Big brother

he just loves being next to her (he's no dummy, he knows that's a foolproof way to get attention!)

Zoe thinks I'm funny. That's the bow that Joshua was wearing earlier, and she's in a 6-12 mos outfit!! he was playing a game with one of Candice's brothers

cutie pie!

Joshua loved this little puppy, and was trying to get in Candice's family photo. Hmmm.

cuddling with brother

so sweet

Joshua just brought my big heavy Bible over to me on the couch, crawled up and sat down next to me and said "weed Baboo Daddy sawmp" (read the Bible with Daddy, Psalms).

Zoe officially rolled over all the way, all by herself yesterday. I put her down on her blanket on the floor on her back, came back in and she was doing a little baby push-up. She did it several more times before the day was over so I have some videos to get on here when I have a minute. I have more pictures too. So check back tomorrow!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

finally, a haircut

gosh, that really looks like Joshua, but that child appears to be voluntarily consuming a vegetable that isn't hidden in a smoothie. I'm perplexed.look how dapper he is with his hair all parted and combed. I like how the little bit on the right (his left) still sticks out over his ear...and... here he is this morning with his bedhead. You know it's time for a haircut when: your son's hair is longer than your daughter's. Is that one of her bows? Oh yes, yes it is. He just had to have it, so I humored him. For about 30 seconds while I went to get the clippers out.

How did it get this long, you might ask. Well, every time I said "Joshua, time for a haircut" he pointed to his head, made a cute little buzzing sound and said "nope... ma'am." When I actually got out the clippers, there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth, so I always relented. Until today. We actually started with scissors and he was fine with that. He colored away in his tonka book (thanks Johnsons!) and I did my thing. It was going fine, but he just wouldn't hold still and I couldn't get to the back of his head so we had to go with the clippers after all (he doesn't like them because he's "fade" of the noise - that's what I got from our pre-haircut convo)

Here's our handsome little man, post wrestling-meets-haircut. In case you are wondering, this was not an easy feat and yes, I was holding him. About 3 seconds after I said the magic words "all done" and unplugged the clippers, he was fine. He started pointing to the hair on the floor saying "twash," went to get the trash can and started picking up his hair and putting it in there.

(can you see the tears and running nose? mean mommy)

won't get any bows in that hair!! He always was cute bald!

here he is pointing to the Count in his Big Bird book, saying "Daddy"

He loves to dance and, I have to say, he's pretty good! I always look up and see him dancing in his carseat, and today he was dancing to some veggietales songs. I think it's all those videos of Masie he's been watching! Or he just gets his mad skills from Daddy.

Zoe slept all day. I thought about cutting her hair too but didn't think that would go over too well. We'll try to get some smiles out of her tomorrow - not too hard to do!

Happy Birthday Joshua!!

Here's the birthday boy with his new train set. He loved it! I really shouldn't have given it to him so close to bedtime though. It's hard to believe he's already 2 years old! Our Kenneth Joshua Tripp was born at 5:22am on November 21st, 2006 and weighed 7 lbs 13 oz and was 21 inches long. It's hard to believe he was once so tiny. It's even harder to believe we ever lived without him. Thank you, Lord, for blessing us with such a wonderful, marvelous little boy. Among other things, we pray for him to know you as his Lord and Savior, and to know that as much as we love him, he belongs to You and that You love him more than we could ever know

eating his first birthday cake

From "On the night you were born" by Nancy Tillman...

"On the night you were born the moon smiled with such wonder that the stars peeked in to see you and the night wind whispered, "Life will never be the same." Because there had never been anyone like you... ever in the world.

So enchanted with you were the wind and the rain that they whispered the sound of your wonderful name. It sailed through the farmland high on the breeze, over the ocean, and through the trees, until everyone heard it and everyone knew of the one and only ever you. Not once had there been such eyes, such a nose, such silly, wiggly, wonderful toes.

...Heaven blew every trumpet and played every horn on the wonderful, marvelous night you were born."

And here's the best baby advice I have received, and from my own mother (thanks, Mom)

"Cleaning and scrubbing can wait for tommorow,
For babies grow up, we've learned, to our sorrow.
So quiet down cobwebs and dust go to sleep.
I'm rocking my baby, and babies don't keep."

Happy 60th Birthday to Pa too!!! What a pair! Thank you for being such a wonderful Pa and Pappy!

Fall fun for everyone

I know, I'm such a poet...

Joshua was having fun swinging and going down his slide. It was chilly out but he didn't seem to notice.

Zoe all ready to go outside

I was trying to get a picture of her without getting me in it, which is difficult to do when (a) your baby is attached to you and (b) you're trying to take the picture yourself.

Here's a yummy recipe that I made last night. It took me 2 weeks to make this recipe. No, really. Every time I went to make it, something happened or I didn't have an ingredient. Also, I like this recipe but don't make it for Craig because he doesn't... I do believe that this is the second time I have cooked in about a month. The first time was because I had friends over (microwaving doesn't count). Although I had to eat it out of the pan while Joshua was in the bath and Zoe was watching him from her bouncy seat, it was just what I needed. Mmm. Spicy.

Thai Chicken

Heat lg wok or skillet. Add oil and heat. Toss in chicken (about 3 breasts, diced raw). Salt and pepper the chicken while cooking for about 5 min. Add :

-Thai red curry paste (1-2 Tbsp depending on how spicy you like. I was missing this ingredient and wasn't about to go to the thai store so I just used a LOT of red pepper flakes),

-2 tbps fresh ginger root (out of this too, so I used a bunch (1 or 2 tsp) of ginger powder),

-1-2 cloves crushed/minced garlic,

-2 tbsp fresh lime juice (I only had a little left so I didn't use that much)

stir and cook for a couple more minutes, then add:

1 can coconut cream

1 can pineapple chunks (drained)

1 sweet potato cut into small cubes (so they cook quickly)

(if you want to use 2-3 sweet potatoes and/or more chicken, add a can of coconut milk)

add some more salt & pepper and simmer about 20 minutes (until potatoes are tender)

the friend who gave me this recipe (which I obviously didn't follow well) serves this over rice with halved cherry tomatoes and 3T fresh chopped cilantro (which you KNOW I would NEVER put on anything coming NEAR my mouth)

Kid sister and me

Sing it if you know it...

I like how Zoe was sitting in her chair earlier and Joshua went and brought his chair over so he could sit next to her. He kisses her every chance he gets, and is always patting her and bringing her pacifiers and toys (he brought her that little blanket because she had dropped her caterpillar)
He likes to point to her and say "Zoe." I realize he wears this sweatshirt often. He has been choosing his own outfits lately and tends to gravitate toward Elmo and "hairpanes"

Diddy on the TB and Mamassages

Princess Zoe Kate of the Bumbo

Joshua humoring me with a smile at Kristin's ("Kiss-kin") birthday party this morningHere we are at the birthday party. You guessed it, Joshua didn't want anything to do with that bouncy house behind us. He was more interested in the bike (above). Zoe's asleep.I didn't realize how many fingerprints are on our dishwasher until I saw this picture. I'll be cleaning that. Joshua sees Mommy with the camera...He's testing the waters. Not going to pose and smile for me. He sat on my leg and gave me this little look...And then agreed to pose with me. That's my homeboy, giving a shoutout to his peeps (that's you folks)

And then I got him!Trapped into taking pictures with Mommy...And forced to endure my kissy-torture!!

Joshua really likes his bday gift from Lucas, Owen & Eli (and Aunt Heather and Uncle Matthew). It's a John Deere video with lots of tractors in it, just driving around. He asks for "Diddy" (Dizzy, from Bob the Builder, which is what he calls all green tractors) on the "TB" all the time.

Zoe loves her mamassages. She just giggles, smiles and coos at me the whole time, so how can I resist giving her massages all the time!

Who loves you, baby?

I was awarded the "I love your blog award" by Rosemarie. Thank you, I'm flattered! Of course this dubious honor came with strings attached - blog homework. That's OK though, now I don't have to think about what to blog about. Answer the following questions with single word responses, and pass the award on to other bloggers:

1. Where is your cell phone? counter

2. Where is your significant other? far

3. Your hair color? brown

4. Your mother? Vici

5. Your father? Tom

6. Your favorite thing? Craig

7. Your dream last night? forget

8. Your dream/goal? love

9. The room you're in? living

10. Your hobby? running

11. Your fear? heights

12. Where do you want to be in six years? here

13. Where were you last night? home

14. What you're not? well-rested

15. One of your wish list items? grill

16. Where you grew up? RI

17. The last thing you did? talked (on the phone)

18. What are you wearing? jeans

19. Your T.V.? off

20. Your pets? none

21. Your computer? slow

22. Your mood? wishy-washy

23. Missing someone? yes!!!

24. Your car? Explorer

25. Something you're not wearing? coat

26. Favorite store? bookstore

27. Your Summer? hot

28. Love someone? Craig, Joshua & Zoe

29. Your favorite color? lots

30. When is the last time you laughed? today

31. Last time you cried? yesterday

Passing some love to: Leslie & Laura!

Has it really been a decade?!

after an evening of bonding with my scanner, here's what I have to show for my technical (in)abilities... I've scouted out some old photos of me and my Roomie/WPPWE student/MOH and most importantly fantabulous friend Rosemarie. We became roommates & friends a whole decade ago, I can hardly believe it. There we are above with our families. And for your viewing pleasure...

This is how all cadets used to walk around in the Old Corps. We just strolled around Trophy Point, chit chatting with our sabres drawn in case the red coats attacked again... with photographers following us (the tall girl is Rosemarie, the blonde girl is yours truly)

that's right, I said blonde. Isn't that funny! OK, back to my Rosemarie photos...
Oh, look. We're up at Lusk Reservoir (don't you ever wonder just how many million gallons are in Lusk Reservoir? I know I do!), just relaxing in our As-For-Class. I'm sure we had brought our homework with us or something.

Hey look at that! Who's that handsome guy (3rd from the left, hiding from the camera). What a crush I had on him!!! Some things never change!

RM and I showing off our rings in the Supe's garden. Again, she's the tall one, I'm blondie.

Oh look, how did this get in here??! What a fun fun day at Chris and Leslie's wedding! I came across it in my firstie photos and just couldn't resist :)



OK, back to the birthday girl. Oh that's right... did I forget to mention that this photographic tribute to Rosemarie is because it's her BIRTHDAY!!? It's true, folks, she's the big 3-0!!! Happy Birthday Rosemarie :) So back to the pictures. Um, what was going on here? I think we were about to duel or something. That's what we did back in the Old Corps.

Here we are at the Ring Weekend banquet. Rosemarie is trying to make me feel better about being so vertically inferior to her. That's what friends are for.

Anyway, thanks for being such a great friend for all these years! In retrospect, I should have dug up some wedding photos too, hold on... ok, this is the only one I had, the rest are on my external harddrive, and I didn't want to battle the scanner again.

Happy Birthday Rosemarie! Hope it was a great one!

Love, Kim