Doc and Jing..

Earlier this week, we had to say "goodbye" to our two little hermit crabs that I've blogged about several times. Pretty funny story...
On Sunday, Adam had to leave for a few days of house-hunting in VA. Elise was looking closely at her Hermit Crab cage and made some comment about, "Mommy, you need to clean their cage, it smells like yucky poopy.". I half-listened to her and responded that I'd clean it later that day...no big deal. After the girls went to bed, I went over to the cage to clean it and realized it smelled WAY WORSE than just "yucky poopy"...it smelled like rotting, decomposed crustaceans. Both of them. I don't know how/why, but they were both dead. Gross. So I just went to bed and left them there- what's one more day, right!?
On Monday during naptime, I disposed of the bodies, cage, rocks, etc...that's just not worth saving (even for cheapskate ME!). I then spent 1/2 of naptime figuring out how I was going to explain to Elise the details of life/death/cycle of living things/heaven/God/etc...we talk often about God and Heaven, but she's never personally dealt with anyone she "knows" (pet or human) dying. Ants and mosquitos don't count...So, I talked to some friends and family, got some good ideas on how to "break the news" to her, how to explain death a little, etc...and went to get her up early from nap. Here's how it went:

"Elise, can we talk for a few minutes about something serious?"
"Sure, mommy."
"Sometime today, sweetie, Doc and Jing died and went to heaven."
"They did?"
"Yes, they're gone now and in Heaven with God."

...then, I waited for the great theological discussion that would follow. I was pretty excited about it, actually. I couldn't wait to begin talking deeper with her about God, Jesus, life, etc...
Her next reply:

"Ok, can I go potty now?".

And that was it.

SURPRISE!

I'm seriously HUGE!

I was so blessed on Sunday by friends Allyson and Jean throwing me a surprise Baby Shower! I had written off the idea of a baby shower for this soon-to-arrive little boy, after all, it's our third kid, we have tons of "gender neutral" stuff anyway, and we don't have any family living around here to orchestrate something like that...but, Jean and Allyson came through in a huge way!! It was such a fun afternoon and I felt totally 'showered' by love, friendship, and best wishes for our family.
Adam was in on the whole thing and outright lied to me several times that day (He always says, "I'm a lawyer, I've been trained to lie"...great...). I was in dirty clothes and had been doing yard work earlier in the day when Jean came over to get my opinion on something....I should've seen right through her. I followed her across the street to her house and was pleasantly shocked to see five good friends sitting around, blue balloons and streamers everywhere, a festive pile of presents, and yummy mexican food! They allowed me to run back home and change into something cute and throw on some deodorant and perfume (which I'm sure EVERYONE appreciated!) and the party started. Jean even had planned on Elise coming over to be at the party with the "big girls" and she LOVED it! It was a wonderful afternoon and I couldn't have asked for more! It was such a blessing.
Now, let's just hope this boy arrives sooner than later...I've past 36 weeks now, we'll be moving in about 6 weeks, and I'm starting to get REALLY uncomfortable in this heat!

Elise and Kristina were my 'gift opening helpers'. =)

They had fun burying Jean while we were cleaning up at the end.

Allyson knows how to bribe my kids! One cupcake=best friends for life.

Elise was so precious, too.

p.s. One of the games we played involved a roll of Toilet paper and people each tearing off a strip of TP to guesstimate how big-around my belly is these days. Most people were fairly accurate as they tore off between 10 and 13 sheets each. I think 11 was perfect to circumnavigate the tummy.


THEN, Adam came over at the end and we were telling him about the game. He looked down at a single sheet and ESTIMATED that it would take TWENTY SHEETS to surround me!!! WHAT!?! 20!?! Seriously?! So, we actually pulled out 20 sheets worth and it fully circled BOTH of us standing side-by-side! Of all people, you'd think MY HUSBAND would be fairly accurate in guessing the length around me, but, NO. He guessed 20 and this is the picture of us holding it all up! Hilarious.

Trains, Bdays, Nana...what a trip!

At Busch Gardens


Two weeks ago, Elise and Adam took a little "adventure" together. We realized not too long ago, that we hadn't been to Florida to visit his mom since Elise was about 6 months old. Since I'm too pregnant to travel that far these days, we thought it could be a fun for them to take a "daddy/daughter" trip together. We also made sure it would be a surprise for his mom! Amanda organized all kinds of details so the fun was maximized and "Nana" was totally shocked!
Elise and Adam decided to take Amtrak there (about 8 hours), and that ended up being a great choice. Elise LOVED the adventure of a train-ride, she wasn't strapped into a 5-pt harness carseat for a whole day, Adam got some work done and didn't have to drive all day...it was really cool. She STILL talks about it most days...the food on the train, the cool seats, the train horn, etc. Since I'm not a fan of 'unknown adventures', this was the perfect trip for Adam to test-drive for our family...maybe we'll do it again someday. (only bummer is that we had to get Elise up at 3:45 AM to get to the train station...she recovered by that night, but was looking a little ragged on the train!)

The actual time in Florida was perfect. They surprised Nana at work, spent a LOT of time at her pool, went to Busch Gardens one day (BTW-Active Duty military are FREE at Busch Gardens right now...YAY for military discounts!!!), had a fun Bday party for Nana, saw Elise's great-grandma, and ate lots of cake, ice cream, and other "special treats". =) Elise can't keep a secret...
Elise eating "Dippin' Dots". 100 degrees in south Florida in July

Elise, Nana, and Nana's best friend Brenda...coloring book time.

At Busch Gardens...waiting for the Log ride going overhead...waiting...
It's getting closer...."Daddy said it would be a little wet"!
Yikes! More water than she thought!

Overall, it was a great 5 days for them, Elise was WORN OUT for days when she returned! Ainsley and I had a good week, too. IT was SOOO QUIET around here without a chatty 3 year old, but we had a lot of fun. Trying to savor some 'down time' before baby boy is born (this month!!!), we move to VA, and life gets really crazy!

the family whirlwind, continues...

Sorry these pics are a little late, but I forgot to upload them before Adam took the camera to Florida for a week. =) oops. My brother Kelly was in town for a college friend's wedding (total coincidence), so he lengthened his stay by a few days so he could spend some time with us! It was a great time with him here, but we always wish visitors could stay longer. It's funny that Kelly, being the almost-34 year old single guy in the family, is absolutely GREAT with the 3.5 and 1.5 yr old girls. It surprises me every time (maybe I just don't learn so quickly!) how at ease he is with little kiddos and they LOVE him, too. He jumped right into coloring in the princess coloring books, 'babysitting' baby dolls, reading bedtime stories, and helping me out with sippy cups, pool-time, etc... We did spend one day at the Aquarium downtown, but I didn't even take the camera...just too much chaos at events like that. I 'm pretty sure he had fun at the Aquarium, but it's never a calm or relaxing trip! We even managed to squeeze in a 20 minute drive through the downtown historic district while the girls were eating lunch in the car. It was a great couple days, just unfortunately only a few pictures to show for it. =)

Another day...and more princesses!

In the "Castle"

A great deal on Craigslist last week (WE LOVE CRAIGSLIST!!!) brought 5 extra "dress up" outfits to our house (for just $5 TOTAL!!) and the girls couldn't be happier! 4 were actual princess dresses, but one was a leftover "dance recital" outfit from a 6 year old. Adam would NEVER ALLOW one of our girls to wear this outfit in public for any type of recital. However, I think it was adorable and ELISE was actually STRUTTING while wearing it. She thought she was so cool. We'll just have her wear it inside for now, I guess. They had a blast wearing the new dress up clothes, though. We had a tea party, built a "castle" under the table, had a dance party in the kitchen, and giggled a whole lot. =) I love my girls. (btw-I did wash all the outfits on HOT to disinfect them, just in case you were wondering...since they were used and I didn't know the people.)


This was the dance party in the recital outfit...I love that Elise was TOTALLY performing for Ainsley, who was in HEAVEN watching her big sister...Ainsley's smile was amazing.

This was her first outfit and she thought she was so cool...open mid-section and all...

I love when family visits!

We have a few more pics from when my (Erica) brother Paul and sis-in-law Jen were visiting over July 4th weekend. Although United Airlines lost Jen's luggage for a day or so, she was a great sport about borrowing stuff and dealing well with the inconvenience. =) She's so great. Jen has also made a LIFELONG friend in Elise b/c she brought the greatest princess dress ever. You'd think it was actually made of gold the way Elise talks about it, wears it with the utmost care, and the way her eyes just LIGHT UP when it's just in the same room...I'm not kidding, either. Here are a few other pictures form the weekend in general and especially of Elise in the dress. (Another GREAT gift they brought was a "make your own princess crown" craft kit...so that's the explanation for the crowns they're both wearing. =) We've played Princess dress-up at least 4 times in the last 10 days, too...that's been fun. Enjoy.

Paul with a happy "Normal Ainsley"

Paul with the alter-ego "Drama Queen Ainsley"

Another great visit!

Two weeks ago, my (Erica) brother/sister-in-law Paul and Jen were able to visit us for about5 4 days and we all enjoyed it so much! On July 3rd, we borrowed our friends' speedboat for a great day out on the water. Once again, the girls LOVED it! I think Paul and Jen enjoyed it a bunch too. Coming off their faster=paced city life, I think it was a little shock to them to be in our total "Suburban way of life". (I'm not sure why that part is underlined, but I can't seem to un-do it. I'm not trying to emphasize anything in particular.)
Anyway, the time on the boat was great. The weather was perfect, water was nice and calm for most of the trip, we stopped at a cool dockside restaurant for lunch and air conditioning, drove (do you say "drove" when you're talking about a boat? floated, pulled up?) to Ft. Sumter which was cool. It was just a great day overall...we loved spending time with them and SOO wish Chicago was closer!
More pics and stories later about their trip...

Elise rockin' the pigtails!
Ft. Sumter...smaller than I thought it would be.
Ainsley driving the boat with Daddy
Elise was the photographer for a few shots, too...here's Uncle Paul
Elise spent a lot of time on Jen's lap...it was cute.