Two Stories and a baby girl

A baby girl.
The first story:

For the last couple weeks at school, Luca's teacher has called him "big brother Luca." He is enjoying his role. Everyday at school if they are good they get a check, then on friday they get to pick a prize from the box. Luca came home with a jewel ring for his baby sister. The kids get pretty excited about their prizes, and I was so amazed that he chose to get something for someone else. He couldn't even wait till we got in the car to give it to her. Here she is sporting her first piece of jewelry.

The second story: Unfortunately no pictures for this story starring Jameser.

Every night the boys listen to a Dinosaur Rock tape in their room as they fall asleep. Well...alas...last night the tape player (yes, a cassette player) ate the tape. (This is a rather big deal, because Dinosaur Rock was a traveling musical show from the mid eighties. The tape belonged to my siblings and I...needless to say it won't be easily replaced.)
Well, I made the mistake of exclaiming to my literally minded two year old (who adores this tape) that the Tape player ate it. He was distraught. Then this morning we went out and bought a new cd player for their room (the offending tape player was also a cd player, but the cd player had ceased being operational sometime previously). Anyway as we removed the old player, James crept over to me and leaned timidly over it.

"Mom," he said, "can I see his teeth?"

I did laugh, but I felt sorry for the little guy going to sleep without his music, in a dark room, with a vicious flesh eating tape player just feet away from his pillow.

Here we celebrate Libby's two week birthday with Mom-mom.

Spinach Dip

Alright....some of you have been asking for this...but once you know what's in it you may not be able to enjoy it as much. I got this recipe from Lindsey Walker, a very creative lady and a great cook. It's different everytime I make it because I'm trying to find the ratio of ingredients that I like best.

SPINACH DIP

1/2 stick butter
3/4 block of cream cheese
1/2 tub sour cream
1/2 block of frozen spinach thawed
1/2 jar marinated artichoke hearts
1 cup grated parmesean cheese

-blend or process spinach and artichoke.
-Melt butter on stove top. Add cream cheese and sour cream. Stir till smooth. Then add blended spinach and artichoke and parm cheese.
-finish in oven at 400 for 20 minutes.
-Serve warm with bread pieces for dipping.

Libby Joan

I took the above pics at home yesterday. She was so sweet and agreeable while I laid her in that silly basket:)

Here she is with flowers from her great grandparents. Thanks Nana and Papa!

Here's Our New Baby!

After putting in a 9-5 work or "labor" day we have a new addition to announce!




Okay, so that's not her, but James loved the baby's hospital crib. Here is our newest little love Libby Joan... 7 lbs 4 oz, 20 1/2 inches.

James wanted to feed her from the baby bottle shaped chocolate candy. It was difficult to persuade him that the candy was for him to eat. He'd been planning it all day.

Observing Luca's reaction to his baby sister was one of the most beautiful moments of my life. Here he is so proud of the fact that he can hold her all on his own. He is so full of love for her already that you can almost see it pouring from his eyes. He cried when they came from the nursery to take her for her bath, and he realized he had to go home because visiting hours were over. He wanted to take his new baby home with him that first night.

Here we are headed home happy 100%.

We came home to a surprise. Luca decorated our front door to welcome us. I feel overwhelmingly blessed today.

Conversations

James: "The big white bear licked me."
me: "When did you see a big white bear?"
James: "At the doggie Party."

(After the pool closes for the summer they have a dog party and let the dogs swim. We stopped by to watch, and James had quite the encounter.)

Me: "Hi there, handsome!" (said to James as he walked down the stairs in the morning.)
James: "I not handsome, I'm James Fairbank."

[EDIT]

For about the past two years, Jeremiah has been completely fascinated by the US-Mexico border. To celebrate Mexico's bicentennial, here is a picture of US I-10, railroad tracks, the Rio Grande 'River', and Juarez. It is the scene of another conversation that takes place in a parking lot on the UTEP campus:

Jeremiah: That's Mexico right there.

Jeremiah's Boss: Yeah, I can't believe we can just look down there and it's another country.

Jeremiah: It's weird, this is the United States, and that's Mexico... Right there.

First Day

Luca's face says it all. He's ready to go. He is wearing a name tag with some specific info that I thought best to black out since I'm putting this out there in the blogosphere:) So, I left my little boy sitting timidly in his seat this morning. We were rushed getting there, despite how prepared I thought we were, so I didn't have much of a chance to feel emotional about it until I walked back out to the van alone. A couple tears snuck out, and I hope nobody saw the kindergarden mom on her way out:) I couldn't help thinking about him sitting there so excited and innocent and knowing that I won't be right there beside him to cheer when things are fantastic or to comfort when they are terrible. Of course, it wouldn't be good for him if I was. I know he needs this to learn, but I've loved being home with him. It has been one of my greatest blessings.

Little James-er had to have a backpack too this morning. Complete with a packed lunch:)

Beach Bums

We've just returned from a great week at the beach!

On his first evening at the beach James attempted to run straight into the ocean. That boy had no fear. He since developed some after his daddy took him out into the waves and a few broke right on them.

Mom-mom and Pap-pap.

Grandpa and Grandma under our awesome sunshade.

Throwing sand. Lots of that went on.

Here Luca and I fly our two stringed kite. We needed a little help from "the professor", my Papa who is a prof in aerospace engineering at Penn State, to get it off the ground.

Jameser takes a turn.

Nana and Papa.