Laughing Baby

If you can watch this without smiling, I will send you $100 - it's that cute!

Just baby pictures. . . that's about it

Besides Scout completing Kindergarten, we don't really have news or a recent outing to chronicle. But my Mom was giving me a hard time about only seeing baby pictures on Facebook - so here Mom, this one's for you. : - )

Baby Eleanor Has Arrived!

Eleanor Renee Fowkes was born on Sunday, April 5 at 12:59pm. She weighed 10lbs 11oz and was 22 3/4 inches long. It was a very fast delivery - we arrived at the Birth Center at 10am and three hours later she was here! As many of you know, we had planned another homebirth, but Becky's Mom was already here and it made a lot more sense to let her stay home with our kids rather than kick them all out for who knew how long! We were home by about 7pm Sunday night - so we still got to sleep in our own bed the night she was born! It was a fantastic day!

We feel very blessed that she's here and that things went so smoothly. One unique little fun fact was that there was a "true knot" in her cord (it was not very tight and did not cause any problems). Our Nurse-Midwife, Marsha, (who was wonderful) has attended about 2,200 births over her 30 year career and said she's only ever seen seven other knots!

Scout and Isaak are doing well - they love their sister and want to hold her. Isaak often asks to "pet her". He got upset that he was not allowed to give her part of his cracker. Scout wants to change her diaper. It has been very helpful that Becky's Mom is here and Gerald is on Spring Break this week - we have been able to relax and not really worry about keeping anyone on a schedule. Next week might be a different story. . . .

Happy 3rd Birthday Isaak!

Isaak has been to two birthday parties in the past two weeks and was very excited that it was finally his birthday! We decided to celebrate one night early because Gerald was going to be home. He wanted a "Batman Cake and cold ice cream". Neither of his parents are creative enough to have decorated a Batman cake themselves - so we did the next best thing - bought a sheet cake at Shoppers and threw a Batman figurine on top! Isaak insists that he's six and that his birthday will also be tomorrow. This is such a great age!









Becky's Mom used to always put a present on the table the morning of your birthday - what a great way to start a birthday! We've continued the tradition - so even though the candles had been blown out and the cake eaten, this is Isaak opening his morning birthday present. A Mr. Potato Head pirate outfit - fun stuff!

Ice Skating, Violin and Beyond

We can't get our new camcorder to "talk" to our Mac, so we can't put any videos up. It will actually probably involve a software upgrade for the Mac - and then hopefully it will work. Otherwise Grandpa got us that nice camera and won't even be able to watch the footage we've been directed to get and post! For now (and we know, that's sooooooo 20th century) we only have a picture of Scout at her first violin recital. She was very excited to perform. Becky accompanied on the piano while Scout played the first "Twinkle Variation". It was fun to hear the more advanced students and see what's to come. The Suzuki Method is quite involved - we practice for about 30 minutes every single day!! It has been rewarding though, and Scout is improving every week. We are very proud of her.



Scout has been begging to go ice skating for quite awhile, so we finally went a few weeks ago. Gerald is about as unsteady on ice skates as the kids are - so he took turns with them clutching the wall and scooting around the first thirty yards of the rink. Becky just watched - ice skating + 7 months pregnant = um, no thanks. They had a good time though and have asked to go again! Notice the super-cool Princess knee pads on Issak (actually the elbow pads to go with Scout's set). Poor little brother - he already has to take her old Princess Backpack to the gym - he's probably going to have a major my-parents-wished-I-was-a-girl complex when he's older. Perhaps we should start the therapy fund now. . .







This picture is from the trip we took with Gerald's parents to Colonial Williamsburg, VA the week after Christmas. It was a fun trip and we were glad the weather was relatively warm. The definite highlight was the carriage ride -and petting the horses while waiting to board the carriage, of course.

More to Come. . . we promise!

New Year's Resolution #7:
Update the blog more often than every two or three months. I always enjoy checking the blogs of friends and I'm glad they update theirs frequently!

We got back today from a week in Williamsburg, VA with Gerald's parents and will hit the ground running tomorrow! It was a very relaxing week. Grandparents are the best.

Thanksgiving was great, Christmas was great, we're happy to be a few days into 2009. We loved getting all of the Christmas cards from friends and family this year.

We have a ton of pictures/videos to go through and upload - but for now, here are a few. Thanks to our brother-in-law (who works for Disney) we got to spend a day at Disney's Animal Kingdom in Orlando. The kids did well, it was crowded but we saw some cool stuff. Can you say $16 for four AA batteries? Not kidding.

We also visited the Kennedy Space Center while we were in Florida. As we were driving up we were actually kind of giddy! Our friend commented, "I've wanted to see this place since I was 9 years old!" It was a fun day!

We have a ton of Christmas pictures and videos - like I said, more to come soon!

Yes We Did!

For the most part we use this blog as a "what we've been up to" for friends and family. But I've noticed that every now and then, our own friends and family use their blogs to express their ideas and (dare I say it?) agendas.. . . so here I go. .

This shouldn't surprise anybody, but we are thrilled that Obama won! Becky went to the rally in Prince William County on Monday night - the eve of the Election. There were 85,000 people there - it was amazing to look back and see this sea of people - ALL kinds of people! Literally, young and old, black and white, all styles of dress - you get the idea. He gave a great speech and it was worth standing for six hours to hear it - not because he said anything "new" (for Obama) but because the energy of that crowd was just palpable! I've been to big rock concerts (as in U2 and Pink Floyd) and football games with just as many people and it wasn't the same - not even close (sorry, LSU fans)!

I posted this video because we think it really captures Obama's eloquence as a speaker and the hope he's ignited in this country. It even won an Emmy! We're really excited at what the future holds and think Obama will make a great President!



As an aside, and mostly because it's kind of funny, here's the "No We Can't" response video someone made about McCain (mmmmmaybe not so easy to watch for those of you who might have wanted him to win. . . but it is slightly thought provoking) -



I promise, we'll stick to cute pictures and family news for awhile after this. : - )