Happy Birthday Lindy!

When it comes to remembering a wife's birthday or an anniversary, it can sometimes be nice to have some reminders in various formats and locations... even junk mail.



This year's reminder was a little more interesting... After all, we all learn things about our spouse from time to time but this might have been the biggest surprise of our marriage thus far:



But what a birthday deal... Two dollars off our next case of lung cancer! Boy oh boy, we can't wait until the stores open this morning!

Happy Birthday, Mommy!





We love you!

Anya and Austria's Appendage Abilities

If you have been truly faithful to following our blog these many years, you will remember this video of Anya before she could walk. It is one of my favorites. She was quite impressive with her leg exercises:



Recently, however, we discovered Austria's "appendage power," only it is contained within her arms and hands:



With her slight-of-hand, she's begun working on her first magic trick. Watch carefully and the two yellow balls will disappear:



Maybe our third child will have a large head...

Battle of Resaca

The South will Rise Again!

I don't know if you knew this but the civil war is alive and kicking down here in Georgia. We decided to check out some of the battles near by and see how things were going between the Rebels and Yankees. What a "blast!" Here is some live footage we took.



If the videos seems a little shaky, it's because I was sincerely fearful for our lives. Still, the soldiers are pretty good about keeping the gunfire away from the spectators but the guy selling popcorn wasn't too excited about signing any sort of treaty with me. (Man, get off my back!...but I will take some junior mints..)



We all know someone who is a little too much into paint-ball, Halo, football season, or some other vice that they live, eat and breath, but for these guys, it is the civil war. In fact, they may be more in to it than the original soldiers. Don't believe me? Well, the only thing that stops them from fighting with real bullets is that they want to fight it all over again next year.



(Yes, those were "dead" people.)

The Battle of Resaca was fought over a few days. We only had time to watch the first half. I did catch some coverage of the second half on TV though. I won't give the ending away but it goes down to the wire... Anyway, next time you're in town we'll catch a civil war battle if the Hawks lose out of the playoffs early.

Terrible Two's?

I always thought blaming a child's behavior on the "terrible two's" was a total cop out. Now I am rethinking that . . .

However, there is some humor in her behavior, since she can verbalize her thoughts.

Take for instance last night, after stalling for a good 30 minutes, she is finally in her crib, but is whining:

"Anya, it is time to go to bed."
"I don't want to go to bed, I want to stay up."
"No, it is time to go to bed, good night, love you."
"I want to stay up. It doesn't matter!"



And then again this morning, while whining, in the closet, (yes, the closet):

"Anya, how about some lunch?"
"No. I don't want lunch."
"How about a grilled cheese?"
"No. I don't like cheese."
"Oh, you don't like cheese today? How about some cheerios?"
"No, I don't want anything, I just want to cry!"

Happy Mother's Day!

We couldn't get Anya to do anything nice for her Grandma and Nana over Skype today and so we have to resort to another video.



It was our first Mother's Day in Georgia. Usually we are on a trip. Last year's location was Jamaica and the year before was New York. Looks like the recession really is getting to everyone... We do have Lindy's birthday coming up, so perhaps we will just celebrate Mother's Day and her birthday together. (Kind of like how we celebrate Anya and my birthdays together with Christmas most years...)



Anyway, we want to thank our mothers and the other women in our lives (including grandmothers, aunts, friends, cousins and ward members) who help us, look after us, think of us, pray for us, comment on our blog, serve us, babysit for us, cook for us, give us rides, share food with us, listen to us, support us, teach us, love us, etc.

We love you! Thank for all you do!

Seben

Our girls don't really perform on demand when we are taking pictures. They seem completely fascinated by the guy behind the camera. It's amazing to notice the young age at which they will respond with "Let me see!" after I take a picture. Oh the vanity! (It's likely you know what I'm talking about...)



Anyway, they also get distracted while talking on Skype to relatives. Austria loves to bang on the keyboard and Anya will run around like a chicken most of the time.

For a test, I decided to just let the camera roll for a long time and then edit out 90% of the video - the boring parts where we are trying to get them to sit still, smile or something else they don't want to do when I have a camera in front of me.

So, Grandma and Nana! Here are the latest skills:



Anya is also working on her "foot-nose" coordination:



She is still too little to ride her trike but makes the best of it by reading (and waiting to grow so she can reach the pedals).



(Yes, you guessed it. She isn't smiling because she is interested in the camera....)