Well...

I've been slacking big time! I can't promise I'll blog more, but I will promise to TRY to make more time for it.

A little excitement for the evening

(DaddyBoi's first post, yea like 7 yrs later... I know it's shameful.)

The setup: I had just arrived home from work today much earlier than usual, around 4:30 PM and we were out in the garage talking as I was getting something out of the rafters.

Ali: Honey is that smoke?

Adam: It's probably just a BBQ

- a few minutes later -

Ali: I don't think that's a BBQ honey.

Adam: *sniff* no, that's not a BBQ.

Adam: Get the keys for the back gate and my phone!

And there was running...

And then a quick chat with a 911 dispatcher...

And there was some banging on the neighbor's door... thankfully nobody home.

Then there was a big red truck (E23 from Station 108), and the brave men in yellow coats began to do what they do so well...

Soon they were joined the good 'ol *whump whump* of a Huey, as Metro Copter 2 made a pass, then off to snorkel up a river nearby...

About 10 min later the *whump thump* returned, and there was water falling from the sky to join with the ash and smoke...

And then finally... that most poignant of aroma's... well soaked, smoldering ground.

** To the punk kids who figured that a grass fire in the dry scrub oak nestled in residential neighborhood was "fun," I wish that you may reap the benefits from many of life's lessons in an unfortunate way.

Anti-social

We needed the kids to record a new message for the answering machine. We asked them what they wanted to say.

"We're not here so hang up."

They are so their father's children.

Love is...

The kids have been arguing all morning, so I sent them each to their rooms for a time out. Owen came out a few minutes later to see if they could play. I told them they couldn't come out until they could love each other. He came running back after another few minutes to say, "We did everything that is love."

What??

He said, "We did everything that is love. We did this (eskimo kisses), we hugged, we bumped bellies, and we high fived."

What are we, a football team?

Tortuga @ 6.5 weeks

Our boy is FIVE!

Happy Happy 5th birthday to our baby!

Owen was born on a Monday, the day after Father's Day. I had a doctor's appointment that day, and I was 41 weeks, 1 day pregnant. I'd gone 9 days overdue with Lauren and I was at the end of my rope being 8 days overdue with Owen. My mom and Lauren had come to the appointment with me. While waiting in the waiting room I realized I was having contractions. They hooked me up to a machine to time the contractions. So, of course, they stopped. My doctor told me to go home, but I'd been through it before and I ignored his advice and crossed the parking lot to the hospital. Women's intuition! I called Adam and told him to hit the road and join me. My mom waited for him to get there, then she headed home with Lauren.

The nurses told me to walk the halls for an hour so they could process the paperwork. I lasted 45 minutes, and by the time the nurse checked me, it was go time. The took us to a room and as I laid down in the bed my water broke. Instead of trying to clean it up, we just moved to an empty room across the hall.

My local family was all at the hospital by this time: Adam (of course!), Lauren, my mom and dad, my brother and Talia, my aunts and an uncle. We knew it was a boy, and labor was obviously moving fast, so everyone was excited to meet the little guy. Adam and my parents were in the room with me, and my mom was pacing around, nervous. The anesthesiologist rushed in, literally, to do the epidural and my mom went out to the waiting room, not wanting to watch. Adam said that anesthesiologist was working fast, ripping packages open and that things were flying everywhere.

A few minutes later, after he was done, my dad went out to the waiting room to get my mom. He announced to my family, "She had it." He meant the epidural. The nervous Noni exclaimed, "She had it?? The baby? Already?" My dad said, "The epidural." My mother, in disbelief, says, "It's a GIRL?!?!" And they say hearing loss isn't hereditary! That story never gets old.

Once Owen was born, everyone joined us in my room. We were all talking, you know Italians. I was just staring at him, memorizing his face. He was wide awake, and he had the biggest eyes. He reminded of Squirt on Finding Nemo.

I told everyone, "I hate to say this about my baby, but he looks just like a turtle." My brother said, "I was thinking the exact same thing, but I didn't want to say it!" We called him Tortuga, spanish for turtle, for quite a while after that!

Duck, Duct, Goose

Owen found a roll of duct tape in the house that Adam had just brought in from the garage. "Mama, what are we going to use this goose tape for?"

Once again, playing catch up

It's a good way for me to spend a rainy June day! Make sure you scroll down to see all the new posts. Some even jump below a few of the older posts, so don't miss any.

Rainy June Saturday

We've spent our day coloring,

playing dress up,

(a hippie Hawaiian cowgirl witch with Mario hands)

and learning about rainbows and prisms.

Owen-ism

"Mama, my foot just fell asleep and it's tinkeling."