3 day weekend...lots of friends

Casey and Los
All together before a good meal
Casey and Erica...after a few margaritas
The "Men" discussing deep things

Last Thursday night/Friday morning, our dear friends Casey and Carlos (along with another friend of theirs, Erica), showed up for a great weekend of sight-seeing, sharing meals, and re-connecting with people we haven't seen in three years! We hit Middleton Plantation (hmmm...anyone see a pattern to where we take visitors?!), the Charleston Waterfront area, had a great Japanese meal and a great "Adam's famous hamburgers on the grill" meal...it was a good time for all. Here are a few pictures. The highlight of the weekend with them included Friday night when Casey took Elise up to bed and they prayed together. We were listening via the baby monitor and heard, "Miss Casey, Mr Carlos, Miss Erica, Gus, hair, books, Mommy, Daddy, Ainsley,..." it was precious to hear Casey then praying for Elise as she grows up, etc... Also, when we were downtown on Saturday, Elise insisted on putting the Baby Bjorn on herself and putting her favorite stuffed animal Doggy IN IT as she walked around downtown....it was hilarious! Casey took a picture, so I'll post that sometime when she sends it to me. That area of Charleston is just GORGEOUS to walk around and people watch, look at old homes, architecture, etc...it was cool.

5 Day Forecast...

After just getting a lot of rain from Hurricane Gustav, we're really starting to brace ourselves for TS/Hurricane HANNA. It's crazy how there are three named storms all brewing together in the Atlantic right now. We're REALLY hoping that our roof on the house in Jax holds tight. (We just learned over the weekend that it's "significantly leaking"....hmmm...not great timing!). Adam is traveling for a couple days, so he called to tell me to start mentally prepping to leave the house and head up to stay with friends in NC. So, we're looking around the house at what we'd grab and run with, if necessary. Things like our wedding album, computer, a few important books, ...is my latte machine considered "essential"?!
Wouldn't it be nice if, in life, we could always see a "5 Day Cone of prediction"?! I mean, to know a "storm" was coming would be so helpful. To be aware of the need to store up some energy, water, batteries, etc...in the thought that there was imminent turmoil in the forecast could be nice. Although I guess that would take out a lot of the joy of life, too. Faith and trust in God wouldn't be as necessary. So, I guess it wouldn't be such a great thing after all... I'd rather follow God and experience all the joy, expectation, challenges, etc...that come with that. That answers my own question I guess. I'd choose God. Although, some days a little peek at the forecast would be nice, too!

Crustaceans con't...

After a few days of observing Jing Jr and Doc, I think that the original Hermit Crab was sickly from day 1. These two little guys are so active, they're eating and drinking like crazy, and Elise is so in love with them. When we get them out to play, they literally RUN across the kitchen floor...unless Elise is crowding them. Then they get scared and "jump into their shells" as Elise reminds me. She's adorable. Here are a couple pics of the pets and one of Elise sitting on a chair watching them. FYI- I know, I know, her hair is a riot! She'd had pigtails in earlier in the day, took a GREAT nap, and then this is the result- "post-pigtail-bedhead". not her best look....

R.I.P. JING

I guess today we entered into the throngs of parents who have substituted a "look alike" pet for a recently deceased one. Yep, after only 10 days in our possession, JING is no longer living. Elise wanted to play with her earlier, so I took her out of the cage to put her on the floor and the carcass just kind of FELL out of the shell. I caught it before Elise noticed and shoved it back inside. I put her on the kitchen floor like nothing was wrong. We watched her for a few minutes and I said, "Well, Elise, I think Jing is really tired today." She responded, "Yep, she so tired, Mommy. Put her back in cage to go night-night." Gladly. I called Adam (on his drive home from being in Florida for a few days) and told him to stop at Petsmart on his way in. He did and the "New" Jing was in the cage when elise woke up from her nap. We explained it as "you change clothes everyday, sometimes Hermit Crabs change their shells. That's what Jing did. She just put a new shell on today." That satisfied her and kept us from going into the whole death/heaven/God discussion that really didn't seem necessary when dealing with a hermit crab we'd only known for a week. Also, my dad sent us a link to 'hermitcrabs.com' which said they're social animals, so Adam got Jing a little sister. (one for Elise and a little one for Ainsley!). Elise, totally on her own, named the new one "Doc."(?)

Another Pet in our house....

Some of you may remember Lucy (aka "Woosy") the Hermit Crab we 'pet-sat' a few weeks back. Elise loved that thing and when the friends came back from vacation, they had (Surprise!) a hermit crab for Elise to have of her own. There could be worse things, I know, so we accepted it and now have to deal with another creature in this house. In thinking of a name for this little crustacean, we kept suggesting different options to Elise, "Hermie", "Herbie", "Crabbie", "Crawley", "Pinchy", "Shell", and a few others were asked, but she said "Nope" to all of them. Keep in mind this was 2 weeks ago. We were watching the Olympics- and Elise especially loved the Platform Diving. She was stoked each time it was on and it was so cute, she would watch the dive, say "oooohhhh...Good Bob" ("Good Job"), clap enthusiastically, and then ask for "more?". That was a side note. The night before she kept repeating the name of one of the top Chinese female divers. "Gwo Gwo Jing Jing" as Elise called her. So, I offered one more name option, "Elise, how about 'Guo Jing Jing' for your Hermit Crab?". Her response, "Ok, Mommy and Daddy, we call her Jing". There you go. "Jing" is our new Hermit Crab. She smells a little but it's still cute.
The Diver, not the Crab

"Because I Said So"

Elise was in rare (but HORRIBLE) form earlier this evening. She played games, sang, laughed her way through her nap this afternoon, so she was sooo over-tired by the time dinner and bedtime came around. She was melting-down at every.little.thing. It was funny, sad, and pitiful at the same time. poor thing. But then...POOR US. She was a mess. She was throwing a fit in the playroom b/c I asked her to put some toys away. She started crying over it. I kept my calm for a minute or so, then gave her one last warning. Adam was standing on the other side of the room watching. I finally snapped an obnoxious singing "Old McDonald" toy away from her, put it in the toy box, and forcefully closed the lid, emphasizing "Mommy said No More Playing Now". As the lid closed, it hit the button and "Old McDonald had a farm..." started up. I opened the lid quickly and tried to stop it. I closed the lid again immediately and the song started again...AUGH! Totally foiled in my plan to look tough, Adam was cracking up across the room, and I had to hunch over so Elise couldn't see me laugh. That didn't work, either. With NO HELP from Adam, mind you, I couldn't stop laughing. Elise caught onto our laughter and started giggling. The moment was lost. No discipline from Mommy (or Daddy) on that one. Maybe next time. Did that stuff ever happen to our parents? It must have.

Singin' in the Rain

So, I've blogged about it at least once already, but Elise LOVES running around in the rain. If it's raining outside, she'll usually ask if we can go and dance/play/run in it. It's fun that she enjoys it so much and I love letting her be "free" in that- not to worry about being dirty, sloppy, etc...she'll have time for that the rest of her life! With Tropical Storm Fay's influence, we're getting some nice rain around here...we were playing outside this afternoon and a storm hit QUICK. Elise asked if she could stay in the rain since we were already outside, I said "Sure". She spun and spun and laughed the whole time...she used her favorite Babydoll and was practicing her "Ring Around the Rosy" that neighbor Kristina taught her. She and Babydoll had a blast and I caught a few shots , too...



Ok, is that left leg Broken!?! How is it pointing that way?
simple joy