Last night, the four of us headed to our new favorite park for a walk around the lake. We had a great time and got in some good exercise. We had just gotten back to the playground to let the boys play for a bit when a guy walked up to us and said, "Do you guys drive a Toyota Corolla?" That's never a good thing...
Well, he informed us that it had been broken into, so we headed back down the path to the parking lot. The front passenger side window had been smashed, and they grabbed my diaper bag, which included my wallet, phone, and camera (and some dirty old Kleenex. Ha!). Lovely. They had gotten into another car and stolen her bags as well. So, we talked to the cops, then waited around while they hunted in the woods for our stuff. They found my diaper bag and checkbook, and all the stuff from the other lady (they had just taken her cash) but my wallet, phone, and camera are still gone. They also found the bat they used to bust the windows. Then the forensics guy came and took pictures, then bagged it all up and took it back to the station.
So now we have to replace our window, my phone, and another camera. Some of you may know we have very bad "luck" with cameras - I think this will be number seven in the four and a half years we've been married... Maybe we should just switch to disposables.
Anyway, we're thankful that it's just our window that was ruined, I had just emptied all the pictures off our camera, and I had no cash in my wallet. Maybe we should put a sign in our car that says POOR SEMINARY STUDENTS to prevent this from happening again...
On Saturday morning, Izaak gave me one of my favorite surprises - he had taken the day off! I love it when he does this, and Saturday was especially happy for me because I was planning on going to the Neptune Festival with the Coston's, and was wishing he could come along too. So we packed up and headed off to the beach for a fun day.
Family shot
Waiting for the parade
The kiddos
The winning sand sculpture
Finishing the day off with some yummy custard
So worn out
Messy and happy
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...and I finally get to say it: my little man, Eli Bryce, has cut his first tooth! I can't see it, but I can feel it. And I know it's there.
Honestly, never did I expect him to be so late, although he's late with everything else, so why not? But at the sweet young age of four months, I could have sworn he was already getting in gear: drooling, fingers in the mouth, painful crying. All the classic symptoms. Turned out the painful crying was always because of his poor little ears, but that's another story.
Anyway, eight months old came and went, which is when Shiloh got his first tooth, and so did twelve months and fifteen months. At his twelve month appointment, his pediatrician warned us that if we didn't see any by fifteen months they would have to check him out. Well, those three months flew right by and not a single tooth, and no sign of any either. So about two weeks ago we took him for bloodwork, to be sure it wasn't caused by some weird disease - I have no idea even what those diseases were. Yesterday morning the pediatrician called to say everything in the bloodwork looked great (Shiloh's cholesterol too, which they also had to check), and x-rays were the next step at eighteen months if we still didn't have any action going on in there.
Well, yesterday Eli woke up from his nap starving as usual, so we shared a protein bar, a gift from my hubby to try to get this little baby in me to start growing. I let Eli lick some chocolate off my finger and froze. Then unfroze, sure it had to just be a crumb. But nope! Wonder of wonders, there it is - an itty bitty sharp spot where his bottom front left tooth should be! I had the windows open and there were some kids outside riding their bikes who must have thought I was crazy - who cares about a tooth? Let me tell ya, sixteen months and three days is long enough to make a big deal.
So we called Daddy and the grandmas and baked some cookies to celebrate. My baby is growing up.
...baseball can be sort of fun.
That's right. I said boring. I grew up watching hockey, what can I say? Although I do enjoy actually going to baseball games, I have to be honest, it's mostly for the night out, the food, and the atmosphere. Not so much to actually watch. 
Anyway, before I hurt any feelings, I'll get to the point: Izaak's boss had some great tickets for the Norfolk Tides game Saturday night. And since he had other plans, passed them on to us. It was a fun surprise for the boys - the seats were about 5 rows up from the visitor's dugout. Shiloh loved everything - the lights, the music, the funnel cakes, oh, and a little baseball too. Eli had more fun climbing Mommy and flirting with the lady behind us, but fun nonetheless. He got a little nervous when a guy wearing blow-up crab costume ate one of the players, but other than that, no tears...
This is the face we get when we tell Eli to smile...
...and this is what we get from Shiloh. Will they grow out of this?!?
And here they are getting excited (probably about the funnel cake)
It's a cool, rainy day, which I've been hoping for. Perfect for some Josh Groban, good books, and soup. I grew up on homemade bread and soup, and it's one of my favorite things to eat and make. It's also one of the things I miss during the summer. We decided it sounded good for lunch, so I thought I'd share one of our new favorites:
Tomato, Cheese and Bread Soup
8 ounces crusty Sourdough croutons
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
9 garlic cloves, minced
3 large onions, finely chopped
8 cups chicken stock or low-salt chicken broth
2 28oz cans peeled plum tomatoes, drained and crushed
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Parmesan Reggiano rind (optional)
1/4 cup thinly sliced fresh basil leaves (for garnish)
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese shavings
1/4 cup freshly grated Asiago cheese
Heat olive oil in heavy large pot over medium heat. Add onions and saute until very tender, about 25 minutes. Add minced garlic and cook 1 minute. Add chicken stock, crushed tomatoes, cheeses and cheese rind. Simmer soup uncovered 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Season to taste with salt and pepper. For smoother texture, puree in blender or food processor before serving.
Ladle soup into bowls. Add croutons, torn basil, and Parmesan cheese shavings just before serving.
I use whatever cheese I have on hand and make my own croutons with whatever leftover bread I have in the fridge. Just cut it up, drizzle with olive oil, add salt and spices if you want, and bake at 350 until they're golden and crunchy, 25 minutes or so.
Yum! Sorry, no pictures. We ate it before we could get the camera out! :)
So on Wednesday night the boys and I went over and invaded Auntie Sue's quiet little evening. We were there till the daddys got home from work, so Shiloh didn't get to bed until about 10:30. Izaak was tucking him in and they started talking about Judas and the Last Supper and Jesus' death. Izaak talked about how Jesus didn't stay dead, but rose again and now he's in heaven building a big house for us, so they started talking about heaven. Shiloh said, "Daddy, I want to go to heaven." So Izaak started asking him all those important questions about why Jesus had to die, and Shiloh knew all the answers. Then they prayed.
I'm honestly not really sure exactly how much Shiloh understands - he still seems so young to me, although I remember vividly having the same talk with my Mom at 3 1/2. But it was such an encouragement to us to know he's learning and at least beginning to understand a little bit about salvation. Now I'm just waiting to see the fruit... :)
Then last night I had this conversation with Shiloh that ended with a funny comment about our baby. We were talking about how Grandmama went to pick up Grandma-Great and bring her back to her house.
Shi: "Where's Grandma-Great's daddy?"
Me: "Well, he's probably in heaven."
Shi: "Why?"
Me: "Well he passed away a while ago."
Shi: "Passed away? Why?"
Me: "Well, when we get old, we die."
Shi: "Am I getting old?"
Me: "Well, we're growing older, but we're still pretty young. You're still a little boy."
Shi: "Yeah, but I'm getting bigger. And when I get big I'm gonna sleep somewhere else."
Me: "Oh? Where?"
Shi: "Outside."
Me: "Really? What about up in the top bunk so Eli can sleep down in this one."
Shi: "Oh right. That's a good idea. Who's going to sleep in Eli's crib?"
Me: "Who do you think?"
Shi: "The new baby." (with a big grin)
Me: "That's right. Are you excited?"
Shi: "Man, we still have to wait a really long time for the baby."
Me: "Yeah, we do."
Shi: "Mom, when the baby gets big, is it gonna just pop right out?"
Um...well, I wish it was that simple... :)
Our big boy turned 3 on July 12, and I'm just now getting around to posting something. We had the usual aunts and uncles over, as well as "uncle" Chris. Shiloh asked for a football cake, so that's what he got. His big gift from us was a scooter (which I have zero pics of); I can't believe he's so grown up!
Cool rollerskates from Chris & Kristen
He thought his pool was a box full of kids... Ha!
Testing out his car from Seth & Bethany
Well, OK. Probably not really. I am finally getting around to making my official blog announcement that baby number three is well on it's way! I still think to myself "are you kidding me?" at least a few times a week, or whenever I actually remember that I'm pregnant (which usually happens when I'm choosing an outfit since my rear-end is suddenly existent rather than non). I'm almost 16 weeks, and feeling fine, other than the usual passing out problem that I'm used to by now since I'm on #3 (I know, WHAT?!?) :) This time around is so different, probably because I already have two little rugrats running around, but I'm not nearly as conscious of this pregnancy as I have been in the past. I'm sure once I start showing and he starts kicking around I'll be more aware. And yes, I said "he." I'm convinced it's another boy, and honestly don't care either way. I would love to have a girl someday, but I also LOVE being a mommy to boys, so I'll be happy no matter what the little munchkin turns out to be. So far I've been able to be a normal preggie - no bedrest - and Lord willing, that won't change. "Chances" are good everything will be fine this time around, and I'm anxious to get to my 20 week ultrasound to find out; that's when they found the problems with Eli. Anyway, we're excited and looking forward to meeting the little peanut sometime around 2/2/10. Now, to start shopping for a bigger car...
I am attempting to update my poor deprived blog with our happenings from the past couple months (which I began with my last post) but it's been pretty low on the priority list. Mostly because ever since we got our computer back from the computer hospital (after being out of the loop for 3 WEEKS!!!) I could only get online in Eli's room because our wireless connection also decided to get sick. But as of this morning we are back in business. Ahhh.
So...I had all these wonderful plans to post about all the fun things we've been doing the past several months, and I'm still going to try. I'll try to skip over the cute everyday stuff and just hit the hightlights. :) Here goes...
The last weekend in June we drove down to Raleigh to visit my best friend from college, Melanie, and her husband Chad. It was SO good to see them. Chad's a firefighter, and he took us down to the fire station and gave the boys free reign of one of the big ladder trucks and answered all of the 2 million questions Shiloh asked. It was a good time. Thanks, Chad & Mel!
Well, we totally bought into the new trend sweeping our nation - the Staycation! Ryan, Adrian, Nolan, and Cy (Izaak's brother and his family) came to hang out for almost a week at the beginning of June. Shiloh and Nolan are 15 months apart, and Cy and Eli are 3 months apart. We all had a blast! Unfortunately it was not a good week for the beach, so we had to settle for other things. So we took the boys (yes, all of them) to see UP, which was super cute, spent an afternoon at the aquarium, and did manage to take a walk on the boardwalk and hit the beach one afternoon in spite of the cold and clouds. 
good times!
