Today I am dedicating a song to Bill for his birthday!
This one describes who we were in high school PERFECTLY:
Though we are both grown up now and working professionals.... I am still the nerdy geek and he is my all-star athlete.
I love you, Bill Rodgers. I am so happy you were born to make my life complete.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!! :-x
Last Sunday, I offered to have Elijah over for a playdate at Honey & Papa's house. I picked him up at 9:00 a.m. and we hung out for a bit on the back deck, blowing bubbles:
Then Bill came up with a FABULOUS idea! Why not take Elijah and Savannah to the park?
So we put Elijah in his carseat:
and Savannah on my lap and headed down to the local park on the Skagit River:
Bill was in charge of Savannah and he put her on a 30' training leash. Savannah is still a little scary to Elijah because she is FULL of puppy energy and is so excited to see him that she runs and jumps alot. I was in charge of Elijah, so we walked about 31' BEHIND Savannah & Bill along a trail:
The trail led to a little lazy inlet of the Skagit River:
It was SUCH a nice day that Savannah tried out her water legs:
Meanwhile, Elijah and I stopped to take a break (please know that I have Savannah's play balls in my shirt pouch pocket) and feel the warm river sand in our toes:
Elijah stooped over to feel the sand slip through his fingers:
In no time at all, it turned into this:
and
He shrieked! He flung sand everywhere! He was having SUCH a great time!!
and
and
and one more:
Savannah shook off her coat. I dusted sand off of Elijah. Then we went back on the trail and played on this wide open field:
and
(This time I had crackers in my pouch pocket--- so Elijah was having a couple.)
When we thought we had tired out our little "toddlers", we packed them up in the car and took them back to our house. We split up S & E and took them to two different bathrooms for a nice bath.
Savannah was shampooed by Bill:
While Elijah played in our other bathtub:
and
When both S & E were sparkling clean again, Elijah had another snack while he played with toys:
As for Savannah, she was DEFINITELY pooped out:
She was content to lay on my lap and share crackers with Elijah...
I think we are going to have to do this AGAIN. :)
Our little puppy has been a Rodgers for a month now. Honestly, it has been a TOTAL BLUR.
Our accomplishments:
1) She knows her name.
2) I think she knows the word "NO!".
3) She is learning how to "sit" on command.
4) She is wonderful to cuddle with.
Still in progress:
1) Potty training.
2) Sleeping through the night. (I seriously cannot remember what it feels like to get 8 hours of continuous sleep in one night.)
3) Learning what is okay to chew on (rawhide twists, rope toys, balls, bones) and what is NOT okay to chew on (shoes, chickens, underwear, my puppet collection, our bathrobes)
What is NOT going well:
1) Dragging me around with my bathrobe on:
2) She makes it hard to get any kind of housework done because she wants to attack my broom/vacuum/paper towels/wipes and/or get into the dishwasher and/or drag off socks from the dryer.
3) She leaves a bit of a mess sometimes. Here is her puppy pen before she gets in it:
and after:
AND...
she is growing like a weed! As of Monday this week, she had doubled her weight at 22 lbs.
We love the fact that she can fall asleep anywhere:
AND...
She is a little jealous of my baby chicks. When I walk by them and say,"How are you, sweet baby chicks? Cheep Cheep, cheep cheep"-- Savannah runs to the aquarium and races around it (making all of the babies run and flitter around and cheep in alarm). Then she plops down in front of the aquarium with her rear end thumping the glass. She is sassy and naughty at the same time.
I told her she has to be nice to our baby chicks...
In my head, they will become great friends one day.... Silly Savannah!
April is ALWAYS a crazy month for us with birthdays, our anniversary, Bill's Spring Break, sometimes Easter, and sometimes Mom's Weekend at WSU. This year was no exception. It fact, it was JACKED UP. Why?
Add a new puppy. Add a new state of sleep deprivation. Add a home construction project. Add new adventures with a one year old.
Oh. And add an unexpected event in which we were TOTALLY PUNKED.
Let me tell you how this happened... Jeremiah called Bill on a Sunday and said he needed a favor. He was going to pick up a friend who was arriving on a late flight at SeaTac the next evening-- would Bill drive with him so that he didn't fall asleep at the wheel? Of course. That is what family does.
Bill said he and Jeremiah talked all the way down to the airport. While Jeremiah ran into the baggage area to find his friend, Bill waited in the car. Only his "friend" turned out to be....
Nick Rodgers! He had flown into town without telling us, only his brother knew. In other words-- we were PUNKED by these two:
We couldn't believe it!
Bill brought Nick back to our house where he had his first meeting with Savannah:
And they woke me up to share the love/PUNK (I think it was 2 o'clock in the morning):
SURPRISE! We both had to work the next day-- due to the fact that we had NO IDEA he was coming. Bill called me and we made hurried plans to PUNK as many friends and family as possible in four short days.
We got my mom first. It was her birthday and we promised to treat her & Jesse to dinner at a fancy restaurant in town. I arrived first. My mom & Jesse walked in next and we chatted while we waited for Bill to show up. Jeremiah came around the corner unexpectedly and hugged his grandma to wish her a happy birthday! So I snapped a few pics while she looked so happy:
Bill pulled out his bigger camera and told us all to get together for another photo. Can you see Nick in the background? (heh heh heh)
While Bill snapped away, Nick jumped into the group and hugged his grandma & Jesse:
The look on her face: PRICELESS. She was most definitely PUNKED.
We enjoyed a very nice dinner together and I think my mom grinned from ear to ear the entire evening:
Bill was in the middle of a crazy week in his classroom as his students were giving presentations on individual projects they had been working on for some time. He had lined up parents, grandparents, educators and special guests for different days of the week to serve as judges for the student activity. He had invited his mom to "judge" on Thursday.... guess who else was a guest judge that day?
Nick Rodgers! Here is Nick entertaining his granny (after we PUNKED her):
Nick and Jeremiah stopped by one day to see me at work. Here is Nick & Jeremiah PUNKING pretty Estefania, who had NO IDEA Nick was in town:
We scheduled dinner dates with friends the next two nights. Here is Nick PUNKING Kris (Darin was surprised by Nick earlier that day):
Then we went out to dinner with our friend, Bryan, the next night. He had been PUNKED by Bill the previous day when Nick walked behind Bill right into Bryan's classroom while he was teaching science:
I have to admit it-- it was fun PUNKING all of our family & friends! Though no one wants to be PUNKED, we were sure glad that our family prank produced some unexpected time with our East Coast son.
We {heart} sons who just want to come home to see the family. :)
This morning I picked up Elijah for a few hours of play at Honey's House.
He has a new trick! When you ask Elijah to "show me your BEAUTIFUL eyes!", he does this:
As usual, it is simply adorable.
This was Elijah's second meeting with Savannah, the new puppy. They actually dropped by on Friday to see her and Savannah was passed from me to Rebecca to Angela. We stopped Elijah to see our new puppy (always cuddled on our laps) and he barely acknowledged her-- he was too busy looking in the Tupperware cupboard, checking on chicks, and hurriedly looking through all of the rooms to investigate his favorite places.
Today, Savannah was ready to play! Though she was smaller than Elijah, she ran after him, playfully pawed at his legs and even tried to grab his little hand. Elijah did NOT like that at all! So I spent 2.5 hours keeping a toddler busy and a puppy busy (and keeping them from close contact) AT THE SAME TIME. Whew! Bill said I was CRAZY setting up a double playdate...
I will not give up on my fantasy of Elijah and Savannah being future best friends... I made Elijah pet her a few times and give her a kiss good-bye. Someday he will love her puppy antics, I just know it!
Here is what she did after I took Elijah back home:
and
My silly babies....E & S.
Meet Savannah Liberty Rodgers:
She is 7 1/2 weeks old and simply ADORABLE:
She is soft and cuddly:
She needs a little doggie nap in between play sessions:
She gets pooped out after our friends & family come over to see her:
She won't be little forever! But right now, she doesn't mind being an occasional pillow:
b
We just want to love her and hold her and never let her go:
We have also realized that this time we are on our own. When Shadow was a puppy, we had 3 kids to: 1) help with the potty-training, 2) help with the clean-up of "accidents", and 3) help with all dog chores, and 4) sleep with the puppy every night. Bill and I have made a pact to do this together. It seems like we are on potty-training duty every 10-15 minutes (the more you go outside, the better!) and we let her sleep with us so she won't get lonely. Yes, that means potty duty all night long. And she likes to play after she comes back from going potty. Last night we took toys to bed with us so she could chew on them instead of our ears and fingers. Oh no....
Long story short: we are tired. But happy tired. :)
We both came down with a BAD case of puppy fever this week....
Sunday: For my birthday present, Bill let me pick out a new puppy. We arranged to pick her up on Friday!
Monday: Bill is on Spring Break. He called me at work at least 8 times to talk about the puppy, suggest names for the puppy, and brainstorm what we were going to have to do to prepare for a new puppy. On one phone call, he said he had a deal for me to consider. The deal: he would buy me another puppy from the same litter if he could name them 1) Question & Answer or 2) Sword & Shield or 3) Bonnie & Clyde. Though the offer WAS tempting.... I said no. The phone calls continued...
Tuesday: I had a half-day from work. We went shopping for puppy supplies. We bought: puppy chow, a new dog pillow, a pink collar, puppy toys, puppy treats (for training), puppy shampoo, and a flexible fencing set that you can arrange into a circle, rectangle, hexagon, etc. and create a moveable dog pen. Bill paced the house. He said, "Can we call the people and just pick her up EARLY?" He was sooo anxious to get her. So I called and left a message. And I think we both jumped out of our skins with excitement when Robby called us back and said we could:
Here she is! I wrapped her in a towel and she sat on my lap while we drove home in the darkness, smiling from ear to ear knowing we have a new little Rodgers to love.
Now that my mom lives in the same city-- this is the first time in a long time that we are able to celebrate our April birthdays together. I could tell last week that she was up to something...
And I was right! She planned a small surprise party for me last Sunday afternoon:
She asked Bill about my birthday cake from last year. I LOVE the decadent four-layer chocolate fudge cakes made by Costco. So she ordered one:
She also made my favorite birthday cake from my childhood, lemon with lemon frosting:
And she whipped up a third birthday dessert-- one that my dad invented when I was a kid, nicknamed "Super Duper Delight". It has layers of jello, vanilla wafers, bananas, pudding and whip cream:
Turns out that Elijah Rodgers was not only the only child present, but he was also the ENTERTAINMENT! He showed everyone all of his current 16-month old "tricks".... like jumping:
and
He lost his balance from all of that jumping and sprawled onto the floor. Then he showed off his amazing rolling ability:
He had our family laughing and exclaiming how adorable he was... so he continued his show with a little hide-n-seek:
and some singing:
We clapped and clapped and then the visiting continued, over birthday desserts.
With Elijah in my arms, I joked with Jeremiah:
While Bill chatted with our favorite daughter-in-law, Angela:
Both sets of parents were there, including Bill's mom and my mom swapping a recipe in the kitchen:
While my stepdad and Bill's stepdad conversed over cake & ice cream:
Angela's mom, Rebecca, was there to join in our celebration:
It makes me so happy to have Jeremiah living so close-- when he & Angela have been either out of state or out of country for the last eight years:
It was a fun party and my mom was tickled that she could "surprise" me. She loved playing hostess to our family and assorted guests.
Thanks, Mom, for loving me and for bringing me into the world on this day many years ago. I am blessed to have such a wonderful family and be where I am today.
Our friends, Kris & Darin, arrived at our house yesterday to join us for lunch:
Bill said he had a special surprise for me BEFORE we went out to lunch...
So we piled into Bill's car. And he drove north. He pulled into a long driveway.
At the end of the driveway was a house, with the garage door open. And inside the garage was a litter of .... sweet puppies!
There were six yellow lab puppies to choose from, all seven weeks old. We chatted with the owners. We said hello to the mother and father labradors who were running around, fetching balls and wagging tails. And then we petted, played with, cuddled and oohed and aahed over the six wiggly bodies.
Bill held this cute little girl:
He liked her cute little face... so he gave her to me:
She was sooooo cuddly...
Bill asked me if I would like her to be my birthday present... and then she licked me:
Bill said if she gave him a puppy kiss, she would be our new puppy... and she licked him too!
So, here she is.... the newest little Rodgers:
We pick her up on Friday!
I reluctantly put her down... and she joined her siblings (that is her sitting up):
And ...
I am counting down the minutes & days until Friday. :)
FASCINATION (def.): a state of captured interest or irresistable attraction.
I am fascinated with toddler Elijah Rodgers.
At sixteen months old, he is walking... talking (his own language)... and learning new things every day. Whether at his house or at our house, I observe him doing a million different things and I take mental notes. Have I really forgotten all about the lifestyle of a toddler?? Or is it Elijah?
To be honest, my early years as a mother are a bit of a blur. When Jeremiah was sixteen months old, I was a full-time stay-at-home mom-- trying to figure out how to raise a toddler and 2 dogs, cook and keep the house clean, and be a strong military wife while her husband (Bill) worked long hours, was out in the field and to/from a deployment. I was about to be pregnant (with Nick) and soon to be nauseous all the time.
When Nick was sixteen months old, I was still doing all of the above only I now had 2 toddlers to manage and keep on a decent schedule. Bill was still gone a lot of the time. I was also pregnant (with Natasha) and once again, nauseous all the time. I must have been exhausted.
When Natasha was sixteen months old, I was still doing all of the above only now Jeremiah was in kindergarten. Bill was out of the Army, but retraining for a new profession. I now had only 2 hands for 3 children, was still doing all of the cooking and cleaning, we still had 2 dogs and added a bunny rabbit, and I was trying to be organized by putting all of my housework chores into an index card filing system so I could keep track of what I did from day to day or week to week (example: when did I last wash all the windows?). I had no concept of time passing.... I probably was still exhausted.
So maybe it is me. Maybe I have forgotten.
BUT... last week I had Elijah over for 3 fun-filled hours of playtime at my house.
We did some familiar things, like looking at flashcards while having a snack:
(Right now, the "cars & trucks" card is his favorite.)
He played with kitchen utensils on the coffee table:
He likes my turkey baster:
I think he was trying to hide it:
"Should I put it here?"
"Or here?"
"Maybe I should tuck it here..."
We went outside to the backyard and watched chickens peck and scratch. We went outside to the front deck and experimented with bubbles. Elijah liked watching the bubbles. He tried to blow the bubbles, but got the soap all over his lips. So I gave him the bubble wand:
he used it for whacking and poking things:
We played "ball" with an orange:
We went to see if chickens were on the back deck:
We played with farm animals again:
And then, Elijah did something new. He came to me, grabbed my finger and wanted to show me something:
He wanted to go see the chickens.... again:
And my heart stopped for a split second. I was irresistably captivated by this little boy and his desire to get my attention...
He absolutely FASCINATES me. And during this stage in my life, I have all the time in the world to watch what a sixteen month old toddler is all about. I simply adore him.
I went to Costco last week and stopped to browse at the toddler clothing table...
I happen to LOVE Carter's 3-piece pajama sets, so I picked up this one:
This set was a NO BRAINER. Bill (a.k.a. Papa) collects elephants-- his collection is on exhibit in our family room. Therefore, it is only natural that Elijah should be wearing elephants. Duh! It went straight into my cart.
I kept on looking. And I saw this set:
Hellooooooo.... Jeremiah teases Elijah about being his little monkey. He makes the crazy monkey sound when he tickles Elijah. Therefore, Elijah should also be wearing monkeys. End of subject-- it jumped into my cart.
I continued looking.... what if there was a shark set or anything fishy? Not today. But then I saw this set:
Pullllleaze. Elijah looks out his living room window every day to watch cars, trucks, and schoolbuses go by. When you ask him what a car says-- he says, "Zoooom! Zooooooom!" Therefore, he would LOVE these pajamas as he could just look at those cute pants and see all of his favorite things. I am not stupid; I have a PhD. It went into my cart.
So how do I justify such impulsive buying behavior? Here are my reasons:
1) My name is Honey and Elijah is my grandson. I work hard. I have some extra dough. Of course, I will spend it on him.
2) Elijah is the first-born son of Jeremiah & Angela. It is hard to build your first child's wardrobe; where it is practical for your second & third kids to wear hand-me-downs. I am helping J & A with this problem by giving them two sets.
3) Elijah is now coming to our house for play dates. All mothers know it is inevitable for kids to spill food/throw up/have an accident while wearing ANY outfit, at ANY time of the day. That is why I am keeping one set of new pjs at our house.
End of raised eyebrows.... case closed. BRILLIANT!
For the record, I would wear ANY of these sets of pajamas if they made them in my size. Where are fun pjs for women? I spent an hour online the other night just Googling "animal pajamas for women" "ocean pajamas for women" (Yes, I would even wear SpongeBob Squarepants pjs!) "monkey pajamas for women". No luck. My search brought up 1) sexy pjs, 2) flannel pjs, 3) silky pjs or 4) just plain boring pjs.
Sigh! I wish Carter's would open up a new line for women.
I have a major case of pajama envy.
I picked up Elijah this morning.... we had a date!
It was his first time riding in Honey's car (a.k.a. Little Red Hot)...and in his new car seat. (J & A just upgraded his car seat from baby to toddler model and they bought one for my car.) Elijah looked out the window and even smiled while we drove to Honey's house.
We have established some regular activities, like looking outside to see if any chickens are around. Today we saw several chicks stopping by my deck doormat for a snack... Elijah was excited to see them! He tried to call them with what sounded like "chickachick!":
We looked at some new flashcards:
Today he tried to crawl onto the couch (I gave him a helping hand):
We practiced turning the light switch "on" and "off":
We looked at family pictures, while I pointed out all of the people he knows in our family:
I had "Dora the Explorer" on in the background (he danced during the opening song):
He is soooo smart! He knows that this is his water bottle at Honey's house:
Today's mid-morning snack was graham crackers:
He remembered which drawer in my scrapbooking room had those cute little paint bottles:
He played with magnets on the fridge:
After several play dates here, he remembers where all of the rooms are. He goes to check on the chickens often. He likes to open drawers and cupboards, but he closes them too. He puts things back in the same place where we got them. He likes to tap his toys or spatula or my scrapbooking things on the table to listen to the sounds they make. Today, our contractor & crew were sawing and pounding nails in our garage and he cocked his head to listen to this new sound. We peeked into the garage and waved at the man at the saw and then looked out the window to see Dave, our contractor, banging his hammer.
My favorite thing today: all of our conversations! Elijah is experimenting with his baby vocabulary and I just listen and respond as if I know exactly what he is talking about. Even though he is saying "dibadabbadub" -- I can hear his voice change as he ends it with a question mark.
I LOVE time with my little E. :)
Jeremiah brought Elijah to Honey's house today to play:
He really loves remote controls, both at our house and his own:
We found Cheez-its for his snack today:
He really wanted to play WOW (World of Warcraft) on Papa's computer but I said "no" and we moved onto something else:
He was playing "peek-a-boo" with Papa:
We spent the rest of the time walking from room to room (in search of kitties), looking outside (in search of chickens), opening and closing drawers in Honey's scrapbook room, reading books...
and choosing toys from Elijah's toy chest:
And then it was over. (sigh!)
So I hugged our beautiful Angela:
and waved good-bye until our next play session.
See you soon, cutie patootie!
Valentine's Day is approaching and once again, Bill & I are happily boycotting it...
What?! Boycotting V-Day? This is where we were a year ago and it holds my explanation for why we choose to go against the trend.
Instead, I will smile to myself and think about the man I love:
And this song by Colbie Calliet, called "I Do", sums it all up for me:
When I began dating him in high school, I fell in love and stopped thinking of me, myself & I -- I wanted us to be a couple .... to be TWO.
Three months after we were married, I found out I was pregnant and this meant we would become a FAMILY. I loved that concept and still do.
Now our 3 kids are grown and gone and we find ourselves happy again, being just TWO.
I think of us growing old together and I smile again. All because he made me say, "I do".
I love you, Bill Rodgers. I really, really, really do.
Yesterday, I spent part of my day entertaining two generations. I scheduled two playdates. Here was how the morning went...
We started out in my scrapbooking room, where Elijah found all kinds of interesting things by opening cupboards and drawers:
He found my paint stash, but no worries! The lids were on tight:
It was too rainy to play outside, so we peeked at my chickens from inside:
We played with other farm animals found inside his Fisher Price farm set:
We had snacks-- I originally put this bowl on my coffee table for him to "help himself", but instead he flung Cheerios & Cheez-its all over the floor! After we picked them all up, I decided I better ration them out:
Elijah likes his water bottle at my house... here he is hamming it up:
After a nice drink of water, he decided to give one of Bill's elephants kisses:
Yes, he found my container cupboard:
We played hide-n-seek:
He sat on my lap while I checked my email. We cleaned the sliding glass doors. We attempted to load the dishwasher. We read books. We picked up most of the messes. We followed Sierra the kitty around. Elijah spilled the kitty water bowl and then played in it. We cleaned that mess up too.
Bottom line: We had a REALLY FUN time! I can't wait to do it again.
After J & A picked up Elijah, I got ready for my next playdate... with my mom. I picked her up and we headed downtown for lunch at the Skagit Valley Food Co-op:
They have a wonderful deli inside, laden with all kinds of choices. We ordered custom sandwiches and dessert. I think my mom really enjoyed the experience:
We talked and talked and talked. We laughed alot.
Bottom line: I think she loved the special attention and the time spent together. I know we will do it again soon.
Truthfully, I was living in four generations yesterday-- I played with Elijah, chatted with Jeremiah & Angela, had lunch with my mom and dinner with my sweet Bill. I am lucky to have some of my family live so close and feel lucky to have these moments TOGETHER. :)
And *Poof!* they were gone...
We put Natasha on a train last Saturday:
And Nick left the next morning:
Life is very, very good.
Here are some funny moments captured during our Rodgers Taco Party...
1. J, A & E were some of the first guests to arrive. Elijah walked into my bedroom and kept me company in the bathroom while I changed for the party. He liked my lotion basket:
2. Sequence Shots: A) Nick is telling Jeremiah a story...
B) Which is soooo funny that they both start laughing...
C) Jeremiah has to look away to get it together. [I LOVE when the boys crack each other up!]
3. Natasha & Kris are showing off their curvalicious physiques:
4. Elijah bumped his face on the coffee table (poor Elijah!):
5. Where was I? In the kitchen chopping lettuce like crazy (I was the sous chef)! I did prepare the ice bag for Elijah's boo-boo though...
6. I honestly don't know whether Bill's dad was asleep or just blinking. Corrinne is rolling her eyeballs like he fell asleep during their conversation...
7. Sequence Shots: A) Jeremiah is in the kitchen entertaining Kris & Darin. Now Nick is laughing:
B) All of a sudden, Jeremiah is on the floor:
C) He must be telling one of his snowboarding stories from their weekend at Whistler...!
8. Meanwhile, Natasha is giving someone the signal from "Meet The Parents"-- (I'll be watching you):
9. Nick is back in the family room showing Bryan his new tattoo. Midge looks like she is either a) impressed or b) would not have done that herself...
10. I don't know what Kara was talking about... but it was "this big":
11. Elijah has his own toy box at Honey's house. While the bigger kids were playing with different toys, Elijah decided he would shut it down for awhile (heh heh)...
12. Sequence Shots: A) Natasha "crashed" my photo with Jonna:
B) After Natasha was invited to join the photo, Delaney snuck bunny ears into it:
C) That sneaky Delaney!
13. Delaney's little sister, Janna, hasn't learned those tricks yet:
14. We are used to Natasha's sass; maybe Bryan isn't:
15. As for Midge, I think she likes the sass:
16. Our Angela is sooooo lovely:
17. I think we are happiest when our kids are home:
It really was a GREAT party! :)
1. Invite a couple of celebrities to make a special appearance at your party.... like Nick & Natasha Rodgers:
2. Make sure the other Rodgers (Jeremiah, Angela & Elijah)(+ Rebecca, Angela's mom) come to the party-- pure entertainment!
3. Have a chef (a.k.a. Bill) cook for your party:
4. Make food that your guests will LOVE... like Bill's homemade tacos!
What do our friends think of Bill's tacos?
5. Make sure your chef keeps the food flowing [which Bill did, he made a total of 117 tacos that night]:
This is how many were left at the end of the party...
6. Have a photographer (a.k.a. Bill again) handy to document the party:
Add another photographer and you get twice as many party pics!
7. Invite your favorite family and friends over... like Tim, Midge, Delaney & Janna:
Corrinne & Loren:
Bill's mom and dad (unfortunately, my parentals couldn't come):
Kris & Darin:
Nate, Jonna, silly Mikiah & crazy Noah:
A few others made special appearances, like Kara:
And Bryan:
8. Mingle, Mingle... Mingle! [All Rodgers are pros at this one...]
and
and
and
and
and
and
and
9.When your party winds down, you can choose to either A) clean up or B) have a beverage or two. We chose (B):
Boo Yah!!
When your kids are all grown up, that is. We had a GREAT party!
While she was here, we went bowling.
We put on those cute bowling shoes:
We picked out our bowling balls:
For the record-- Bill is an excellent bowler. Natasha is in a bowling league back at Pullman. As for me... I am a nerd, NOT an athlete. So I usually SUCK at bowling.
We mulled over this information on the way to the bowling alley and agreed not to bowl competitively. Why? Because Bill & Natasha would WIPE ME OUT with their bowling scores. Instead we decided to bowl against ourselves, and whoever had the biggest improvement would win a prize.
I was up first:
Please don't judge me... I have no technique. Occasionally I wind up with gutter balls. And this camera angle makes me look like I gained an extra 10 bowling pounds (ugh!):
At least I TRY to bowl.
As for Natasha, she looks fabulous:
And has developed some cool moves:
And she giggles when she doesn't knock over her pin set:
She gets her fair share of strikes:
Along came Bill:
He just steps up to the line and makes it look sooooo easy:
He is left-handed and has some great moves:
And he gets strikes too:
So..... here are our scores for the first game:
I scored a nerdy, non-athletic 56. Natasha warmed up to a 96. And Bill ROCKED with a 133.
During the second game, I began to develop some technique! I was ACTUALLY hitting some pins!
Natasha was knocking over pins left and right:
As for Bill, he was still bowling like a pro:
Without further bowling drama-- here are our final scores:
That's right! I actually cleared 100! I almost doubled my score from the first game...
Which meant I was the winner!
However, my feelings about bowling have not changed. !@$@@$@ Bowling!
I picked up Natasha from the train station last week:
We picked up my mom and we went out to lunch:
We ate lunch at Olive Garden, which has our favorite lunch combo.... soup, salad & all-you-can-eat breadsticks (YUM!):
Both Natasha & I ordered the Zuppa Tuscana:
While my mom had the Minestrone:
Afterwards, we did a little shopping. We thought these were fun at Pier One:
So many choices.... which one looks best?
Hmmmm...
Ooh La Laaaaa!
Which one could I get the most use out of?
We thought we would buy a couple of masks since they were so lovely. But then we looked at the price tags and decided we should keep on walking (Yikes! They were $35-$65 each!)...
Oh well. We have fun just being together. :)
At the beginning of the month, I had such good intentions to blog my way through Christmas...
I set up my countdown to Christmas calendar on my fridge:
I put out my winter dishes:
I hung our stockings by the chimney with care (in hopes that St. Nicholas would soon appear):
These stockings are from Pottery Barn-- one for each member of the Rodgers family. Only this year, there is a new stocking in the line-up... can you see it? [Hint: It begins with "E".]
I finished knitting two scarves, one for Natasha and another for Angela (this one is Natasha's):
Angela brought Elijah to Hallmarkland so I could see his new NFL Colts jersey:
Elijah really liked those annoying Roffle monkeys:
soooo much that he gave one a kiss:
My favorite girls in the neighborhood (Janna & Delaney) brought me a sweet surprise:
They know that I LOVE homemade sugar cookies with frosting (yum, yum!):
I stopped by to see my Mom & Jesse, who were really excited about Christmas:
Bill & I went to our secret Christmas shopping destination (LaConner, WA):
on the hunt for some special gifts:
I prepared packages for Nick and Natasha, who were not going to be home for Christmas:
I finally did a little decorating for our upcoming Christmas Eve party...
I had a BRILLIANT idea to create this "A Christmas Story"-theme wreathe:
This tree is in my kitchen and is an ocean-theme (my favorite):
Sierra really didn't feel like participating:
We threw a pretty nice Christmas Eve party (and were exhausted afterwards)...
And on Christmas Day, we visited with Nick & his girlfriend via the new XBox Kinnect at J's house:
WOW! and WHEW! What a CRAZY month!
Have a safe and wonderful New Year's Eve!!
Today was the day that I have been waiting for ... for a LONG time.
Nick didn't make it home for Christmas. But he flew into town today for 10 fabulous days.
We haven't seen Nick since June. But another Rodgers has not seen Nick at all.
That would be Elijah Rodgers.
Our family has been joking about this first meeting and laid bets on what might happen. Would Elijah cry (due to stranger anxiety)? Would he be shy? Would he be serious? Nick said he was going to try to trick Elijah into thinking he was his dad. And this is where the betting gets serious-- because if you see Jeremiah and Nick together, at just the right angle, they could be twins.
Nick has almost fooled Angela before. He flew to Spain while on leave from his year deployment in Iraq. (Jeremiah & Angela were stationed at Rota, Spain.) He arrived in Spain with only a backpack-- Jeremiah told him not to worry about packing two weeks' worth of clothes because they wear the same size. So Jeremiah picked up Nick from the airport and Nick changed into Jeremiah's clothes while they lounged around. When Angela got home from work, Nick went to hug her and she almost kissed him -- she thought he was Jeremiah (due to the clothes)!!
This afternoon, we saw them pull into the driveway. We watched them get out of the car. When Nick walked inside, in front of Jeremiah, Elijah did a double-take:
It probably didn't help Elijah when Angela pointed and said, "Look! Two Daddies!"
Moments like this = priceless.
When Natasha came home for Thanksgiving, I asked Bill to do a photo shoot featuring our daughter. She has been living in Pullman since January. She is finishing her degree program at WSU and working full-time. She is soooo busy that we only hear from her every couple of weeks.
Sigh.
I miss her.
So Bill took a bunch of pics to make me happy. This is Natasha at 23.
and
and
and
and
I think she is stunning.
And I LOVE her. :)
I stopped by to see Toddler Elijah last week. I held him for a little while, then I put him down so we could play. For the next 1/2 hour, my visit was like Little Billie from the Family Circus cartoon strip when he went on one of his meandering paths:
I pulled out my camera and took Elijah's picture (I do that ALL THE TIME):
Then he took off walking, all over the house:
Every so often, I would sneak ahead of him and say "Boo!":
Then he would change direction and walk quickly into another room:
Sometimes he looked over his shoulder to see if I was still following him (of course I was!):
Just like Billie (from Family Circus), he made little loops and sometimes changed his mind on where he was going:
He was so tickled with himself!
We walked by Jeremiah, who had his headset on and was gaming in the family room, MANY times. Jeremiah said, "Keep it up, Mom! You'll wear him out for bedtime!" So we kept on walking:
During one of his loops through the kitchen, he stopped at their front door. He is now tall enough to peek outside... to look for Honey, to look for cars driving by, to see if Santa is coming?...
That is, when he stands on his tiptoes (isn't that ADORABLE??!!):
Silly Elijah! I had to head home for dinner, so I stopped him, hugged him and he gave me a kiss good-bye. I just LOVE that little boy. :)