Fun with friends

I love these 3 kids
Ella, Luke and Sam on the bridge at South Coast
Sam is all ready to be a big sister.
Ella is a little worried about the scenario
A free train ride. Having cute kids has some nice perks
The girls. Ella loves Sam but I really do think that Vanessa is her best friend.


We had a fun afternoon at the mall with Vanessa and Sam.Vanessa was hoping to have had baby Henry by now, today is her due date, but we were sure glad to have another day to spend with our good friends. I know... I'm selfish. They're just so fun!

Christian Arthur Harvey!!!

2 days have gone by and the Hospital told Kim they had to have a name by this morning for the paperwork. So I am happy to announce my beautiful Nephew, Christian Arthur Harvey. I cant blame them for milling the name around for a while. You want to feel like you have the perfect name for your sweet baby. And we all know Christian is it for this mellow, peaceful boy.

Welcome to the world, baby... Christian?

We have a new member of the Family who arrived via c-section today weighing in at 8 lbs. 1 oz. He is the sweetest most content little thing. I could have held him all day long. Mom is doing well, as well as you can be after major surgery, and Dad is beaming like I have never seen him do before. 

Ryan and Kim are among the best parents I know and I am so happy to see their beautiful Family grow. This is one lucky boy. Now they just need a name.

A tag from Tiffany

Seven things you may not know about me

1. I was nominated for "Queen of Courts" in High School, which is like Homecoming Queen  for the under class-man.

2. I am a neat freak. I drive myself crazy with it, and my Husband. I want everything in its place and I hate clutter on flat surfaces. The only problem with it is that I can't keep the house the way I like it so I am just always stressed out about it and anxious. I can't wait to have a small home that I can have the way I want.

3. I don't like to clean. I love tidiness and organization but it doesn't really bother me to leave the bathrooms uncleaned for a couple of weeks.

4. I just had about $3,000 worth of dental work done. I am terrified of the Dentist and hate to go, I hadn't been in 10 years. Growing up with Military dentists kind of left a bad taste in my mouth.

5. I listen to Christmas music all year long.

6. I like V8 juice but cant stand veggies and NEVER eat them.

7. When I was born I was purple and not breathing. The cord was wrapped around my neck several times.

Sorry if that was less than exciting. OK, now the tag.

Kimmy

Jana

Vanessa

Jenn Barnes

Emily

and who ever else would like to do it.

Movie day!

These are a couple of pictures we took of Luke's first movie theatre experience.





Luke doesn't go to the movie theater very often. In fact he has only been to two movies in his long 3 1/2 years on this earth. The first time we took him to see a show he was just a few months over 2 and "Car's" had come out. Anyone who knows my boy knows why we felt this was the right time to take him to the theatre. The only way it could have been more appealing is if there were a movie called "train's". I guess Thomas has the monopoly on that one though. Luke made it through about half of that movie before he started to make a scene and we had to leave. I took him to see it again a month later, hoping he could last the whole time, now that he had gotten a taste and had been infiltrated with all the figures and happy meal toys. That one ended in him being carried out a quarter mile to my car whilst he was screaming and bitting. He threw in some good scratches too before I wrapped his long body around mine in such a way that he could not physically harm me.... or himself. I have never hated to see peoples disapproving glares more than in those 10 minutes. That was a hard afternoon.
A year later "Shrek 3" came out. I decided to try the experience again. I assumed with his being a year older he'd probably be just fine. No biting or scratches but unsuccessful none-the-less. We were getting better though. All I care about is progress.
It had now been several months and "The Bee Movie" came out. Dave and I talked about it and decided to take a chance again. We sat Luke down, explained what we were going to do and what was expected of him. ( sit in the chair, don't kick the chair in front, no talking unless you whisper and the big one... stay until the end when it is over.) He was ecstatic and couldn't wait to get there. We all ate lunch together at Islands, which was the nicest time eating out we had ever had. I had high hopes for the rest of the afternoon. We dropped Ella off with her Nana and headed to Century Theatre to buy our tickets.
Luke had the biggest eyes and an even bigger smile when the preview's were finally over and he saw the first of many bee's. He immediately stated, "Its the Bee Movie now!!!!" He got a bit bored 20 minutes until the ending but we kept him distracted for long enough that it was exciting again shortly thereafter. He silently watched the rest and then he heard the music and saw the credits start. "I made it!!" were the next words out of his mouth.
I was so proud of Luke for not only being so good during the show but the journey in which he has traveled to get to where he was. I am so thankful for such a sweet boy who tries so hard to be good and to progress. He wants nothing more than to see in our eyes that we love him and are happy with him. I am grateful for "The Bee Movie" for this milestone day. And for my wonderful, kind boy. For being who he is and allowing us to witness his journey. I can't wait for the rest of the ride, rocky though it will be at times, I am so pleased that my seat is in the front.

cute picture comparison

I found this other picture of Luke when he was sick last year at this time. I thought the comparison was really cute.

Sick kids at the Wirthlin house

I know my kids are not well when I walk in and see this.

A couple of days ago Ella started acting irritable and sleepy. When she sat with me, without moving, for 10 minutes I knew she was feeling sick. I sat her on GG's lap to rock while I finished dinner. I came back in 10 minutes later so see her sound asleep on GG! It has been over a year since she has fallen asleep on anyone... maybe even longer. Even as a baby she didn't do this.

Fast forward to today. We went to Dave's basketball game where Luke was unusually clingy and eventually asked to go home so that he could lay down. I knew something was wrong. We got home and he cuddled with me for 10 minutes on the couch. I eventually left him to go eat my dinner, which he was so sad about, and then came back into the above scene. Luke was out. The last time he did this was a year ago when he was sick. I took a picture then too because it's so rare. My kids never fall asleep anywhere other then their beds, not even in the car.

I know I should be so sad when they're sick, which I really am. But a small part of me kind of loves how sweet and mellow they are. And how much they want and need me. Is that sick?

I only wish I didn't just miss them falling asleep on me. Although I am so in love with sweet Luke that I had to pick him up and hold him for a little while. I tried the same with ella, unfortunately she woke up.

CPP is the best!!!!

Today was a day that I have dreamed about for many years. Its going to sound silly when I state what it was that occurred but I am not ashamed. Ever since I was a young girl I dreamt about being a Mom. And something that I always thought about within that Mom world was..... class parties. Sounds silly, I realize. But today that day came.
When I got the sign-up to assist for class parties and to help to be a room mom I couldn't sign my name fast enough. I signed up for every single thing I could. And when I got a call to help for the Thanksgiving Party I was thrilled. I said I could be there any time and for as long as they needed me. The teacher also was thrilled. I guess not everyone is as anxious to assist as I am.
Luke was really excited to have me at his School and looked over at me smiling more times then I could count. He beamed with pride as he sang all of the songs, each and every word, and recited his verse, he attends a private Presbyterian Pre-School. He was so fun to watch and I almost cried for no reason other than how proud and happy I am to be his Mom.
Luke loves his School. He comes home so happy and sweet. He got his first little evaluation today and it was so fun to read. His teacher stated that "Luke is a happy boy who always shares and who is always kind to others. I am so happy to have him in my class this year."
I love my boy and today was so fun and such a special day for me on so many levels. I know some day Luke may not look at me in his classroom with stars in his eyes, wanting to show me off to everyone. So today I took those precious moments and imprinted them in my heart and memory forever.

Ella loves to be outside

While Luke was napping yesterday ella and I went outside to play. She was being so silly and wanted to do some posing. I, of coarse, ran in and grabbed my camera. Here are a few shots of my sweet Ella on a far too hot November afternoon.

Ella's big girl bed

Ella is officially in her big girl bed!!!
We were going to wait until her Birthday but I just couldn't put it off that long. She has been ready for a while now and though I felt the desire to move her, people seemed to think I was pushing her and that she is too young. Well, I got so tired of her throwing everything out of her crib, including her sheets, and then getting mad because she couldn't get to them... that yesterday we just took down the crib. And that was the end of that.
I felt bad because it was meant to be a simple project. I didn't want to put anyone out. But here's how it ended up going down
At 3pm I insisted we do this. So for the hour that Dave had free I made him come with me to get a mattress and when we got home I asked him to take down the crib. I would do the rest. Well, the crib took forever to take down, due to some tool issues. I left with the kids to get the white(it had to be white) twin bed from my parents. I want to get Ella a matching bedroom set but since we'll be moving in less then a year we decided we'd find something that would do so that we'd have less to move. My Mom still has the white twin bed that I used and said we could borrow it for the time being. We got over there, dug out the head/foot board and then hit a bump when we couldn't find the side rails. My Dad later stated that they were rusty and had been thrown away. I drove to a mattress store where I went to buy rails. They had none. I decided to just forego the bed and buy a twin bed frame... less cute but at this point Ella had no bed up at all so we were limited. Then my Mom said she tracked down a place that had 2 side rails. I apologized to the mattress man and took back the bed frame. I then drove to get the rails, to my Moms to pick up the bed (my sweet Dad had practically detailed it) and then on home to set it all up. I took it all inside and then went to put the rails in. There was a huge metal wrap around both ends of the rails. I ran downstairs into the garage 6 times trying to find something that would cut it off... no luck. I finally resorted to a saw. Then I took the wood bottom off of another bed and brought it into ella's room... and it was too big!!! Now I had no way to get the mattress on the frame and it was 7pm. I called my mom in tears and my Dad said, " I'll be right there with a box spring." They bought a new box spring, we put on the sheets, and finally put Ella down.
She did great. When she woke up she said," I slept in a big girl bed, like Lukie!" She even took a nap today with no problem. My baby is not a baby anymore. I did shed one tiny tear. Yet at the same time I was so proud of her and so happy.
Sorry to everyone I put out because of my need to do things immediately after a thought enters my mind. You are all the best!!!!! And I love you.

My favorite Author

When people discover that I am married to a writer, among other things, they immediately ask what sorts of things he writes. I can not accurately answer that question. I don't know where to start or really what to even say.
Dave recently posted on his blog a link to a story that was recently published in a great publication for experimental fiction. enjoy.
www.houndstoothnovel.blogspot.com

and his novel, Houndstooth, will be coming out in late Winter. I will be keeping you all posted so you can purchase a copy. It'll be well worth your $10. i promise.

Halloween night

We had a short but sweet night of Trick-or-Treating on Halloween.
The kids had a really hard day. especially Luke who quickly went from bad to worse. We ended up canceling other plans with Family to do something fast and mellow. We discovered later that Luke had some dairy, compliments of Mom's overlooking an ingredient. I felt terrible but also relieved that it wasn't just all for no reason. Anyhow, we went to the neighborhood that I grew up in and had a really great time.
After about 15 houses Luke looked up at me and said, "This is the last one Mommy. I think it's time for bed." I was having such a wonderful time watching the kids together that I even tried to convince him to go to a few more houses on the way back to the car. To which he replied, "I said im all done Mommy. Let's go home." Ella quickly jumped in with " Ella go more trick-or-treating!" So we hit a few more with her. Luke happily allowed it but insisted he stay behind.
We loved watching them and made some sweet memories.