Mobility Abounds

WITNESS THE SPECTACLE

It lives!

HA! We're back up and running. All it took was Becky going away for a sleepover with her sisters so I could spend several annoying hours backing up our documents and pictures and totally wiping our hard drive clean. We're still not at peak performance, though. Lucy ripped the already damaged "N" key off the keyboard, so we have to really mash that letter down, and I forgot to backup my illegal copy of photoshop, so that's not handy. I suppose I shouldn't complain. There are little children in Somalia who still have to use dial-up.
And on we go.
Samantha Love Tolman turned 3 years old on the 22nd. We had what turned out to be a fairly large party for her with most of the extended family showing up along with the lovely and long-haired Grace Neidholt making an appearance with her siblings and mother. Both Becky and I felt mildly embarrassed that it turned into such an event. Oh well. Good times were had by all.


Sam requested a blue cake with blue frosting. Her wish was magestically granted by her very talented mother. Bystanders cowered in fear of the all-consuming blueness.

Sam got more presents than she deserves. Thank you to all of you who didn't receive any thanks from our ill-mannered child at the party.
After presents and cake, all the kids got to take turns beating Dora the Explorer with a broomstick. Becky was dismayed when I insisted that the entrance for the Halloween candy was behind Dora's face. Funny that she didn't have any problems with us hanging up Dora's decapitated torso after her head came off.
We had the party at a spray park, so the festivities eventually devolved into a water balloon fight. I think Grandma Thorne was the only one that escaped unscathed. Curse that respect for seniors!

Broken

We have two computers. One is really old, but our camera can talk to it. The other is not quite as old, but for some reason, I can't get the software for our camera to work on it. So there's going to be a famine of photos until we come up with method of sharing. Here's a good one.

Ahem.

I'd just like to point out to everyone that I have an extraordinarily attractive wife. H-Oh-T. Scrumptious.

Oh, and Happy Independence/Blow Off Your Fingers Day!

Our Old Second

Lucy had her 1st birthday on June 20th. This is what happened.







We had a small, family-oriented celebration with what turned out to be a dramatically over-priced ice cream cake. 27 bucks? Are you kidding me?


I had to photoshop a member of the family out of this picture because they we doing something entire inappropriate with two of their fingers.




The typical "Isn't our 1-year-old so cute with ice cream on her face." Well, guess what? That's not ice cream. It's blood. She ate her grandfather.


After she changed into a less blood-soaked outfit, she opened her gifts. She wasn't sure what to think of the singing card.

Nor was Maxwell sure what to be happy about...the whole time.

His father, on the other hand, WAS sure what to be happy about.





The other children made floating spherical orbs of varied geometrical integrity.



And now she sits forward.

Yes, OK? She is.

Becky is 8 weeks pregnant. By our rough estimates, we ought to be adding to our brood sometime around the end of January.
Becky is not feeling well. With Samanatha, she threw up for about 7 straight months and ended up having to rehydrate with IV fluids. Four happy years later, Zofran has gone generic and that blessed pharmacutical is helping to keep things where they should be.
She didn't want me to post any photos of her dry-heaving or silently sipping Gatorade, so here's some pics from about a month ago when we went to Utah. Becky attended BYU Women's Conference with my Mom and sisters, we visited with my grandmother who hadn't met either of our girls, and we went up and stayed in SOLITUDE, a luxurious ski lodge with a condo owned by Becky's brother's company. Amber Hardman had the pleasure of seeing us for a spirited day of collaborative camaraderie. Unfortunately, many of the pictures taken reside in my mother's camera. She'll have to decide she cares enough to either send them to us or post them on my dad's blog.

Becky and Amber have been roomates on two continents. They used to stab young men together late at night. With knives.

Amber is capable of holding that smile firm, even when two small children are simultaneously urinating on her lap.

Jon and Emily have the same neck.

Grandma Deanna and Sam have the same rosey cheeks.

This is not in Utah. If you click on the picture, you'll be able to that the generic fruit loops have been scattered to the far reaches of the kitchen floor, just like in BattleStar Galactica.

Jon steals the tag

Becky's friend Jen Hale tagged us, but she didn't specify the target. Too bad, Hale-bop. You get what you get. Here's your 8 random facts:
1. I once performed the Heimlich maneuver on a ferret named Pierre.
2. If you combined all of the moons of Saturn into one celestial body, it would make one much larger moon.
3. I'm not as annoyed as I pretend to be when Becky watches "What Not to Wear". That Clinton!
4. I once ate an entire octopus.
5. Giraffes do not have vocal chords.
6. I really like string cheese, but I try to restrain myself because it's expensive to eat 5 of them 3 times a day.
7. I have an uncle named Claire.
8. My sperm are incredibly athletic and robust. If you want proof, just look in my wife's uterus.

Oh, and I guess I'll tag Jeremy. Eight random facts. I can't remember if they have to be about you or whatever. GO.

The Lull Ends.

Well, hoodle-ee-hoo, folks.

I'm just going to go ahead and admit it. we got a bit blogged out. It's been a little while since our last posting, and we both feel mildly hypocritical because we're usually the ones nagging people to update. Oh, well. It's like they say: "Cheese for two is a bean for most."

We have done a few note-worthy things since we last mass-communicated.

Jon got an email inviting him to apply for a position as a diabetes educator at the Barbara Davis Center in Denver. He flew out with Lucy for two days to interview. We have yet to hear back.

The next week, we all flew over to Utah so that Becky could attend BYU Women's Conference and so that Great Grandma Ashe could finally meet the girls. Pictures are pending.

Since our return, we've sold our love seat on craigslist, we sliced a thumb on a broken park swing, and Lucy managed to bite through the skin on Samantha's chest.

The love seat which turned into 35 dollars like magic.

The thumb that turned into horror while children screamed in delight.

A child.

Our Princess

Sam has started to exemplify her overabundance of movie-watching by unexpectedly pulling out the quote:
"But...I have the other slipper."

That's all for today.

Tagged with love

I don't usually do these because Jon thinks they're lame and I need to appear "cool" in my husbands eyes, but my old roomie, Emily, tagged each of us from Ricks and I think it'd be fun to compare after what, almost 10 years since we were together. We were so inseperable!

A-Attached or single: Totally attached, at the knee, elbow, thumb, and heart.
B-Best Friend: Jon of course, but I love my girlfriends too!
C-Cake or Pie: cake - this is almost the sole reason for my weight gain during pregnancy.

D-Day of choice: Jon's day off, whatever that happens to be this week.
E-Essential Item: diaper bag, but that's kind of cheating because I can fit a LOT in my diaper bag.

F-Favorite Color: Blue, almost any shade of it.
G-Gummy Worms or Bears: Bears, absolutely. My favorite, Haribo. Mmm.

H-Hometown: Liberty, MO

I-Indulgences: Cheesecake Factory White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake

J-January or July: That's a tough one. Especially for Missouri, but I'd have to say July...there's just more to do and my birthday!

K-Kids: So far, Sam and Lucy
L-Life is incomplete without: I know I should say Jon and the girls, but really, what would we do without chocolate?
M-Marriage Date: October 8th

N-Number of siblings: originally, 3 sisters, 2 brothers, but now...8 sisters, 7 brothers
O-Oranges or Apples: I like oranges better, but like Emily, I'm lazy and usually go with the apple
P-Phobias or Fears: Sheesh, what am I not scared of?

Q-Quotes: "They are, aren't they? No ma'am, just look-alikes"

R-Reason to Smile: When a plant I'm trying to grow doesn't die...When Lucy smiles at me with her rabbit teeth...spring rain, I know, most don't like the never-ending rain, but I love it!

S-Season: Fall, the clothes, the holidays, the weather...ahh, fall.

T-Tag Three: Wendell, Chrissy, Johanna (this will give you something else to blog about :))
V-Vegetarian or Oppressor of Animals: I really like to eat meat, but Johanna opened my eyes to the cruelty of animal farming. I still eat meat, but the guilt...

W-Worst Habit-Surfing the internet when I should be productive
X-ray or Ultrasound: Ultrasound!It is so amazing to see those little babies growing inside of you. Both times I was caught off guard by how real it all-of-the-sudden seemed when I saw this black & white figure moving on it's own on the screen. Very cool.

Y-Your favorite food: Didn't we just talk about indulgences?

Z-Zimbabwee or New Zealand-New Zealand, and mainly because of Leah Schwenke & the Hunters-they were the only reason I stayed half-way sane in Taiwan