is for the younger toddler crowd. It is a half hour where a librarian leads everyone in a song or interactive activity (treasure hunt, lady's ride, row your boat, etc etc) then reads a book and alternated song/activity and book for the half hour we are there. When it is over the kids all gather round the librarian for a hand stamp and off we go. The kids and I usually hang out in the room after everyone leaves to socialize with friends. Today we stayed an extra hour to chat with Colleen and let the kids play.

I am feeling a lot more confident with my ASL and was encouraged that Colleen thinks I am ready to interpret story time. Damon (her hubby and also a terp) told me it is a great place to practice because if I interpret something wrong it's not like someone will get the wrong medication or lose the wrong kidney.. story time is a safe environment to practice interpreting. I wasn't quite ready to take the step today and sit in the terp chair (although Colleen was nudging me that direction because for the second week there was no terp available). But some day soon I will do it. I feel so blessed to be a part of such an amazing community of people and have them share their language and culture with me. I hope to pass it all on to the kiddos and I hope they appreciate it like I do. Alissa understands 80% of what we sign, but doesn't use the signs herself very often.. unless she is in the mood. Jonathan is the opposite -- could care less about talking and LOVES to sign. Maybe it's a boy thing? More physical? Who knows.

So we got home from the library and I put Jon down for a nap. Alissa and I then made sandwiches. She wanted grilled cheese and was insisting that the bread needed butter on ALL sides not just the sides we cook.. that was an interesting debate. I won. :) And after sandwiches we made these yummy Earth's Best ABC noodles for a little learning time. You see I have had a heck of a time getting Alissa interested in learning her letters -- until the magic pasta!! Hehe.. We have fun fishing out the right letters and spelling words together before eating them. In fact, she insisted we leave "Alissa, Jonathan, Daddy, Mommy" spelled out on the table - so now I have semi-hard noodles superglued to my kitchen table. Fun fun.

After our noodle adventure Ali insisted on watching the Little Mermaid because she wanted to see Ursalla the sea witch... why? This is what she insists she wants to be for halloween. Umm.. good luck to me finding that one.. I guess I will have to get creative. I already have Jon's costume.. found it at a consignment shop -- it is awesome. I will post pics after halloween.

Matt worked o/t today so had to be up at 5pm (on o/t days he leaves for work at 6pm and comes home about 8am). So I made him a yummy omelette and said farewell. Still have not heard about an interview yet for patrol.. he finished his tests and passed everything.. the wheels of the county move ever so slowly. Speaking of jail I am SOO excited!! I get to go to jail for 4 hours!! :) I am going in on a Friday night to shadow Matt at work from 11 - 3am and see how he does in action. What a neat opportunity. I found out also that when he goes to patrol I can do a ride along WITH him. Nifty.

After Matt was off to work the kids and I went to my mom's house to eat dinner and hang out. Jonathan loves her doggies. He is a big time animal lover already, but I guess all kids are. Grandma Adams gave Alissa some "Bird Food" icecream... looked good, I'm not sure why they would name it bird food.. leave it to Ben and Jerry.

After my mom's we came back home, everyone got a bath and went to bed.. and here I am!! :) I'm trying to catch up on my laundry so writing this has been a good use of my time while waiting for the washer to finish hehe.

It's a bird, it's a plane...

Yesterday the kids and I went to the Evergreen Aviation museum with Great-Grandma Jensen and "GG". The last picture is on the B-17 of Alissa standing next to the 50 caliber machine gun.. that was for her daddy's benefit. We got there about 1:30 and had lunch at the museum cafe. Then in was on to a tour of the planes. It was great timing for our little field trip, because in Alissa's science class today at AC Gilbert house the kids learned about flight. You know, as many times as I have seen the Spruce Goose on tv, I never really appreciated it until seeing it in person. That is the most ridiculously huge airplane I have ever seen. It was very cool to say the least. It's wing span goes from goal post to goal post on a football field. I'm glad we got to see the planes and then have Alissa do some hands on learning to help understand how they work. In class they made 6 different airplanes and Alissa got to try all of hers out off of a bridge at the playground. The kids had a blast flying their planes, and Alissa's favorite was her helicopter. Anyways.. back to the museum --

After looking at the planes we headed for the "Sea Monsters" movie at the Imax theatre. Alissa had been begging to see this since she got a bucket with an advertisement for the show on it from Jack in the Box. I didn't realize until we had bought our tickets and went to enter the theater that this was a 3d film. Cool, 3d glasses and all. What I didn't think of was what a 3D dinosaur chomping on a fish right in front of your face might be like for a 3 year old. Yikes. I thought it was cute when the show started and Ali was reaching out trying to grab the fish that seemed to be right in front of her face.. cute quickly turned to concern when she startled back into her seat when a big scary T-REX was looking into her eyes. So I spent most of the show reassuring her that it was only pretend and she couldn't really touch them and more importantly they couldn't touch her. All in all she didn't do too bad. She held on to my arm real tight and didn't seem too bothered. When the movie was over she said it was a little scary but she liked it. Then, when we were walking past the theater she asked if that was where the dinosaurs lived behind the wall... umm.. maybe the movie was a little too real. Live and learn.

When we left the museum Alissa put on her new Spiderman slippers that Great-Grandma Jensen bought for her and has been wearing them ever since. It took a lot of smooth talking to convince her that it was NOT a good idea for her to wear them to class today. Think she likes them? In fact, she is laying down for a nap now and wanted to wear just a t-shirt, undies, and her spiderman slippers. Hehe..

I realized that I blogged about some issues awhile back and never updated on them so here goes:

Remember I told you about Jonathan banging his head on things? Well, for awhile I was really concerned because this is one of the major signs of autism.. well, I brought it up to his pediatrician on his 1 yr check up and she said because he is so far advanced socially it is nothing to e concerned with and he doesn't have neurological problems. Funny thing is within a week of his appointment it stopped. No more head banging thank God.. Now he is having fun experimenting with his gag reflex.. sigh.. what next? I do remember Alissa about the same age doing the same thing.. I used to tell people she was the worlds youngest ballemic (sp?). Although luckily neither of them actually gags to the point of vomit, THAT would be a real nightmare.

Second issue was school for Alissa -- private vs public. Since then we have found a school!! I 86ed the private school idea when I researched and found that private school teacher to student ratio here in Salem is the same as public.. umm.. what would I be paying for exactly? ? So I started looking at public schools and fell in love with Rosedale Elementary. It is about 5 minutes south of where we live and has a K-5 student population on about 150. Awesome student - teacher ratio (about 8:1) and has scored very well on its report cards. I plan on interviewing teachers and sitting in on classes next year to see if I should try for an indistrict transfer. As far as preschool, I think I'm going to skip it all together and just teach her from home. I don't want to waste the last year she can be at home full time with mommy. I really don't see the benefit so phooey on it. I might change my mind next year, but for now I am happy how things are and Alissa doesn't start kindergarden until 2009 because of her January bday.

Dance Baby Dance! PART 2

For some reason the last video didn't load up correctly so you only got 4 seconds of it. Here is her whole dance. :) ENJOY!!

Dance Baby Dance!

**SEE PART 2 FOR VIDEO** I'm thinking Alissa is long overdue for dance class, although I'm not sure she needs much instruction hehe... Alissa and Jonathan both go nuts for the rollerskates song and I finally caught one of Ali's performances on video. It brings me back to when I was a kid, my mom used to sing this song to me. I think my little girl is destined for the theatre.

I love God's sense of humor -- I have a little girl who looks just like her daddy but acts more like me (sweet and innocent ;)) and a little boy who looks like me but is a little rascal like his daddy. Veeeeeery funny God, but you got my order backwards!! Ahh but I feel blessed and wouldn't have it any other way. I never experienced true joy until I experienced it through a child... what an eye opener.

So while I am waiting for this video to upload I might as well tell you the funny Ali story of the day. So Alissa and I play this little game where I say...for example.. "You eat lizard feet" and Ali would respond with her own little "You eat____" and this goes on and on with Alissa and I cracking up at our own clever little jokes. Anyways.. it's fun and I figure it helps her imagination (not that it needs help).. Reason I write about it today is she came up with one that had both of us laughing to the point of tears. I was so proud of her originality. So it went something like this: Mommy: "Alissa... you eat slugs and snails". Alissa: "Mommy... you eat KITTY FARTS!!" LOL.. I about died. Kitty farts? Gotta love kids.

THE PLAGUE.. PART 2

So I know everyone is just dying to hear about my little moth problem. Hehe.. Well.. since my last post we have only found one or two little moths and promptly turned them to squish-ka-bobs. I think my little moth nightmare is over, although I must confess I will never again look at them the same. I find myself examining the walls everwhere I go for the liitle buggers. I found a couple at the in-law's house and pointed them out. Now my poor mother-in-law is a bit freaked out and planning on cleaning out her drawers quick before it's a problem.

In other news... Jonathan got his chicken pox vaccine on the 26th of September. On October 6th he got a 102 degree fever that lasted two days with a rash at the injection site. GRRR.. I felt like a bad mommy letting him have this shot and then seeing him get so sick. I am really at a loss with this whole vaccine issue. I have friends swearing vax is the devil.. and doctors telling me its just fine. I research and just can't get any straight answer. Ordinarily the chicken pox vaccine would have been given to Jon at 18mths old, BUT I was concerned about the MMR vax so doc said "NO PROB!" he will just switch MMR and chicken pox so I can wait a bit and not need to worry about the MMR. Ooook.. now that I have gone through this with chicken pox, do I let him get the MMR at his 18 mth?!!? Any opinions would be welcome on this subject, because I am really at a loss as to what the best thing to do is.

Alissa update: Alissa got to use mommy shampoo and conditioner a couple days ago for the first time -- and since then has been going up to everyone she knows saying "FEEL MY PRETTY SOFT HAIR!!" It is too cute.

Oh! Sorry about the random thought process, but I have to tell you about the most fun I've ever had eating. Last week, I took Alissa, Jon, Bethany, and "GG" to a place in Dallas called Althea's (I think) Tea House on Jefferson St. What an experience! We had no idea what to expect, but we walk in to this old house and I swear it was like we all became characters in Gone with the Wind. The tables were set with real linen napkins (the frilly kind) and just every detail was really elegant. And maybe I have been living in a cave for too long, but I have never gone anywhere that served tea sandwiches. When they brough our lunch it was served on a tower where the bottom platter was big and had on it the tea sandwiches, middle rox was a bit smaller and had fruit and cheeses, and the top smallest plate had desserts. My favorite thing was when our tea arrived we were told we could chose our tea cups from those sitting on shelves all around the house. So we all picked the cup we wanted from a huge variety of china cups and saucers. I could go on and on.. let me just say it was great. Food was good, experience was better. Of course, it is definately not the place to bring a hungry man.. I think Matt may not have enjoyed the experience like I did.. in fact, unless your man likes to drink his drinks with his pinky finger held out this may not be the place for him. I am going to bring my mom out there this weekend. My one regret was bringing my little man.. love him to death, but not the right environment for a baby... especially one who is practicing to be the next quarterback (you would be amazed how far a strawberry can fly when hurled from his little hand).

Speaking of "GG" -- we recently replaced all of her kitchen lights and light defuser panels to brighten up her kitchen (we being Matt.. I had the bright idea, Matt got stuck with the labor). We also got rid of an old light fixture in her living room and replaced it with something more modern and brighter. It looks sooo much better now! We were concerned that she would get too gloomy her last month in Oregon before retreating to Arizona for the winter. Problem solved!!

Jonathan has a couple new signs: "Hot" (When he sees fire) and "Daddy".. last count he has 16 signs and 14 spoken words... ok, 6 spoken words that others can understand the rest I count but only I know what he is talking about. He is finally starting to get hair too! We thought it would never happen. :)

I will update again soon!

HASTA