Grandma Gates' Birthday

Yesterday we celebrated Grandma Gates' 92nd Birthday! She's one amazing lady, and she'd have to be to carry on the mature conversations that one would have with a good friend like Hope as well as the crazy kid conversations that she has (er, tolerates) with Lincoln, Henry and especially Lydia. (Lydia is in a phase now where any word with an "ooooo" sound in it is hilarious, particularly "dude" and "poop.")

Jenn made the birthday cake, and it was her best yet. A chocolate cake with raspberry buttercream filling and a fondant covering with some beautiful flowers.
Last weekend we visited Grandma Laura & Grandpa Dave and went to the Columbus Children's Theater for a production of The Little Mermaid, Jr. The cast was made up of High School and Middle School students, and we had front row, on-the-floor seats. The kids were way into it, and it brought back all kinds of memories for Jenn of singing the entire soundtrack when she was a girl.
Prior to Sunday's trip to the theater, I had the kids all day on Saturday and we had a lot of fun playing on the playset.

Summer Smiles

Cedar Point, 2013

Before I get started with our Cedar Point photos, I have to share this funny, albeit gross, story from a couple of days ago. Our readers with kids know that the volume of poop that ends up in the potty after young kids are through can be truly magnificent. Jeff Foxworthy does a funny routine about looking in the toilet after his daughter finished and saying, "That is not humanly possible! Hey, Honey, come see this!"

Lydia had one of those over the weekend. She usually takes a good 40 minutes to poop, and she didn't disappoint. Jenn had helped Henry with his most recent poop, so it fell to me to address this one. I took one look and said, "Jenn, this is colossal." She "ho, hummed," thinking I was exaggerating, and then Henry came over, looked in the potty, and said, "Two poops!"
"Wellllll, it looks like two poops," I said…

Now, on to more pleasant things. Lincoln spent Saturday afternoon through Tuesday evening with Grandma Laura, Grandpa Dave, Auntie Haley and Chris in Columbus. They visited the zoo & COSI, played golf in the back yard, went on long bike rides, visited Auntie Haley at work with a dinner at Outback and spent a few minutes where Chris works in take-out, and had a general, all-around good time. The fun culminated with a trip to Cedar Point on Wednesday where Lincoln was a hardy partier.
Jenn and I were more than appreciative of the time we had to ride a few rides while Auntie Haley & Chris kept up with Lincoln in Camp Snoopy over lunch. Grandma Laura took him on a bunch of rides, too, and Grandpa Dave made a return trip to the Dodgems with Lincoln. Lincoln's job, apparently, was to point out the targets, and Grandpa Dave would line 'em up and bump 'em.

To The Theater!

This past weekend we all went down to Columbus to join Grandma Laura, Grandpa Dave & Auntie Haley for a trip to the Columbus Children's Theater and their presentation of Cinderella. Lincoln was thrilled, and the two little ones were manageable, and it turned out to be a fun, memory-making day.The weekend prior we went to the Ucker's house for Avery's birthday party, with a Cinco De Mayo theme. There's nothing quite like an Asian in a sombrero, don't ya think?It's hard to believe that one year ago Jenn and I were in Hong Kong. That seems eons ago. Even when I look back at the photos, and recall the really neat experiences Jenn and I had there it seems like it was much longer than a year ago. So much has happened over the last year, both with our family and with our own relationship. As trying as it's been having a pair of 2-year-olds, and what inducing twins upon ourselves has meant in many diferent aspects, we can both acknowledge that our marriage is stronger this year than it was last year. Though inducing twins upon a marriage is not what I would suggest to those in need of "marriage help."

As Henry's Gotcha Day approaches, I thought it would be neat to share a video with you that never got published to this blog last year. Look how skinny his little arms and legs were. And for all of those months where I wondered if he was ever going to talk, it's hard to recall back to when he couldn't make more than a "ba!" or "da!" sound.We've also been thinking about just how we're going to celebrate Gotcha Day. Some celebrate it like a birthday, but that's now how we're handling it. We're going to celebrate his birthday like his birthday, and celebrate Gotcha Day by recalling the day in some of its details and expressing our thankfulness that Henry is now part of our family. One of the unique ways that Henry's Gotcha Day will manifest is with a meal of Pizza & Gnocchi, our first meal together in the Italian restaurant of the Zhengzhou Crowne Plaza.Henry stuffed his face with Italian food in a way that would likely make his Italian Great-Grandpap namesake proud.

And the countdown to our OBX vacation with Grandpa Doug & Grandma Paulette and Auntie Em, Uncle Jeremy, Grace, Cole & Ella is officially on, and has been for some time now. Can't wait!!!

Post OVMA

We had a good time in Columbus.  It was nice to catch up with Elise, and we had dinner with Michelle, too.  Jenn and I also ran into some other classmates, but you wouldn't recognize any of their names.  Jenn found that sitting for hours at a time did not make her feel better.  She was much more comfortable walking around than sitting in lectures.  After a long day of listening, we'd go back to our room and she'd lay down to relax and her belly would move all over the place as Lincoln woke up from his nap.

We got the invitation to a shower that some friends from church are throwing for Jenn.  It's both cool and humbling at the same time.

It's also getting to the the point where it's hitting us that very shortly there's going to be a little person living in our house.  The pregnancy stage has (had) been cute, but things are starting to get pretty real now.