More pics of Our Helen

Photo Shoot!
For all of those who have been wondering why there were not a million ba-zillion pictures of Helen up here: I lost the cord to download. But I have found it so Let the pictures begin. This is from our most recent session. She loves having her picture taken, and will sit and smile quite nicely.

Vienna, West Virginia

Ok... who do we know in Vienna, West Virginia? It is driving me nuts seeing all these visits to the family site and to my Latin America blog. Who DO we know that lives in West Virginia?

Homeward Bound

Carol is on her way home. She tells me she has left her phone charger in Boston, so she may not be returning calls. Sorry to all who feel slighted.

Isaac at School - part deux (ahhh...commie French numbers)

Isaac at School

Today Isaac heard the president tell him to set educational goals, exercise, and eat good foods. Naturally, such things can only lead to one place, and this is my son this afternoon:

Chattanooga

Much to Oliver's delight, Carol has arrived in Chattanooga, TN. She reports that there are indeed choo choos everywhere. Or, as Oliver refers to the train yards "whole train sets."

Boston

Carol headed for Boston today with Oliver and Helen. Isaac and I are planning on some serious "man time."

Greatest American Hero

So, Isaac says "How come I'm not flying." He calls himself superman flier.

Jason says: "Maybe he lost the manual to the suit." (A thing that is very funny to a child of the 80s. HAHAHAHAHA)

Meteor Shower

What to do when you get up at midnight to a boy with a wet bed? Hmmmm. Watch the Perseid shower - after Ollie takes a shower.
:)
We got Isaac up too, and then went to the backyard to look up at the night sky. It was very neat. Jason and Isaac saw a few, mom saw a few. and Oliver saw the trucks on the highway in front of our house.

Yeah. Oliver likes trucks. Helen slept through the whole thing. Thank goodness.

Just wondering

Tomorrow is baking day. I was thinking about trying some different things. I haven't tried selling a rye for almost half a year. Is Nacogdoches ready for it yet? I just need to decide if I will go with a light Jewish rye, or a denser German rye. Hmmm. Decisions, decisions.

On another note, I got out a bunch of neat books on bking. I am trying to get new ideas for finishing the loaves. (ie scoring) I think I found a few to try. One is this pretty braid, and onther is almost liking wrapping paper. We will see how it turns out. If I think it's pretty enough I will take a picture. If I remember tomorrow.

Oh, One last thing: Come by my booth on Saturday. If you mention the blog you will get a dollar off! I'll know you read it when you mention the Italian Herb bread pictured above.

Midwestern Fantasy or, A Drive Through The Middle of The Country

Jason's Mom came to visit (yep, he has family, too) during June. We gathered her up from the airport in Dallas and just kept driving north. We got caught in a whale of a storm in Oklahoma but had a pleasant night in a KOA in Checotah, OK that had a petting zoo... sort of.

Then we headed north to Kansas to visit the Laura Ingalls Wilder home (sort of) in Independence, KS. This was a GREAT stop on the trip, mostly because it was the first time we had been out of the humidity for ages - and Jason was excited to get out of the trees! Carol got to see lots of things that were in the books and her favorite thing was seeing how small everything was...these people were teeny-weeny. The tractor was NOT part of the original "Little House" equipment but it was, however, Oliver's favorite part of the trip. Isaac loved petting the donkeys.

Next we headed to Springfield, MO. Our destination was the Laura Ingalls Wilder adult home, but we also ate flying rolls at Lambert's Cafe...ouch. We also visited some "fantastic" caverns in the area.

We headed north to Nauvoo which was supposed to be our ending destination. Carol visited with her friend Debbie, Oliver pooped on Debbie's floor, and through a series of miscommunications we saw very little of Nauvoo. We did stop in Carthage, IL, however, and we had a very nice visit there.

We spent the night next to a train track and a cemetery in St. Louis - it had a KOA sign in front but we doubt it was really a KOA. We had a very nice day at the St. Louis Zoo. Oliver rode the train literally for hours, but his favorite thing was the penguin house (or was that Jason's favorite thing) where you got so close to the penguins they splash you. Isaac loved the bears eating fish. Carol was a big fan of the carousel as well as watching people trying to feed monkeys that you can't really feed and used to be birds. Long story.

After St. Louis we drifted south in a pouring, pounding, horrific rain storm to southern Illinois, western Kentucky, and on to Memphis. We stayed two nights a KOA in Marion, AK, and the whole day in Memphis at the Mud Island river park. Isaac loved the replica Mississippi River while Doris rode a river boat. We also saw Beal Street (whoa - tourist trap). Jason got chiggers.

Our final day was a sprint across Arkansas back to Texas (if anything can make Louisiana look good, it is Arkansas). Isaac got to have an icecream at Dairy Queen when we got back to Texas.

Carol drove the entire trip. Jason navigated. Boys screamed. Helen slept. Doris tried to keep the boys from waking up Helen.

Market Madness

Helen has started coming to the market with me on Saturdays. She is an excellent helper becasue she brings in the customers. I do need to be careful since her smile starts at her toes that she doesn't kick anything over.

Today was a good day. There were lots of new vendors, and plenty of new customers. Looks like Texans do come out in the heat. We sold out of everything except a few items that I wanted to eat anyway!

Graduation / Demon Possession

Last week Isaac graduated from Pre-K at Christ Episcopal School. I thought about reducing the red eye in this pic, but the demon possession look is pretty fun - all things considered.

Anyway, he had a great time in school and a fantastic class and teacher. Now he and Oliver live in the swimming pool at the University - pictures of them swimming and of Carol's sun burn to come.

Dick Cheney Seeks Work

The recent outbursts (?) from former VP Cheney reminded me of a VERY funny Star Wars video we first saw a couple years ago. I imagine VP Cheney to be up to about the same thing - especially the scene with the puppy.

Family Fur

We were really blessed to have Carol's dad come for the baby blessing and to stay for a couple days. The boys were VERY excited, and they couldn't get enough of Grandpa. When I asked Isaac what is favorite thing about grandpa's visit was he said (yelled) "EVERYTHING!"

When it was time for him to leave, the boys had some pictures made with him and they ALL had mustaches.

Torn - but had to share: The Divine Numbers

I received the following email from a student. I just informed her that the math was just not there for her to pass the course, so she would be better served studying for another class. This was her reply:

I thank you for imforming me that I will not pass your class but Im not going to give up and not show up for the exam. I believe that God has the last word in my grade therefore I will be at the exam on tomorrow. I dont understand why there is no possible way for me to pass because I attend class and both of my test grades were in the fifty's but my final could at least pull me up to a D depending on my grade. I have faith in God and if I do not show up that just shows that the devil got his way. So I will see you tomorrow.

Ok. I appreciate her faith, but man...I'm not sure what sort of mathematical trick or gemmatria could change things for her.

Jason Needs a Toilet (just for fun)

Ok, so I gave in to this really cheesy idea, but it turned out to be fun. Google the phrase “(your name) needs” and point out the first ten that come up. Here is mine:

1) Jason needs a Pismo
2) Jason needs a toilet (fast)
3) Jason needs a diet
4) Jason needs a shirt
5) Jason needs a professional profile
6) Jason needs a ring
7) Jason needs to die
8) Jason needs a pitchfork
9) Jason needs a slap
10) Jason needs help making a film

It was funny…but a little unpleasant to conceptualize. A toilet and a pitchfork? Yowza.


How about Carol…..

1) Carol needs our help
2) Carol needs a change
3) Carol needs assessment
4) Carol needs toast
5) Carol needs a teapot
6) Carol needs more busts
7) Carol needs 2000 more miles
8) Carol needs a naturally occurring flavor
9) Carol needs a forever family
10) Carol needs your prayers

Carol’s was a little less dangerous…like the needs nice people have. Of course, I just realized that half the sites my googling brought up were sites about Jason the famous horror movie character.

Time to make the Bagels...

Incase anyone wondered, we are still in the bread business. Every Friday we bake and bake and bake. Everyone in the family helps out.
Mom does most of the mixing and kneading - what people think of when they hear "you bake at home."
Dad is bagel boiler, and kid watcher, and emergency "I need XXX atthe store." person.
Isaac is extra helpful when it comes to baging the breads, and putting them in the baskets that we use to transport to the market. He is also good at playing outside while the stuff is baking, and eating on the porch for lunch.
Oliver is wonderful at playing near Helen while mom bakes in the morning. He keeps her entertained and happy. He is a wonderful brother. He also is our resident dough tester. Keeps mom on her toes and the dough tasting great!
Helen is a great baby, keeps mom smiling while she bakes, and Oliver busy. Because without Helen, Oliver gets into lots of messes.

Baking day can be a bit trying on the nerves, and a crazy busy day in general, but I love it.

Bananna Fananna Fo Fellon

So we said she smiled and here is the proof! We were at the zoo with the cousins and Grandma Marilyn. As we all watched the hippos dance in the water, Helen had a smile fest! Finally I was fast enough to catch it on the camera.

The cousins and Grandma left this morning. We were sad to see them go, but Life does have to go on. Right. I was forced to start changing Helen's diapers my self, and Isaac keeps calling me Grandma. Soon life will return to normal I am sure.

Also we took some nice pics as they were packing up. I mean why leave when you can procrastinate. Maybe for Helen's baby book I will edit out Ollie in the back, but for now here is the 3 generation photo. This one I look less dead in, and I don't have a crick in my neck.

Helen, Helen, Bo Belen....

This is little Helen over the last couple of days. In fact, the one in the middle is Helen just this morning when she got her Easter basket. We did Easter baskets on Saturday this year because Carol's brother Brian and his family are visiting and they do Saturday Easter baskets. Helen even went to an Easter egg hunt hosted by the University this morning...but I'm afraid it was the boys that did all the egg finding.

Carol is off of milk and Helen is a much happier baby. She is smiling now - and not just because of any gas. She's sleeping for 5 t0 6 hour stretches (at random times of the day).

She's our little joy to have around.

This bottom picture is of Helen and the silver cup that her great grandpa and grandma Ailshie sent.

Validation?

Ran on to this when I stumbled on to the web site of a guy I served a mission with. It also was sooooooooo California. At times I thought they were in the mall in Santa Barbara - minus the free parking...and the friendly guy.

And yes, that is the dude from Bones. I half expected him to start going off on how he loved her mass spec.

1 Baby, 3 weeks of a party!

According to Jason, I only wanted a baby so I could dress her up. Not true. I wanted her so we could have girly parties. She is only 3 weeks old and already we have had a traditional bash (with funny hats and milk shakes).





We have had a tea party with fancy cups and all our best friends.



And we have had a slumber in our jammies party as well.

It us so much fun to have a girl. Now don't get me wrong. I did the same sort of things with the boys too, but it is somehow more fun to do girly parties. What ever will we do next week when she turns one month?!

At the moment she is battling some raging baby acne, but it is no big deal. She still has the loveliest smile I have seen in years.

Four Generations

Carol, her mother Marilyn, and little Helen pose for the camera at Carol's baby shower. I call it four generations since Helen is named after her great grandmother Helen Foley who passed away when Carol was a teenager.

Look Who's Here! Welcome Helen Diane

Happy President's Day

Today started in a whirlwind. The boys slept past 7 am (a major accomplishment). So we had to wake them up to get them ready for school. We dressed and ate, and brushed teeth quickly, and then everyone (except Carol) jumped in the car to get Isaac to school before 8.

They pulled up. No cars. "Mrs. Cordray said we don't have school on Monday" says Isaac. OOPs! That's right it is a holiday.

Grandma Marilyn dropped Jason off at work, and then decided they needed to do something to make the day even more special. So they went for shakes at McDonalds. What a treat!

At home, Isaac expressed how difficult it was to get the drink out of the cup. He started to stir and plunge his straw up and down in the cup.

"You're making Buttah" says Grandma Marilyn.
When grandma explained that "buttah" was what you put on toast, Isaac said: "Oh! ButtER" and they laughed and laughed.

It has been so fun having her here to help. I thought I would share just a smidgen.

Christmas - Texas Style

Decorating for Christmas

Due to our last minute change of plans we were able to snag a great deal on a tree.$10 Who knew? slackers and procrastinators unite! An almost 6 foot tree for cheap! We were so excited we took it home and started dancing around it. A few days later we got down to business with the decorating. Isaac and Oliver did the bottom parts, and Jason and I strung the lights and the upper branches. After that we made popcorn strings and put those up too.

We had a great time decorating the tree.

Here is another thing we got out of storage. The "Jesus people" that we bought in Mexico. Ollie doesn't play with them as much as Isaac did, probably becasue he has other toys, but he loves to make them walk around and sing jingle bells. He is a joy to watch when he is playing.



On the first Saturday I had off from baking we went to the Ellen Trout Zoo, in Lufkin. The boys were thrilled as they hadn't been in awhile. We saw all of our favorite critters. Oliver spent lots of time at the flamingos, and Isaac loves the deer. Then we rode the train, which is a big treat as it isn't open every day during the school year.


Jason thinks this is creepy, but look what Santa left in my stocking!!! Don't you want one too?

Christmas Vids

I'll be putting up some pictures and videos over the next few days of the holidays.

RIP Claiborne Pell

News today tells us that Claiborne Pell has passed away in his Newport, RI home. For those of you poor enough (like me) to recognize the name Pell, you'll put "grant" on the end of that. Yep - the guy that gave us the Pell Grant. When it was begun a student could count on 75% of grants and about 25% of loans to cover an education. Today, it is just the opposite. Without Pell money, I never would have finished my first year of school. Pell may have been a complete rolling in the money patrician snob, but he was from an older, wiser set of public servants that felt that the nation as a whole could benefit from the wise distribution of wealth rather than the selfish hording of a few. "And there was no poor among them... . "