Happy All Hallows Eve

We spent the afternoon/evening over at my sister-in-law's house for costume photos and trick-or-treating with cousins O and Ro. We had at least 5 costume options, the penguin won by being the warmest (I'll post pictures of the other costumes soon). For those of you who visit both of our blogs, the same pictures are posted on Cab's site as well. :)

Here we've just gotten dressed in our costume. Quite possibly the world's cutest baby penguin.

Pictures with O (cheerleader) and Ro (baseball slugger)

O looooooves her cousin!

Loves her so much, she decided to shield Cab's eyes from the bright camera flashes. :)

O was a very convincing cheerleader. Before trick-or-treating she treated us all to one-armed summersaults (she has a cast on) and a very peppy cheer, "K-E-R-R-Y, Kerry! Kerry! Go Kerry!" Must make her mom very proud!

Here we are out in the neighborhood. We didn't start with a candy bucket...I would have felt pretty silly since any candy collected would be for ME. ;) One of the very sweet neighbors gave it to her!

She thought it was a very good and useful thing to have.

cutest. penguin. ever.

Happy Halloween everyone!

Healing the Culture

This is an awesome apostolate founded by Fr. Spitzer along with Camile Pauley and others. We had the privilege of attending their gala banquet on Saturday night (thanks again Julie!!). I also attended their conference last year, held in Bellevue. What an awesome group doing awesome work.

Check them out:

http://www.healingtheculture.com/

Okay, it's sticking!

For those that don't know yet, consider this your news bulletin. We are officially at 13 weeks of pregnancy. If you didn't notice the little baby gadget to the left...I'm the "Mommy". So, super excited. A little frightened when I think about the logistics of managing 2 babies 11 month apart, but God wouldn't give these blessings and leave me high and dry. I'm confident that He'll be showering our family with everything that we need. And just to be sure, I'm talking to His mom a lot. :)

Just had a doctor's appointment today. Heard the baby's heartbeat for the first time. Gave me goose-bumps. A strong 160 bpm. Yay! Everything looks good and we're officially in our 2nd trimester!

At the end of August (the 20-week mark) we'll likely be able to tell the baby's gender (yes, that's right, we're finding out. Don't worry, we'll be plenty surprised when they tell us...at the ultrasound. Then we'll be surprised and happy all over again when we get to meet the little guy or gal in person) and they'll do a 3-D ultrasound. Which is, seriously, one of the coolest things. You end up seeing your baby's face. No guessing if that black hole is an eye or just space. We're really looking forward to it!

The only lame-ish thing is that I have to switch OBs. For a lot of reasons, but mainly financial, we're opting for the Group Health plan at E's new job. I know, I know, there are commercials and billboards out there right now advertising that you can keep your doctors with GH now. Well, only if you have the "Options" plan and unfortunately that's not on the menu for us. C'est la vie. I'm not going to let it bother me too much at this point. The part that will bother me is giving up my thyroid doc. I think I'll still see him through the pregnancy and just count it as part of the cost. It's just too important to switch right now.

Okay, that about covers it then. I don't think this is a shocker for too many people out there. If it was, sorry about that...how do you think we felt? :)

Anywhodle, I'm off to try to sleep. It hasn't been the easiest thing for me lately.

Hope everyone had a nice Tuesday!

It's official!

Our new little miracle!

Born 2/6/09, 4lbs 8oz, 18 inches

Christmas Cheer!

Recently we spent a lovely evening catching up with friends at a good old fashioned gingerbread house party!

Some of the lovely friends

First things first, there were adorable babies present

Very adorable, and very new in this case

Our hostess, Kiki, had everything ready, including pre-cut walls and roof panels

and all of the fixin's to spruce up a home

No joke, this was CJ's fist taste of sugar...he was literally shaking and couldn't keep still

Ah, and then the competition began

That's my creation on the right, I ended up having to lighten the roof panels...in case you didn't know, necco wafers and spree are heavy

Here they are coming off

And here are a few shots of my finished creation, notice the architectural details, the skylight, marshmallow supports and licorice trim.

the pretzel rod and the unfortunate cookie-man are actually supporting the roof and wall...hey you use what you've got

home, sweet home

and here was one of the competition...mid-century trailer...or a purse, you decide.

Jet noise, the sound of freedom!

The sound of the jets has always been the thing that i've missed most about living on an Air Force Base.

We got a lovely invitation from some of our favorite people to cruise out to Lake Washington to watch the Blue Angels air show. This was a first for us. We've seen the show from Leschi, but never from the water. I still can't believe how many boats were out there. I also can't believe the seeming lack of decency and all common sense that was on display. Teens and twenty-somethings out in boats with friends unaccompanied...where are these parents. How in the world could any parent say, "Sure not-yet or barely legal daughter, take the boat out by yourself. Oh, sure go ahead and go to the air show. Don't forget to bring your bad-influence friends. One more thing, here are some thimbles and dental floss, wouldn't want you to end up with awful tan lines. And be sure to talk to strangers!" I mean, really.

With all of the boats on the water, it was the choppiest we've ever experienced the lake. Unfortunately, the combination of a beer on an empty stomach, very choppy water, and very strong diesel fumes proved to be the perfect storm for my tummy. Too bad for me that the storm struck just as the Angels were starting the show. So, I stayed in the cabin and tried not to toss my cookies. But, E ended up taking some awesome shots. Don't feel bad for me. With a dad who was a 25-year veteran I saw my fair share of air shows, with the Thunderbirds, the Air Force version of the Blue Angels.

Look at all the boats!! Oh yeah, and there's a jet flying by...really, really fast and loud.

This just made us laugh. I love it when people are funny. In case it's not clear, these two boats are the Labrador and the Retriever. :)

What is Seafair anyway?

Among other things, Seafair is a celebration of Seattle's rich sea-faring history. The event culminates during the last couple of weeks with the Torchlight Parade, hydro races, and an air show by the US Navy Blue Angels. Another happening is Fleet Week. Military ships sail into the sound, dock at one of the piers, and allow the public to take tours. Pretty cool. It's a lot like the air shows of my childhood. There were always lots of planes and jets that you were allowed to climb in and check out. The boat pictures below were taken from the conference room at my office. I'd have gotten better pictures, but I was stuck in a meeting.

Here are two of the military ships coming into port. The one in the lead is a Destroyer and the other one is called a Transport ship.

Here is a closer image of the Transport ship. Whenever they bring the Navy ships into port all of the sailors line the deck and stand at attention. Neato.

I had to include this one, Lake Sammamish at sunset. (sigh) Too bad our "summer" is rapidly coming to a close. :(