Internet, glorious internet!

I am so pleased that we have internet again! I have been putting up pictures on the website since noon. It's great to have our phone and email back again. Hopefully we won't be so out of touch now.

So...what's new...we are still fighting off a few bugs here and there. I found a large cockroach hiding on the computer desk this morning, but it managed to escape while I was trying to kill it...and now I don't know where it is (so my chair is as far away as possible while I type this, and I'm not shuffling any more papers!)

Kids are doing well. Rebecca rolled over again today. I put her on her back, and she can roll over on her tummy but can't get her arm out from under her. Then she rolled back over onto her back because she doesn't like having that arm stuck under her. When I do place her on her tummy, she wiggles around so much she can get right off the blanket. She can also do that while on her back. She arches her back, lifts her bum up and uses her feet to push herself around. And of course, she continues to smile and just be generally cute.

Jesse...he is learning so much these days. He uses words often, and even knows what they mean. For a while he would just repeat whatever we said, but now he actually uses words to talk. It's pretty cool. He finds the microwave popcorn in the pantry and will bring it to me and say "puh-corn". Sometimes when he drops something he will say, "oh man!" He will point at the cup of pens and say, "color." He will take a drink of milk from the fridge and exclaim, "cold!" with his eyebrows raised. He knows Rebecca's name and calls her "Becca". I think he has even said, "Becca, quiet" before, just like he would tell Tim (the Coghlin's dog) to be quiet in Calgary. And of course he knows the words, "blankie, soother and Tigger" as they are all part of his nap/nightime routine. I can't believe it's almost his birthday again, and that he will be two! That's crazy!!

Enjoy the new pictures and videos on the dropshots site. Hopefully there will be a steadier stream of them now that we are back home and have our internet back.

Jesse's phone conversation

I almost forgot...Jesse has this play cell phone he likes to "talk" on. Well, the other day he picked it up and dialed a number. They he said, "Hi. How are you? Bye." Isn't that hilarious! He did it multiple times in a row too. It still amazes me what they pick up from by just observing what we do everyday...

Still no internet connection...

I am currently borrowing someone's internet connection, so I will just write a brief note (and it's also way past my bedtime...) Our phone and internet should be connected on the 28th, I can't wait. A week without internet or phone is hard!

We are still dealing with a few bugs here and there. I think I only saw three cockroaches today, and managed to kill one. We have some in our microwave. I killed one, but there is at least one more in there that I can't get to. Every once in a while I see him in the clock/number display area. He hangs out for a bit, and then walks away. The Terminex guy said they like it cause it's warm, moist and has bits of food. He also said that he would just get a new microwave. Mike wanted to take ours apart, but you need a special screwdriver. I suppose that's to stop just anyone from taking it apart. Anyway, I was using it the other day and I heard popping noises and then the light bulb blew. It was at that moment that I decided not to use it anymore. It just grosses me out to think about dead cockroach fumes floating around my food. Anyway, we had the Terminex guy come and spray. He said that it takes about a week and a half to work, so we will probably still see the odd bug. And sure enough, I did see some today. It's interesting though...I went from being afraid of them to being angry at them and killing any one of them I can get (they are really fast!) Sure, they still kind of creep me out, but the hatred toward them is definitely stronger that the fear. I still see the occasional spider, and beetle too. Oh and crickets. We have crickets too. I guess from all the moist weather we have been getting. Crickets don't really scare me, but they do startle me sometimes, like when they get in clothes or blankets that were on the ground (or in a suitcase on the ground).

Enough about the bugs...I don't want nightmares tonite! I'm sure glad Jesse and Rebecca are too young to care, although I sure wish Jesse didn't want to eat the bugs...

So our mold problem appears to have been fixed. Hopefully we won't have any more issues with it again. Other than all that, life is pretty normal here. It's hot and windy. The kids and I spend our days indoors. We do need to get up to ACU and walk around the path though.

Anyway, I need to get to bed. I spend way too long on Facebook tonite already! I promise to add pictures to the Dropshots site when we have our internet set up.

Three Days and All Is Well

Three days…we managed to make the trip from Bengough to Abilene in three days. With lots of stops at parks and McDonalds playplaces along the way of course. Sure, we had a few cranky spells along the way, but all things considered, the kids traveled exceptionally well. We learned a few things too…like don’t give Jesse macaroni salad to eat while we drive! Rebecca added her fair share of laughs to the journey too. One morning, I had just fed and diapered her before we left. She was in her carseat, all ready to go, and she pooped. So, she came out of the seat and I changed her while Mike took a load down to the van with Jesse. Just as Mike came back through the door she pooped again (it had been about 5-10 minutes since the last explosion). So, out of her seat she came again. Mike flipped on the TV to watch for a few minutes. We waited about 10 more minutes before changing her again. Luckily three dirty diapers seemed to be it, so we managed to get going about 20 minutes after we first were ready to go. We had a pretty good laugh over the whole ordeal.

When we got to Texas, we could sure tell…if by nothing else, by the temperature. It was over 80 by 9:30 am, and 100F when we stopped for lunch. But, it didn’t deter Jesse from playing outside for a while. So, we arrived safe and sound in Abilene on Sunday night – relieved to be here, but also disappointed in several things. When we first walked in our apartment, we noticed a strange smell…we had mold growing on the walls in two rooms! We also discovered several species of bugs living in our house, including spiders, carpet bugs and cockroaches. Nice, eh? The mold has since been cleaned up, and we see less and less bugs everyday. Jesse did try eating a cockroach though (at least we assumed he did…the dead bug was there one minute, and the next time I turned around Jesse was spitting something out and the bug was gone. I did find the head later, placed on the table by Jesse I assume). I guess some pretty crazy stuff happened the week before we arrived back. First there was a water usage ban, then there was a boil water advisory, and the day we arrived the river and lake had overflowed (courtesy of the hurricane storm) and flooded the downtown. It was so bad, church was cancelled. I never realized that the hurricanes could affect us was up here, but apparently the storm can travel pretty far inland dumping lots of rain.

So…things have been pretty exciting since we have gotten back. We still have boxes packed from when we moved (I guess that’s what happens when you have a baby a few days after you move!) Plus, we are still unpacking from the summer. Lots of work to be done. We are still working on getting our internet connection up and running, which is why there are no pictures up recently. We will try to keep you all posted!

My favorite picture of the week...

Jesse was leaning up against the grill around the firebox...it just makes me smile every time I see this picture! (Melissa, what does this remind you of??)

Anyway, we have had a busy week. On Saturday, Mike and I got to leave the kids here with John and Brenda, and we traveled out to Banff for the afternoon to celebrate our fifth anniversary (which actually isn't until the 10th). We ate at Melissa's Bar & Grill, which was one of the places we ate on our honeymoon. Then we bought some fudge from the Gondola gift shop. And, then we drove out to Morraine Lake and spent some time canoeing. I love that lake, it is so pretty. It was a good day and we enjoyed the time together.

We have had some special friends visiting here in Calgary. Alex and Natasha, and their two girls Yulia and Marina, were in town. They used to live here a couple of years ago (originally from Russia). Then they moved to Holland, and just recently moved to Australia. They have hopes of moving back to Canada in a couple more years. They are such wonderful people. Back when they lived in Calgary, they invited us (John, Brenda, Dan, Mike and I) over for dinner. Natasha cooked us a Russian meal, and it was delicious. That was the first time I had ever put sour cream in my soup, but it tasted great! So, last night, Natasha came and prepared another meal for us to enjoy. We had the same soup (tasted just as great as I remembered) and a yummy salad. Jesse loved the food, but I think he liked playing with the girls even more! Yulia is such a smart little girl. I think she is 7, and she already speaks several languages. When she speaks English she almost sounds British. I listened in on part of a conversation she was having with John, and she was explaining about why it was hotter closer to the equator, and why the bigger the city the hotter it was...she knew all sorts of stuff I'm pretty sure I didn't know when I was 7!! Anyway, it was fun to have them around.

So it's almost time for us to leave Calgary. On Saturday we head for Bengough. We have to be back in Abilene on the 19th, so we will only be in Bengough for a few days. I sure am looking forward to seeing all the family there again one more time before we head south.

Fun in the city...

We got to go to Calaway Park on Sunday afternoon (Jesse, Mike, John and myself that is). It was fun. Jesse rode a few rides, played in the ball pit, and cried when he saw Mike and I on the rollercoaster. I can't wait until Jesse is a little bit older and can ride more of the rides. When we were getting ready to leave for the park, Brenda stood at the door and pretended to cry (like Jesse does when she leaves). Jesse looked back at here, held out his hand and said, "Come!" It was so cute.

I think we must have been eating a lot of waffles this summer. This morning we were going to share some, I took the syrup out of the cupboard and handed it to Jesse to carry to the table. He took it and said, 'syrup." It amazes me how many words he can say (most he does understand, sometimes he just repeats what you said). Anyway, speaking of waffles...here is a recipe for some very delicious ones!

Pumpkin Walnut Waffles
3 1/2 cups milk
1 1/4 cups canned pumpkin
3/4 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs, lightly beaten
4 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 Tablespoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts

Place the milk, pumpkin, oil and eggs in a bowl. Stir until smooth. Place flour in a large bowl. Crumble the brown sugar to remove any lumps. Add the flour along with the baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Stir to blend. Add the liquid ingredients and whisk until smooth. Let batter rest for 5 minutes before using.


One day we made a double batch to freeze. Then just pop them in the toaster to reheat! Yummy!!