Baby Boom

DSCN0689Sisters and Cousins and on and on and on…

Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family: Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one.
— Jane Howard

3 Babies, 4 hours, 1 Plane

Yeah–we’ve never done this before. Sounds scary, right?

So, when planning a trip to New York with all the sweet babies, we figured a bit of calm preparation was in order.  This is our attempt to keep things from getting…you know, dicey. Well, and to keep the other passengers from beating us up.

You can’t be too careful these days.

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First, we took normally messy, colorful flashcards…

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and taped them together–turning them into an easy clean-up distraction.

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Next, we found some inexpensive wood characters…

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Then I drilled a tiny hole in each corner. Yes, that’s me…with a drill. Yes, that’s me with a drill and a board…on my bed. It was really hot in the garage. It couldn’t be helped.

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Once there was a cute little hole in the corner of them all–we made two piles (twins, remember?) and strung them on elastic cord, to keep them together. Can you tell, I’m trying really hard to avoid having to crawl around on the airplane floor looking for a soccer ball and a wooden boat?

Wouldn’t THAT a pretty picture?

Yeah, I didn’t think so either.

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From my Grammy stash, we found two babies and tied a bottle and binky to each dolly’s wrist.

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Then we bagged some small toys, cars and wind-ups–I was careful to take the bigger-not-so-chokey Fisher-Price people…fear not.

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Lastly, we found a very potentially entertaining snap-close box with…more stuff.

In case you are tempted to cry, “Toy overkill!” let me tell you–I’ve researched this, and the experts say, “More beats less, when you’re trying to keep a pack of babies happy and relativly quiet on a plane.”

That’s a noble goal, but personally—I just don’t want to get beat up.

I’ll let you know how it goes.

Three babies, four hours, one plane.

Pray for us.

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Week 19 Food Storage Prompt: 100 lbs. of wheat

The Babe and the Boy

One of Dane’s mission companions is back home now. He came to see us because he promised Dane that he would.

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He also swore an oath…

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to come hug the babies in Dane’s place—especially the one my boy hasn’t met yet.

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He is a very sweet boy.

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We all completely loved him—at first sight.

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Ok, ok.

Not all.

Harry Potter and the Family of Wack

No, no…it’s not the newest Harry Potter book.

The “Family of Wack” well,

that would be…

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…us.

LyndiRandom 020Harry’s Birthday Celebration

Yeah. We really get into this sort of thing.

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The crowds…

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the costumes…

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Voldemort

even the scary guys…

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and believe it or not–the lines turn out to be an event.

Yes, a new Harry Potter movie is coming out–TODAY and quite frankly, I keep forgetting which number this one even is.

Lyndi3 106Professor’s Sprout and the Mandrake

But seriously, who cares? Life is more interesting and fun where there’s something to look forward to. In fact, by the time you read this–we will have already stood in line and caught the show with all the other Harry Potter Wack-jobs.

Our only defense…

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we love this stuff!

Balloon Fest

Every single 4th of July since the beginning of time a strange custom has been taking place.  Here’s how it works. Long before normal people even are even stirring the truly stalwart and/or ridiculous are hauling their sleepy little bodies out of their soft warm beds…

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to end up here…in this parking lot.

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with bleary-eyed babies…

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still in pajamas…

all for these beautiful “bubbles”…

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and this pink pig…

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and this tiger…

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and this bear…

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and this balloon filled sky.

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To be honest…

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watching their wonder was by far the best part.

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But I have to say…the fruit pizza didn’t hurt either!