There will be no regifting here...

shout out to brigita!!! got an edible edna bouquet of fruit as a gift to welcome baby j to the family. here are a few pix - check out the fruitless sticks in front of t-man - needless to say the gift was a huge hit that the whole family can enjoy (albeit indirectly for baby j).

I will survive...

Welcome Baby J!

she was born a week ago on october 1, 2008 at 8:21 am in a relatively fast (we did make it to the hospital in time for me to check in this time) and painful (no epidural - what was i thinking????) manner.

little miss k loves kissing her constantly and t-man has been very sweet as well (although he did order up a brother when he visited us at the hospital).

my parents left monday morning and hubby is at work today, so i am on my own with a preschooler, a toddler, and a newborn. i'll somehow make it through today - even if it means that the kids end up watching hours of tv...

Mountains, mountains, mountains everywhere...

and because of that there is no gas to spare?

(due to the hurricane shutting down some refineries in texas, there is NO gas here. all the gas stations have plastic bags over their pumps. people are waiting 3 hours for gas if they find a station with any. people are following the few tanker trucks in the area from the highway into the gas station. it is crazy - i feel like i am living in the seventies.)

How 'bout them apples?

Took the kids apple picking on Sunday - it was GREAT!

growing up my parents would take my sister and i when we lived in massachusetts. i remember always wanting to sit on my dad's shoulders to reach the apples up on top. when j moved to boston, we started going each fall and it was an activity that i've always envisioned being a family tradition. last fall in CA was the first year in over a decade that we didn't go - and i missed it so. i missed getting sick on eating too many apples, i missed the fresh cold apple cider, i missed the hot cider donuts, i missed the hayride, etc. well i am thrilled to report that last year was a blip - we're back on track!

and best of all, the location here was gorgeous!!! it was a farm up on the mountain side - i can only imagine what it will look like in a few weeks with more leaves changing color...

soweee!

so today i witnessed my first ever pig race (i can't believe i just typed that). i went to the state fair with the kids (j is out of town for a wedding) - saw alot of livestock, hit a few rides, and watched pig races with a small goat and a duck race to boot. the ducks were pretty funny to watch since they waddle (like me these days) but the best were the newbie pigs race. one pig stopped in the middle of the race to take a piss. the other pigs stopped and politely waited until the first pig was done - then they continued their race. classic.

Diaper duty

what do you do if you accidentally wash a pull up in the washing machine? i've got gel like particles floating all over the clothes now...

A good sign...

so i arrived here with the kids 3 weeks and 2 days ago and i know i have to catch people up on how everything is going - but i just briefly have to fast forward to today because i know the ND gang will truly appreciate this. little miss k and i went to the grocery store this morning and as i was pulling out of my parking space at 11:47 am on a wednesday, a young clean cut preppy guy walked out of the store carrying only a case of WBL.* i think i'm going to like it here!

*aka warm busch light