Happy Birthday, Becca!

Yesterday, Becca turned 25! Also, on July 28th, we celebrated our one year anniversary. Here are a few pics of Becca, and various other characters, over the past year.

Brian

Tessa Turns 2!

It’s hard to believe that 2 years have passed since my baby girl was born!  It was a whirlwind morning, as I went into labor 3 & 1/2 weeks early and 10 days before my scheduled C-section.  I got to hospital and found out I was 9 cm dilated (out of 10!) and she was born within 45 minutes—naturally, with no time for pain meds or a C-section.  What a blessing that was!!

Here are 3 pics: from the day she was born, her 1st birthday party, and just a few weeks ago.

Tessa bring such joy to our life!  She is a spunky girl with a great big beautiful smile.  She’s very social and loves to be around people.  Lately, she has turned into quite the little mommy with the birth of her baby brother.  Happy Birthday Tessa!

 

~Becky

It's Official! #3!

Well, It's official! We went to the doctor Friday afternoon and we got to see the newest memeber of our family! As of Friday, Karen is 9 weeks pregnant and our due date is March 20th. We told the boys this weekend... it was pretty uneventful. We started by showing them pictures of themselves as babies... but they lost interest before we could get the words out. When we told them that there was a baby in mommy's belly, they were a little interested, but it didn't last long. Then on the way home from church, I decided to check to see if they remembered. When I asked what mommy had in her belly, Zach was first to yell out, "baby!" Chase has said some funny things already like... "Mommy, when your mouth gets big enough, the baby will come out."

So, the picture. The baby is in the middle left with a line thru the middle... to take a measurement. As the text at the bottom points out, it measured at an equivalent to 9 weeks, 1 day... which confirms our estimated due date!

We'll keep you posted!

"...fall from the tree"

So what do they say about the "fruit falling far from the tree?"

Go Digital!

This week I bought a slightly used Canon Rebel XTi. It's a newer model with some additional functionality with very few "clicks" for a great price (with a transferrable extended warranty, no less!). OK, who cares?

As a result, in a week, I'll be posting my "old" camera on craigslist to sell, asking $350. Before I do that, though, I wanted family a chance at it. This is the camera I've been using for the last 5 years shooting our boys, etc... so you've seen the pictures it takes. If you've thought about getting a digital SLR type camera (non-compact), here's a chance to get in on it reasonably cheaply (the cheapest Canon Digital SLR goes for about $600 new). This camera has all the automatic modes as well as all the manual modes, so it is a great camera to learn on. If you're not really interested in learning, but just want a camera that delivers great pics without the delay you get with compacts, this works for you also! This is essentially the digital version of any of the Canon EOS Rebel film models (II, X, Xs, G, Gs, Ti, 2000, etc.). Any of the Canon EF lenses will work (same as you would use for any Canon EOS camera... film or digital).

Here's the details...

For family, I'm asking $300

Canon Digital Rebel (300D)
6.3 Megapixels
fully functioning, with never any trouble with it.
cosmetic wear on the grip
Technical details available at: http://www0.epinions.com/pr-Canon_Digital_Rebel_EOS-300D_Digital_Camera/display_~full_specs
I'm including my 35-80 lens (which digitally is equivalent to a 56-128 in film). I've used the lens as my standard lens for the last 15 years and it's been great. It does have a crack on the outside shell that I fixed over a year ago with superglue and hasn't been a problem since. Includes a clear "sky" filter used to protect the lens... has been on it since the day I bought the lens.

I can also include a 256MB CF memory card, so you can be off and shooting immediately. Holds roughly 75 pictures at full resolution.

2 batteries and a charger

manual

If you're interested, let me know. Otherwise, I'll be posting it on craigslist next week.

40 Year Reunion--Not possible

I cannot believe it has been 40 years since I left High School. Last nite was our reunion. I though some of you may remember Nancy McGrath stories. She is in the middle. Somehow her version of some of the stories are a little different but I am sure she is suffering from senility. We had a good time and actually stayed out until 11:30. Of course, we had to nap this afternoon. LOL

Christopher's Birthday

Happy Birthday Christopher

This 11 year old went out to dinner at the tent at The Inn at Sugar Hill and took his whole family: Mom, Dad, Darlene, Grandmom Carty, Grandmom and PopPop Thompson. Christopher had ribs, many of the rest of us had Crab cakes. Anyway, then it was present time. I bet the pictures don't surprize you. There were even a few "action" figures in the box. Why does the expression "Apple doesn't fall too far from the tree" come to mind. Another great year for the boy: Camp, Soccer, Trumpet, church service and school. Keep up the good work Christopher.

Science or Science Fiction?

Karen found this on one of our cherry tomato plants today! The boys loved touching it and staring at it! None of us had ever seen anything this size before! Needless to say, it has since been "re-located" far from our tomatoes! Anyone seen this before or know what it is?

Weekend Camping Trip

We just got back from a great camping trip to Sunapee, NH. We had a great time! He went hiking, made S'mores, played in the river, went to the lake, and of course, slept in the tent! I don't have time to go through all the details, but I did want to make note of the highlight for all of us.

We had been told that we could ride a ski lift to the summit of Mount Sunapee (and back down) and hike a mile to a mountain-top pond... so we went for it! We got all excited about it and got the kids all excited, only to find out that Zach was too young to ride. Although very bummed, we decided to start out hiking up the trail to the top, figuring we'd make it part-way up and come down a slope. Well, the trail only crossed one slop all the way at the bottom. After a 2 mile, 1500' vertical hike, we made it to the top! The longest hike we've made together and Chase walked most of the way. Zach did great too, often reaching for the ground, saying, "Me do it." At points, Karen and I each had one of the boys on our shoulders and Zach even fell asleep on Karen's shoulders! The boys did so well, and we just had a blast together as a family!

To top it all off, when we reached the top and took all our pictures, the lift attendants (two retired men with great hearts!) offered to let us all ride the ski lift down. At that point, the boys were almost too excited to let us look out over the ski runs before heading for the lift (Chase calls it the Sky Lift). The ride down was a great end to a great hike! They boys loved the ride down and said tonight that was their favorite part of the trip!
Perhaps I'll fill in more later... with the rest of the pictures. All in all... we had a fantastic weekend!