don't touch the owie

don't touch the owie, originally uploaded by hobbsandbean.

I'll try to get an updated picture of this tomorrow, since now he is sporting a great eyeshadow-looking bruise along with the nasty scab.

This owie represents one of the things I love about Teresa Weinberg. Most of you probably know at least some of what the Weinberg's have been through this past week. It's certainly an understatement to say that it's been emotionally draining for Teresa as a mother. Anyway, while skh and I were at the annual GBC Elder's Retreat this week, Cal and Mags (being watched by the kind Vanderbekens - more on that later) got to visit the Weinbergs at the hospital. Teresa, in the midst of this ridiculously difficult week, poured tremendous energy into playing with my kids as they visited, including a wild game of Mrs.-Teresa's-leg-is-a-horse with Calvin. Apparently her leg is a bucking bronco, because Cal ended up connecting his eye with the floor. Teresa of course felt terribly about this, but I don't at all. The hospitality of the Weinberg family is legendary, but to see this spiritual gift displayed in the hospital where their son was recovering from being dead only a few short days before...well, it's pretty amazing. God IS good, and I'm thankful for the scabby reminder above our son's eye.

just the facts, ma'am

Shiny badge supplied by the ever gracious Pecadillo. Authoritative attitude supplied by the ever ambitious Calvin.

learning disabled, but handsome

Here is my darling brother, LD. Contrary to popular belief, LD does NOT stand for Lunch and Dinner (he hasn't always been so svelte), Lunge and Destroy (he used to be quite a violent toddler) or Learning Disabled (hmm, no comment). It stands for Little David...which isn't really accurate either, come to think of it. I guess "Little" just means "younger than the other 56 Davids in our family".

Anyway, I'm going to move on to the pictures now. He'll hate that I posted these, but I bet he'll get over it. And for all interested young ladies, he's single, but you'll have to pass family inspection.

dumpster diving

bossy shoes

So, I got new running shoes a while ago. I ordered them from Amazon, and upon first look was very happy with the new version of my old shoes - see how nice they look?


However, on closer inspection, I was quite surprised to receive such a personalized pair of very bossy shoes...lacking a comma of course, but can you really expect proper punctuation from a pair of shoes?


Why am I posting this?

Because Mo goed. Or went. Actually, Mo is goING. Today marks Day 25 of my exercise streak. I'm very excited about it. I know it's not much - just 20 minutes of walking or jogging each day (at wildly varying speeds depending on how I'm feeling), but I'm loving it and am glad to see movement in my life towards consistency.

It started as a commitment to 21 days of exercise, thank you Ben Franklin. I joined a group of other cloth diapering moms online (yes, I realize this is weird) who were doing the same thing. It was REALLY hard a few of the days, but I ended up loving it. So much so, that I kept going! I'm now on Day 3 of my second time around, this time with my mom.

Here's to more MoGo.

the downside of rejecting the bumper bonnet

Our friends John and Lisa have quite the funny blog, and recently they posted some odd products for children that were pretty humorous.

Anyway, I don't have plans to adorn my children's feet with the remains of Chewie, and am only occasionally tempted to use any sort of cage in my parenting. However, I must admit that the first thought that popped into my head when I saw the Bumper Bonnet was, "Hey! Maybe that could keep Cal from looking like an abused child all the time!"

Cut to some recent photographic evidence...

First, he was accidentally "nudged" into a cabinet during dinner rush one night. That is how you end up with such perfectly straight bruising. Nice, huh?


Not more than 12 hours later, Cal was a pillow fight victim (if you can be a victim in something you instigated) that ended with his eye meeting the edge of our coffee table. This resulted not just in bruising, but bleeding as well.



I don't have pictures of the MOST recent injury, which was another (I think this is the twelfth?) split lip. There was more blood than I have ever seen come out of one of my children. I'm trying to act like it never happened. I hope that Cal is remembering that it's not a great idea to stand on the arm of the couch when you have a 104.5 degree fever.

Anyway, after thinking about this lovely, ultra-cool Bumper Bonnet, I realized that maybe I will appreciate these head injuries as an explanation for things that Cal does. Or wears. Perhaps things like this?

um, wow.

Bet your sister-in-law can't make things like this.

Seriously. Did you see the earring?

It's too funny.

a sad, sad day

Okay, anyone who comes here just for Maggie and Calvin stuff, leave now. This is a completely self-centered post, with no cute pictures of the kids. No cute stories either. Just a sad story and disturbing images.

As you probably remember, I recently posted a picture of my feet and Calvin's feet in our lovely, one-of-a-kind (two-of-a-kind?) hand-knit Annie Grook socks. Those socks are literally my favorite socks in the entire universe. They might even be my favorite article of clothing. When I am sad, I put these socks on to help me feel happier...that's how good they are. Other than myself, Annie Grook is probably most aware of my love for them as I went through a period where I constantly bothered her, trying to score more hand-knit socks for myself. I finally came to the realization that these were going to be the only socks I got for awhile, and resigned myself to wearing another pair of sub-standard socks while these were in the wash. Anyway, the point is, I REALLY like these socks.

So, imagine my dismay when I saw this...



MY PRECIOUS SOCK HAS A HOLE IN THE HEEL!!!!!!

This is not okay. I was having a bad evening, and went to put these on for comfort, and this hole is what I saw. I actually started to cry a couple of times because it was so sad. My sister-in-law spent a LOT of time making these, and now they are very sad.

I debated whether or not to blog about this, because Annie Grook has her plate full...overflowingly full...with knitting projects, and I don't want to pressure her too much. However, it really is just too sad to not post. :( Poor socks. Poor feet. Okay, I feel a little better now that I have shared my sorrow. Thanks for mourning with me.

maggie gets a job, earns some money, goes to wal-mart and buys two dollies

The title kind of sums it up, but Mags worked very diligently to help Boppa with a project recently and earned some cash. Little Miss Ramsey gave some to God and some to a gift and then took what was left, along with allowance (for feeding Newman) that she'd been saving up, and went to Wal-mart on a mission. She was looking for the most dolly that $5 could buy, and here's what she got...with 18 cents change too!


Just in case you were wondering, the bigger baby is Mollie and the little baby is Mary. Somehow, despite the size difference, these babies are twins.

how to train for a pretend marathon

Apparently, pretending to be Dada makes it way more fun when he's gone for Preview Weekend. Here are the kids "running" on the treadmill. For any interested parties, Cal calls the treadmill "DA DA!!!", which I think is hilarious.



Looks like pretend training is way more fun than the real thing.