Winter Break

The winter break has been filled with activities. Kenrick and Anthony have filled the days with noise and toys, Andrea and I have slept as much as possible while waiting anxiously for something more than a twinge and twitter from Sleeping Baby, and Grandpa and Grandma are doing what they do best - watching the boys, reading stories, and helping with the housework. We're glad to have them here.

I dug my Legos out and Kenrick and I put together the crane. Actually, he put it together, I just found the pieces.

While Grandpa and Anthony tackled a little more basic tractor model.


I snowed a bit just after Steve and JoAnne came. Kenrick built a snowman, complete with a carrot nose!



New snowball makers! They work surprisingly well.


Grandma supervised the construction of an impenatrable snow fort.

Grandpa and I took the boys over to Jack's for a little wet sledding while the snow lasted.

Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch...

Since the last couple of entries have been all about the appearance of baby, or rather the lack thereof, I thought I better throw in something to show that life goes on. As normal as ever anyway. Also, my first attempt at inserting a video clip. Here, the boys lost in their own little world a few weeks ago. (In double-time, in case you didn't notice)

Cool Your Jets, It's Not Time Yet.

Upon further examination, it seems that there's a hitch in the get-along. In spite of experiencing signs and wonders known to predict imminent explosion, the signs that really matter say no merging onto the express lane yet. One and still thick. (Husbands, ask your wives.) Andrea's hitting the stairs, walking the mall and doing laps around the living room, attempting jumping jacks, eating cookies. Generally feeling miserable.





On a brighter note, Grandpa and Grandma flew in yesterday. The kids have forgotten we exist.

Still Waiting...

For those of you who are anxiously waiting for news of a new addition, keep waiting. No baby yet. Andrea's getting some pretty good squeezes now and then, but so far nothing steady enough or urgent enough to head to the hospital. We'll give you a call as soon as we have something to call about.

Moving Day 2

This weekend marked a historic, long awaited day for Don and Leann, made possible by an epic effort from the Peoria Moving Crew. They closed on their new house on Friday afternoon and by Friday night the first of two truckloads of 'stuff' was parked in the driveway. Saturday brought a few inches of snow and many helpful hands (and backs) to unload, cross town to load again, then unload one more time. We were done by four. Here's some of the crew and the business end of a packed-solid second load, ready to head for it's new home.
Congratulations, Don and Leann, here's wishing you many happy years in your new home.

Intrepid Milestone

Last week we turned over 200,000 miles in the Intrepid. Here's proof.

It's still running strong, hopefully we can get another 30K or so out of it.

Last Belly Pic

Thought you would enjoy seeing one last belly picture before the big day. I'm not sure this really conveys the actual size or degree of misery but at this stage, pictures are few and far between.



Here's one with the boys. They are very excited for this little guy's 'birthday'.


Andrea's convinced that the baby will be born this week. She's showing some promising signs (besides feeling like a beached whale), so it may happen. We'll keep you posted.

Anthonyism #2

This afternoon the boys and I were driving around looking at snowy countryside when Kenrick said,


"My teacher likes the snow but doesn't like it when it gets really cold."


Anthony replied,


"But if it gets really cold, do you still like your teacher?"

Four Weeks and Counting

Well, there haven't been many pictures this week, but it has been a busy one. I've continued to work on our new bookshelves upstairs and about have them ready to paint, Andrea is still sorting and reorganizing and has the sewing room looking pretty good, and Kenrick and Anthony are as energetic as ever. A little snow storm rolled through today and left a couple of inches of white powdery stuff. Finally. The boys are thrilled and spent most of this afternoon making tracks in the back yard. And Andrea has hit the "this baby can't get any bigger or I'm going to pop" stage of her pregnancy. She's holding up admirably well, but has definitely slowed down in the last week or so. Only four weeks to go.