Soccer with Langston "Owen Wilson" Key

Langston's first soccer game is Sat., so we purchased some gear last week. Here he is...striking his best Owen Wilson pose. Priceless.
I know, I know...this pic SO has to make it into the pre-wedding video. :)

6 years and counting...

Here's one of the many attempts at an anniversary pic of just B & me. (ha, ha.) Six years ago on the 27th we were wed in the courthouse in Gainesville, Florida by Judge Buddy Irby...who probably still thinks we were just kidding. :0) Six years, two kids, three college degrees, & two states later...here we are! I love you, husband.

11 sweet months

Sweet Zora is 11 months old! This post is a little late because I have been SO sick with a virus & then stomach infection (?) or something that lasted for about a week & caused me to lose lots of weight (but not the right way!). Anyway, as soon as I felt better, little Z's cold & croup turned into a lung infection. My boys were leaving for Seattle & I wasn't 100% with a nasty house & a sick baby, so I called in the parents. They are here now, cleaning & helping with Zora (thanks, mom & dad!).
So, that's my "no posting" excuse.
Zora at 11 months:

• 6 teeth & cutting molars
• beginning to cruise
• standing while holding on to something
• stood by herself on her 11 month b'day
• said, "baby" by herself
• plays peek-a-boo
• loves to snuggle & sleep on daddy
• loves to play with big brother
• likes yogurt mixed with fruit
  

I hate how you can tell she's sickly in her pic! She's finally beginning to feel better, but still coughs up gross stuff. Poor kiddo.

ginga' bread man

Thank you, preschool, for the gingerbread mix & cookie cutter! My mom & I had fun making these cookies! We mixed our own frosting & added all kinds of colors! I had so much fun! Thanks, Mr. Scott, Ms. Ann, & Ms. LeAnn!
Love,
Langston

little lama at the shop-o-rama

This was Z's first time in one of those double-shopper-torture-to-turn deals at the grocery. :) As you can see dad got to do most of the steering. We usually do "tag team shopping," which involves one parent-child team per cart. Barclay & Langston always win. :)

Zora's first....

smoothie. Yeah, not that big of a deal, but she loved it. :) Plain, whole milk yogurt, frozen yogurt, a banana, some mango baby food, & plain soy milk. Yum, yum.

I love this pic. All five teeth are present! (#6 is on its way!)

Diggin' it. She was so excited that she shook the cup before each sip.


I can just see this pic repeating itself in 20 years...only they'll be holding solo cups in some college town. :)

fuzzy top

Zora kept trying to put headbands/hairbows in the other day, so I helped her. :) We don't usually do "hair pretties" around here, but her piece-y mop is growing right down the bridge of her nose, so I think the Pebbles look is forthcoming. :)

She (like all babies this age) LOVES a mirror! She also loves babies (& giving kisses to babies in books). OH! And she took 3 steps while holding onto the coffee table & sofa a day or two ago. Cruising here we come!

ames part 2

L's "face pancake" at IHOP. He was SO proud. :)
Stuffing desert down after a yummy meal. :)
milk that is local, with no hormones, chemicals, & non-homogenized. What more could a kid ask for?


We stayed with Don (it would've been "Don & Pat," but the Pat part of the team was out of town visiting friends;) on our trip back. Don is a dad of four & granddad of many, so he had the routine down. He was very helpful.
When we lived in Ames, we went to church with Don & Pat and they were our primary babysitters. (Surrogate grandparents, I like to call them...much like Sam & Bonnie in Gainesville. :) Poor Pat even endured one of Langston's medicine created poo blow-outs while I was doing a training session for the shelter where I volunteered. Thankfully I showed up in time to tell her, "Let's just throw away the sweat suit & bathe him." I remember that I didn't get to eat lunch on the lunch hour that day bc I was cleaning poo! :)
Another important "Don & Pat" topic is that of mac-n-cheese. They knew what they could always feed L.! He knew that he'd get his pasta there. So, one day I said, "Langston, how would you like to go see Don & Pat?" He replied, "Mac-N-Cheese?!" ;)
Oh, and we had two failed attempts at owning fish. The first fish's name...."DonandPat." (All together now...as one being.)
Thanks so much, Don & Pat, for opening your home to us!!
**I posted a scrapbook page of some of our old church fam in Ames. D & P are pictured, as are Mary Jane (hi, Mary Jane! I enjoyed our visit, as always!), and Karen, L's first "paid" sitter.

back to ames

We took a trip back to Ames, IA, where we lived for a short 10ish months in 2006-2007 & got to see old friends & favorite places. Here are a few pix of Langston (& Zora) playing outside on a warm Iowa day with pals, Gabrielle & Spencer. Their mom, Robin, was one of my first friends in Ames & we still keep in touch.
We missed seeing Jessie & fam (bc they are back in Utawl. :) I'm SO thankful for my friends! Also, here's one of my scrapbook pages from the "friends in Ames" section complete with pix of Jessie & boys & Gabby & L...hugs to y'all! (Btw, look, Jessie, there's Cal turning 2! Time has certainly flown!)

yum-o

While feeding the kids pancakes one morning I gave Big Z. one with a few chocolate chips by mistake! Whoops! I realized my mistake when I saw her relishing each bite (WHAT is this?!). I figured two chocolate chips weren't the worst things in the world for her to eat, so I let her enjoy. :)
Langston & Barclay's "meal" when mom is out of the house consists of: pizza or a pot of mac-n-cheese...and they eat it in the pot they cook it in. Langston likes to "tell on them" when I get in. He usually says something like, "I didn't have any vegetables! Just mac-n-cheese!" (He can't believe it himself!) Anyway, one day we had some mac with veggies lunch & since he ate all his veg, he got to polish off the SpongeBob shaped mac...in the pot. :0) "This is the day!"....as one wise toddler once said.

lil' latina

This one should be dedicated to Martina. I think Zora & Colton would be great lunch dates. For supper this evening Z had: homemade guacamole, beans with squash (smooshed lumpy), guava mixed with whole milk, organic yogurt, & some pieces of spinach & herb tortilla. She ate, smeared, smashed, & "asked" for more. :)

mama n z

where'd it go?

zora squirreled some food away...under her thigh during a meal last week. :) L. used to do the same thing. I'll have to post a pic of him...sitting on his lunch at around the same age. Kids are weird.