Respect Your Realtor

Sunday was our second day house hunting with our realtor. We were prepared for an afternoon where the most exciting part of the day would be finding a great house in a great neighborhood in a great school district. We were NOT prepared to drive by and see this:

As we were heading to the second house of the day, we came across that brush fire. We've had some dry weather lately, and it was just breezy enough for this to be pretty scary. Our realtor stopped her car and I thought she was just going to dial 911. Before I knew it, she and Chris were out of the car and in the backyard.

That's Chris in the picture, the one closest to the fire. He had a hose that had very, very little water pressure and was trying to work with it. He quickly put it down and went to the house to use the large paint buckets the homeowner, our realtor and one other person were filling up.

Obviously, I stayed back. But even from where I was, it was HOT!! Thankfully it wasn't long at all before the calvary arrived. (Good to know for future reference -- that area has good emergency response time!) You can see just how close the fire was to the home here:



That was a little too much excitement for your average day of house hunting!


And now to lighten things up... The Adorables!

Now that it stays lighter longer, the guys are able to go out and play Ultimate Frisbee again! This past Friday, the girls and I went out to watch, but of course we spent a lot of time at the playground nearby. At one point, Grace and Rachael were sliding down the medium-sized slide together and having a blast! I'd had a rough week for various reasons, and they really ended it on a great note! Look at how much fun they were having together!!

Hope you have a great week! And please remember... "Only you can prevent forest fires!" Wait, I just read that that was updated in 2001! So remember: "Only you can prevent wildfires!"

It's COLD!

That would be Chris, on his way to softball. (Not to play, mind you, unless he stands in to play catcher just so he can be sure he's played enough to be in the playoffs later.) The hat he is wearing, he had to go get it on his way home from work. I don't know how any of you north of me do it!

I am just hoping I can bundle the girls up enough in the morning so that they don't turn blue just walking to the car!!

Grace received a reversible hat a couple of Christmases ago. It really still fits me, but I think she might be wearing it tomorrow morning! Before Chris left, Rachael had to try on his hat. I know I'm biased, but I think these are just the cutest little freezing Florida girls ever! Check them out:

Hope you're staying as warm as you can!!

Chris' Surgery

Chris had his surgery today, and it went very well! The doctor took a great deal of time explaining what had happened, but I think that the bottom line was this:

-- There were two small tears, one was a SLAP tear, but it was not major.
-- Cartlidge had broken off when he injured it, and it was loose and moving in his shoulder, causing pain.
-- He only has to be in the sling for about a week.
-- SIX WEEKS, NO SPORTS!!
-- Two-three months before he's released for all normal activity.

We most definitely felt the prayers today! I was not as anxious as I have been before his other surgeries, and he came out of the anesthesia so much better this time!

I even had some fun, kind of at Chris' expense. :-) When he was given a sedative before they administered the nerve block, Chris was definitely a bit on the high side! When I was able to be with him right before they took him into surgery, he was asking the nurses if he could have a menu. One walked past him without looking at him, and he waved his index finger with the heart monitor and slurred, "She's ignoring me. I'm disappointed. That will be reflected in her tip!" I had tears in my eyes from giggling!

Again, thank you for the prayers!

Phillies, Pumpkins & Politicians

Chris is going to be watching TV for a while to revel in the Phillies' win tonight (GO PHILLIES!), so since I'm going to be waiting for him to finish watching these postgame interviews and reports, I figured I'd update!

When I was part of my first moms' group, one of our trips was to a pumpkin patch. I did not understand what the big deal was, but apparently this is the thing to do when you have kids. Of course, we don't carve a pumpkin for Halloween or make pumpkin pie, so we have no use for a pumpkin of any shape or size. This was basically a photo op.

I have two good pictures from the past five years that have been taken at these pumpkin patches. Two. In five years. Oh well!

I do have some fun pictures of a trip the girls and I took to Sea World with one of my friends and her two girls, who are about the same age as our girls. We went on Tuesday, and it was cold!! We had a blast though, and I managed to survive the park without Chris!

When we stopped for lunch, we let the big girls sit next to us at a table by themselves, but they kept saying they were too cold to eat. I pushed their chairs closer together and tried to let some sun hit them, but it wasn't working. So I took my hoodie and put one of their arms in each of the sleeves and they cuddled together, which equaled more fun than food!

Grace & Ann Marie making the cutest little two-headed monster ever!

How could I resist this??
Rachael and Susanna saying CHEEEEEEESE!!!
And they just kept on saying it... Over and over and over again.
They thought they were hilarious!

At the end of the day, Rachael was a wee bit tired...

So I mentioned politics, right? A couple of weeks ago, Sen. John McCain came to our town for a Road to Victory Rally. The guy Chris used to work with managed to get Chris in as a volunteer, and he got to drive in McCain's motorcade! He drove a van and his passengers included two Secret Service agents and the press that was traveling with McCain. He was on a real high after speeding down local streets and blowing through stop signs and red lights!

He scored me a VIP pass, and I had a lot of fun! Especially when Carl Cameron from FOXNews set up directly to my left to do his report! Okay, so I didn't know who he was at first, but c'mon, I have two small children and the Phillies were in the playoffs, I have had very little control over what's on TV recently! But it didn't take long for me to realize that this guy was very popular among the crowd I was with, so:

I had to have my picture taken with Campaign Carl!As exciting as that may be, though, it does not compare to this:

Nope, those are not wax figures or cardboard cutouts, those are the McCains, and that is Chris. Very, very cool!

We're not big on Halloween here, but the girls (and I) will be dressing up for a Costume Night and a Fall Festival, so hopefully we'll have some cute pictures of our fairy, cheerleader, and Sarah Palin. I guess you'll have to check back to see who is who! :-D

HONK! and a Prayer Request

When I tell you I live in an apartment and I've been disturbed by honking, what would your first thought be? An obnoxious neighbor? Unruly guests? A malfunctioning car alarm?

None of the above. The honking was attributed to this guy:

Here he is with a lady friend.

And this morning, two lady friends.

Today was one of Chris' off Fridays, and Rachael enjoyed some quality time with Daddy. See the black strap across him though? That is part of a sling he has to wear for two weeks. During the softball game Tuesday night, he went to make a catch and did something to his shoulder (and hung on to the ball, naturally). It was bad enough he made an appointment with the doctor without my prompting -- that has to tell you something! He has to wear the sling for two weeks, and if there isn't significant improvement by that time, he'll have an MRI. The doctor said he may have sprained it, or it could be a hairline fracture. No matter what, he has to take it easy for about 6-8 weeks. No softball, Ultimate Frisbee or flag football. No golf. No fun for Chris, basically! So please keep him in your prayers, that he heals completely and that he does rest it, and that I can manage without his wonderful assistance around the house. After all, he does his share of cooking (okay, okay, and my share too), cleaning, and this means no rough-housing with the girls. They'll get a lot more cuddle time with him though!

This girl's a little sweetheart. We went to lunch after we picked her up from school, and as we were sitting down she gave her daddy a kiss on his hurt shoulder. He smiled and told her he wished that was all it took. Rest assured that she will be praying for him. One of the things that thrills my heart is when Grace has a boo-boo that gets better, or she was just feeling a little off and gets to feeling back to normal, she'll say, "God made me better!" She knows God can make Daddy better too -- and we ask for your prayers for that as well! Thanks!

The Big 3-0!

To the man of my dreams and the best daddy the girls could ask for...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!