Weston is 2 months old

Time for Your Annual Credit Checkup!

This week I took advantage of the opportunity to review copies of my credit report from all three credit reporting agencies.  Thanks to the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions (FACT) Act of 2003, consumers can access a free copy of their credit report at each of the three major credit reporting agencies.  You can access them online for a full month and can print (and sometimes download) a copy for your records.  While you can't get your FICO rating (credit score) for free, the items on your credit report directly affect this score and should be reviewed periodically. 

Each time I've looked at my credit reports I've noticed inconsistencies.  Sometimes these are minor (like my current employer or an incorrect home address), but sometimes I notice that something major has been recorded incorrectly.  This year I noticed that a credit card on my report had a "negative" rating.  We have never been late in our payments, so I was immediately suspicious.  When I looked into it further, I discovered that the credit card was not ours.  The account was for a gasoline company we never purchase from, and the account was opened in 1972 (I was born in 1978)!  Through a simple online dispute process I was able to get the account removed from my credit report within a day or two.  Because of the FACT Act, I was able to identify and correct these inconsistencies with no personal cost and little hassle.

I can't stress how important it is to check this information regularly!  These reports are the basis for our credit scores which in turn can affect our current and future borrowing.  Many credit card companies check their customer's credit scores every 6-12 months and adjust rates accordingly.  

If you have inaccuracies on your credit report, you could find your rates increasing without just cause.  For future borrowing, loan interest rates and loan approvals are heavily influenced by our credit scores.  Credit scores are "sticky up" but not down; basically, it takes a lot more effort to raise your credit score than it does to bring it down.  Making sure that your credit score is accurate is in your best interest and could save you a lot of time an money both now and in the future.  And, it could be the simplest way for you to quickly raise your credit score!

To access your credit reports at each of the three credit reporting bureaus, vist the website www.annualcreditreport.com.  (This website is sponsored by the three credit bureaus and the Federal Trade Commission).

For more information about the FACT Act and free annual credit reports check out this article on Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_credit_report

Here are some helpful websites that give a simple explanation of what makes up a credit (FICO) score and the best methods for raising your score:

http://www.fool.com/personal-finance/credit/get-it-done-boost-your-credit-score-in-months.aspx?terms=credit+score&vstest=search_042607_linkdefault

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fico_score

http://www.myfico.com/CreditEducation/ImproveYourSCore.aspx

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/03/23/business/main3960888.shtml

We are still alive

Having no internet at home changes so many things. First, email is right out. We just aren't as responsive. Second, blogging has come to an absolute stand still (as you all can see). Third, my lunch breaks at work are now entirely devoted to updating our bank accounts, paying bills online, receiving and writing personal emails, and researching directions, etc. Everything relating to our reliance on the internet has become complicated.

The business center at our leasing building has two computers. 75% of the time we make it over there both computers are being used. As a result, we aren't very inclined to head over unless it is late in the evening. Since this is the best time for Stephanie and I to reconnect since the kids are asleep, our last thought is for one of us to take off to the business center. We're really starting to miss what we had.

Today I decided to quickly post to say that we are still alive and that nothing drastic has happened since Weston joined our family. Schedules have adjusted and sleep is harder to come by, but everyone is healthy and life is good. Since I may not post regularly, feel free to call us on our cell phones:

Ben (703) 216-7604
Steph (703) 389-1520

Weston Pictures

Weston Richard Taylor!

Weston Richard Taylor was born at 1:31 EST on Friday, October 3rd. He weighed 9 lbs and 9 oz (just like his father) and was 22 inches long (an inch longer than his father). He has very short dark blond or light brown hair.

Weston got his name when a friend of ours (Thanks Camille!!) suggested we combine Stephanie's two favorite names Wesley and Afton. (Ben wasn't much of a fan of either of them, unfortunately). Richard is after Stephanie's father who is one of the best men we've both known.

Stephanie brought Weston home from the hostital on Sunday, October 5th, and I took the week off of work to spend time with my family! Coming back to work on Monday was difficult for everyone. We're looking forward to getting to know Weston even better and to introducing him to the rest of the family during the Holidays!

[No name] is Three Days Overdue

No Baby.

Last night Stephanie and I attempted to come to some sort of agreement on what to name our baby boy.  We were about as successful as the House and Congress have been on the 700B financial rescue package.  Stephanie's top picks are (1) Afton  and (2) Wesley.  I admit that 6 years ago I liked the name Afton for our first boy.  Since then, I've heard of two girls named Afton (one was with my firm).  We've also had three girls since then.  I've been thinking lately that with three older sisters, our first boy needs to have a masculine name.  Wesley sounds too soft to my ears.  

My top picks are (1) Grant and (2) Garrett.  Originally I thought that a first name ending in "t" and our last name beginning with "T" would make the name hard to pronounce.  I've gotten past that and really started liking the names again.  Stephanie however things Grant sounds too nasally (maybe it's how I say it?).  She doesn't really like either of the names I picked, and so we are still at an impass.  

Last night Stephanie was brainstorming as I was falling asleep in my pillow.  The result is that we still haven't agreed on a name and we don't seem any closer.   So, does anyone have any names to suggest?  We obviously need an intervention or some outside help at the very least.   Leave us your name suggestions/comments!

Still outnumbered 4 to 1

Nothing.  Nothing is happening in babytown.

Two days past her due date, Stephanie isn't getting excited.  After all, he's a Taylor and he's likely inherited my dominant gene for procrastination.  The girls who came naturally were 7-10 days late.  Steph scheduled an induction for this Friday, October 3rd at 6:30 am EST.  She's fairly confident that [baby boy] will be born on Friday.

So, 2 days late and 4 to go.

4 Days to Go - No Baby

Steph said as of yesterday the baby is pushing constantly on specific spot high in her abdomen.  She says it feels bruised from the inside.  We would love it if the baby wanted to come out soon.

The current plan is that if he's not out on his own by Saturday, October 4th then we are going to induce.  Steph isn't expecting any action until then.  Still, you never know.  So, we are looking on the bright side:

Pros

+ I now know where the hospital is (looked that up two weeks ago online)

+ Steph had time to get all the baby clothes organized and put away

+ I am working close to home this week and part of next week; each day the baby waits to come gives me more time to finish my current engagement

+ Steph can teach her third week of preschool this week, so she won't have to take a turn again until after the new year

+ We have had lots of offers to help with the girls when the baby is born including overnight shifts

+ We were invited to a very delicious and authentic Argentinan meal with friends last night

+ If baby comes after the end of September, I won't have to go through the hassle of explaining why I didn't meet year-end utilization goals.  (I know.  This is completely selfish on my part).

+ Every extra day in the "oven" means our baby is getting bigger and healthier

+ Every extra day gives me more time to try and come up with a name Steph likes as much as "Afton" and "Wesley"

Today is the first day of Autumn!

Happy Fall!

6 days to go - no baby

What more is there to say? Still no baby. Steph is getting very uncomfortable (physically). Nothing going down in baby town.

Measure once, cut twice... wait.

I seem to be continually surprised by how expensive consumable goods have become.  Maybe its because Steph does most of the grocery shopping.  I find that I'm asking myself the following questions pretty regularly these days: "When did bread jump to $3.00 a loaf?"  "How can milk be $3.80 a gallon and gas is only $3.69 a gallon?"  "Has a package of all-beef hot dogs always cost as much per pound as lean hamburger?"  It seems like the only food that is still cheap is bananas.  

A coworker today mentioned in passing that this year's inflation is around 5%!  I checked it out and learned that inflation in July was at 5.6%.  That's higher than it's been in over seven years.  

I was shocked this past June when our rent jumped up by 12+%!  I still haven't gotten a good answer from the apartment complex on why that happened.  The treadmill in the exercise room is still broken.  I want my extra 12% to go to a new treadmill!

I'm even more nervous as to how the next year will go when the subject of annual raises was brought up by coworkers today.  Everyone is saying not to expect much this year.  This is a promotion year for me, and it would be nice to have some GOOD news.  I should find out sometime in the next week and a half or two weeks.  I'm starting to get a little anxious that it won't cover the cost of our rising non-discretionary expenses.

[DISCLAIMER: this post didn't begin as a monologue on the state of the economy and our finances; our apologies.  The post is really about our internet connectivity.]

In order to make the money stretch we've been cutting back on discretionary spending.  The first target was the Verizon FiOS cable and internet.  On Friday I called and cancelled our fiber optic internet service and scaled our cable back from the premier package to the basic package (guess we'll be watching conference at the church building this October).  We thought we were being smart and that we'd get a dial up service and just deal with the slower speeds.  

Last night I bought a NetZero account and started the set up.  I got to the screen that asked for the home telephone number.  I started typing in my cell phone number and then stopped part way through when I realized my blunder.  We don't have a land line.  

Steph and I haven't had a land line since we left Utah.  Our cell phone expenses on the family plan we've been a part of have been insignificant enough that we use them instead of a land line.  After all, the girls don't need to be calling anyone at their ages.  Anyone calling for us can reach Steph or I anytime, anywhere.  When we go out, we leave one of our phones with the babysitter who can call us on the other cell phone.  It was a perfect plan.

So now I had a dial up account with NetZero account with no way to dial up.  The phrases "measure twice, cut once" and "look before you leap" flashed through my mind. I groaned to myself and reluctantly got on the phone (cell phone of course) to cancel the newly established account.  I ended up speaking with an "off-shore representative" of NetZero who walked me through the process.  Our conversation went something like this:

[picking up the conversation after the greeting, etc.]

Ben: "Can you please cancel my NetZero account.  I mistakenly signed up.  We don't have a land line to use with the account and I don't know when, if ever, we will get a land line."

NetZero: "Okay Mr. Taylor, and anyways thank you for calling today regarding your account." (Pause) "Anyways Mr. Taylor, I have just successfully suspended your service for two months.  After that time you can -"

Ben: "I'm sorry, what?  Did you say 'suspend'?  Has my account been suspended or canceled?"

NetZero: "Anyways, we have suspended your account for two months.  Anyways, you can call back anytime to re-establish your account when you have home telephone service -"

Ben: "I am not planning on getting home telephone service.  I would like to cancel my account."

NetZero: "Yes Mr. Taylor, anyways, I understand.  Anyways, let me just tell you that at this time I have been authorized to offer you a discount for your high-speed NetZero account.  Anyways, so instead of $7.49 a month you will can pay $6.49 a month once you set up your land line -"

Ben: "I am not planning on setting up a land line now or anytime in the foreseeable future.  I do not want to SUSPEND my account, I want to CANCEL my account."

NetZero: "Okay Mr. Taylor.  Anyways, I will cancel your account if you will just hold for one moment while I take care of a few things" [hold music begins]

Ben: (incredulous pause) "Are you serious?  Now you want me to use my cell phone minutes to listen to hold music while you do something with my account that OBVIOUSLY doesn't need my input?..."

NetZero: [hold music continues]

[end of conversation]

First of all, I'm not sure how exactly they expect a one-dollar discount is supposed to motivate me to decide to hook up a land line.  Second, I don't think that she knows the proper use (if there even is one) of the word "anyways".  Third, do they really need us to stay on the line while they cancel the account?  Do they have some deal with the phone companies to draw out the conversation as long as they can?  Do they get a commission off the phone call fee??  I'm really confused about this.  Next time I get asked to wait like that I'm going to ask that they finish what they are doing while I get off the phone and to send me an email, send me a letter, or call me back from their line.  

Anyways, so we don't have internet, and anyways, we don't have plans for a land line or other internet service at present.  Anyways, I will continue to email/blog during my lunchbreak as I can, and anyways, we will let you know just as soon as we can, anyways, when the baby is born and/or we have home internet again.  Anyways.

Abbra Caddabra!

Eden recently expressed a desire to be a magician and has been perfecting several magic tricks.  She performed one for me today:

Eden:  "Okay Mom, now stick your hand inside my hat and see if you can feel a string."

Me:  "I don't feel a string."

Eden:  "Now say the magic words, and I will tap the hat three times with my wand, and a string will appear."

Me:  "Abbra Caddabra make a string appear.  (Eden taps on the hat three times.)

Eden:  "Now, close your eyes because I have to do something secret...and plug your ears because there will be a strange noise."

--eden ducks into my bedroom and sounds of rustling can be heard

15 secs. later...

Eden:  "Alright, mom, now stick your hand in and see if you can pull out a string."

Me:  "Hey, there is a string in here!"

Eden:  "I'll bet you don't know how I did it!"

Me:  cough, cough

This is her magician's outfit.  And yes, that is a cape around her waist.  Her Aunt Allison made it for her four years ago(hence the large hole worn through it).  However, soon after she tried it on as a cape, she took it off, put it around her waist and christened it "Cape Skirt."   I cannot recall a single time in the last four years that the cape has been worn as anything but a skirt. 

What Britta Has Been Up To

With Eden back in school, Britta has reclaimed her "oldest child at home" position.  And while this is going well for her, she tends to get a little bored without Eden.  They are pretty much best buds, well, most of the time.  To help ease her Eden withdrawls,  I've been trying to keep her pretty busy-preschool pages, art, play dates, parks, chores(she's not too fond of this), etc.  Here are just a few pictures of  her with friends:

I took Britta, her friend, and Avery hiking:

Play date with her two best friends:

Britta, her friends and Avery rockin' out to Hannah Montanna:

Work it Girl!

So, I'd like to think that over the last 6 years of being a parent that I had learned a thing or two-when the kids are quiet they're up to no good, the toilet being flushed over and over is a bad sign, beads fit perfectly in a two year old's nostrils...so this morning when I asked Avery to "pick out her clothes and get them on" (we were rushing to get Eden to the bus stop on time), I don't know why I didn't remember to be very specific in what I was asking her to do. So while I meant "pick out a shirt and pair of shorts", this is what Avery heard: "I can pick out whatever I want to wear!"  And this is what she came up with:(and yes, the care bear came as part of the ensemble as well as a red purse-not pictured)

She earned several stares and quite a few comments from the adults at the bus stop, but instead of being embarrassed, she put her hand on her hip and started swishing her tush like it was no one's business (she has perfected this walk over the last year or so and uses it to end all conversation that she finds disagreeable).

First Day of School!!!

September 2 was Eden's First Day of School. I feel like I just barely finished counting down the last few days of Kindergarten, and here we go again! She informed me that her favorite thing about first grade is that she gets to learn about worms...Now, I fully support my girls getting in touch with their inner Tom Boy, but for those of you who know Eden,  she's all girl, hence the pink sparkling tennis shoes. That statement took me a bit by surprise!  I'm really excited for her and for what she's going to learn this year.

I thought it was so sweet that the girls wanted to get one last hug in before Eden got on the bus.

Quality Control

Avery and I were having some one -on- one Mommy time this afternoon, and we decided to make chocolate chip cookies. While Avery was excited about dumping the flour, salt, sugar, etc. into the bowl all by herself, her favorite job was quality control. About every 30 sec.(and I'm not exagerating) she would say, "I need some more 'chuppa chips'". After SEVERAL taste tests, they passed her rigorous standard. Then before we put the cookies on a sheet, she felt it was important to test the cookie dough to make sure it was up to par. She looks pretty happy with the results!

This Space for Rent

so, no, i did not think that adding stickers to my blimp would make it look cuter. this was the work of my two year old Avery. i have two theories about what went on in her mind. theory one, apparently she had stickers and no place to put them so when spotting the round orb that used to be my stomach she automatically thinks "wide open canvas". theory two, she knows the baby is going to be born soon and is advertising the soon to be vacated apartment. real estate is a pretty good investment i hear.

One Month to Go!!!

that's right, baby! only one month left. my due date is sept. 27, and while i have no delusions of actually going into labor on or before that date, it's nice to have a light at the end of the tunnel. it's been a fairly easy pregnancy, and i don't have too many complaints. however, i will say that i'm looking forward to not being so scatter brained-you know, forgotten loads of laundry half started, putting the cheese away in the spice cupboard, forgetting about appts. and meetings...i'm a little worried about eden starting school next week. i already scheduled one dr. appt. during the time her bus will be dropping her back at home. i think i'll just hang close to home for the next few weeks. that way i won't have too far to run/drive when i realize that eden's bus came 5 min. ago.

anyways, i thought i'd post a belly picture for kicks. still no name. i'm thinking about offering a reward for a name ben and i can both agree on. regardless of what we end up calling the little guy, we are so excited to have him in our family and can't wait 'till he's here!

Haste makes waste (Part II)

I think my Dad knew from the time I was very young that I was likely to get myself into plenty of messes as a result of my hastiness. The phrases "haste makes waste" and "look before you leap" as well as "if your best friend jumped off a bridge, would you?" were regulars in my childhood. Unfortunately, I can't say I've fully learned the lesson.

Today's lesson began before church. Stephanie and I usually have a Family Home Evening planning session on Sunday's right after church; we plan out what we are going to do for our Monday night family time and involve the kids in the planning as well as the execution of our Monday nights. To keep the kids interested we make sure that a snack is part of the planning meeting. Steph had mentioned earlier this morning that she wanted to do something more healthy (than popsicles, animal crackers, or even popcorn) and that homemade bread was what she had in mind. As time before church was getting short I decided I would help out by putting the ingredients in the bread maker.

I grabbed the recipe book for the breadmaker out of the cabinet and started tossing the ingredients into the breadmaker pan. We've followed this recipe so many times that it was almost second nature. Steph noticed I was taking care of the bread and said thanks as I started. When I was done two minutes later she said, "Wow! Are you done already? Did you measure everything out?" Now, it's only because of 7 years of experience together that she would need to ask that question. My response: "Yes. Why do you ask?" Of course I had used measuring cups and spoons! True, some of the ingredients spilled over at times, but I did measure. Mostly. Stephanie wisely replied, "Because I'm worried that the bread won't turn out and then the girls would be disappointed." I asserted that everything would be fine as I used a spatula to push the excess flour down the sides of the pan into the doughy ball the breadmaker was kneading. Seeing me prod the dough Steph exclaimed, "What are you doing?! You're going to ruin it!" I gave her a confident smirk and again asserted that my poking the dough was in no way going to ruin the bread. [While this last bit may have been true, the scientific method wasn't completely followed and this hypothesis will have to be tested at a future date.] I quickly added some more flour as I noticed the dough ball looked a little more sticky than it should.

When we got back from church, it took us a few minutes to get unloaded and settled before I thought to ask Steph from the bedroom how the bread turned out. Catching Steph off guard, she responded, "Oh! Just a second let me check." Seconds later I hear laughter break out in the kitchen. "What? Did it turn out?", I ask somewhat nervously. Surely this must have been a ploy. When I got to the kitchen to check on my creation I was greeted by an odd sight. It looked like the bread had taken a meteorite right in the center and a shield of shrapnel had formed up against the lid of the breadmaker.




Now, while I can't say exactly what cause this formation, my current theory is that a massive gas bubble formed in the middle of the bread dough which burst during baking and collapsed in on itself creating my unique "inverted cone shaped loaf" as Steph called it. The story could stop here, but of course it doesn't. Steph began asking me if there was anything I didn't measure exactly.

Well, I wasn't POSITIVE that I got exactly 1 cup and 2 tablespoons of water; it could have been a little more.

Steph asked if that was all I hadn't measured.

Yeah, that was all. Well, and maybe the honey too. You know how the honey sticks to things. I couldn't get it all of the tablespoon so I guessed that only about half of what I measured made it into the pan, so the second tablespoon was a heaping tablespoon... or possibly two. But that was it.

Steph probed through her laughter if there was anything else I didn't measure.

Come on! Of course I measured everything! (pause). But, then I'm not 100% sure about the butter. It was kind of spread out on the wrapper, but it LOOKED like it was about a tablespoon. Surely a little extra butter couldn't have cause the formation of an inverted cone. But that was it; everything else was measured accurately.

Was I sure? (More laughter)

Yeah. Of course. ...I did use the tablespoon to measure out the salt. I needed 1 1/2 teaspoons which anyone who bakes knows that this is the same as a half tablespoon. I didn't want to dirty another measuring spoon, so I just half-filled the tablespoon. And I guess the powdered milk did come out of the pour spout a little fast and overflowed the tablespoon just a *little*, but that couldn't have caused the bread disaster.

At this point Steph asked me why I told her that the only thing I didn't measure correctly was the water. I decided that this was the point when complete and total honesty was my only option. "I couldn't admit to all that up front; I have an image to maintain!" At this point Steph lost it in a fit of laughter. I can't say I blame her. I'm sure the image I was maintaining wasn't worth much even before this bread fiasco.

So, not only am I a hasty button pusher, I am also a haphazard measurer. But I would like to point out that at this very moment there is not a bit of my inverted cone shaped loaf left to prove that my bread wasn't every bit as tasty as a normal loaf. You know, it's too bad that inverted cone bread loaves didn't catch on. I'm sure they would hold a lot more butter and jam than any regular loaf of bread.

Mom Saves the Day!!

Thank goodness for mothers. Even when we've grown and left home, mom's keep their mothering instincts. Today proved that her's is fine tuned.

I called my mom this morning and told her about how I crippled my blog and erased content that was irretrievable. She was happy to report that she just happened to have copied that content last night and sent it in an email to friends! Vwa-lah! Content restored!! I couldn't have done it without my mom! Thanks Mom!

Haste makes waste

I broke the blog....................................

I am a button pusher and I pushed the button. It was more than that actually. I committed the cardinal sin in programming/development: I tested a new template on a production instance of the blog! Everyone who does any kind of computer development and testing knows you always use a separate enviroment to test changes before you apply them. That way, if it breaks your environment, you don't loose your data.

Heh.... heh.....

The new third party template I tried to upload was seriously incompatible with blogger and destroyed the blog. My side banner items were erased, and now that I've reloaded the previous template, I have broken links all over the place. Ughhh.... The part that kills me was that before I applied the new template I had the thought that I should copy all of the girls quotes into a blog posting rather than leave them in the side column.

Blogger doesn't have a "help desk"; instead they have frequently asked questions and discussion forums. I couldn't find the question "How do you restore a blog that you've obliterated without having to recreate it?" listed anywhere, and I was too chicken to post that in the chat forum. I realize that I can't hide what I did from my readers, but I'm not going to expand the circle of ridicule un-neccessarily.

the Laundry Room - revisited

In our last post I included an impromptu shot of our laundry room.  Since then we've made three trips across the street (I love that it's this close) to Lowe's for shelving.   The laundry room already had one shelf above the washer and the dryer.  Both were overflowing with stuff, so we decided to augment.  We added a couple of hanging shelves and then added a rack higher up that lines three walls.  We effectively tripled (almost quadrupled) the shelving space and got everything up off the dryer.  As you can see, we haven't filled up the shelves after a week.  That's a good sign.

The dryer had been covered in items that prevented us from reaching the knobs without extraordinary flexibility.  Now things are up and away.

The laundry room is now one of the cleanest and most organized room in the house.

Next up:  Remember the picture of our closet?  Steph was so impressed by how much storage space we created that she's eager to do the same for our closet.  Heh, heh.  Say no more!  I'm off to Lowe's!

Photo Tag

My brother and his wife were photo tagged on their blog. It was interesting to see what was going on at the moment with them, so I'm passing it on (in all it's rawness).

The rules are you have to take pictures of the following things. And you have to do it right away. No straightening, cleaning or wiping your child's nose. Then you tag five others. So here it goes:

Kitchen Sink

We just ran dishes after dinner which is usually hit or miss. Until two days ago there were also white latex paint drips all around the sink from refinishing the bunkbeds. The plate and knife were from me - herb bread with butter.

Fridge

We just stocked up at Costco, so you may see 3 dozen eggs, 4 quarts of strawberries, too many grape tomatoes, Costco milk, and a huge bag of cheese sticks. No leftovers in our house!

Toilet

Our bathroom is pretty plain. It's one of the few rooms in the apartment that we didn't paint. Most days there are hair accessories on the counter. There is some nail polish remover in the basket from the girls' nail polish time earlier this evening.

Closet

This is where we begin to reveal what goes on behind closed doors. My wife and I treat our room (and our closet) as a "staging area". Basically, it's the storage space for everything that doesn't have a place in the rest of the house. It's where unfinished projects end up. Last weekend we set this aside as our major project for this upcoming weekend.




Favorite Room

This is my favorite room for two reasons: (1) it's finished! (2) it's where my sweet girls are at the moment. The bunkbeds were finished a couple of weeks ago, and the bedding sets were provided by my wonderful aunt! Stephanie and I refinished a yard-sale dresser (visible on the right) and we painted the room to bring it all together. It's late and everyone is asleep, so this is the best I can do at the moment.

Laundry Room

This is another room with a pending project. Our 3 bedroom apartment has limited storage space, so flat surfaces behind closed doors are all used! We plan on installing another shelf above the existing shelves behind both the washer and dryer. Until then, the cat crate, the baby chair, and several other things remain on top of the dryer. You have to be somewhat of a contortionist to get through the pile to set and turn on the dryer.

Stephanie picked out the hanging racks from IKEA a year ago. They were originally marketed as a kitchen spice and tool rack, but Steph saw past that to their current use as a craft station.

Also, witness my awesome plaid shorts in the pile to the right.

(I skipped "Favorite Shoes" cause come on, that's dumb)

Kid Photo #1
It's Eden's turn on the top bunk tonight (as it seems to be 75% of the time). Eden rarely gets her head to stay on top of the pillow, and all our kids prefer to layer on blankets than get under their covers. Sweetly asleep.

Kid Photo #2
Britta is like me and is often warm. She likes salsa, tangy food, and savory flavorings. She has the cutest naturaly curly hair and the sweetest, tender heart. Britta is always smiling, and sometimes she just needs some time on her own. Whenever she is grumpy it's usually not too hard to coax a smile from her.

Kid Photo #3

Avery tries hard not to act like she's two years younger than Britta, but sometimes she just can't keep up. Her new favorite game is hide and seek, which we often play inside the apartment. Avery is brave beyond brave and repeatedly jumps off the pool steps into deeper waters regardless of whether Steph and I are there to catch her. Avery has a purse fetish, a lip gloss fetish, a nail polish fetish, and loves to water plants.

If you are reading this, consider yourself tagged! Don't clean the house first, get out your camara and get real.

7 weeks to baby boy

Stephanie has 7 weeks left to go and we still don't have a name for the baby. Stephanie still favors Afton; I at one point had liked Grant or Garrett, but thought better after realizing that the T's of Garrett and Taylor would run together and sound like D's. Stephanie proposed Wesley as a compromise. Nothing has sounded exceptionally fitting. I don't want to give our first boy a potentially wimpy sounding name. Both Stephanie and I have crossed plenty of boy names off the list based on their association with unpleasant people we've known. Isn't that funny that one person can ruin a name for another person?

With Eden, she was going to be Kaitlin up until we were in the hospital for delivery and we were told that Kaitlin was the 2nd most popular name of the year. We didn't name Eden until two days after she was born, right before leaving the hospital. It just kind of came out of the air and really sounded good.

(By the way, I haven't posted pictures of Steph because she has to approve any pictures of her before I can post them, and she typically doesn't blog herself. Just thought I'd put that out there since there were bound to be questions.)

I Think I'm All Caught Up

After two months without updates to our blog I spent the better part of two evenings uploading pictures and describing them. I uploaded the pictures in reverse order and thought I could fix that by what order I posted the entires, but that didn't work out. So, everything is in reverse order starting with Daniel's homecoming through the girls' homecoming to VA. I guess it will just make reading the blog more of a challenge for you readers. (Be careful what you ask for!).

With this I am calling the blog good (for now). Did I miss anything?

Perfect Park Weather

We had some amazing weather yesterday and today. I'm talking high 70s and low 80s and breezy all afternoon. It felt like we were in California!

I took the girl to the park after dinner on Monday before FHE. The playground was PACKED with kids of all ages. The girls and I stayed out for over an hour and just enjoyed the pleasant temperatures.

Avery likes to play tag and go down the slides. Sometimes she just likes to sit and watch the big kids doing their thing.
Eden is trying to learn how to climb the fireman's pole. She's not sure she has the strength, but she's determined that she'll keep practicing.

Britta has found new confidence on the zip line! She still needs some help getting back to the starting platform, but she's not afraid to drop if she needs to.

Eden!

Avery!

Britta!

Eden spent some time getting used to her scooter. She still doesn't get too far with each scoot, but she's making progress.

Britta came out of her contemplative mood enough to chase off all the boys with Eden.

Daniel is HOME!

July 3, 2008. Daniel Anderson arrives at DFW airport!

The Anderson family was well represented at the DFW airport! Everyone was excited to have D back at home!

WELCOME HOME!!