The day of arrival had come. Everybody got up bright and early to give mom their last loves, hugs, and kisses before she headed off to the hospital. Grandma came to watch the kids for us (thanks, Grandma). Karin never imagined she'd experience Kristen's pregnancy and deliver as a part of her foreign exchange experience! Mom was a little emotional (what do you expect from a 9 month pregnant mama-cat) as she said goodbye to her children. The time had finally come....
OK, so it's been a while since I've updated this blog of ours. Life gets so crazy I just can't seem to find the time. However, I've decided it's time to get going again. Although I have a gazillion things I could try and update, I'm not going to. Just a couple major ones.
So to begin with, probably the biggest thing to happen this past year was Kristen getting pregnant. It took a while, but finally happened. Since we're pretty sure this is going to be the last one, Kristen wanted to get maternity pictures. She actually wanted to get them before, it just never happened. So the week before she delivered, she got some pictures taken. Since I happened to be there while they were taking the pics (and looking as sharp as ever, of course. Ha ha.) I got in a few of them myself. It was a lot of fun. We haven't done that since we got married. So here she is--my beautiful bride!! :)
No, we didn't have a baby (although Kristen would really like one). And no, we didn't get a new pet either (although everyone but dad would really like one). We actually became the proud parents of a beautiful teenage girl.
Tonight while putting the boys to bed they were telling us about their new teachers at school. Kaden mentioned one of his teachers that he really likes, Mrs. Overy (with the accent over the "e"). The conversation then went something like this:
"Mrs. Ovary", I said.
"No," Kaden said, "Mrs. O-vEry!".
"Good thing it wasn't ovary" (trying to be funny, while Kristen grinned at me).
"What's so funny about that?"
"Oh, nothing."
"Come on, tell us please."
"Really, it's nothing."
"Pleeeeeeeease."
"OK. It has to do with female parts."
(chuckle chuckle) "Oh no!" (giggle giggle)
"See. Now you don't want to know, do you?"
"Well, OK. Tell us anyway."
"Ok. The ovary is part of a woman's body, on the inside, that has little eggs that can become babies."
"What! Mom has eggs in her?"
"Yes, all women do."
"Oh no, mom's not a mammal!"
The sweetness of innocent boys.
Many years ago Caleb and Kaden each got a gold fish. They were warned at the time of purchase that gold fish don't live very long (at least in our family they never have), and so they needed to be prepared for when they died. Well wouldn't you know it, those blasted things just wouldn't die. I tried to convince Kristen to just stop feeding them, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. And when the boys heard me say that, they weren't too happy about it. So, like good owners, we kept feeding them.
Well, about a month ago, one of them finally died. The boys tried to accuse me of killing him because I didn't clean the fish bowl soon enough. I promise--I'm an innocent man! It was just his time to go. And if it was because of the dirty water, then why didn't they both die? "Good point", you say. And, unlike the movies, where they just flush the fish down the toilet, we had to have an official burial. After the ceremony was over, and we were walking back to the house, Katelyn asked me if he would have happy family members waiting for him on the other side. I assured her he would.
So, now my thinking was maybe the other fish will die soon also. It was only wishful thinking, however, because I definitely wasn't going to do anything about it. I'd already been accused of murder once.
Well, last week, while I was in Alaska, and Kristen and the kids were in California, we left the fish at the neighbor's house to be watched until we returned. And as fate would have it, the other fish died. But no, the story doesn't end there. Our neighbors, feeling horribly guilty for having killed our last gold fish, went and bought us another one to replace it. AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!
Fortunately, Kristen was able to convince them that we weren't upset, and that they could keep the new goldfish for themselves. And I'm sure there were more happy family members on the other side (because I know there were some on this side)!
