Here's Michelle with her ribbon!

The ladies at the beginning of the day. From the left is baby Madison (who was a trouper the whole time!), Sarah Wise, Mom Rawlins, Stephanie Bean (my super friend from the ward...I totally love her), and me.

What you can't see in this picture is the funnel cake. Oh the funnel cake...Steph, wanna go back next month for more? And don't you love the huge cowboy hat behind us. Gotta love Texas!

At the end of the day with all of our goodies. That's Abby Hobson in the pink shirt and Michelle Fowers over on the right...

Last Saturday I got a girls day out and went to Canton, in East Texas. Since most of you haven't heard of it, it's (I think) the largest flea market in North America. It's huge. It's amazing. And it's a great way to spend a Saturday. I rounded up my girlfriends and mother-in-law and we had a spectacular time. Michelle, who makes customized baby items, was in heaven upon arriving and finding an entire tent dedicated to millions of yards of ribbon. The girl went positively wild. Stephanie found a great antique child's chair that she walked away from twice before going back and buying it. Abby, Sarah and I were all at the jewelry booth in the bargain bin, and we found some great deals! And this was all in the first 10 minutes! So that set a great tone for the day. We all found candles, home crafts and jewelry and random other goodies. Mom Rawlins always gets good smelling sprays and stuff for the house. And let's not forget the 18 pounds of food I put away! I had the single best BLT I've ever eaten. Then a little later on me and Stephanie split the best funnel cake ever created, followed DIRECTLY by the best soft-serve ice cream cone (I could only eat half because it was so rich...and if you know me, you know I don't believe in throwing away ice cream or chocolate, so it was serious stuff).

So, if you're ever planning a visit to see me, make sure it is on the first weekend of the month. We'll go to Canton. It will change your life.

For all the mommies in the hiz-ouse. AMEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (I promise at some point I will stop posting youtube videos...really).

There's not actually a picture to go with this post and it makes me upset. I wish I had my camera with me at all times, but alas, I'm a forgetter. Anyway, this afternoon I was out running errands with the boys and it was getting close to dinner time. I got this great idea to call Chase and see if he would meet me at a restaurant, thinking he would say no let's just eat at home (I really do appreciate his super frugal-ness...). Anyway, he surprised me by saying yes and that he would meet me there in 45 minutes. Sweet! We pick Pei Wei's, which for those who don't know is a P.F. Chang restaurant but it's more fast-food style. For the boys we ordered a teryaki chicken and rice bowl for them to split, since neither can be bothered with food in a public place where there is endless utensils and napkins to throw on the floor. Well we get our table and Chase and the food arrives and Chase breaks out the chopsticks while I'm getting the boys food ready. Miles refuses to eat. He's TOTALLY grumpy and doing everything he can to show us. I try everything, thinking he's just really hungry and he'll feel better when he gets the chicken and rice in his tummy. As a last resort I figure he's not going to eat and I give him a pair of unbroken chopsticks to play with while we eat our meal. Bingo. Immediately Miles starts diving after the chicken with them! He was ticked off the whole time because mommy and daddy are using chopsticks and he doesn't have them!!! Unfortunately Miles has a long way to go before his fine motor skills are ready for chopsticks, so the food wasn't getting from his plate to his mouth and he was getting frustrated again. This is where super-dad comes to the rescue. Since the chopsticks were unbroken, that is, connected at the bottom still, Chase just picked up some chicken and wedged it between the top of the chopsticks. Perfect! Miles was so happy to be "eating" with chopsticks! He loved it the whole time and it was honestly one of the funniest things I've ever seen. Cam, of course, saw what was going on and had to do the same thing. By the time we left those boys had eaten more food than I've ever seen them eat at a restaurant! I guess it's just all about having the right utensils!
Other funny (okay, it's funny now, but wasn't at the time) thing that happened today was during "quiet time." Miles was napping and Cam was supposed to be in his room for quiet time. I was on the couch trying to alleviate my constant exhaustion. At some point I heard Cam sneak out of his room and into the kitchen. I thought he was just going to steal some goldfishies and eat them very quietly at the table until caught. I was fine with this because it wasn't worth getting up over. Or so I thought. A few minutes later Cam walks up and puts his face in mine and breathes all over me, saying, 'Mommy, look what I got!" In his hand is the lid to his VITAMINS!!!!!!!!!!! He had gotten them open and was chowing down! I immediately go into super-freakout mode. If you've ever read children's vitamins there is a very scary warning about iron poisoning being one of the major causes of fatality in children under 6. So I start dialing my pediatrician who tells me to call poison control. I dumped out the bottle and started counting what was left in there. luckily I bought it last week so I had a good idea how many should be in there. I concluded that he had had 6 or less and told the PC guy that. He puts me on hold for a long time, and all the while I'm frantically CLEANING MY KITCHEN because I'm afraid the ambulance people are going to show up and see the dishes in the sink and conclude that yes, I am in fact a bad mother. And all the while I'm having flash-backs of the famous Scott the Sudafed Sucker story (that includes a lot of vomitting and stomach pumping on the part of Scott). Nightmare! So after forever the guy gets back on and tells me he'll be okay. Just give him some liquids to dilute it and watch for nausea. Phew! We're grateful that was all that happened. And those errands I was running this afternoon? I was buying locks for the cabinets.

Just thought I'd throw in a picture of my two favorite chicks making gang signs...

Thanks to Jerry for telling Sara who told me about this super funny youtube video. Why am I addicted to Youtube?

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We had a blast today! This is what Memorial Day is all about (okay, well it's REALLY about remembering those who have served, so I don't want to forget to give a great big shout out to my Grandpa K, Dad K, Jerry, Karl and Scott...who am I forgetting?).
We started the day with a game of sand volleyball that was SO fun. Alyssa, you would have even had fun because we had some good people playing. Anyway, we rolled around and got dirty for two hours. Thank goodness for Nana and Grandpa Rawlins, they kept the kids inline so we could play.
After v-ball we headed back to our house for some awesome Texas BBQ that was SSOO delicious. At this point my nausea is starting to get much better but I still have some bad days (like Sunday when we had to stop at the in-laws house to get gum before going to church...you know, so I could keep my breakfast down), so I was SUPER happy that today was a non-nausea day and I could chow DOWN on that goodness. Mmmm...
After lunch a couple people went out to run errands while Eric, Kathleen and Garrett stayed with us to lay on our bed and listen to silly songs on YouTube. Yes, Alyssa, I showed them your video. You're famous.
THEN we went bowling. Yay! I love bowling. Cam and I shared a turn and he was so funny. It was also amusing that the bumpers came up for us everytime (and a little embarrassing when he wasn't with me...). At the end the lights went off for glow bowling and Cam loved it!
After bowling we went for ice cream at Braum's. Seriously, it was the perfect Memorial Day. Chase just made the comment that we packed about 6-months-worth of activities into one day...That's what made it so awesome.
Anyway, here are the pics. Enjoy! There's one of me posing so you can see the little belly that is starting to poke out. I'm about 13 weeks now. I guess I'm going to have to start telling people soon...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyyHxZojZUY
I haven't been able to get this SNL skit out of my head. It's better on TV because you can see Scarlet Johnasen's movements and gestures better, but seriously, is it really funny or is it just me?
I also can't get "Hallelujah" out of my head. Not the Handel version so much as the Jeff Buckley song (performed by Rufus Wainwright, though, obviously). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rx2wqkcQDHo
I need a new song to think of.

"You introduced DEATH to our party?!"
And so begins the saga of the three dead fish. Poor Zach.

It was such a bright and sunny day
and little Zach just wanted to play.
Laura arrived and had a large box
what was in it?
Not a fox.
"It has something to do with fish"
she replied, tucking the box away
so as not to be spied.
And so with a glance backward
Zach frittered away
and enjoyed his party for the rest of the day.
After lunch came presents
one at a time.
But Laura was gone
and the fish did still hide.
"Let's wait for our friend
to return once again"
said Mama Christy
to her impatient little hen.
We'll wait, then, you'll see
it will be great fun then
to open your box
in front of your friend.
So he waited and waited
till the days end.
When suddenly who should appear?
Laura and Preston and all of their gear.
The time had arrived
to open the box.
The group gathered together
there were oohs, there were aahs.
Scott, the daddy, took cautious measure
to check first to see just what was the treasure.
He laughed, he giggled, he look once again
then dryly replied, "well, then"
There definately were three fish in a box
however the poor fish had run out of luck.
They floated on top of the water, so frail
the fish were not living
they were dead as a nail.
And so the day ended
the party so fun.
And what better way to end it
than to make a run
for sushi
yum.

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Yesterday we took a little trip up to Oklahoma City to see Scott and Christy and their crew. Zach turned four (can you believe it?!) and we just had to be there. For some reason I had convinced myself that a.) OKC is only 2 hours away and b.) the kids wouldn't mind doing a day trip, they'd be fine in the car there and back. So yeah, I was wrong on both counts. Apparently, OKC is THREE hours away (mind you, I'm one of the "those people" - as Scott puts it - who drives the speed limit). So I only realize this one hour into the trip when I'm thinking, 'Wow, we're already half way there!" Yeah, not so much. ALSO, the kids did NOT enjoy the time in the car much to my amazement! Miles was actually whining before we left the driveway. Awesome. BUT we did it. And it was totally worth it. Zach and Ty are enourmous and really, really, ridiculously good looking, like their parents. The kids had a great time jumping on the castle thingy and playing like maniacs in the backyard. Christy and Scott own, at least to my calculations, every toy ever sold at Wal-mart. What boy could be happier? We had pizza for lunch and the adults enjoyed grown up conversation while the kids sat outside. After lunch Z opened presents and got some great stuff. Then I did the unthinkable by introducing Christy's sweet, innocent children to guns (or bammers as they are referred to in the OK Kilgore household). Cool, Anna. At least they were water guns, right? Anyway, a good, wet time was had by all. The evening was capped off with some mouth-watering sushi for the adults, three dead fish and a walk.
Maybe if you're lucky you'll get to hear the heart-rending tale of the three dead fish at a later date. I'm still too emotional to discuss it just yet. HA!

Okay, so I know this is actually a picture of Miles in a Bunny coat at Easter (thanks, Natalie), but I thought it was appropriate for this post to show what an animal this kid has become.

Everyone sing along

"He's bananas, B-A-N-A-N-A-S" Seriously, Miles is quite literally turning into a banana. At least I think he'll eventually have to at least grow yellow skin. He LOVES bananas. He gets a banana and yogurt every morning for breakfast - that's how he likes it. But if he happens to see someone else eating a banana he has to have their's, too. And if he sees them at the store, or sitting on the counter, or if he hears someone whisper the word banana from another room in the house, he goes insane because he wants that dang banana. This kid is practically a primate! Does anyone know if scientists have ever found the "missing link" because Miles might just be it.

Just wanted to put up some pictures of our weekend. Friday we took a little "hike" at the nature preserve. Cam did much better than expected. He was really excited to be out running the countryside. Miles loved the backpack but wanted to walk after awhile. What kid doesn't?
Anyway, we all had a great time.
Sunday we stayed home since the boys were a little under the weather. We spent most of the time on the deck enjoying a seriously amazing day, but watched a little Finding Nemo as well. The boys had these costumes from Halloween last year and thought it would be funny to watch the movie in them.
Side note: Sara (Kilgore) told me about this great musician William Joseph. He's a pianist/composer who is LDS. His whole album is online at www.william-joseph.com I'm listening to it right now - it's fan-freakin-tastic. Thanks Sara.

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Ooh, I forgot to add that we had my brother Jerry here last week. It was like having Santa Clause here! When he arrived I was showing him the house and all the things we have planned for it and he kept saying, "I could do that, that would be easy". Of course he was only here for less than 48 hours so I knew he wouldn't really be fixing stuff. Well, then I mentioned that the garage door guy had been here that morning and he was saying I would need a new garage door (to the tune of $1000). Jerry immediately said, "Let me see it, I bet I can fix it." I said, right, sure. But sure enough he could and he did. Thanks, Santa.

Long time, no post. Not my fault. Blame the baby and the nausea. Yuck. Though, I will say that I've found the best nausea remedy on the planet: Caffeine Free Diet Dr. Pepper. Yummmmmm...
SO, last week Chase and I had a fabulous date to the Dallas Wind Symphony. It was amazing. It was really a combination of all of our favorite things (or MY favorite things, anyway). Classical music; live music; crazy, sweaty conductors who sing along; THE ORGAN; National Public Radio (NPR - What Kilgore DOESN'T love NPR?); and free stuff. Chase got the tickets through work for free - sweet. It just so happened that the performance was for "Pipedreams" which is a weekly broadcast show on NPR and there was the funniest host! Also, and this was the best part for me, there was a featured organ soloist named Mary Preston. I LOVE playing the organ but I'm terribly mediocre so it always gives me a thrill to see someone who can play the organ. The Lay Family Organ at the Myerson Center is HUGE and this little tiny woman was working it pretty hard. At one point after a pretty exciting organ solo I leaned over to Chase and speculated that she was probably burning about 1200 calories an hour. And I was probably close. Anyway, the conductor was this really cool, funny guy (sorry no names, the program is in the other room) who conducts exactly the way I do while walking through the house during the day. I've told Chase in the past that conducting would be one of my dream jobs because who wouldn't love to get paid for frantically waving your arms around?! Anyway, it was a great night. I got to hear some of my most loved pieces that you don't get to hear everywhere and I love hearing new pieces, too.
Um, let's see this is already too long so I'll be short. The bubble pictures are from Cameron's Easter Spiderman Bubble Bath. You can see the boys loved it. The paint pictures are funny. I told Cameron very specifically that he was NOT to paint on the table. Apparently I should have specified that he should NOT paint on brother's head. Captain America...that speaks for itself.
Well, we've also reached the end of busy season. YES! Chase is actually home right now and it's lunch time on Friday! Love it. We're going to get the baby backpack and head for the nature preserve for some hiking and then we'll have dinner (well, the boys will...even saying the word makes me nauseous...) and then we're going to rent "A night at the museum" to watch with Cam. Hope you all have a great weekend!

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This post is not for the faint of heart. Here's a picture of Chase's head. It's just sick. When he came home from bball with that bloody towel on his head I didn't even want to look at it. The next morning he was asking me to help him put neosporin and bandages on it. Nasty. So here it is, my little franken-husband. The haircut part is funny, I think. Before he decided to go to the hospital he thought he'd let Tori (who is a nurse) try to fix it up, but she had to shave the area so she could see what she was doing. So he has his sweet little hole in the haircut. He's going to shave the rest of it on Saturday. His head has been too sore and tender (not to mention the gaping wound) to buzz the rest of it until now. Poor guy! Now if I could just get him to stop bleeding all over the pillowcases!

Pictures are my favorite part of blogs so I figured I'd put up a bunch of the pics I've taken over the last month. It's fun to look back and think of the day that Cameron decided to paint Miles instead of his construction paper. Or the day Chase came home to find me and Cam with "Captain America" masks on (or at least blue masks that look nothing like Captain America, but are good enough to keep Cam happy) and so he decided to be Spidey to Cam's CA. Last Friday we had lots of rain and while I was cooking dinner Cam snuck out onto the patio and took Miles with him. I found them playing out there soaking wet. Miles was trying to drink the water that had pooled on the patio and Cam had stripped down to his skivvies and was "taking a shower" in rain from the downspout. Needless to say they were hauled in and put in a real shower.
The picture you're NOT seeing is of Chase's head. Wednesday night Chase was playing bball at church when he fell backwards against the stage and cracked open his head. It required 6 STAPLES and several stiches to get it back together! I'll take a pic of it tonight when we go pick up the camera from Nana's house where we left it!
Anyway, it's been a fun week! It was wonderful to have conference this weekend. We spent the morning sessions listening to it via internet while Miles napped. Afternoon sessions we watched at Chase's parents house. It was really nice to have conference airing in three rooms of the house! We appreciate them allowing us to use their digital cable and wide screen HD TV. That was nice. Kinda like having the speakers right in the room with you!
Stay tuned for the post featuring pictures of Chase's nasty Frankenstein head...

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I have to figure out how to add video, but hopefully you'll see from this picture that Miles is walking! He's really mastered it now and LOVES to walk everywhere. I took the boys to B&N today to play with the Thomas train table and Miles kept walking off! I'm going to have to keep my eye on him!

More pics soon...I have to go watch scrubs (my new obsession).

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On Sunday we celebrated Miles' birthday! He doesn't actually turn one until Friday, but the Rawlins' were leaving town en masse, so we decided to do it early. Our theme was "Spiderman." Now, don't think we're bad parents, but the only reason the theme was Spiderman was because Cameron really believes he is Peter Parker. Seriously. He introduces himself as Spiderman or Peter Parker at church. So we figured Miles could care less what his party is like (or if he has a party at all), so why not just go spidey-style. I thought we should make a Spiderman cake, so I went and got one of those Wilton cake pans and borrowed a cake decorating kit from Jeni. Jeni had made a rad Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle cake for Garrett a couple years ago (he's 17) and she said it was a piece of cake. (That pun is going out to you, mom) SO Sunday comes and we start baking. That part was easy. Then we start frosting. First of all, if you've never decorated a cake before, don't start on the day of your son's first birthday party. Second of all, someone should have told me that it's REALLY difficult to get the colors red and blue right. I added SO MUCH food coloring. And that green background you see on the cake? That was supposed to be blue. We thought, "mix green and yellow and we'll get blue." WRONG! Thirdly, don't buy canned frosting if you're going to be piping it. You need to make frosting because it's stiffer (Jeni, the professional cake decorator, informed me of this at the party. Thanks, Jen.) Anyway, the cake turned out reasonably un-ugly, so it's all water under the bridge. But there were more than a few tense moments in the Rawlins kitchen on Sunday afternoon.
So the party was awesome! Miles got spoiled (and Cam, too, of course) by Nana and Grape Grandma. Some killer spidey-jammies and some nice new summer clothes for Miles.
The cake demolition went great, too. We made little cupcakes for the boys to dig into. Miles got more cupcake up his nose than down his throat, but he had fun doing it. Afterward he got the tubbie of a lifetime! It was a great day!

Okay, so this is how I've been feeling about blogging lately! I don't know why because usually I love to blog about the most random things. It might, just might have something to do with the fact that I have two crazy kids who WEAR ME OUT all day and (lately) all night! We've had a busy month, too! Car accident, 2 flat tires, visitors up the wazoo, teething and sickness. And is it just MY house, or what? It seems that even when I spend all day cleaning, the boys spend all day creating. As in creating enormous messes for me to clean up. What's with that?

BUT we have so many awesome things that have been going on. The weather, for one. Who wants to be inside on the computer when it's 70 degrees outside and you are within walking distance of the park? Also, Miles is starting to take steps! It's so fun to watch!

So, our visitors (including Pittsburgh Sara and Dad K) have come and gone and we loved having them. Cameron is sad to see them all go. Miles might actually be glad that they're gone. He like having his house to himself. The last day Dad was here (well he was only here for 46 hours) he played golf with Tony (dad rawlins) and Cameron thought it was quite sensational to have two grandpas. Very lucky boy.

Okay, now I'm rambling.

Enjoy the post. I promise to be back to my random-posting self now.

Well, for those of you who are wondering, we didn't make it to Oklahoma for Scott's graduation. We made it about 10 miles down the road before someone tried to come into my lane (on a three-lane highway, going 65 mph) and hit us causing a nice big accident. Everyone is fine. The boys were scared, but fine. A few bumps and bruises for all of us, but nothing noteworthy...The CR-V was beat up pretty badly and we're waiting to hear the estimate from the adjuster. The rental company gave us a NEWER CR-V (not on purpose) that I'm enjoying driving much more. Boy, the newer models are so much roomier and a much smoother drive! Oh well, I just want my good 'ole Green car (as cam calls it) back!
Anyway, just throwing that update out there for y'all. We were certainly very bummed not to see the family in Oklahoma...that was probably the worst part of the whole ordeal!
C'est la vie...

This blog will be an official apology to my brother, Jerry, and to the harmless victims (Sara, Taylor, Lydia, Gaby and Owen) who were left in the wake of my nerd comment. You see, Jerry is not a nerd. He wears glasses and really, truly enjoys books about the universe, physics and engineering. He also is part of a men's barbershop group and likes to sing show tunes around the house. But these facts aside, he is not a nerd. One only needs to go back to the early '90's to know just how super-cool Jerry is/was. Strutting around CCHS in his white jeans and penny loafers (or was it deck shoes?), and riding his skateboard on the weekends with Andy Arnold, Jerry personified cool. And I don't need to remind anyone of just who was voted King of Hearts circa 1990...that's right, Jerry L. Kilgore. So, family and friends, if you ever find yourself thinking, "Man, I wish I could talk to someone who is REALLY radical and totally cool," I would recommend you call Jerry.

This blog is going out to my peeps that I'm going to see next week in Oklahoma. My fabulous bro and SIL, Scott and Christy; and my awesome parents; and my equally fabulous, but a little bit more nerdy brother and his super wife, Jerry and Sara. And the kids, can't forget the kids (including Gaby Gaby Gaby)... We can't wait to see you all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm getting so darn excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Maybe while I'm there I'll be able to get some more recent photos of y'all because this is the best I've got...

Obviously I need to keep on top of where Cameron throws his sippy cups. I left the room for a minute today and came back to find Miles doing this. SO FUNNY!

Oh, and the reason he's naked is that Cameron was "helping" him out of his too-big onesie. Thanks, brother.

I'm sure you're happy to hear that we're still sick. And yes, as long as we're sick YOU'RE going to have to hear about it. I figure if I'm miserable I might as well make everyone aware of it...

But despite being sick we managed to have a pretty fun weekend. Chase didn't work on Saturday which was glorious! We started off the morning with haircuts for the boys (including Miles). Chase sat each of them in his lap and buzzed 'em before turning the razor on himself. It was traumatic for Cameron (isn't everything?) but Miles was mostly curious. I think they all turned out so cute!

After the haircuts was the obligatory trip to Costco at lunch time. Sure Costco is crazy on Saturdays but it's worth it to get filled up on all of the yummy samples. Plus we really needed 12 cans of chicken broth, 48 nutrigrain bars, 184 diapers, 40 capri sun drinks, 10 scallops, 3 lbs. of chips, 9 mangos and 2 gallons of milk.

We capped off the day with a trip to play putt-putt. Now, you may think that being in Dallas it was a nice balmy evening of golf, but I assure you this was not the case! It was SO COLD! What were we thinking?! But it did end up being fun! Cameron miraculously got a hole-in-one almost everytime. I'll let you figure out how THAT happened...

Lastly, Alyssa reminded me that I haven't posted any pictures of the outside of our house. Here they are! We love our house. Yes, it does have a very '70's look to it, but I really like it. Plus, we somehow ended up with the greenest grass in all of Texas. Seriously, look at it! It's practically glowing, while our neighbors all have brown grass. I suspect that this has something to do with the fact that our house has the storm drain behind it, which means that we are the lowest lying point in our neighborhood. So basically everyone else is paying to water their grass and the water ends up in our lawn. Sweet.

Enjoy, and happy Sunday night. I'm not even talking about the Superbowl...Poor Bears...

This week has been one of sitting and being sick, so there's not much to tell. The only slightly productive thing I've done is re-cover our piano bench. If you look at the pictures I posted last month of the house you'll see that the piano bench was a blue velvet/corduroy material. It was getting old and didn't match at all so I found some material that I liked and Chase and I put it on. Not hard, but it's amazing the difference it can make in a room. It blends much better now. Now we just need to refinish the entire piano...but that's a project for another year and another budget.
This week Miles also got his first black eye. So sad! I was folding laundry and had give the boys my empty baskets to play with and somehow Cameron ended up whacking Miles in the eye with the edge of a basket. I've informed Chase that once the kids are in school I may pursue a career in the circus or zoo as an animal trainer. I feel I've gotten plenty of experience just keeping these two from shedding blood on a daily basis. Honestly, who better to fend off fierce lions than someone who can simultaneously keep Miles from falling into the bathtub (in pursuit of my razor) with my left leg, pull up Cameron's pants with my left hand, brush my hair with my right hand and step on the toilet paper stuck to Chase's sock with my right foot. And let's not forget about the cross-room leap to keep Miles from pulling the filing cabinet down on himself, or the skillfully thrown nerf ball that kept Cameron from putting yet another toy in the VCR...It's quite a resume if you think about it.
Oh, and earlier this week Cameron and daddy had some nice relaxing time after work. Cameron was in his "Peter Parker" outfit, which doubles as a "Going to work like daddy" outfit, so it was only suitable that Cameron help daddy "Work with numbers." Only Chase can make being an accountant sound so exciting and heroic.

Oh, and the roof pictures...Chase finally took the blue tarp off the chimney and took some pictures of what the past residents had done to the flashing there. NO WONDER there was a leak...Thanks to our neighbor that's all fixed now!

I've been collecting pics all week long and haven't had time to sit down and post them, so you're getting them all at once!
Last Sunday Chase and I gave talks in church and then hosted family dinner at our house. There were two January birthdays to celebrate, mine and Eric's. Anyway, it was AWESOME to have everyone at our house to eat, but we missed "Grape-Grandma Rawlins" as Cameron refers to her. She's been dealing with major migraines, but is feeling better now! Yay! Anyway, the boys all sat around watching some game - it wasn't the Bears game, that's all I know. I think the Colt's were playing? So after dinner we had a birthday cake and everyone sang for me and Eric. Well, Cameron thinks that every birthday is HIS birthday so once we blew out the candles we re-lit three of them and said he could blow them out. Well he just sat there. When we said, "cam you gotta blow out the candles" he insisted that he needed the birthday song first. So everyone had to sing happy birthday to Cameron! That did the trick! And Aunt Jeni was so sweet because she sang Happy Birthday for him repeatedly - which made him think he was SO cool - and she even put another candle in his piece of cake and lit it for him. Sweet!
Let's see what else did we do this week? Oh, right, we were sick AGAIN! I HATE BEING SICK! The boys have been super sick, too. Let's hope we just get through this season with no more colds. I'm not going to hold my breath on that one, though.
On Saturday, despite my inability to breathe (are you feeling sorry for me yet?) I went to Little Philmont to be trained as a Cub Scout leader for the Wolf Den. BORING! But necessary. I definately feel like I know a bit more about it now and I'll feel more comfortable with the den and pack meetings coming up.
While I was at Philmont Chase stayed home with the boys and Uncle Garrett came over to help mow our front lawn that has been doubling as a meadow. It has rained every week since we moved in so it was SO LONG that the grass would literally wave in the wind. Terrible. SO the boys got it under control, but not before Garrett came out looking like the grinch. Thanks a ton, Gare Bear.
Lastly was Saturday night tubbie (Saturday, after all, is a special day). These pictures illustrate that Cameron HATES the tubbie and Miles is a complete fish who would live in the water if we let him.
Whew...that was a long one! Now I know why you post several times a week, Jeni!!!

Well, it's true! Chase fought the law and.......................CHASE WON!
So for those who need a refresher, here's the scoop. Chase tried to take a knife on a plane. If you want more info than that, READ THE BLOG MORE OFTEN. So, he was charged with a class C felony. Apparently that's not a good thing. So we got a lawyer (to the tune of $1500) and we were pretty convinced that he was going to have to plead it down to a misdemeanor and be on probation and pay a fine. I guess they take knives personally around here. Actually, in the state of Texas it's illegal to carry a knife at all. Guns yes, knives no. So that only added to our thinking that Chase would get convicted of something.
So yesterday was the date for the grand jury. Chase put on his best blue suit and went to meet with the lawyer so he could practice his "I swear I'm innocent" face. He's already pretty good at it, so it wasn't too much of a stretch. At around noon he went in before the grand jury and told his story. They didn't ask a single question of him! I guess that's pretty abnormal, so the lawyer thought it was a good thing. Well, today we found out that they completely dismissed the whole thing! Not a misdemeanor, no fine, no probation. Chase is free and clear!!!!!! What a blessing! So we're very happy and very excited. Here are some pictures of Chase enjoying his freedom.
Lastly, we found some great pajamas that Kevin and Susan (Chase's aunt and uncle) gave us. They used to be Brandon's and now they're Cameron's (or Spiderman, as he introduces himself to people in nursery and primary). You can see he's getting pretty good at throwing webs! If anyone needs saving, let us know. We'll send him your way.

Here's the recipe, people!

1 C. Mayo
1 pkg. Hidden Valley Ranch dressing
1 C. buttermilk
2 cloves garlic
1 cup cilantro
3 tomatillos

Place in blender. Puree. Eat. Stop. Unbuckle pants. Eat some more. (putting on top of salad helps, but is not necessary:)

ps I like to add half of an avocado. It helps to thicken and it adds a yummy flavor.

Saturday night was so fun! We started out by going to Chase's cousins basketball game. He's eight and aside from a few superstar kids (who YOU KNOW are providing vicarious success for their over-eager crazy sport parents who spend thousands each year enrolling them in private sports lessons and buying them expensive equipment, only to enroll them in the local league so they can smash the smithereens out of the regular joes...but I digress), the kids were all pretty funny. I wish I had taken a picture. You've probably seen it. The kids basically just run from one end of the court to the other and try to get under the basket without any regard for whatever play the coach was trying to get them to follow. And then when one kid gets the ball everyone just tackles him until the ref calls for travelling. ANYWAY, it was a fun game and Brandon is so cute.
So afterward I announce that I have a lasagna at home and whoever wants to is invited to come eat it. The Rawlins boys arrive in force! I love watching people eat my food and love it. I also made the Cafe Rio salad dressing (which is so good it's drinkable) and watched them put it on a variety of things other than salad. It was so fun to have people in our new house!
After dinner we put the boys to bed and Chase and I headed off to the mall so I could use my gift card and left everyone there. When we got back it was time to game. We played cards and laughed our butts off until I had a headache from laughing so hard! It was midnight by the time everyone left (with Brian demanding more games so he could figure out the card game well enough to kick everyone's trash...a true Rawlins trait). Kathleen and Eric actually stuck around to use our internet so they could finish their talks for church. They didn't leave until 4 AM!!!!!!!!!! Hopefully their talks were all the better for it.
Anyway, we love living so close to the Rawlins clan! Enjoy the pictures!

So I feel like I've been without a camera for so long that I have no choice but to take pictures obsessively. And Chase is working late (bring on the busy season!) so I'm bored. So here are a few pics from the past couple of days. We're all sick so never mind the red noses. I threw in a shot of Cameron while he's got the nebulizer going just to show you how pathetic the poor kid is. He's got "reactive airway disease" which is basically what they call asthma for kids. Anyway, when he gets sick he starts wheezing and coughing constantly and it's rather sad. He's such a trouper, though. I think it might actually be harder on us as parents than it really is on him. As soon as he gets done with a treatment he's up and running and making messes and picking on Miles. Anyway, hope y'all enjoy the pictures!

Well, finally, some pictures of the house. As you can see we have a few projects that we'll be doing over the next year or two to get it how we really want it. Overall, though, we're really happy to be in a house (finally) and we love this place! It's hard to explain some of the pictures, but I'll try. The deck sits in the middle of the house, kind of like a courtyard. There are windows on all sides of it, and if you see the sliding glass doors in the picture, that's where the master bedroom is. The mini blind picture was taken to show two things: First, the house is full of these ugly mini blinds that we need to replace with 2" wood blinds. Second, the windows on the very front of the house are all long and skinny and in groups of two or four. Very 70's. We have to find out if they are load bearing and if not we'll make 4 skinny windows into 2 large ones. The other projects on our super long list are:
Wood floors
Paint, paint and more paint
Re-do the deck
New windows throughout
Re-do bathrooms with new tile, new countertops, new fixtures
Re-finish all of the cabinetry in the kitchen and bathrooms
In the living room we'll be taking out the wetbar and that hideous book case and replacing the white mantel (what were they thinking?) with one that will match the hard wood floors. The wetbar will become the new pantry in the kitchen.
Front walkway dug up and re-poured
The yard...it needs help.
Lastly, we'll have to do SOMETHING about the garage floor...

So we've got a lot on our plates, but it is mostly cosmetic. The house has good bones for the most part. I'll take a picture of the outside of it when I'm not in my bathrobe.

After reading all of the Christmas posts from my family's blogs I realized that I missed out big on Christmas day. We did spend most of it unpacking. The Rawlins boys brought over some food and then fell asleep on our couches while watching the Incredibles. That was festive. Anyway, here's to a better-late-than-never Christmas best wishes to all of you. And oh, yeah, Happy New Year.

It's a house!

Well, we've found a house and we're closing on December 21!!!!! It's a cute little place and we're so excited about it. The whole house hunting experience was rather amusing. We really thought we were going to move down here and find a brand new, beautiful, perfect house in the right school district for less than 150K...we were WRONG! Jeni, my sis-in-law, was ABSOLUTELY RIGHT when she said that the pictures can fool you. The realtor would send us these listings in our email and we'd look at the pictures and say, "Oh, that house is PERFECT" And then we'd get there and it would be a DUMP! So needless to say, it took us a little while to find a house. But we found it and it's just right. It certainly needs a little work. We're starting with the bathrooms. We originally thought we'd start with the kitchen until we went back to the house and realized that all of the glazing the seller had put on the bath and tiles was chipping off. That seems like something MIles would enjoy eating, however it also seems like something that would be highly toxic. So we're still deciding if we want to reglaze the tubs and then re-tile, or if it would be better just to put a shell over the whole unit. Any advice would be great. After the bathrooms we'll get to the kitchen where we're going to have the existing cabinets sanded and repainted. Also, we'll be knocking through the wall of the existing pantry (which is PUNY) and extending it into the space currently being occupied by the wet bar. We'll be so sad to see the wet bar go, of course. It's such a classy addition to any living room, and you know how we like to keep our beer and peach schnapps handy... But really, did these things ever get used? Even in the 70's? Honestly, I feel like we need to put a black light in there and wear leisure suits just to be in the same room with it. So anyway, that will be a rather fun project. Chase is looking forward to all of the demolition.
The other exciting news is that we're pregnant... Okay, not really. But we did get living room furniture after FIVE LONG YEARS of sitting on old DI (deseret industries for those of you who are not in-the-know) couches. My special thanks goes out to Carl and Kendra who recommended Ashley Furniture Store when we visited them last time...Guys, we didn't forget and you were right! They have great deals! We're very excited about our two couches, loveseat, ottoman and side tables. Plus we got new area rugs. I'm beside myself at the moment.
As for the boys...they're really enjoying being around so much family. Miles is loved on every minute of the day, especially by his Uncle Garrett and Uncle Eric. Cameron gets spoiled rotton by Nana and Grandpa and has really enjoyed their collection of movies. Well, he's really enjoyed their copies of Spiderman 1 & 2. And I love the back yard with the 6 foot privacy fence. I can literally just throw Cameron outside and let him pretend to be Spiderman all day! Lastly, we're really enjoying the weather. It's fabulous. I know I won't be saying that in July, but for right now I'm loving it.
Anyway, I just wanted to bring you all up to speed. We'll post pictures eventually...

So some of you are probably wondering where we've gone! We're in Texas! And what a crazy, crazy ride it's been. I'll spare you the drama and tedium, but basically we decided to get here BEFORE December in hopes that the apartment complex would find someone to take over our lease. We made the final decision to move TWO DAYS before we actually did it. Literally. All week we hummed and hawed because we didn't know what to do and I finally had enough and made an executive decision. We felt good about it and went ahead with our plans. So on Saturday the 18th we packed up the truck and headed south. By Sunday we were here without any real incident. I say without real incident because it wasn't incident-free! Sunday morning as we were leaving our skanky motel Chase locked his keys in the truck and we had to call a locksmith. A cool 25 minutes and $65 later we were on our way. Now, for those of you who know of our previous trips to Texas, you know this isn't really that serious. Afterall, no cars were totalled or tires blown up or moving trucks breaking down. So it's all good.
The REAL drama came the following Friday right after Turkey day when Chase tried to fly back to Chicago. He was scheduled to take the Financial section of the CPA on Saturday morning. I dropped him off at Love Field in Dallas at around 6:15 pm. We kissed, we hugged and he told me he would call when he arrived. His plane was scheduled for a 7:15 departure. WELL at 7:45 the phone rang and I could hear my father-in-law talking to Chase. I thought nothing of it because what plane actually leaves on time the day after a major holiday? So I listened to dad's half of the conversation and became increasingly alarmed as I heard things like "They're holding you where?" and "So where are they taking you?" Turns out Chase had been arrested while going through security and he was on his way downtown to be booked. NO KIDDING! I guess Chase had thrown a knife into his backpack at some point during the move and had completely forgotten it was there. It just happened to be big enough to be considered a "prohibitive weapon" which is also a Class C Felony. So they cuffed him and hauled him away and he spent the next 7 hours sitting in a holding cell with a bunch of druggies and one guy charged with manslaughter. It was awful. Mostly for him, but for me too! Thinking of him down there was terrible! So we were so relieved when my father-in-law posted his bond and got him out of the clinker. So now Chase is trying to find someone to represent him on a pro-bono basis and we're trying to figure out how much it will all cost. It's been a huge bummer to say the least.
As for house hunting...that's been a real treat. We've seen some total dumps and some really nice places. We're trying to find something in the middle. We've actually found a house that we like a lot and we're considering putting an offer in on it. It's older and needs some work in the kitchen, bathrooms and backyard - mostly cosmetic stuff. But it's got good space and a good layout. It's small'ish, but it's a good size for a starter home. Once we figure out how much the legal fees will set us back we'll decide whether or not to put a bid in.
Stay tuned and we'll keep you posted...

"Don't smoke when you get big, kid!" This is the advice we got when we arrived at the park this afternoon. Not exactly what we were expecting. We showed up at the park which was crawling with kids because it was SO NICE today. Anyway, as we're walking onto the playground Cameron notices a guy walking on the path who is hooked up to oxygen and is pulling the tank behind him. I tried to just divert Cameron's attention, because he really lacks tact at the moment. Of course, there's nothing as interesting as stuff with wheels, so Cameron was drawn like a moth to a flame. I think he thought it was some great new toy that he should have, too. So he's standing there, mouth agape, pointing. I knew the guy saw him so I tried to hustle him onto the playground before he said...oh, no, too late..."MOMMY, LOOK!!!!!" The guy was cool and gave him a big smile and said, "Don't smoke when you get big, kid!" Nicely handled by the guy with the tubes. I just laughed and smiled at him and then realized it was the saddest thing in the world. So I'm passing along that advice to all of you. Just in case you forgot. Don't smoke.

Okay, I have the Sunday blahs. We are all SICK...AGAIN! I HATE BEING SICK. If you have not read any prior posts about us being sick (you don't have to look far - we're sick all the time), then let me just say that being sick ranks right up there with having a baby without any sort of painkillers. I hate it THAT MUCH. And that's without having other people to take care of. Chase learned this lesson about a week after we got married when I ended up with a sweet "bladder infection." I cried, I moaned, I groaned. I laid on the couch waiting for death to take me at any blessed moment. And that is my preferred method of getting through an illness. So you can imagine that when I'm sick the last thing I want to deal with is my kids being sick. So this morning I decided that I would stay home with the boys. They're both really gross and I've got a killer sore throat. Then I told Chase he'd better tell the missionaries we can't feed them tonight. His response was "Oh, no. We can still do it! I'll do everything." I tried telling him that I just didn't feel like it. After all, it's hard to remain in a stupor on the sofa when you've got eight eyes boring holes in you and asking for referrals. SO I've dragged myself into the shower and I'm just trying to conjure up the energy (and desire) to go blow-dry my hair and put on makeup. Yuck. On top of that we are up to our eyeballs in boxes. The house is completely pulled apart and we're half in and half out of boxes. I hate that, too. Hmmm...I hate a lot of stuff today. I guess I'm just bitter that my day (which started out by watching the Bears and Steelers games and knitting a hot-pink scarf) has reached the point where I've got to be productive. Argh. Anybody got any Calgon?

Just for those of you who are wondering and waiting for pictures of my babes, I don't have any. I know, it's awful. I just don't have a digi camera right now. We're getting one for the house hunt, so I'll get the boys in their costumes at that point...
Thanks for wondering, Sara!