Saturday Already?

Yesterday I learned that my family in good ol' Warshington does not read my blog. This is not right. I want you to know that I expect you to read it faithfully and look at the pictures of your adorable granddaughter/niece/cousin.

Those of you who do read faithfully and, even better, leave comments: you are my favorite!

The Specktacular family left on Thursday. We had a nice time with you guys! Thanks for coming to Jersey! Good luck on teaching Warshingtonians to call the turnpike the "pike". So not gonna happen ... :)

I don't have anything else to blog about today. Besides, I have to clean the bathroom, fold laundry, make my bed, exchange the Boogie's summer wardrobe for a warmer one, and get my lesson ready for tomorrow. Also it's a perfectly beautiful day so I'm hoping to get a walk in at some point.

Specktacular Fun

Yesterday DH worked a half-day and we drove out to Point Pleasant. We visited Jenkinson's Aquarium and saw all kinds of great ocean life, walked on the vacant boardwalk, ate lunch, and went wading. It was a really great day! I made a slideshow but once again can't embed the code, so click here to see it.

Right before we left, the Boogie was sitting quietly on a bench next to DH when she suddenly fell forward off of it landing right on her face on the boardwalk. We still don't know what happened. My only guess is that she was leaning forward to look at something. She scraped up her face pretty badly, got a big lump on her forehead, and quickly developed the fattest fat lip that I've seen in a long time. Poor baby ... what a way to end the day!

Did You Know?

That clicking on the pictures I post will enlarge them so you can see them in all their glory? I especially love the picture at the shore where the Boogie and Furry are walking hand-in-hand away from me. I think I will print and frame it.

I have neglected my posting. Furry left on Tuesday. I was sad and cried. Thankfully DH left work an hour early so he could go to the airport with us so I wouldn't have to be sad all by myself. The next couple of days I spent at work and getting the apartment ready for the Specktacular family. They arrived in Philadelphia at exactly midnight, gathered their luggage, and I picked them up. By the time we got home and I got into bed it was 2 am ... however I am unable to go right to sleep after driving. I have to unwind. Plus the Boogie has been moved into our room and I'm not used to hearing her sleeping noises. So I didn't go to sleep until nearly 3, got up at 4 with DH, went back to bed after he left for work but didn't doze off till 5 ... THEN at 7:23 the lawn maintenance people showed up! They have come early in the morning several times over the summer. This was the final straw. They weren't just mowing and weed-eating. Oh, no. They pulled out their noisy gas-powered hedge trimmers and proceeded to trim all the bushes right below our windows for an hour and a half. Naturally it woke up the babies so Mrs. Specktacular and I just got up. I did complain to our apartment manager and asked if we could request that the lawn people not start until after 8:00. She said she would. I still think 8 is a little early for residential lawn maintenance but not unreasonable. Needless to say we were all a little foggy through-out the day. Mrs. Specktacular and I napped when our babies did.

Last night we had a girls night out! MIL, SIL2, SIL3, Mrs. Specktacular and I drove to Philly to see "State Fair". It was really fun! I love musicals. We sat all the way at the top of the nose-bleed section but we could see and hear everything just fine. At $10 a ticket we had no complaints.

Poor Mr. Specktacular woke up this morning with an ear infection so DH is taking him and Mrs. Specktacular to a walk-in clinic right now. I am hanging out with the Boogie and Miss Specktacular. The Boogie is having a hard time adjusting to our new company. Mr. Specktacular is particularly scary to her for some reason. Also she is very territorial and to have to share all of her toys all of the time is somewhat disconcerting. She's doing better today than she did yesterday so I'm hoping that time will do the trick.

Time to do some touch-up cleaning while everyone is gone and both girls are awake. The apartment gets dirtier faster with twice the number of people here!

Long Beach Island

Today we took a little drive out to the shore. We walked around Barnegat Lighthouse and found a beach where the Boogie experienced sand and surf. I think these pictures of her with her uncle are sweet.
This is not a shore picture, but it's the first time that she saw the camera, said "cheese" and posed!

Happy Birthday!

Dear Eric,

Today is your birthday! I remember the first birthday you celebrated after we met -- you were here and I was in Washington and I wanted so badly to be able to spend it with you. Thankfully we've been together for each birthday since then.

I love you so much. I am so thankful that God has given you to me. There is no doubt in my mind that God planned for us to be together! You complete me and complement me the way no one else can. Watching you be a father to our sweet little girl warms my heart. When you come home from work and she runs to you saying "Daddy," well, it just makes me happy all over.

I hope that you have a really great day today. And just in case you may have forgotten for a few minutes ... you are my favorite! :)

OXOX

-Rachel

It's That Time Again

Nursery schedule time. It comes at the end of every month. I have put it off as long as possible. It has to be handed out at church tonight. I enjoy being the nursery coordinator and I don't really mind doing the schedule, but lately there are some other things that are starting to concern me. I will not blog about them. I will, however, have a meeting of nursery workers soon. That is all I am going to say about that.

Yesterday was the annual fall fest in our little town. It was tres, tres ... lame. It was so lame that we didn't even bother to attend it. On our street there is always a car show. Cars didn't start showing up for it until about 9:30 and when we got home at 1:00 every single one of them was gone. All six of them. Or thereabouts.

Last night we had the R family and SIL3 over for pizza. DH set up the projector and the Rs brought over their xBox and everyone played Halo for several hours. Later on more friends and relatives appeared and our apartment was full up once again. It's fun to have a bigger place where we can actually entertain folks without sitting in each other's laps.

The Boogie will not nap today. She slept in the car for about 30 minutes on the way home from church this morning. I've tried twice to put her down but she refuses to sleep. This means that she will either 1.) Fall asleep on our way to church tonight and be crabby in the nursery, or 2.) Not fall asleep on the way to church but still be crabby in the nursery. Either way I have a feeling I will be sitting out of the service tonight.

Enough stalling. Time to start scheduling.

NYC

DH and I took Furry to New York City today. We drove up to Staten Island and took the ferry across to Manhattan. We visited Battery Park; wandered through Wall Street where we witnessed a silent protest and riot squads ready for anything to erupt; took the subway uptown to Times Square; browsed through the Hershey and M&Ms stores and the NBC gift shop; saw Rockefeller Center, Central Park, and Columbus Circle; braved the crowds in Grand Central Terminal; attempted to go up in the Empire State Building but were discouraged by the doorman who said we wouldn't be able to see anything; counted 15 Starbucks! It was a really great time, despite the damp and sometimes drizzly weather. There just isn't anywhere quite like NYC ...

I made a slideshow but am unable to embed the code, so click here to see it!

Fun With Furry

Yesterday was a lovely fall day. We went for a walk and after dinner went miniature golfing and had gelati from Rita's. It was great! Today we are having lunch with DH then going shopping for his birthday presents since he is turning 26 next Monday.

Just For The Record

In reference to an earlier post, I want you all to know that I do not pee and brush my teeth at the same time. But I believe that it is possible.

Furry slept on my couch for a long time yesterday afternoon. I finally had to wake him up because I was afraid he wouldn't be able to sleep at all last night. We had dinner and then BIL1/SIL1, the LCs, and the R family came upstairs for brownies and ice cream. Amidst the madness another family from church stopped by so we had lots of people in our apartment! It was crowded and loud and growing increasingly warmer for a few minutes there ... but it was fun. :)

The Boogie was shy around her Uncle Furry for a little bit but she soon warmed up. He's asleep in her room right now and it's all I can do to keep her out of there. I guess maybe I should feed her some breakfast. Maybe she keeps going in there because she thinks that he'll give her food. Poor little neglected thing!

Uncle Furry ...

... is here! I am excruciatingly happy. :D He is, as I type, fast asleep on the couch. I think it was a loooong flight. We are going to have a wonderful week!