Put Iced Tea In'ere PWEEESE
Jay was excited about my Mother's Day gift from Grandma and Grandpa G beyond all reason. I got a very cool Mr. Coffee Iced Tea maker* with the cold hard cash they sent me, and Jay helped me unpack it and wanted to see the pitcher fulfilling its purpose IMMEDIATELY. Never mind that I don't give Jay sweet tea (anymore ;) ).

It is quite excellent, and I'm already into my second pitcher of tea (I just bought it on Tuesday- but don't worry, I've only been making 2 quarts at a time and our Tuesday night Bible study helped me with the first pitcher!)

In other news, my team leader at work just called to tell me that she'd spoken with my prospective employers and thinks all went well.

* The downside to posting links is discovering that your tea maker just went on sale at Amazon and is now considerably cheaper than it was at Wal-Mart. The upside is that I can tell you how to get a really good deal on an Iced Tea Maker. Just click the link above!

Labels: baby talk, job hunt, small appliances

- posted by Gary @ 3:03 PM |

 
Job Update
Well, I think applying for a job this weekend was wasted effort (though not much effort!) The place that told me they would be contacting my references over two weeks ago called me this morning just to reassure me that they would be getting in touch with my people; they've been delayed, but they haven't forgotten or lost interest. I was starting to wonder whether I should check with them, so it was good to get confirmation that things are still in progress and that they are "very interested" in me.

Paul is still hoping that I can collect my severance from my current employer. At this point, I'm planning on staying where I am until the end date they gave me (June 29), so who knows- maybe the timing will work out such that I will be able to maximize my income from them...

Labels: job hunt

- posted by Gary @ 2:43 PM |

 
Can't Resist

Posting this photo of Isaac playing in the sand at the volleyball court by the playground!

Labels: boys, photos

- posted by Gary @ 8:13 PM |

 
Pop Goes the Bubble Wrap
Turns out Jay is not too young to learn how to play with bubble wrap =]

Isaac, meantime, has reportedly taken a single step today. More to come, no doubt! In the meantime, he enjoys crawling with shoes on his hands. Seriously. He even tried it in the nursery with another boy's lost sandal. That was way cute!

Labels: boys

- posted by Gary @ 7:05 PM |

 
Yes, Yes Oh Yes!
So Jay told me that he liked the Martina McBride CD I was playing in the van today. Of course, I had to tell Paul that Jay likes country music (ha ha!). I said something like, "Jay said he likes my Martina McBride CD." I may or may not have asked Jay for confirmation (I don't think I did), but in any case, he responded with "Yes. Yes, oh yes!" This was very funny in contrast to what he's been doing much more frequently, eg:
M: "Jay, it's time to go to the store".
J: "NOT go store. Watch wi'eo!"

And in other news, I got Isaac to point today. The occasion? Wal-Mart was selling Thomas the Tank Engine short sets, and I asked him to point out Thomas on the shirt. No problem! He even hugged the shirt afterwards. Yeah, I had to buy a set for each of them =]

Labels: baby talk, trains

- posted by Lenise @ 11:29 PM |

 
Monkey
I was in Isaac's nursery at church yesterday, and was more than a little amused when Isaac climbed up into a chair, scrambled up onto the toddler table (the kind with 6 kiddie seat holes in it), and after a few attempts, got his legs into the leg holes. He had crawled over to the table as soon as I was able to put him down, and stood there saying "Up. Up! Doo! [Food]"
- posted by Gary @ 5:36 PM |

 
Should I Be Concerned?
On our laundry detergent box, it says (and I quote), "Do not get on skin or clothing."

Labels: Oxymorons

- posted by Lenise @ 8:22 PM |

 
John the Toddler Model
And his Mama the Photographer ;)

We've hit the big time! Well, at least we've hit some time. We're on a commercial website- that's got to count for something!
- posted by Gary @ 3:50 PM |

 
Hobby

Recently, I've been scraping a window frame some evenings after the kids are in bed. It's slow going without a heat gun or a sander, but I'm in no particular hurry, and it's kind of therapeutic. I wonder if the teal trim went with the blue paint underneath the pink paint. Nancy, do you know?

Labels: Old Houses, photos

- posted by Gary @ 10:23 PM |

 
What's the Difference Between a Lawyer and a Bat?
Well, if you ask us this week, neither one is a cute fuzzy thing with wings! It became apparent 'round about 1AM that that strange squeaky sound we'd been hearing in the bedroom in the dead of the night (since the previous night) was NOT a cicada, as my wishful thinking would have had it. Cicadas don't make flap-flap-flap sounds as they're escaping from Vyera.

Armed with a broom and Jay's triceratops flashlight ("Roarrrr!"), Paul went back upstairs from our strategy session to handle the situation. Vyera became seriously skittish once Paul was armed, and wouldn't accompany the broom and dinosaur to the room which had been a playground for her up until that point. Once he got the window open again, it all proceeded rather quickly (the defenestration of the bat, that is). Hooray for hubby!!!

Labels: bats, Paul

- posted by Gary @ 6:37 PM |

 
Pasta Eaters
Neither Paul nor I are big fans of red sauce, and I'm not aware of any Italian blood on either side of the family, but these boys do Italian! Earlier this same day, the kids and I had lunch at our local Italian place (we split a calzone), and Jay ended up drinking the leftover marinara sauce. *Shrug*

Labels: boys, eating, photos

- posted by Gary @ 7:47 PM |

 
Announcement
I'm posting my Mebane photos at a different site now. I have the Dogwood Festival pics up there. There will be minimal boy sightings over there, so the grandparents aren't obliged to wade through all the Mebane photos, and people who just like to look at Mebane don't have to wade through the boys' photos. Not that anyone in his right mind would object to seeing thousands of photos of my adorable offspring. ;)

Labels: Old Houses, photos

- posted by Gary @ 5:10 PM |

 
Spencer, NC




We had a great day with Uncle Todd yesterday. We went to the North Carolina Transportation Museum and rode a train, had our picture taken with a gigantic steam engine, ate lunch at an old-fashioned diner, and got to see and learn about a whole lot of historic cars and locomotives. I highly recommend the experience!
- posted by Gary @ 9:01 PM |

 
Green Eyes

Labels: boys, photos

- posted by Gary @ 8:46 AM |

 
For My Big Brother





NOW don't you want to move to Mebane? Hmmm??
- posted by Gary @ 10:39 PM |

 
On the Other Hand...
This might be just the ticket for our upcoming weekend with Uncle Todd!

Labels: trains, trips

- posted by Gary @ 9:49 PM |

 
Good Diversion
Of a Sunday afternoon. Anybody want to come along in June or July? Also fun is the Engine No. 17 website.

Labels: trains, trips

- posted by Gary @ 9:39 PM |

 
Hi, Howayou, Kid?
Jay just found Isaac's play phone which rings and says "Hello" when you push the right button. His response is above. Then there's "Buh-bye, Kid. Nice (a) see you! Bye bye!"
- posted by Gary @ 7:07 PM |

 
Small World
So my interview today was for a position working (in part) with the same data involved with the other job I interviewed for in Durham. Meantime, the woman who interviewed me for that job e-mailed to tell me they'd be contacting my references and asking whether I would be willing to work full-time. She had said a lot of folks work 8-4 in that office, so at least if I got onto that schedule I'd be home for dinner. My work hours now are 8:30- 5:30, so that's an improvement in one sense.

Joan from our shepherding group was so saintly as to agree to babysit during my interview even though I only got around to asking her last night. Paul's first day of work with his new online job was today, so he couldn't watch the boys. I'm thankful to God for giving us friends to bail us out of the trouble we get into from time to time!!

Labels: job hunt

- posted by Gary @ 5:53 PM |

 
And One More Thing
I was talking to my friend CEP (who had thoughtfully phoned to wish me a happy mother's day) today and related a couple of stories I had been intending to blog for a while (CEP, you are excused ;) ).

Paul told me a good story when I got home from work one day last month. It seems he was sitting at the computer desk when he heard Jay in the kitchen begin "Need help... washing dishes!" Sure enough, there he was standing at the sink, dumping dish washing liquid into the sink. Very cute, eh? Yeah, but he has wasted many many ounces of the stuff in that and subsequent episodes. A helpful 2-year-old, after all, is at least as much trouble as an unhelpful two-year-old.

And then there was the incident a few weeks back when I was exasperatedly trying to extract Isaac's X-ray fish from the ball popper after innumerable admonitions to the children NOT to put foreign objects into the ball tunnel when Jay, completely out of character, began singing the refrain to a song from his Thomas video. The hook? "Gone Fishin'". I kid you not.

But really, Jay is a tiny gentleman most of the time. He insisted on carrying my Brick Alley Antiques bag with Houses Virginians Have Loved all the way home from the Dogwood Festival, and last night, he carried a stack of diapers (in two different sizes) downstairs for me, even starting to go down with both hands on the diapers. Nervous, I showed him how he could hug them to himself and have a hand free for the railing. He's a sweetie.

Labels: boys, Mebane, photos

- posted by Gary @ 8:20 PM |

 
While I'm at it,
A job update. Which is nothing, since I haven't heard a peep from the two already in the works, and the third possibility won't yield any further developments before the interview on Tuesday. I had expected to hear from the Chicago folks, so I'm guessing they don't want an employee in NC. The recruiter had warned me I'd probably need to fly to Chicago for the interview. Then again, they may call me tomorrow, so who knows? I don't feel like I can make any plans for the summer since I have no clue what life will be like, even a month from now. Sooner or later, I guess something will happen. *Sigh*

Labels: job hunt

- posted by Gary @ 8:16 PM |

 
Not Flushed Down the Toilet
I found Paul's keys this week while I was doing laundry. No, they were not in a pocket, just tossed on our closet floor. The culprit was likely Isaac, but Jay could have had a hand in it at some point. All we know is, they were missing for a couple of weeks, and now we have a spare set!

Meantime, Isaac has picked up on Jay's dance step: Dance, dance, collapse on floor and assume fetal position all the while anticipating uproarious laughter. That's how one dances, don't you know?

Labels: boys

- posted by Gary @ 12:28 PM |

 
Catching Up
As usual, we've been busy!! Work's been busy, interviewing and applying for other jobs has been time-consuming, and I just don't get a chance to make it around to many of the things I'd like to be doing. The kids have been healthy (thank you, summer!) and Isaac has a ninth tooth now! He's still doing really well at talking and is starting to be able to follow directions like "sit down", "Put this is the sink", etc.

We go to the library at least once a week, and this week the boys and I also ventured out to the city park in Burlington. Paul's birthday was yesterday, and he got a fancy flat-screen LCD monitor to replace the crummy CRT monitor we had.

Today, we had lunch at the Blue Mist outside of Asheboro (the boys shared a kid's plate with some really nice fresh fruit) and spent the afternoon at the zoo. We all had a very nice time, though I had a lot of trouble taking videos with my camera, (and didn't have a whole lot of success with still shots, either). I thought I had video of the sea lions, but when I looked for it, it wasn't there. Bah! Anyway, Jay was having a great time chasing the Canada geese in the parking lot on the way to the car. I was afraid he'd resist getting into the van, so I suggested he get in and tell his Curious George monkey all about what he saw, and lo and behold, he did!

Both the boys like their Georges a lot. Isaac hugs his, and they will both enthusiastically imitate monkey sounds upon request (Jay's are a bit more sophisticated than Isaac's, but "Aaaa, aaaa, aaa" is pretty good for a 14-month old!)

Jay still hasn't gotten into saying "no". If you give him directions he doesn't like ("Let's go upstairs", for example), he'll respond by saying what he wants to do in a strident tone (like "Go DOWN'tairs").*Shrug* Or, he'll just ignore it!

Like his brother before him, Isaac has not begun to walk at 14 mos & change. He's been standing on his own a little more frequently and successfully, though. He'll get there soon, we're confident.
- posted by Gary @ 10:09 PM |

 
Recent Fun

Labels: boys, photos, zoo

- posted by Gary @ 9:56 PM |

 
Happy Mother's Day!!

To our Moms and all the other moms we know and love
- posted by Gary @ 9:54 PM |

 
Ego vs. Ambition
A third job possibility has broken the horizon for me today. I'm glad they got back to me; it sounded interesting and like a good fit for my experience and skills. Plus, I went to some trouble to get them a sample SAS log! Anyway, they want me to call at my "earliest convenience" so they can set up an interview this week.

Meantime, I have a second phone interview tomorrow and am working on getting the paper application for the job for which I had a face-to-face interview on Thursday filled out so I can mail it tomorrow. I had forgotten what a total hassle all this is. I've got to hook up my work computer so I can find my co-workers' phone numbers (a couple had volunteered to be references).

This is all good for my ego, but not very promising for my ambition to be a full-time stay at home mom. *Sigh*

Labels: job hunt

- posted by Gary @ 8:44 PM |

 
Fireman Jay


More Dogwood Festival photos to come if I can get them uploaded in all their megapixel glory...
- posted by Lenise @ 9:42 PM |

 
Rules, Rules!
Shortly after I came home yesterday, Paul surprised me by asking Jay, "What's Rule #1?" "'Top cwying!" was the enthusiastic reply. "No, that's Rule #2. What's Rule #1?" "Be nice to... IIII-SAAC!" Well, Rule #1 hadn't been formulated as such before yesterday, though Jay'd heard the command over and over again (I'm not so sure about Rule #2...), and this does seem to help.

Then I decided this morning to institute my own rule: no videos until the toys are put away. The playroom was an absolute disaster area this morning (and last night, but I wasn't in there then!), and this seemed to be the only way to get Jay to help today. Some days he's very helpful, but this morning he needed LOTS of encouragement (I ended up gating him off in the foyer until he agreed to help- didn't take long!)

Then tonight, after the playroom was picked up again, we watched The Land Before Time, which we had borrowed from the library. I keep forgetting how tragic these kids' movies are: Finding Nemo, The Fox and the Hound (both of which are recent library borrowings), Iguess we may as well watch Bambi while we're at it, eh?
- posted by Lenise @ 8:08 PM |

 
Wait and See...
So I just applied for yet another job. It's in Cary, which is pretty far, but the advertisement touted work from home AND part-time possibilities (ooooo!).

I had both the phone interview and the face-to-face interview today, and both went well, as far as I can tell. The phone interview will be followed by a second phone interview on Tuesday, and at the end of my in-person interview, they gave me documentation on the benefits (which are actually quite good) and a paper application to complete and mail back. It sounds like part-time there will mean 4 days a week, which is certainly better than five, but is still worse than three! I did like the people; we seemed to click fairly well, and I would have my very own office! On the other hand, the commute could be a headache.

Right now I am glad they didn't offer me a job on the spot, because I'm still really wondering what will become of the other possibilities floating around. All in all, it was a promising day, employment-wise.
- posted by Lenise @ 8:00 PM |

 
And Now, Back to Our Story
Well, a quick update anyway. I've got an interview tomorrow with a non-profit in downtown Durham. I had a phone interview with them last week, and that went well enough that they invited me to come in. It sounds like part-time is a possibility, so although this job doesn't sound like it will stretch my technical skills, it's looking like a very good opportunity.

In the meantime, I was contacted by a recruiter who saw my resume posted on a data jobs website. I don't want to get into too much detail, so I'll just say this job sounds like a better "career" move and more of a challenge, but I know very little about it, so if they don't get in touch with me this week, and I get offered the other job, I may just let it pass by.

Paul's got a part-time job lined up (related to his ESL teaching certificate), but we're not sure how many hours it will involve. That will start in a couple of weeks.

All in all, things are happening, I guess. As always, we welcome your prayers!!

Labels: life, work

- posted by Lenise @ 10:04 PM |

 
Gotta Love Technology
So my new camera has some definite advantages, like a 2 GB card (which was less than $15) and video with sound! I still can't get a decent still photo of Roamin' Isaac indoors, and Jay is pretty tricky, too. My new camera is always focusing. When there's a moving target, that means it spends a lot more time out of focus than in. It is a slick little thing, though, and I could really get used to a palm-sized video camera!

Labels: photos

- posted by Lenise @ 10:00 PM |

 
Isaac's stairs trick

Labels: boys, video

- posted by Lenise @ 9:56 PM |

 
Sleeping in Church


- posted by Gary @ 8:43 AM |

 
Garden Photos

Tiny little patches of our yard hold some beauty. Having kids who love the outdoors has fringe benefits!

Labels: flowers, photos

- posted by Gary @ 8:37 AM |

 
He Speaks!
Isaac seems to be benefiting from having an older brother around at a very verbal age. He seems to be adding words at a fairly rapid pace, though he doesn't necessarily use them appropriately (he seems to be more into mimicking). Among his words are:
Dots
Mama
Dada
juice
church
bye bye
rock (a new one!)
cat
duck
quack
up (this one he uses very well)
cup
hi (ha)

There are probably others, but I thought this was pretty good for somebody who just turned 14 months (and is a boy)!
- posted by Gary @ 8:18 AM |